Chapter Five: Into The Mansion
They were all dripping wet by the time they made it up to the porch. The rain was now coming down very hard. The ancient gutters on the old house were overflowing and water gushed from the holes underneath it.
Arnold had lost his Zorro hat on the run up to the porch and had to make do with his bandana. Helga's makeup was smeared all over her face and she used the hem of her wet, tattered dress to wipe it off in a couple of quick swipes. Curly was dripping wet and held Wilson protectively under his tattered shirt in an attempt to keep the painted face on the volley ball dry. Gerald was practically dripping all over because he helped shield Phoebe from the rain as much as he could on the way. Phoebe's cat costume was matted with water and began to smell a little. Eugene removed the alien head dress from his head and set it on the railing of the porch.
The six of them (not counting Wilson) took the time wringing out their costumes to get a closer look at the house.
The porch itself was rotten in several places and leaking onto rotting and moss-covered boards. Spider webs covered all on one side of the porch with large spiders and various small desiccated moth and fly corpses covering it. A pair of broken, ancient-looking chains where a porch swing once hung swayed a little in the wind. A broken rocking chair lay just outside of the broken porch railing, along with the remains of a porch screen that was completely torn out. The windows on the porch were all boarded up and broken glass lay in crushed shards on the ground by them. The front door was boarded up carefully. Graffiti covered the peeling white paint and the boards covering the windows, some carved, others spray painted or just written on in magic marker. Both porch lights were gone and only black gaping holes remained as evidence that they'd ever been there. Dried leaves covered the floor of the porch and it smelled like something decaying and rotten.
Lightning crashed close by on the water making all of the kids jump slightly. Phoebe leaned in closer to Gerald, burying her face into his chest. He held her tightly out of panic also, as well as comfort.
Curly held the volley ball closer and nodded, "Yeah, I know, Wilson, I'm scared too." Then he turned and suddenly there was a creaking sound and a loud bang. The others all jumped and Curly screamed as his foot fell through the board. He dropped the volley ball on the porch. "AHH! OLD MAN WYLIE'S GOT ME! RUN FOR IT, WILSON! AHH!"
Helga just snorted and then shook her head, "Oh, pipe down, you little freak! You just put your foot through the wood! Criminy!" She and Gerald each grabbed an arm and pulled Curly out of the trap.
Curly picked up Wilson and then said, "I - I knew that, I was just testing you guys, right Wilson?" The ball's face seemed to mock him and he frowned, "Some friend you are."
Helga shook her head, "You are such a baby. Sheesh, I'm trapped on loser island."
Arnold looked around at the porch and said, "We need to get in out of this storm." He was busy examining the boards covering the windows when another bolt of lightning crashed nearby, with a crack of thunder so loud it jarred their bones and seemed to shake the house. The flash lit everything up briefly and then a high-pitched scream almost deafened him. Helga jumped into his arms and wrapped them around his neck tightly a moment later, still screaming at the top of her lungs. He held onto her, mostly out of instinct and fear of the lightning.
Helga pointed at the end of the other corner of the porch, "IT'S A GHOST! AHHHHHHH!" Her eyes were wide with terror as she pointed. All of them turned to look at where she pointed.
A moment later, something did flutter from the side of the house at the very end of the wrap around porch. It was white, though slightly dirty, and torn in places. The next lightning flash made it look transparent and ghostly. For a moment, all of them thought it really was a ghost. Then the flash of lightning passed and the shape could be seen for what it was, just a piece of tattered curtain hanging out of one of the boarded windows on the side of the house and fluttering rain-soaked in the heavy wind.
All of them breathed a sigh of relief and then Gerald, Phoebe, Eugene and Curly (with Wilson) all turned to look at Helga in Arnold's arms, with her arms around his neck and Arnold holding onto her. Helga blinked and jumped out of his arms brushing herself off, even though she was wet down to her skin. "Yuck, don't get so cozy, bucko!" She muttered and then crossed her arms scowling. It was just dark enough for her to hide the blush on her face over her embarrassment.
Curly just shook his head and smirked, "Gee, look who's scared now, Wilson."
Helga frowned and muttered, "Gee, look who's about to have a bloody nose, Wilson."
Gerald got between them, "Will you two pipe down, this doesn't help anything!"
Arnold just rolled his eyes and turned back to examining the boards covering the door. They were newer than the rest of the house, but not quite that new. They were starting to rot and the nails in them were rusty, and a few of them were not nailed all the way in and crooked. He tired to pull one of these but it didn't budge. They were a lot tougher than they looked and very effective in keeping people out.
He turned to everyone and said, "We can't get in this way."
Gerald looked at him and asked, "Arnold, why in the world do we want to go in there? I thought you said it was condemned and not safe in there."
Arnold nodded, "I did, but this storm is bad and we need to get in out of it until someone comes to look for us."
"Can't we just stay out here on the porch?" He asked nervously. A moment later, another close bolt of lightning and loud crash of thunder made all of them jump again. Gerald then said, "Um, on second thought, maybe I can help you get one of those boards loose."
There was another loud crash a moment later, following by the sound of something banging beside the porch on the other side of the house. The kids jumped again.
"W-what was that?" Eugene asked, looking anxious, looking in that direction.
Arnold began to walk over there, and Gerald grabbed his arm. "What in the world are you doing, man?"
"I'm going to go check it out," he said pulling his arm away and looking determined.
"Be careful, Arnold," Gerald said anxiously. Behind him Helga looked on anxiously also, thinking, 'Be careful, my love.'
Arnold walked carefully, and as quietly as he could toward the far end of the porch. Almost every step he took, the floor boards of the porch creaked beneath his feet. He pushed aside the sticky spider webs, watching for a moment as the web's inhabitants crawled on their many legs away from the giant who was wrecking their work. Some of the webs stuck to his black costume as he passed through them.
More banging could be heard. Arnold moved closer and closer till he finally reached the end of the porch. He put his hands on the railing and leaned over slowly to take a look . . .
Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning and a crack and Arnold yelled as the rotten porch rail gave way and he fell forward over the side onto the muddy ground.
"ARNOLD!" Both Helga and Gerald yelled at the same time, eyes wide and scared. They ran to him, through the remains of the spider webs, followed closely by the others.
"Arnold, man are you OK?" Gerald asked as they reached the end and looked over.
Arnold was sitting up and rubbing his head. He was now a little muddy and dripping wet. "Yeah, I'm fine, Gerald." He turned his head and blinked. "Hey guys, I found it!"
"Found what?" Phoebe asked.
"What was causing the noise and a way inside, look!" The football-headed boy pointed beside the porch on the side of the house. When the other kids looked, they saw what Arnold was talking about.
The tree on the left side of the house was close against the wall and one of the remaining branches was banging against the house in the wind. Just below this dead tree were a pair of cellar doors set in a brick foundation. Neither of these were open, but there were broken boards laying beside it, next to the house. The doors themselves and the broken boards looked to be more rotten than the rest of the ones on the porch, probably because they were exposed to the elements easier out in the open.
"Maybe it's locked," Eugene said, in a tone that said he hoped they were.
Arnold stood up and walked over to the doors and tried one of them. It opened with a rusty creak at first, then the strong wind picked up and the door's handle slipped from Arnold's grasp, causing the rotting door to open all the way, crashing into the ground and coming loose off of its upper hinges.
"Come on, guys, lets get inside," Arnold called out to them. "Eugene, give me one of the flashlights we brought along."
Eugene did so, but not before he almost stumbled and dropped it into the mud. The flashlight made it okay, but unfortunately, Eugene wasn't so lucky and he fell head-first into a deep muddy hole. He looked up, mud and brown rainwater dripping from his face and hair and muttered, "I'm okay."
Gerald sighed and shook his head, muttering to himself, "I know I'm gonna regret this." Then he jumped down from the end of the porch and went over with Arnold. Phoebe followed them, standing next to Gerald. Eugene climbed out of the muddy water and joined them.
Arnold looked back at Helga and Curly and said, "You two coming?"
Curly shook his head and answered, "Ha! Are you kidding? Me and Wilson are going to find our own way off this barren island! You guys can go ahead and let Old Man Wylie get you!" With that he away to the end of the porch with the painted volley ball under his left arm.
Arnold looked right at Helga then, and Helga felt like her knees were about to turn to jelly. "What about you, Helga?" He actually seemed to look at her, pleading for her to follow along.
Helga shook her head and snorted, "Yeah right, there are probably thousands of spiders and rats down there! No way, Jose! Count me out!"
Arnold just shrugged and said, "Suit yourself. But stay on the porch where it's drier. And keep and eye out for Earl, or anyone else, okay?"
Helga crossed her arms and said, "What am I, your lookout, or something?"
Arnold finally just sighed and then said, "Fine, see ya." With those words he walked over and started walking down into the cellar. The others followed behind him closely. When they were gone, Helga bit her lip and blew some air between her teeth in frustration at herself. Why did she have to argue with him all the time? She looked back only to see that Curly and "Wilson" had already wondered off in the rain. The little lunatic.
Despite those words, however she was right about one thing. There probably were lots of rats and spiders down in that dark, damp cellar. She snorted and said aloud to herself, "There is nothing that's going to get me down in that cellar."
A second later, a huge bolt of lightning crashed down no more than twenty feet of where she was, creating a small puff of smoke where it hit. The smell of ozone filled the air, and the shock of the noise it made rattled her bones. She let out an ear-piercing scream and then jumped off the porch and ran down inside the cellar steps very quickly.
Helga ran so fast that she slipped and fell down the steps into knee-deep water that smelled really bad. Apparently the entire basement was flooded over.
"Helga? Are you, okay?" It was Arnold who said that. She looked up to see him holding one of the flashlights and offering his hand to her. She took his hand and allowed her to help him up, nodding. "Yeah I'm fine. Just a little shaken up . . ." Then she snapped back to her senses and pulled her hand abruptly from his and said, "And who said you could touch me, football-head!"
Arnold just rolled his eyes. He turned away and swung the flashlight around looking at their surroundings.
The cellar was dark, and only the barest light from the small basement windows near the ceiling shown. If they hadn't had flashlights, the only thing that would have guided them were the flashes of lightning outside. Aside from being flooded by knee-deep water and floating debris, the place was full of old broken furniture and smelled like mildew. Streams of water ran down the damp water from outside.
"Man, Arnold, this place smells like my brother's gym socks," said Gerald.
Arnold nodded, "Tell me about it, we need to get out of here."
"Look, there's some more stairs." Eugene said pointing at some old-looking wooden stairs. They didn't exactly look very safe.
"Well, what the heck are we waiting for? Let's get out of this filthy cellar!" Helga started up the stairs and they began to creak badly. She paused halfway up and then her eyes widened.
"Helga! Be careful!" Arnold called up, looking very anxious now. "Go slowly." Helga did as he told for once and she made it to the top a moment later, facing an old wooden door, illuminated by Arnold's flashlight. Helga turned the rusty doorknob and it opened easily.
"The door isn't locked, you guys! Come on!" She called out going just inside to get off the rotten staircase.
Arnold nodded and turned to them, "Okay guys, one at a time up the stairs."
Eugene said, "I'll go next."
"NO!" Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe and Helga all shouted at once. Their voices echoed in the close walls of the basement.
"Um, I mean, you better wait and go last, Eugene," Arnold said diplomatically. He had far too many experiences with Eugene to want to risk another incident of his apparent bad luck.
He turned to the others and said, "You go next, Phoebe."
Phoebe went up the stairs slowly, pausing at every creak her steps made nervously. Helga stood at the top encouraging her to hurry up by saying, "Come on, Phoebe, get the lead out!" The petite girl made it up the stairs after only a little hesitation. Helga patted her back when she made it up the stairs.
"Okay, Gerald, you go next," Arnold said to his best friend. Gerald wasted no time getting up the stairs. He only paused once when a particularly loud creak a few steps away from the top made him decide to go the last couple of steps slowly.
Arnold then went up the stairs carefully testing the boards as he did so. The wood was very old and rotten in several places. When he got to the top of the stairs and inside the doorway, he looked back down and said, "Okay, Eugene, its your go."
The smaller boy managed to get halfway up the stairs when one of the rotten boards gave way and Eugene found himself hanging halfway inside the staircase. Arnold and Gerald hastened to his side and pulled him out. Eugene muttered, "Don't worry, I'm okay." The two boys dragged him back to the top of the staircase and safety.
Gerald took the other flashlight out of his pirate costume and turned it on. Then he said, "Come on, you guys. Let's go find a safe place till someone comes looking for us." For once not even Helga had something sarcastic to say. The five of them then turned and went inside the main part of the house, leaving the cellar behind them.
Just after they left, the cellar doors closed from the other side. None of them heard the sound of a chain being wrapped around the door handles and the metallic click of a lock being put into place.
To Be Continued . . .
Sorry about not being able to finish the story before Halloween. Computer issues keep slowing me up. I promise to have the story updated and completed as soon as I can. Stay tuned and read and review. Let me know what you think. -D.R.