"Do you catch a breath
When I look at you?
Are you holding back
Like the way I do?
'Cause I'm trying, trying to walk away
But I know this crush ain't going away."
—Crush by David Archuleta

Chapter 5: The Haunted Mansion

We were staring directly at the back of the mansion. It was fifty feet or so away from us.

Leslie was the first one to break the silence. "H-holy brown cow! It's the famous haunted castle!"

Huh? Oh, right. I know what she's getting at. I turned to Leslie and saw her green eyes light up. Here it comes, the moment we've all been waiting for.

"To the ruins, my king," Leslie exclaimed in her royal voice as she grabbed my hand—not that I minded. I blushed lightly, though.

We first explored the sides of the mansion. The rusted gate was filled with vines that reached the top. There was a large padlock hanging on the front gate, and the only way to enter the mansion was through climbing the gate. My parents would kill me if they knew I'd been here.

"It really is gigantic, huh?" Leslie said, awed. "The kingdom that lost in the Great Terabithian War a hundred years ago." As she said this, it seemed like a déjà vu to me.

As if in response, there was a sudden breeze. I looked around, alert if anything came out.

Leslie stopped walking and turned to me. "Jess, what if the Wicked One lives there?" She pointed at the ruins. "And is keeping a prisoner?"

Does she mean the rumored ghost? I shrugged. "I don't know, Les. We can't even go inside."

"We'll climb the gate," Leslie insisted.

"But it's off limits and you-know-what!" I protested.

"Jess, Katharine Hepburn said, 'If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun,'" she calmly said.

Sighing in defeat, I shook my head. Wise words, Leslie. I definitely learned something new today.

I climbed the gate after Leslie was already on the other side. "Who lived here again, Jess?" she asked as I jumped down beside her.

"The Alsons," I whispered, afraid that someone might hear us. "Dad said that Henry Alson, the owner and husband of Trina Alson, was a successful businessman. He died because he fell on the grand staircase."

"Oh. Do they have a child?"

"Yeah. Dimitri Alson. They moved to New York after the accident."

The lot was full of overgrown bushes and tall weeds, you couldn't see much of the gate anymore. As expected from a place that was abandoned for many years. But the mansion, even with vines and plants crawling all around, still looked preserved.

"Jess, look!" Leslie hissed.

I stared at where she was pointing and saw a dirty greenhouse. It must've looked majestic when it'd still been taken care of. We walked toward it. Leslie peered into the glass door and frowned. "That's weird."

"What's weird?" I asked as I also peered inside.

"The inside looks...very clean." Finding that the door was unlocked, she opened it, and then I gaped. True enough, the inside of the greenhouse looked good as new. Tomato plants were in an organized line. Different kinds of flowers that were in full bloom were on the opposite side. There were even hanging plants on the ceiling. We stepped into the greenhouse and found out there were more vegetables in the back row.

"Does this mean..." I faltered.

"That someone lives here? Yes, I think so, too," Leslie finished.

000

It was almost three in the afternoon when Leslie and I were back at the tree house.

"Now," Leslie said as she sat on the floor. "The arrow carvings, the plants inside the greenhouse...I conclude that someone really lives there. But we don't know who."

"Or what," I added, sitting beside her. "That was something, huh?"

She smiled tiredly. "Yeah. I tell you, Jess—that path we've taken in the forest was the shortcut to the haunted castle."

I grinned. "The secret magical shortcut to the haunted castle."

Leslie giggled. "Yeah, that. Let's keep this to ourselves for now. We'll go back there next week to know if anything's changed."

Now my queen was hyped on solving the mystery, and she was infecting me. I didn't mind, though. In fact, I was starting to like mysteries.

"It seems that whoever's living there," Leslie surmised, "is keeping away unwanted visitors. They don't want to know that the mansion's currently occupied."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Remember what Janice said? That she saw something from one of the upper windows?"

She nodded. "But when I looked at said window—well, I looked at all of the windows, actually—there was nothing there but curtains. Maybe the person who's living there didn't know we were in the vicinity."

I shuddered. "Makes sense. So, what do we do now?"

"How 'bout we practice scene four?" Leslie suggested out of the blue.

I gaped at her. Flutters of both nerves and excitement hit my stomach, but I firmly shoved them down.

Leslie rolled her eyes at my stupid reaction. "C'mon, Jess. I think we can concentrate more if we practice the scene in private rather if we practice it at school with tons of people watching us," she countered.

She does have a point. Wait, is it getting hot in here or what? "O-okay." Leslie didn't seem nervous, so why should I?

She only thinks of you as a best friend, that's why.

Stupid negative thoughts.

Leslie got a pillow and blanket from the trunk, and then prepared them on the wooden floor. "We'll pretend that the three fairies are here...hmm, Terabithian Fairies...yes, could work," she mumbled to herself.

"I don't have a line in this scene, right?" I clarified.

"Yep. Though I guess you can add something when you wake up."

I lay down on the blanket, closed my eyes, and felt Leslie by my side, kneeling.

"Oh! What a beautiful princess!" she exclaimed in a deep, boyish voice. I tried to ignore the tightening feeling in my stomach.

Hey, that should be my line, Les! I thought. But the "princess" should be replaced with "queen."

"Fairies appear...fairy one, blah, blah, blah...fairy two, blah...fairy three if you truly love her, then a kiss...yes..." Leslie said.

I tightened my eyes and could feel Leslie leaning down toward my face. My hands were getting sweaty now, and my chest was ready to burst any second.

Dear God, help me!

Now I could really feel Leslie, her breath tickling my cheek. My stomach squirmed with excitement or anxiety as she leaned in. This is it. I don't care if it's on the cheek or lips. As long as it's a kiss from Les—

"Jesse! Leslie!" a voice shouted from below. "Are you up there?"

Strangely relieved and disappointed at the same time, I quickly opened my eyes just in time to see Leslie jump at the sudden interruption, then she fell backwards onto the floor. "Oww."

I suddenly stood up to help her. "You all right, Les?"

She nodded and muttered "thanks." Together, we looked down at the window and saw May Belle standing with an impish grin on her face.

May Belle and Joyce Ann were the only people aside from us who knew about our secret. That's because they'd always kept bugging the two of us to play with them and kept asking what we were doing in the woods four years ago. So, we hadn't had any other choice but to tell them the truth. She was the "Princess of Terabithia," while Joyce Ann was the "Younger Princess of Terabithia."

"Hey, you two!" she exclaimed. "Um, Leslie, are you frowning? And why are both of your faces red?"

I shook my head. "W-what're you talking about, May? Geez, you're just i-imagining things."

"Then why are you stuttering?" she shot back.

Smart brat.

Before I could reply, Leslie answered, "We were just surprised, May Belle. That's all."

May Belle tilted her head questioningly. "Surprised...?" Then something clicked in her naughty brain. "Oooh! Jesse and Leslie sitting on a tree! K-I-S—"

"We were not kissing!" Leslie and I shouted at the same time. May Belle had almost got it right, though. Not that I was going to admit it to her.

May Belle laughed out loud. "Both of your faces are now red as ripe tomatoes!"

I did everything in my power not to strangle my little sister on the neck. "What do you want?" I growled down at her instead.

She stopped laughing. "Gosh, that was so fun! Anyway, it's not me who wants something from you. Mom asked me to get you to go grocery shopping with her in town."

I jumped down from the tree house, now standing right in front of her. "How 'bout you accompany Mom instead?"

My little sister smiled innocently at me. "You don't treat your princess like that, King. And I still have homework to do. I also wanted to ask the Queen of Terabithia if she can help me with it."

I rolled my eyes. Leslie giggled as she jumped down. "Of course I'll help you, Princess of Terabithia. So, what subject is it?"

"Math, if you don't mind. I can't ask help from Jess if it concerns numbers."

"Numbers with letters," I corrected May Belle. "I'm too lazy to look for the problems' exes since freshman year."

"Well, everyone has strengths and weaknesses, anyway. Don't feel bad, Jess," Leslie said, patting my shoulder.

"Except for Leslie Burke. She doesn't have any weaknesses," I said with a grin.

She shoved me on the shoulder. "You forgot drawing, silly. That's my weakness."

"Oh. But last time I checked in our art class last year, your eel looked like a Chinese dragon."

"Aha-ha-ha," she laughed sarcastically.

"No joke." I did my best to keep a straight face. "You're improving at drawing."

"Is it okay if you're gonna help me with my homework at our house?" May Belle asked Leslie, ignoring our bantering as we headed home. "So that Joyce Ann will have company. We'll have the whole place to ourselves."

Leslie smiled. "Sure!"

Great. There'd be an all-girls homework party at our house. At least Ellie and Brenda weren't around. They were both studying at a university somewhere in Indiana where Mom's parents lived, which was a relief for me. But I kind of missed their teasing and bickering around the house and their famous line "weird and weirder."

Then, I suddenly remembered who Leslie would be hanging out with tomorrow after church.

Nigel Groban.