Panting and sweating, they held each other closely, maybe it has stopped they thought, just then they heard footsteps and the children held themselves tighter in fear of what is lurking behind the closed door.
Just then the door clicks open and then…
Some hours back
“Mom.. Dad, wake up!”. A tiny little voice screamed running to the other room to wake up his sisters.
Barging into his sister’s room, he screamed louder.
“Oh, shut up Smith, it is still midnight, we are trying to sleep here, shoo away,” Mel replied chasing off her brother with her hands and eyes closed.
Helena however, didn't seem to budge at the scream of their brother. Footsteps were heard and then came their dad with a baseball bat and their mom, a frying pan in hand both heaving continually.
Protecting their kids, their dad spoke up, ”Are you guys okay?” he asked panting heavily.
Alerted by their parent's stance, Mel scrambled off her feet,
“Is everything okay mom?.”
“We thought we heard screams”, her mother replied looking at both kids before she walked over to check Helena who wasn’t disturbed by their conversations.
“Oh guys, Mel face-palmed, have you both forgotten we have an added screaming machine in the house?” Mel questioned looking at her parents.
“We do? “questioned back her parents in unison.
“Yes we do and surprisingly, this machine got a name, and it is behind you right now”. She replied.
“I can’t see anything Mel, when did you and your siblings get something without telling us?.” her mother questioned.
“We didn’t mom, you and dad did, you brought in a screaming machine to the family six years ago and we all have to pay the sin. “Mel groaned.
Getting to understand, her mother stared back at her sternly, ”your brother is no machine Mel, he is human and I carried him for nine months like I did you and your little sister.”
“Then, why are you both with a weapon thinking we are under attack?” she questioned.
“You know how excited your brother always gets whenever we plan to go out,” opening the window, their mother continued, it is almost morning, wake up your sister and let’s get ready for the journey.
“Yay!” screamed Smith with a happy tone.
“Let's go, boy,” their father said, picking up Smith and leaving the others in the room.
“Mel, Helena, hurry up guys, we need to move, your brother can’t wait for the journey to begin." Said their mother as she walk towards the children's room to check if they are prepared.
“Mom, you do not know how I had to work so hard to wake Helena, it was a tough one,” Mel replied, closing her traveling box.
Rolling her eyes Helena replied, ”stop being so dramatic Mel, I woke up to a tap of your hand?”
“Oh, you did?.. Need I remind you how Smith screamed his lungs out earlier and you didn’t even budge?” Melissa questioned with her left eyebrow up.
Before Helena could reply, her mother answered... "We need to move now, we don’t want to be late on our first day of the family vacation, you know it Is just a week left to return to school,” kissing the girl's cheeks, she continued, ”two minutes more to go.” She muttered.
“Finally, here they are, let us move guys “Smith screamed moving up his feet in the car.
“How come you never got a parched throat with your screams?” Helena asked with her arms akimbo.
“Come in guys, we have a very long drive ahead of us. “said their dad..
Walking towards the car, the girls got into the back of the car to join their brother and their mother joined seconds later sitting with their father at the front as the journey began.
After hours of driving and intense arguments, they finally got to their destination.
“Finally, I can breathe in fresh air “Mumbled Helena coming down from the car.
“Wow, it is a wooden house, and it looks old.” Said Mel, coming down too.
“We decided to come here for the holiday, it is in the wood and close to nature, there is falling water out and lots of fun around." Their father explained.
“Are we there yet?” questioned a sleepy Smith.
“Yes we are honey, let’s get you down” his mother replied putting him down having carried him some minutes back.
Opening his eyes, he jumped, “Oh dad, this is great and the surrounding is bigger, we can play hide and seek here” screamed Smith.
“I love him better when he is asleep” muttered Helena.
“Seconded” Mel added smiling.
Their father opened the car trunk and they all took their boxes and went in.
“How did you get to find this house dad? Helena questioned walking side by side with her father as Smith ran past.
“Your mother and I saw it online while surfing through the internet in search of places to spend the holiday.” Replied her father.
Entering the house, their mother sighed, ”we need to clean up, there is little dust around and you know I don’t like specks of dust.”
After lots of arguments in choosing rooms, they all got ready to dust the house.
“Hey Mel, come here “whispered Helena… “I think this place got a basement.”
Walking over, they both stared at the closed door and decided to get in, after different failed attempts to get the door open they decided to give it one more trial before completely giving up, and just then, it clicked open.
They high-five themselves and walked into a dusty basement.
“Oh shit, they seem to be more dust here." Muttered Helena.
“And a lot of stuff too, paintings, boxes, and mannequins.” Added Mel.
“Ouch Helena screamed holding her legs up, what is that?” She asked.
“What is what? Are you okay?” Mel asked.
“Yes I am, my leg hit one of the boxes laying around, picking up a shiny box she held it up for her sister to see, what is this?" She questioned again.
“Well, there is only one way to find out” Mel replied.
They both walked out of the basement hiding the flat shiny box..
“What are you guys hiding?” Questioned Smith.
“Hush..Smith you have a loud voice, go and play and mind your business," Helena replied shooing his brother away.
“It can get louder and mom will be here in seconds” threatened Smith.
After minutes of staring at themselves, Mel broke off the stare and urged her siblings to her room.
Getting seated on the wooden floor, they opened the box to find there was a game in it.
“A boo game?” Smith read, “What kind of a game is a boo game?”
“Well I have never heard of it before, let’s Google how to play a boo game” Mel replied.
Just then the light flickered and light footsteps were heard.
“I think someone is coming” Helena muttered.
Just then a knock was heard.
Hiding the game, Mel stood up and walked to the door with a smile to keep her mom or dad out. But instead, she met no one.
“Well that is weird, there is no one at the door” Mel whispered.
“What do you mean there is no one?” Questioned Helena standing up but before she could get to Mel, the door handle yanked off Mel's hand and the door closed with a loud bang.
A bit scared the children tried opening the door but all was to no avail.
A loud laugh echoed and the children held themselves tightly.
“Who is that Mel questioned, protecting her siblings.
A laugh erupted again and a swoosh sound was heard.
The light flickered on and off again.
And the children held themselves tightly.
“Mom, Dad!” the children screamed and just then a voice screamed “boo” close to their ears and the kids scrambled off and ran to the bathroom closing it.
They held each other together for hours, thinking about what had happened and how they could escape.
Present time
Panting and sweating, they held each other closely, maybe it has stopped they thought, just then they heard footsteps and the children held themselves tighter in fear of what is lurking behind the closed door.
Just then the door clicks open and then… A hand curled on Helena and she screamed pushing the person off her.
“Helena!” a familiar voice screamed, she opened her eyes to see her parents and siblings besides her.
“Oh baby, what happened” her mother questioned coming closer. Hugging her tightly her mother whispered sweet words to her.
Crying, she spoke up, “I had a dream, we..we.. Hiccuping she continued. ..We went for a vacation in a wooden house and.. And… then Mel and I found a box which we opened with Smith and then a ghost appeared when we said the name of the game 3 times.”
“Oh honey, you’ve been asleep the whole day, I asked Mel to wake you up for lunch since you didn't wake up earlier when we had a plan to go on vacation but your father got an emergency call." Her mother explained.
“So we aren’t going for a vacation then?”
“Your father got a job contract and so we are going to see my mom in New York.
“Pheew, thank God.”