Could it....work?
Michelle Clearwater sat comfortably in the passenger seat of her van, wondering what was in store for her this weekend. She was camping with her Girl Guide troupe and was anxious for tomorrow night, when the haunted house would take place. Michelle remembered with a smile the night when she and her friend, Nicole had excitedly volunteered a Halloween theme for the camp and had offered to provide a surprise activity. Nicole and Michelle discussed their options for a few minutes and decided on a haunted house. Of course, for maximum effect, it would have to be as much a secret as possible. Michelle recalled dreaming of exciting, though impossible concoctions to scare her peers.
She was jolted from her reminiscing when the van lurched into a gravel parking space. Michelle’s first night passed normally enough with the usual setting of the tents, hugging and chatting with friends as the sun quickly passed under the horizon and the sky became embroidered with stars. Nicole and Michelle made sure to reserve a tent for themselves, just in case they needed to discuss the ‘surprise activity’.
The next morning seemed to come unnaturally fast and the girls were reluctant to leave their warm sleeping bags that were packed with blankets against the fall chill. The troupe went groggily through the motions of making breakfast, still rubbing sleep out of their eyes and trying to warm their fingers that ached with the cold. After a few crafts, lunch approached. Michelle almost swore that it lasted only a few moments before they were hauling hot water back and forth for dishes. It seemed that the more that Michelle wanted time to slow down so she could try to brew a solid plan for the haunted house, time sped up. The troupe leader ordered the restless girls to go for a two-hour hike and Michelle was glad for the distraction. Her mind was preoccupied all morning by thoughts of the younger girls screaming in terror as fake spiders and cobwebs attacked from the shadows. Now, on the hike, her thoughts were focused on the crisp air and the burning of her legs as she struggled to help her patrol up the monstrous hill. She watched as the girls under her guidance spotted a hawk flying overhead and two deer bounding on the grass below their hill. Those magical moments were short lived as the wind picked up and hats and paper were thrown a few meters around the hill. Michelle’s patrol voted
- 1 -
unanimously to turn back and trek the three kilometers back to camp. They arrived sore and
weary, ready for a nap but instead forced to prepare supper. Michelle’s thoughts turned to the surprise activity as it slowly began to darken. Nicole gave Michelle a significant look and she knew it was time to start setting up the haunted house.
Michelle hurried up to the decrepit manor, its walls cracked in several places and fading paint was everywhere. The manor was warmer than the biting cold of the outdoors, but it was much creepier. The floor was hard and magnified the sound of every movement. The giant old stone fireplace by the front door was surrounded by walls that had been covered with a hundred camping crests from just about as many different Girl Guides or Boy Scout troupes. Nicole and Michelle made a small maze out of the handful of tables available. Next they taped up black streamers in the entryway to caress the faces of the jumpy participants. Placed expertly a few steps ahead were cotton spider webs attached to a broom that would fall and set off a large hairy spider that blinked and bounced and screamed at loud noises. Around the corner was a mat that yelled in a booming voice when it was touched ever so slightly. Placed on a shelf illuminated by pumpkin faced lights was a fake hand floating in a jar of water. Glow in the dark bones were scattered around the floor. A red strobe light lay unplugged on one of the tables. Michelle and Nicole had arranged it to their liking and stood for a moment and stared at the creepy assortment. The next step was adding the timing for the scares. They traced and retraced their steps through the makeshift maze, designing a plan for each other. Michelle voted that Nicole be the hostess for their evening, so that meant Michelle was going to have to orchestrate the behind the scenes scares. Michelle choreographed her routine. She ran through it several times, just to make sure that she had it down. Nicole would say,
“I’m taking attendance, please keep walking” and they would hit the spider webs and set off the spider. Then, Michelle would reach out from under one of the tables and snatch at legs of the stragglers. Darting behind the group, she’d slide under the table adjacent to her first hiding place, making a menacing hiss sound with her clothes. Nicole would direct their attention to the spider, spouting some sort of semi-believable gibberish and while the audience was focusing on Nicole, Michelle would sneak under the table a few steps away that had the strobe light. She could plug it in and then stand behind Nicole for precisely two clicks of the strobe light before
- 2 -
dashing under the same table. The kids would see Michelle, but before they could identify her, she’d be gone -or so she hoped. Then, it was up to Michelle to wreak quiet havoc behind the group by grabbing hands, feet or legs, tapping shoulders, or anything else she could think of.
Finally, they deemed themselves ready. Nicole and Michelle howled as loud as they could to signal to the girls milling about the campsite that the surprise activity was going to start. Michelle raced back inside the manor and quickly crouched into her primary hiding spot, hoping no one could see she, even with the minimal light. She grinned silently as the girls leading the group ran into the streamers hanging in the door and cried out with shock, causing those behind them to panic. Nicole said the, ‘I’m taking attendance’ line and a bunch of girls ploughed into the spider webs, knocking over the broom. Michelle waited for a heartbeat, but the spider didn’t respond in anyway. It just sat there. Michelle contained a sigh of disappointment as she steeled herself for her sprint across the path. She was about to go, but a group of legs was blocking her escape. They were everywhere! The group was slightly larger than anticipated. Nicole seemed to notice this as well as she made an effort to scoot the scared, huddled together girls forward.
Eventually an opening emerged and Michelle pitched her self forward as stealthily as she could as she landed under the table. Michelle poked her head out, saw an opportunity and took it as she lunged under a table behind her to plug in the strobe light. She attempted to slow her breathing as she fumbled with the extension cord. To her frustration, the plug refused to cooperate. She pushed as hard as she could, but to no avail. She gave one final push and heard a steady click . . . click . . . clicks of the strobe light. Michelle scampered out and stood behind the group . . . that wasn’t anywhere near where it was supposed to be. A sudden fear seized Michelle and she frantically tried to hide. So, forgetting how many times the light had clicked on and off scurried under the strobe light’s table. She narrowly missed smashing her head on the bottom of the table when the screeching mat went off. Michelle assumed that some of the girls had wandered away from the group and she rolled to the first table to avoid confrontation with said girls.
It was pandemonium! Girls were shrieking, Nicole attempted to regain control of the frazzled children and Michelle was trying her hardest to stay hidden. Michelle realized that the plan was in shambles. Unsure of who could and couldn’t see her in the inky gloom, she loped
- 3 -
toward the entrance in a half crouch. Michelle perceived that her breathing was loud and irregular. She sat on the cold linoleum and tried to patch together some descent scare tactics. Her back was against the wall and she couldn’t see any of the chaos behind her. All she could hear was that stomping of girls trying to flee immediate danger and howls of terror as they encountered more. Michelle imagined that if she was a terrified little girl, she would try to get to the exit as soon as possible. A devious grin spread itself across her face as she rose to a squat. She waited patiently, the maniac smile still in place. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Michelle detected the sound of at least one girl trying to make a break for freedom on their hands and knees. Her shoulders tensed as she eased into an intimidating stand. She paused until she heard a small hand scrabble on the tile floor. Michelle leaped! It seemed almost instinctive that an unearthly cry came from her throat and her hand flew into the air. Her victim fell, petrified onto the floor while Michelle cackled with glee. She saw to her enjoyment that a few girls were backed up behind the girl in the lead, staring up at Michelle with looks of panic etched onto their faces. The girls shuffled forward and hid behind a counter, recovering from their traumatic scare.
Michelle’s successful scare fueled her and she stooped near the exit, like a hunter awaiting the prey. Her eyes adjusted to the dim settings and she noticed a large group of girls hustling her way. Michelle prepared herself, slowly rising. At the right moment, she lunged! She landed in front of the girls, who were backing up and wailing from the menace in front of them. It took a minute, but they realized that it was not, in fact a monster going to eat them. Then they were pushing toward Michelle, claiming loudly how scared they weren’t and how lame that was. Michelle’s face split into a grin as Nicole emerged from the dark room. Nicole was laughing so hard she couldn’t speak, but clearly Nicole had as good of a time as Michelle did.
As they took down decorations and props, they excitedly retold the events. Eventually, the only thing left to put away was the shrieking mat.
“So, did you hear this thing go off?” Michelle asked, laughing softly.
“Yeah! When did you set it off? It was genius!” Nicole grinned. Michelle stopped.
“I thought you set it off.” Michelle said slowly. Nicole’s smile faded as she shook her head.
- 4 -
“Well . . . did anyone sneak off from the group?” Michelle offered. Nicole shook her head again. An uncomfortable silence began to stretch between them. The thought gnawed at Michelle, and she wrote it off to an accident. Maybe she’d brushed it in her frantic attempts to start up the strobe light. Or maybe, a mouse had run over it. Maybe Nicole miscounted and one of the smaller girls had gotten away. Or maybe, their haunted house was little more haunted than Nicole and Michelle had anticipated.
- 5 -