Exceptional a horror story Short : Mansion by Bill Schott Horror Story Writing Contest contest entry

Mills was expecting a sign of hope, which wasn't Nick's head rolling by like a hairy soccer ball. This trip to the haunted mansion on the Dither estate was proving to be the second worst decision of his teenaged life. "Let's go and bust up the old mansion!" Oscar had offered, as the group of eleven potential high school seniors sat in the late afternoon of that fateful August day. "It will be a gas!" Remembering that line, 'It will be a gas' made a bit of food regurgitate into his mouth. How could ten of Ditherton High School's best and brightest end up in this life and death situation? Though there were actually eleven young men here, no one considered Pogo either one of the best or especially bright. What he lacked in intellect he made up in sheer mass. Quentin, Pogo's brother, used the behemoth like a gangster leader would use his henchmen. Q's ideas were usually agreed on because of twenty factors. One was his charm and persuasive manner. The other nineteen were the foolish guys who were corrected, with extreme prejudice (at the high school level), by Pogo's unforgiving fists. Those high-profile arguments smoothed the way to capitulation. Regent and St. John, who were referred to as Rinjun and Sinjun, were twins who, although identical, were easily identified from each other. A childhood illness had affected Sinjun's growth. He was ten inches shorter than his six foot tall sibling, wore thick glasses, due to weak eyesight, and walked with a noticeable limp. The limp was there despite corrective shoes to level his legs which were an inch different in length. Taco, whose name was really Tomas, U. Q. Za, an Asian kid who just showed up, Virgil the Virgin, and Winchell filled out the membership of the group. "If we're going," chimed Nick, " we need to take some stuff with us." "Such as?" asked Q. "Such as some spray paint," he answered. " Grafitti?" asked Rinjun. "Unless you want us to paint your butt so you can leave cheek prints on the staircase." quipped his brother. "Is there still stuff there to swipe?" asked Nick. " Everything that wasn't nailed down has been carted out of there already," said Mills. "So we had better take a couple of crowbars to pry up what's left," said Q, laughing. Tomas, Sing (aka U.Q.Za), Virgil, and Winchell simply nodded at everything and each other. Within an hour the delinquents were on the estate.  Separating, they tried to enter the huge home through different, boarded up passages. "Pogo," said Q, as a command. "Rip those boards off the window." He complied and within a minute the two entered through the huge, oversized, windowless opening. Within two steps, Pogo's mind was taken over by the ghost of Dexter Dithers. "You are trespassing!" shouted a Dither-driven Pogo. "Now you will die!" Before Q could formulate a response, his brother shoved a crowbar through his head, gave a quick, snapping twist, then yanked it from his body. The head was tossed back out the window opening as Dither directed the hulking frame he inhabited towards the sound of cracking boards. Tomas, Sing, Virgil, and Winchell had all come up through an opening in the floor. They had crawled several feet under the palatial edifice until locating a floor door. Immediately after the fourth teen emerged from the opening, all were grabbed in a huge bear hug by Dither, via Pogo's engulfing embrace. Crunching like a sack of pretzels, the condemned quartet were reduced to a semi-fused glob of dead flesh. Their spray paint cans gushed yellow and orange hues that mixed with the scarlet blood and flowed from the gory mess.   Entering in through a garden window that was open, though completely filled with vines and sapling trees, Nick lightly hit the floor of a small library. One huge bookcase remained, but it had been knocked down to the floor. It lay, slightly elevated on one end, by an old map table, in the center of the room. Through the same window, Oscar and Mills gained entrance as well. The door to the room suddenly split in the middle after a loud smashing sound. Something was knocking down the door. Mills dove under the bookcase as Oscar jumped over it and grabbed Nick. "Gotta get outta here, man!" The door exploded inward and Pogo entered the room. The two boys, initially relieved that the threat was only the innocuous Pogo, were soon frightened and in utter disbelief as the giant grabbed each by his head with his huge hands. Oscar's skull was compressed to form one bloody meatball that sat atop his body. Nick's head was popped off like a loose cork and went bouncing past the bookcase. Mills stifled a scream as he watched Nick's head bobble past. After the monster left the room, Mills crawled quickly across the floor and exited through the same window he'd entered. Once outside, he ran like a scalded dog to the perimeter wall. From that place he turned to see Rinjun and Sinjun bolting out the front door of the building. Rinjun leaped from the top of the concrete steps to the base, ten feet down. Sinjun, unfortunately slower, was taken up by the abominable Pogo and ripped in half. Seeing Mills, standing paralyzed with fear at the wall, Rinjun began running to him. Mills watched as the charging goliath caught up to the remaining twin. Holding the frightened teen in front of him and making eye contact with Mills, Pogo ripped first one arm then the other from Rinjun's body. Dropping him to the grey and reddening grass, he then leaped onto the boy's frame and flattened it into the ground. Moving to Mills, the mountain grabbed him and threw him over the twelve-foot wall. He landed with a crunch on his shoulder. He could hear Pogo beating his own head against the wall inside. The sound became that of a mushy melon being slapped against a hard spot. Then, nothing. Mills dragged and walked his way back to the main road and eventually flagged down a ride. Once home, his story was checked out and the bodies of ten teens were extracted from the mansion. A year later, in a meeting with some freshman college friends, Mills brought up an idea for an adventure. "Let's go and bust up the old Dither mansion! It will be a gas!" This would be his third trip there.      Recognized Author Notes Image from Google

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