by Hallie Parker
One bitter cold night in the middle of October, Lucy, Wes, Eli, and Jessie were strolling to Lucy’s house to spend the night. All of a sudden, huge storm clouds started rolling in. They all glanced for shelter. “Over there!” Eli said pointing to a very aged house. The group hurried over. Jessie opened the door. As soon as they stepped in, the door shut and locked. They were trapped.
“What is this place?” Wes asked. “I would tell you if I could see in the dark!” Eli responded. Suddenly, the lights flickered. It was enough time for Lucy to see a sign. “I think this place is called Lakeside Manor,” Lucy told them. Then the lights turned on completely. She pointed to the sign. The lights turned back off. They heard a girl scream. When the lights turned back on again, Lucy was gone. “Lucy, where are you?!” No response. ”This is not funny!” Jessie said. Still no response. “Let’s split up and look for her.” Wes suggested. Jessie went upstairs, while Wes approached the basement. Eli stayed right where he was. It was time to find Lucy!
“Lucy, are you down here?” Wes called. It was very dim and deadly silent. He roamed around looking for any sign of Lucy. Wes’ head hit something hanging from the ceiling. It was a light switch. Wes pulled it, and the room flooded with light. There were boxes scattered everywhere. In the boxes were books, photographs, and bones. “Lucy has to be in this house somewhere,” Wes thought. This place creeped him out. Wes then heard a girl scream. The clock hanging on the wall fell as it struck midnight. Wes hurried to the stairs, but as he stepped on a rock on the ground, three pieces of paper fell from the ceiling. The first one had an L on it. The second one had a U on it. The third had a C on it. Wes had to find Eli and Jessie.
“Lucy, where are you?” Jessie shouted. The upstairs had many rooms for her to search. She decided to go into the master bedroom first. The paint was chipped and faded. Jessie looked under the bed and behind the dresser. No sign of Lucy. She searched the other rooms just as thoroughly. Jessie realized that she forgot to check the room in the back. As soon as she walked in, Jessie realized that it was a really run down library. But instead of books on the shelves, there were bones. Then she heard a girl scream. The clock hanging on the wall fell as it struck midnight. Jessie headed for the stairs, but stepped on a rock on the ground. Three pieces of paper fell from the ceiling. The first one had a Y on it. The second had an A on it. The third had a T on it. She had to find Wes and Eli.
“Lucy, please tell me you are around here!” Eli shouted. “This place is creepy!” Every room he went into had piles of bones everywhere! Most of the rooms looked antiquated, but one looked modern. The only problem with the room was that there were spiders and cobwebs everywhere! He ran out of the room quickly. Then he heard a girl scream. The clock hanging on the wall fell as it struck midnight. Eli rushed through the hallway, but stepped on a rock on the ground. Three pieces of paper fell from the ceiling. The first one had a T on it. The second had an I on it. The third had a C on it. Eli had to find Jessie and Wes.
Jessie, Eli, and Wes all dashed around looking for each other. Soon, they collided in the moonlit kitchen. “Guess what I found!” they all shouted together. They read their pieces of paper. “Are we supposed to unscramble them?” Eli asked. “Sure.” Jessie responded. So they did. “Yule tatic? Culy Catit?” Wes guessed. “Wait, that doesn’t spell yule or culy, it spells Lucy! The other letters don’t spell tatic or catic, they spell attic!” Jessie cried. They climbed the stairs two at a time, eager to find Lucy. But when they opened the door, it was not what they expected.
“Oh hello.” Lucy said. “What!” the rest of them screamed. “You scared us! What happened?” they asked. “A spider landed on my head so I screamed and sprinted upstairs. I screamed again because it followed me.” Lucy told them. “But what about the papers that said ‘Lucy Attic’?” Eli asked. “Are you sure they spelled ‘Lucy Attic’?” She held up a diary that belonged to Lacy Uttic. A key slipped out. “It’s the house key! Let’s get out of here!” So they did.
This writing is part of a collection featured in the 2020 Celebrate the Arts Writing Contest, an annual contest hosted by The Arts Council of Westerville, Westerville Public Library and the ThisWeek Westerville News & Public Opinion as one of many events organized by the Arts Council to mark April as “Celebrate the Arts” month in Westerville.
