WHAT MIGHT COME BACK
By Sheila M. Curtin

the floor above, in the vicinity of the Pink Bedroom. Wendall shook his head sadly and said seems the night starts early, turned and walked out the front door to the limo waiting in the driveway. The Paulson's looked to the ceiling above, wondering among themselves what exactly had fallen and crashed, better still, just what had knocked it over. Mr. Denke extended his hand to Ted Paulson, shook it vigorously and said, I wish you luck, and hope to find you all in good health in the morning.

Ted wished the man a good night, and locked the door behind him. The house was quiet and warm and Ted was confident that as long as everybody stuck together, there would be no problems encountered during their night in the house. The girls were excited about being on TV, chattering between themselves of how jealous this one and that one would be when the show was aired. They wanted to go and explore the house on their own, but Ted thought it would be best if they explored it as a family, just in case the producers had installed any tricks or phony phantoms in any of the rooms to make them leave both the house and the ten thousand dollar prize behind. He heard Doris' stomach growl, and thought poor woman, she's had nothing to eat all evening, so he declared first let's eat and then we'll explore this place on our own. He took out a little map of the house from his shirt pocket, decided which was the quickest way to the dining room and then directed everybody to follow him. The house seemed to get colder as they ventured deeper inside, and both girls were shaking from the cold when they finally found the dining room. Doris hugged the girls close saying she'd warm everybody up with some hot chocolate, and put some water on the stove to boil.

Steam began to rise from the kettle along with its whistle, rising to the ceiling where it seemed to etch words as if written by an unseen hand. Unwelcome here tonight was what Doris could have sworn was written in vapor letters on the

ceiling above the stove. That voice began to nag her again, too late Doris you've lost your chance, but again she pushed it to the back of her mind, attributing it once again to an overactive imagination. She placed four cups of hot chocolate on the table along with the Kentucky Fried Chicken she'd brought along and invited her family to the table.

Ted and the girls ate as if they'd been starving, and Doris plugged in the little hand-held TV she sometimes took with her to work. She was watching Wheel of Fortune and guessing the phrases, much better than the contestants, and didn't notice the girls slip from the dining room and proceed up the stairs.

What do you want to see first, Liz asked Verdin, who answered promptly the Crying Room, and both girls took off down the corridor determined to examine the room and discover what could possibly make a room cry. The closer they got to the end of the corridor, the colder it felt and the more noticeable the odor became to Verdin. She stood outside the Crying Room, unable still to enter both from the odor and the freezing temperature. She saw her words appear as steam in the freezing air as she spoke them, wondering what possibly could be making the place so cold. Liz stood behind her, laughing, telling her that she couldn't believe those producers could be so stupid as to pay them ten thousand dollars just to spend one night. Verdin agreed, saying the place wasn't nasty at all, some of the bedrooms looked quite comfortable, and just as they were about to turn around and go back down the stairs, she heard a sound like dripping water coming from the room.

Liz stared at her for a moment inquiring, what's that Vee, and before Verdin could put her hand out to stop her, she'd turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. The room was indeed crying, tears of blood, falling from the ceiling to the floor, dripping down the walls. Both girls felt as if they were being pushed from behind, towards the room. They looked from one to the other and then took off in the other direction, trying to get back down the corridor and down the stairs to their mother sitting in the kitchen. The walls of the corridor began to bleed now also, forming words in great red letters along the wall to

their right, kill you all now they read, and their hearts began to race as their fear began to mount.  Something gray and spiky had come out of the Pink Bedroom and was now standing at the end of the corridor, blocking the stairs. Verdin ignored it and tried to run past but it seemed to reach for her as she passed, and suddenly she felt a sharp pain as if something had bitten her. They kept on going, both girls now screaming in fear. Their father met them as they got halfway down the stairs.

Didn't I tell you girls to wait he scolded, still unaware of what they'd seen and experienced. Suddenly, he noticed blood dripping from Verdin's arm. See now, you've cut yourself he said, leading them back to their mother in the dining room. She was the first to notice the tear in Verdin's shirt. What happened, she demanded, pulling the arm of the shirt up to reveal torn flesh. It appeared as if something had taken an enormous bite out of Verdin's arm.

Crashing noises and vile obscene phrases could now be heard from the various rooms, and objects began to fly from shelves and walls, striking the family as they ducked for cover. Strange grey shapes began to take form in their midst, surrounding the family and trapping them inside the room. Whatever evil lurked within the Maagsten House began to attack them in earnest, biting and pinching the girls as their mother and father tried to protect the children against the spectral menace. Suddenly something grabbed Doris by her hair and slammed her head against the table, knocking the woman unconscious.

Ted stood by helplessly, held at bay by two of the gray specters as the attack continued against his wife and daughters. He began to pray for God to give him the strength to help them before they were torn to pieces. As he began to recite the Our Father, the attack diminished in scope, and Ted was finally able to grab his wife and daughters and race for the door. It was locked, and only too late did he realize he'd left the keys on the dining room table. Again the specters had the family trapped, and again focused on the girls, pinching and biting and tearing at the girls as Ted tried to ward them off. It was impossible. He huddled them against the door and instructed them to

CONTINUE TO PAGE FOUR...