It's All Downhill from Here (3 page)

“All right, Maggie. Time for a little positivity,” Mrs. Kim said. “I'm hoping that you will come to think of this place as home.”

“Well, maybe,” Maggie said. “Once the intruders and the animals all leave.”

“With the alarm system and the fact that we have the only key, I'm a hundred percent sure the house is empty, but why don't you check it out?” Mr. Kim suggested.

Sophie smiled. “Come on, Mags. We can make it an adventure.”

Maggie finished chewing her bite of lo mein and then reluctantly slid her chair back and got up.

“Have fun exploring,” Mrs. Kim said. “I think once you get to know it, you'll love this place, Maggie. And be careful. No one has been in this house for a while.”

“Yeah, except Maggie's man in the window might be lurking in the shadows! Mwa-aaaa!” Simon teased, curling his hands into claws and making a scary face.

“That's not what I meant, Simon,” Mrs. Kim said quickly. “Just be sure there aren't any holes in the floor or falling plaster or other dangerous things. Now go have a good time.”

Maggie said nothing as she followed Sophie out of the dining room.

“But be careful!” Mrs. Kim repeated.

The two friends entered a long hallway.

“It sure is a big old house,” Sophie said. “You could get lost in here.”

“Just what I want to do,” Maggie said, turning to look at the peeling old wallpaper that covered the hallway. “Get lost in my own house.”

Then she stopped in her tracks.

“Did I just say that? ‘My own house.'”

“I won't tell a soul,” Sophie said, smiling.

Maggie started walking again to see where the hallway led and got a face full of cobwebs that had been hanging from the ceiling, waiting for a victim.

“Not again!” Maggie cried, clawing at her face to pull the sticky, filthy strands from her eyes and nose.

“Gotta watch where you're going, Mags,” Sophie offered.

“Yeah, thanks.”

They followed the hallway as it curved to the left. The light from the one working bulb in the ceiling grew dimmer as they walked. At the end of the hallway, they came to a door. Maggie stopped short.

“Well, go ahead and open it,” said Sophie. “It's not going to bite you.”

“What if the old man I saw is inside?” Maggie asked, genuinely afraid.

“Go ahead, Mags. It'll be okay. I promise.”

Maggie turned the knob and pushed the door open, its rusty hinges complaining as it swung inward.

Stepping into the room, she flipped the light switch, but nothing happened.

“I'll go back and get the flashlight,” said Sophie. She
turned and headed back down the hallway.

Maggie stepped farther into the room and noticed a dull light flickering. It was coming from a far corner in the back of the room.

What's that?
she wondered.

Crossing the room slowly, squinting in the soft light, she saw floor-to-ceiling bookcases stacked with musty old volumes. A round woven rug sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs and standing floor lamps. All this was difficult to see by the weak light that played around the room.

Then she stopped and stared.

“How is that possible?” she said aloud to no one, pointing to the source of the light.

In a far corner of the room, on a small round table, a single lit white candle sat in an old metal candlestick. Its flame danced and its flickering light reflected on the ceiling above.

“Who's here?” Maggie yelled out into the empty room.

Maggie dashed from the room as fast as she could. Turning the corner of
the hallway, she almost crashed into Sophie, who was on her way back with a
flashlight.

“Soph, hurry!” Maggie cried.

“Mags, you're white as a ghost. What happened?”

“Just come with me. You need to see this. Now!”

Maggie grabbed Sophie's hand and practically dragged her down the
hallway to the library.

“Let me turn the flashlight on so I can see what you want to show
me,” Sophie said as they hurried inside.

“No, no flashlight,” Maggie replied.

“Then how are we going to see where we're going?”

It was then that Maggie realized the flickering was gone. The room was
completely dark, except for the
light seeping in from the
hallway.

She snatched the flashlight from Sophie's hand and turned it on.
Crossing the room quickly, she trained the light on the small round table in the corner.
The single white candle was unlit.

“Sophie, I swear that this candle was lit a moment ago. Whoever lit
it must have blown it out when I went to get you. That means that there was someone in
this room!”

“No, Mags, wait,” Sophie said, reaching out and aiming the
flashlight beam at the candle. “Look at the wick. It's white, still coated
with wax. It's not burnt at all. This candle has never been lit.”

Maggie stared at the candle and saw that Sophie was right. “How can
that be?”

“Could you have imagined it?” asked Sophie.

“Don't you start now with the ‘it's only your
imagination' routine,” Maggie shot back. “It's bad enough when
my mom does it.”

Maggie sighed. This whole thing was getting creepier by the second.

“I have to tell my parents about this. I truly believe that there is
someone here in the house with us. They need to know.”

“Let's go,” Sophie said, seeing how
upset her friend was. The two girls returned to the dining room.

“Back so soon?” Mr. Kim asked. “All done
exploring?”

“Dad, there is most definitely someone in the house with us,”
Maggie said.

Mr. Kim looked right at his daughter and got up.

“Did you actually see someone?” he asked.
“Where?”

“Well, not exactly,” Maggie explained. “I walked into a
room and found a lit candle. I know that none of us lit the candle, unless Simon pulled
some kind of prank.”

“It wasn't me,” Simon shot back. “I've been
here the whole time, helping Mom clean up.”

“Okay, then. Someone must have lit that candle, right? Oh, and then
they blew it out and replaced it with another candle.”

“I'm not following you, honey,” Mrs. Kim said from the
kitchen.

“Come on, Maggie,” Mr. Kim said, grabbing his flashlight.
“I'll take a walk around the house with you. If there actually is someone
here, we'll find him.”

Maggie wasn't sure her dad believed her, but she was relieved and
pleased that he wanted to at least go with her to check out her story.

Sophie tagged along as Maggie and Mr. Kim headed back
down the hallway.

“This house really does need some work,” Mr. Kim said, looking
around at the peeling plaster and dangling cobwebs.

They reached the door at the end of the hallway.

“Okay, Dad, put on the flashlight,” Maggie said. “The
bulb in this room isn't working.”

Mr. Kim switched on the light, and Maggie led the way into the room.

The flashlight beam washed over the bookshelves and chairs in the
room.

“Looks like a study or a library,” Mr. Kim commented.

“That's what we thought,” Sophie said.

“Hello? Anybody in here?” Mr. Kim called out.

He led the girls into the room. Guided by his flashlight, they walked
around the edge of the room until they came to the table with the candle.

“Is this it?” Mr. Kim asked Maggie.

“Yeah,” she replied, looking back over her shoulder, half
expecting someone to jump out from behind a chair.

Mr. Kim aimed his light at the candle. “This candle's never
been lit, Maggie,” he said.

“I know, Dad,” Maggie said, worried that
maybe this tour of the house wasn't such a good idea after all. “But I swear
that I saw a lit candle. Then, in the time it took me to go get Sophie, that lit candle
was switched for this one. I can't explain how. I just know what I saw.”

“Well, there's nothing odd in this room,” Mr. Kim said,
heading back to the door. “Let's keep searching the house.”

With Maggie's father leading the way, the trio wandered from room to
room. Each door they came to, they opened. Most of the doors opened into dark, empty
rooms, filled with dust and cobwebs but no furniture, and certainly no people lurking in
the shadows. After they were finished searching the first floor, Mr. Kim went off by
himself and did a quick check of the second floor and attic as well.

“I've been through the entire house and didn't see
anyone or any sign of anyone, Maggie,” he said as he returned to the dining
room.

Maggie let out a big sigh of relief. She didn't have an explanation
for what she had seen, but she couldn't deny that it didn't seem like anyone
could be in the house. “All right, then, I'm going to go to bed.”

“Good night, honey,” Mrs. Kim said. “Sleep
tight.”

“Good night,” Maggie said, and then she
gave each of her parents a hug. “And thanks for reassuring me, Dad.”

“You betcha!” Mr. Kim said. “Sleep well.”

Maggie and Sophie grabbed their bags and headed up the staircase that led
to the second floor. The stairs were sagging and well-worn, but Maggie could see that
this had once been the grand staircase of a magnificent mansion. At the top of the
stairs, she and Sophie stepped into a wide hallway that led to a series of doors.

“Bedrooms, I guess,” Maggie said.

“Let's find out,” Sophie said, flinging open the first
door she came to.

Someone jumped out, right at the girls, crashing to the floor at their
feet.

“Ahh!” they both screamed, stumbling backward and landing on
top of each other. Looking down, they saw that what had leaped out at them was only an
old doll. Peering into the closet, they saw a mountain of toys and children's
clothing that had been piled up against the door.

“I feel dumb,” Maggie said as she and Sophie climbed back to
their feet.

“Well, that door obviously hasn't been opened in a really long
time,” Sophie said, picking up the doll,
tossing it back into
the closet, and slamming the door.

“Lucky us, huh?” Maggie said, brushing herself off.

“Girls, are you all right?” Mrs. Kim called from
downstairs.

“Fine, Mom!” Maggie yelled back.

“I heard a scream,” Mrs. Kim said.

“Everything's okay, Mom. Don't worry. We're going
to sleep.”

“All right. Good night, girls.”

“Good night, Mrs. Kim,” Sophie called down.

Continuing down the hall, they picked another door, swung it open, and
jumped back—just in case. This time, nothing sprang out. They flipped on the light
and stepped into a large bedroom with two beds.

Long, silk, flower-printed draperies hung from a bowed-out picture window
and flowed down to the floor. Each bed had a canopy with matching fabric. Two oak
dressers stood majestically on wooden floorboards that were scuffed from decades of
use.

“Ohh,” Sophie cooed. “Pretty. I want that
bed!”

She dropped her suitcase on the floor and flopped onto a bed. It creaked
as the mattress bounced up and down and finally came to rest.

“I didn't realize how tired I was,”
Sophie said. “I guess driving out to the middle of nowhere and eating cold Chinese
food takes a lot out of a girl.”

“What do you think the chances of getting cell service here
are?” Maggie asked, sitting on her bed and pulling out her cell phone.

“Slim to none gets my vote,” Sophie replied, glancing at her
own phone.

“Nothing. Not even a hint of a bar,” Maggie said.

“Ooh, cut off from civilization!” Sophie said in a
creepy-sounding voice. “Adds to the fun.”

“Now you're starting to sound like my dad!” Maggie said,
laughing.

“Your dad is a pretty cool guy, you know, walking around the house
with us to make you feel better,” Sophie pointed out.

“Yeah, I know,” Maggie admitted. “I just wish he
wasn't so gung-ho about buying this place.”

She grabbed her bag and headed down the hallway toward the bathroom. She
turned on the faucet. It squealed in protest, then spat out brown water.

“Eww!” she cried, stepping back. “Maybe I won't
brush my teeth.”

But in a few seconds the water started running clear,
and Maggie braved brushing her teeth.

Must have just needed a minute to get back to
normal,
Maggie thought, swishing a mouthful around before spitting it into
the sink.

After both girls finished getting ready for bed, Maggie turned off the
light and they slipped under their covers.

“Do you think your parents are really going to go through with all
this?” Sophie asked in the darkness and then yawned.