Treasure Hunters
One of my favourite Halloween flash fictions to date: enjoy!!
The dilapidated brownstone mansion, formerly known as the palatial home and estate of the famously eccentric millionaire tycoon Jacques K. DuMaurier, had clearly seen better days, AJ thought to herself. The poorly maintained structure shifted restlessly on its foundations as the chilly October winds howled through the neighborhood. AJ twitched for a second, as the briefest hint of ethereally soft cries and ghostly moans floated on the wind, for a couple seconds, and then silence fell again like a heavy curtain.
“It’s just your imagination,” AJ admonished herself, as she wrapped her midnight blue overcoat tightly around her willowy frame. “Get your head straight! There’s no such thing as ghosts!” She gently tapped herself on the temple twice, then refocused on the upcoming task at hand, as her grizzled soft-spoken mentor Alec Mackenzie sauntered up the hill, from the shadows surrounding a stately oak tree. AJ glanced at him, then queried, “It’s time, is it?” Alec’s only reply was a flicker of a wry smile and two taps on the military-grade comm ear bud in his left ear.
Three seconds after the taps were delivered, six people sized shadows emerged from the inky blackness on the far end of the sleepy street and headed on a beeline for Alec & AJ. Their faces were obscured, but AJ took a long look at the varied silhouettes and walking patterns, and made highly educated guesses at the identities of the silent individuals before her. Rogues and ne’er-do-wells to the last, but all six of these treasure hunter “colleagues” had undeniable talent and drive in this field, reason enough to trust them for this single lucrative score, with $150 million of DuMaurier’s missing fortunes somewhere inside his cavernous mansion. Alec silenced the alarms with his usual efficiency, unlocked the butler’s door on the west wing, and stood aside to allow the other seven to slip inside. AJ entered first, took two steps to the side, and tapped each member on the left shoulder, murmuring their call-sign as they passed by, from Gamma to Theta. Alpha and Beta were solely reserved for Alec and AJ, respectively, from the inception of this risky endeavor.
While Alec secured the butler’s door deadbolts and cautiously scanned the street for police unit headlights, AJ let her eyes get used to the semi-darkness that was interrupted somewhat by the silver gleams of moonlight that filtered through a couple bay windows at the far end of the room. She took several deep breaths in, acclimating to the mansion’s distinct odors of aged leather furniture, DuMaurier’s favourite brand of pipe tobacco, and other foreign smells. A couple seconds of scanning the interior, and AJ found the spiral staircase that led to the upper three levels of the mansion. She ascended it quickly, with three of the shadowy cohorts in her wake, while the other three followed Alec in his search of the ground floor, garages, and basement levels.
Two of her cohorts split off at the second level’s landing, the third at the next landing, and AJ went upwards to her assignment on the fourth floor. She moved her slender feet along the hallway, checking for loose floorboards and echoes in the wall as she went, but she failed to notice a painting push away slightly from the wall just behind her. Suddenly, a strong serpentine coil latched onto her right bicep in the blink of an eye and pinned her arms down, then spun her into a false wall panel that led to an otherworldly space that was filled with an angry purple light. AJ had enough time to release a brief squeak of horror as she saw a multitude of grim-faced ghosts and assorted ghouls surrounding her, then the ghostly snake that had wrapped around her slid massive coils over her eyes and mouth. The last things she heard before she was mercifully knocked unconscious was her captor’s harsh hiss; “To the basement, you lot! It’s time to play with our food! Let the Halloween Revels begin!”
Four and a quarter hours later, Halloween night ended, and the ghostly group reluctantly let AJ go free from the DuMaurier mansion. With their gleeful howls echoing in her ears and a cascade of horrifying images burned into her memory, AJ staggered away from the basement steps, her clothes ripped, singed, and soaked in the blood of all the treasure hunters. The haunting memories whirled about in her mind; Alec being dropped into a pit filled with baby scorpions, mysterious blue fire enveloping the two crew members from the second floor, and other traumatic tortures sent her reeling into a catatonic state.
AJ curled up in the fetal position and wept bloody tears, her voice forever silenced, while the horde of ghosts observed this with great satisfaction. DuMaurier’s treasures remained lost, thanks to his loyal servants and pet snake, and they had achieved another successful Halloween Revels, as an added bonus. One final round of ethereal cheers floated and evaporated into the wintry air, as AJ collapsed to the ground, her sanity crushed and unraveled in a hundred different ways.