Mount Horrour by Ivy Catherine (phonics readers .txt) 📕

He could see two similar looking girls wearing white nightdresses floating in front of him. They had no eyes, only empty sockets. Their mouth was lip, teeth and tongue-less, and when they opened their mouth, there was an infinite black. Beside them was a woman wearing a death dress, and just like the two girls, her face was chalk white, and she had no nose or lips or tongue.

The wailing was growing louder. Thomas couldn’t think- his brain had stopped working. The white figures were moving towards him. It was horrifying. The music- the figures- the cave- and then someone screamed- and then an infinite darkness.

``Thomas, wake up!’’, said a girlish voice Thomas seemed to know.

``Do you think he’s- he’s dead?’’, said another familiar voice.

``Of course not. He just fainted’’, said the girlish voice.

Chapter Eight: More Horrors

Thomas opened his eyes. In front of him were two people looking at him worriedly. They were hazy at first, but slowly they came into focus. He tried to sit up, but two pairs of hands pushed him down.

``Emma, Jean- what happened?’’, Thomas asked.

``Well, that’s what we’d like to know too’’, Emma said sternly.

``Well, you-‘’, started Jean but Emma interrupted.

``There were these three figures in nightdresses that moved closer to you, and then that spine-chilling music everyone talked about-‘’

``More like wailing’’, Thomas said. ``Who doesn’t understand it is not singing?’’

``Well, you were so shocked you did not notice. The person wailing was the bigger woman, and she was singing and wailing.’’, Emma explained.

``Well?’’, Thomas demanded.

``Uh- what?’’, Emma said.

``What happened to me?!’’, Thomas screamed, and his voice echoed through the cave.

``Oh-well, you kind of screamed when the figures came very close to you and then you passed out’’, Emma said, still more worriedly.

``Didn’t- didn’t any of you pass out?’’, Thomas asked, breathing loudly.

``Well, we did. But first I regained consciousness and then I came to wake you and you weren’t waking. I thought- I thought- you died’’, Emma said, sobbing. ``But I felt your pulse so I gathered Jean and together we tried to wake you. It was horrifying,’’

``But-But’’, Thomas couldn’t understand. No one else was shaking like mad, why was he?

``The ghosts didn’t walk to us, did they? They walked to you and that was even more horrifying’’, Emma said, as if to have read his mind.

``Oh-oh’’, Thomas said, and he slowly tried to stand with Emma and Jean’s help.

``Whose ghosts were they?’’, Jean asked.

``Well, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? The bigger woman, was Esmeralda, and the twins were her daughters. They were wearing nightdresses because probably they disappeared at night, and their mother died, so it is normal for her to wear a death dress’’, Emma said knowledgeably.

``You think being chased by three horrifying ghosts is normal?’’, Jean asked.

Emma said bossily, `` I did not say the whole thing was normal. I said Esmeralda wearing a death dress is nor-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

``What the-‘’

There was a man, with a bloody face closing on them. Thomas, Jean and Emma started running the other way, trying to get away from the man. Emma was a very good runner, but she stumbled on a rock and fell. She tried to crawl across, but an invisible force was pulling her feet and taking her the other way. ``AAAAAAAAAAAAH!’’

Thomas and Jean went and grabbed Emma’s hand and pulled. Emma’s face was white with horror and her eyes were wide with shock.

On the other side, the man was closing on Thomas and Jean. He opened his mouth, and Thomas could just notice that he also did not have lips or tongues before he started screaming.

``LOOK AT WHAT THEY DID TO ME. LOOK AT WHAT THEY DID TO MEEEEEEEE!!!’’, he screamed in a hoarse and chilly voice. Thomas and Jean were so shocked they forgot to pull Emma. It was only when she gave a gasp of horror that they realized that she was there and they started to pull her but not for long. The three ghosts they saw earlier were by the man’s side.

They started pulling Emma as fast as they could. They didn’t need to tell each other, but they knew: they had to get out of the cave as fast as they could.

Emma slowly got to her feet and ran with the others. The front of her jeans was torn, Thomas’s hand was hurting a lot and Jean’s sleeve was hanging from one side. They ran, and they could slowly see a small brim of light in front. They were reaching the cave opening. They ran and ran, and then they could hear chilly screams. They turned and saw the four figures, standing with their sockets and eyes wide with shock.

``They are afraid of light! Keep moving!’’, Thomas screamed as they started running again. Suddenly, he had an idea which will totally stop those ghosts and will help them get across.

``I have an idea! Keep moving!’’, Thomas said, as he stopped running. The other two stopped too.

``Are you going to be okay?’’, Emma asked worriedly.

``Yeah, yeah, sure’’, Thomas said.

``Be safe. Good Luck’’, Emma said, as she took Thomas’s hand and pressed it softly. Then she pushed Jean and started running. Thomas took a deep breath, and took out his Tornado Torch.

The following events went both horrifying and impressive.

Thomas lit the Tornado Torch and moved the light right onto their faces. He wished he hadn’t, their faces looked more horrifying than ever. He closed his eyes, and by what he heard, he thought his plan has worked. There were screams and shrieks, and when he thought it was safe to open his eyes and he did, he was horrified. The man’s face was almost nose to nose with him and he was laughing. He could smell the smell of rotten meat coming from him. He took the Tornado Torch, moved it to its highest ``Lightning Glow’’, and then, it did the trick. The man screamed with fear and backed off. He kept moving the light at them, and they started to scream. He could see the three ghosts slowly fading away, and the man was melting. They were all horrified, and in one second, the whole cave was full of screams, gasps and shrieks. Slowly, the man melted fully, and the ghosts disappeared completely.

When everything was over, he took many deep breaths, and looked in the other side. There was a lot of light coming, which meant the cave opening was open and Emma and Jean got through the other side.

Thomas slowly walked to the other side, and walked into the moonlight. He could just catch a glimpse of the moon when we saw large quantity or black, long hair on him.

``Emma, I’m alright’’, Thomas said, brushing Emma off.

``I was really scared’’, Emma said.

``No you weren’t’’, Jean said, smiling at Thomas, ``You were petrified.’’

``What did you do?’’, Emma asked, ignoring Jean.

``I shoved light at them. The man- probably Milado, kind of melted away, and the ghosts slowly disappeared’’, Thomas said. ``But why were they like that? Why were they evil?’’

``They weren’t them’’, Emma said, panting.

``What do you mean, they weren’t them?’’, Jean asked.

``I mean, other unclean spirits took their soul away’’, Emma said.

``Whoa whoa whoa- I am gonna press the pause button right there’’, Jean said. ``Don’t say more, we’ll faint with horror.’’

Chapter Nine: The Promise

``I predicted it’’, Thomas said suddenly.

``What?’’, Jean asked.

``The first part, where there were only the three ghosts, I predicted it. Remember my dream? It was exactly the same thing. I also screamed and fainted’’, Thomas said.

``The soul was in you’’, Emma said, clearly horrified of the thought of a soul taking away one of her friend’s soul.

``What?’’, Thomas asked.

``It transferred its feeling to you. Probably’’, Emma said.

``And it is 2:00 P.M.’’, Jean said.

``What’s that got to do with Thomas’s prediction?’’, Emma asked, frowning.

``Err- nothing’’, Jean said, blushing.

``It is going to be a great story to tell to our children and grandchildren one day’’, Thomas said, laughing.

``Yeah’’, Jean said.

``We should write it, like a story’’, Thomas suggested.

``You know what? We will’’, Emma said. ``I can write stories, I wrote a lot of stories in Switzerland, but I did not bring it in this village, sadly.’’

``Oh-great. I always wanted to taste fame’’, Jean said.

``Seriously’’, Emma said.

``We should make a promise’’, Thomas said.

``About what?’’, Emma asked.

Thomas reached out his hand between them, and said, ``We will never go back to that cave and we will publish our story. Who’s with me?’’

``I am’’, Emma said, and she kept her hands on top of Thomas’s. Jean nodded and kept his hands on top of Emma’s.

They all grinned together, as they made their way towards the village. ``Well, see you tomorrow at school’’, Emma said, as she walked towards her home. Thomas waved, and Jean grinned.

Chapter Ten: The Photo

When Thomas reached his home, he recounted everything that had happened that day. Suddenly, he had an idea. He took his bag, and rushed towards Jean, who was still in front of his house. ``We can take a – a-photo. I –I- brought a –a- came-r-r-ra’’, Thomas panted, as he rushed with Jean towards Emma’s house. They found her in the middle of the path. Emma frowned.

``What?’’, she asked.

``A photo’’, Thomas said.

``We can take it in front of the cave!’’, Emma said, delighted for the photo. They rushed towards and took several pics. They kept the camera in a tree, made it take photos on its own, and took group photos too. It was very fun.

``I will take the best photo, and make 3 frames for the 3 of us’’, Thomas said, as they again headed for home.

Thomas