There was a sound of pounding feet behind her, as Aania ran through the darkness. The stones were hurting her bare feet and the thorns in the bushes were tearing at her clothes. The low hanging branches and the twisted roots of the huge trees slapped at her face and tripped her up repeatedly. But she ran on, her lungs screaming for air, holding on for dear life. The pounding feet, the reaching talon like hands, the screams of madness seemed just out of a horror storybook! But the wounds and the scratches she had received in fleeing from this monster were only too real. Suddenly the hands were grabbing her, tearing out her hair and clawing at her face!!

'Oh God!', sweating and shaking Aania sat up in her bed. It took a moment for her to realise that there was no monster grabbing at her; she was in her bed, safe and sound. 'Well! Grace's bed anyway,' she muttered, as she got out and went to the bathroom. Splashing a reassuring dash of cold water on her sweaty face, Aania smiled wryly. 'Well! This sure beats reading R.L.Stine & Stephen King!', she said to herself as she went into the kitchen to get herself some water.

As she was drinking the water, Aania walked idley towards the window. It was a beautiful and serene night outside, with no moon and the stars appearing very bright. a cool breeze was coming in from the window, which overlooked some of the mountains that surrounded the village. Aania smiled as she remembered the number of times she & her friends had pondered & argued about venturing out of the marked trail, which only went halfway, and climbing the mountains to the top. However, as she glanced towards the mountains the smile abruptly vanished.

A burnt down house!! 'Oh, Lord! How many more hallucinations am I going to have to suffer for reading a horror special late at night?', she questioned silently. She was sure, after the first shocked moment, that her imagination was playing tricks on her & willed the image to go away. But the image refused to leave her vision.

Finally, with a surge of excitement, she realised that the burnt house (or mansion as would be nearer the mark) was more than mere imagination! Uncertain of what she was seeing, she went to the bedroom & woke up Grace.

"Oh my God! Go away Mom! Its the middle of the night."

It wasn't hard to detect the normal wake-up routine between Grace Gibson and her mother in this instinctive, half-awake response Grace gave to Aania's shaking.

"Get up, Grace! Its me, Aania. I want to show you something," said Aania softly, not wanting to wake up Grace's parents. "Come on sleepy head! Wake up!"

"Aw, geez! Aania what are you loco! It really is the middle of the night! What do you want?" asked Grace indignantly.

"Shhhh! Not so loud! I need to show you something."

"Like at 1 o'clock in the night?" asked Grace who had been looking at the clock.

"You are not going to believe this. I saw a burnt down mansion up towards the 'to-climb or not-to-climb' mountains!" exclaimed Aania with suppressed excitement.

"What!" said Grace with a marked increase in indignation and an equally marked decrease in sleepiness. "You mean you woke me up from my sweet, sweet dreams to tell me you freaked out cos you can't take any horror stories late at night?" she grumbled.

"No! At least, I don't think so. Come and see for yourself." So saying she dragged Grace out of bed and to the window.

All of Grace's grumpiness vanished as she stared, stunned, at a badly burnt down mansion. It was very big and looked very old, at least what was left of it.

"I can't believe this," she said in an awed whisper. "What is that thing and what is it doing there?" she asked as she stared blankly at it.

"You do see it, don't you?" asked Aania anxiously. "It seems to have come right out of a hoprror novel. Like a ghost ship and ghost towns, this is our very own ghost mansion," she comtinued trying to appear nonchalant.

"Come on!" whispered Grace, suddenly galvanized into action. "Let's go out and see what it is!"

Quietly, so that they didn't wake the others up, they put on shoes and sweaters and came out of the house. Shaking with an intoxicating mixture of fear and excitement, they slowly went nearer to the 'THING' as they thought of it.

It appeared even more broken down and creepy up close. It appeared as if the house and the surrounding garden were burnt and then placed on the land. The nearer they got, the more the tension seemed to increase. The very air seemed to have stopped moving; it was as if the leaves, and stars, and clouds were holding their breath in anticipation.

And then, there came a ghastly, horrible laugh!