The Shady
Mansion Mystery
By John
Chapter 2: Into the Night
The only problem was,
he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about the mansion and the odd
man and what could possibly be worth hiding. So when his alarm
went off, he had gotten no sleep whatsoever.
Arnold put on his jacket and silently crept down the stairs and
into the kitchen. He was almost out the door when his foot hit
Abner's food dish. It made a loud clanging sound which sent Mr.
Hyunh running into the room. He switched on the light and saw
Arnold.
"What are 'yu doing, up so late in 'th night?" Mr.
Hyunh asked.
Arnold hesitated. He didn't want to lie, but he knew Mr. Hyunh
would be curious as to why he was up so late.
"I was getting a glass of water," Arnold replied.
"In 'th middle of 'th night? That was 'ver creepy! These
crazy 'kyids, getting up to get watah and waking ey'ryone up..."
Mr. Hyunh continued to go on as he walked back up the stairs.
When he was gone, Arnold snuck out the door.
It took him a while to get to the mansion. It was a street he
hadn't been on much, and the incident in the kitchen had cost him
time. When he finally got there, he found Gerald, Helga, Phoebe,
Harold, Stinky, Sid, Eugene, and Rhonda waiting for him.
"You sure did take your time getting here, Football head!"
Helga griped.
The kids walked up to the mansion. Arnold opened the door and
switched on his flash light. He waited a few seconds for his eyes
to adjust to the light before they entered in. They saw the same
sight as earlier that day, the staircase the hallways, and
everything was caked in a layer of dust.
"I better not get my brand-new, designer outfit dirty!"
Rhonda complained. Helga rolled her eyes. "Rhonda's lways so
self-centered," Helga thought.
The crew chose to explore the left hallway first. At the end of
the hall was a kitchen. Curious as to what was inside, they
checked the many drawers and pantries.
Inside some of them were bowls, cereal, and a jug of milk in the
refrigerator.
"Someone's been here recently," Phoebe said.
Sid opened a pantry and gasped at what was inside. The other kids
hurried over to check out Sid's discovery.
In the pantry was an assortment of of guns, rifles, pistols, and
a small carton of ammo.
"This is not a good sign!" Sid said solemnly.
"Whoever lives here, or did live hear, appears to be pretty
violent," Phoebe said.
"What tipped you off, Sherlock?" Helga wisecracked.
"Maybe we should leave," Harold worried.
"No way!" Helga objected. "Let's keep looking
around. The rest of the crew agreed, so Harold reluctantly
followed as they
explored the other hallway. They didn't find much, just a map of
the area around the mansion.
"Let's look upstairs, guys!" Eugene suggested gleefully.
He started running up the stairs.
"Wait!" Phoebe yelled. "Those stairs don't look
very..."
Eugene fell through and crashed on the floor.
"I'm okay!" he said weakly.
"We gotta do this slowly, one person at a time." Arnold
insisted. "I'll go first."
So Arnold slowly made his way up the stairs. Next came Gerald,
then Helga, then just about everyone else.
Harold was next.
"Don't even try, fat boy!" Helga teased.
"You can do this, Arnold assured him. "Just take it one
step at a time.
So Harold started to make his way up the staircase. He stepped
over the step Eugene fell through, and the kids were relieved
when he finally made it to the top. The kids started to walk to a
room to their left, when they heard something.
"Did you hear that?" Arnold asked.
"Hear what, Football Head???" Helga yelled.
"Shhh! I heard something coming from that room!" Arnold
pointed to a door leading into a room. The kids all got close by
the door and listened intently.
Helga peered across the doorway and noticed Nick Vermicelli (She
had heard her dad muttering about him around the house). The
other kids just knew him as "the jerk who tries to ruin
their float." He was sitting in the floor, with a few other
rough looking guys gathered around him. Nick was wearing his bad
suit, of course.
"When are we gonna get out of this joint?" one guy
asked. The kids notice him as the man who was so determined to
keep the kids out earlier that day.
"Shaddap!" Nick yelled. "This is a hideout. It ain't
exactly supposed to be luxurious!"
It looked far from that, the kids thought.
"Here's the plan." Nick said. "I got someone I've
gotta settle a score with."
"Who boss???" said a thin, squeaky man to Nick's left.
What is Nick's evil plot? What startling discovery will the kids make? And where did Nick get that bad suit??? Answers to these questions, and more, in the next chapter of The Shady Mansion Mystery, "Nick's Evil Plot Revealed."