"Come on guys please can we play the Mysterium," I pleaded to my 3 best friends Robert (Rob) Johnson, Ivy Ruth, and Rebecca Garden.
"Sure," Rebecca said, twirling in the seats in my basement meeting room which my dad usually uses for work but not today because it was a Saturday.
"We always play this game," Rob groaned, which was true but still it's an awesome game. "Plus I'm always stuck as a ghost."
"Well not today my dad promised me that he would be a ghost."
"Sure, Rubs," Ivy said, sitting down next to Rebecca.
"Fine. But you promise me I wont be a ghost," Rob said sitting down across from Ivy.
"I swear," I replied sitting next to him. My dad hurried down the stairs still in his sweatpants and sweater which was very different then the usual stiff black suit and tie he wore to meetings about his books that he wrote and the book store he owned.
"Who's ready for Mysterium," He said, taking it off of a shelf on the wall. We sorted out characters. Me: Alma, Ivy: Jessalyn, Rebecca: Madame Wang, Rob: Alphonse, Dad: Ghost.
"Let's start,'' my dad said. After 50 hours (15 min) of setting, we finally began but soon there was a rattle shock in the room. Then everything fell into darkness.
"What happened? Ruby, Rob, Rebecca are you okay," A voice but that of Ivy's. It was like the voice of a (I'm completely guessing) 1920's American woman.
"I'm fine," I replied but my voice was like what a Spanish woman would have sounded like in the 1920's as well. I looked around and we were in the front of a tall mansion.
"Me too," A heavy French accent called out.
"And me," I said in a Chinese accent. I turned around looking at the other people circling me. They were my friends but they were also the characters we had picked in the game.
"Wait one minute I'm Alma. Rob your Alphonse. Rebecca your Wang and Ivy your Jessalyn."
"Which means we are in the game," Rebecca said. "And this is the manor."
"And your dad is just a ghost most likely trying to give us visions now so do you all remember who to get them." No we all said in unison but then we saw a button on our arms and when you saw a button you always got to press. I waited a while but I only felt an odd wait in my pocket. I pulled out a Pendulum and a card just like the ones in the game/rule book.
"Alma Salvador
Specialty: Pendulum Divination," Wow I thought reading that I get visions through this (I held the pendant). I held it up and closed my eyes. That's when I saw what was almost like a camera moving closer to the door.
"Let's go inside," I said, walking towards the door and opening it causing a LOUD creaking noise. I stepped followed by the others. That's when I saw 5 suspects sitting at the dining room table. One looked like a chef and the one next to him was a hunter. There was at the head of the table a con man magician and to his right was a maid and a woman with a basket full of baked goods. I watched them but knew they could see we were here. I looked up and saw there were 3 sets of staircases. The second floor had a bunch of rooms and on the last level there were weapons laid out on different podiums.
We then heard a whisper stretch throughout the dim room, "Madame Wang." She looked terrified but then closed her eyes and pulled out a book and found what visions she needed."
"Mine are only two and they're identical to some cards. Mine is a house with buttons on it and rope strung across and also a mouse with a bird outfit on." I knew which one it was immediately so I told her.
"I think it's the maid with her buttons and tailoring just like on the mouse," She nodded and said, The maid. That's when the maid disappeared into a card on her chair for Rebecca to pick up. None of the other suspects noticed. Rebecca went up the staircase.
"Jessalyn Smith," My dad said. Ivy took out tarot cards and pulled 2 from the deck. One was of a girl and a lion on a boat pointing towards the ocean. The second was off a man running away from something on a red carpet with guard dogs barking at him.
"This is easy," Ivy said, "The hunter." He vanished leaving the card for her to take. She went up the stairs slightly tripping on heels which made me and Rebecca giggle.
"Alphonse de Belcour," The ghost whispered. He closed his eyes and did his numerology. He told me what his 2 cards were. One was a cave with axes and gleaming red eyes looking out of it and the second was the same rat dressed as a bird standing on cheese.
"Easy this is Magician," He said, but nothing happened. I rubbed my temples.
"No, it's obviously the chef. Didn't tell you tell me was on top of cheese," I shook my head and took out the Pendulum and watched it swirl and got my two cards. One had pastries falling from the sky so I didn't even pay attention to the second one.
"The baker," I called and she was gone so I took the card and went up the stairs.
"Madame Wang," The house echoed. She took out her book which I could now see was a ghost mystery book. There were 5 rooms just like the 5 people. One was a dungeon with a mysterious cave blocked by a book stand. The second was a bedroom with a stone lion hanging on it with an open window and drapes hanging off the top frame of the bed. The one next to it was also a bedroom but this one was pink and open with toys thrown around instead of a dark ominous nighttime room. There was light everywhere and a purple rug on the floor. The next room reminded me of a tropical forest but there was a weird tombstone in the middle with the same lion. There was also some kind of dome enclosing it like a greenhouse. The last one was an abandoned home patio looking out on a dead forest with a chair and table on the patio.
"The next visions show me a man on an odd bicycle flying in the air. The second was a bunch of books stacked to look like a triangle," She said looking at the 5 rooms. "I'm going with the child's room." It vanished, leaving only the card behind. She went up the last set of stairs.
"Jessalyn Smith," The ghost whispered. She stepped forward and pulled her two cards. Here's where a red chair in the middle of a room and a red bed surrounded by ether stuffing our clouds.
"Easy, bedroom," She said and it was gone and she left me to go with Rebecca.
After a few minutes I was with rob again, "Alma Salvador." I took out the pendulum and got the visions. One off a little spiked creature wearing a skull like mask the other an apple punctured by needles dripping black stuff down the pestle it was on.
"Green house," I called but nothing happened. No, it was the dungeon off course both showed torture like in a dungeon.
"Madame Wang," I didn't hear what happened for the rest of the turns because Rebecca and Rob moved up but soon it was Me, Rob, and Ivy left cause Rebecca had passed and disappeared.
"Jessalyn Smith," Dad said. I waited until she got it right her visions were 2 ones showing magic and a circus so her weapon was dumb bell like the worlds strongest man. Then Rob got it right with the candlestick and both his pictures showed fire. (You can see that I'm not putting as much effort into writing any more because I'm getting tired of writing about this. This is Ruby talking) Finally, it was my turn and I got it right with the type writer because one pictured showed a business mouse. Finally we were done and I was back in the basement with dad and everyone else.
"Okay now that was weird," We all said.
You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.
2 comments
Hi Maisie, what made you pick this prompt to be your first? It’s a great start to your reedsy profile. Hopefully you keep going. Let me know when your next story is up.
Reply
Hi, Maizie! My name is Ashlynn. I've been matched with you in this weeks critique circle! After reading your story, some feedback I'd like to give you is that although you have a great storyline going, I would really just polish it by maybe selecting different phrasing here or there, adding or taking away commas; just basics! Overall, I enjoyed your story and I hope to read more from you as well as have you come over to my account and check out my story from the critique circle! Happy writing!
Reply