Chris kept going, then plopped down in front of the gate on the right-hand side of the road.
“I knew it…,” Mayuka said, sighing happily.
Hinata held his breath as he observed the rusted, arched gate. It had two doors that met in the middle, where a metal chain tied them shut.
In the daytime, the haunted mansion didn’t look all that creepy. Built a ways back from the street, it was surrounded by a garden full of big trees. You might not even realize it was there if you were just walking down the street.
But as they stood still and viewed it now, the difference from the other houses nearby was very noticeable.
The blue tile roof ran at a steep angle and contained a number of bay windows. The mansion had probably been very fashionable when it was built. The faded and dusty tiles were warped here and there—and looked like they were hanging on for dear life. The once-white walls were now discolored and covered all over with leafy vines.
The most notable feature, however, was the little tower that poked up from one section of the roof. It was sharpened at the tip like a four-sided pencil, with a rounded orb at the end. Out of the orb stretched a tall metal pole ending in a weather vane.
The weather vane’s black rooster seemed to be glaring down at the land around the house.
“Wh-what should we do…?” Hinata whispered. “Chris stopped—does that mean Akane is here, too?”
Mayuka swallowed loudly. “Maybe she dresses like that because she really is a witch…”
“Even if it’s abandoned, it’s still someone’s property. We can’t just go inside. And besides, it’s locked,” Hinata said, pointing to the chain on the gate. “C’mon, let’s turn back…”
He was just about to leave when the breeze picked up. Suddenly, Chris started making noise.
“Hewww…”
After one mournful whine, Chris began to pant and paw restlessly at the ground.
“What’s the matter, Chris?” Mayuka called out. The well-behaved police dog almost never acted like this.
“M-maybe it’s because the mansion is haunted,” Hinata suggested, backing away. Dogs were more sensitive than humans. Chris must have picked up on the eerie atmosphere around the place and become distressed.
✦ ✦ ✦
“That’s enough, Chris. You can stop now. Stop! C’mon, let’s go…”
Hinata turned his back to the gate and pulled hard on the leash. But Chris tugged even harder.
“Whoa!” Hinata stumbled a bit and spun back toward Chris in surprise. The dog had worked his snout into the gap between the gate doors and was trying to pry them open.
“No, Chris, you can’t do that…”
Hinata crouched down and tried to pull Chris away from the gate, but Chris only shoved his snout in farther. The chains wrapped around the gate clattered and loosened.
“Oh, look. It’s not actually locked,” Mayuka pointed out. She was staring, astonished, as the doors of the gate creaked farther and farther apart.
“H-help me, Mayuka! I’m trying to stop Chris!” Hinata cried, right as the Shiba Inu slipped out of his hands and squeezed through the gate doors. “Oh noooo!”
With Chris pulling on the leash, Hinata found himself stuck between the two doors, one arm yanked through the gap.
Wh-what do I do now…?
“Oh, fine.” Mayuka sighed, then she used both hands to pry open the gate. The chains jangled loosely, and the doors swung wide. Hinata practically tumbled into the front yard.
What was that for, Mayuka? I wanted you to help me get Chris out, not push me in!
Chris trotted up the cracked concrete walk, then came to a stop in front of the mansion and started whining sadly once again. “Hewww, hewww…”
“Please, Chris, don’t go sneaking into places like this,” Hinata grumbled, pulling on the leash in an attempt to turn the dog around. But Chris sat down, kept whining, and refused to budge. Mayuka looked troubled.
“What do you think is wrong with Chris? Does this mean Akane is here after all?”
“Even if that’s true,” Hinata said, sweating from the effort of pulling, “Chris has never completely ignored an order like this before!”
“I mean, there’s no way the front door’s unlocked, too,” Mayuka said, grabbing the round knob and turning. “Wh-whaaat…?”
Please, don’t!! Hinata screamed inwardly, but his silent prayer went unheard. Mayuka pulled open the door.
Once again, Chris wriggled through the doorway and hurried ahead of the others. And once again, Hinata found himself being pulled by the leash.
Tchik-tchik-tchik… Chris’s claws clicked on the floor as he trotted through the entrance hall. Finally, he stuck up his nose at a big interior door straight across from the entrance. He reached out with a front paw and scratched at it.
“Chris, pleaaase!” Hinata pleaded, on the verge of tears. “This is someone else’s home. If we barge in like this we’re no better than burglars!”
Mayuka was the last to come in, and she stealthily caught up to Hinata and Chris. “This really is a haunted mansion,” she whispered. “It’s so creepy in here…”
Her words sent a jolt through Hinata, who finally looked up.
The entrance hall was dark and gloomy, and the air was stale and musty. Dust was piled up on the hardwood floor, and though the walls had probably once been white, there were now large brown stains all over them.
Something like a thin veil wavered in the air in front of the door on the left—probably a spiderweb.
The front hall had a high ceiling that reached all the way to the roof, making the upper story visible from the entrance. There was nothing but darkness beyond the handrail of the second-floor hallway above, and the tall, tall ceiling seemed almost like a black hole. It felt as if there was pure, malevolent darkness falling down on them, like invisible black snowflakes.
For a while now, they had been hearing a ceaseless, dry rattling somewhere in the distance. Hinata imagined skeletons clacking their bones together. The cold emanating from the floor seemed to permeate his entire body. He started to shiver.
“M-Mayuka… T-take the leash… I—I—I don’t think I can…”
Hinata was worried Chris’s leash would soon slip completely out of his fingers. But just as he tried to hand it off to Mayuka, they both heard footsteps descending the staircase to their left. They turned to look, then froze.
On the landing where the staircase doubled back was a stained-glass window. They could see the person coming down as they crossed in front of it. The black silhouette stumbled a bit, and the light landed on the figure’s face.
“Eeeek!” Mayuka shrieked.
For a brief moment, they had glimpsed the person’s profile…and it was dyed red with blood! Long, disheveled white hair stuck out from the scalp, while tattered clothes just barely hung from their shoulders.
“Aaaah!! Z-zombie!” Mayuka screamed, causing Hinata’s brain to short out.
He leaped away, body-slammed the front door, and burst outside.
Compared to the darkened mansion, the sunlight was blinding. Hinata squinted against the glare and stumbled out of the mansion’s front gate.
On and on he ran, barely aware of what he was doing. He rushed to the main road, then turned right…
The next thing he realized, there was a person in front of him.
Officer Iwata?! Is this the police station?!
“What’s the matter, Hinata?”
To Hinata, the police officer looked like an invincible superhero. As Hinata stood stock-still, breathing heavily, Officer Iwata spread his arms.
Officer Iwata!!
He then hugged Hinata tightly as the boy sobbed. Hinata could feel himself trembling.
“What’s the matter? What happened? Can you tell me?” the policeman asked gently, rubbing Hinata’s back to calm him down. But Hinata couldn’t bring himself to speak.
Mayuka came running up to them next. Her face was pale, and there were tears in her eyes.
“M-Mr. Iwata…”
“You too, Mayuka?”
He held out one of his hands to catch her and embraced them both at once. He had just seen them head off on their investigation looking so excited and full of purpose, and the dramatic change in their demeanor startled him.