The Haunted Mansion

"Be quiet so they don’t hear us." Jill suggested.

"But - but we’re on the inside!" she whispered urgently.

A group of boys about her and Jill’s age came down the path that ran along the eight foot stone wall which concealed the front of the old mansion from peering eyes.

"If you don’t shut up they’ll hear us and we’ll never get out of here, then everyone in town will know we were snooping around," Jill exclaimed urgently, as the boys voices grew louder.

The group of boys stopped and stared through the bars of the gate, speculating on what treasures may be contained inside the mansion.

"Dare you to go in," A voice shouted from among the group.

"No way!" Another answered.

"Hear the last guy went in there never came out," a tall gangly seventeen-year-old ventured.

"Bull! You can walk right in," an athletic type said boastfully, and stepped forward to give the gate a shove. The hinges creaked, and the gate gave a few inches, then fell back to its original position.

"You guys have a ball. I’m goina go see if I can talk Midge into a date for this Friday night." One boy boasted, and left.

The others soon followed, leaving Jill and Betty to wonder about what had happened to put them on the wrong side of the gate.

"Well, since we’re already hear, and we still have forty-five minutes to get across the street to school, what say we have a look around." Jill suggested, as she walked bravely up the drive, where the thick layer of gravel prevented the weeds and brush from completely overgrowing the path.

"I think we should get out of here, while we can," Betty complained, but Jill braved the overgrown lawn, to get a closer look at the fountain.

"What do you suppose it was?" Jill asked, while she examined the catch basin, which was filled with rotting leaves, and stagnant water.

"This is Marble!" Betty exclaimed, suddenly becoming very interested in the fountain. "It must weigh tons and tons, and that’s a woman, but most of her features are gone," she added.

Jill leaned forward to examine the statue, which was a good ten feet from the lip of the fountain.

WHOP!! A huge green frog jumped from a clump of grass, at the foot of the statue, and struck Jill in the chest.

"EEEK!!" She screamed, and fell back into the weeds and briers.

"W -what Is it?" Betty stammered, rushing forward to help Jill to her feet, only to have the frog jump again when she bent down to help Jill.

"EEEE..." she squeaked, as the frog jumped into her face, then back into the catch basin, to disappear under the murky water and leaves.

"I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day." Jill said. Then the two girls brushed each other off.

"We better hurry, before someone comes to see what all the screaming is about."

"Blasted frog!" Betty scoffed, wiping at her face with a hanky. "I didn’t want to come in here in the first place."

Carefully checking, to make sure no one was around, the two girls sneaked out, hurried across Main street to the school, and went to the ladies room to repair any damage to their makeup from the encounter with the frog.

Nothing was said about the old mansion, until they started home that evening. Jill paused at the foot of maple street, and looked at the place for a few minutes.