Halloween Ghost Story Contest -- 2007
Middle School Winners
Second Place
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Our second place Middle School category winner was written by home-schooled Saugonian Doug Ducott. |
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Our second place Middle School category winner was written by home-schooled Saugonian Doug Ducott. |
It was the middle of the night, and the moon was rising high. Five travelers walked toward the Pyramid of the Loon. They went in, and they were never heard from again.
That was a thousand years ago today.
There are currently five archeologists and their boss searching the desert for the pyramid. They are planning an excavation at the site to try to dig up clues about what happened there a thousand years ago. The boss, Professor Doug Kragen, is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of Dougie Nutterson, one of the five travelers that disappeared so long ago.
Professor Kragen and his crew had been searching for days, when suddenly a sand storm swirled around them, causing them to lose their way. When the sand finally cleared, it was a moonlit night. All they could do was rest until morning and try to get back on track again.
The next morning, they got up early to plan their next move. They decided to head in the direction the sand storm had come from.
They had eight camels in all. Six for the men and two to carry supplies and equipment. The group traveled a couple hours, until their luck turned bad again. The camels stopped suddenly, as if there were an invisible wall in front of them, and refused to take a step further. Professor Kragen got off his camel and took a few steps forward. He held a hand up in front of him and could actually feel the wall, even though he couldn't see anything. But as he touched it, the area of wall around his hand became visible. When he removed his hand, it gradually disappeared again.
He felt his way along to the right. The wall seemed to go on forever. After nearly an hour, it seemed to stop. then the professor realized that it was a corner. He continued to follow the wall around the corner. Again, this went on for an hour or so. After three more corners and a couple more hours, the group found themselves back where they started. They decided to camp for the night and figure out what to do in the morning.
The next day, they discussed possible solutions to their problem. They wondered if they could break the wall, or cut through it somehow. They were all pretty certain the pyramid was enclosed in it. And someone, or something, didn't want them inside. They all put their hands on the wall at the same time in order to make as much of it visible as possible. This way, they could examine it better. They discovered many tiny cracks in the wall, as if it were very old. Professor Kragen tried chipping at one of the larger cracks with his hammer and chisel. This was very hard work, but he kept at it for over an hour. Finally, he began to see some results. A small piece of the wall fell through. He continued to work, with the help of the others, until they had a hole big enough to fit a camel through. They led the camels through, one by one, until all the men, animals and equipment were inside.
By this time, it was so dark, they didn't dare go any further. They were exhausted, so they camped right inside the wall. They were all asleep within minutes.
The next morning, they awoke to bright sunshine. And they all saw it at the same time. About 100 yards in front of them stood the Pyramid of the Loon. They all stood frozen for a few seconds, feeling a mixture of fear and joy. The professor was the first to move. He took out his spyglass to get a better look around the pyramid before they approached. Everything appeared quiet, but appearances can be deceiving. They got the animals packed up and approached cautiously.
When they reached the main entrance to the pyramid, they studies the large stone tablet door. They tried pushing and pulling, but it wouldn't budge. Professor Kragen wedged a digging bar under the bottom and began to push down on the bar. Suddenly, it began to move slightly. Everyone jumped forward to help lift the tablet up. It moved slowly and steadily upwards to a height of about six feet. One of the men spotted something inside the pyramid. He let go of the tablet to get a better look. He leaned in, but then realized the heavy tablet was starting to come down on him. The others couldn't hold the weight without his help. He barely had time to leap out of the way, as the door crashed down. When the dust settled, he was on the inside alone, and the others were standing outside horrified at what had just happened.
Professor Kragen quickly grabbed the digging bar again and jammed it under the tablet. The others began to lift it up again. When it began to rise easier than they expected, they assumed he was probably helping from the inside. However, as the inside came into view, they all gasped. They were staring into an empty room. Their friend had vanished.
Professor Kragen reached down with one hand and grabbed the digging bar. He stuck it in the opening at an angle, with one end at the bottom left, and the other at the top right. They slowly lowered the tablet until it jammed against the top of the digging bar. They weren't sure if it would hold at first, but it seemed pretty solid. Unfortunately, with the bar at an angle, the opening was now less than four feet high. They would have to crawl under, without knocking the bar loose.
One by one, the men carefully crawled through the small space under the right side of the bar. They had taken a few steps away from the opening, when the bar gave way. The heavy stone tablet came crashing down behind them with a bang. The bar came flying into the room with them, narrowly missing the professor. Everyone seemed alright, just shaken up. They weren't sure whether they should try to lift the tablet immediately to escape or continue exploring. But when they thought of their missing friend, they knew they had to go on.
The group began to head down the corridor on their left, each holding a candle to light the way. After several twists and turns in the corridor, they spotted some type of blue light up ahead. They were still pretty far away from it and couldn't tell what it was coming from. As they got closer, they couldn't believe their eyes. They saw what appeared to be a giant scorpion with a blue aura. They froze in their tracks. It must have been at least thirty feet long. they stared in disbelief, not quite knowing what to do next.
The corridor had opened into a large room. The scorpion filled most of it. They could see an opening behind the scorpion, but couldn't imagine how they would ever get by it in one piece. They also couldn't imagine turning back without first finding their friend.
As they stared at the creature, they noticed it wasn't moving at all. It appeared to be asleep. But did they dare try to sneak past it? They decided it was their only option. Two of the men edged along the wall as quietly as possible. They were almost afraid to breathe. It seemed to take forever, but they finally reached the opening safely.
Next, the professor and the other two men started to make their way around the edge of the room, keeping their backs against the wall. Just as the professor reached the opening, the scorpion began to move. It spotted them right away and started making a strange hissing noise. The last two men froze for a moment, until Professor Kragen jumped back out with the digging bar. He pointed the bar at the scorpion and yelled at the men to hurry by. As they ran behind the professor, it jumped toward them. He poked at the scorpion with the bar, and it backed up slightly and hissed louder than ever. The two made it to the opening just as it jumped at the professor again. He managed to fend it off long enough to get to the opening himself, and the five men turned and ran without looking back.
The scorpion spun around and squeezed through the opening after them. He was gaining on them when the professor turned to look back and tripped over something sticking up out of the floor. Apparently, it was some sort of switch, because a stone wall suddenly dropped down behind them, separating them from the scorpion. For the moment, they were safe, but they still wanted to put some distance between them and it.
They continued down the maze of corridors, taking many lefts and rights. They ended up in a large room with silver walls. The room was filled with silver and gold vases and other treasures. The men gazed around the room, mesmerized by what they saw. But what they didn't see was on the other side of the room. The lid of a large sarcophagus was slowly and quietly sliding open.
As the group stood admiring the room, a strange buzzing sound began. It was faint at first. As it got louder, the men turned to see a large swarm of bees coming across the room toward them. It reached them so fast, they didn't have time to run. The bees buzzed around them, landed on them and stung them, while the men swatted wildly at them. Suddenly, it all stopped as quickly as it had begun. The bees just flew away.
The stunned men were still trying to make sense of it all, when they noticed a strange smell. Then they heard a noise from behind them. They were almost afraid to turn and look, but they had to. What they saw shocked them. In front of them, just twenty feet away, stood an eight foot tall mummy. It slowly began to walk toward them, scraping its feet along the stone floor.
Professor Kragen yelled, "Run!!!!" The men wanted to run, but couldn't seem to move. They were frozen in fear. When Kragen yelled again, they began to slowly back up. Just then, the blue scorpion broke through the wall behind them. They were trapped.
The men edged to one wall, as the scorpion moved toward the mummy. Now they both began to move slowly toward the men. Suddenly, what appeared to be some sort of portal opened up in the wall behind them. As the mummy raised his hand and shot a bandage at the men, they fell through the portal. It closed behind them as the bandage hit the wall and fell to the floor.
The stunned men slowly got up off the floor and looked at each other. Then they began to look around the room. Suddenly, a door at the far side of the room flew open. They heard a strange groaning sound. Slowly, they crept toward the door. As they approached it, they were startled to see another mummy! But there was something different about this one. He was shorter than the first mummy, and seemed strangely familiar. At the same moment that they all realized it was their friend, the walls began to close in on them. They dove for the door and barely made it out before the walls slammed together.
They got up and looked at their friend. He was mostly wrapped in bandages, but some of his face was not covered. His eyes were all they could see, but they were different somehow. He stared blankly and appeared not to recognize them. They began to try to unwrap him, but he fought them off. He picked up Professor Kragen and with a deep groan, threw him into the other men. They went down like bowling pins. He staggered out of the room. When they looked up, he was gone.
They stood up and began to follow him down the hallway. Suddenly, a door slammed behind them. They began to run forward, when another door slammed shut in front of them. They were trapped again. One of the men yelled, "What do we do now?!" Professor Kragen tried to keep everyone calm while he figured a way out. He spotted a small opening high up on one of the walls and pointed it out to the other men. They also saw a stone statue of a snake head about five feet tall on the other side of the hallway. When the men examined the wall under the opening, they found jagged rocks sticking out that could be used as footholds for climbing up. When the professor was almost to the top, he grabbed for the last jagged rock, and it pushed in like a switch. He fell, taking two other men with him. The men saw the stone snake head open its mouth wide, releasing dozens of live, hissing snakes. They rushed to the footholds again and began climbing frantically. They all made it to the top and through the small opening, leaving the snakes behind.
They sat on the floor, near the opening they had just crawled through, almost afraid to move. Time seemed to stand still. No one spoke. It seemed, if they moved, something else would happen. They felt paralyzed. Eventually, they all fell asleep, or passed out, from sheer exhaustion.
When they awoke, some of them were disoriented and didn't quite know where they were. Reality came back quickly, and they began talking about how they could get out of there alive. Some felt they should continue on, while others thought they should retrace their steps to find a way out. They also discussed whether rescuing their friend was still an option. At this point, they weren't sure if he was dead or alive, but leaving without him, either way, just didn't feel right. They started this journey together, and they would finish it together. They all agreed.
Professor Kragen decided they should continue on. He didn't see how they could go back the way they came, even if they wanted to. Reluctantly, they all stood up and started slowly across the room.
A minute later, they noticed what appeared to be a dark liquid spreading across the floor in front of them. As they got closer, they realized it wasn't liquid. It was thousands of scarab beetles moving toward them. They looked around and realized they had no choice. They had to get past them somehow and out of the room. They decided their only option was to make a run for it. They dashed across the beetles, trying to keep from falling on the marble-like shells. One of the men lost the battle, but the professor pulled him back up quickly and dragged him along. They all made it out, but had to brush several beetles off their feet and legs, as they continued running down the corridor.
They spotted a room up ahead on their left. As they approached the door, a bandage shot past them. They spun around to see the mummy standing behind them. At the same time, they heard scraping stone, as a huge tablet began to close over the doorway in front of them. All at once, they dove through the door, barely making it through before it closed, separating them from the mummy.
They were startled to hear moaning coming from the other side of the room. Professor Kragen took a torch from the wall and went to investigate. What he found shocked them all. There in the corner was a skeleton in ancient-looking clothing. A silver pocketwatch hung at his side. Professor Kragen and his men exchanged glances. Then, slowly, he crouched down beside the skeleton and examined the watch. On the outside was a pyramid, but it was the inside that really shocked him. Engraved on the inside was the name Dougie Nutterson. They all looked down silently.
Suddenly, they heard the low moaning again, and out of the darkness to their right staggered their friend, still in bandages. He held his hand out, as if asking for help, as he approached them, then collapsed at their feet. They frantically began to try to unwrap him. Just when they had most of the bandages off, the stone tablet door behind them flew through the air and narrowly missed the professor.
In the opening stood the mummy. Their friend began to come to, and two of the men quickly dragged him out of harms way. Professor Kragen stepped forward to face the mummy. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, then the mummy looked down at the skeleton on the floor. The skeleton of Dougie Nutterson, the man who led the group that first disturbed his tomb a thousand years earlier. The professor followed his gaze and began to understand.
He edged back beside the skeleton and slowly slid off his jacket, never taking his eyes off the mummy. He crouched down and carefully began lifting the bones onto his jacket. He closed the pocketwatch and slid it into his pocket. One of the other men began helping him pile the bones on the jacket. They wrapped the jacket around the bones and carefully picked it up.
The mummy raised a hand and shot a bandage toward a stone tablet door behind the men, and it flew open. They cautiously approached the opening, one by one, and realized it led to the first room they had come to when they entered the pyramid. They slowly moved through the opening, trying not to do anything to anger the mummy, still unsure of whether he would actually let them leave.
Once they were all in the room, the mummy entered. He pointed his hand toward the entrance of the pyramid. As he lifted his hand slowly, they heard stone scraping against stone. The tablet they had first entered through was moving upward. It stopped when the opening reached about five feet in height. The first man helped his injured friend through the opening. Two others followed. Then Professor Kragen and the last man in his party carried the remains of Dougie Nutterson out of the pyramid.
As soon as they were clear of the opening, they heard the sound of scraping stone again. They watched quietly as the mummy lowered his hand, and the stone tablet, until he was out of sight. They turned to see their camels waiting patiently as if they had only been gone a few minutes.
The group left in silence, anxious to put the Pyramid of the Loon and the mystery of Dougie Nutterson's disappearance behind them.
The End
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