THE
HAUNTED MANSION "Part 2"
The Turtles, Masters and Ninjara are about to experience a nightmare they wish
they never wanted to get involved in the first place. However, they are
trapped inside the mansion after the front door closed shut on them and now are
being escorted by the Ghost Host on a guided tour through his home while they
seek another escape from the house at the same time.
APRIL
O'NEIL
Leonardo, Raphael, Ninjara, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Machine, Turbo,
Olympus, Red Dragon, Panther, Superstar, Ying-Yang Man, Tiger Claw, Great Wolf,
Tsunami, Star Warrior are standing inside a large octagonal chamber surrounded
on all sides by 8 towering walls and plaster relief ceiling recessed in the
center overhead. 4 paintings resembling the family members of the mansion
hung on a backdrop of bubblegum colored striped wallpaper while 16 gargoyle
statues holding candles in their claw-hands sneer or leer down at the mortals
with evil grinning faces. Just as the friends stepped into the room the
door behind them slid closed.
NINJARA
Guys, we should never have come in here, I'm scared.
MICHAELANGELO
I don't see a way out; there are no doors, not even a window.
HAKIM
ALSTON
Nuts, trapped inside an art gallery with no other door.
MIKE
BERNARDO
Well, all mansions built in the 1800s or 1700s had secret tunnels or
passageways leading to other rooms in case doors accidentally shut and you
could not get out that way. They are hidden behind false panels into the
walls.
RAPHAEL
So, there is a secret passageway in this gallery?
MIKE
BERNARDO
Affirmative. All we do is feel along the walls by tapping or knocking
till we hear that familiar hollow noise that indicates a secret tunnel is
located.
LEONARDO
Excellent idea, Turbo. Let's get started.
CASEY JONES
At the same time, the others are gazing at the paintings in awe and wonder.
DONATELLO
Gosh, I wonder who those people are in the portraits?
CHRIS
CASAMASSA
Must be the actual owners who either built this house and lived in it till they
passed on.
HEIN NGUYEN
Yeah, a beautiful woman in a summer dress holding a parasol umbrella, a young
man smiling with arms folded, a gentleman placing a document or will in his
jacket, and old woman smiling, holding a red rose.
DONATELLO
Interesting...so they must have lived here long ago before dying, passing away.
RICHARD
BRANDEN
That remains to be seen, Donnie.
SPLINTER
Meanwhile the Ghost Host begins addressing his visitors, his voice echoing
throughout the chamber.
GHOST HOST
HERE, IN THE GALLERY...YOU SEE THERE PAINTINGS OF SOME OF OUR RESIDENTS...AS
THEY APPEARED IN THEIR CORUPTABLE MORTAL STATE...EVEN IN THIS FLICKERING GLOOM,
YOUR CADAVOROUS PALLOR BETRAYS AN AURA OF FOREBODING...YOUR TRUSTING MORTAL EYES
TELL YOU THAT THESE WALLS ARE STRECHING...
CASEY JONES
No sooner were those words spoken when...suddenly, the entire room began to
stretch or elongate! The ceiling was moving up or away from the
shocked-startled friends, as the walls appear to be getting taller.
Simultaneously the paintings are also stretching, revealing more than what they
appear to be!
NINJARA
What's going on here?!
RAPHAEL
Yegads! What's happening to the paintings? They're getting bigger.
HOSUNG PAK
Oh my god, they're exposing more of what's hidden beneath.
MICHAELANGELO
Aaaaaugh! Look at them now!
SPLINTER
Now the portraits reveal more sinister scenes...the woman with the parasol
is balancing on a tightrope above a hungry crocodile waiting below with open
jaws, the young man is sitting on the shoulder of another man who's sitting on
the shoulders of another man who has a look of terror on his face because all 3
are sinking into quicksand. The gentleman is wearing boxer shorts, socks
& shoes while standing on a barrel of TNT gunpowder with a lit fuse, and
the woman with the rose is seated on the tombstone of her murdered husband with
a marble bust at the base of the grave-marker, an axe embedded in its stone
head!
APRIL
O'NEIL
As shocking and terrifying as this may seem, our friends are in for a much
more, scarier scenario that's about to befall them.
GHOST HOST
BUT LOGIC SAYS NO, IT'S MERE HALLUCINATION...THEN LOOK ABOVE YOU, EXAMINE
EVERYTHING CAREFULLY...YOUR LOGIC CANNOT DENY THAT THIS CHAMBER HAS NO WINDOWS
AND NO DOORS...WHICH OFFERS A RATHER LOGICAL CHALLENGE, TO FIND A WAY
OUT...HMHMMHMMMAHAHAAH...OF COURSE, THERE'S ALWAYS MY WAY...
CASEY JONES
Suddenly all the candles in the room went out, including the candelabrum
Turbo held as if snuffed out by an unfelt wind. The entire chamber was
plunged into total darkness in seconds. Then thunder boomed or crashed
and lightning flashed from above, illuminating the hidden attic, there seemed
to be no roof. From the rafters a corpse or dead body of the Ghost Host
swayed, dangling from his neck by a taut rope.
HOYUNG PAK
What the h***?! It's a dead body!
LEONARDO
Dead man hanging, good grief!
MICHAELANGELO
Oooooh, I can't bear to watch anymore. <Shuts his eyes>
ERIC BETTS
This is totally un-cool, brother.
SPLINTER
Without warning, there came a blood-curdling scream of an unseen victim
falling to his death until it was swallowed up by another crashing sound of
thunder.
UNSEEN
VICTIM
AAAAaaaaahhhhh...
APRIL O'NEIL
Then, a black crow flew into the room and perched atop one of the gargoyle
statues to peer down at the frightened humans & mutants with yellow
eyes. Then it spoke in a chilling voice that sounded almost human!
CROW
Caw-caw, the courage way out. He chose the courage way out, caw-caw-caw!
SPLINTER
Then it flapped its wings and flew away, disappearing through one of the
many broken windows of the hidden attic before everything was plunged back into
darkness again. Ninjara clutched Turbo and Raphael's hands tightly, her
body pressed against both boyfriends simultaneously while the other Masters,
Leo, Don and Mike clung to one another in horror. In a few seconds the
candles relit as though by magic.
JAMIE
WEBSTER
What-the? <Looks around> Hey, the room's normal again.
JOHNNY LEE
SMITH
Yeah, man. Including the paintings, they're normal too.
DONATELLO
Yo, where's that dead body? <Looks up> I don't see it anymore.
MICHAELANGELO
It, it's gone! <Can't believe his eyes> Disappeared.
HERB PEREZ
Well, at least the ceiling is returned to its original state again.
MIKE
BERNARDO
It was as if nothing really happened while we were in here.
RAPHAEL
M-wha? How can that be possible, we saw everything happening, paintings
stretching, walls getting bigger, dead guy hanging by his neck, unseen voice
screaming, black crow flies into room, speaks to us and flies away again.
NINJARA
Look! <She gets everyone's attention> Over there. <Points to far
corner>
EVERYBODY
WHERE???
CASEY JONES
The lady fox noticed a panel on the far wall slide sideways and open to
expose a dimly lit hallway.
NINJARA
Could that be the hidden panel we were looking for?
HAKIM
ALSTON
Could be, mame. It opened by itself without us even searching for it.
NINJARA
Then, come on! Let's get out of here before anything else happens.
MIKE
BERNARDO
Right behind you, samurai.
LEONARDO
You and I lead, the others follow.
MIKE
BERNARDO
Good idea, Leo.
APRIL
O'NEIL
One by one the WMAC Masters, Ninjara and Ninja Turtles ran out of the art
gallery and into the dark hallway with no idea whatsoever of what they would
encounter next...on the left side were windows revealing a grotesque landscape
frequently illuminated by the lightning flashes from the storm still raging
outside. On the right side of the corridor were large portraits
resembling more family members of the manor. And when the lightning
flashed, these paintings morphed into decaying corpses.
NINJARA
We still should never have come in here, but...we had to seek shelter
anyway. Now the front door is still closed and we cannot go out that way.
DONATELLO
So, we must seek another EXIT instead to flee from this nightmare.
HEIN NGUYEN
I agree, the only option available to us is take this guided tour and perhaps
our Ghost Host will kindly show us the way out.
RAPHAEL
Hah, that is if he will show us the way out.
HEIN NGUYEN
Oh, you doubt me?
RAPHAEL
Nah, <Shrugs> besides, how do we know he will escort us to the EXIT?
ERIC BETTS
It wouldn't hurt to ask, would it?
SPLINTER
Suddenly there came a loud flapping sound like the beating of many wings
over their heads. This was accompanied by a loud ghost scream.
GHOST
SCREAM
AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
MICHAELANGELO
Who screamed?! <Panics>
DONATELLO
What the heck?! <Panics>
NINJARA
Don't look at me, I didn't do it...honest.
MIKE
BERNARDO
It's okay, everybody. Just that crow again.
CASEY JONES
Sure enough, Turbo spotted the black bird passing overhead and flying away
down the corridor till it vanished from sight like a mirage.
RAPHAEL
Grrrrrrr, I'll pluck out it's tail feathers, clip its wings!
LEONARDO
Off with its head! <Mimics the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland>
HERB PEREZ
Hahahaah, good one, you two. But this is no time for comedy skits, we're
in a BIG situation at the moment.
LEO &
RALPH
LOOK WHO'S JOKING!
HAKIM
ALSTON
Cut it out, all of you. Let's stay calm, not panic, keep cool heads,
stick together and we will find the EXIT.
APRIL
O'NEIL
Then the Ghost Host apologizes for scaring his visitors, didn't mean to
hurt their feelings or make them angry so to speak.
GHOST HOST
DID SOMEONE SCREAM?...AHH, WE DIDN'T MEAN TO FRIGHTEN YOU PREMATURELLY...APPARENTLY
THE RESTLESS SPIRIT OF AN OLD WITCH HAS TAKEN POSSESSION OF THAT POOR WRETCHED
CROW'S MORTAL BEING...BE ON YOUR GUARD, IT MAY WANT TO ACCIDENTALLY REPOSSESS
YOUR PHYSICAL BODIES OR SOULS IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL...HMHMMHMMMAHAHAAH...COME
ALONG NOW...
SPLINTER
My sons, the vixen bodyguard and the Masters walked down the long tapering
corridor. There seemed to be a light at the far end, pitch-blackness
behind them. The hallway made a sharp turn into an eerie lit limbo abound
with mist and decay. The furniture and walls were covered with spider
webs. A staircase seemed to be the only passageway out. As they
climbed to the 2nd Floor they were greeted by an appalling cold. This as
you know is the traditional manifestation of the supernatural.
GHOST HOST
I HOPE YOU DON'T HAVE AN ADVERSION TO DARKNESS AND COLD...BUT YOU SEE, WE
SPIRITS ARE SENSATIVE TO LIGHT...AND EVERY CONSIDERATION HAS BEEN GIVEN TO OUR
COMFORT HERE IN THIS DELIGHTFULLY, DREARLLY PLACE...OH, BY THE WAY, I ALMOST
FORGOT TO MENTION...THERE ARE SEVERAL PROMINENT GHOSTS WHO HAVE RETIRED HERE
FROM CREEPY OLD CRYPTS ALL OVER THE WORLD...ACTUALLY, WE HAVE 999 HAPPY HAUNTS
HERE...BUT THERE'S ROOM FOR 1000, ANY VOLUNTEERS, HMMM?...HAHAHAHAHAHAAH...IF
YOU INSIST ON PLAYING COWARD, YOU MAY NOT NEED TO
VOLUNTEER...HMHMMHMMMHMHMHMMM...
TO BE CONTINUED...