Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

young minds can?t r esist a myster y. Don?t you r emember w hen w e w er e like that?"
The pale old man looked into one of the mir r or s at the ghoul, w ho slow ly nodded
back. Dr opping Lily to the gr ound in a tr embling heap, the old man, now as pale as
moonlight, floated into the r oom of glass. He r eached into one of the mir r or s and
pulled out the other spectr e. The cr eak of bones and the scr ape of nails on
chalkboar d accompanied the ghost as it was dr agged back into r eality. Lily cover ed
her ear s, gr imacing at the aw ful sound.
"Thank you, Gr egor y," the spectr e w hisper ed, its gr in still unmoving. "And thank
you, Miss Lily, you have been invaluable to us."
The tw o ghosts dr ifted past Lily, still in a heap on the floor , and floated dow n the
stair case. With each step, the ghosts r egained colour in their faces. The spectr e?s
feet cr acked and contor ted as they w er e for ced back into shape. Lily just managed
to catch a glimpse of Mister Gr egor y smiling at her as he helped his colleague leave
the stor e.
Lily lay ther e a w hile, too afr aid to move. After w hat seemed like an eter nity, she
slow ly cr aw led to the stair case, still tr embling.
Fumbling her hands onto the bannister , Lily shuffled dow n the stair case, finally
r eaching the fr ont door.
She tw isted the door knob. Nothing.
She tw isted again. Yanked it. Har der and har der. She slammed her fists on the
door , scr eaming for help, befor e sliding dow n in a heap, sobbing.
Thr ough her tear s, Lily glanced at her r eflection in the w indow of the door. She
was sur e her clothes w er e looking paler than befor e.
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