THE LITTLE BOYS CLUB
Disclaimer: The Mummy Movies do not belong to me. They belong to Stephen Sommers, and to Universal Studios. Any characters you don’t recognize are mine so no snatching them.
Nights were Jonathan’s days, and had been for a long time. He loved to go out on the town at night, and spending his money, mostly drinking and gambling. Never did he worry about his money running out, because since Hamunaptra he had an endless amount. Now as he prepared for another night out, his impressionable six year old nephew sat on his bed keeping him company. Alex was ready for bed, dressed in long warm pajama pants and a warm top.
“Uncle John when will I be able to go with you to a club?” Alex asked as he crashed two of his cars together. Jonathan finished straitening his red evening jacket, and turned to face him.
“Well partner, you have to wait until your older, and out of the house. I don’t think as long as you live here, your mum or your dad will let you pick up my night time habits,” Jonathan said wondering idly what it would be like once Alex hit the teenage years.
“I want to have a club of my own,” he said. While finishing getting ready, Jonathan innocently told Alex about the club he and his friends had when he was younger, and about initiations. Alex listened intently taking in every piece of information, and once Uncle John had gone, he went to his room and started planning.
~*~
Since the next day was a Saturday, Alex was allowed to have three friends over, Megan, Petey, and Max, and now they sat up in the tree house Rick had build for them, listening while Alex told them about the club they were going to start.
“Uncle John said the most important part was annihilations,” Alex said mistaking that word for initiation.” All three of his friends liked his idea of having a club, and now they were trying to decide what annihilations had to be passed in order to be a member of the club.
“Wait, before we talk about annihilations, we have to figure out a good name for our club,” Megan said. The boys looked at her, and she sighed.
“Oh all right I’ll do that part myself,” she said quieting as they talked about what tests they wanted.
“I got a really good one,” Max suddenly said.
“What?” Alex asked. He grinned.
“We sneak out of our houses and go to Mcgreggors Manor,” he replied. The mention of that house put fear in all of their hearts. Old man Mcgreggor had been a wealthy Millionaire who had party after party, until a year ago when he started to horde his money and possessions and stopped going out of his house. When a month had passed and no one had seen him, the authorities went inside and found a house void of anything accept the furniture. His cars were all out front and the help had said he had never gone out of the house. The scary part was that everyone believed he had died someplace in that big house, and that now he haunted it. Alex told that to everyone, and now the treehouse was silent.
“I won’t go,” Megan said crossing her arms.
“Sissy,” Max said, then regretted it as she punched him hard in the arm. They tried to think of other tests to get into their club, but all of them kept going back to going to the Manor house.
“Lets just do it,” Megan finally said having a change of heart.” She wasn’t going to let some mere boys, even if they were her best friends, think she was afraid, and wanted to prove that at least she was willing to go there.
“We need more members,” Petey said talking for the first time.
“Fine, at school we all ask who wants to go with us, and next Friday night we will go there,” Alex said. Once it was decided, the club broke up and all of them went into the house to have a snack, and try to get the thoughts of Mcgreggors Manor out of their head.
~*~
That night, after the lights had been turned off, Alex lay awake in his bed thinking about what they had talked about. The bigger kids at his school all stayed away from the Manor, saying that Old man Mcgreggor had lost his sanity, and that his evil spirit would entrap anyone who went inside. Alex, Megan and Max had gone there one day a few weeks ago, just standing outside the gates, and then Megan had freaked out saying she saw someone move one of the second story curtains away to look at them. As much as he tried not to think about it, Alex couldn’t stop, and the more he thought about what he knew, the more afraid he became. Suddenly Cleo jumped on his bed, and Alex let out a blood curdling scream, which brought both parents in a matter of a half a minute. Evelyn turned on the light while Rick went to him.
“Your okay pal,” Rick said gathering his son in his arms. Alex clung to him not sure if he was all right. Something about that house had always made him curious, and he fully believed in mean spirits.
“Dad do you and mum know about the Mcgreggor home?” he asked pulling away to look at his father. Rick and Evelyn had known Old man Mcgreggor, Evie before they had gotten married, and both fully believed that something had gone wrong with him. There was truth about him disappearing in his own house, and as far as the haunting went, that part was sketchy in both their minds.
“I knew him when I was a child, and he always gave wonderful gifts at Christmas,” Evelyn said settling next to Rick and their son.
“Did he really disappear?” he asked. Evelyn reached out and rubbed his back.
“No one knows what happened to him baby. His wife passed away suddenly, and I think that really hurt him. Sometimes people become very sad, and when they do they want to sleep all the time. I think he went to sleep, and passed away so he could be with her, “ Evelyn said hoping that were the case.
“May I sleep with you and dad tonight?” he asked. Rick stood up and Evelyn got his favorite bear then they all retired to their room for a good nights sleep.
~*~
Friday night arrived, and after his parents were asleep, Alex pulled his packed rucksack out of the closet, and put that on, after he got dressed, then easily snuck out of the house taking with him a hiking stick to use as a weapon if he needed to. It was a clear night, and the moon light cast an eerie glow on the lawn.
“Be brave,” Alex said as he got to the woods. He hesitated then ran as fast as he could to where he and whomever wanted to be in the club was meeting. Not far from the entrance of the woods was a clearing with several rocks and tree stumps. When Alex arrive, Max, Megan, Petey, Davis, Charles, and Salina were all ready to go.
“Are we sure we want to do this?” Salina asked.
“Lets just get it done with,” Charles said. He and Davis were nine, and both were just as afraid as the rest of them. Once they were ready, they hiked through the woods until they came to a stone wall, one that surrounded the great house. Alex, and Petey were the first ones to start climbing, then everyone else followed suit, until they made it over the wall. All of them stood still looking at the old house, which had Ivy growing all over it due to lack of proper care. Again Alex took the lead, and stopped when he realized he was the only one going forward.
“Oh come on it’s just a house,” he said.
“Forget this,” Charles and Davis said. They left with Sarina and Petey on their tale, leaving Max Megan and Alex alone.
“Alex we need to do something less dangerous. What if he is alive, and is in there. He could be mad, and enough so to kill all of us. I saw something that one day, and I’m telling you this is not a good idea,” Megan said.
“I’m going in, you two do what you want,” Alex said. He wanted to prove to himself he could do this on his own, and started away without them.
“I’m not going,” Max said.
“I am. He can’t go alone. Max if we aren’t around tomorrow by seven in the morning at our club, then go tell Rick and Evie,” she said. He nodded then watched as she ran toward Alex.
~*~
Finding a way in to the house was not at all easy. Despite its state of disrepair, the house was built sturdy and strong, and both children had walked around it almost ten times trying to find a window that would open, or a door that was unlocked. Now they were at the back entry, and Alex was doing his best to pick the old lock when they heard a click. The door opened seemingly on its own and both of the children backed away.
“Alex come on lets just say we went in,” Megan said, spooked by the fact that the door had just opened on his own.
“Yeah, well lets get something from inside and then we can go.” Alex got out a lantern and lit it, then the two of them went inside the house. The room they had entered was a kitchen, and the light they had let them see how amazingly clean things were.
“Get that glass and...” Before Alex could say more the door slammed shut. Both he and Megan screamed and ran to it trying to get it open but it wouldn’t budge.
“I want to go home,” Megan said starting to cry. Alex hugged her close trying to remember how to breath.
“I know me to,” he said, then looked around the house. He saw a phone and went to it holding tight to Megan’s hand. When he picked it up he found it dead, and sighed.
“Well we are stuck, so we might as well have a look around,” he said.
“No, we stay here,” Megan said.
“Megs its just a house, and I bet that old door is just being finicky,” he said not sure of that, but trying to thing of a rational explanation for both of them. It took a little prodding, but Alex finally encouraged her to go with him to look around. As they stepped out of the kitchen they found a long hallway leading to the left, and started down it when they heard a creak behind them. Both turned and found only empty space. The hall led into a grand Parlor, bigger than the one in Alex’s house. It was full of graceful furniture, and shelves of books.
“Mum would love this,” Alex said amazed by their find. He went over to a shelf, still holding on to Megan and pulled one out. It was a book on Witchcraft, and Alex quickly put it back not liking that they had found such a thing. Upon looking around further, in the left hand part of the room was a staircase which spiraled to the next floor, and unlike his house it seemed to disappear into the ceiling not revealing any part of the next level.
“Let’s see where it leads,” Alex said. Both of them went up and found themselves in another hall way with several shut doors. At the far end of the hall were more spiraling stairs, but first the two decided to look in the first few rooms. The first room they found was a baby’s room, and again as the rest of the house had been, the room was clean and pristine. Megan went to the crib and found a babydoll inside, but decided it best not to touch it. The next room on the right was a normal room with a huge bed, and cherry wood furniture. It was the room at the end of the hall closest to the next set of spiraling steps that was the best room. In it was all sorts of toys, and a traintrack that went around the room. Alex found a light switch and turned it on, and the light amazingly went on. He and Megan relaxed once the found the toys and played as though they were at their own home.
~*~
Laying in his bed, Max could not sleep. He looked at the clock which said it was 2am, two hours since he had left Megan and Alex. Finally he sat up, deciding to risk their friendship and call his house. In the hall, Max picked up the phone and dialed the operator then had her connect him to the O’Connell home. The phone rang ten times then Rick answered.
“Mr. O’Connell, this is Max.” he said. Rick sighed about to fall asleep again.
“Max Alex is in bed. He will speak to you in the morning,” Rick said about to hang up.
“He’s not in bed. We, well we decided to start a club and as part of the annihilation, we were all going to go into the Mcgreggor home,” Max said. the mention of that name, and the fact that Alex was not in his bed woke Rick fully.
“Are you there now?” he asked waking Evie.
“No I well me and the other few kids chickened out. Alex and Megan went in alone,” he said. After getting off the phone with him, Rick told Evie was was happening. Quickly the two of them got dressed, then Rick made a call to Constable Geoffryies who agreed to meet them at the house.
*~*
All had been fine in the house until the light in the playroom went off and both Megan and Alex heard the cry of a child. Now Megan was the one crying while Alex hugged her. They were back in the grand parlor doing their best to to think of a way to get out, when Alex noticed for the first time one of the book cases sort of sticking out from the wall.
“Look Megs,” he said as he pointed that out. She looked at where he was pointing and hugged to him tighter. Megan was brave accept when it came to the super natural, and for that her bravery did not exist. Alex stood up and took her hand, and the lantern and they went to the case. It took both of them but they moved it, and found a passage.
“I don’t want to go,” she said.
“Please?” he asked. Never able to say no to him, Megan kept tight hold of his hand as they went in. It led down a ways into a small room with some sort of chain hanging. When Alex reached up to pull it, Megan tried to stop him but it was to late. The floor slid out from under them and they fell down a shute sliding down. It seemed to go on for ages before they stopped at some sort of cave, and a water way. There was a boat, and both of them got in having lost their fear. Alex knew how to work the oars and guided them through the tunnell a short distance to another landing, and as they stepped off the boat Megan screamed. Alex looked as a man approached.
“No need to be afraid,” he said which really surprised both of them.
“Are you old man Mcgreggor?” Alex asked.
“I do have a name you know,” he said smiling at both of them, and giving the young girl a handkerchief. Megan wiped her face with it, feeling a bit better.
“My name is Barnabus, and I would say from those blue eyes and prominatnat feature’s your Rick and Evelyn O’Connells boy,” he said which stunned both children.
“How did you know?” Alex asked.
“I saw you last, when you were two, and you used to try to pull my beard off. Now why don’t you two follow me,” he said. They did so for a short distance, and he led them into a grand underground room. It was made of gold, or so it seemed, and inside was a beautiful white haired woman.
“Martha this is Alex O’Connell,” Barnabus said.
“You’ve grown up,” she said and noticed Megan.
“Would you children like something to eat?” she asked. Both of them nodded and she led them down another passage to a kitchen. There she fixed them milk and cookies as Barnabus sat down and began.
“There was a young boy under our care that year, Leo Peterson, who drowned in the pond in the backyard. When his parents returned they said they were going to sue us for every penny we owned. Martha and I have never asked anything of people, and I think because we are rich people think our money is all thats to us. It was Martha who decided to pretend to die, and then with the help of a few good friends we build all of what you see. We have ways to get into the main house, and the waterway leads down to the dock, which is where James sends us our food,” he finished. Alex was amazed.
“We left that book case open, what if someone finds you that way?” he asked. Barnabus smiled.
“It closes on its own. Now We best get you back up there, and all I ask of you two is not to tell anyone of what you have found here. I’ll welcome your visits, but you must promise not to tell,” he said. Both children agreed to do that, and then Baranbus led them back to the house. On the way they asked about the flickering lights, and Barnabus explained about how the lights could only stay on for a ten minute period before going of, so that the power company wouldn’t find anything they shouldn’t. He also told them that the crying child was a recording to scare away any unwanted guests.
~*~
When Rick and Evie arrived at the house they found both Alex and Megan sitting on the steps huddled together. Evelyn was the first one to get to them holding them close while the Constable left, now that he knew the children were safe.
“Oh Alex don’t you ever do this again,” Evelyn said as she held him tightly to her body.
“Mum your suffocating me,” he said. Evelyn sighed and looked him over as well as Megan.
“Lets get the two of you home,” she said as Rick approached. On the way Evie asked Rick if the City ever planed to wreck the house, but he told her that the house had been paid for in full as well as the property with Ten Thousand Gold shillings, and that a young man named James Elliot tended the property. When they arrived home Megan and Alex were asleep and after they were put to bed, and once they parents were gone both of them woke up looking at one another.
“Lets go see them next Friday,” he said. Megan nodded and closed her eyes and for now the adventures they had were all in their dreams.
THE END