The three girls carefully retraced their footsteps back to the spot where they had seen the phantom. Hilary got out her cellphone and turned it on. There was still no signal, but the small screen did shed some light in the gloomy hallway.
“There!” She said, pointing. Faintly, the three girls could make out two sets of footprints, where the fine layer of dust on the carpet had been disturbed. One pair of small, lady’s shoes, the steps placed far apart as she fled headlong in terror, followed by another set of footprints, smeared slightly, like the hem of a cloak, dragging along the ground.
They followed Haley’s headlong flight, all the way to the front door. “Damn!” Victoria swore as her cellphone went dead. “I knew I should have recharged the batteries before we left.”
“It’s ok.” Amy said, pulling out her cellphone. “Mine’s fully charged.” She turned the brightness all the way up and swept it around the front hall while the three of them studied the scuffle of footsteps.
“I think I know what happened…” Beth said, gesturing. “The phantom chased Hilary here…” she pointed to the front door. “…and then grabbed her right over there.” She stepped over to a window near the front door. Both Hilary’s footsteps and the phantoms led over to their; only the phantoms walked away, no doubt carrying the poor girl off. Lying on the ground nearby was a small, pink handbag. The three girls immediately recognized it as one of Hilary’s.
“Oh no…” Victoria said, quietly. “We’ve got to find her!” she told the other two.
“We should get help first.” Amy replied. “One of us can run to the road, try and flag down a passing car and call the police. They can search this place from top to bottom and lot quicker than we could.”
Beth nodded. “That’s probably the best course of action.” She said.
Victoria sighed. “Alright…I just hope Hilary will be alright, until we can find her.” The thought of her friend trapped in the clutches of that creep chilled the young woman to the bone.
“We all do, Victoria.” Beth told her, as she walked over to the front door. “But getting captured ourselves isn’t going to help…what they!?!” The teenage girl tugged on the door handle. “It won’t open!” She exclaimed.
“Is it locked?” Amy asked.
“It wasn’t when we got here.” Beth replied. She leaned forward, peering through the darkness. “No. No, it’s still unlocked, see.” She tugged on the door handle, harder this time. Amy walked over and helped. Grunting, the two girls strained with all their might, but it remained stuck.
“It’s no use.” Amy said, frustrated. “We’re not getting out that way.” She stepped over to the closest window and tried to open it. “It’s stuck!” Somewhat nervously, she crossed the room to the other window and tried it as well. “We’re trapped!” She cried out.
“I’ll bet the phantom is behind this! He’s trapped us in here, so none of us can escape or go get help.” Beth said. She glanced around. “Come on, we shouldn’t stay in any place for long. The phantom’s probably coming this way as we speak. We need to keep moving!” The other two hurried after Beth as she turned down one of the hallways heading deeper into the house. As she walked quickly up the passageway she kept talking.
“Alright, here’s the plan. We stick together, don’t let the phantom split us up and pick us off, one by one. If we see him, we’ll see just how tough a ghost really is…” She grinned, smacking a fist into her palm. “Meanwhile, we’ll search the place from top to bottom, try and find Hilary, and then find a way out of here. Hopefully that bastard hasn’t managed to seal off every possible exit.”
The girls suddenly came to a dead end. Two doors, on opposite dies, led off in either direction. Beth picked one of the doors at random. Setting her hands on her hips, the young woman eyes the door. “How much you wanna bet this door is locked as well?”
Amy stepped back, beside the opposite door. She shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” She said.
“Well…here goes nothing…” Beth said. Taking a breath to steady herself, the teenage girl reached forward and set a hand on the door knob. To her surprise, it turned easily. “Alright! It’s unlocked!”
‘Click’
Amy’s eyes widened in shock as she suddenly felt the floor drop out from under her. She opened her mouth to scream as she fell through the trapdoor. The other two girls spun around in time to see their friend’s head disappear into the dark portal in the floor. The panel slammed back into place with a wooden thud cutting off her frightened scream.
“Amy! AMY!” Beth cried out, rushing over. Victoria was right behind her. Crouching down, they examined the floor. Even knowing it was there, it was almost impossible to make out the outline of the trapdoor, among the floorboards.
“Amy! Can you hear me, Amy!?!” Beth shouted. Overhead, the mocking laughter of the phantom echoed through the hallway. “Damn it!” Beth swore, pounding on the trapdoor with her bare fist. After moment, she regained some of her composure. “We need to get Amy out of there. Victoria, can you go turn that knob again?” Beth said, pointing.
Victoria did so. Nothing happened. After a moment, Beth realized, “It must have some sort of pressure sensor! That way, it only drops if somebody is standing on it!” She pressed down on the trapdoor with both hands. This time, when Victoria turned the knob, the wood panel dropped away. Peering down, Beth could just make out the outline of a metal chute, descending down below.
“Amy! Are you there!?!” Beth called down. There was no reply. After a moment, the trapdoor swung shut once more.
“We’ll have to find another way down.” Beth said, standing up. She was careful to make sure Victoria wasn’t standing on the trapdoor before turning the knob and opening the door. “If I remember correctly, on our way in, we passed by the stairs down to the basement not far from here. That seems like a good place to start looking…”
Victoria shivered. This place was scary enough. The last thing she wanted to do was go creeping around in some haunted cellar, but the thought of leaving Hilary and now Amy in the clutches of the phantom left her no choice. “Alright.” She said, nodding, hoping she looked more confident than she felt. “Let’s go.”
The basement was just as bad as the two had feared. Underneath a grand staircase, rising to the upper stories, a small, discreetly placed door was set in the paneling. Beth had some trouble getting it open at first, but to her relief, it wasn’t locked, just stuck. After a moment, it opened with a loud creak. A musty, sour smell wafted up, causing both girls’ noses to wrinkle. Behind the door, a narrow staircase descended into pitch black darkness.
For a moment, the two stood, wondering how they were going to find their way around in the darkness. “Hey look!” Beth said, reaching behind the door. From a small alcove tucked in one corner of the stairwell, the young woman pulled out a small, metal candle holder. A half melted wax candle was stuck in it. Nearby was a small, half empty box of matches.
“Lucky break, huh?” Beth said, opening the box and pulling out a match.
“yeah…lucky.” Victoria said with a soft sigh.
Beth struck the match head against the side of the box. The matches were old and didn’t seem to want to start. After a few failed attempts, she dropped the broken match and pulled out another. There were still four more matches in the box. This one caught on the second try. The tiny flame seemed impossibly bright in the dark room. The smell of burning wax competed with the foul smell of the basement as the candle caught flame.
“There. That’s better…” Beth said, blowing out the match. She raised the candle up, letting it’s weak, flickering light shine down the stairwell. It got about halfway down, leaving the rest of the stairs in darkness. Shadows danced along the walls around the edges of the small circle of illumination. Victoria edged closer to Beth and the precious source of light as the two women descended the narrow, steep stairs. Every other step creaked loudly under the girls’ weight.
At the bottom, Beth peered around, trying to make out what lay in the shadows, just beyond the candle’s shine. She held up the candle as high as she could, to throw its weak, flickering light out as far as possible. The two found themselves in a cramped hallway, made of roughly cut stonework. Peering into the gloom, Beth could make out a number of doors on either side of the passageway.
Slowly, the girls crept down the corridor, peering into the rooms. As far as they could tell, these were the servants’ quarters. Here was the kitchen, there: a laundry room, over here: a series of small bedrooms…
Beth paused a moment, trying to orient herself. They had started at the front door and walked up the hallway, that way… Luckily, the teenage girl had a superb sense of direction. If the trapdoor had been there, up above, Amy would have fallen down right about…There!
“This way.” Beth whispered to her friend. Belatedly, it occurred to Beth is Amy had been dropped here; the phantom was also likely here, to capture her. She frowned, her free hand clenching in a fist. In that case, they’d just have to stop him…
‘There’, proved to be a large storeroom. Peering through the doorway, Beth couldn’t tell how large it was. A number of shelves and stacks of crates filled the room, blocking the candle’s light, keeping the majority of the room in shadows. “Keep close, Victoria.” Beth whispered. She didn’t need to say that. Victoria huddled close to her friend as they crept inside. “We don’t want to get separated. This place is like a maze!”
On all sides, the high shelves loomed over the girls. Along one wall were racks, where wine bottles might have once been kept. Between them were several, massive barrels, on their sides, most likely empty. A few pieces of furniture were stacked haphazardly, covered in dust sheets. Nearby, a large wardrobe was filled with old, moth eaten coats. Carefully, Beth picked her way through the clutter, towards the far corner where she thought the trapdoor must have dropped Amy…
“Muahahahaha!!!” The two girls jumped in fright as the familiar, haunting laugh echoed through the cellar. Beth spun around, trying to tell where it was coming from, but once again, the sinister laugh seemed to be all around them. All of a sudden, there was a “whoosh!” and a gust of wind, blowing clouds of dust, washed over the frightened teens. The candle, shaking in Beth’s trembling hand went out, suddenly, plunging them into pitch black darkness.
“Shit!” Beth swore. Behind her, Victoria whimpered in fright. “Hand on, Victoria! I’ll get this relit in a second. There was a loud crash, followed by a sharp yelp of pain behind her as Victoria stumbled nearby. Frantically, Beth pulled the box of matches out and opened the box. Unfortunately, in the dark, she had the box upside down. The young woman swore again as the matches tumbled out of the box onto the ground.
Beth got down on all fours, sweeping her hands over the dusty stone floor, feeling around, until she found a match. Grabbing the box, she hurriedly struck the match against the side, too hard. The match broke in two, eliciting another sharp curse from Beth. As quickly as she could, she grabbed another match.
Beth’s hands were trembling now, making it hard to light the match. The phantom was close, she just knew it. The tell-tale green glow flickered, past the clutter and shelves. This match proved to be a dud too. Another managed to catch, but before Beth could relight the candle, it burned out. On the fourth match, she finally succeeded in getting the wick to take flame. Beth sprang to her feet, holding the light up, expecting to see the Phantom coming towards her. She didn’t see anyone. The young woman was all alone in the cramped room.
“Victoria?” She said, nervously. There was no sign of her friend. Once more, Victoria had vanished without a trace…

“No!” Victoria moaned as she saw the candle go out. The young woman turned this way, then that, trying to see anything, in the oppressive darkness. Fear getting the better of her, Victoria turned, trying to remember the way they’d come. Almost immediately, she tripped over a box. The young woman swore, as she barked her shin against the wood crate. Feeling around, Victoria stumbled through the darkness, trying to find her way back to the stairs. She needed to get out of her before…
A faint green glow was all the warning Victoria got before the phantom stepped in front of the girl, seeming out of nowhere. She opened her mouth to cry out a warning to Beth. Before she could, the ghost lunged forward, grabbing the frightened girl. “Be-mmmppphhh!” Victoria’s scream was cut off as her attacker slapped a gloved hand over her mouth.
“Oh god, not again!” Victoria thought to herself in horror. She turned to run, but the phantom grabbed one hand, dragging her back. Victoria struggled for all she was worth, trying to shake off her captor’s grasp, but the Phantom easily held onto her. She whimpered in fear as he pulled her close to him. Letting go of her wrist, he wrapped his strong arm around Victoria’s chest, pinning her arms down and pressing her tight against his cloaked form. His other hand, of course, remained clamped tight across Victoria’s mouth, silencing her frantic pleas for help…
Ignoring Victoria’s struggles and her muted protests, the phantom easily dragged her away, stepping deftly between the piles of junk in the darkness. Nearby, Victoria saw a brief flash of light as Beth struggled to light her candle. The frightened captive whimpered into her gag, trying to get her friend’s attention, but Beth didn’t hear her. Victoria felt tears form as Beth vanished behind a shelf.
The phantom carried his sobbing captive to the far well, to one of the large barrels. Kicking it with his boot, the lid of the barrel spun, revealing a passageway through the wall. In spite of Victoria’s efforts, she was pulled through the hidden door. As she was dragged down the secret passageway, the door closed behind her. Now that there was no danger of Victoria’s friend interfering, the phantom relaxed and set about securing his captive again.
“Welcome back, my dear.” The phantom whispered tauntingly as he stuffed a balled up cloth in Victoria’s mouth. “I can see I’ll have to take further steps to keep you from running off again…” From inside his cloak, he pulled out another long band of cloth, which he knotted in the center. This was forced between Victoria’s teeth, to keep her from spitting the packing out.            
Victoria shook her head, grunting into her gag as he tied it off behind her head. She struggled to shake him off as he pulled her arms behind her back and began tying them together again with rope.
“Don’t worry, girl…” the phantom said with a laugh. “I’m not going to hurt you or your friends…much!” The phantom’s laugh echoed in the secret tunnel, mingling with his prisoner’s cries of terror…