It was a dark and stormy night as I walked up the steps to the Bloodsworth mansion. On a bet with my sophomore class, I had agreed to spend one night alone there and now I was sure I must have been temporarily insane at the time. If I made it through the night, my class would win one thousand dollars. 

I opened the door, stood in the entry hall and flipped on the lights. My heart stopped for a second when I heard my entire sophomore class yell, “Surprise!”

Susan came over and said, "You didn't think we would let you stay all by yourself did you?"

Before I could answer, Ms. Grubbs explained the rules for those staying. When the final count came in, only three students would be spending the night. Not even Ms. Grubbs would stay.

Huge oil paintings of men and women dressed in black hung along the staircase. I sensed someone watching us as we got into our sleeping bags and lay down close to the warmth of the lit fireplace.

Thus started our overnight stay. It would be all that I remembered the following morning when I discovered I was the sole survivor.

---

Teresa Allen, from Albuquerque, NM, has a new novel that was just published in April 2008. This is an adult novel, but her true passion is writing for children and from her heart. Her newly published novel is Marti Brown and the House of Face. You may visit her website at: www.teresarallen.com. Allen's blog is called, "MY Books."

© 2008 Teresa Allen. Original for CCF (Allen grants CCF  first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).