“The Mystery of Smokey Terrace”
By: Ron564339
E-mail: [email protected]
Part 19:
“Hey, come on, this is really important!” I yelled back.
I was talking to a policeman of our town. We were running up the hill to the CREEPY mansion in our town called Smokey Terrace. I don’t care what anyone says, that place is messed up!
You see, my cousin Max’s moron friend Jack had to go in there, and he didn’t come out. Then my older brother Jason followed him, and he didn’t return either. So, I ran to go get help from the police station while Max and my older brother Mitch tried to get Rufus, the caretaker, to let them in the mansion. But this whole thing was really freaking me out…I mean, how could Jack and Jason just have gotten lost?
I had made it to the police station just fine, but there were only a few officers there. When I told them what happened, though, they…just laughed at me! They told me not to waste their time with silly little games! But I kept on begging and pleading with them, and finally, one of them agreed to come with me to check out what was happening. But he sure wasn’t nice about it…he kept on grumbling about stupid kids and silly rumors.
He was a pretty fat guy, too, and as we ran up the hill, he was huffing and puffing for air. I yelled back at him again. “COME ON!”
“Geez, kid, keep your head on,” he said through his puffing. “You act like someone’s dying.”
“Well, maybe someone is!” I yelled back.
Finally, we came upon the house itself. I immediately spotted Max’s friend Kevin. He was waiting outside, with the hopes that Jack or Jason might come back out.
As I ran up to her, with the policeman still trailing behind me, I said, “Hey, Kevin! Any sign of Jack or Jason?”
“No,” he said nervously. “I’ve circled around the house ten times, but still, neither one has come out.”
“What about Max and Mitch?” I asked. “What happened to them?”
“As soon as you left, they went to talk to Rufus. He said the door that Jack and Jason went in was stuck, but he let the two of them in through the front door. But they haven’t come back out either…”
“Oh man, oh man,” I mumbled nervously. This was NOT good. Now all FOUR of them were missing! What was I gonna do?
The policeman approached us and said (still wheezing), “Ok, so are you two going to tell me what’s going on here?”
Kevin and I filled him in with everything that happened. He didn’t seem all that interested. When we finished, all he said was, “You blasted kids. Why did you have to mess around with this house? It’s your own fault!”
“I know, I know!” I said. “But, we still need your help.”
“Are the rumors true about this place?” asked Kevin.
“Look, I don’t care about any silly ghost stories,” said the policeman. “I don’t know anything about this house, except for that it looks deserted or that some nice little old lady lives here and your hooligan friends broke in on a stupid dare.”
I sighed nervously. “PLEASE,” I said. “Please help us. Our friends are missing in there…can’t you do something?”
The officer let out an annoyed sigh. “Ok, fine,” he said. “I’ll go in there and have a look around. I’m sure I’ll find your little punk friends and we’ll put an end to this stupid game. Now, which one of you is going in there with me?”
“Huh?” I asked. “You want one of US to go in there?”
“Well, I have no idea what your friends look like, so I’ll need one of you to tell me. Besides, it’ll be easier to find them with two people.”
Me and Kevin looked at each other nervously. I GUESS the officer was right. But which of us was going to go with him?
I thought about it for a bit, and then I decided that I would go. This was my chance! Even though I was really, really, really scared of Smokey Terrace, this was my chance to prove that I wasn’t some little kid. My older brothers were always treating me like…a baby! They always made fun of me and bossed me around, and never took me seriously. But now was my chance to show them, and everyone else…I’d be the one to go in there and save them! And I was willing to bet Max would be impressed with me, and think I was cooler. Even Jack would have to respect me.
Feeling a sudden wave of courage, I said, “Ok, I’ll do it! I’m sure I can help you find them.”
“Ok,” Kevin said calmly. I could tell she was nervous. After all, now it would be only her left outside. “Max and Mitch went in through the front door, and they said it would still be unlocked.”
“All right,” said the policeman with another irritated sigh. “Let’s get this over with.”
With that, the two of us made our way to the big front porch, walked up to the door, opened it, and walked into Smokey Terrace.
Once inside, we entered right into this HUGE entrance room. It had to be the biggest room I had ever been in. The place looked really old…chipped tiling, dusty walls…everything looked really old and unused. There was a lot of art and stuff around, like vases, tables and rugs. But, the major thing we noticed was a huge double staircase leading up to a huge set of double doors.
“All right,” said the policeman. “Only way to go is upstairs, through those doors.”
I didn’t want to object him. I was really glad he was here…with the dust and the cobwebs along with the huge size of the room, Smokey Terrace was already more scary on the inside.
The two of us walked up one side of the staircase and walked through the double doors. We came into this hallway room with a big red rug and bookcases and desks up against both walls. I was kind of interested in it, and I wanted to stop and take a look, but the policeman was determined to keep moving. We quickly made our way down the hall and walked in through the door at the end of the room.
We walked through, and this time we came to another hallway. But this one split in two directions, and there were lots of doors on both sides.
“Great,” said the policeman. “All right, listen, since there are so many rooms to check, we had better split up.”
“What?” I asked in surprise. “I thought you said you needed me to recognize my friends?”
“Well, that was before we ran into this many doors,” he responded. “Listen, you don’t have to be scared…”
“I’m not scared!” I responded almost out of instinct. In truth, yeah, ok, I was kind of creeped out by this house, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.
“Well, fine, but either way, I’ll just be down the hall. We’ll cover more rooms this way. I’m sure I can recognize your friends. Go on now. I’ll check this way, you go that way.”
“Oh…well, ok then,” I said hesitantly. I was going to do my best to keep the policeman in my sights, though.
As I turned to go down the right pathway, though, somehow I ended up losing my footing and I slipped. I crashed down hard against the floor, feeling pain in my chest, legs, and hands. To top it off, the floor was so dusty that a cloud of it came up as soon as I hit. All of it made me sneeze a few times.
The officer came over to me and asked, “You ok, kid?” as he swatted away at the dust, which was getting in his face too.
“Uh, I think so,” I said as he quickly pulled me up to my feet. I think he did it too fast, though, because as soon as I got to my feet, I felt really woozy, and I had to reach out and grab the wall to keep from falling again. It felt like the room was spinning.
I was worried for a few seconds, but then it soon passed. I looked over, and for some reason the officer was grabbing the wall too.
“Sure you’re ok?” he asked, shaking his head a little.
“Uh, yeah…I think so,” I said.
“All right, good. Try to be more careful. You start checking doors that way, I’ll start this way.”
With that he turned and opened a door down the hall, looked around and called for people, and then moved on to the next one. I decided that I might as well do the same.
I walked down the hallway and opened the first door that I came to. I called out, “Jason? Jack? Max? Anyone there?”
But the room was empty, with only a few chairs. So, I moved on.
I checked another room, and called out for the others. Again, it was empty. But, I noticed that there was a closet in there, too. So, I walked into the room and decided to check the closet. Maybe I was just over curious. But even though I was freaked out, I was kind of hoping there’d be something interesting in the closet.
But, I was just expecting it to be empty. So I was a little surprised when I saw a couple of pieces of clothing hanging up on a rack (though I don’t know why, it was a closet after all). But, it was still kind of funny, because they were…baby clothes hanging up.
But then I noticed something really weird…they weren’t baby sized, but looked like they could fit big people! There was a bib, and one of those baby footed sleeper things. They were both light blue, and the sleeper had a pattern of little rabbits on it. But like I said, they were big! They looked like they could fit someone my age!
I decided to pick up the bib and take a better look at it. But as I did, I almost dropped it; on it, there were the initials “T.J.”
Part 20:
I just stared at it for a few more seconds, not believing it. Why did it have my initials on there?
I looked at the sleeper too, and it also had the initials “T.J.” across the chest of it. What was going on here?
I began to get a little freaked out…I mean, we had heard all of those crazy stories about people coming out of here and doing…babyish…sort of things. And now there were some big baby clothes with my name on there? It wasn’t something that made me feel better about being here…
I decided it would be best that I just brought this back to the policeman and tell him there was definitely something funny going on in this house. So, I grabbed the sleeper and left the room, going back into the hallway.
When I did, I noticed that the policeman wasn’t there. So I walked out into the hallway to get a better look. But still, I didn’t see him. ‘Uh oh,’ I thought. ‘What’s going on here?’
But then, I saw one of the doors open, and out came the policeman. I let out a sigh of relief.
I was about to tell him about the sleeper that I found, but before I could he smiled at me and spoke.
“Oh, there you are,” he said. “Just the person I was looking for.”
‘Huh?’ I thought. What was he talking about?
He took a few steps closer to me, and he was looking at me kind of funny. “I’ve just heard some very interesting news,” he then said.
This time I spoke out loud. “Huh?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
But, before he said anything else, out of the same room that he had walked out of…MRS. GREMLEY walked out! It had to be her! It looked just like all of the pictures that I had seen in the papers.
Now, I was truly frightened. I had thought she was dead! Was this a ghost?
So, I was so scared that I couldn’t move. I just stood there and stared.
“This lovely old lady has been talking to me,” the policeman said. “And she’s told me about how she has just been trying to relax peacefully in her house for years, but all too often little hooligans like you and your friends cause her all kinds of problems. Playing devilish tricks on her, throwing things at her house, tearing up her flower beds, and even breaking into her house! And she tells me she’s already seen your little friends break into her house today!”
I was so scared that I had trouble saying anything, but I managed to say, “But…but…”
“Quiet!” he yelled. “You good for nothing kids are always causing problems! Why can’t you just mind your own business and leave this nice old woman be?”
“Exactly!” said Mrs. Gremley in a raspy old voice. “I’ve already seen four nasty little hooligans creeping around in my house, almost scaring the daylights out of me. And they always end up stealing my property! And look…what do we have here? This little boy right here is also trying to steal some of my belongings!”
“Aha!” said the policeman. “Caught red-handed son!” he said, looking at the sleeper in my arms.
“Wait!” I said, finding my voice. “I wasn’t stealing it! Honest! It’s just that…it had my initials on it! My name is T.J., and the sleeper has T.J. on it! And I was just coming to show it to you!”
“Why, you evil little boy!” said Mrs. Gremley. “That set of pajamas belongs to my son! The initials stand for Thomas James!”
“But…they look like baby pajamas!” I said, still confused and nervous.
“How dare you?!” she said, almost sounding like she was going to cry. “First, you come in and try to steal my poor dead boy’s old belongings, that still have strong sentimental value for me, and then you insult him by saying he wore baby clothes!”
“No!” I said, almost starting to tear up myself. “Honestly, I wasn’t trying to steal it!”
“A likely story!” boomed the policeman. “You nasty little thug! Here, you’re going to give these clothes back to Mrs. Gremley here, and then I’m going to take you down to the station, and we’ll have a talk with your parents!”
“I appreciate that, officer, but I would like you to round up his filthy little friends, too, if you don’t mind!”
“Will do, ma’am, will do,” he said. “I know…here, you, boy, come with me.” He gripped my arm tightly and began to drag me down the hall.
I was too scared to resist. As we walked by Mrs. Gremley, she grabbed the sleeper out of my arms. Then the policeman drug me down the hall even further, into another room.
I was so worried and scared by now that I just about started to cry. I felt so bad, and I was worried about what me and the others had done, and how much trouble we were in.
The room we walked into looked to be a little kids’ room. There was a toy box, a few small tables, and a kids’ bed. The policeman drug me over to the bed and told me to lay down on it.
“Here,” he said, taking out a pair of handcuffs. “I’m going to handcuff you to this bed so you don’t go anywhere. Once I’ve found your friends, I’ll come back for you.”
“No, please, don’t leave me here!” I begged. I was really just about in tears now…I didn’t want to be left in this house alone, and especially not handcuffed.
“You leave me no choice!” he said. “You should have thought about this before you tried to steal from that old woman!”
With that he slapped the handcuffs on me and put the chain through the railing near the head of the bed. He then attached them to my other wrist, so I was trapped, lying there on my back with my arms above my head. I wanted to fight him back, but I was already in a lot of trouble.
“Now, just sit tight, I’ll be back later,” he said. “With that, he turned, left the room, and closed the door.”
Part 21:
I couldn’t believe it…I was handcuffed to this bed, and I was trapped here! I tried to move around, but I couldn’t really even get my body off of the bed, since I wasn’t able to move my wrists very much. Even though I struggled and fought, it didn’t change anything…I was helplessly stuck. How had this happened? Mrs. Gremley was actually alive, and she…framed me! And now I was alone in this creepy house, with an angry policeman hunting down my friends because he thought we were all thugs who broke into this mansion. And since I was handcuffed to this bed, there was nothing I could do to change my situation!
My frustration and fear of the situation made me let out a little whine, since I didn’t know what to do. As I thought more and more about what was happening and the hopelessness of it, I felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes…all I was trying to do was help my brothers and my friends, and now I was being held here as a thief! And there was nothing I could about it!
As I became more and more depressed about my situation, I looked up and heard the door open. I was expecting it to be the police officer, coming back either to tell me he had found one of the others or that he had had no luck with it.
But it wasn’t him…it was…Jason and Mitch! Both of them! They were ok! I was overjoyed to see them!
“Hey guys, boy, am I glad to see you!”
“Oh, TJ, there you are!” said Mitch. “We were beginning to worry about you! We knew you wouldn’t leave us alone in here and that you’d come after us!”
“You…you did?” I asked in surprise as they stepped into the room and got closer.
“Of course, doofus!” said Jason. “We knew you couldn’t resist the chance to come in and prove yourself to us.”
“But look at the mess you’ve gotten yourself into!” said Mitch. “How did you get like this?”
“Oh, well, you see,” I said. “It was…Mrs. Gremley! She’s STILL ALIVE! And I came in with this policeman, and she made him think that I was trying to steal from her! So now, he thinks that we’re all little punk thieves trying to steal from her…”
“TJ, I’m disappointed in you!” said Jason. “Stealing from poor little Mrs. Gremley!”
“No, you guys, you don’t get it…I didn’t really steal from her…”
“TJ, TJ, TJ…” interrupted Mitch. “Won’t you ever learn? You’re always trying to prove how grown up and tough you are, and now you went and tried to steal from Mrs. Gremley…you naughty little kid…”
“That’s right,” said Jason. “But TJ, stealing doesn’t prove that you’re mature and tough…it proves that you’re just our spoiled little baby brother…”
“Hey!” I said. “I told you, I wasn’t stealing!” How could they be treating me like this when I was trapped like this? “I wasn’t trying to prove anything…”
“TJ, look, lying about it won’t help anything,” said Mitch. “You made a mistake, and now you have to take responsibility for it and tell us the truth…you were stealing from Mrs. Gremley…”
“Hey, cut it out!” I yelled angrily. “I told you, I’m not lying!”
“Now, TJ, don’t start throwing a temper tantrum,” said Jason. “Mrs. Gremley told us all about it. And guess what she said you were stealing? A footed baby sleeper! How fitting, considering that that’s what you’ve always acted like…a little baby!”
“Hey, that’s not funny!” I yelled, getting really hot now. What was wrong with them? Why weren’t they helping me? “Look, I’m trapped here. Aren’t you two going to help me get out?” I asked, with a sense of pleading in my voice.
“Now calm down, baby brother,” said Mitch. “Like Jason said, throwing a temper tantrum won’t help. Look, whether you’re going to admit it or not, you were stealing, and what’s more, you were stealing some baby clothes from Mrs. Gremley. You’ve acted very immaturely, young man, in fact, you’ve acted just like a baby.”
“And because of that,” said Jason. “I think it’s time that Mitch and I put you in your place, and treated you exactly how you’ve been acting…like a little baby!”
“Hey, shut up!” I yelled, feeling tears starting to well up in my eyes again. “Why are you two doing this? Why won’t you help me?!” I struggled furiously, but the handcuffs held me strongly in place.
“Looks like our little baby brother is starting to get cranky!” Jason said to Mitch. “I think it’s time that we get him situated.”
With that, while I looked on helplessly, I saw Jason turn and walk over towards the toy box in the room. He opened it, took something out, and turned back towards me. When I saw what was in his arms, I almost freaked out. To my horror, I realized he was holding…a box of baby wipes, a bottle of baby powder, and…and…a big, disposable DIAPER.
“Now, baby brother, since you’ve been so immature, I think it’s time your big brothers dressed you appropriately. We know all about how to diaper a little baby boy, so you know you’re in good hands,” said Jason.
As they stepped towards me and I realized what they wanted to do, I once again struggled violently. I kicked and flailed around as hard as I could, but it wasn’t doing any good…
Mitch grabbed my ankles and held them firmly in place. “Now you stop that, mister, and you be a good baby.”
Jason began to take off my shoes and socks, and soon after, while Mitch held my legs tightly (even though I was still struggling in vain), Jason reached for my pants and pulled them off, leaving me only in my shirt and my underwear.
As it hit me more and more that I was going to be unable to stop them from…from…putting a DIAPER on me, the humiliation and helplessness of the situation hit me full force, and I began to freak out. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I screamed out at them, “STOP IT! GO AWAY! I’M NOT A BABY! I DON’T NEED A DIAPER!”
“Aww, it looks like our wittle baby is fussy,” said Jason with an evil smile as he reached out and lightly pinched my cheek. “I’ve got just the thing to calm him down.” I saw him turn around and go back to the toy box, and he emerged with a light blue…baby pacifier, attached to a light blue ribbon. Except, like the diaper, it looked big enough to be fit for me...
I was still yelling and screaming, but Mitch held me tightly, so I couldn’t do anything as Jason walked towards me and had little trouble shoving the pacifier in my mouth. I tried my hardest to spit it out, but he held it firmly in place, and proceeded to tie the ribbon around the back of my head. As he secured it around my head and backed up, I once again tried to spit it out, but it was no good…it was completely securely strapped into my mouth. The only sounds I could let out were muffled whines, now…
“Aww, that pacifier makes him look so adorable!” said Mitch. “Reminds me of what a cute little baby he was…”
“I never got to see him much as a baby,” said Jason. “But I guess now’s my chance! I bet putting him in a diaper will make him even cuter!” he added sarcastically.
“Yes, let’s do it!” said Mitch.
I felt my face go red as the tears continued to roll. Why were they doing this? My heart began to pound furiously in my chest as the humiliation began to reach a new level.
I tried to struggle once again, but it did no good as Jason easily removed my underwear and left me naked from the waist down in front of my two brothers. This was easily the most humiliated I had ever been…especially since I could do nothing to cover up…
Jason once again went to the toy box and this time came back with a large blanket. He unfolded it, and as Mitch lifted up my naked butt, Jason flattened it out underneath me. As he did this, Mitch said, “TJ has such a funny little butt…good thing it’s ok for little baby boys to be naked in front of their big brothers!”
“How else would we change their diapers?” Jason said with a laugh.
I once again let out a groan around the stupid pacifier stuck in my mouth, and I just helpless watched as Jason took a baby wipe and began to apply it to my naked privates.
It was horrible enough that he did this…but what made it even worse was that he was baby talking me.
“Time to get wittle baby TJ cleaned up for his fresh diapy!” he said as he finished cleaning off my front. “Now let’s do his wittle baby bottom!” he added as Mitch lifted my legs up, exposing my butt in right in front of them.
“He sure does have a dirty bottom!” Mitch said with a laugh as Jason proceeded to clean me up. I just continued to whine…
Jason took the diaper and unfolded it, placing it underneath my lifted butt. Next, he took the bottle of baby powder and gave a firm shake, shooting a cloud of the white powder right onto my butt. The smell of it filled the air, and it was so babyishly sweet that it made me feel even more embarrassed.
As Mitch lowered by butt down onto the diaper, Jason began to shake the powder onto my front as well, rubbing it into my stomach and privates. The smell reminded me so much of babies, that I even began starting to feel like a real baby…which was the worst part of this whole thing.
“Ok, time to finish up and tape on his didee!” said Jason. He took the bottom of the diaper, and I heard the crinkle of the plastic outside as he pulled it over my waist and tightly fastened it on the two sides. It felt so thick and soft, that I immediately felt like I was one year old again. It was even worse that there was a babyish design across my waist. This caused even more tears to fall from my eyes.
“Aww, don’t cry TJ,” said Mitch. “You look SOOOOO CUTE!” Like that was supposed to make me feel better…
As Mitch let go of my legs, I struggled as hard as I could. But with my hands still bounded, there was no way I could do anything…I was stuck in…my diaper.
Part 22:
“You know,” said Jason. “TJ looks so cute, I think we need to take some BABY PICTURES!”
With that, Mitch pulled out a camera from the toy box as well, and he pointed it straight at me. I could tell he was getting a shot that showed my face, pacifier and diaper but not the handcuffs.
He snapped a couple of shots remarking on how perfect they were.
“Ha ha!” said Jason. “This is perfect. But you know Mitch, we can’t keep these all to ourselves. I bet there are some other people who deserve to see these…”
“You know,” said Mitch. “You know that cute little girl that TJ has a crush on? I bet she would LOVE to see TJ like this…”
‘NO!’ I thought. That would ruin my life. I would have begged on my hands and knees not to have them show that girl those pictures…I would have no reason to live. I had completely forgotten the fact that I was in this creepy house, all of my attention was on what was happening with me being treated like a baby by my two JERK brothers…
“You know…” said Mitch. “TJ does look simply ADORABLE like this, but I think we can go even further.”
“That’s right,” I heard a raspy old voice say. I looked over, and I saw none other than Mrs. Gremley in the room. Could things get any worse?
“Your whole life,” she said to me. “You’ve been trying to prove yourself, and trying to grow up so fast, and deny the fact that you’re the baby of the family. But now, you have to be true to yourself, and realize that you are innocent, and young, and a baby…and you need your brothers to protect you. So, now, we will put you in your place, and you will have no choice…”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but it still freaked me out even more. I saw her point a finger at me, and I felt my head begin to get fuzzy. The whole room, along with Mrs. Gremley and my two brothers was getting huge, and getting bigger and bigger. I did feel the handcuffs start to loosen, and I felt the pacifier slip from my mouth. But the diaper still fit well, and as I saw the bed get bigger too, I realized that I was getting smaller…
It was easy for me to realize that I wasn’t just getting smaller, but I was turning into… a real baby! But as it was happening, for some reason, all of my pain and humiliation and fear were being sucked out of me, and it was being replaced by…happiness.
I saw Mitch lean over in front of me, and it made me…happy. I loved having a big brother, and he made me feel so safe and nice. He was holding a stuffed teddy bear, and even looking at it filled me with excitement and joy. Jason took the pacifier that was now dangling from my neck by the ribbon and inserted it gently into my mouth, giving me a huge sense of peace. Then, both Jason and Mitch lifted me up and cradled me in their arms, gently tickling me and talking to me sweetly in baby talk. I couldn’t explain it, but the feeling of being so loved and adored was the best feeling I had ever felt. For the first time in my life, I loved being the BABY brother, I loved being cute, and I loved being the one who wasn’t responsible, but the one who was being protected. I don’t think I could handle this much happiness, because I soon lost consciousness.
That’s most of what happened to me that day. But funnily enough, there was one other memory tacked on later. After all of this happened, I woke up, and I found myself, back in my normal size, laying in a giant baby crib. I was startled at first, but once I regained my senses, I realized that I was still wearing a diaper, and I had a pacifier in my mouth! Before I even thought to do anything about this, I looked around the room…and I saw Jack, Jason, Mitch and Max all lying in cribs, too! What in the world was going on?
“Ah, I see you’re awake,” I heard a raspy old voice say. “Welcome, little boy.”
I looked up, and to my pure horror, I saw Mrs. Gremley. I was so petrified with fear that I couldn’t bring myself to say anything…
“Now I have you all here. Except for one. THE ONE. But he will come…he will come…but if he does not…you may just be the one that will do…I think you would do just fine. But for now, you must sleep…sleep, my little baby…”
I don’t know exactly why, but I ended up drifting off to sleep again…and that was it…the last I could remember.