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Wayne Haunted House
Bruce had insisted on hosting his family’s annual haunted house for charity this year, as his parents used to do every year. This, despite his persistent disbelief in ghosts and his great dislike of crowds.
Alfred let out a sigh as he hurried to answer the door. Before he knew it, guests were flooding into the Manor. He and the rest of the staff were busy serving food, and keeping up with the guests.
* * *
Julia stood nervously in her witch costume as guests filed in. She had never been to an American Halloween party before. Earlier that day, her dad had taken her and Bruce trick-or-treating, but it had just been them. She hadn’t really made any friends yet, and Bruce didn’t seem to have very many, either. It had been her first time, and while she did like getting candy, she had found the whole thing a little weird.
“Hey, Julia!” she heard a voice call just then. She turned and spotted Zatanna Zatara coming over to her. “Want to hand out with me?” she asked.
“Sure,” Julia said. She didn’t know her very well, but she liked her. Maybe they could have fun together, she thought.
* * *
Bruce stood smiling at the door and greeting all the guests, just like his mom and dad used to every year. Alfred had tried to talk him out of having this party, but it had been important to them because it had raised money for the children’s hospital, and Bruce wanted to do something that would make them proud and happy if they were here. They’d always said how important it was to help sick kids. They always worked so hard to make the haunted house great so people would come and they could raise money for those kids, and Bruce wasn’t about to give that up now that they were gone.
* * *
Julia had gone to bob for apples with Zatanna. Julia had already gotten an apple, and Zatanna had one too, now, and had come back out of the tub. “What do you do once you’ve got one?” she asked Julia, after she’d pulled it out of her mouth.
Julia held up the partly-finished one she’d grabbed earlier. “My mum and I would always just eat them. Or put them in the fridge for later, if we got too full,” she said.
Zatanna held up the one she was eating and took a bite.
Bruce wandered over just then. “May I join you?” he asked, like he was a grown-up at a grown-up party.
Julia hesitated. She still wasn’t sure about Bruce – he hadn’t always been very nice to her. Sure, he’d been better for a while now, but she still didn’t know if she really wanted to hang out with him. He was also always talking about crimes and how to fight criminals and what to do if any ever threatened you and stuff like that. Julia found it really weird, and annoying.
“Sure,” Zatanna said, and Julia remembered that she was already friends with Bruce, that she had known him for a while. Her stomach sank a little. If Julia and Bruce started fighting again, would Zatanna take Bruce’s side? Would she not want to be friends with Julia, if Julia didn’t want to be friends with Bruce, or Bruce didn’t want to be friends with her? Would she be able to make any friends if Bruce didn’t like her? He still didn’t, Julia was sure. He was only being nice to her because he didn’t want to get in trouble with her dad. He still mostly ignored her at school and when there weren’t any grown-ups around.
Julia watched nervously as Bruce dipped his head in the apple barrel, then came out with an apple.
* * *
After about forty-five minutes of greeting people, and another fifteen of waiting for more to show up, Alfred told Bruce that anyone who was going to show up probably had by now, and he should go have fun. Bruce wasn’t sure how he could – he had invited Tommy Elliot and Harry Clarke, his best friends, to the party, but they were both sick – but he wandered around anyway.
He had been going around and chatting with people for about five or ten minutes when he spotted Zatanna Zatara. He was about to go over to her when he realized she was standing by the apple barrel with Julia.
It had been Julia’s idea to have an apple barrel. She and her mom did it every Halloween, she said, and she really wanted to do it this year, too. Seeing her with Zatanna, laughing and having fun, Bruce could feel his heart sinking. Zatanna was his friend, and he didn’t have that many. What if she decided she’d rather be friends with Julia than with Bruce? Julia was a girl, after all, and she already seemed to get along better with most other kids at school that Bruce did.
Alfred came over to him just then. He spotted Julia and Zatanna quickly, looking where Bruce was looking. “They appear to be having fun,” he remarked.
Bruce half-glared at him. “What if Zatanna decides she wants to be Julia’s friend instead of mine?” he demanded.
Alfred blinked. “Zatanna is a very nice girl, Bruce. I’m sure she has room in her life to be friends with both of you.”
Bruce looked at him doubtfully. Alfred sighed. “Why don’t you go and join them?” he suggested. “You could all three try being friends, you know.”
Bruce looked at the two girls, who were splashing each other and laughing now. He thought about how he might get his clothes wet – he’d dressed up as a doctor, Alfred had convinced him he should dress up, even though he thought he should wear a suit – and wondered if people might not give so much money then. He thought about how annoying and weird he found it, the way Julia seemed to see everything as a game, and hardly seemed to care at all that her mom had died and the man who killed her had just gotten away with it. Then, he watched as Julia dipped her head in, emerged with an apple in her teeth, seemed to say something, and Zatanna laughed. “Okay,” he said.
* * *
Zatanna could see Bruce and Julia giving each other small glares as Bruce kept trying and trying to get an apple. She really wished they wouldn’t. She liked them both a lot, and she really wanted to be friends with both of them.
Zatanna took another bite of her apple as Bruce dipped his head in again. A minute later, he came back out with an apple in his teeth. “’Ot uh!” he exclaimed. Julia and Bruce both giggled, and he glared at them. “Sorry,” Zatanna said, not wanting to hurt his feelings. Julia didn’t say anything as she finished her apple. She only glared back at Bruce, then turned away.
* * *
Julia wished Bruce hadn’t asked to join them. She could tell he didn’t want her to be friends with Zatanna.
She was also starting to wish she hadn’t joined the party. Bruce and Zatanna had started chatting over their apples about things that had happened before they had met her, and she was starting to feel like they were leaving her out on purpose now.
She tried not to let it bother her.
It wasn’t working, though.
She suddenly heard screaming. Surprised, she turned to find one boy running away from – something? She couldn’t see anything there.
“Zombies!” he was screaming. “Why aren’t you all running?! They’re going to eat us!”
Julia’s first reaction was to laugh. Zombies? She thought. Seriously?
A woman she guessed was the boy’s mum hurried over to him. “Chase,” she said. “That’s enough.”
The boy spun toward her now, eyes wide with fear. “Mom, we have to run! They’re going to eat us all!”
“Chase,” his mother repeated firmly. “I said that’s enough.”
Chase was running toward the door now. His mother turned to everyone else. “I’m sorry,” she said, and quickly ran after her son. After a confused silence, the party went back to normal.
* * *
Bruce stood quietly for a moment after Chase and Mrs. Aldberg ran out. Then he went back to eating his apple. He finished eating it, then looked at his watch. He and Alfred and Charlotte had agreed that they would all make speeches, like his mom and dad used to do at these parties. It was almost time for him to go on.
He was just heading to the front of the room when he heard screaming once again. Turning around, he spotted Sarah Whitlaw running for the window. “Sarah!” her mother was calling. “Please calm down! What on Earth is wrong?”
“Mom, there’s a giant spider!” Sarah exclaimed. “Don’t you see it?” She pointed up at the ceiling.
“Sarah, there’s nothing there!” Mrs. Whitlaw exclaimed.
Sarah screamed again. “It’s coming down!”
Mrs. Whitlaw seized her daughter by the hand. “I’m very sorry,” she said. “We’d better go now.”
Bruce was wondering what on Earth was going on, and what he should do, when he heard a very different kind of shrieking.
Looking up, he froze as he saw several bats circling the ceiling.
* * *
Julia watched as Bruce froze for a moment, then begin grabbing at nothing and acting like he was throwing something. “Get off! Get off!” he said, waving his arm around.
Julia stared at him, ready to ask what in the world was wrong with him, when she felt something cold and slimy around her arm. She looked down, then froze completely.
An adder was climbing up her arm.
Julia stood frozen on the spot. How did one even get here? They weren’t supposed to live in America, except maybe in zoos…
Her dad hurried over just then. “Children,” he said. “What on Earth is going on?”
“Alfred,” Bruce said. “Help me get rid of these bats!”
“Bruce, lad, there’s nothing there,” Alfred said kindly. “Julia, what in the world is wrong? You’ve gone white as a sheet.”
“Snake,” she whispered hoarsely. “Dad, there’s a snake crawling on me.”
“Where?” Alfred demanded, then examined her carefully. “There’s nothing there, my love. Where did Zatanna go, anyhow? Wasn’t she with you?”
Neither child answered him.
A mother came up to him just then. “What is happening here?” she demanded. “The kids are all acting like they’re terrified of something. What on Earth did you do to them? Is this your idea of some kind of joke?”
Before Alfred could answer, he heard the phone ring. “I’m taking my children home,” the woman snapped at him. Alfred nodded, only half-listening. “I think that might be best, ma’am,” he said politely, but distractedly.
Gwen came running into the room just then. “Alfred,” she said, “it’s for you.” He looked at he blankly. “What is?” he asked in confusion.
“The phone,” she explained.
Alfred sighed. “Not now, Gwen,” he said tiredly.
“Alfred,” she said, a little tiredly. “I really think you’ll want to take this one. He’s saying some… weird things. I think he knows what’s going on here.”
Alfred looked at her. “Excuse me,” he said to the woman who was approaching him now.
He hurried to the kitchen. “Hello?” he said, when Charlotte handed him the receiver.
“Mr. Pennyworth,” a strange voice said. “Have the children at the Manor began acting odd? Frightened? Claiming to see things that aren’t there?”
Alfred gripped the phone tighter. “Who is this?” he demanded.
“I expect five thousand dollars to be ready in three hours, delivered to a location of my choosing. I will call back at the chosen time to tell you where. Deliver it, and I will deliver the antidote. If not administered within seventy-two hours of receiving the toxin, I’m afraid the effects may be quite long-lasting.” Click.
“Who is this?” Alfred repeated. But all he heard was a dial tone.
Alfred immediately dialed 9-1-1. Even as he did, though, he wondered just how he was supposed to explain this situation.
* * *
Julia could hardly think now. Snakes were everywhere, and she just started running, she wasn’t even sure where to. Then, she felt someone grab hold of her, and everything went dark.
* * *
Bruce was running from the bats when he felt someone grab him. He struggled, but it didn’t do any good. Even though he tried hard to fight it, he eventually passed out cold.
* * *
Ambulances soon started arriving at the Manor, loading children inside of them. Alfred, meanwhile, had gone back to where he had last seen Bruce and Julia, along with Zatanna Zatara, only to find them gone.
He looked around, expecting at first to find them soon. He quickly grew worried, though. He couldn’t seem to locate them anywhere. He did find Zatanna, but she only said she had been fighting a “dark magician”, and didn’t know where Julia or Bruce were.
Alfred was just about to speak to an officer, when the phone rang again.
* * *
Bruce woke up to the sound of a man’s voice.
“I’ve taken little Brucie Wayne and your daughter,” the voice was saying. “If you want them back, you’d better get me ten thousand dollars, by midnight. Otherwise, I’ll start cutting of their fingers, one at a time.”
Bruce opened his eyes. He couldn’t see much, but he knew he was on a chair, and he could feel that there was rope tied around his wrists and ankles.
He had been studying crime ever since his parents were killed, and he had learned how to wriggle free of some knots. He squirmed his wrists free carefully, then managed to bend down and untie the ropes around his ankles.
When she woke up, Julia didn’t know where she was at first. It was dark, and cold, and she could feel ropes tied around her wrists. What was going on?
She struggled as hard as she could, but she couldn’t get free. She heard footsteps coming, then, and then there was a bright light in her eyes. She moved one arm over her eyes. Then, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Surprised, she lowered her arm a little, and was surprised to see Bruce standing in front of her.
“Where are we? What’s going on?” she demanded.
“We were kidnapped,” he explained.
Julia blinked, then squinted at him. “By who?”
“I don’t know yet,” he replied. “But I heard him on the phone, saying he’d hurt us if he didn’t get ten thousand dollars by midnight.”
Julia blinked.
“C’mon,” he said. “We have to get out of here.”
“How?” she demanded.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’ll find a way.”
She followed him reluctantly. “How’d all the snakes get in your house?” she asked.
He stopped to stare at her. “What snakes?”
“The ones that were crawling all over me!” she snapped.
“There weren’t any snakes,” he said, confused. Then he blinked. “I saw a bunch of bats. I bet we were drugged, somehow. To see things that we’re scared of.”
“That’s crazy,” Julia snapped, but he wasn’t listening. “C’mon,” he said. “We have to find out what this guy’s up to.”
Julia stared at him. “That’s stupid,” she said. “We have to get out of here.”
Bruce spun around to argue with her, but then he heard footsteps coming and froze. “Hello, children,” a man’s voice said.
They both whirled around. A man stood in front of them. “Who are you?” Bruce demanded, his voice shaking. “What do you want?”
“Oh,” the man said, with a faint smirk, “I want your help with a little experiment I’m trying. You see, I’ve developed a special formula, one that makes people experience all their worst fears. Children are especially susceptible to fear, so I thought I would test it on them. II did my research on various traumatized children in the fine city of Gotham, and decided you two would make excellent test subjects. Bruce Wayne,” he began. “You witnessed your parents’ murder only a year ago, after what was supposed to be a fun night out, no less. And Julia Pennyworth,” he added, looking at her now. “In a car crash which killed your mother less than a year ago, and forced to leave your home and family and friends and move to an entirely new country, to live with a father you barely know, who’s already playing surrogate father to an equally traumatized child. I’m curious, will two such haunted children like you be easier, or harder to frighten?”
Bruce swallowed hard. “You told Alfred you wanted money from him,” he pointed out, accusingly.
“Oh, yes, that, too,” the man replied. “My experiments aren’t cheap, you know. But that’s secondary to my desire to see how fear affects various individuals.”
Julia was the one to swallow now. “My dad’s a former army spy,” she informed the man. “He’ll come to save us, you know. After he’s called the police on you.”
“Oh,” the man said, flashing a hideous grin. “I’m counting on that.” Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a spray bottle. “I believe it’s time you both received another dose of my fear formula. This one’s more concentrated than the one I slipped into the punch and candy at the party. And it’s effect won’t be diluted by the food or drink it’s mixed into.”
He sprayed the air, then, and a cloud of mist filled their faces. They were both coughing and choking for what felt like a full minute, before the cloud went away. The man chuckled like a creepy cartoon villain. “Happy Halloween, children,” he said. Then he turned and left the room.
Bruce coughed one last time, then started to follow the man. Julia grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?!”
“We have to find out more about him!” Bruce snapped, like it was the most obvious thing in the whole world.
“What are you, stupid?! We have to get out of here,” Julia snapped back.
“I’m not stupid! I have an I.Q. of 192!” Bruce retorted. Julia rolled her eyes. “My mum said I.Q.s don’t mean anything,” she argued. “They’re just numbers. It’s how smart you act that counts.”
“Yeah, well, she probably only said that because you have a low I.Q.,” Bruce shot back. “And what do you care what your mom thought, anyway? You don’t even care that she’s dead.”
Tears filled Julia’s eyes. Without even thinking, she punched him in the stomach. “You really are stupid!” she said. “I miss my mum all the time! She’s the first thing I think about when I wake up, and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep! I dream about her every night! She comes here, and takes me back to England, and she says what a brat you are, and she’s sorry I ever had to live with you!”
“You’re a liar!” he yelled. “Every day, you laugh and play games and have fun like your mom never even died and the guy who killed her never got away! If you really cared about your mom, you’d be sad all the time, and you’d never have fun!”
Julia stared at him. How could he think that way? Did he really think losing her mum meant she should never be able to have fun or be happy ever again, for the rest of her life?
Was he right, she wondered, suddenly? If she was happy and had fun, even with her mum gone, did that make her a bad daughter?
Tears filled her eyes once again, and Bruce scowled. “Now you’re just being a crybaby,” he said. “We have to get out of here. Come on.” And he stalked forward.
Julia still stood there. Wiped away the tears. Didn’t move.
She finally made her way forward, slowly.
* * *
Bruce made his way forward slowly. He had to find out who this guy was, and stop him, somehow.
As he went, he noticed he was having a hard time seeing. He could hear strange sounds. He thought he heard footsteps behind him that were too heavy to be Julia’s.
He finally turned around, and saw him standing there.
He was holding the gun. But he wasn’t pointing it at Bruce. He was pointing it behind him.
“Gimme your money,” the man said. “And I’ll have the lady’s necklace, too.”
“No,” Bruce whispered. “No.”
“Shut up, kid!” the man snapped. Bruce lunged forward. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.
Two shots rang out. Bruce spun around, and there were his parents, laying on the ground bleeding.
“No,” Bruce whispered. “No.”
“Bruce!”
It was his dad’s voice. But his dad wasn’t moving. “Bruce!” the voice said again. Wait a minute, the voice was coming from behind him, but his dad was in front of him. Bruce turned around slowly. It was his dad, standing behind him.
“Don’t be afraid, son,” he said. “That’s not really us. Remember what the man said? That his formula makes you see things you’re afraid of. Just keep going. Find a way out.”
Swallowing hard, Bruce nodded. Then, he remembered something. “What about Julia?”
His dad nodded. “Go back and find her. Then, the two of you, find a way out.”
* * *
Julia wasn’t sure how long she stood there before she heard it. She turned and looked behind her. The car. That car… It was coming much too fast, she couldn’t move…
Then, she was back in her mum’s car again. Something hit them from behind. Broken glass came down around them, and they slammed into another car in front of them. Julia screamed.
Then her mum was laying there, not moving. “Julia,” she said.
“Mum,” she sobbed.
“How could you forget about me, Julia? How could you still be happy with me gone, and the man who killed me still out there?”
“No,” Julia sobbed again. “No, Mum, I didn’t forget you, I swear.”
“Then, how can you still be happy without me?”
Julia sobbed again.
“Julia!”
That was her mum’s voice again. But now, it was coming from behind her. Julia turned to look. There was her mum, again, only she didn’t look hurt at all.
“Julia, that isn’t me. I want you to be happy. I want that, more than anything,” she whispered. “And I know you would never forget me. I know you never could.”
Julia stared at her. “You need to get out of here, my love,” her mum whispered. “For me. Okay?”
Julia nodded, slowly. Then, she got to her feet. Then, she remembered something. “What about Bruce?” she asked.
Her mum nodded. “Find Bruce, and the two of you find a way out,” she whispered.
* * *
Bruce found Julia coming toward him, in the opposite direction he was going. “We have to get out of here,” they both said, at almost the same moment.
“I think I know where we are,” Bruce said, before Julia could say anything.
Julia blinked. “Where?”
“Arkham Manor,” he said. She stared at him. “What’s that?”
“The Arkhams were one of the Five Families of Gotham,” Bruce said. Julia stared at him blankly. “They helped found Gotham,” he explained. “My grandma, on my mom’s side, was an Arkham, before she married my grandpa. Her brother never had any kids, though, so the family’s not around anymore, and the manor’s been abandoned. They say my great-grandma went crazy after both her kids died before her, and she died here, and has haunted the house ever since.” Julia looked around the house and gulped. “Right,” she said.
“What?” he demanded. “I thought you liked ghost stories.”
“I like them better when I’m not in a dark, weird old house,” she explained.
“I guess so,” Bruce said. “We’ve gotta get out of here, anyway.”
Julia nodded, and they started walking. They were both quiet for a few minutes. “Once,” Julia finally said. “When I was little, my mum and I got lost while we were driving back from my aunt and uncle’s house. She made it a game, that we were trapped in a hidden place, and we had to get out.”
Bruce rolled his eyes. “Does everything have to be a game with you?”
“It just made it less scary,” she said, a little defensively.
Bruce thought. “Okay, how about I be Sherlock Holmes, and you can be Watson, and we have to…”
“I don’t want to be Watson,” she interrupted. “Watson’s a guy.”
“Fine. Then you can be Watson’s wife, and you and I have to save Watson.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Now, Watson,” Bruce said. “Sorry, I mean, Mrs. Watson. I can see light coming from that way, which, logically, means there may be some sort of exit there.”
“It could just be light from something else,” Julia argued.
“Well, maybe, but even so, it may show us a way out. Therefore, we should pursue the light.”
They did, until they found a staircase, which led to a door with no knob, just a hole where the knob should be. “There, you see, Mrs. Watson,” Bruce said. “I told you the light would lead us to an exit.” He tried to open the door, but it was too heavy, so Julia hurried over to help. Finally, they managed to pull the door opened, and found what appeared to be a room of some sort. Coming up into it, the found that its door was missing, and it didn’t lead outside. “Take heart, Mrs. Watson,” Bruce said. “For, I believe we have found our way out. You see,” he said, pointing at the dusty windows, “these windows must face outside, and so, logically, there must be a door on this side of the house. And, we are clearly on the first floor. Therefore, if we go from room to room, eventually, we will surely find a door on this side—”
“Or,” Julia cut in, “we could just break a window, and get out that way.”
Bruce blinked at her. “Yeah, I guess we could.”
Julia picked up a broom that was leaning in a corner, and swung it into one of the windows. It didn’t break, so Bruce helped her, and they kept hitting the window until finally, it broke. Then, they carefully pushed the glass aside, and climbed out.
There, they found several police cars outside. They started running towards them, and a minute later, a door swung opened, and Alfred rushed out, and toward them both. “Julia. Bruce,” he breathed out. “Thank God. Thank God.”