Jonathan Williams 
October 2, 2002

The Drive

“Do we have to visit Uncle Karloff tonight?” asked Stacey as she approached the car.
“Of course we do,” said Jeff, her father. 
“But he’s so strange,” said Stacey with a slight whine in her voice. 
“You’ll get used to him,” replied her dad.
“I also don’t like the deserted road to his house in the country,” added Stacey.
The two climbed into the car. Jeff turned to his daughter and said with a wink, “Since you’re almost 16 maybe you could drive this time.” 
With Stacey at the wheel the car started off. The road wound through an empty field and led past a cemetery. A cloud uncovered a full moon in the dark evening sky and a wind picked up. The gusty breeze rustled through Stacey’s hair and swept through the graveyard sounding like the wail of a ghost. As she entered a forest the howl of the wind was replaced by howls of another kind. Stacey looked to the side and saw a head with pointed ears and a snout growling at them from behind a stump. More wolves were lurking in the trees, howling and growling at her as the car slowly slid by. Suddenly, exiting the wood, the automobile began to pick up speed and go out of control. Stacey tried to steer, but the car, ignoring her commands, turned and sped up a hill.
	The mad car topped the hill and a flash of lighting revealed an old dilapidated building. Stacey gasped as the vehicle flew toward the huge iron gates guarding the mansion. To her relief the gates swung open in the nick of time and the out-of-control car zoomed through them. Stacey spun the wheel to turn the car around but, as before, it paid no heed to her commands and drove through the doorway and right into the house. As she and her father raced down the dark entrance hall, narrowly avoiding objects in their path, Stacey could briefly see into rooms they were passing. In one room she glimpsed a man in a white coat wearing a stethoscope and a sinister grin who was pouring green liquid into a vial. In another she viewed a sickly colored creature with a huge scarred head moaning and pacing back and forth with his arms outstretched. 
Just as it seemed to Stacey as though the car was going to crash into the wall at the other end of the hall, it turned suddenly and bumped down a staircase. As it reached the bottom it began to slow down. As the car continued slowly through a dimly lit corridor, Stacey felt her heartbeat quicken.
To her right was an open door and she could see a figure in black with a scarlet cape sipping a drink which matched the color of the cape. The thing’s head turned and looked right at the two in the car. Stacey could clearly see its glowing eyes and two sharp fangs protruding out of both sides of its mouth. She stifled a scream. 
Then, without warning, the car sped up again. Reaching the end of the passage it entered a chamber that, Stacey saw, was full of more horrific creatures. Just as it seamed as though there was no escape for Stacey and her father, the vehicle hurtled past the terrible group and into the mouth of a huge stone skull. Everything went pitch black. Then Stacey saw a light shimmering in the distance, increasing in size and before she knew it they were out in the open air. The car stopped and she and her dad climbed out.
“Wow!” said Stacey. “That was a fun ride. Can we do it again?”
“I don’t think so,” said Jeff, catching his breath. “That was a bit much. I think I prefer the ‘Safari Trek’.”
Laughing, the two walked off, ready to have some more fun at LEGOLAND amusement park. 
As for their trip to Uncle Karloff’s later that night…that’s another story.