3THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: HOUNDS OF HAUNTOR- PART ONE
EALING, 2014
Sarah Jane sat staring out of the window at the empty sky. No stars shone tonight, it was as miserable as Sarah was herself.
"Here's your tea mum." Sky entered the attic, carrying a tray with a warm cup of tea and chocolate digestives, Sarah's favourite.
"Oh thank you darling! You didn't have to you know!" Sarah said, a tear welling up in her eye. Sky gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked out, her pink, stripy pyjamas dragging long the floor as she went. Sarah turned her head yet again to the dark night. A moon winked strips of light, but everywhere else was just how she felt, empty. Her son, Luke, had gone off for a job at U.N.I.T., he old friend Maria had given birth to her first child, and her friends Clyde and Rani were all too interested in their own little relationship. All were now twenty years old and now living successful lives. Her only companions now, it seemed, was her fourteen year old daughter, Sky and her extraterrestrial Xylock computer Mr Smith, along with her loyal robot dog K-9, which meant Sarah was pretty much alone in life, as Sky was always in school, K-9 was often in sleep mode and was needing repairs, and Mr Smith wasn't much of an informal person, he just served the facts.
One day, Sarah was out shopping when she noticed an advertisement in the shopping centre. It read;
ROLL UP, ROLL UP, COME RIGHT HERE TO HAUNTOR'S HOUSE OF HYSTERICAL HELL!
Sarah, was of course curious, and set a date in her diary for a visit, knowing there was a story available from this house. It was obviously a fake, but Sarah was torn between two options, 'overrate' or 'reveal as sham'? As a journalist, that is a tricky choice.
The next week, Sarah arrived at 'Hauntor's House of Hysterical Hell'. The huge iron, rusted gates wailed eerily as she opened them, and the long path to the immense, old, deserted manor sent chills down her spine. The inside, however, was very different. None of the over-rated dummies scared her. The vampire on the second floor tripped over it's own cape, the zombie at the top of the hall fell down the stairs and you could clearly see the strings on the fake bats hanging from the ceiling. Unsurprisingly, there weren't many guests at all, and most left halfway through the tour. But Sarah Jane stayed. She couldn't help thinking that the posters of the spectacular spooks, the blood-curling exterior, they were all to lure them in, then inside was simply a freak show. Sarah thought there was more. Sarah knew there was more. During the end of the tour, she joined the crowd of people flowing down the grand staircase preparing to leave, and slipped away at the last second, unnoticed. She sneakily skulked to the edge of the stairs, and knew she had hit the jackpot. A door marked 'STAFF ONLY' stood ahead of her, and she grasped the Sonic Lipstick from her pocket and unlocked the door hastily as the crowd died away. She snaked through the door stealthily and closed it silently behind her. Her watched bleeped quietly, the readings unsure of what it's surroundings were. Then Sarah saw the time. Five o'clock, closing time, meaning she was in a staff only zone after hours. In basic terms trespassing. But surely this meant more adventure? As she shuffled down the pitch black corridor, stumbling over various items as she went, she caught the scent of blood in her nose. Another ghastly smell too, like the breath of a dog. The further she walked, the stronger the scent got. When she neared the end of the stretched passage, she heard a growl, faint but bearing closer. Closer. Closer. POOF! In a puff of green and purple smoke, a man appeared in front of Sarah. The tour guide, Mr Hauntor. His grin gave Sarah a sense of insecurity, it felt like he was stealing her soul with his smile. His cold voice cackled;
"You really shouldn't be here, Miss Smith!" And that was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.
Sarah awoke strewn across the floor of the attic. It was a stormy night, and Sky had had a nightmare. She went to find Sarah Jane to confide in her, however all she saw instead was Sarah's unconscious body lying out cold on the floor. Sky's screams of horror awakened Mr Smith, whom began a full health scan on Sarah. Sky stood, motionless, watching Mr Smith's screen. Various images which meant nothing to her kept appearing and re-appearing. Minutes passed, until eventually a final note appeared. 'RESTORING CONSCIOUSNESS 64%'. The number quickly raised and seconds later, Sarah Jane let out a huge breath and leaped to her feet. She looked around her quickly, surveying her surroundings, and when she realised she was at home she slumped into a nearby chair. The exhausted look on her face didn't hide the fact that she'd just nearly died. After a long explanation, Sky was bewildered.
"But that's Hauntor's House of Hysterical Hell! Everyone goes on about it in school!" Sky was in sheer disbelief, and even Mr Smith shared a sense of confusion. Sky went to her room, and Sarah wasn't sure if it was from confusion, upset, or fury. Sky pulled out her phone. She selected the contacts 'Katy, Jaime, Grace & Jen', and began texting. 'Sorry I can't come to Hauntor's, mum said. Sky had planned a trip to Hauntor's with her friends that Saturday, and was now forced to cancel it. However, when the day arrived, Sky told Sarah she'd be out all day, and walked to Hauntor's with her friends. Sky had a look of fear in her eyes.
"I'm not to sure about this." She mumbled.
"Oh come on, not scared are you, it's only fake!" One of her friends snapped.
"No, it's just…"
"SCAREDY CAT! SCAREDY CAT!" Her friends bellowed repetitively. In response, Sky opened the creaking iron gates and stormed down the path. Seeing the looks on her friends' faces, she felt victorious. The ambled up to the desolate mansion excitedly. After about half an hour, the girls were on their tour. Sky was bored brainless, until her trailing eyes brought her to an ajar door. A clawed hand emerged and signalled her to come closer. She broke off the tour quickly and staggered over. The hand clutched her jacket and dragged her through the door. It covered her mouth and muffled her screams. A goblin-like creature pulled her down a dark corridor with a blinding light at the end. The goblin was as tall as a fully grown man, and had no trouble hauling Sky violently. As they approached the light, a second creature grabbed her and took her through it. She was now bonded with ropes and she was gagged, but the man still held on. On the other side was what looked like a factory, with machines whizzing and whirring everywhere. In the centre was a metal grid platform raised a few feet in the air. The goblin-man was now stood on it, and in the light, Sky could see that clutching her was none other than the manager. The goblin spoke;
"I am Hauntor, god of chaos. You are the daughter of Sarah Jane Smith. Sarah Jane Smith is our enemy. Therefore, you must die. Release the hounds!" Sky was lifted up and thrown over the managers shoulders, and taken down a long staircase. But she still had one weapon, her phone. Even with her hands tied tight, she could still reach for it and just edge it out of her pocket enough to get at the keyboard. She sent a message to Sarah Jane, reading, 'Hauntor'.
Sarah received the message and was furious. But she thought there my be more, a clue, right here. She dashed up the stairs.
"Mr Smith, I need you!" She screamed. Mr Smith emerged from the wall hurriedly. "Mr Smith, Sky may be in danger. Tell me all you know about Hauntor." She gasped breathlessly.
"Hauntor, Greek god of chaos. Lived around six hundred B.C. and had no recorded death. He is most commonly associated with Hauntor's hounds, a Greek mythology tale in which Hauntor captures the offspring of his enemies and feeds them to his hounds. It is believed that Hauntor cannot be destroyed until the hounds are. Also mentioned in the tale, the hounds kill the children by destroying their soul and leaving them to go insane before eventually eating them alive." Mr Smith said all in one go.
Meanwhile, Sky was on the edge of a drop. The manager kicked her down mercilessly and she found down into the deep, dark, depths of death below. Straight to the hounds…