made the wood floor soft and slippery under Jack’s sneakers Finally his dad flung open a door Here we are I’ll have the lantern lit in just a second The cheer in his dad’s voice sounded forced It was tough to look on the bright side when you stood in the pitch dark After some rustling and the striking of a match light finally glowed from the lantern that rested on the kitchen table Jack looked around the shadowy room A couple of straight wooden chairs some battered counters a rattling fridge an old stove and a rusty sink completed the apartment’s kitchen He looked into the living room A sofa slouched across from an old television perched on milk crates His dad pointed at a pair of narrow doors That one leads to the bathroom and the other one leads to your bedroom The sofa folds out That’s where I’ll sleep You can take the lantern and go check out your room I’ll deal with the fuse box 8
His dad headed out whistling in the dark Jack set his box on the table and picked up the lantern He decided to stay right where he was He’d read enough mysteries to know that bad things happened as soon as you started wandering off on your own On the wall above the sofa a huge mirror reflected the room Jack stepped closer and looked into the mirror His glasses were smeared and his black hair was streaked with dust making him look like the creepy theater was turning him into an old man He leaned closer to the mirror to look at a smudge on his cheek That’s when he saw the pale figure step up behind him and smile 9
Chapter 2 The Great Victor Dare Jack shrieked and spun around The room was empty except for Jack and a few floating cobwebs He turned back to the mirror and only his own face peered at him The door from the hallway creaked open and Jack yelled again Jack Light spilled in from the hallway as his dad walked in with a box full of cleaning supplies Are you all right Jack cleared his throat Fine I fixed the fuses His dad pulled the string hanging from the light over the kitchen table The light was still dim as if the effort of pushing back the shadows was too much I know this old 11
