Geneva's Mystery Story

This afternoon Geneva narrated a spooky story to me while I typed it up for her on the computer. It's sweet, weird, surprisingly dark, and very worth sharing. Enjoy!

The Staff

Once there was an old, old puppet theater. It had been around since cave people, and there was concealed magic in it because it was so old. Inside its walls was magic, and no one but the puppet master himself could control the magic. He made lots of mysteries happen.

The Zoglman family were planning to travel for nine years, but they got trapped for one year. So that made it into ten years. They had abandoned their home, but when they left they didn't put up a sign, so in the ten years stuff happened to it. The house itself got magic inside it, just like the theater.

They heard on the news, while they were driving to go see the world, that someone had died in a puppet show place. But they heard next on the news that before the puppet master's eyes the person turned into a ghost, flickered, and disappeared. They thought “we're brave. We can solve a mystery. Maybe we are the ones who can solve the mystery of the ghost.” They went to the puppet theater.

When they arrived Geneva saw a skeleton with a rope around its neck hanging from an iron cage.

“Hey mom, I saw this weird thing!” said Geneva.

“What is it, Sweetie?” said Mom.

“I saw a skeleton hanging with a rope around its neck in an iron cage.”

Mom said “Let's find out the mystery to this.” Now the Zoglmans had two mysteries to solve: the skeleton hanging with a rope around its neck, and the flickering ghost.

They went inside. The first thing they saw was a dog. The dog was looking like it was going to bite Geneva. His eyes were squinted and his nose was wrinkled and his mouth was open. Geneva reached out to slap the dog down and her hand sank in. It was a puppet.

“We should show this to someone,” said Geneva, so they brought along the dog and they found a sign. It said “Puppet Master's House” and it was pointing understage. They followed the sign. Geneva rapped at the bricks.

The Puppet Master said “Wooooooooooo” so that it would trick them into thinking he was a ghost.

Geneva said “We know you're not a ghost.”

So the Puppet Master said “Muahahahahaha” to scare them and make them go away.

“We know you're not a giant,” said Geneva.

“I was trying to scare you away so that you won't find out my secrets,” said the Puppet Master.

“We didn't know you had secrets.”

There was a particular red sword with blood on it, and Lavender said “Hey, this must be the sword that killed that person who turned into a ghost! We can use it to get through the wall. We can cut a door in the wall.” After they cut the hole in the wall they jumped through it, except for Ari who had to be carried by Jamaica. They found a moat. It was turquoise.

“It must contain some magic,” Daddy said. “Don't swim in it.” They found a canoe to get across, but it only carried three people. Daddy, Lavender, and Geneva got into the canoe. They rowed across.

Geneva said “Stroke! Stroke!” to Daddy, and Lavender said “Fast! Fast!” when the water got deeper. They got to the other shore and found a door. It had a painting on it of a staff with a green ball on top. They felt a little scared. They opened the door. Inside it was dim, and there was only one window. There was a staff like the one on the door. It was propped up. They took it off of its stand and with the sword they cut it. As the staff gave a loud loud crack as it hit the floor, there were swirling pink rings coming from right where the green bulb had been. The room shook as the rings went away. Geneva, Lavender, and Daddy headed for the door but it had changed. There was a new picture on it now. It was Daddy, Lavender, and Geneva lifting the sword and the staff cracking. They went to cross the moat but there was a bridge crossing over it. Mommy came across the bridge and they all went to The Puppet Master. They asked him one simple question.

“Did you kill that person?” Lavender said.

“Yes, I did. You guys found out my secrets. The girl was your age, Geneva. I killed her because she had no defenses and she was trying to find out my secrets. I wouldn't have any powers without my staff.”

“Why was the skeleton hanging there? And the ghost”?

“I put them there because I thought it would make the theater scary, so everyone would not discover my staff.”

“Why were you a mean man? Are you still mean?” said Lavender.
“I was, but now I see that not killing is better than killing. I think that I'm with you. I feel like being on your team.”

“I'll just let you be the way the you are, but you have to not kill any more people. You don't get to come with my family,” said Mommy. Geneva yawned. Mom said “It's time for bed.” They went home to their house that they hadn't seen in ten years. It felt great.