I've Just Seen A Face

It was about 7 am, and Micky was feeling kinda hungry. He hopped out of bed, slid down the railing into the kitchen.
“Man, we don’t have any food around here!” he said to himself as he closed the cupboard door.
“Micky, wha’ are you doing down here? It’s 7 in the morning.” He heard the English accent of his best friend Davy, and turned around.
“Oh I don’t know, I guess I was kinda hungry all of a sudden. I do know one thing for sure though. We need to get a gig pretty soon. We’re running out of money, and all we have to eat is cereal.”
“Ya, I know. Micky, why don’t you just come back upstairs and go to bed. We’ll talk about this stuff to Mike and Petah in the morning.”
“Okay, babe.” Micky said and went upstairs with Davy.

At about 11:00am, Peter, who was usually the first one up, was pouring himself a bowl of cereal.
“Morning Peter.” Mike said as he came down the stairs.
“Morning Michael.” Peter greeted back. They sat in silence and ate their breakfast. Peter broke the silence…
“I got it! I got it!”
“Got what shotgun?”
“The toy I’ve been trying to get! Finally!” Peter said. Mike smiled and rolled his eyes. Soon, Davy came down the stairs.
“Morning, guys.” He said.
“Morning.” Peter and Mike said together. Micky also came downstairs and they all exchanged good mornings once again.
“Hey guys,” Micky said sitting down at the table, “ we need to get a gig real soon. I told Davy this earlier this morning and he agrees with me. We’re running out of money. We can’t afford food, all we’ve got is cereal,” he held up the cereal box, “and Mr. Bavit is going to come yell at us any day now for not paying the rent.”
“Micky’s righ’ you know.” Davy said. Mike and Peter nodded their heads. Mike was about to give some smart speech, when they were interrupted by a few hard knocks at the door. Micky went over to the door, looked out the peek hole, turned around and said,
“ It’s Mr. Bavit.” He opened the door and in walked their landlord.
“Alright boys, your time is up. I’ve reminded you enough and I still haven’t got the rent.” He glared at each of the Monkees.
“Yes you did.” Peter said.
“Ya, the last 3 month’s rent!” Mr. Bavit yelled, “Look, I want you boys out of here! I need the rent. If you kids are not out of this apartment room in 2 hours, I’m calling my lawyer!” And he left, slamming the door behind him.
“Great…” Micky sighed. He started to walk back towards the table, when Mr. Bavit walked in again.
“I want you boys out in 2 hours, but I’m going to make you a deal. You have to be out, but you can come back as long as you have $300 for the rents you’ve missed and also as long as it is in the time vicinity of now and a month. After that, you have no chances of living here. You understand me?!” The four boys nodded their heads, and Mr. Bavit left. They all sat at the table again. Mike, Davy, and Micky thinking of what to do while Peter played with his new toy.
“Well, now all we have to do is find a gig or two real soon, and we’ll be back living here again.” Peter said.
“Yes, buh’ where are we going to stay till then? We don’t have enough money for a hotel.” Davy asked.
“Well, we could use the money we have now and stay in a hotel for a little while and-“ Mike was starting to say.
“Or we can stay at my grandma’s house! She always says how much she wants to meet you guys! She’ll be so happy!” Peter interrupted. Mike, Micky, and Davy exchanged glances.
“Oh, I don’t know man.” Mike said.
“Oh please, Michael, please!” Peter said. Mike looked at the others again.
“Sure. It’s fine with me as long as you know for sure that she won’t mind. I don’t want to just barge on in.”
“I’m sure. Here, I’ll call her up.” Peter said as he walked to the telephone. He picked it up, dialed the number, had a nice 10 minute conversation, hung up, and said,
“She says it’s okay and she can’t wait. If we leave now, we can get there around 2:30pm.” He said and went up to pack.
“This should be interesting. A couple days, or longer, with Peter’s relatives.” Micky said. Davy and Mike laughed. They all went upstairs to pack. By the time they were done, it was about 12:30pm. Another knock was at their door. Micky went and opened the door.
“You boys have half an hour left!” said Mr. Bavit.
“We know that, Mr. Bavit. We were just leaving.” Mike said.
“Good!” He once again left, slamming the door behind him. The boys went out to their car and drove to San Francisco to stay with Peter’s grandmother. At about 3:00pm they arrived at what looked more like a haunted castle then a house. The walls were all rusted and the paint was peeling. The trees surrounding the house were very strange. It was the middle of summer and none of them had any leaves. They were all twisted and dead. The sidewalk leading up to the house was cracked. As the four of them walked down the old, cracked sidewalk, Davy leaned towards Micky.
“This is a creepy old house. Maybe it’s haunted. You know how this kind of stuff always happens to us.” he whispered.
“I agree, maybe we shouldn’t stay here.” Micky said, turning back to the direction of their car. Davy quickly followed after him.
“Oh you guys knock it off,” Mike said, “we’ve already said we’d stay here, and it’s not haunted. So get your butts back here and come on.” Mike pulled them both back towards the house and they walked to the door.
“Hey Davy, ring the doorbell. It’s really fun! You pull that huge rope and it hits a bell. It’s groovy!” Peter said.
“I can’t.”
“Well, why not?”
“I can’t reach it.”
“Oh yeah.” Peter smiled and pulled the rope. A few seconds later a very tall, very old, and very scary looking man answered the door. His face had wrinkles that looked as if they were from fear, not from happiness. Peter didn’t seem to notice.
“Hi Mr. Vangrafen!” Peter said.
“Hello, Mr. Tork.” Mr. Vangrafen said in a rather deep a scary voice.
“These are my friends: Micky, Davy, and Mike. Guys, this is the butler: Mr. Vangrafen.”
“Hi.” They all said.
“Won’t you come in. Your grandmother is waiting for you in the kitchen.” They walked in the house. Micky was holding on to Mike, and Davy onto Micky.
“Peter! Oh Peter! It’s so nice to see you!” His grandmother said as she came out of the kitchen. Once again, Peter introduced Micky, Mike, and Davy.
“Would you all like to have some cookies? I just made them.”
“Sure.” They said.
“Okay, come this way.”
“You know, I’ve always loved homemade fresh cookies. It always cheers me up.” Davy said to Micky. Micky nodded and they headed to the kitchen. The sat at the table, ate their cookies, and chatted.
“I have to clean to kitchen a bit, so why don’t you show your friends around while I’m doing so?” Said Mrs. Tork.
“Okay. Come on guys.” They all got up, thanked her for the cookies, and followed Peter out of the room. Upstairs, Peter was showing Mike, Micky, and Davy the rooms they’d be sleeping in. They went into a scary old looking room. The theme seemed to be the medieval times. The pictures were of battles, dragons, and some old looking man. As Davy looked around the room, he could’ve sworn he saw the eyes of the old man following his. He brushed it off as his imagination and turned his attention back to Peter who was explaining the sleeping arangements.
“I think this is the room two of us will be staying in. The other two will be next door.” Peter said.
“Hey Mick, wanna share a room with me?” Davy asked not sure if he really wanted to stay in the room even if Micky was there.
“Sure Davy.” Micky replied.
“Okay, that leaves me and Pete to the room next door. C’mon Pete, let’s go check it out.” Mike said, and the two of them left shutting the door behind them.
“Man Davy, you were right. This house is creepy. You’d think one of Peter’s relative’s house would look nothing close to scary.” Micky said looking at something on a shelf.
“Ya, buh’ maybe his grandmother doesn’t find it scary at all,” Davy said, “hey, Micky wha’ ya looking at?”
“I don’t know what it is. Come here and take a look.” He said as Davy got up from the side of the bed and walked over to Micky. He and Micky stared at the weird object for a while. Davy was about to take it from Micky when he heard a click at the door. Davy and Micky looked at each other.
“Did you hear tha’?” Davy asked, his eyes as big as saucers.
“Ya I did, and it didn’t sound very good.” Micky said as he grabbed Davy by the arm and pulled him along beside him as he walked slowly over to the door. Davy went to open the door…
“It’s locked!”



Mike looked around the room a bit.
“This is a nice room.” He said.
“I know,” Peter said with a smile, “hey, I’m going to go get some more blankets because it gets cold in here sometimes. I’ll be right back.” He said and left the room. Mike was looking through some books, when the door slammed all of a sudden. He walked over to it. Just like Micky and Davy’s door, it was locked.
“Hey guys! This isn’t funny! Let me out!” He said in a serious and frustrating Texan tone, “c’mon you guys! Peter?! Micky?! Davy?! Let me out!” He was starting to get mad. After a while, he figured it out. It wasn’t Davy, Micky, or Peter playing a joke on him. Someone deliberately locked him in the room.

“Help! Anyone! Mrs. Tork?! Mike, Petah, Mr. Vangrafen?!” Davy yelled.
“Man, I don’t think it’s any use. Someone locked us in here on purpose and they aren’t planning to let us out.” Micky said as he left Davy’s side and sat on the bed. Davy followed and sat next to him. They sat there a while, when they heard a few hard knocks on the wall between their room and Mike and Peter’s. They looked at each other with puzzled looks and went over to the wall. Davy knocked. The person knocked back. Davy looked at Micky again.
“I’ve got an idea!” Micky said and went over to the shelf at the other end of the room. He came back with two glasses. Davy figured out was he was doing, smiled, nodded, and took a glass from Micky. They placed the glasses against the wall and heard…
“Davy? Micky? Are you guys in there? Can you hear me?” It was Mike’s voice.
“Oh no,” Davy said bringing the glass away from his ear and the wall, “how are we supposed to talk to Mike?” Micky’s smile faded and he also brought the cup down.
“Nice try though Micky.” Davy said and patted him on the back. Micky once again sat on the bed with Davy at his side. After a while, Davy’s eyes lit up.
“By George I’ve got it!” He jumped up and went over to the object him and Micky were looking at earlier, before this all happened. He picked it up and brought it over to Micky.
“Look,” he said pointing to a long, thin, sharp point the size of a needle that was part of the object he was holding. “This sharp thing is big enough so tha’ we can cut a bunch of small li’le holes to make a hole big enough to talk to Mike.”
“Ya! You’re so smart Davy!” Micky said as he jumped up from the bed and ran to the wall.
“Well of course,” Davy said jokingly and smiled. Micky also chuckled a little. Davy gripped the long, sharp object and started to poke a bunch of small holes into the wall. Micky knocked a few times to make sure Mike was still there. Sure enough, there cam a few knocks back that indicated that he was. After about what seemed to be forever, Davy made a small hole.
“Mike? Petah? Are you guys there?”
“Ya man. Peter’s not here though. Where are you?”
“Down here. We made a hole so we could talk to you.” Mike looked down towards the bottom of the wall and found the hole.
“I found it!” He said and kneeled down at the hole. “Hey guys, what’s going on?” he asked Davy and Micky.
“We have no idea,” Micky said, “we were looking at this-this-oh, I don’t know what it is, but anyway, we were looking at it when all of a sudden the door made a funny clicking noise.”
“Ya, so me and Micky went ovah to see wha’ the noise was and the door was locked. We called for help, thinking it was a accident, buh’ it obviously wasn’t.” Davy said.
“I take it you’re locked in too Mike?” Micky asked.
“Yep. Peter left to go get extra blankets and I went over to look at a few books while waiting for him when the door slammed shut and I was locked in. For a few minutes, I thought it was you guys playin’ a prank on me, considering you said it was such a spooky house and I didn’t think it was. But then I figured out it wasn’t you. But I’m beginning to think you guys were right.”
“About what?” Micky said.
“About this house being haunted.”
“Oh, well I told you. You know Mike, intelligence runs in the Jones family. You should listen to me more often, I’m pretty smart.” Davy said with a smile. Micky giggled a little.
“Hey guys, knock it off. This is no time to be goofing around!” Mike said, sounding angry. Davy and Micky looked at each other.
“Sorry, Mike.” They said in unison.
“It’s okay, but just stop messing around. This is serious. Someone could be trying to kill us or something. Also, remember what Mr. Bavit told us? He said we only have a month to find a couple of gigs and come back with the money. Otherwise, we won’t be able to live there. And that is one of the cheapest apartment rooms in Malibu, and if we’re stuck in this creepy house, how are we supposed to make money, huh?” Mike said in his very serious Texan tone. Davy and Micky nodded. They forgot all about Mr. Bavit’s deal. Though it wasn’t the best deal in the world, they still had a chance of going back to their home on the beach.



Peter went downstairs to get the blankets he told Mike he was going to get. When he got down stairs, he didn’t see his grandma or Mr. Vangrafen anywhere. He didn’t think anything of it and headed down the hall to the closets.
“Walkin’ down the lonely streets I need someone to meet. I run across, and look at you, do you know what you do-” Peter was singing when all of a sudden…BANG! Peter froze.
“He-he-hello? Grandma? Mr. Vangrafen? Guys?” Peter said trembling. He didn’t know if he should go down the hallway any further. So, the only thing he could think of, he did. He started crying.
“You guys, if this is a joke it’s not very funny. I’m scared.” He said and then to make things better, the lights went out.
“AHHHHHH!” He screamed. He turned around, and tried running back upstairs to be in the comfort of Mike and the others. He figured they just didn’t hear anything so they didn’t come down. He didn’t get very far though, before he was bonked on the head and knocked unconscious.

Mike, Micky, and Davy sat in silence for a while. Davy spoke up,
“Wha’ are we going to do guys? We have to geh ou’ of heah.”
“I know, I know. I’m thinkin’.” Mike said. Again, they sat in silence and instead of one of them breaking the silence, and loud bang from downstairs did.
“What was that!?” Micky said.
“I don’t know man, but all I know is it didn’t sound good.” Mike replied.
“Oh my gosh! Petah’s grandma, butler, and even himself are down there! Something really bad could’ve happened to them!” Davy said sounding more scared for his friend then ever.
“Ya, I forgot all about the others,” Micky said, he too sounding terrified, “what are we going to do?!”
“I don’t know! I don’t know! Look, we have to try every possible way to get out of here. And in the meanwhile, all we can do is hope that Peter just dropped something. You know how clumsy he can be sometimes. Now let’s start thinking!” Mike ordered.
“How clumsy he is…” Davy said, “it may be annoying sometimes, but just think, we might not ever be around that clumsiness again. Or his dumbness, funniness…”
“Oh stop it man, you’re just going to make me even sadder and nothing may of happened.” Micky said, “we just have to do what Mike said and concentrate on how to get out of here. We can’t do anything about what happened down, so we have to forget about it till we are out of here. Okay?”
“Alrigh’.” Davy said, and started looking around the room for something that would help get them out. He knew Micky was just trying to make it easier not to think of the bad things that could’ve happened to Peter and his family, but he just couldn’t stop thinking that something really terrible had happened.

After another few hours Mike, Dave, and Micky finally stopped thinking of ways to escape and find their friend. It seemed useless. Just then, Mike’s doorknob turned and in came Peter.
“Peter!! Oh man, we were so worried about you! We thought something terrible had happened!” Mike shouted. Peter just looked at him.
“Why Michael, why on earth would you think something happened?” he said in a rather monotone voice.
“Well, first of all the doors locked and then we heard a big bang from downstairs and you didn’t come back.” Mike said back. Peter gave a half smile.
“I should’ve told you I guess. The drafts from outside will sometimes blow the doors shut. Because of the amount of pressure used to shut them, they automatically lock. Sorry. If it’s happens again, just push on the knob and kinda lift it a bit.” Peter said, still in his monotone voice. Mike sort of nodded. He wasn’t 100 percent sure, but he thought there was something seriously wrong with Peter.
“Hey Pete, um, now that we know everything’s okay, would you mind and get some more blankets? I get kinda chilly at night whether it’s cold or not.” Mike asked.
“Sure no problem Mike.” Peter said a left the room. Once he was back downstairs Mike went over to Micky and Davy’s room.
“You know, just by listening to you guys I think that there’s…” Davy started to say before Micky completed his sentence.
“Something wrong with Peter. I think we should follow him downstairs.”
“Good idea. But be QUIET.” Mike said. They headed out into the dark, long hallway and down the old, creaky stairs. As they got downstairs they also noticed it was dark and there was nobody in sight. But unlike Peter, the did think something of it. They all held on to each other and headed down the hall of closets.
“Man, this is really spooky. I wish we could’ve just stayed home.” Micky whined.
“Micky, would you just stop. There’s nothing we can do about it now. We’re here, and we’ve got to find Peter, his grandma, and the butler.” Mike said.
“But we’re musicians, not detective or crime fightahs.” Davy said, on the side of Micky.
“Ah Davy, not you too. You both are just going to tough it out. Hey…. Shhh…. There’s a light on in that closet. Let’s go.” Mike said and they followed him to the lit up closet. As they got there, they found that unfortunately the door was locked.
“Dang it. Of course the door will be locked. Hey, this isn’t some ordinary lock here. It’s like, it need some special key or something….” Said Mike thoughtfully. Just them Micky reached into his pocket and pulled out the object him and Davy were looking at just a few hours before.
“Hey try this.” Micky handed the object to Mike. Mike looked at him with a “what-in-the-world-did-you-bring-this-along-with-for” look and turned back to the door. He slipped the needle like end into the knob, and sure enough it unlocked. They slowly opened the door enough to see that no one was in the room. They walked in cautiously.
“Weird….” Micky said somewhat to himself. They walked further into the room. There were machines of every sort on the left side. Half of what they’ve never even seen or heard of before. They sort of reminded the boys of a mad scientists laboratory. On the floor they noticed there were streaked of dirt and blood leading to 4 cubbies on the right wall. They also noticed that the dirt and blood were coming from a door at the end of the wall on the left.
“ You guys, this is REALLY creepy. There’s blood and dirt on the floor, and four cubbies the size of and adult human body. Man oh man. If the owner of these things catches us in here, I don’t think we are going to see tomorrow.” Micky whispered to the other two frozen in there tracks. They slowing walked over to the cubbies. Mike, nearly shaking out of his clothes, opened the one on the far left. Inside they found nothing but Peter’s toy from the cereal box that morning. The next 3 cubbies held three cold, white, very dead bodies. Mike, Davy, and Micky almost got sick from the stench and sight of the nonliving.
“I think that we should head out tha’ door and see what’s on the othah side.” Davy said. The other agreed and headed out the door. The door led to the backyard of the house. It was ten times as erie as the front and the only thing the kept them on there way was the fact of saving there friend. As they walked along the “once a beautiful garden” they noticed a man, which looked like Peter digging. The man turned and looked right at them.
“Duck!” Mike whispered loudly. They were right in time. They ducked behind some dead, prickly bushes so they could be hidden yet see the strange Peter digging. After a few minutes, the Peter look alike put the shovel down and headed back into the house. Mike, Micky and Davy ran towards the hole. They looked inside and what they saw was Peter tied down and duck-taped. They quickly let him loose.
“Oh you guys! I’m so glad you’re here! I thought I was a goner! He was going to bury me alive and make me suffer! He also kept muttering something to himself about using you guys, my grandma, and Mr. Vangrafen’s souls to bring back his dead friends! I think we should….” Peter was saying still shaking and sweating from his near death experience.
“Whoa, whoa, buddy slow down. Look, we’re going to save your grandma and Mr. Vangrafen. But we need to go now, so we can follow this Peter clone.” Mike said, helping Peter up. They went in a different door then they came out of and it led them to a dark, drippy, and rather smelly room. There were a few candles around some platforms in the middle. The four of them hid themselves and watched. The clone walked in chanting some evil mantra. He lit a devil looking candle on each platform that lit them up and helped the boys see what was lying on each of them. There were eight platforms. Two held Mr. Vangrafen and Mrs. Tork, three others held the dead bodies that were in the cubbies, and the last three were empty.
“Those are probably the platforms that he’s saving for us!” Davy whispered.
“Oh I know. But what is he doing now since he can’t fully revive them with out us?” Micky wondered.
“I don’t know man, but we’re not going to sit and find out. We’ve got to do something. Because whatever he’s doing now, can’t be any better than what he has done and will be doing. And we gotta save the other two!” Mike said. Davy grabbed a bat he found on the wall and they all crept towards the clone. Davy crept right behind him and was about to hit him when the clone whipped around, placed his hand against Davy’s neck and threw him across the room. Dave hit the wall, leaving him unconscious. The evil man’s eyes turned a fiery reddish-orange as he turned towards Mike, Micky, and Peter. He came at them at a normal yet frightening pace. The boys backed up, fearing for their lives, when they hit the wall behind them. They were trapped.
“We’re going to die! We’re going to die!” Peter shouted and started to cry. The demon heading toward them smirked at the boys realization of their fate. Micky felt behind him a small hole in the wall. He turned to see what it was. It was the exact shape to the object he’d been carrying around with him. He turned fully around and took out the object….
“Micky what on earth are you doing!! We’re going to die here! And your messing around with a hole!?” Mike shouted, with the squeaking of fear in his voice.
“I think I know what I’m doing Mike, you’re just going to have to trust me!” Micky shouted back. Just and the demon was swooping up a fiery weapon to slay them with, Micky shoved the object in the hole. The demon screamed the most evil, ear shattering scream and fell to the floor. Soon, his remains were nothing but dust. The boys took the biggest breath, as if it was there first, and fell to the floor exhausted. Soon, they were all asleep.

As they awoke the next morning, they found themselves in a rather peaceful pleasant room. They got out of there beds and headed downstairs to find Mrs. Tork and Mr. Vangrafen talking about the last night incident in the kitchen.
“Well, Good Morning sleepy heads.” Mrs. Tork said, “How’s everyone feeling?”
“Good thanks.” They replied, “ how about you? Last night was quite a strange and creepy night.”
“ I must say, that’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me. But I think I’m doing okay. It will take a while to recover but he’s gone and things are okay.” They all had a hearty breakfast and tried to talk about the cheerier things in life. Soon, it was time for the boys to leave and they exchanged sad good-byes.
“I was soo nice to meet you boys. I’m so sorry things had to end up so, well, strange, but maybe next time it wont be huh?” Mrs. Tork smiled.
“Ya, maybe.” Mike said, “all in all, things are back to normal and we ended up meeting a very, very nice woman.”
“Oh, how sweet…” Mrs. Tork smiled. “ I wanna thank you boys so much for saving Peter, Mr. Vangrafen, and myself’s life. Peter told me about your homing situation and in gratitude, here’s $500. You can pay off your rent, and spend a little more on desired things.” She handed Mike the money.
“Well, thank you very much. We really do appreciate it.” Mike said. She hugged them all and once again they exchanged good byes. The boys left the house and headed to their car. As they got in and Mike put the keys in the ignition he turned and said,
“Guys? Are you ready to go home?”
“Ya, Mike. Let’s go home” And they drove off towards their Malibu Beach House on Breechwood Drive 3300.

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