Monster Mansion Chapter 1: Spirit

Ever since I was born, I had been alone…well, that’s not entirely true. I had one person in my life, my grandmother. She was the only family I had ever known, or at least the only one I could remember. My childhood memories have always been a bit hazy, so I never quite could remember everything.

My grandmother had told me not to bother with such silly memories for the longest time, so I trusted her. I had always trusted her because she was my family. Yes, it was. Today was the day that I buried my grandmother in the family plot. Even if I call it a family plot, the only person that could be found there was her.

I was the only one to attend her funeral and pay my respects. My grandmother never had any friends; from what I was told, we had no relatives. My mother and father soon died after I was born, and my grandmother had to raise me alone. I had always wanted to know who my parents were, but every time I brought it up, a sour expression would appear across my grandmother’s face. At some point, I eventually stopped asking.

“…Mr. Decker? Are you listening?” my grandmother's lawyer asked, bringing me back from my thoughts.

“Huh? ...Yeah, I’m listening,” I said to him, not too keen on talking right now. I would have liked to wait several days before doing this, but this lawyer didn’t seem to want to give me the time to grieve.

“Good,” he said looking back at my grandmother's will. “As I was saying, since you are the only known relative of Rebecca Decker you are entailed to everything stated in her will. This includes all of her assets, such as bank accounts, and even this mansion, well that’s even if you want to call this beat-down place a mansion.”

He was right, this place was a bit run down, but it wasn’t always like this. It used to be a beautiful mansion filled with people and joy…wait what? No, that must have been something that I dreamt of or something.

“In my personal opinion I suggest that you sell this mansion and use it to pay off your loans,” he said, getting ready to leave. “From what I heard you graduated college with a bachelor's. You could use the money from selling this mansion to pay off those pesky loans~.” His words were well said, but I could see him for the con artist he was. No one I know would ever tell a stranger a thing about me.

“Sorry, but I won’t be doing that,” I said back to him, placing a fake smile across my face. I could see that he was trying to pull out more paperwork, most likely for me to sign the deed of the mansion away. “My grandmother had already taken care of all my loans while I was still attending college, so I don’t need any extra money right now.”

“But sir, the cost to maintain this place will eat away at the funds you currently have,” the lawyer said starting to sweat a bit. “Please allow me to help you. You’re far too young to waste your life in this run-down place.”

“My answer is still no,” I said to him. “Now if you wouldn’t mind, I believe that you should go.” I rose to my feet and opened the door of the room we were in for him to leave.

“…Fine I can see that you are still a bit shaken up from your grandmother's passing,” he said reluctantly standing up. “I will not waste any more of your time today. I shall come back in a few days once you clear your head.” “Don’t bother.” I don’t know why he was so intent on making me sell the mansion, but I wasn’t going to stand around and let he try to take away the home that house me for so many years.

“Sir you are making a mistake,” he said as I forced him outside. “When my employer wants something, he gets it.”

“Then tell your employer that if he wants my home he’ll have to take it from me,” I said slamming the door in front of his face. I couldn’t deal with scum like that. Trying to use others’ misfortunes for their own benefit, was despicable.

“Now then, let’s get to cleaning,” I said to myself, looking around to see that dust had started to pile up everywhere. My grandmother was never one for cleaning. I soon spent the next week cleaning the mansion by myself and let me say, it wasn’t easy. It took me two days just to get the master bedroom clean enough for me to sleep in. I told my grandmother to call a cleaning service while I was in college, but it would seem that she stubbornly didn’t listen to me.

As of now the main places that I had cleaned were the master bedroom, kitchen, and second-floor bathroom. Right now it was time to fix up the office. At least then I could have some room to myself. When I opened the door, I saw that the entire room was covered with boxes.

“Ugh, what is all of this crap?” I asked myself as began to sort through a bunch of my grandmothers’ old things. Nothing was organized correctly, and over half of it looked like junk. There was one thing that caught my eye, my grandmother’s old jewelry box. This was the one thing that she never let me touch growing up. She would always be cryptic about the reasons why I couldn’t touch it. One of her favorite excuses to use was that “it’s not time yet”. Well, I guess there was nothing stopping me now. As I continued to examine it an odd thought ran across my mind, should I wear it? For some reason, I couldn’t stop feeling a bizarre urge to place the ruby ring over my left middle finger. Before I could even realize what, I was doing I had already placed the ring on my finger. The moment I did I felt a chill run down my spine.

“It’s about time you put that ring on~,” a familiar voice said into my ear. I jolted, back out of shock to see who was there only to see a picture of my grandmother. Was I imagining things from lack of sleep?

“Hmm, the will was supposed to be read a week ago. I expected that you would have found it by the end of the first day, not by the end of the week.”

“Whose there!?” I yelled, looking around the room, still unable to see who was talking to me.

“Now, now, there is no need to shout~,” the voice said to me from behind. “I raise you better than that now didn’t I~?”

“N-no way…” I looked back, and this time I clearly saw the person that was talking to me. “Grandmother!? How are you here, you’re supposed to be dead!” I yelled, trying to back away from her.

“Now, now, here’s no need to run~,” she said as she flew around me. “If you wanted to run you should have done so before you found that ring~. I am quite sure that the man posing as my lawyer did want you to sell, did he not?”

“What do you want?” I asked, unable to move out of fear. There was no way that this was possible! This had to be some sort of dream…right?

“Fufufu~. Still ever the cute one I see,” she said teasing me as she always did while she was still alive. “You don’t have to worry, I’m here to help~.”

“Help?” I didn’t understand what she was talking about. Help? Why do I need her help? Wait, why was I even thinking about talking to a ghost? I had to be insane.

“Fufufu~. It’s cute that you think I’m a ghost,” she said as if she had just read my mind. “I’m in fact a spirit, but we can discuss that further in detail after  finishing helping you~.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” I finally asked her, hoping I would wake up any second.

“Don’t worry sweetie, all will be explained after your transformation~,” she said, acting as if this was normal for her.

“Tra-transformation?” I said, even more, scared than before.

“Yes sweetie, your transformation~,” she eagerly said back to me. “I have waited so long for the perfect moment and now the day has finally arrived. Grandmother will make you who you were always meant to be~. Now hold still while grandmother works her magic~. I just know that you’re going to love the new you once I done~.

“What the hell are yo-” I couldn’t finish my sentence as it felt like my lips had been sealed shut. “Now, good little girls should be quiet while their grandmother presents them with a gift~. It looks like after I fix your unsightly appearance, I will have to fix that uncultured mouth of yours. I do wonder how you acquired such a mouth. It must have been while you were away~. No matter that is all in the past.”

“First things first, let’s get rid of that unsightly male appendage of yours’s,” she said snapping her fingers. At first, I didn’t notice anything different, but upon focusing, I soon felt a gap where my manhood once was. I wanted to scream and shout for her to stop, though I doubt she would. I was sure of it now that this had to be a nightmare. There was no way that something like this could be possible. This couldn’t be real!

“Hmm, you seem a bit too tall. A granddaughter of mine should be more petite. Let’s fix that~,” she said snapping her fingers once more.

This time I could feel my bones start to break and crack, becoming smaller as my muscles contracted inward. I had to watch my body shrink down over what seemed like a foot in height. I could even feel my chest start to slightly swell, becoming soft, further making me realize that I was no longer a man.

“Very good. I do have to say that I like how you are turning out so far. Now for your hair and eyes. I’m thinking of long sliver hair and silky-smooth skin. What do you think? …Oh, you agree. I knew you would~!” She said acting as if this was what I wanted, before snapping her fingers for a third time. My head soon began to feel heavy as I watched my hair grow down past my eyes and slowly turn from brown to silver.

“Hmm, heterochromia… one blue and one red eye. It would seem that more time is needed before things settle. Either way my dear you are absolutely adorable~. You look exactly how I imagined you to be~.

“Though your clothes are certainly not doing you any justice. Luckily, I have been preparing this for a long time,” she said snapping her fingers for the last time. When she did a black gothic Lolita dress flew out of the closet and flung itself over me! In a matter of seconds I was stripped of all my clothes, and I found myself wearing the dress. It was like I had become my grandmother’s dress up doll. I could tell that I could now speak, but I was too embarrassed to say anything.

“Good, I see that we’re off to a good start~,” she said, clapping her hands together. “There is still much to be done, and I just can’t wait~. We’re going to have so much fun~. Don’t you agree~?

“W-why?” I didn’t want to talk as the voice that came out of my mouth was now high-pitched and feminine. I didn’t want to admit it, yet it would seem that I had no other choice. This wasn’t a dream, this was reality.

“That answer can be said later. For now, I do believe that it would be best if we deal with that~,” she said pointing to the ground.

“W-what is this!?” I couldn’t believe my eyes, beneath me was my body, or rather my current body unconscious on the floor. What the hell was going on here!?