STORIES FOR HALLOWEEN

Story One, Part One

Harry didn't know why he had to move away from his home and his friends to the middle of nowhere. All he knew was that the house he was moving to with his parents was really old and looked like it was haunted. Not that Harry believed in ghosts, of course. He was twelve, after all. You didn't believe in ghosts when you were going into the seventh grade.

At least, Harry didn't believe in ghosts in the day time. Not when he was so busy moving things from the truck his father had rented into the new house. But as the sun set, and long, dark shadows began to form and grow, he suddenly didn't feel twelve.

At least that first night he and his parents all slept in the living room, since the bedrooms needed airing out and his father would have to put their beds together the next day. Having his parents in the same room made Harry feel less frightened, especially after his father turned off the lights and plunged the room into all but total darkness. The only light was from the digital clock sitting on a table. When Harry faced away from it he could see nothing at all.

Harry pulled his blanket over his head and shut his eyes. He hoped morning came soon.

Harry didn't know how long he'd lain there in the dark before he finally started to fall asleep. It had to be pretty late though, since both of his parents had dozed off quite awhile ago.

Harry didn't know what had awakened him. Some sort of sound? Not a voice. Footsteps? Yes, that was it. And now as he listened carefully in the darkness, he heard them again. Coming from the next room. He opened his eyes fearfully and struggled to make out his parents. Which of them was up this late, he wondered. But as his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the clock, he realized both of them were there, sound asleep. But then who was walking about?

Harry's first thought was a ghost. He pulled his blanket over his face again and waited fearfully for whatever it was to go away.

The footsteps soon stopped. He sighed with relief, but waited a few more minutes before pulling down his blanket far enough to see.

The room hadn't seemed to change in any way. Maybe he was just imagining it, like his parents always told him he was when he'd say he heard strange sounds coming from within his closet or under his bed.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. He was just starting to doze off when he realized he had to go to the bathroom. He thought about waking his dad, but he knew his father had worked all day, loading the moving truck, driving, and unloading it. And he still had to return the truck to the moving company in the morning.

Harry sighed and got up. The floor was like ice under his feet as he tried to find a light switch. Where was it?

He finally found the light switch and started to turn it on. But what if his parents woke up and told him to stop being a baby? He didn't want that happening. So he took a deep breath and stepped into the dark hall.

He shut his eyes and felt around the wall for the light switch. Whatever might be there, it couldn't hurt him if he couldn't see it, could it?

Harry suddenly felt something. What was it? Hair? Why would there be hair on the wall? He pulled his hand away, and finally made contact with the light switch. He sighed with relief as he flicked it on and opened his eyes, curious to see what he had felt.

The hallway was empty. He looked over the wall carefully. There was nothing there that could have felt like hair.

Harry's heart was pounding like it was trying to break free and fly away. What was it? Where was it?

He shook his head and hurried towards the bathroom. The sooner he was back under his blanket, the better!

He clicked on the bathroom light and closed the door. When he came out a couple of minutes later, he shut off the light and started walking down the hall back to the living room and the safety of his parents.

Suddenly he heard the footsteps again. They were coming from behind him!

"Just my imagination…" he told himself as he quickened his steps down the hall. "Just hearing things! Just keep walking! You're almost back in the living room, and…"

"Play with me?" he heard behind him. His knees hit together. It sounded like a little kid. But there was nobody in the house except himself and his parents. He took a deep breath and raced for the living room, about to scream his lungs out, when he suddenly tripped over his own two feet. He reached out for the wall to steady himself, and accidentally grabbed the light switch and flipped it off, throwing the hallway into total darkness as he fell on his face. The air all went out of him, so he couldn't even yell for help. All he could do was lie there on the floor with his eyes tightly shut and shake with terror.

He heard a giggle. It sounded like a girl.

"Wh-who's there?" he asked, keeping his eyes shut.

There was no reply. He forced himself onto his hands and knees, then reached out to place a hand against the wall to pull himself up. This time he found his fingers making contact with other fingers.

Cold, cold fingers.

He pulled his hand away. "Who's there?" he repeated, his heart pounding wildly.

"Don't you want up?" a small but somewhat echoing voice asked. He knew he'd never heard that voice before. It had to be…

He opened one eye fearfully. Then the other in shock. Standing beside him, with her pale blonde almost white hair half covering her face, was a girl a little younger than he was. He could see her despite the darkness of the hall because she was glowing.

"Y-y-you're a-a-a g-g-ghost!"

The girl laughed. Harry jumped to his feet and ran into the living room, screaming, "GHOOOOOOOST!"

Harry's parents of course woke up then. They weren't very happy.

"There's no such thing as ghosts, young man," Harry's father insisted.

"You just let your imagination run away with you in the dark and scared yourself," his mother added.

"No, I really saw her!" Harry told them. "She had long white hair covering her face and she was glowing and she laughed at me!"

His parents looked at each other. "Well, he's very imaginative…" his mother said.

"The middle of the night is no time to be imaginative," his father pointed out. "If he's like this tonight when we're all sleeping in the same room, what's he going to be like tomorrow, when he's alone in his own room?"

Harry's blood ran cold. All alone tomorrow night? In this house? What would the ghost do to him? He was still wondering this when his parents told him goodnight and went back to sleep. Harry pulled his blanket up over his face and shut his eyes tightly. Once he thought he heard a giggle, from far off, but by then he was very sleepy and soon dozed off.

The next thing he knew, it was morning and his mother was waking him to eat breakfast. In the light of day the house didn't seem so scary anymore, even though Harry's dad was gone returning the moving van. Harry ate breakfast then helped his mother put away the rest of their possessions in the big old house. The hall closet was quickly filled with blankets, towels, sheets, and pillowcases. The food had already been put away the day before in the refrigerator and a couple of the cupboards in the kitchen. Another cupboard was quickly filled that day with knives, forks, and spoons.

Finally, Harry went to his new room with a box and set it down on top of his new desk his parents had gotten him. He went back and got a second box, then a third. They contained his possessions. Mostly comic books since he had outgrown toys. The last box contained his laptop, but the old house didn't have internet access yet.

When his father returned with their car, his parents decided that for their first day in their new town they should go out to get lunch. Harry was surprised and somewhat relieved to find that even this out of the way place had a McDonalds.

Harry sat down at a booth while his parents went to place their order. Two boys about his age walked over to the booth.

"Haven't seen you around here before," one of the boys said. "Just passing through town?"

Harry shook his head. "No," he told them. "My parents just bought a house down the road." He pointed in the direction of their new home.

The two boys looked at each other. "Not the old grey house out by the end of town?" one asked.

Harry nodded. "That's it," he said, "why, what's wrong with it?" He was pretty sure he already knew.

"'It's haunted!" one of the boys said.

"By a weird, crazy ghost girl," said the other.

"Who is she?" Harry asked. "Why does she haunt the house?" But before he could find anything else the boys were called by their mother.

"Just get out of that place as soon as you can," one of the boys said as they hurried away.

Harry looked up as his mother sat down. "Our order will be ready in a minute," she said, smiling. "So how do you like our new home?"

Harry looked away. Fat chance of getting out of that house with his parents thinking it was so great.

He had been really hungry a few minutes ago. Now he had to force himself to eat.

"Tired?" his mother asked. "Don't worry, we've just about finished unpacking. Your father and I can take care of everything else and you can listen to music or read or whatever you like."

What Harry would like was to drive away from that house and never come back. But he knew that wasn't going to happen. He'd seen plenty of horror movies. Grown ups never believed their new house was haunted until it was too late.

Once in awhile he'd look over at those two boys. If only he could think of an excuse to talk to them. Find out more about the house. About the ghost. But all too soon they both left, one of them waving at him as if he didn't expect to ever see Harry again.

Because he thinks the ghost will get me…and maybe…kill me! Harry thought.

All too soon it was time to go back to the old house. Harry looked out the window sadly, looking at the sky and the trees and the flowers, and wondering if he'd ever see those things again.

As his mother had promised, when they got back Harry was excused from helping his parents unpack the rest of their possessions. Any other time he would have been happy and gone off to read. Instead he sat nearby and watched his parents until they were finished.

Harry didn't return to his room until after dinner. He didn't want to sleep alone in his room. There was one window, beside where his parents had set up his bed, a closet he'd put his possessions away in, and the desk where his computer sat.

Harry looked over his comics, hoping to find something to read to take his mind off of the ghost. Unfortunately the first bunch of comics he came across were all horror comics. He dug down and finally found some superheroes. He sat down on his bed to read.

"Harry, time for bed," his mother suddenly said. "Turn off your light and go to sleep."

Harry started to beg her to let him keep his light on, then changed his mind. She'd just tell him he was being silly. No, he'd wait until his parents had gone to bed, then turn the light back on.

The problem was, his parents stayed up for quite awhile after he'd gone to bed. He could hear them moving around. At least, he hoped it was them!

At last, however, the house was quiet. Harry got out of bed. He could only see a little from the moon and stars outside his window. He hurried across the room and turned on the light. There. Maybe it wouldn't keep the ghost away, but at least being able to see made him feel better. He got back into bed and pulled his covers over his head. If his parents said anything about him leaving the light on, he could claim he'd gone to the bathroom late at night and had been so sleepy going back to his room that he'd forgotten to turn the light back off again. Despite his nervousness, Harry was tired and soon fell asleep.

He woke suddenly, hearing his door close. He looked around. The room was in darkness! One of his parents must have gotten up to check on him, found his light on, and turned it off! He waited a minute to make sure they didn't come back and catch him, then got out of bed and hurried back towards the light switch.

"What's the matter?" came a merry voice behind him. "Don't tell me a big boy like you is afraid of the dark?"

"Wh-who's there?" Harry whispered, even though he already knew.

"My name is Sarah," said the voice. "Will you be my friend?"

Harry grabbed for the doorknob, intending to throw the door open and run down the hall. But a glowing white hand got to the doorknob first.

"Don't leave, Harry," the ghost said, suddenly between him and the door. "We haven't even started to play yet."

To be continued