The Gray House Ghost, Part 3 (New Short Story)

Here is Part 3 of The Gray House Ghost. If you haven't read Part 2 yet, you can find it here.

The Gray House Ghost

By Catherine Mesick

The two of them started toward the house again, but this time, Mike motioned Rachel toward the back.

“I’m not sure we should risk going in through the front door again,” Mike said. “Let’s see if there’s another way in.”

There was indeed another entrance at the back of the house, but Mike took a long look at a set of double doors that were set into the ground.

“You want to go in through the basement?” Rachel asked.

Mike nodded as he stepped over to examine the basement doors. “Going in this way will put us as far as possible from Mr. Caretaker up there. We can search the house systematically from bottom to top, and with any luck we’ll be able to avoid that guy.”

“Are you serious?” Rachel said. “You really want to go into a haunted house through the basement?”

“This is by all accounts a benign haunting,” Mike said as he eased one of the basement doors open. “That’s why the disappearances are so strange. Something has gone wrong recently.”

He shot her a sly glance. “And anyway, I thought you didn’t believe in haunted houses.”

“I don’t,” Rachel said.

“But?”

“It just seems like a good principle to follow—even in a house that’s only allegedly haunted.”

“Interesting,” Mike said, giving her a long look.

Then he opened the second basement door and stepped gingerly down the wooden steps.

Rachel followed him.

The basement was large and empty and just as free of cobwebs and dust as the rest of the house had been.

Rachel shone her flashlight over the cavernous room, and the light picked out a wooden staircase against the far wall. Other than that there was nothing of interest in the room.

“Do you see the spirit portal in here?” Rachel asked.

Mike went over the basement carefully with his flashlight.

“No—I don’t think it’s down here. I’ve never seen one before, but I’ve heard there should be a visual distortion around it. And I’ve got a good eye for paranormal phenomena. I’ll know it when I see it.”

“Good to know,” Rachel said.

“But you know what I did just realize?” Mike glanced back at the basement doors, which still yawned open. “That guy definitely isn’t the caretaker.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because nothing’s locked up. The front door, the basement door, the attic—they’re all unlocked. He’s not actually taking care of anything.”

“Maybe he’s just—” Rachel began.

She stopped. She couldn’t think of a logical reason why the house should be unlocked.

“Whatever’s going on, he’s in on it,” Mike said.

He began to move toward the stairs.

“Come on. Let’s go quietly. We don’t want that guy to catch us again.”

Mike moved stealthily up the stairs, and Rachel followed him.

At the top of the stairs was a door—unlocked like the others, and Mike opened it cautiously. Rachel and Mike stepped out into yet another empty room, and their flashlights picked out no distinguishing features.

“What do you suppose this was?” Rachel whispered. “A kitchen maybe?”

Mike simply shook his head.

The two of them moved on into the next room.

“So what’s the story here?” Rachel whispered. “Why is this place haunted?”

“We should do as little talking as possible,” Mike whispered back. “We don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.”

“I just want to know what I’m supposedly up against in here,” Rachel replied. “Just tell me the short version.”

“Okay,” Mike said. “I can understand that. So, you probably know already that a prominent family named Green lived here for generations. In the 1880s the Greens’ son Robert, the heir to their great fortune, became engaged to a young woman named Emily Stanhope. The two were said to be very much in love, and they planned a Christmas wedding. And then there was a big masked ball here on Halloween, and there were also rumors by that time that Robert was cheating on Emily with a servant girl. And when Emily saw Robert and the girl apparently kissing in a corner, she threw herself off the second-floor balcony onto the main floor below and killed herself right there at the party.”

“That’s awful,” Rachel said.

“It was pretty tragic,” Mike said. “And it caused a huge scandal. The Greens packed up and left after that. They didn’t sell the house—possibly because nobody would touch it. And it’s been vacant ever since. As far as the haunting goes—supposedly lights are seen at night, which is very odd because there’s no electricity in this house, and the rumor is that every Halloween that fateful masked ball is reenacted. The guests reappear in the main hall, the dancing begins, and then the ghost of Emily Stanhope throws herself to her death. The reports say the display is mostly shadows and whispers, but there are those who say you can hear a very audible scream.”

“That’s really sad,” Rachel said. “Are all those spirits supposedly trapped here?”

“No—none of them are trapped here. It’s not an intelligent haunting—it’s residual energy. It never changes, and you can’t interact with it. It’s just the same scene played over and over again. That’s why these disappearances are so disturbing. Something else has moved in here. And the new entity, whatever it is, appears to be malevolent.”

“Great,” Rachel said. “And that’s what my brother walked into?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Mike said. “And whatever is here is likely to be at its most powerful tonight—that’s when the energy that naturally occurs here is at its strongest.”

The two of them continued on through the house without finding anything. Then they came to the enormous front room through which they had originally entered the house. Rachel shone her flashlight over the grand staircase and the still-impressive parquet floor.

“Is this where it happened?” Rachel asked.

“Yes,” Mike replied. “Right around midnight. And this is where the haunting still occurs.”

They went over the huge room carefully, but Rachel found nothing unusual.

“Anything?” she asked Mike.

“No,” he whispered. “I guess it’s time to move upstairs.”

Rachel and Mike started up the stairs, and their ascent was mercifully free of creaks and groans.

At the top of the stairs they found a balcony that overlooked the lower level, and just beyond that was a long hallway lined on either side by closed doors.

While Mike walked down the length of the hallway, Rachel paused and opened the nearest door.

The room was empty as usual, but as Rachel shone her flashlight into it, she imagined for just a moment that she saw the bedroom of a young girl. She could see a bed with embroidered linens, a bureau with perfumes and trinkets, a full length mirror with an ornate stand. And over by the window, a pair of lacy curtains fluttered as if moved by a breeze.

“Do you see something?” whispered a voice by her ear.

Rachel turned to see Mike standing beside her.

She glanced back at the room—it was empty once again. The spell had been broken.

“It’s nothing,” Rachel said. “I was just imagining things.”

“Maybe not,” Mike said.

He pushed the door open a little wider and stepped inside.

He shone his flashlight over the entire room and then came back to Rachel.

“What did you see?” Mike whispered.

“A girl’s bedroom,” Rachel replied. “I saw furniture. I even saw curtains over by the window. It was just my mind playing tricks on me in the dark.”

“No, you might have seen something,” Mike said. “There could be residual energy here just like there is supposed to be downstairs. Residual energy is kind of like an impression—a moment frozen in time. That could be what you saw.”

“Can that help us?” Rachel asked.

“If there’s energy around here, it could be a sign that the portal is close,” Mike said. “We should keep looking.”

Their flashlights picked out a communicating door on the far side of the room, and they walked over to it and pushed it open carefully.

Inside was a small room with several holes cut into the floor. The ends of pipes peeped out through the holes, and Rachel figured that those pipes had once led to plumbing—the room had likely been a bathroom.

Mike stepped inside and shone his flashlight over the room.

“Wait!” he hissed. “I think I see something. There was a flash by that pipe. It could be the distortion we’re looking for.”

Mike crept closer and leaned down.

“Yes! I see it. It’s silver and it’s moving—”

Mike suddenly stumbled backward and placed a hand over his mouth as if to stifle a cry.

He ran into Rachel, and the two of them tumbled toward the open door and fell to the floor.

“What is it?” Rachel whispered. “Did you find the spirit portal?”

Mike jumped quickly to his feet.

“No—I—no.”

Rachel hurriedly got to her feet also. “Then what was it?”

Mike swallowed. “It was a silverfish, okay? Don’t laugh. I can’t stand them—it’s kind of a phobia.”

An involuntary tremor ran through his body.

“I’m not laughing,” Rachel said.

“What?” Mike said.

“I’m not laughing at you,” Rachel replied. “I don’t like them either.”

Mike looked at her. He could see her expression was serious.

“Oh,” he said. “So false alarm, then. No portal in here.”

They walked back into the first room, and Rachel quickly turned her flashlight toward the window.

“There it is again,” she said. “By the window. I thought I saw something fluttering like a curtain.”

Mike turned his flashlight to the same spot.

“There’s nothing there now. Maybe it was just another insect.”

Rachel frowned. “But I could have sworn—”

She walked over to the window and put out her hand.

“It was right here,” she said.

Something shadowy flitted nearby, and Rachel quickly turned toward it.

“There!” she said. “There it is again. It definitely looks like a curtain.”

She reached out for it again.

“Wait!” Mike said sharply. “Don’t touch it yet! I think you might have found—”

Rachel felt her hand close around something soft and delicate, like a feather. In the next instant the room was flooded with light.

She turned around.

Mike had disappeared.

“Mike?” Rachel said. “Mike?”

Her voice began to rise with alarm—it wasn’t normal for a person to disappear.

“Mike, where are you?” Rachel said.

A moment later, he appeared by her side. Mike blinked his eyes several times and then looked around as if dazzled by the light. Then he saw Rachel and started in surprise.

“Whoa. Good to see you again,” he said.

“What’s going on here?” Rachel asked.

Mike smiled. “Congratulations, non-believer. You just found the spirit portal.”

*You can read Part 4 here.*

-------------------------------------------

Thanks very much for reading!

     You can check out my books here.

     And stop by some time and hi on Facebook. :)

The Gray House Ghost, Part 2 (New Short Story)

Here is Part 2 of The Gray House Ghost. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you can find it here.

The Gray House Ghost

By Catherine Mesick

“Rachel?” said a voice in a whisper.

Rachel shielded her eyes against the glare. “Who wants to know?”

The flashlight moved so that it was pointing upward, and Rachel could see a tall, lanky frame outlined against the light.

“Rachel, it’s me—Mike.”

“Mike?” Rachel said. “What are you doing here?”

“The same as you,” Mike whispered. “I’m looking for Justin. And you might want to keep your voice down.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me.”

“Fine,” Rachel whispered.

“Have you had any luck yet?” Mike asked.

“I’m pretty sure he’s up in the attic,” Rachel replied. “There’s a light on up there—you probably saw it as you drove up.”

Mike hesitated. “Yeah, I saw it.”

“You don’t think it’s him?”

“I don’t know,” Mike said. “I hope it is.”

Rachel turned on her flashlight and started up the stairs again. “Well, we’d better go look.”

The two of them climbed up through the dark until they reached the last flight of stairs. Then they climbed the few steps up to the topmost level. The attic door stood before them with a thin sliver of light showing out from underneath it.

Rachel reached out for the old-fashioned crystal doorknob, and Mike moved suddenly to stop her.

“Wait!” he hissed.

But she was already turning the handle, and the door to the attic swung open easily.

Inside the room was a lantern sitting in the middle of the floor. Otherwise, the room was empty.

Rachel and Mike stepped into the room.

“Do you think he was in here?” Rachel whispered.

“Maybe,” Mike replied.

“You don’t seem very surprised to not see him here,” Rachel said. “What did you think was going on up here? Did you think it was pranksters?”

“No.” Mike seemed oddly reluctant to go on.

“Mike, what’s going on in this house?” Rachel said.

“You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t.”

Mike cast a nervous glance over at the doorway. The attic landing yawned black and cavernous beyond it.

“Do you mind if I close the door?” Mike asked. “I don’t like the idea of someone sneaking up on us.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Rachel said.

Mike shut the door and then sat down by the lantern.

Rachel sat down opposite him. “I’m guessing you have some idea what’s going on with my brother.”

Mike ran his hands over his face and then looked over at Rachel.

“Okay,” he said. “So you haven’t heard about the disappearances?”

“No,” she said.

“It’s about ten people so far,” Justin said. “And they’ve all disappeared into this house.”

“What?” Rachel said. “That’s not possible. I would have heard if ten people had gone missing from our town.”

“They haven’t gone missing from our town,” Justin replied. “They’ve gone missing from all over the country. Ghost hunters from all over have come to investigate this house. And they haven’t been heard from since then.”

“I think I would have heard about that, too.”

“Not necessarily,” Mike said. “They disappeared one at a time. And no one can prove they came to this house—after all, no bodies have ever been found. We just know this is where they were headed when they disappeared.”

“Then where are their cars?” Rachel asked. “If they came out here and disappeared, their cars should be here at least. There’s no other way to get out here.”

“There’s the spirit portal.”

“The spirit portal?”

“It’s by the old well in the town square. All you have to do is walk through the portal in the right frame of mind, and you’ll be transported here. And you need to know it’s there in the first place.”

“I see,” Rachel said.

“And all the investigators parked at their hotels in town and then walked over to the spirit portal. Their cars were found abandoned at the hotels.”

“And you believe a spirit portal is a real thing?” Rachel asked.

“Of course it is,” Mike said. “How else do you think all those people got over here without cars?”

“Why weren’t they seen?” Rachel asked.

“What?”

“Why weren’t they seen disappearing into thin air?” Rachel asked. “If people carrying ghost-hunting equipment walked up to the old well in the town square and then just vanished, wouldn’t somebody notice that?”

Mike sighed softly. “That’s part of how spirit portals work. There’s always an area of localized distortion around them. They actually generate a channel that enters the spirit realm—you travel through that to the next human world destination. A lot of people are frightened and disoriented by spiritual energy—even when it’s positive. So they just tend not to look. And like I said, there’s localized distortion—and that affects human senses, too.”

“And what would create something like that?”

“Strong emotion,” Mike said.

“I see,” Rachel said again. “So you’re saying ten ghost hunters—”

“Paranormal investigators.”

“Paranormal investigators—with all their equipment walked up to a well and were magically—”

“Spiritually.”

“Spiritually transported to the Gray House,” Rachel said.

“Yes,” Mike said.

“And I assume my brother took that route also?”

“Well, yes,” Mike said. “The town square isn’t that far from the high school. And he also didn’t want anyone to know that he was coming here.”

“Why not?” Rachel asked.

Mike turned his head suddenly.

“Wait! Did you hear that?” he hissed.

Their voices had begun to drift up in volume, and Mike quickly brought his back down to a hoarse whisper.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Rachel whispered back.

“I’d better go check.”

Mike stood and walked noiselessly to the door. Then he switched on his flashlight and opened the door carefully.

Mike shone his flashlight up and down the landing and then returned to the room, closing the door behind him.

“I thought I heard footsteps,” Mike said.

“But no one’s there?” Rachel asked.

“No one I can see at least,” Mike said.

He sat down again.

“So why didn’t Justin want anyone to know that he was coming over here?” Rachel asked.

Mike cast Rachel a furtive glance. “Well, he didn’t want you to know because he thought you would think it was silly. And he didn’t want me to know because I would have told him it was way too dangerous.”

“What?” Rachel asked. “Filming a ghost-hunting show?”

“No,” Mike said. “Justin changed his mind after he realized what was going on here. He wasn’t planning a show anymore. He was planning a rescue mission.”

“He what?” Rachel’s voice rose above a whisper, and Mike quickly shushed her.

“Keep your voice down,” he hissed. “We’ve got to keep a low profile while we’re in this house.”

“Don’t we want Justin to know we’re here?” Rachel asked.

“Justin, yes,” Mike said. “The spirits—no. The word is that spirits are luring people here and trapping them—possibly so that they can use their energy to manifest themselves.”

“Okay,” Rachel said, rising. “We have different opinions, but we both think Justin is here somewhere. Since we’re already at the top of the house, I’m going to search each room from top to bottom until I find my brother. You can come with me if you like.”

Rachel switched on her flashlight and moved toward the door. Mike quickly went after her.

“Yeah, you’re right. We should find Justin. But let’s be careful. So far the spirits don’t seem to be too aware of our presence. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“So we’ll be careful,” Rachel said. “It makes sense to be careful in an old house anyway.”

She reached out for the antique crystal knob but was startled to see that it was turning on its own. A moment later, the door was flung wide open, and a man with white hair and a red birthmark that ran from his chin to his neck stood outlined in the doorway.

“What are you kids doing in here?”

Both Rachel and Mike jumped back, startled.

“Who are you?” Rachel said.

“Who am I?” the man sputtered. “I’m the caretaker. Who are you?”

“We’re—” Rachel began.

“We saw the light,” Mike said quickly, gesturing to the lantern, “and since it’s Halloween, we thought we’d come up and see what’s going on.”

“Well, there’s no party up here,” the man said.

“We thought the house was abandoned,” Rachel said. “We didn’t know anybody was still taking care of it.”

“This is private property,” the man replied. “And our arrangements are none of your business.”

“Sorry we intruded,” Mike said, edging around the man. “We’ll be going now.”

“Wait,” Rachel said. “We’re looking for—”

“Some Halloween fun,” Mike said. “And this clearly isn’t the place for it.”

He grabbed Rachel by the hand and pulled her around the man and out onto the landing.

The man said nothing and simply glared at them.

“We have our own flashlights,” Mike said. “So we don’t need you to escort us down the stairs or anything. We’ll just show ourselves out.”

Justin flipped on his flashlight and dragged Rachel toward the stairs.

“I already have my flashlight on,” Rachel said.

“We can use both of them,” Mike said quickly. “Good night, Mister-whatever-your-name-is.”

Rachel glanced over her shoulder. The door to the attic was already shut.

“Come on,” Mike said, tugging on Rachel’s hand. “Let’s get out of here while we still can.”

“We haven’t found Justin yet,” Rachel protested.

“We’ll—uh—we’ll look for him outside,” Mike said.

He continued to hurry down the stairs, and Rachel focused on trying to light his way so he didn’t stumble in the dark.

Soon they had made it all the way down to the ground floor. And then they were out of the house and running across the porch and down the stairs.

Mike threw himself against his car, which was now parked next to Rachel’s, and leaned against it, panting.

“What was that all about?” Rachel asked as she joined him. “Why didn’t you want to ask that guy about Justin?”

Mike took in several big gulps of air and then seemed to calm down. “I don’t know. The guy just gave me a weird feeling. And he’s a caretaker in a house that doesn’t actually have a caretaker. It just seemed to me that whatever’s going on he must be in on it.”

“Oh,” Rachel said. “I thought maybe you thought he was a ghost.”

Mike’s eyes widened, and he turned to stare at her.

“He wasn’t a ghost, Mike,” Rachel said. “He opened the door. I don’t think ghosts can do that.”

“Yeah,” Mike said. “That’s a good point.”

“Besides, how do you know the house doesn’t have a caretaker?”

“Everybody knows the house is abandoned. The Green family left, and nobody owns that place.”

“How do you know someone didn’t quietly buy it?” Rachel asked.

Mike shook his head. “There’s no one to buy it from. Anyone who is staying at that house is actually a squatter.”

He cast a glance up at the light that still burned in the attic.

“Whoever that guy is we definitely can’t trust him.”

“That’s not going to help us find Justin,” Rachel said.

“I know.” Mike rubbed his hands over his face. “I just—don’t know what to do at the moment.”

“What about this spirit portal?” Rachel asked.

“What about it?”

“Where does it lead? Does it go inside the house? Or somewhere nearby? If we find where the spirit portal is, we’ll have a starting point for where Justin went.”

Mike perked up. “Yeah—that’s a good idea.”

He smirked a little. “So you’re saying you believe in spirit portals now?”

“No,” Rachel said. “But I assume Justin did. For all I know, he just ran like crazy until he got here. But if he thought he was arriving at a spirit portal, and that’s a place we can go, then that’s good enough for me.”

Mike looked at her for a moment. “Skeptical yet open-minded. Interesting.”

Rachel looked back at him, and his gaze left her feeling a little light-headed.

She quickly looked back toward the house. “So do you know where the spirit portal is?”

Mike looked toward the house also. “I believe it’s in there. One of the earliest investigators uploaded video of their arrival. They were in a big, empty room—so they were definitely inside. But it was night, and the only light came from their equipment.”

“You couldn’t tell what room it was?” Rachel asked.

“No,” Mike said. “But I don’t think it was in the attic—we were in there long enough, and I didn’t see any sign of it.”

“So we’ll have to search the whole house?”

“Afraid so.”

As they looked up at the house, the light in the attic went out.

“And that just made our job a little more difficult,” Mike said.

*You can read Part 3 here.*

-------------------------------------------

Thanks very much for reading!

     You can check out my books here.

     And stop by some time and hi on Facebook. :)

New Short Story — The Gray House Ghost

Here is Part 1 of my new Halloween story, The Gray House Ghost...

The Gray House Ghost

By Catherine Mesick

“And so I’m going to go check out the house.”

Rachel looked up from her phone. She hadn’t really been listening to her brother, but he had her attention now.

“You’re going to what?”

“I’m going to check out the house,” Justin repeated. “I’ll set up an investigation there over Halloween. I’ll do my first show about it.”

“I don’t think you should go,” Rachel said.

“Why not?”

Rachel looked at her brother—sixteen years old and he thought he knew everything.

“I think it’s too dangerous,” Rachel said.

“How could it possibly be dangerous?” Justin asked. “I thought you didn’t believe in any of that stuff.”

“I don’t,” Rachel said. “But the place is supposed to be haunted, and every weirdo in town will be over there that night. Besides, the building’s really old, and it may not be structurally sound.”

Justin rubbed his chin ruefully. “You make a good point about the place maybe being mobbed.”

“So you’re not going?”

Justin said nothing and simply looked gloomy.

“I know you want to get your web series started,” Rachel said. “But I don’t think that Halloween at the Gray House is the time or the place to do it.”

Justin didn’t reply to that either, and Rachel was pleased with herself for having talked her little brother out of an unwise enterprise.

So when she came home a week or so later on Halloween night to an empty house, she wasn’t unduly worried.

It was seven o’clock. Rachel had gone to school that day and then to the library—it was a Wednesday. Her parents, she knew, were meeting with friends then going to a Halloween party. Her brother had been in the habit of stopping by a friend’s house lately, but he wasn’t usually out any later than six.

Rachel figured Justin and his friend had simply gotten more caught up in their ghost-hunting talk than usual.

She looked for what her mom had left her in the fridge for dinner, and after microwaving some lasagna, she sat down on the couch with her plate and a big bowl of candy to wait for trick-or-treaters.

Soon a steady stream of children in costumes came by the house, and Rachel frowned when she looked up and realized it was eight o’clock. Justin still wasn’t home. Then another half hour went by, followed by another. By nine thirty, Rachel was genuinely worried. She left the bowl of candy outside for the later trick-or-treaters to empty and then hurried up to her brother’s room.

Any half-hearted hope she might have had that Justin had been hiding in his room the whole time was dashed when she opened the door to find a dark room with the curtains still open.

The familiar outline of Justin’s things stood out starkly in the artificial light from the street—it was clear that the room had been empty for some time.

Rachel went to her brother’s desk and switched on the light. The spare white surface of the desk was empty of paper, and the whiteboard that hung on the wall above it was suspiciously free of any of Justin’s usual notes in blue and green. Rachel quickly got out her phone and dialed Justin’s friend Mike.

“Hey, Rachel.” Mike answered right away. He was a year older than Justin and was actually a senior like Rachel.

“Hey, Mike,” Rachel said.

“What’s up?”

“I was just wondering if Justin’s still with you?”

“Justin?” Mike sounded surprised. “He didn’t come over today. He said he had to go straight home after school—he had some stuff to do.”

“Oh,” Rachel said.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Rachel said. “Everything is good. Just thought I’d check. I know where Justin is now. Thanks.”

Rachel shut off the call abruptly.

She did indeed know where Justin was—her stubborn brother had gone over to the Gray House.

Rachel thought briefly of calling her parents to let them know where she was going, but she quickly nixed the idea. She didn’t know what her parents would think about it, and she didn’t want to get her brother in trouble.

Instead, she grabbed her car keys and ran out the door.

The trip over to the Gray House took about twenty minutes, and Rachel wondered if Justin had walked all that way or if someone had driven him over. The house sat on a lonely stretch of road and was surrounded on both sides by fields. There were no other houses or businesses nearby, and the local buses didn’t operate this far outside of town.

Rachel pulled the car up the long, dusty drive that led to the Gray House and parked in front of it. She was relieved to see that there were no other cars around, and she had to admit to herself that she was wrong about the locals flocking there on Halloween night. They had more common sense than she’d given them credit for.

Rachel got out of the car and stood looking up at the house. It had a wide porch in front, and the building itself was a bit ramshackle. The original house had been built in colonial times, and later generations had added on bits and pieces, the largest of which was an entire wing that had been added during the Civil War—it had nearly doubled the size of the house. The Gray House was named not for any of its owners—but rather for the color of the house itself. The house had actually been built by a once-prominent family named Green, and members of the Green family had lived in it until about the 1880s. Rachel remembered vaguely that the family had moved out suddenly without ever selling the property after some sort of tragedy. The house had been left to fall into ruin and disrepair, and its sad, abandoned appearance combined with old rumors about the Green family had conspired to create a belief amongst the locals that the Gray House was haunted.

But haunted or not, the house was undoubtedly old, and Rachel eyed the porch with some wariness.

A light suddenly turned on in the attic, and Rachel sighed. That was probably her brother adjusting his ghost-hunting equipment. She switched on the flashlight she’d taken from the glove compartment and stepped up to the porch.

The span of floorboards between the steps and the door suddenly looked very wide and treacherous.

Rachel started forward gingerly, and she managed to make it all the way to the door without incident. The floorboards didn’t break, and they didn’t even creak.

Rachel reached out for the old-fashioned handle, and she wasn’t surprised when it turned easily, and the door swung open. She knew Justin had gotten inside, and since the house was abandoned, there was really no reason to keep it locked.

Rachel shone her light on the big, empty front room, and she walked slowly and carefully through several more rooms. Though the house was completely devoid of furniture, it wasn’t very dusty, and there weren’t even any cobwebs. The floors and walls were intact, and there were even a few decent-looking chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in a few rooms. It almost looked as if someone had been taking care of the place.

“Maybe they knew how to build them back then,” Rachel whispered to herself.

She returned to the front room, which had a massive staircase, and after examining it with her flashlight, she decided it looked safe enough to use.

She began to climb it.

Rachel had briefly considered calling out her brother’s name, but she knew she was too far below the attic for him to be able to hear her, and something about the empty, well-preserved house seemed to compel her to silence.

She had just reached the first landing and was about to start on the next set of stairs when she thought she heard the front door open and close below her. Once again, she very nearly called out her brother’s name, but she soon thought better of it—it was probably the locals finally showing up for some Halloween troublemaking.

Rachel turned off the flashlight. Maybe they’d just dare each other to walk around a little and then go.

She continued on her way up the stairs, stepping carefully and quietly in the dark.

But she soon heard heavy footsteps on the staircase below her, and a moment later she saw a flashlight spotting the way ahead.

Rachel flattened herself against the wall and hoped that the intruder wouldn’t see her. But the heavy footsteps came even closer, and soon the flashlight shone full on Rachel’s face.

*You can read Part 2 here.*

-------------------------------------------

Thanks very much for reading!

     You can check out my books here.

     And stop by some time and hi on Facebook. :)