I was nearing the block of The House Even though Beth and I had made up our stories about it we knew it was definitely haunted It had been abandoned forever a crumbly old mansion with turrets and broken windows an overgrown yard crawling with thorny weeds and a tall wrought iron fence with sharp spires that would poke you you-know-where if you tried to climb over I wouldn’t be surprised if there was even a cemetery in the backyard No one has lived there for years No one could live there I heard Beth’s voice say in my head No one alive that is Only ghosts And for a split second I thought I heard her cackling laughter And the strangest of them all is the spirit of a little girl Lillian I added Lillian was my favorite ghost On a dark and stormy night Lillian fell down the cellar steps into a narrow hole She cried for help but no one could reach her
She wailed and wailed and even after she died down there she kept wailing Sometimes her face appears at the window Beth’s voice continued And instead of just Boo she yells Bibbledy-bobbledy-boo I started to laugh but then I froze A face appeared at the turret window And looked right at me And then vanished I let out a bloodcurdling scream and started to run But then something or someone grabbed me I whirled to see a little girl holding on tightly to my jacket Her skin was so pale I felt I could almost see through it White-blond ghostly hair wafted about her head She stared at me without blinking even once Lillian Lillian the cellar-ghost right before my eyes I tugged my jacket but she held fast She let
out a strange giggle Let go I pleaded She shook her head solemnly Hi she whispered Do you want to play My heart raced I closed my eyes No please no I moaned The front gate swung open with a clang I opened my eyes and screamed again In front of me stood a tall man with wild eyes and messy hair His face was smeared with dirt He looked like he’d just crawled from a grave Please don’t hurt me I begged I’ll do whatever you ask Just please don’t The man’s loud laugh interrupted me Hurt you Why would I hurt you he said I’m just a friendly neighbor That’s what they all say I muttered To lure you in And then You have quite the imagination the man
said He held out a grimy hand for me to shake I just stared at it Tell Lillian to let go of me I said Please tell her to let go The man frowned Who’s Lillian This is my daughter Frannie And I’m Bob Wolf We just moved in Wolf Like the animal that bites And howls at the moon I said Bob Wolf laughed Yes The Wolfs Then he arched his neck and howled like a wolf would Lillian Frannie giggled and howled too Do you want to play Lillian Frannie whispered again after she’d stopped howling Mr Wolf smiled She must like you he said to me She’s usually shy around strangers My heart had stopped racing for the time being and I was beginning to feel stupid for
