A spooky story from Kathryn

The Haunted House

I was lying on my bed at 7.30 pm when the doorbell rang.  I shouted to my mum that I would get the door.  It was my friend. I was wondering why she was here at this time but I had no time to think about that because she had already started talking excitedly, “Guess what??  We have been invited to Stephanie’s party!”  Stephanie was the most popular girl in the school and I was so amazed that we were invited.  It was a Halloween party.  She has a Halloween party every year and it was normally only cool kids who were invited.  I didn’t consider myself really that cool but I didn’t care about that.  I told my fiend to wait one minute and I ran to my mum and told her the whole story.  She said I could go, so with a quick goodbye I ran out of the house, my friend behind me.

We knew Stephanie’s address but we still got lost.  I had brought a torch with us because it was so dark, but it ran out of battery.  We finally got to a driveway…a massive one!  We thought it was Stephanie’s driveway because her house is huge and so probably has a big driveway, but the further we walked the, more unsure we became.  It was a long and windy road and the trees creaked and every time one of us stepped on a twig we got a fright.  I was now shivering and so was my friend.  I didn’t know if we were shivering with the cold or with fright.  Maybe it was both. When we finally got to the top of the hill, we saw a big house that looked more like a castle.  It had towers and turrets and a big main entrance.  At that moment we realised it wasn’t Stephanie’s house but it was Harrison Manor.  The creepiest house ever!  People told us stories about how all the Harrisons were very pale and peaky people with the most unusual eyes…a deep dark crimson red…devils eyes some people said!  I wanted to scream and run back down the road but the hedges and trees seemed to be closing in on us.  Then the door creaked slowly open.

BANG!  The door hit the wall and we screamed and came close to each other. There was no escape!  Now we could have tried to get through the hedge but the curiosity inside me was urging me to go  in and take a quick look and then come straight back out.  My friend seemed to have the same idea and we took a couple of steps forward and entered the house.

The room we stepped into was a big, old fashioned, derelict hallway.  The door suddenly slammed shut behind us.  BANG!  We were trapped!  The hallway was big with a black and white tiled floor.  There was a massive old stone fireplace with two rusty, dusty suits of armour standing next to it.  There was a great big chandelier hanging from the ceiling glowing bright.  A great big staircase that looked old and creaky lead up to a big viewing gallery over the hall.  It looked like a room from a scary movie, but there was something odd though.  There were two potted plants that were a nice olive green, but everyone knew that nobody had lived here for thousands of years, so how come the plants were still alive?  Another odd thing was that the candles were lit.  Who could have lit them?

We tried to open the door again and again, but it wouldn’t budge.  I decided we would scout around to try and find a way out.  I didn’t want to go upstairs because it was so yucky, dusty and creaky, so instead I started to walk downstairs.  My friend stopped me though.  “Where are you going?” she exclaimed.  “Going to find a way out, Dumbo!” I said.  (Though I don’t know why I had to, it was kind of obvious.)  She started blabbering, “Well I’m going upstairs!  It looks much safer than down there!”  She pointed to a door which lead downstairs.  I didn’t know what to do, but before I had any time to think I had blurted out, “Fine!  See if I care!”  My friend walked upstairs and I started to walk to the door that lead downstairs.  I couldn’t turn back now, I had to keep moving forward.  If I chickened out and went running back to my friend I would look pathetic.  I would show her that I was brave and bold!  The door squeaked loudly.  SCREEEEEECH!  A shiver ran down my spine.  I walked down a hard cement staircase and every now and again I heard a crunch.  I realise it was bones!  But I kept going.  It smelled damp and musty but once again I kept going.  There might be treasure or something down here.  Suddenly I heard a scream!  At that moment I realised my friend was dead!

I didn’t know what to do.  Run?  Hide?  Instead I just cried.  It was all my fault!  I left her.  Why didn’t I go with her?  Follow her?  I knew I was just blaming myself like everyone did when it wasn’t really their fault…but I actually think it was my fault. Then I heard footsteps.  Pit pat, pit pat.  At least they sounded like footsteps.  Plip plop, plip plop.  I had to hide!  I looked around desperately in the cellar even though it was pitch black.  Luckily I found a coal hole that would probably lead outside, but I wasn’t quick enough!  A glowing, white figure was coming.  It was almost here…

I closed the second door down to the cellar, locked it and looked through the keyhole.  I saw a bright, glowing figure carrying my friend.  She was dripping blood…that was the sound I had heard, not footsteps.  I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds trying to hold back my tears.  When I had pulled myself together, I looked through the keyhole again.  I saw bright red and at that moment I knew what I was looking at.  I was looking at a ghost of the Harrison family and his red eye!  That was the last thing I remember seeing before I died.