Halloween Ghost Story Contest -- 2011
Middle School Winners
Third Place
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Our third place middle school entry was written by eighth grader Tyler Dick of Stuart, Florida. |
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Our third place middle school entry was written by eighth grader Tyler Dick of Stuart, Florida. |
A young couple walked merrily down a cobblestone street. The woman’s flat shoes made no noise while the rather tall mans shoes made a loud muffled clunk. “Isn’t England just beautiful honey” asked the woman. “Of course Emma. Whatever you say” a slight sarcasm in the man’s voice. “Oh Stephen” she said lightly hitting Stephen on the shoulder. “You know we could have gone to like Hawaii or somewhere for our second anniversary” replied Stephen. “We live in Florida, it’s just like Hawaii. And besides I grew up here. My old house is just down the street”. Stephen rolled his eyes and they continued down the street, stopping at a small tan colored house. The house was well kept and the garden in the front of the house contained multiple colored flowers. The windows were scuff free and the trim and roof looked like they had just recently been renovated. “You lived here” asked Stephen. “Yes, it looks like it’s a historical center now. It has been well kept. Better than the house across the street”. Stephen looked behind him to see a large brown house made of wood. Instead of nice windows and a decorative paint job, the paint on the house had chipped away and all the windows were shattered and boarded up. The grass was brown and the weeds infested the dirt garden and grass. Also on the top story of the house was a large hole on the left front side of the house.”Yeesh” replied Stephen. “Ya. That house used to be beautiful though. It was a pale blue and the garden was full of beautifully colored flowers. It’s a shame it was never renovated”. “Want to check it out” asked Stephen looking at her. “No! I wasn’t aloud over there when I was little and I’m not going now”. “Oh come on. It won’t hurt”. Stephen began to pull her towards the house and she went along with him.
As they approached the house the dead grass and weeds crunched under their feet. Stephen approached the door and set his hand on the rusty metallic handle. “It’s most likely locked” said Emma. But as Stephen turned the handle and pushed a little the door flew open and fell off its hinges. Emma looked shock. “This door needs a new deadbolt” replied Stephen sarcastically. “More like an entire door” she replied. The two of them stepped into the house. The stairs to upstairs were in the far right corner of the house. The left side contained a dusty table and old wood cabinets. The entire left side was covered in a thick dust and cobweb coating. But on the opposite right side the house was charred from what looks like to have been a large scale fire. There were picture frames burned and the wood was deep black.
“This air is really stale” spoke out Stephen as he and Emma scanned the house. “This place gives me the creeps” Emma replied, “I wonder what happened to this house. I don’t remember any fires”. “Who knows”? Emma looked up the stairs and she thought she saw a man at the top, but that couldn’t be possible. “Stephen, can we please leave” she replied her heart beating a little faster as she began to walk towards the door. “Sure. We need to get to the hotel and pack anyway” he replied. The two of them left the house but as they left a cool wind of air followed and floated ominously down the street.
“Now loading flight 356 for Miami international” spoke the intercom in the airport. “That’s us” said Stephen picking up his carryon. Emma followed as they loaded onto the plane.
“Let’s see seats G1 and G2. Hmmm. Ah here we are” said Stephen putting his and Emma’s carryon above their heads. “Please take your seats. We are preparing for lift off” spoke the pilot over the intercom. The flight attendants went over emergency and safety instructions and then they took off.
Near an hour after takeoff Emma removed her laptop from her carry on and connected to the free internet service the flight provided. Stephen was sleeping. Emma searched the street she lived on in England. “Let’s see what we got”. Emma found an article on a old news website. The article read that in 1986 a man was murdered at a small wooden house on pleasant avenue. Emma scanned the picture of the house posted on the article. “Oh my gosh”. She scanned the rest of the article and found a picture of the man that was murdered. “Mr. Icklen”. At that moment Stephen woke up. “What’s going on” he asked in a sleepy voice. “Well I was curious about that house we went to, the burnt one. Well it turns out that in 1986 a neighbor of mine, Mr. Icklen was killed and then his house was set on fire. The fire was put out before it burned the entire house but the murder case went cold. I remember him a little. He seemed like a nice guy whenever I saw him outside. But then again I was only about five. The case files say that they believe that the murder was a result of a family rivalry, but no one could ever figure out the rival family”. “That interesting” he replied sarcastically. Emma rolled her eyes.
“Ok passengers were about two hours away from Miami but were about to run into some turbulence. Please fasten your seatbelts” spoke the captain over the intercom. Emma woke Stephen up again as the plane started lightly shaking. But then the plane began to violently shake. Emma looked out the window and jumped back a bit when she saw a face in the mirror. “What is it” asked Stephen. “Oh, ah.... nothing”. Emma closed the window panel and sat there with her eyes closed until they exited the turbulence.
Around four hours later Emma and Stephen were unpacking their clothes at their beach house on a private beach in Miami. “Are you hungry” Emma asked. “Sure” he replied. “I’ll make some soup”. Stephen nodded and put the suitcases in their closet.
Emma Took out a few vegetables from the fridge and began chopping up some vegetables and put them in a pot of boiling water. There was a rumble in the bedroom. “What are you doing” yelled Emma. “I’m looking for my camera. I knocked over a box of pictures” he yelled back. “Ok”. Emma went back to making her soup when the power suddenly shut off. Emma stopped her cooking. “Stephen! The powers off” she yelled. “Oh, I didn’t even notice” he replied sarcastically. Emma rolled her eyes. But then another loud rumble came from the bedroom. “What did you do now” she yelled. There was no response. “Stephen!” she yelled again. No response. Emma began to walk towards the bedroom. She looked down the hall but saw no one. “Stephen” she said again her voice shaky. She slowly walked down the hall, the air getting cold and her heart racing. She slowly opened the door to the bed room. The door creaked open. Stephen was gone. Emma began to shake and looked at the toppled boxes near the closet. Emma slowly walked out of the room and walked further down the hallway stopping at the guest room. She slowly opened the door. As the door opened her heart stopped and tears swelled in her eyes.
Near the bed lying Stephen unmoving his eyes closed. “St...St... Stephen” she said shaking. He did not respond. She ran over and leaned next to him. She started shaking Stephen violently crying and pleading for him to wake up. “He won’t wake up”. Emma froze a cool air filling the air. She looked up to see a hand grabbing the door frame. But as she looked closer she realized that the hand was translucent. She kept still as a grey translucent figure appeared in the door way. The figure was wearing a old looking suit and he had a beard and rather short hair. He looked like he was in his late fifties. “Mr. Icklen” she spoke. “Why yes it is me. And by the way he’s in a coma. He won’t be waking up” he spoke his voice seeming to chill the room and sounding like glass being scratched. Emma looked back Stephen and then up at him. “You monster!” she screamed. “You know nothing foolish child” he screamed back moving closer the sound shaking the house. She quickly stood up and ran right through him and down the hallway. But she froze in place when she heard Mr. Icklen say, “You wouldn’t leave your husband with me would you. Emma was in the kitchen and she spun around. Mr. Icklen was standing by their wine rack. He picked up a bottle of wine and removed the cork. “How can you hold a bottle? You’re a ghost” she replied. “I’ve learned a few things over the years” he replied. He began to pour the wine all over the floor. Emma began slowly backing up, “Why”. “Why, well because it’s only fair. I am equaling out the playing field. Your grandfather killed me and burned my house and I will now due the same to you”. “Wait. Were the family that yours has been feuding with”. “Of course”. Now he began to pick up the bottles and throw them at walls and furniture covering the house in wine. “But why me” she asked. Mr. Icklen was picking up a box of matches when he replied, “You’re a descendent and you just happened to enter my house, so I followed you here”. Emma continued to back up. “Now let’s have some fun” he said with a maniacal comedic sound in his voice. Emma’s eyes widened as he lit six matches and threw them all over the house. The wine instantly caught fire and the flames engulfed the house spreading rapidly. “Noooooooo!” Emma yelled. Mr. Icklen disappeared into the flames.
Emma quickly ran through the house and down the hallway, fire everywhere and support beams collapsing. She grabbed Stephen and began to drag him down the hall, the fire burning her. She dragged Stephen out of the front door as the roof collapsed in. Stephens’s jacket had caught fire and Emma dragged him to the water on the beach. The fire was put out and then she moved him onto the sand and collapsed herself, crying. She looked up to see the translucent figure moving towards her, a trail of fire behind him. He stopped in front of her, “with this night, let us be even” he said his voice cold and regretless. He disappeared in a gust of sea wind.
After the events of August 12 Stephen was put in the hospital and Emma was arrested. She was being charged with attempted murder and 3rd degree arson. No evidence had been found and there were no witnesses to say Emma did not do it. Emma supported herself in court, claiming that a ghost did this. Her sentence was set for eight years in prison but the jury judged her mentally insane so her sentenced was reduced to three years.
For the next three years Emma was kept in the insane asylum at the jail. She endured hours of therapy, trying to convince everyone of what really happened. But no one ever believed her. Stephen remained in the hospital in a comedic estate in a permanent room. Doctors tried figuring out the cause of the coma, but none of their research explained this.
On August 12th 2014 Emma was released from prison, which seemed like a horrible coincidence to her. That same day Stephen awoke from his comma, remembering nothing of how he was put in this state when the police questioned him. But he told police that it was not Emma who did it, and that he was sure of.
Nearly four months later Emma and Stephen found a new house. When Emma told him what really happened he was skeptical. But after she explained everything, in time he believed her. From then on both of them agreed that they would never return to England and agreed that the family feud ended with the events of August 12th.
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