Farewell Summer (Green Town 3)

Doug stood alert, craned his neck, but he couldn’t quite see what was going on.

‘Heck,’ said Charlie at last. ‘What are we doing here? I’m gosh–awful bored. I got homework. I think I better head home.’

‘Hold on,’ said Doug. ‘Let’s wait just a few more minutes.’

They waited as the moon got higher. And then, a little after ten, as the last peals of the courthouse clock faded away on the night air, they heard the noises. From inside the house, faint at first, almost imperceptible, there came a sound of rustling and scraping, as if someone was shifting trunks from one room to another.

A few minutes later, they heard a sharp cry, and then another cry, and then a sort of whispering and rustling and, finally, a dull thump.

‘Those,’ said Doug, ‘were definitely ghost sounds. Like someone getting killed and the bodies being dragged around the rooms. Doesn’t it sound like that?’

‘Heck,’ said Tom, ‘I don’t know.’

‘Don’t ask me,’ said Bo.

‘Well,’ said Charlie, ‘it’s sure a god-awful racket. If there’s another scream, I’m getting out of here.’

They stood alert and waited, almost not breathing. Silence. And then, suddenly, more groans and cries and then something that sounded like a weak cry, ‘Help.’

Then it faded away.

‘That’s it,’ said Charlie. ‘I’ve had enough.’

‘Me too,’ said Bo.

The two boys turned tail and ran.

There was a great whispering and the hair stood up on the back of Doug’s neck.

‘I don’t know about you,’ said Tom, ‘but I’m gettin’ out of here. If you want to stay to listen to some darned ghosts, you can, but not me. I’ll see you at home, Doug.’

Tom turned and ran.

Alone, Doug stood for a long while staring at the old house. Then he heard someone coming up the path behind him. He turned, his fists clenched, ready to defend himself against the midnight assailant.

‘Lisabell,’ he said. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I told you I’d be here. But what are you doing here? I thought you were a scaredy-cat. Is it true what they say? Did you find out anything? I mean, it’s all darn foolishness, isn’t it? There’s no such thing as ghosts, is there? That place can’t be haunted.’

‘We thought,’ said Doug, ‘we’d come here and wait and see. But the others got scared and left and now it’s only me. So I’m just standing here, waiting, listening.’

They listened. A low cry wafted out of the house into the night air.

Lisabell said, ‘Is that a ghost?’

Doug strained to listen. ‘Yes, that’s one.’

A moment later they heard another great whisper and cry.

‘Is that another?’

Doug looked at her face and said, ‘You look like you’re enjoying this.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Lisabell. ‘It’s kind of strange, but the more I hear, I —’ And here she smiled a strange smile. The whispers and the cries and murmurs from the house grew louder and Doug felt his whole body turn hot and then cold and then warm again.

Finally he reached down and found a large stone by the front of the house, reared his hand back, and flung it through the glass panes of the front door.

The glass exploded with a loud crash and the door creaked open, slowly. Suddenly, all the ghosts wailed at the same moment.