Chapter one: Victorian Mansion

Clive meets Kara, but the meeting doesn't seem to go Kara's way.

We moved into the old Victorian house at the end of the rode. Dad said he got a nice deal on the house and it was close to where the new company would be. I sat in the car, squished between boxes that wouldn't fit in the moving van. The town we would now be living in looked OK enough. What was strange was our house. Not the house specifically, the other houses were not as old and Victorian as this one was. It made me wonder, why such an old house in the middle of a suburb.

As we pulled into the driveway there were people from their front doors staring at us. I got out of the car after pushing the boxes out first. “Why are they staring?” I asked my dad.

He just shrugged. “Maybe no one has moved in this house in a long time.” Somehow I didn't think that was the reason for so many new stalkers.

Matt, my older brother, got out of the moving van and swung the back door open. All of our belongings were in there. I helped take some boxes in, but with my leg injury could only do so much. My brother set the boxes down and looked at me. “Why don't you just go sit in the yard?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Because I want to help”

He sighed and bent down to my height, which wasn't that much I was almost as tall as he was. “What happens if you get hurt? Just go in the back and rest somewhere, I’ll go get you when the heavy stuff is in and you can unpack the boxes”

I nodded, he wasn't like a normal older brother should be. All of my friends complain about their older brothers, how they are mean and pick fights all the time. Matt was very different. Every since we were kids we have always been the best of friends. He never brawled with me and usually gave me whatever I wanted. It drove mom and dad crazier than if we were to fight. My friends got jealous when I would come to school with some sweet new toy and say it was a gift from my brother.

“Get going” he said, showing me off into the back yard. I sat down, the grass was overgrown and a small pond sat in the middle left of the yard. I walked over to the pond, it had a fountain in it. The yard, though it was beautiful, gave me the sensation of danger. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stick up. Something was in the yard, I could feel it. Whatever it was. It was quiet, only the sound of the fountain splashing the water made any noise.

There was some rustling of the bushes. It reminded me of those scenes where the protagonist thinks something dangerous will pop out and it turns out to be some kind of squirrel or chipmunk, even with all of the suspenseful music.

Somehow this felt different from that scene. Like instead of a squirrel I expected to see a giant monster. But, what popped out was nothing. My heart stopped racing and I went back to the scenery of the yard. Then, the rustling started up again. This time I could see the shadow of whatever it was in the bushes. I got up, to investigate, and pushed some of the bristles back. There was nothing, again.

I turned back around to the fountain, but I still had the feeling something was there. The rustling started again and I jumped the bush. I wasn't scared of the noise just annoyed that it kept messing up my monologue. Nothing again. I got angry and kicked the bush, and felt whatever was in it kick me back.

I fell from the rock and into the fountain. As I got up from the freezing water I could hear the faint laugh of a girl. It was strange. The laughter didn't seem to becoming from one direction, it was everywhere. The laughter was circling me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a body move through the bushes rustling them and laughing.

Quickly I got out of the fountain and raced to the front. To be honest, I’m a real coward, and that “paranormal” experience just freaked the hell out of me. I raced to the front, almost tripping over and falling. The laugh circled around me faster, it was getting louder. It felt like an eternity to get to the gate. The gate, which was opened, slammed shut just before I could reach it. I hit my face against it and ended with a bloody nose. The pain was piercing, but froze with the water on my skin.

The laughter continued, louder and louder and pushed me away from the gate. I got up again, shaking and pulling the gate open and running to the front. Matt saw me first, dropped the boxes he was carrying and ran to me. “Hey, what happened?” he asked. He touched my nose and I flinched.

“There was something in the bushes and I tripped into the pond. Then the gate closed and I slammed my face into it” I cried.

“There’s a pond back there?” he asked “Aren't you cold?”

“I'm freezing” I replied, holding my nose and trying to keep warm.

I followed him into the house where he helped clean the blood off of me. Then he went to find one of my boxes of clothes for me to change. The house was just as old inside as it was outside. There was this white glass chandelier in the dining room and a big staircase to the next floor. In the living room was a fireplace. There was a lot of red too, which was strange. As I sat I could hear the floor creaking, as if someone were walking on the planks. At first I assumed it was from upstairs, then I realized the sound was coming to me. As the steps got close they increased in pace. I was sitting on the counter, but then after the footsteps reached me I was on the floor. Again, I could hear the laughter around me and the foot steps next to me.

Matt came back and looked at me. “You fell off the counter” he informed me.

I gave him a quick glare as he helped me up. “Something pushed me” I said.

“Pushed you?” Matt was not buying it, I already knew he didn't believe in any superstition. And what made it worse was that I always blamed every dumb thing that happened on a ghost. Like when I fell down the stairs just before coming here, I told mom and dad it was Casper. They just laughed and took me to the doctor. “Go get changed. And why don't you just head up to your room and stay out of the way”

I took the clothes from him and walked up the stairs. They creaked as I walked up. At the top I met with Matt’s best friend, Jake. He was helping us with all of the furniture since dad didn't want to pay movers and he has a bad back.

Jake smiled at me “Hey, I put some of your stuff in there already. Just a few boxes” he said as I passed. I thanked him and walked into my room. Matt took the smaller one since he was leaving for college soon and knew I would take his room anyway. I set the clothes down, shut the door and removed my wet clothes while replacing them with the dry ones. There was a strange noise from the corner of the room. A laugh and a gasping sound. I walked over to it, but I felt nothing. I turned around and opened the door. It was locked.

I began to knock on the door. “Hey, the door is locked!” I cried. Then I realized something, the doors here don't have keys, they were lost long ago. Now, I was in this locked room that shouldn't be locked with some sort of strange corner noise. “Matt! Dad! Jake! The door is stuck!” no one came. I figured they were busy outside with the couch or something and decided to wait for them to some back up the stairs.

There was nothing in the room, just a few boxes as Jake said. I walked over to the closet with the clothes and began putting them in there. The noise from the corner continued, and it only progressed. Eventually it wasn't even scary, just annoying. I picked up a hanger and threw it over there, I heard a yelp and yelled at it. “Shut up already” is what I said. The noise stopped, but the footsteps got loud. They were even stomping. No one yelled, so they all must still be outside. “Keep it down!” I figured it was all in my head anyway so I could scream at my imagination all I wanted.

The noise stopped, the stomping stopped. Eventually I heard a sigh and kicking from the corner. I looked out the window when I was done with the clothes. The yard was better from this angle, I think.

“You are the worst” a girls voice said. I jumped and turned around. I have never heard voices before. But decided to talk to the noise anyway.

“Who? Me?”

“Yeah you! You're no fun. The others screamed and did everything to get out of this room. All you did was shush me!” I couldn't see the person, but I could hear them which scared me a little.

I sighed “oh, um, I'm sorry?”

“You should be! I’ll just up my game” and I felt a weak push. “Fall over”

“No” I sighed.

“No?” my imaginary friend seemed to have an attitude. “What is wrong with you, you were frantic in the yard. Tired of me already? You told me to shut up, what's your deal!”

“Sorry, I don't talk to imaginary people” I said.

I heard my imaginary friend click her tongue and I could feel her glare. I went over to the door and asked for them to open the door. “Hey! Matt? I'm going crazy in here! Literally”

“Idiot, they are outside. How about this!” I turned around to feel again weak push. Whatever was going on it was super annoying.

“Quit it” I demanded and turned back to the door. Suddenly it was quiet, I turned back to see a girl. I sat down with her, my eyes amazed. “What the hell?”

“Hey” she glared at me, then sighed.

There was a girl in my room, either I was crazy and my imaginary people now had faces or some homeless person was living in my room.

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Time passed, I wasn't sure where I was. I woke up in a hospital, facing a terrifying smile. It was her, but I couldn't figure out what was happening. “This is a death kiss” she said.

I closed my eyes. Was I going to die? The girl seemed to think so. A girl named Kara, who died in my bedroom.

Author's Note

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