Spooks.

Horror is an emotion that everyone experiences. The worst part about it is that you don’t know when it will happen. It flies into you and then it’s too late. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. This is not just a story about horror, but about what it can cause, the endless destruction it creates, and the sorrow and sadness afterwards. This is a story about Jack Brown.

Jack Brown wasn’t in a very good mood. Everything seemed to be against him. His mother had died from leukemia, his father got fired from his job, and he was failing three of his high school classes. All his father had said was “Work harder, son!” But his father didn’t understand the burning pain in his heart.

When Jack came home from school, his father seemed very excited. “Jack, my boy, guess what we just got?” he exclaimed.

Jack shrugged and waited. His father burst out, “Ten million dollars and a mansion! I bought the winning lottery ticket. Jack, we’re rich!”

His father grabbed Jack and embraced him. Jack’s mood lightened, but he was still sad about his mother. He just replied, “That’s great. I think I’ll go to my room.”

Jack heard his father mumbling, “What’s got into that boy? We just got such a great blessing, and he’s still terribly upset.”

Jacks room wasn’t small, but he felt like it was cramped and he could barely squeeze into it. In fact, he felt as if all life was cramped, and there wasn’t enough room for him. After all, why were these bad things happening to him? And he felt that winning the lottery wasn’t a blessing. He had a strange feeling it was a curse.

The next week they moved into the mansion. It was large and spacious, and it had plenty of ornate furniture. Jack went up to his room and was amazed at the size. He wasn’t cramped, and he felt much better. He decided to ask some of his friends to come and celebrate, and called several of them.

Three of Jack’s friends came at 7 o’clock that day.

“Matt, Justin, Sam, you’re all here! Thanks for coming!” Jack greeted them.

His friends greeted him in return and Justin asked, “Can we look around?”

Jack agreed and he showed them around the house. But just as Jack was about to finish showing them all the rooms, Sam asked, “Hey, what’s in there?”

He was pointing to a door Jack never noticed. In fact, Jack could swear it hadn’t been there earlier.

“Jack, what’s in there?” Sam repeated.

Jack simply replied, “I don’t know.”

Matt grinned and said, “Then let’s go in.” He opened the door and said, “Wow, it sure is dark in here. Say, Jack, can you bring a flashlight?”

Jack said, “Sure, hold on.” He felt the same feeling as he had before. Was it a blessing or a curse? He went to his room, and got a flashlight. Jack heard his friends calling him to hurry up, so he got up and quickly came.

Justin asked, “Did you bring one?”

Jack turned on the flashlight and gave it to Justin. They all slowly went in. There was a huge hallway in front of them. It smelled musty, with spider webs everywhere. There obviously had been no one but the rats in here for a long time. “But why?” Jack thought aloud. His friends turned around with what he expected were puzzled looks. Of course, he didn’t see there faces clearly because it was too dark but… and then he noticed there were only two faces. “Guys,” he asked weakly, “who’s lost?”

They looked around and saw that there were only three of them, and that Matt was really missing.

“We have to find him! Let’s go check out all the rooms.”

There were murmurs of agreement and they went into the first room on the right. There was a bed and a girl’s dresser. On top of a dresser there was a little box. Probably a present, Jack though.

Justin pointed and said, “Look, it’s a girl’s portrait. It’s so dusty though, and this room is covered in mold. I wonder how old the picture is…”

Jack looked at the picture. It looked familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on it. But then, he realized that the girl awkwardly like his mother. “Mom?” he questioned, “Could that be you?”

The picture brought painful memories, the suffering his mother had felt. That girl looked just as pale, just as grieving as his mother had. And he quietly sobbed.

“Come on, let’s go! We have to find Matt!” urged Sam.

And as they were leaving the room Jack saw the picture blink. He told that to Sam and Justin, and they reassured him that it was just his imagination.

They went to the next room. It was empty except for a dartboard, a box with darts, and a billiard table. “So this is a gaming room,” said Justin. “It would be nice to play here if it weren’t so spooky.”

“Guys, look!” Sam yelled. He was pointing to a small pool of dark red blood. “It looks fresh, too.”

“That can’t be Matt’s blood, can it? If it were he would be in here, right?” asked Jack nervously.

“I don’t know, but let’s get out of this room now!” Justin said. They quickly left the room and opened the last door.

“Look, it’s another corridor!” Sam exclaimed. Suddenly, there was a chill and they all heard a moan. “Maybe Matt is in one of those rooms! And that door is opened!”

They rushed into the room with the open door. Lying on the ground was Matt, covered in blood.

“Oh my gosh! Matt, are you all right? Matt, speak to me!” Jack begged.

“Mary…Bloody Mary…” said Matt weakly, and then he passed out.

“We have to get him to the hospital, and quick!” Jack started yelling.

Justin and Sam carried Matt, and everyone rushed to the end of the first corridor. But as they were leaving, Jack heard, “You can run, but you can’t hide…”

They took Matt to the hospital, and the doctor told them that Matt has serious injuries and terrible blood loss. “He might not make it,” was the only other thing the doctor said. Each of the boys prayed that Matt be all right, and quietly left. “Guys, I heard a voice and it said ‘You can run, but you can’t hide!’” said Jack.

“Hey, I heard that too!” said Justin.

“Yeah, me too!” exclaimed Sam.

“But that means it was for real, and that means…”

“We have to stick together no matter what.” Jack interrupted. “All for one and one for all.”

Everything was fine until the week after. Matt was still in the hospital, and Justin, Sam, and Jack were going to visit him after school. When they came, Matt quietly greeted them. He was as pale as a ghost. “My time is up. She said my time is up,” Matt said.

“Who said that? When? Where?” asked Justin.

“In a dream, Bloody Mary said my time is up. I believe her,” Matt solemnly answered. “Remember me.”

“It can’t be true. You can’t die!” Jack screamed.

“I’m afraid it is true,” a doctor said. “I’m so sorry. His parents already said their goodbyes. He only has a week to live. His grandparents came and want some alone time with him, is that all right?”

Between his sobs Jack managed to say “Sure.”

“Let his family spend his last hours with him. We have to go home soon anyway, it’s getting dark,” Justin said. They all waved good bye, and drove off home.

“I’m going to get you. For making my eternity of suffering even worse. I’m going to…” and then Jack woke up. It was just a dream. “But why did Bloody Mary want to kill us?” Jack wondered aloud. “I’m going to find out.”

The next day in school, he shared his idea with his friends. “Finding out why she wants to kill us? Isn’t that dangerous?” Justin asked.

“I don’t know. But are you in?” Jack asked.

“I know I’m in,” Sam exclaimed.

“I guess I am too,” mumbled Justin, “but I have a bad feeling about this.”

After school, the three boys went to Jack’s house. “First let’s start by doing research without opening that door,” said Justin.

“I already got some information off the internet. I searched for the people who lived in this house, and guess what I found? ‘The Lunette Family, 1643.’ It says here one of the members was named Mary, and she was burned at age 24 for supposed witchcraft,” answered Jack.

“So she already hates the world for that. But still, why would she want to kill us?” asked Sam.

“We may remind her of the people that hated her. Still, I say we go in tomorrow,” suggested Jack.

“All right,” agreed Justin.

“Sure,” said Sam.

The next day in school, Justin came in pale-faced. “I almost died!” he exclaimed. “The cooling turned bad and my car started burning. Fire surrounded me. I almost died!”

“I was in there too!” said Sam.

“I think that was because of Mary. We’d better find out why she’s doing this before it’s too late.”

After school, the boys went to Jack’s house again, took three flashlights, and proceeded to open the mysterious door. “Let’s leave the door open,” Justin suggested, “just in case.” Nothing had changed since the last time they had been there; the cobwebs remained, and the rats skittered. There was still mold growing on the walls, and the musky smell was still there.

“We have to go into her room first,” Sam said. They opened the door, and Jack went to the dresser. “Take this, Justin,” he said as he gave him the present. He saw nothing of importance elsewhere. “Let’s go to that second hallway,” Sam suggested.

The boys went on, and then they heard a moan. “Let’s get out of here!” yelled Sam.

“No, we have to find out why,” Jack said.

“Sorry pal, but I’m with Sam. You can have the thing,” said Justin, as he started leaving.

“I guess I’ll have to do this myself, then,” Jack murmured. He opened the door to the room where they had found Matt and went to the table. There was a little book on top, and it was labeled “Diary.” Jack flipped to the back, and there was an entry there. “July 8, 1667. I’m to be burned tomorrow. Nobody cares. No one has ever liked me, and worse yet, everyone hates me. Curse them! Curse them all! If I had the chance, I would punish them, make them suffer! And it is the same with all humanity! No one likes me and then I shall like no one…” The rest was too blurry to read. “Looking through my things?” Jack heard a voice. “You will pay. Your friends have left this earth, just like you shall now!” Jack felt a chill. “It’s not true, you know. Someone did like you. They left you a gift, in your room.” He slid the gift to her feet. Jack saw her pick it up and murmur, “That was the only place I couldn’t go.” She slowly faded. After that, everything disappeared and he was surrounded by a green mist.

David L, 8^th grade (Mrs. Henderson’s 6^th period class)