Nightmare or Reality?

Every night my mom would ask me to check the basement and to make sure the door was locked leading to the outside; It freaked me out because each time that I did there would always be strange noises coming from the closet in the basement.

"Molly, make sure that the doors are locked and the water isn't running in the sink" yelled my mother as she sat in the living room watching horror movies. It was the day before Halloween and all we did was watch horror movies; I didn't think it was a good idea this particular night because we had just finished watching "Ghost under the Basement Stairs" a movie about a family whose basement had ghost living under the basement stairs. The ghost ended up driving the family insane and chasing them away.

As I walked down the basement stairs the steps began to creek as usual (creek, creek,creek). My heart always dropped as soon as I reached the bottom stair. The light shined over my head as I turned the corner you could see the webs hanging in the windows. The smell of moth balls were in the air mixed with fabric softener.

It was really cold and dark in some parts of the basement. As I checked the door to make sure it was locked a spider jumped in my space. (Screams) I jumped away from the door screaming to the top of my lungs "Mom! a spider just jumped on me." My mother could not hear me because the television was too loud. After checking to see if the door was locked I walked over to the basement sink to make sure the faucet wasn't leaking any water. (Drip, drip, drip) the faucet was dripping water as usual so I reached to turn it off; as I reached to turn it off a loud noise came from the closet.

(Cling, clang, bang) My heart dropped! I wanted to check the noise out, but the image of the movie I had just seen kept playing in my head. (Voices start whispering) As I turned to run towards the basement steps I heard a lot of voices whispering in the closet-then all of a sudden one of the voices screamed "Go away!" I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and slammed the brown wooden basement door behind me. I stood up against the door with my back turned towards it sweating bullets. I closed my eyes hoping that what I just heard was not real.

"Molly, what is wrong?" my mother asked me staring at me as if she were scared herself. "I... I just heard a voice tell me to go away!" I responded with a fearful look in my eyes with sweat dripping down my face. My mother insisted that I was hearing things and assured me that it was just imagination. "You've watched one too many horror movies. Maybe you need to lay off them for a while." That night I went to bed scared out of my mind. I left my lamp on and sat straight up in my bed refusing to close my eyes because I knew that what I heard was real and I was going to prove it to my mother.

(Tick, tock, tick, tock) It was 12:00 midnight and it was still hard for me to sleep. My mom was sleep and the house was dark and quiet; all you could hear was the clock on our wall and the wind as it blew through my bedroom window. As much as I didn't want to get out the bed I had to because I had to go to the bathroom. It seemed like walking to the bathroom took forever because I was so afraid. As I walked to the bathroom I noticed what looked like a shadow downstairs moving. It was then that I thought I was going to wet myself for the first time.

As I moved closer to the steps, I peeked over the banister to get a closer look. As I kneeled down I could see two more figures moving around. It looked as if they were scurrying around looking for something. I quickly got up from the wooden floor and silently hurried to my mother's room. "Mom wake up! there are people downstairs" I said looking behind me.

My mother woke up startled asking "Where? What!" she then jumped out of bed, grabbed me by the hand, and ran to the hallway to see what I saw. As soon as we went into the hallway we could see the three shadowy figures make their way up the steps.

"Go back, go back!" my mother whispered in a rush tone. We shut my mother's bedroom door and locked it. I attempted to look out the key hole but was too afraid the first time trying. "Hush! don't make a sound" my mother said picking up the phone to call for help. "The phone is dead" my mother dropped the phone on the floor and ran to her dresser to find her cell phone, but she couldn't find it.

While my mother continued searching for her cell phone I tried one more time to look out the key hole. I got on my knees and with my right eye looked through the hole. At first, there was nothing there, but out of nowhere a dark red eyeball popped up! I jumped back and screamed for my mother. "Mom!" my mother finally found her cell phone and tried to call out for help but her cell phone was dead. "Where is your charger?" I asked shaking and startled. "The kitchen drawer" my mother responded as she held the cell phone in her hand shaking.

We knew that we had one option and one option only and that was to escape through my mother's bedroom window. "It won't open!" I yelled helping my mother lift the window up. The window was actually nailed shut from the outside which made it impossible for us to open. "Who would lock a window from the outside?" my mother cried as she fell to the floor in tears. (Bang, bang, bang) as we sat on the opposite side of the door we could he banging on the walls followed by whispers and laughter. The voices sounded really creepy and crackly.

Both me and my mother ran to her closet and shut the door behind us immediately after seeing the door knob to her bedroom turning. You could hear the banging get closer, and louder, and the door began to shake as if they were trying to get into the bedroom. My mother tried to comfort me as I began to cry hysterically. "Mommy loves you Molly" she said wrapping her arms around me tight as if to protect me. I was so scared I couldn't even respond back; I just wrapped my arms around my mother and cried. After ten minutes the noise stopped and you could hear the door open. My mother and I began to shake more and more as we waited to see what would happen next.

 

(Voices whisper) the voices began to whisper again as they moved around the bedroom. I could see their shadows from under the locked closet door. I sat back as one of the shadows came closer towards the closet and right then is when I closed my eyes hoping to wake up from a bad dream. (Mother screams) I opened my eyes after hearing my mother's scream in the dark closet and there it was a pale faced thing with sharp teeth and red eyes.

My mother passed out and I was left there alone. I tried to wake her up, but was unsucessful. I tried to run free from the closet but was trapped there by all three of them. They circled around me and poked me as they smiled with their sharp teeth and red lips. I begged for them to stop, but they refused.

After one minute of torture I passed out. I woke up minutes later in my bed with my mom beside me. "Hey you, you were having a bad dream" she said handing me a cold glass of water. "It all seemed so real" I responded sipping the glass of water. After making sure I was fine, my mother kissed my forehead and told me "relax, it was just a dream." She then exited my room and shut off the lights. "Mom can you keep mine on?" I asked with a smile on my face. "Yes dear" she responded as she flicked the light back on.

I spent the rest of the night reading fantasy novels to erase the nightmare from my mind, but that soon ended when I heard a cry. I got out of my bed and moved towards the door (screaming) ... there are ghosts at the door!

~THE END~

Recommended for ages 12+

The Cemetery Next Door

For many nights my family and I were afraid to go to sleep because we lived next door to a cemetery. We moved from California to Indiana because my dad had lost his job as a successful manager at a car dealership when the company closed; he ended up taking a job as a Sales Agent at his Uncle's Insurance Company. We decided to move here, next to the grave yard, because my Grandfather passed it along to my father after he died a few months ago. My Grandfather was the caretaker of the cemetery which he himself was buried at. He lived in this house with my Grandmother, who died weeks before him, ever since my father was born. He never once complained about ghost or anything super-natural happening so my parents were fine with moving into the house.

One night, my mother was in the basement folding laundry when she heard a voice coming from the tool shed. "Open the door and leave" said the voice in a calm, but stern manner. My mother thought that it was my older sister, Elizabeth, joking around like she always did since moving here. My mother continued folding the laundry when all of a sudden she heard a crash. (Cling, Clang, Crash) all of the tools began to fall in the tool shed and it was at that very moment when my mother ran up the stairs screaming "John! John! Come here now!"

My dad ran to my mother asking her "what is wrong?" My mother was so nervous that she began to stutter, "I, I, I heard a voice in the tool shed and then the t, t, tools fell!" My father had no idea what she was talking about or if he should even believe her all he knew was that he wasn't going in the basement alone. "Michael, come down here with me" he demanded. My older brother Michael was so afraid that he tripped down five steps. "Michael!" my dad yelled trying to protect Michael from falling any further. "Try to be careful next time - gees!" Once in the basement my brother screamed "turn the lights back on!" the lights had been shut off and the door slammed shut. My mother began freaking out screaming to my father "the door is stuck! I can't open it."

After banging and screaming for three minutes the basement door finally opened. My father and brother fell through the door with shocked looks on their faces. "Who shut the door?" asked Michael with a scared look in his eyes,"I don't know, we didn't!" I responded looking down at the dark basement. That night my parents held a family meeting with me, my sister, and brother. "There are no such things as ghosts; so don't bring it up in this house anymore!" demanded my father. He insisted that it was all a complete misunderstanding and that those things like this happens every day. After the family meeting we all went to bed.

It began to storm and rain heavy that night. You could smell the rain through our windows while the curtains blew from the heavy wind. "Do you believe this house is haunted?" I asked my sister, Elizabeth, whose bed was across from mine. "No, I mean, I don't know! go to sleep Lindsey" she resonded turning her back towards me. I stared at the ceiling for a while before shutting my eyes and going to sleep. Within twenty minutes I was awaken to the sound of thunder and lightning. As I sat up straight in my bed I could see a light shining outside. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth, wake-up" I whispered shaking my sister's shoulder. She responded by pushing my hands away and pulling her covers over her head.

"Elizabeth, wake up!" I yelled in a soft tone. Elizabeth sat straight up in her bed with an angered look in her eyes. "What do you want?" she responded as she yawned. "There is a light on outside and I'm scared" I said moving closer to Elizabeth. We both agreed to peek out the window and see why lights were on outside. We looked out the window and saw what looked like an old man, his clothes was dirty and he wore a red hat; he was barefoot and carried an ax in his right hand. I and my sister both hid under the window once he turned our way.

"Did you see that?" I asked my sister who was too afraid to speak. The light we had saw was shining from the pantry in our backyard. The doors were swinging and the old man was standing there with an ax in his hand looking straight at our house. I and my sister both slowly peeked out the window only to see the man walking towards our house. He was accompanied by a few darker, deathly looking figures. They walked down the slanted, stone pathway to our house. I and my sister both ran screaming to our parent's bedroom.

"Mom, dad, there are creepy people coming to our house and one has an ax!" Elizabeth yelled with tears in her eyes. My parents woke up and told us to hide in Michael's room. Michael awoke to all the commotion going on. "What is going on?" he asked rubbing his left eye. "There are deranged looking people coming towards our house!" I responded looking out his window. The people were no longer in eye's sight and I was now starting to feel sick to my stomach. "No!!!!" was the scream I heard coming from downstairs. It sounded like my mother along with a lot of commotion and banging. I could hear my father cry "Run, Nancy, run!" I looked down the stairs to see what was going on; I could see a dark figure run past the bottom stair case fast as lightening. After several minutes another figure stopped at the bottom stair case with his back facing me. He slowly turned his head around facing me and within seconds I could see it's scary looking face with long, sharp teeth, red eyes, and saliva falling from its lips.

"Run guys, run!" I yelled as the figure ran up the steps after me. He was dragging his left foot and he only had his right arm. He carried an ax in his hand mumbling "Come here little girl! come out, come out, wherever you are." I, my brother and sister all crawled out my brother's bedroom window. Once outside we shut the window tight and moved out of eye's view of the window. We could see the shadowy reflection of the figure in Michael's bedroom. All of a sudden we heard laughter and banging coming from inside. "We have to get out of here!" demanded Michael. We all became really worried about our parents and needed to find them quick.

We came up with a quick plan to help rescue our parents so that we could all leave. "There are six of them and two with axes, so how exactly will this work?" asked Elizabeth curled up on the roof, shaking in the rain. Michael's brilliant plan involved me getting their attention while Elizabeth started up the van. Michael was going to look for our parents and rescue them both. "I hope this works" I said hoping not to slide off the wet, slippery roof. After waiting ten minutes for it to leave Michael's room we all went back in.

Elizabeth headed straight for our parent's room looking for the van keys, Michael and I walked down the creaky steps to do our part in getting everyone out of the house filled with spooky people. As soon as we reached the bottom stairs there stood the old man with an ax in his hand. He smiled at us then raised the ax high above his head and slammed the ax into the wood floor.  "Run!" I said moving in the opposite direction of Michael. Once I gained three of the ghostly looking figure's attention, Michael was able to look for our parents, but not for too long. We were both eventually trapped by the ghostly figures who looked as if they came straight up out the grave. Michael ran back in my direction as they chased after him.

We didn't think we were going to make it out alive as the ghostly figures walked upon us. Then all of a sudden Elizabeth came crashing through the house in our parent's van screaming "Get in!" we quickly found a way out of the corners we were trapped in and leaped into the van. "Did you see mom and dad?" I asked as my heart was racing. "No, where are they?" asked Elizabeth as she backed out the house. Once out of the house we had to make a tough decision... do we go back in for our parents? "Let's just sit here and see if they appear" suggested Michael who was totally shaken up.

We waited for fifteen minutes outside the house filled with what we now referred to as ghosts. Our parents never once showed up, but noise and moaning kept us from even considering going back in. After some time we decided to leave and call the police for help. As we started up the van something jumped on top of the roof. "What is that!" we yelled rolling up the windows and locking the doors. The van began to shake back and forth as we tried to drive off. Then out of nowhere a face slammed against the windshield. (Screams) we began screaming as we covered our faces.

One of the ghosts had followed us outside trying to stop us from leaving. He had one of the most scariest faces I'd ever seen. He reminded me of Joker from "Batman" and Penny Wise the clown from the movie "IT". Bang! Bang! Bang! Went the sound of an ax hitting the back of our van? Then all of a sudden, Slam!, there it was an ax right in our roof. My sister hit reverse and sped off down the rocky, muddy road. The windshield wipers were going and the van was wobbling down the road. We sped out of there with no thought of ever going back there without help.

We eventually found the local police station and ran in screaming for help. "Help us! Our parents need help!" The police officials looked at us as if we were a few kids out playing Halloween pranks. After minutes of convincing them they decided to go check the house out, but only if we stayed at the police station. We cooperated and left the problem in their hands. We waited patiently hoping that our parents would show up. "I hope they're ok" said Michael with a dazed look in his eyes.

Three hours rolled by and the officers still hadn't showed up. "Are you all hungry?" asked a female officer handing us all a blanket. "No, no" we responded; all we wanted was our parents back and to leave Indiana. We eventually fell asleep and woke up the next day at 7:30 in the morning. "Excuse me, but have you seen our parents or the officers who were supposed to respond to a complaint at 2156 Crescent Road?" asked Elizabeth hysterically. "No, no we haven't" replied the officer as he continued his way down the hall. Tears flooded our eyes as we fell to the floor crying. A few officers stopped to take notice and to help us out.

"Wait here and we will go check on them" said the officer as he rubbed my back. We didn't want to wait any longer, I mean gees! Where were the last two officers who went out to check? As we sat there hungry and waiting an older lady walked past talking about our house with another officer. "Did you here about that same house at 2156 Crescent Road?" I couldn't help but ask her what she was talking about. "Miss what about that house? Me and my family live there" I asked looking her right in her eyes. She went on to tell me how "everyone who lived in the house next to the cemetery mysteriously vanished without a trace and that it may have happened again last night. I walked in the house this morning, because I saw a police cruiser outside and the front door was open. Once I went in all I saw was a complete disaster." The woman continued on saying that "It looked like a hurricane had hit and there was not a person in sight."

Before she walked away she warned us to leave,"leave and never come back! Your parents are gone forever in one of the graves." The rest of our day was spent calling relatives to help us and trying to figure out where our parents may have disappeared too. We visited the house and cemetery a year later. A new family lived there now and said that "they had heard things as well, but not enough to make them leave because they love the house." They had never seen our parents or the officers. We walked through the cemetery that night, before we left, hoping to catch a clue and we did and now we're down under as well... should've stayed away! (screams)

~THE END~

Recommended for ages 11+

Spooky House on Rose Hill

                                                                                                             

I've never really been one to believe in ghost, but for some reason my friends were always caught up in the hype. They would always say that they existed even hanging out in the nearby cemetery at night just to prove a point to me. "I'm 13 years old and I don't believe in ghost!" I would always tell them.

Even though I didn't believe in ghost there was always a certain feeling I got when I had to pass the house on Rose Hill. It was old and quiet and I'd never saw anyone enter or exit the house my entire life. "I hear a couple died in there" said Julie, a best friend of mine since kindergarten.

A story spread throughout the entire neighborhood about how a couple had died there, suspiciously, years ago. No one had ever really saw the couple before, but when they did  they were always sitting on their front porch staring; never once speaking or waving to anyone. "My mom said that once, when she was ten, she was selling baked cookies for her school when she decided to walk up to their house" said Erin, a 12 year old nerd, who loved to read scientific books. "She said that the woman opened the door with a bloody butcher knife in her hand; wearing a bloody white apron. My mom dropped the cookies and ran as fast as she could never once looking or going back to the spooky house again."

(Thunder sounds) "It's raining guys, see you later!" I yelled running across the street to my house not far from where the spooky house was. That night after dinner I decided to sit up in my room and stare at the house. No, I don't believe in ghost, but I was a little curious about this house. Maybe I'll see someone exit or maybe something crazy will happen. I just wanted to satisfy my thoughts and find out the truth once and for all. If I could see a curtain move, that would be all I needed to further investigate the house on Rose Hill.

It continued to rain hard that night and I was beginning to nod off to sleep while sitting in my huge bedroom window looking for some sort of movement in the spooky house across the street. "This is crazy! Why am I sitting here?" I asked myself before standing up to close my long pink, flowery curtains. Just as I shut them half way I noticed a light flicker in the spooky house. It flickered five times before the shadow of a tall figure walked by the upstairs bedroom window. The figure was holding something long in their hand as they came closer to the window. It was right then when my heart dropped!

"Do I really want to see this?" I thought, shaking, while peeking out my curtains to see what would happen next. I opened the curtain just a tad bit more when all of a sudden the figure opened the curtain. "No way" I screamed; the figure was that of a pale faced man who reminded me of a ghost I saw on a horror movie. He had this pale, blank, long face with an evil expression upon it. He stared right at me pointing and laughing. I shut the curtains quickly and crawled back into my bed pulling my covers over my head. I cried like a baby that night.

(Music Plays)  Music began to play from the house and I began to shake more and more. I wanted to call my best friend, Julie, but the phone was too far away from my bed. I was so stiff I couldn't move. My parents had left the house for dinner and I was home alone. I felt like running outside next door, but I was simply too afraid to do so. "You have to get up" I kept telling myself which eventually I did. My knees buckled and my heart was racing. I made my way back to my curtains shaking the entire time I tried to open them up.

"I can't do this, I can't!" I thought to myself holding both curtains tight in my hands. "There are no such things as ghost" was what I kept repeating hoping that I could overcome the fear that I had at this very moment. I decided to count to 3 before opening the curtains to prepare myself for what was on the other side. "1, 2, 3" nothing, I couldn't do it. I breathed in and out 6 times before trying again. I knew I could do it this time. "1, 2, 3" I said opening the curtains fast as I could. "AAAHHHH" I screamed! There he was in my window smiling with sharp teeth, big green eyes and red lips. His hair was black and stood all over his head. He was waving his pale white hands holding a black cat on his shoulders. He eventually stopped laughing and just sat their frowning at me; I passed out right there.

I woke up minutes later to see my parents standing over me yelling "Sara! Sara! Sara wake up" My mom kept shaking me until my eyes began to open. "What happened?" she asked in a worried tone. "I saw a ghost" I replied looking dazed. "He came from the spooky house on Rose Hill." I cried my eyes out that night because no one seemed to believe me. It frustrated me knowing that I saw what I saw and no one believed me. My friends even laughed at me! After all of their haunted stories and beliefs - they didn't believe me.

Days and nights went by and I continued to see and hear strange things happening at the spooky house on Rose Hill. From music playing to doors slamming, I knew this house was haunted. My friends and family continued to laugh at me and called me delusional, but I know for a fact that what I've seen and heard was real... I guess it's my turn to convince.

~The End~

*Recommended for ages 9+

Introduction

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my new site 'Spook Zone for Kids' where you and your child will have the opportunity to read fictional scary stories that I the author have created.. I've always had a creative side that I've wanted to share with the world-especially children, so this would be the perfect time to familiarize you with my work. On this site your child can read short spooky stories that I've written that will be age appropriate (age suggestion listed). I am inspired by books such as 'Goose Bumps." It would be my pleasure to welcome all of your comments and suggestions. I hope that you enjoy my work enough to share it with your friends and family.

Thank You,

Lanette Riley (author)