10 - The Ghost Next Door (4 page)

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the shadow sliding across Mrs. Quilty’s
front lawn.

The dark figure floated silently over the grass toward her.

Hannah pedaled harder.

It’s back. I didn’t imagine it.

It’s real.

But what can it be?

Standing up, she pedaled harder. Harder.

But the figure glided along with her, picking up speed, floating
effortlessly.

She turned to see its arms stretch out toward her.

She gasped in terror.

Her legs suddenly felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

I—I can’t move! she thought.

The shadow swept over her. She could feel the sudden cold.

Sticklike black arms reached out for her from the human-shaped shadow.

Its face—why can’t I see its face? Hannah wondered, struggling to keep
moving.

The shadow blocked the bright sun. The whole world was blackening beneath it.

Got to keep moving. Got to move, Hannah told herself.

The dark figure floated beside her, its arms outstretched.

Gaping in horror, Hannah saw bright red eyes glowing like embers from the
blackness.

“Hannah…” it whispered. “Hannah…”

What does it want from me?

She struggled to keep pedaling, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate.

“Hannah… Hannah…”

The dry whisper seemed to circle her, to wrap her in terror.

“Hannah…”

“No!”
she screamed as she felt herself start to fall.

She struggled to keep her balance.

Too late.

She was falling. She couldn’t stop herself.

“Hannah… Hannah…”

She reached out her hands to break her fall.

“Ooof!”

She gasped in pain as she landed hard on her side.

The bike fell on top of her.

The shadow figure, its red eyes glowing, moved in to capture her.

“Hannah! Hannah!”

“Hannah! Hannah!”

Its whisper became a shout.

“Hannah!”

Her side throbbed with pain. She struggled to catch her breath.

“What do you
want
?” she managed to cry. “Leave me alone!
Please!”

“Hannah! It’s me!”

She raised her head to see Danny standing above her. He straddled his bike,
gripping the handlebars, staring down at her, his features tight with concern.
“Hannah—are you okay?”

“The shadow—!” she cried, feeling dazed.

Danny lowered his bike to the grass and hurried over. He lifted her bike off
her and set it down beside his. Then he reached for her hands. “Are you okay?
Can you get up? I saw you fall. Did you hit a rock or something?”

“No.” She shook her head, trying to clear it. “The shadow—he reached for me
and—”

Danny’s expression changed to bewilderment. “Huh? Who reached for you?” His
eyes searched all around, then returned to her.

“He knew my name,” Hannah said breathlessly. “He kept calling me. He followed
me.”

Danny studied her, frowning. “Did you hit your head? Do you feel dizzy,
Hannah? Maybe I should go get some help.”

“No… I… uh…” She gazed up at him. “Didn’t you
see
him?
He was dressed in black. He had these glowing red eyes—”

Danny shook his head, his eyes still studying her warily. “I only saw you,”
he said softly. “You were riding really fast. Over the grass. I saw you fall.”

“You didn’t see someone wearing black? A man? Chasing me?”

Danny shook his head. “There was no one else on the street, Hannah. Just me.”

“Maybe I
did
bump my head,” Hannah muttered, raising her hands to her
short hair.

Danny reached out a hand. “Can you stand? Are you hurt?”

“I—I guess I can stand.” She allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Her heart was still pounding. Her entire body felt shaky. Narrowing her eyes,
she searched the front yards, her eyes lingering in the wide circles of shade
from the neighborhood’s old trees.

No one in sight.

“You really didn’t see anyone?” she asked in a tiny voice.

He shook his head. “Just you. I was watching from over there.” He pointed to
the curb.

“But I thought…” Her voice trailed off. She could feel her face grow red.

This is embarrassing, she thought. He’s going to think I’m a total nut case.

And then she thought, maybe I am!

“You were going so fast,” he said, picking up her bike for her. “And there
are so many shadows, from all the trees. And you were frightened. So maybe you
imagined a guy dressed in black.”

“Maybe,” Hannah replied weakly.

But she didn’t think so….

High white clouds drifted over the sun the next afternoon as Hannah jogged
down the driveway to the mailbox. Somewhere down the block, a dog barked.

She pulled down the lid and eagerly reached inside.

Her hand slid over bare metal.

No mail. Nothing.

Sighing with disappointment, she slammed the mailbox lid shut. Janey had
promised to write every day. She had been gone for weeks, and Hannah still
hadn’t received even a postcard.

None of her friends had written to her.

As she trudged back up the driveway, Hannah glanced at Danny’s house. The white clouds were reflected in the glass of the
big living room window.

Hannah wondered if Danny was home. She hadn’t seen him since yesterday
morning after falling off her bike.

My spying isn’t going too well, she sighed.

Taking another glance at Danny’s front window, Hannah headed back up the
drive to the house.

I’ll write to Janey again, she decided. I have to tell her about Danny and
the frightening shadow figure and the weird things that have been happening.

She could hear the twins in the den, arguing loudly about which cartoon tape
they wanted to see. Her mother was suggesting they go outside instead.

Hannah hurried to her room to get paper and a pen. The room felt hot and
stuffy. She had tossed a pile of dirty clothes onto her desk. She decided to
write her letter outside.

A short while later, she settled under the wide maple tree in the center of
the front yard. A blanket of high clouds had rolled over the sky. The sun was
trying to poke out from the white glare. The old, leafy tree protected her in
comforting shade.

Hannah yawned. She hadn’t slept well the night before. Maybe I’ll take a nap
later, she thought. But first, I have to write this letter.

Leaning back against the solid trunk, she began to write.

Dear Janey,

How are you? I seriously hope you’ve fallen in the lake and drowned. That
would be the only good excuse for not writing to me in all this time!

How could you ABANDON me here like this? Next summer, one way or the other,
I’m going to camp with you.

Things are definitely WEIRD around here. Do you remember I told you about
that boy who moved in next door? His name is Danny Anderson, and he’s kind of
cute. He has red hair and freckles and SERIOUS brown eyes.

Well, don’t laugh, Janey—but I think Danny is a GHOST!

I can hear you laughing. But I don’t care. By the time you get back to
Greenwood Falls, I’m going to have PROOF.

Please—don’t tell the other girls in your bunk that your best friend
has totally freaked until you read the rest of this. Here is my evidence so far:

1. Danny and his family suddenly appeared in the house next door. I didn’t
see them move in, even though I’ve been home every day. Neither did my parents.

2. Danny says he goes to Maple Avenue, and he says he’s going into eighth
grade just like us.

But how come we’ve never seen him? He hangs out with two guys I’ve never seen
before. And he didn’t know any of my friends.

3. Sometimes he vanishes—POOF—just like that. Don’t laugh! And
once he fell off the roof and landed on his feet—without making a
SOUND! I’m SERIOUS, Janey.

4. Yesterday, I was being chased by a scary shadow, and I fell off my bike.
And when I looked up, the shadow was gone, and Danny was standing in his place.
And—

Uh-oh. This is starting to sound really crazy. I wish you were here so I
could explain it better. It all sounds so DUMB in a letter. Like I’m really
MESSED UP or something.

I know you’re laughing at me. Well, go ahead.

Maybe I won’t mail this letter. I mean, I don’t want you to make jokes, or
remind me of it for the rest of my life.

So, enough about me.

How’s it going out there in the woods? I hope you were bitten by a snake and
your entire body swelled up, and that’s why I haven’t heard from you.

Otherwise, I’m going to KILL you when you get back! Really!

WRITE!

Love,

Hannah

Yawning loudly, Hannah dropped her pen to the ground. She leaned back against
the tree trunk and slowly read over the letter.

Is it too crazy to send? she wondered.

No. I
have
to send it. I
have
to tell somebody what’s going on
here. It’s all too weird to keep to myself.

The sun had finally managed to burst through the clouds. The tree leaves
above her head cast shifting shadows across the letter in her lap.

She glanced up into bright sunlight—and gasped, startled to see a face
staring back at her.

“Danny—!”

“Hi, Hannah,” he said quietly.

Hannah squinted up at him. His entire body was ringed by bright sunlight. He
seemed to be shimmering in the light.

“I—I didn’t see you,” Hannah stammered. “I
didn’t know you were here. I—”

“Give me the letter, Hannah,” Danny said softly but insistently. He reached
out a hand for it.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Give me the letter,” Danny demanded, more firmly. “Give it to me now,
Hannah.”

She gripped the letter tightly and stared up at him. She had to shield her
eyes. The bright sun seemed to shine right through him.

He hovered above her, his hand outstretched. “The letter. Hand it to me,” he
insisted.

“But—why?” Hannah asked in a tiny voice.

“I can’t let you mail it,” Danny told her.

“Why, Danny? It’s
my
letter. Why can’t I mail it to my friend?”

“Because you found out the truth about me,” he said. “And there’s no way I’ll
let you tell anyone.”

“So, I’m right,” Hannah said softly. “You’re a ghost.”

She shuddered, a wave of cold fear sweeping over her.

When did you die, Danny?

Why are you here? To haunt me?

What are you going to do to me?

Questions raced through her mind. Frightening questions.

“Give me the letter, Hannah,” Danny insisted. “No one will ever read it. No
one can know.”

“But, Danny—” She stared up at him. Stared up at a ghost.

The golden sunlight poured through him. He shimmered in and out of view.

She raised a hand to shield her eyes.

He became too bright, too bright to look at.

“What are you going to do to me, Danny?” Hannah asked, shutting her eyes
tight. “What are you going to do to me now?”

He didn’t reply.

When Hannah opened her eyes, she stared up into
two
faces instead of
one.

Two grinning faces.

Her twin brothers pointed at her and laughed. “You were asleep,” Bill said.

“You were snoring,” Herb told her.

“Huh?” Hannah blinked several times, trying to clear her mind. Her neck felt
stiff. Her back ached.

“Here’s how you were snoring,” Herb said. He performed some hideous snuffling
sounds.

Both boys fell to the grass, laughing. They rolled onto each other and began
an impromptu wrestling match.

“I had a bad dream,” Hannah said, more to herself than to her brothers. They
weren’t listening to her.

She climbed to her feet and stretched her arms above her head, trying to
stretch away her stiff neck. “Ow.” Falling asleep sitting up against a tree
trunk was a bad idea.

Hannah gazed toward Danny’s house. That dream was so real, she thought,
feeling a cold chill down her back. So frightening.

“Thanks for waking me up,” she told the twins. They didn’t hear her. They
were racing toward the back yard.

Hannah bent down and picked up the letter.

She folded it in half and made her way up the lawn to the front door.

Sometimes dreams tell the truth, she thought, her shoulders still aching.
Sometimes dreams tell you things you couldn’t know any other way.

I’m going to find out the truth about Danny, she vowed.

I’m going to find out the truth if it kills me.

The next evening, Hannah decided to see if Danny was home. Maybe he’d like to
walk to Harder’s and get ice-cream cones, she thought.

She told her mother where she was going and made her way across the back
yard.

It had rained all day. The grass glistened wetly, and the ground beneath her
sneakers was soft and marshy. A pale, crescent-shaped moon rose above wisps of
black cloud. The night air felt tingly and wet.

Hannah crossed the driveway, then hesitated a few yards from Danny’s back
stoop. A square of dim yellow light escaped through the window on the back door.

She remembered standing at this door a few nights before and being totally
embarrassed when Danny opened the door and she couldn’t think of a thing to say.

At least this time I know what I’m going to say, she thought.

Taking a deep breath, Hannah stepped into the square of light on the stoop.
She knocked on the window of the kitchen door.

She listened. The house was silent.

She knocked again.

Silence. No footsteps to answer the door.

She leaned forward and peered into the kitchen.

“Oh!” Hannah cried out in surprise.