Ghost Girl in Shadow Bay: A Young Adult Haunted House Mystery

GHOST GIRL IN SHADOW
BAY

A Young Adult Haunted House
Mystery

By R. Barri Flowers

Copyright 2011 by R. Barri Flowers at
Smashwords. All rights reserved.

Cover Image Copyright 2010 by Kimberly
Palmer

Used under license from Shutterstock.com

Ghost Girl in Shadow Bay is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal
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person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If
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of this author.

OTHER BOOKS BY R. BARRI
FLOWERS

YOUNG ADULT
FICTION

Danger in Time

Her Teen Dream (under the name Devon Vaughn
Archer)

TEEN RELATED
NONFICTION

Street Kids

Kids Who Commit Adult Crimes

Runaway Kids and Teenage Prostitution

The Prostitution of Women and Girls

The Victimization and Exploitation of Women
and Children

Children and Criminality

DEDICATION

To my young fans who enjoy a scary ghost
tale.

And to my darling wife, H. Loraine, who
always pushes me to put forth my best efforts as a writer.

PROLOGUE

Caitlyn shivered suddenly, which was kind of
weird, since she wasn't even alive. At least not in the way most
breathing, talking, walking, and laughing out loud human beings
were. Yet her soul was very much alive and restless. Caitlyn longed
to be free of the shackles that bound her to that house like a
prisoner far longer than she should have been.

Soon she would have that freedom. And the
peace Caitlyn's spirit had been denied would be hers at last.

She looked through dark, billowy curtains
out her upstairs bedroom window. Maple and mulberry trees rustled
in the wind, as if they also sensed the unrest in the air. Caitlyn
could see the bay she fondly remembered swimming in everyday in the
summer. It was always a beautiful shade of blue. If only she could
put her feet in just one more time. But that wasn't possible--at
least not as things now stood. Spirits were incapable of such, no
matter how strong the desire.

Maybe there was a way, the girl thought
dreamily. Her gaze turned to the road leading up to the house. She
saw the tall boy passing by. He stopped suddenly and looked up at
the window, seemingly right at Caitlyn. Of course he couldn't see
her. Ghosts could only be seen by those who were connected to them
in some way.

It would be fun to get to know him. Too bad
it wasn't possible.

Caitlyn frowned as he resumed walking. His
dog came up behind him and the boy put a leash on its collar. They
passed by the house and headed toward the caretaker's cottage.

The girl looked at the road again. Soon they
would come. More specifically,
she
would come and rescue
Caitlyn from the nightmare she had lived for so long now that it
hurt to even think about.

Then she heard her father coming and grew
frightened. She tensed when he entered the room. He was tall and
sturdy, with raven hair and thick sideburns. A grimace contorted
his face. He nodded to her in silence and she read the sinister
satisfaction in his cold eyes.

It was about to happen all over again. She
cringed at the thought.

But deep within, Caitlyn was optimistic that
the time was near when her dreams would finally come true.

The two spirits vanished.

CHAPTER ONE

Peyton Delaney sat pouting in the backseat
of her stepfather's Lexus LX 470. She doubted that her mother,
seated in front next to the man she had married six months ago,
cared. Otherwise she wouldn't have made her leave California and
all Peyton's friends to move across the country to Minnesota, of
all places. But when her stepfather, Vance McIntyre, was offered a
new job as sales director for an advertising firm, the decision was
made.

She was about to be stuck in the middle of
nowhere in the dead of summer and there was nothing Peyton could do
about it, other than voice her displeasure through stone cold
silence. And the occasional barrage of complaints. But even that
could only last so long.

At sixteen, this was the second major blow
dealt Peyton in recent memory. Three years ago her father was
killed in a car accident.

I'll just have to find a way to deal with
this unwanted move. Dad would tell me that
.

"I'm hungry," she complained, tossing back
her long blonde hair. "Can't we stop at McDonald's or
something?"

"We're almost there, Peyton." Melody
Delaney-McIntyre glanced back at her daughter. "After we make sure
the house is still standing, we'll find a restaurant."

Peyton rolled her green eyes.
"Whatever."

When her mother and stepfather had twice
come to scout the town of Shadow Bay, Minnesota and pick out a
house to purchase, Peyton had chosen to stay behind and savor every
last moment of home and spend time with her friends.

"You just might surprise yourself and like
it here," Vance said. "The town has character, history, and plenty
of open land one can only dream about in San Diego."

"Yeah, right," Peyton said. "This is
your
dream, not mine."

"It's our dream of a better life for all of
us," her mother said. "Give it a chance, honey. Is that too much to
ask?"

Peyton sighed. "I guess not."

She was acting like a spoiled baby instead
of a girl less than two years away from adulthood. But Peyton
wouldn't hide her resentment over a move she never wanted.

As the car turned off the main road to head
down a winding lane, Peyton caught sight of the bay. It was wide,
sapphire blue, and very inviting. She couldn't wait to dive in,
imagining the water was a perfect way to cool off in these parts.
The view disappeared and it was back to open land dotted with
farmhouses and livestock.

She noted a guy about her age playing in a
grassy field with a German Shepherd. Beyond them was a cottage,
where Peyton assumed they lived. When he heard their car, the boy
looked up, seemingly in a straight line at her. Peyton thought she
detected a smile on his lips and smiled back.

He's really hot. Maybe life in Shadow Bay
has promise after all
.

Vance pulled the car in the driveway of a
big white Victorian that stood on a hill.

"Well, this is it!" he said as if they had
won the lottery. "Home sweet home."

Peyton wasted no time getting out, if for no
other reason than to stretch her legs after they had driven nonstop
for several hours. She peeked in the direction of the guy with the
dog. Both were gone.

She hid her disappointment and turned to her
parents who were patiently waiting.

"Do you want to see inside?" her mother
asked.

"Or we could just camp out here on the lawn
and make it our home," her stepfather joked.

At six-four, he towered over Peyton's
mother.

Peyton sneered at him. She glanced at the
house before zeroing in on one upstairs window in particular.
Peyton saw a girl standing there. She took an involuntary step
backward and shivered.

"What is it, honey?" Melody asked.

"There's someone looking out the
window."

"Where?"

Peyton pointed to the bedroom window, but
the girl had vanished. "I could've sworn there was someone--"

"I'm sure it was only your imagination,
moving to a new house and all."

"Either that or the caretaker's inside and
heard us drive up," Vance suggested, digging a key out of his
pocket.

Peyton was inclined to agree, all things
considered. But she had a bad feeling about the place. For some
reason it reminded her of the
Amityville Horror
movie that
she and her friends had rented and watched one Saturday night.
She'd had nightmares for a week afterwards.

Peyton was thankful that evil spirits and
wayward ghosts didn't really exist.

* * *

The movers arrived later that afternoon with
the furniture and other household items. Suddenly the place began
to look like a home someone actually lived in.

Peyton sized up her room. It faced the front
of the house and was painted a pretty shade of violet. She sat on
the loft bed as if for the first time and felt a sense of comfort
when looking at her computer, television, and beanbag chair. If
only her best friend Erica had also relocated to Shadow Bay, it
might actually be livable.

Peyton sighed and resigned herself to having
to make new friends locally.

She stood up and looked out the window. It
occurred to Peyton that this was the same window where she thought
she'd seen the girl looking out at her. But when they had gone
through the house, there was no one to be found, to which Peyton
breathed a sigh of relief.

Must have been the light or shadows, she
thought. Or maybe it was the gothic nature of the old house and
atmosphere that spooked her.

She headed out of the room, wondering what
secrets a house that was probably a hundred years old or more had
buried within those walls.

Peyton wasn't sure she wanted to find
out.

* * *

Caitlyn watched with interest as Peyton left
the room.

She's so pretty.
I wish my hair
was golden like hers.

Though wanting to follow her, Caitlyn
realized she couldn't yet. Her father would be very angry if she
did and make trouble for all of them.

She drifted to the window and looked out.
Peyton had sensed her there earlier, just as Caitlyn had sensed
that Peyton would arrive here to save her.

I knew you would come one day and rescue me
from decades of solitude, pain, and regret.

When that time came, she would be as light
as a feather and ready to feel her spirit released and soul at
ease.

Caitlyn smiled at the mere notion, replacing
the perpetual frown that had seemingly been etched on her face
forever.

CHAPTER TWO

Peyton could hear muffled voices when she
came down the stairs. She saw Vance and her mother standing in the
living room with a man. They all turned her way as Peyton strode
in.

"There you are," Vance said, as if he had
been expecting her at that precise moment.

Melody took her hand. "Peyton, this is Mr.
Neville. He's the caretaker for this house and the property."

"Hi."

"Hi, Peyton," he said in a hearty voice.
"Call me Luke. Everyone else does."

Peyton smiled at him. Vance also wanted to
be called by his first name instead of dad. She was grateful for
that, as Peyton could never imagine anyone ever taking her real
dad's place.

"And that's my son, Bryant," Luke said,
nodding in his direction.

Out of the corner of her eye, Peyton spotted
movement. She turned and met the steady gray eyes of the guy she
had seen with the dog when they first arrived. Nearly as tall as
his father and Vance, he had dark hair.

And he was even hotter up close.

"Hey," he said, and Peyton decided that even
his deep voice was appealing.