Goosebumps Short Story School Competition Winner!

Chapter 1

The cover of my pillow shadows my cheek as I thrust my head up from the bed. Just great; I had been drooling again. Rain attacks the only window my attic bedroom felt obliged to provide. But, it couldn’t have been thunder that had woken me up. I listen hard for another unfamiliar bang that I imagine came from outside. Don’t be silly; it’s probably just the wind.
Over the deafening rain, my ears straining to hear any unusual sound, I hear the creak of the gate being hauled aside. My body suddenly stiffens as if paralysed. My heart begins a rhythmic dance in my chest as my negative and positive conscious get prepared for battle:
No one comes to the house this late at night.
Well they could.
They are most likely thieves.
It’s probably my imagination.
They’ve come to finish the job and kill you.
Shut u-
Two pairs of footsteps dashing up the drive bring me back to reality. My heart has had enough and starts throwing itself against my ribcage. Sweat drenches my body. A flash of lightning illuminates the sky and for a split second two dark figures can be seen, haunting the driveway.

The slamming of the front door announces the arrival of these suspicious criminals.
But, it can’t be anything to worry about. They wouldn’t slam the door like that if they were thieves.
My mother’s raised voice confirms my theory. I let out a long breath that I had unconsciously been holding the whole time and graciously gulp down more fresh air.

The soft scrape of my beaten door against the floor and chink of dim light across my bed sends me crashing onto the cold floor. The conversation downstairs stops abruptly, but soon starts up again with Mom’s ever-growing voice. As I climb back onto the bed, rubbing my head vigorously, my older sister’s outline approaches me and I feel the mattress sink a few centimeters as she sits down.
“Mom’s come home with some stranger and now she’s having an argument with him,” Thadea whisper-shouted above the roaring of the wind.
“Or her,” I unwisely correct.
‘What did you say?” She questions. Luckily she seems to have genuinely not heard me.
“Uhh-I know,” I lie.
“So, you coming?” Thadea continues. The usual feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me that if I do go with, I will seriously regret it.
“Eavesdropping?” She gives me one of her icy stares. “Fine.” I tiptoe across the room, stuff my feet into my oversized slippers- I don’t want to chance new splinters in my already tender feet- and slop after Thadea.

Chapter 2

My mouth is dry, but the outer layer of my body is clammy from perspiration.
Why is Mom up at two in the morning with a potential murderer in our kitchen?
I force my face to the slit between the kitchen door and floor, closing one eye in my attempt to see underneath, while Thadea stations herself at the keyhole. Mom’s teary voice comes again, but this time it’s loud and clear, even though my one ear is pressed against the floor.
“I promised her I would keep you safe.” I can see Mom’s shoes pacing up and down right in front of the door. The sneakers leaning against the kitchen skirting are unresponsive and look very intimidating. “I gave you money and offered you shelter, but you just threw both of them away! Now, I hear you’re getting involved in gangs, fights and stealing to replace the money I gave you!” I glance up at my sister and see she is equally confused.
“It wasn’t my fault! They forced me! The money you gave wasn’t enough!” The sneakers had finally spoken and they sounded dangerous.
“Enough!” Mom’s shoes suddenly stop. “I don’t want to discuss it anymore. You’re staying here,” Mom commanded in her ‘trying-to-stay-calm’ voice.” And that’s final; no more arguing,” she added, as Sneakers mumbled in protest. “You can sleep in the study for now. But, if I have to bail you out one more time…” There is a rustle of movement in the kitchen as Sneakers moves slowly towards the door. My heart stops to stare in horror and in no time at all Thadea and I are up the rickety stairs and in my bedroom.
It is only after my mother’s bedroom door closes that we breathe again.
“What-was-that-all-about?” I pant, remembering to whisper at the last minute as I’d been too worried to notice that the storm had died down. “Who was that guy? Thadea?” She had been staring into space for quite some time now.
“I couldn’t see his face properly, but- no it’s a stupid idea.”
“What?” This can’t be that bad. (All her ideas are stupid). She lets out a long sigh.
“I think I remember seeing him at Aunt Elvira’s funeral; I think he’s our cousin.” I stare at her for a second or two. Where in the world did she get that from?
“Okay…you know that could actually make sense,” I say, thinking over the conversation we had heard downstairs. “Mom could’ve promised Elvira to look out for him and then when Elvira dies, Mom gives him some money to help out. Genius or what?” Thadea rudely ignored my last comment.
“But, what did she mean by ‘bail him out’?” Thadea says, stifling a yawn in the process. I carefully consider over the matter. Sounds like Sneakers had gotten into a spot of trouble.
“It seems like he’s been in jail and Mom had to pay to get him out,” The actual meaning of these words gradually reaches my ears. I swallow hard.
“Then that means that he’s dangerous enough to be put in prison,” says Thadea, more to herself than to me. Her eyes are huge, probably reflecting mine. “By the sounds of it he’s not afraid to steal from us or, even worse, hurt us! And now he’s going to be staying here!”

Chapter 3

The sudden chill of cool morning air wakes me long before the alarm clock. My duvet is strewn across the floor. No surprise there; a dream about colossal shoes wearing evil grins chasing you around a room isn’t particularly pleasant. A violent shiver down my spine and I’m hastily snatching the duvet up from the floor. Although I’m exhausted from this morning’s loss of sleep I still can’t doze off again. My cousin’s sneakers seem to keep popping up in my mind.

I’m just about to fall asleep when my alarm starts to scream at me. I grope for the button that kills the clock and force myself off the bed. A sharp pang in my left foot and an unusual feeling of grit between my toes reminds me of my slippers. I stagger around and walk towards the corner where they are kept, but unless my groggy eyes are playing tricks on me, they aren’t there. I rack my brain to where they could be and images of earlier this morning come flooding through my memory: Thadea, the door, Sneakers, jail, exhausted- yes! I had been so tired that I had shaken off my slipper and let them fall to the floor next to my bed. I turn to look, but all I see is a miniscule pile of blackish dirt, Weird. Where did that come from? With a moan I stumble to my knees and stick my hand under the bed, feeling around, once again my head flattened against the floor. My finger brushes against a warm, fury object. I jump back; the hair on the back of my neck standing on end! Summoning all the amount of courage I had surprisingly managed to muster this morning, I gently lift the bed sheet obscuring my vision. A breath of relief escapes my lip. It was only my slipper! But, after a while tearing half the floorboards apart I give up on my search for the other long-lost slipper and hop towards the bathroom.

Mom breaks the news about Sneakers halfway through our breakfast at the shabby table. I am stressing out of my mind about meeting him face to face, just as he shuffles in.
“Thadea, Alexander. This is our guest I was telling you about. He’ll be staying with us for a while,” Mom says, putting on her rare ‘fake smile’. Our ‘guest’s’ features are nowhere close a match to those angry sneakers. The young man standing here has dirty-blond hair and a youthful, inviting face. His ragged clothes hang loosely around his tall, lanky body.
“Hi guys! I’m Oliver. We met once at my mother’s funeral,” declares Sneakers in a much too high voice for a villain. However, looks can be deceiving.
“Hi,” Thadea and I mumble in unison. We both catch each other’s eye and exchange worried looks.

Thadea stares out the window of the school bus. We don’t usually sit next to each other while traveling to South Waters Primary School and College.
“Oliver makes me uneasy,” Thadea voices after a few more minutes of staring into space.
“I know,” I agree.
“Mom shouldn’t have left him alone in the house like that. Who knows what he will do next.” Thadea’s blue-gray eyes express that of fear. “He’ll probably ransack the house and run off with all our stuff!” Her eyes are moist.
“Well, we don’t know that,” I try to comfort. (I’m never good at dealing with crying girls.)
“Yeah,” Thadea says, looking unconvinced “ But, you know Mom. She doesn’t get angry that easily. Oliver must have done something really bad to get her yelling like that!” We sit the rest of the drive in silence, mulling over the prospect of Sneakers causing a huge dilemma.

Chapter 4

The ride home is indifferent from the one to school. We are both sitting in silence, anxious about the sight that will meet our eyes when we enter the house. The walk up our street is agonizing. My fingers automatically cross as I near my destination.
“Please let everything be fine,” I mutter, realizing too late that I had spoken out loud.
“We can only hope,” Thadea says in Mom’s same ‘I’m-trying-to-stay-calm’ voice.
This is the slowest I’ve ever walked and the least I’ve wanted to come home after school.

The front gate looms above us. I can almost hear its taunts:
“You scared? Cowards. Don’t blame me because you were stupid enough to leave him alone.” From the outside, everything seems fine. Maybe there is hope! But, looks can be deceiving. My fists are balled in my pockets.
“Let’s do this,” I try to say in a confident voice. Thadea unlocks the padlock; its sharp ‘click’ seems to have magnified a thousand times. Thankfully no one appears to hear it.
The gate squeaks noisily as it is opened a tiny bit for us to squeeze past. A spooky silence is cast over the house. I realize my sister and I are partly to blame as we are both moving towards the front door as softly as possible. Recognizing the fact that we couldn’t avoid going inside, I grab the key out of Thadea’s hand and turn it in the door’s lock.

I am amazed to find everything in place as we had left it. Nothing looks out of the ordinary except for the occupant sitting lazing on the couch. Sneakers hurriedly switches off the TV as we enter, probably so that we don’t see anything ‘too grown-up’.
“Hi! How was school?” I’m too stunned and relieved to answer, luckily Thadea steps in.
“It was okay, thanks. We’ll be in our rooms doing homework.”
“Fine by me.” Is it just me or was that a guilty look I saw?

“I get the impression everything is there downstairs,” Thadea says under her breath after we had climbed the stairs.
“We’ll just keep an eye out for anything missing,” I instruct and add as a precaution “Don’t forget what he’s capable of doing.”
The afternoon passes like any other, until Thadea comes bursting into my room.
“My iPod, it’s gone!”
“Wait! Are you sure?” I make sure.
“Yes! I put it in my draw yesterday-it was only that and a bit of junk in there- and now all that’s left in that draw is dust.”
“You obviously not good at cleaning,” I snigger.
“Alexander, this is serious! Check your stuff.” I give a pitying sigh and wrench open the nearest draw. It is exactly the same image Thadea had described. I run around the room, unearthing more missing objects.
“My other slipper’s gone! Where’s my sports bag?” I yell in panic.
“You obviously don’t clean too well either,” Thadea says, smothering a giggle and looking around at these small patches of dark dust.
“It must have been Sneak-umm- Oliver!” I say darkly. Mom’s keys jangle in the lock.

“I don’t know where they could be,” says Mom after she has finished searching through my room. She looked worried.
“We think Oliver has something to do with it,” Thadea says in a small voice. Mom wipes a tear from her cheek.
“Ill go and talk to him,” Mom sighs, looking as though it’s the last thing she wants to do.
We get to the door with just enough time to catch the end of the conversation. I assume my usual position and watch as Mom’s shoes start pacing again.
“This is your last chance,” Mom warns.
“ I didn’t take any of your guys’ stuff! Some of mine is even missing! Besides, you have no proof,” Sneakers has joined Mom in her pacing.
“I want to believe you, but unfortunately you’re the first suspect.” The door handle suddenly turns and my heart very nearly escapes through my mouth. I miraculously reach the wall in time and squash next to Thadea just in time to get the door slammed in my face and see tears streaming down Mom’s cheeks.

Chapter 5

Traveling home today from school is slightly more comfortable than yesterday. At least we’re talking, although I don’t know why we’re still sitting next to each other.
“ I can’t believe Mom’s making us go out with Oliver for a little ‘bonding time’. And after what he’s done! Then I have to get to work on this History essay about the house and neighborhood we live in. Worse weekend ever and I can’t even listen to my music! ” Thadea is clearly upset. I myself am not too pleased either about leaving straight after school with this likely criminal.
“We don’t know for sure if he’s really the thief,” I make an effort to lighten the tension.
Thadea turns her head to the window. Silence surrounds us for a few minutes while I endeavor to come up with a strong point to help back up my argument.
“ The dust!” I cry, making some Grade twos nearby jump.
“What?” Thadea questions.
“Every time an item goes missing, there seems to be this kind of black dust in its place,” I reply.
“ Yes, of course! How did we not see that before? Do you think it’s a symbol?”
“ I don’t know, but I just can’t seem to see Snea- Oliver putting it there. That would mean someone else is breaking into our house!” To no surprise Thadea’s eyes grow round. My stomach has just become home to an army of butterflies.

“Hi Alexander, Thadea! Ready to go?” Yay. Sneakers hasn’t forgotten about us.
“Now, Oliver! You don’t expect me to let them play miniature golf in their school clothes, do you?” Mom is in a more cheerful mood. “ You two go change, quickly.”
I start trudging towards the staircase. Wait for it: 5-4-3-2-1- “Ohh and Alexander, please give your hair a quick brush; it looks a mess,” Mom calls after me.

The butterflies start violently attacking as I scan my room but, from the looks of it, nothing else has disappeared. I change out of my scratchy school clothes and run the tiresome brush trough my hair – I don’t feel like fighting with mom today. A thought crosses my mind and, before leaving the room, I open a draw and scoop some dust into my pocket. Talk about trying not to get into Mom’s bad books.

“ I can’t play miniature golf!” Thadea confesses, smiling.
“Oh yes you can! You were so much better than me,” Sneakers argues.
“But you at that one hole,” Thadea continues. I have to admit that on this walk home the tension between Sneakers and us is barely known and the atmosphere is much happier (the ice-creams probably helped). However, it doesn’t feel quite right becoming friends with this ‘thief’. There is a gap in the conversation and I ask Sneakers the nagging question at the back of my mind.
“Hey, Sn-Oliver. Do you know what this stuff is?” I pull out a handful of the dirt from my pocket. Sneakers stops to examine the dust and Thadea nearly walks into the back of him.
“ Looks like ash; what’s left after a fire.” Thadea buts in.
“Is that the dirt that replaces the stolen objects?” No point in trying to keep it a secret from Sneakers now that he knows.
“Yip.” Sneakers took the word right out my mouth. “Some of my stuff has also been missing,” He explained at the look of our puzzled faces. “ The impression I get is that the objects get set alight and burn to ashes.” This is what would have proved Sneakers insanity to me, but, instead, I actually believe him.

We’re walking up the stairs, stomachs full from the ice-cream (no room for butterflies) and legs aching from the long walk.
“How do we know he’s not just planting ideas into our heads?” Thadea asks.
“I have no clue,” I reply, truthfully. I want to trust him, but can I? The answer awaits me in my room, for when I flick on my bedroom light, my bedside table and hairbrush that had been on top is disintegrated into a pile of ash! It had been there before I’d left with Sneakers, meaning he couldn’t have done it, but then who had? Could we be next?

Chapter 6

I stretch out and give a huge yawn. My eyes feel like lead as I force them open. Ohh no! I fell asleep. The problem about staying up all night so that you don’t fall asleep is that you become so exhausted that you actually fall asleep. I jump out of bed and rummage through the cupboard to find clothes. Since all this disappearing started I’ve had a smaller variety of clothes to chose from. I race down the stairs and out into the garden.

“What you doing up so early? It’s a Saturday,” a cheery voice calls from behind me. My heart, already pounding because of my early morning sprint, leaps high into the air with me. I turn around to see Sneakers attending to a flowerbed. “ Feels a little spooky in the house doesn’t it? I assume you stayed up, trying to prevent anymore stuff bursting into flame,” Sneakers says, studying my eyes. I didn’t look that tired did I? “ I think we’re all worried that we could be next. The objects disappearing just keep on getting bigger.”
“All?” I ask surprised.
“Thadea’s actually working on her history project in the shed, although your mom doesn’t seem too phased.”
“Alexander, Oliver!” Thadea comes running out of the tiny shed, tucked away in the back of the garden. “ I found this magazine article on a history website that shows writings from fifty years ago,” pants Thadea. “It’s our house! It’s cursed!”
“What? Slow down,” I say. Her face is pale and slightly sweaty from the heat of the shed. Her eyes are stretched wide, mingled with fear and excitement.
“In an article it says how this guy cursed our house with his dying breath because of a man from that household who killed him a hundred years ago. It said something about how every fifty years he would come and torture the generations of this household with flames, fire and stillness!” I try to interrupt, but she just ploughs on. “The article says that fifty years ago the family living in this house had mysteriously disappeared. It’s nearing fifty years exactly; We’re next!”
We stood and stared at each other in silence, too stunned to speak, that is until I couldn’t bear the suspense anymore.
“Tha- that’s pretty far fetched,” I stammer, willing to convince myself that it isn’t true. The butterflies have moved back in and they’ve brought friends.
“Well, it’s the only lead we’ve got. It sounds pretty logical from what we’ve been experiencing.” Sneakers says what we’ve all been dreading to say ourselves. Our lives our in danger!

Chapter 7

“Mom,” I yell from the safety of outside her bedroom window “do you think we can have a picnic outside today?”
“That sounds like a lovely idea!” Mom’s barely audible voice replies. Shew! My heart decides to cut me some slack and gradually slows down it’s beating against my ribcage. I take in a calming mouthful of air.
“You two can come inside and help me make the sandwiches; don’t expect me to do all the work around here.” Great! My heart begins to freak out again.
“Uhh-You know what mom? Why don’t you just bring all the stuff needed out here and we can make our own?” I bite my lip, anxiously waiting.
“Ohh, alright! I’ll be out in a minute.” I sprint back to Sneakers and Thadea who are sitting under a tree.
“Mission accomplished! We can eat outside, for now,” I groan in relief.

With my stomach fit to burst from all the food and butterflies, Mom’s ready to go back inside.
“No!” Sneakers shouts, a little too loudly. However, he saves himself just in time.
“I was thinking we could set up a tent in the garden, pretending we’re actually camping out in the bush.”
“Why, of course you can! I’ll be inside taking a nap.” I feel like being sick; Mom’s deliberately doing this to us!
“But, we want you here Mom!” Thadea does some quick thinking. “So it can be one big family effort! And you can probably put up a tent better than all three of us,” Thadea carries on. My sweat pores go mad as I see Mom’s doubtful look. Thadea sees it too.
“You can have your nap in the tent after we’ve finished.”
“Ohh, fine,” Mom gives in, yawning.
“So, where’s the camping equipment?” Sneakers asks. His hands are clenched in his lap. We’re all dreading the answer.
“Down in the basement,” Mom calmly responds. The atmosphere changed in an instant.
A muscle in Sneakers face twitches and Thadea’s eyes grow wide.
“I’ll go and get the gear, don’t worry about it,” Sneakers reassures us. Thadea and I watch apprehensively as he gingerly walks towards the house, restraint etched on his face.

I glance down at my watch for the tenth time.
“It’s been eleven minutes, ” I say, not knowing if we should go and look for him or if the equipment’s just really heavy. Thadea and I exchange uneasy fleeting looks.
“He’s probably going for a new world record: The slowest anyone’s taken to collect camping gear!” Thadea laughs, trying to lighten the mood, but, her smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Why don’t you to go and look for him? He probably just needs some help carrying it all,” suggests Mom in a sleepy voice. I realize that going back into the house is inevitable and from the set look on Thadea’s face she is thinking the same thing.

We walk slowly up to the house, no real desire to enter it with the prospect of being burnt.
“Dead men walking,” I mutter under my breath. Thadea glares at me and I shut up. With every step, the beating of my heart against its cage grows more intense.
Finally-it feels like the world is going in slow motion- we reach the front door. Mom’s soft snores fill the air.
“For Oliver,” Thadea whispers and we walk inside.

Chapter 8

I sprint towards the door leading to the basement and Thadea follows suit. I ignore the agonizing stitch in my side and dash down the stairs. About halfway down the staircase I stop. Thadea smacks into the back of me and we go rolling down the rest of the stairs, landing in a large pile of ashes at the foot of the flight of stairs. My blood runs cold as I hurriedly get off Sneakers’ remains. My heart nearly stops. No!
“We’re too late,” I croak, not believing the words I had just spoken. In a few minutes from now and I’ll be no more than dust. My body is freakishly hot, but I’m shivering uncontrollably.

“What now?” comes a soft voice from behind me. I don’t answer. Tears well up in my eyes as I gaze upon the pile of ashes and turn my face away, trying to concentrate on something else. A painting leaning against the wall in the corner catches my attention. In the very middle sat a young man smiling up at me. It can’t be. I step a bit closer. Yes, it is! There is my cousin, Sneakers, sitting among all the missing objects: my slippers, Thadea’s iPod, my hairbrush. Something dark is growing in the picture, right next to Sneakers.
“Thadea, I think you’d better see this,” I call after her. No response. My heart skips a beat, please no! I revolve slowly on the spot. The whole world stops. There, lying next to Sneakers is another mountain of ashes… I feel smelting heat like never before as my body suddenly stops shivering. This is the end.

I stumble backwards and fall on top of the painting and a resounding crack echoes through the basement. The effect was instant. The mounds of ashes are tossed up in the air, forming the bodies of humans. The heat stops as instantaneously as it had began. The ashes that are still in my pocket fly across the room and disappear from my sight. I blink and there is Sneakers and Thadea standing in front of me, looking a bit shaken, but smiling nonetheless.

The relief! I have never felt so alive in my life, walking up those stairs with my sister on one side of me and my cousin on the other.
“You actually broke the curse, I’ll never have to worry about it again,” Thadea sighs with satisfaction. Sneakers yawns in agreement.
“After all the excitement today, I think I need a nap!” Thank goodness that’s over. But, as I past the door on the way outside I see an all too familiar pile of ashes sitting by the door.