روح همسایه فصل 10

The Ghost Next Door - Chapter 10

Trembling all over, Hannah wrapped her arms around her chest, as if shielding herself from her frightening thoughts.

Mrs. Anderson doesn’t hear me because she isn’t real, Hannah realized.

She isn’t real. She’s a ghost.

Like Danny.

A ghost family has moved next door to me.

And here I am, standing in this dark back yard, trying to spy on a boy who isn’t even alive! Here I am, trembling all over, cold with fear, trying to prove what I’m already sure of. He’s a ghost. His mother is a ghost.

And I—I—

The kitchen light went out. The back of Danny’s house was completely dark now.

The pale light from the crescent moon trickled onto the glistening, wet grass. Hannah stood, listening to the silence, trying to force away the frightening thoughts that crowded her mind until it felt as if her head were about to burst.

Where is Danny? she wondered.

Crossing the driveway, she headed back to her house. She could hear music and voices from the TV in the den. She could hear the twins’ laughter floating out from the upstairs window of their room.

Ghosts, she thought, staring at the lighted windows, like bright eyes shining back at her.

Ghosts.

I don’t believe in ghosts!

The thought made her feel a little less frightened. She suddenly realized her throat was dry. The night air felt hot and sticky against her skin.

She thought of ice-cream again. Going to Harder’s and getting a double-scoop cone seemed an excellent idea. Cookies-and-Cream, Hannah thought. She could already taste it.

She hurried into the house to tell her parents she was walking into town. At the doorway to the dark-paneled den, she stopped. Her parents, bathed in the glow of the TV screen, turned to her expectantly.

“What’s up, Hannah?”

She had a sudden impulse to tell them everything. And so she did.

“The people next door, they’re not alive,” she blurted out. “They’re ghosts. You know Danny, the boy my age? He’s a ghost. I know he is! And his mother—” “Hannah, please—we’re trying to watch,” her father said, pointing to the TV with the can of diet Coke in his hand.

They don’t believe me, she thought.

And then she scolded herself: Of course they don’t believe me. Who would believe such a crazy story?

In her room, she took a five-dollar bill from her wallet and shoved it into the pocket of her shorts. Then she brushed her hair, studying her face in the mirror.

I look okay, she thought. I don’t look like a crazy person.

Her hair was damp from the wet night air. Maybe I’ll let it grow, she thought, watching it fall into shape around her face. I should have something to show for this summer!

As she headed toward the front door, she heard loud bumping and banging above her head. The twins must be wrestling up in their room, she realized, shaking her head.

She stepped back out into the warm, wet darkness, jogged down the front lawn to the sidewalk, and headed toward town and Harder’s Ice-Cream Parlor.

The tall, old-fashioned-looking streetlamps cast circles of blue-white light along the street. The trees, trembling in soft gusts of wind, rustled over the sidewalk as Hannah stepped beneath them.

Ghosts on the sidewalk, she thought with a shiver. They seemed to reach down for her with their leafy arms.

As she neared town, a strange feeling of dread swept over her. She quickened her pace as she passed the post office, its windows as black as the sky.

The town square was deserted, she saw. It wasn’t even eight o’clock, and there were no cars passing through town, no one on the streets.

“What a hick town!” she muttered under her breath.

Behind the bank, she turned onto Elm Street. Harder’s Ice-Cream Parlor stood on the next corner, a large red neon ice-cream cone in its window, casting a red glow onto the sidewalk.

At least Harder’s stays open past dark, Hannah thought.

As she walked closer, she could see the glass front door of the small shop propped open invitingly.

She stopped a few feet from the door.

The feeling of dread suddenly became overpowering. Despite the heat of the night, she felt cold all over. Her knees trembled.

What’s going on? she wondered. Why do I feel so strange?

As she stared through the red glare of the neon cone into the open doorway, a figure burst out.

Followed by another. And another.

Into the light, they ran, their faces twisted in fear.

Staring in surprise, she recognized Danny in front, followed by Alan and Fred.

They each held ice-cream cones in front of them.

They ran from the store, bent forward as if straining to flee as fast as possible. Their sneakers thudded against the pavement of the sidewalk.

Hannah heard loud, angry shouts from inside the shop.

Without realizing it, she had moved close to the door.

She could still hear the three boys running away. But she could no longer see them in the darkness.

She turned—and felt something hit her hard from behind.

“Ohh!” She cried out as she was thrown heavily onto the hard pavement.