The House Next Door Read online

  Amanda hurried over to her sisters. Her forehead was wrinkled with worry.

  “We really have to get going if we’re going to find Paul and Steve!” Amanda said urgently. “It’s almost eleven. What if their parents want to leave right after midnight?”

  “And who is this ‘we’? Where do you think you’re going?” Alyssa asked her.

  “I’m going with you,” Amanda replied. “There’s no way you’re going over there alone!”

  “You’re not going,” Alyssa said firmly. “Stay here with Anne.”

  Amanda looked her older sister directly in the eyes and shook her head. “You can’t always boss us around, Alyssa,” she continued. “It’s better that we both go.”

  Alyssa looked from Anne to Amanda and then out the sliding doors behind them. It was so dark beyond the porch, and she finally admitted to herself that she didn’t really want to go alone.

  “All right,” Alyssa agreed, and she and Amanda headed over to the sliding glass door.

  Anne followed them. “Shouldn’t you bring a flashlight or something?”

  “Oh, good idea,” Alyssa said.

  Amanda walked over to the cabinet that their mom always kept filled with outdoor supplies: bug spray, citronella candles, batteries, etc. She grabbed two flashlights, flicked them on to make sure they worked, and handed one to Alyssa. Amanda shot Alyssa a look.

  “What’s the plan?” Carrie asked.

  Alyssa took a deep breath and looked at her friends. “Amanda and I are going outside,” she replied. “Everyone else stay here with Anne.”

  “You’re going out into the dark?” Elena asked.

  “Yes,” Alyssa said. “We need to go out, and maybe even into that old house, to find Paul and Steve. And then we’re going to bring them back here and kill them!”

  Anne laughed under her breath, though she knew her distraught sister was only half joking. She certainly didn’t want to be Steve or Paul when Alyssa finally found them.

  CHAPTER 7

  Alyssa and Amanda stepped off of the security of their back porch and into the black night. They switched on their flashlights and scanned the field for any signs of Paul and Steve. The grass was motionless. Alyssa and Amanda darted their flashlights in all directions. Not a movement. Not a sound. Alyssa followed her sister’s gaze to the second floor window of their own home. The faint glow reminded Alyssa that their parents would soon ring in the New Year. And then it would time for everyone to leave.

  “We have to hurry,” Amanda said. “And, as much as I hate to admit it, I think we should turn off our flashlights until we reach the house.” She knew her sister was nervous outside in the dark, but she also didn’t want any of the adults to spot the beams of their flashlights from the upstairs windows.

  Alyssa nodded and grabbed her sister’s hand. Slowly, they each took a step toward the house next door. Without their flashlights, Alyssa and Amanda shuffled along an old beaten, cobbled pathway that led to the meadow. Fallen leaves squished under their feet with each step.

  As they continued in the direction of the silhouetted house, both sisters suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. The grass and branches rustled behind them.

  “Did you hear that?” Alyssa asked Amanda urgently.

  They spun around to see stalks of grass shaking and quivering in front of them. Something was following them. Alyssa was paralyzed with fear. But, Amanda took a step forward to investigate. Steadily, Amanda switched her flashlight back on and focused the beam of light on the moving grass. There was definitely something in there. Step by step, she moved closer. When she reached the rustling grass, she leaned forward to get a better view. The flashlight trembled in her hand.

  “Be careful!” Alyssa whispered.

  “I know!” Amanda replied. She crouched down and parted the grass with her hands. Accompanied by a loud, piercing caw, a large shiny black wing skimmed her face. Amanda screamed just as loudly as the crow and fell backward onto the ground. The crow sprung from its hiding spot on the ground and flapped its way upward, taking flight into the night sky. Amanda let out another terrified wail, followed by a whimper.

  “It was just a bird,” Alyssa told her, sitting beside her in the grass. The two sisters were silent, hoping that no one at the adult party had heard the scream. Then Alyssa noticed Amanda’s bloody fingers, which were tightly holding the flashlight. Amanda flashed the light on her hand and then the stinging area on her leg to reveal a small scrape. She must have gotten the scrape when she fell backward and then her hand brushed against it. A fine line of blood trickled from the wound and down into her shoe.

  Alyssa hated the sight of blood. She felt her stomach turn over. Feeling queasy, she positioned herself into a squat and put her head between her knees. She forced herself to take a few deep breaths and waited for the nausea to pass.

  “What happened?” she asked Amanda. “Why are you bleeding?”

  “I think I stepped on a twig. It must’ve snapped and scraped my leg,” Amanda explained.

  “Do you want to keep going?” Alyssa asked hopefully. Now the idea of going there on her own made her feel dizzy too.

  “No big deal.” Amanda pulled her sleeve over her hand, and wiped the dirt and blood from her leg, applying pressure to her scraped skin to stop the bleeding. When it had stopped, she stood up and brushed the muck and leaves from her skirt. “Let’s go.”

  The girls continued through the meadow, flashlights off. With each careful, soft step they moved closer to the house. It was a deafeningly silent night, and the only sound the girls heard was the swishing of grass brushing against their legs. But, along with each rustling footstep, they could hear hushed voices. Warnings.

  Neither girl said anything until Alyssa finally squealed and turned angrily toward Amanda.

  “Why did you pinch me?” Alyssa asked.

  “Because I can hear you whispering,” Amanda replied. “You’re freaking me out!”

  “I haven’t said anything!” Alyssa exclaimed.

  “What do you mean?” Amanda asked. “I heard you say, ‘Stay away!’ ”

  “Amanda,” Alyssa replied, “it wasn’t me. But I heard it too.”

  “Well,” Amanda continued, “if it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

  The girls stopped. They had made it too far to turn around now. Alyssa switched on her flashlight and frantically swung the beam around. The beams only showed the emptiness that surrounded them though. They were completely alone.

  “I think we should head home,” Amanda told her sister. “We can just fess up to our parents, and they can deal with Paul and Steve.” Alyssa hesitated for a second. She also wanted to return, and Amanda’s idea wasn’t a bad one, but why should their parents’ party be ruined too and their parents’ trust in them be shattered because of Paul and Steve?

  “The voices we’re hearing are just Paul and Steve playing a trick on us,” Alyssa replied reluctantly. “Come on. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can go home.”

  They continued walking, turning their flashlights on periodically to scan the area ahead for Paul and Steve. Every so often, Alyssa would call out each boy’s name. But she didn’t receive any response. They only heard the quiet whispers drifting through the still night. They squeezed each other’s hands with each passing warning. They were both trying to convince themselves it was simply their minds playing tricks on them, scaring themselves witless. That the stress of the situation was getting to them. But how could they both be hearing the same thing?

  They stopped when they finally reached the steps leading up to the house’s front porch. For all the years they lived next door, this was actually the closest they had ever been to it. And now that they were so close, they took a moment to examine all its eccentricities. The house was sturdier than Alyssa expected—she always thought the wooden shingles looked flimsy, but now that she was so near them, she could see the walls beneath the shingles were thick and solid. The paint had long since cracked and had been worn down by years of
stormy weather and hot summer days. Rusty nails poked through the sagging floorboards of the porch.

  Amanda was about to take a step forward when Alyssa squeezed her hand and jerked her back. Even though the thick walls of the house and solid oak door supported the house’s foundation, the porch hadn’t held up as well. The wood planks were rotting and decayed.

  “Follow me,” Alyssa instructed. “You’re going to go right through if you’re not careful!”

  Alyssa let go of Amanda’s hand and placed her foot on the first step. And, with the poise and practice of a ballet dancer, she swiftly leaped to the top, gingerly stepping on each stair along the way.

  “Now, walk in my steps,” Alyssa told Amanda. “And hold on to the handrail.”

  Amanda looked warily at her sister.

  “I don’t think I can do that!” she replied. “But don’t move. I’ll try.”

  Amanda put some weight on the first step, and just as she had expected, a loud cracking sound shot through the air. Amanda grabbed hold of the iron handrail and tried the second step. It creaked beneath her foot, but supported her. She followed in her sister’s footsteps until she also reached the top. Together, they walked toward the door. Suddenly, Amanda felt cobwebs on her arms and hands. She had walked through a giant spider web. Panicking, she began peeling the strands of the web away from her face and arms. “They’re all over me!” she screamed. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t seem to wipe all the strands of web from her.

  “Stop it!” Alyssa demanded. She was standing before the heavy front door. She studied the ornately carved detail in the wood. There were engraved designs and sketched pictures of birds, rabbits, and other wildlife. But there was also something that looked like a word or name carved into the wood. She traced it with her finger. It looked like someone had scratched it away, and she couldn’t make out what it had once said. She placed her hand on the brass doorknob, expecting to have to shove the solid door open, but to her surprise, it was already ajar. Paul and Steve, she thought. With a slight nudge, it swung open. Amanda had finally managed to free herself from the web, and, together, Amanda and Alyssa walked through the door and into the house.

  As soon as Alyssa entered the foyer her cheeks burned with anger.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  Paul and Steve stood before them, illuminated in the beams of their flashlights.

  “Come on,” Paul said. “Don’t be mad! We just wanted to check out the house. It’s awesome, isn’t it?”

  For a moment, Alyssa was too curious to yell at the boys. Instead, she looked around at the foyer. It was filled with unfamiliar trinkets from many years ago. Large, tarnished bells hung on the wall. She quickly figured that they were once used on a horse’s harness before someone had turned them into a decoration. An old box, hanging on the opposite wall, displayed a collection of pewter spoons. And she spotted what looked like old brass or copper buttons on the foyer table. Pushing a feeling of dread out of her mind, she tried to focus on Paul and Steve.

  It was hard though because the house fascinated her—it was like she had stepped into a museum. They were all standing in a large square alcove that opened up into a living room with a few old, dusty armchairs and tables. Alyssa walked over to a soot-covered fireplace in the far corner. She peeked around that corner and into an adjacent room. It had to be the kitchen, judging from the dusty, outdated appliances she saw as she moved the beam of her flashlight around the room. A large staircase was to the left, winding up to the floor above them. Old moth-eaten rugs covered the floors. Faded black-and-white-toned photographs sat framed on the tables.

  Alyssa scanned the relics in the room until she stopped at the tall, ticking grandfather clock. It was by far the most stately piece of furniture in the room. Alyssa tilted her head and looked at it pointedly. It seemed to bring life into the otherwise lifeless house. Watching the small hand go around, she thought how remarkable it was that the old thing still worked after all these years. And then she noticed the time.

  “It’s eleven fifteen!” Alyssa announced. “We have to leave now!”

  Alyssa turned to leave with Amanda on her heels. Amanda caught Paul’s eye. “It’s really not cool that you left. If our parents find out that we’re here, we’ll be grounded forever. If we’re grounded, you two are going down with us.”

  “Relax,” Paul replied. “No one will ever know we were gone.”

  “Famous last words,” replied Alyssa.

  “It’s cool,” Steve said, turning to Paul. “This old house is spooky-looking, but it’s actually kind of boring.”

  Alyssa relaxed for the first time since she’d left the safety of her own party. Everyone was finally on the same page. It was time to go. They headed for the door.

  “Hey.” They heard an unfamiliar voice calling from behind them. “Leaving so soon?”

  CHAPTER 8

  All four kids spun around in shock. Alyssa’s heart was pounding so forcefully that she felt like it could drop out of her chest and right down into her stomach.

  Two boys about their age stood before them. Alyssa and Amanda had never seen them before. They seemed to have just . . . appeared.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the taller boy said to Alyssa with a smirk. He walked over, extending his hand for a shake.

  Alyssa quickly shook his hand.

  It was warm. Not ghostly at all.

  She could feel her face begin to regain its color. Despite herself, she blushed.

  “We’re really sorry,” the boy said. “We didn’t mean to scare you! I’m John.”

  “And I’m his brother, Michael,” the other boy introduced himself.

  John was about an inch taller than Amanda. Amanda quickly looked him over from head to toe, hoping he didn’t catch her doing so. Her first thought was how neatly he was dressed. His blond hair was perfectly combed, not a strand out of place. His button-down shirt looked crisply ironed and was tucked into his dark jeans that he had rolled up to show his shiny, black penny loafers. Michael, on the other hand, had the same precisely coiffed hair, but it was dark. He was wearing a clean white T-shirt tucked into his dark jeans and similar shiny shoes. Alyssa couldn’t help but notice how different they looked from Paul and Steve, who were wearing their sloppy, faded jeans, flannel shirts, and dirty, old sneakers.

  Alyssa introduced herself and Amanda to John and Michael. She gave Paul a little push. He got her hint and introduced himself and Steve. Paul, the tallest of the boys, stood straight as a board, showing every inch of his height. He crossed his arms over his chest and began interrogating John and Michael.

  “You guys from around here?” Paul asked.

  “Nah, we’re just visiting,” Michael explained. “I’m glad we don’t live here. This town is so boring. No offense.”

  Paul winced. He had complained about how there was nothing to do in Glory plenty of times, but he’d never heard it put so bluntly by strangers.

  John stepped forward in an attempt to cover up for his brother.

  “We thought we’d take the afternoon to explore,” he said. “I guess we got carried away.”

  “Who are you visiting?” Steve asked.

  “Our aunt,” Michael replied. “She lives about a mile from here. We’re here over the school break.”

  “What’s her name?” asked Paul. “I know just about everyone in this town.”

  “I don’t think you’d know our aunt,” John replied quickly. “She pretty much keeps to herself.”

  “How come we’ve never seen you around before?” Paul asked.

  “This is our first time in Glory,” John explained.

  Amanda was getting annoyed with Paul and Steve. “What’s with the twenty questions?” she asked. “I’m sorry about my friends. They’re used to being the only good-looking guys in town.”

  Michael smiled at her.

  As soon as she realized what she had blurted out, Amanda thought that she might actually melt into the floor.
She looked around, trying to find an escape from the four sets of guys’ eyes that turned on her.

  “Amanda!” Alyssa said. “Check this out!”

  Alyssa grabbed her sister’s sleeve and walked toward a table, pointing to a small, dusty stained-glass lamp. She turned around to see Paul and Steve still giving John and Michael the third degree.

  “What was that?” Alyssa asked. She had pulled her sister so awkwardly that Amanda nearly stumbled over her own feet.

  “I don’t know!” Amanda replied. “It just came out.” Placing her hand on the grimy lamp, Amanda pretended to be admiring it. She dragged her finger along the glass shade, leaving a clean squiggly line in the dust.

  “That’s gross,” Alyssa told her.

  When Amanda didn’t reply, Alyssa continued, “All right. It’s time to get Paul and Steve and leave. We’ve got to get back to our party.”

  “But what about John and Michael?” Amanda asked.

  “What about them?” Alyssa replied. “They seem nice, but we really don’t have time to get to know them. We have to get back before midnight. Before anyone notices we’re gone!”

  “That’s still like forty minutes away,” Amanda said. “Let’s just hang out for a few minutes with John and Michael, and get to know them. Maybe they’ll want to come back to our house to hang out. We need to play it cool.”

  “Have you forgotten that we’re not allowed in this house?” Alyssa reminded her sister. And then she realized what was going on. Amanda thought John and Michael were cute! Alyssa frowned. “Come on, Amanda. Not now.”

  “Please, let’s just stay a few minutes longer,” she begged.

  But Alyssa only shook her head. From the moment she had decided to come here to find Paul and Steve, the memory of the shadow that she’d seen in the attic window years earlier was tugging at her.

  She didn’t want to spend an extra second in this house.

  Alyssa took her sister’s hand and led her back to where the boys were still talking. Amanda pouted. Now that she was in the house, she didn’t really find it spooky at all.