The Ghost at Old McMaster’s
Place
Justin, Tyler, Richard, and Ashley
had all been hanging out at the Circle K on a hot dusty Saturday
afternoon. The day had been long and fun
and the cold drinks they were guzzling were quenching a very dry thirst.
"You going, Justin." Asked Ashley
"Where?" Replied Justin.
"To the old MacMasters, place, tonight."
"Why tonight?"
"Because this is the night of the murder. Twenty -six years ago tonight. You know somebody goes from our class each
year. It's tradition."
"Well, somebody can go without me." Grinned Justin
"You afraid?" Asked
"No." Said Justin. "It's just dangerous in there. No lights.
It hasn't been fixed up in years and is falling apart."
"Well, we got a new invention called
flashlights. Duh." Replied
"Oh then you're going to go, huh?" Grinned Justin.
"I didn't say that!" Protested
"Sounded to me like he did." Said Richard.
"Me, too."
Laughed Ashley.
"Well, if I'm going, I'm taking Richard with
me. Unless he's too scared." Challenged
"Am not.
I'll go. But I know you won't be
there." Richard shot back.
"We'll all go." Laughed Ashley. "I've always wanted to go and I'll go if
you all go."
The boys looked at Ashley then started whooping real
loud.
"Alright a girl! She won't last a minute." Shouted Richard.
"Well, you'll never know unless you go."
Huffed Ashley.
"I'll be there.
Just to see you don't chicken out."
Laughed Richard.
"I'll go.
If you're all going." Said
Justin. "I always wanted to see a
haunted house at night."
"Well, I'll go just to protect you
losers." Said
"We'll meet at 11:30 then right
here." Said Ashley.
The others agreed.
Richard arrived last.
"Man. It gets harder and harder to sneak out
these days. I mean the old folk don't go
to bed until late during the summer."
Richard grumbled.
The streetlights cast an eerie glow on the foursome
in the parking lot. The neon lights in
the sign by the highway hummed an incessant rhythm that seemed to attract all
of the bugs for miles around. Ashley was
dressed in jeans, sneakers and T-shirt, same as the boys and they all carried a
handy flashlight.
"Remember, don't look at the ghosts eyes or he
can kill you." Said Ashley.
"Oh that's just bunk." Said
"Yeah, no ghost can kill you." Said Richard.
"Besides, there isn't a ghost in there. It is just an old house." Said Justin
"Well, lets go find out." Replied Ashley
and they all walked down the road to the old house.
The house was set back form the main road. You had to walk along a hedge-lined driveway
to get to the front porch. You couldn't
see the house from the main road. There
were too many trees. A rickety old
gate had been erected at the front of the drive to keep out nosy busybodies and
a "NO TRESSPASSING" sign had been attached to it. Justin and the rest climbed over and around
the barrier and started up the driveway.
Ashley was especially looking out for bats that might get caught in her
long blond tresses. The boys teased her
constantly.
When they reached the front porch all
commotion stopped. The four just stood
and ran their lights along the wide entryway as if to judge a better way
in. It was creepy in the dark. Big wooden doors guarded the entrance. A partially shattered glass window perched
atop the doors. There was litter
everywhere and the porch floor sagged from the weight of many years of
neglect. One of the front doors was ajar
as if to invite the unwary to enter. The
group accepted the invitation with three of them pushing Justin ahead.
Justin held on to the door and
pushed it open slightly. Enough to peer
around the corner and shine his light into the room. The first room was like a movie set from the
many horror movies he had seen. A
chandelier, covered in cobwebs hovered over the, main floor. A long stairway circled up to a landing that
led to many rooms. There were sheets
over all the furniture and many stray leaves had stolen in from the trees
outside. It was creepy and he had to see
more. He pushed open the creaking door
and the four of them fell in a heap upon the floor.
"Get off, me." Yelled Justin from the bottom of the pile.
Ashley screamed and the others
jumped from the pile.
"What did you do that
for?" Asked
"Something or somebody touched
me!" She hissed accusingly at the
three boys.
"Well no, duh." Said Richard
"We were all laying in a pile on top of Justin."
"Yeah, And thanks for hurrying
to get off me." Said Justin.
Ashley put her hands on her hips and
was about give
"Quiet!" Justin said and waved them all into
silence. They took their flashlights and
aimed them to the top of the stairs where they had heard the noise, but nothing
was there.
"Remind, me Ashley. What is the story on this house." Asked Justin.
"Well," Ashley began. "It all started twenty six years ago
tonight. Mr. MacMasters was a very wealthy businessman. He owned the old mill in town and a lot of
other property, and he married the prettiest woman in town, Mary Darling. Now Mary loved MacMasters and never looked at
another man but MacMasters was very jealous and possessive. He constantly had her followed and was always
afraid someone would steal her or his possessions away from him. The constant accusations and surveillance
finally drove Mary insane and on this night twenty-six years ago she hired a
man to come to the house and kill her tormenting husband. But, he had been watching her from a hidden
room and when a strange man entered his house and talked to his wife Macmasters
believed he had found his wife's lover and stormed out of his room to confront
him with an axe. The man pulled a
pistol and started to fire when the axe hit his hand. The blow caused the gun
to go off and the bullet hit Mary in the chest.
As she fell and died Mary cursed her husband. She cursed him to spend eternity protecting
his possessions and keeping them from others.
The man bleeding from the axe blow grabbed the pistol that fell and
started to run for the door. MacMasters
in his raging grief ran to the door and started hacking the poor man to
death. The man had time to turn and fire
one shot before he died. The shot hit
MacMasters square in the heart and he died instantly. They say that on the anniversary on the
murders you can see the whole scene all over again, but if you look into
MacMasters eyes he will take you also."
"So what you're saying is were
here to see three people get murdered again.
Oh, that's just great." Said Justin.
"Yeah, but real cool if it
happens." Said
"Has anyone seen this happen
before?" Asked Justin.
"No one knows. Anybody that might have seen it won't talk or
can't." Said Ashley.
"Why?" Asked Richard.
"Cause they'd be dead,
Stupid." Said
The front door closed with a large
crash. The foursome jumped and Ashley
shrieked.
"Geez, Ashley. Do they train you down in girl school to yell
like that?" Said Justin covering
his ears.
"No." Said Ashley, hitting Justin with the back of
her hand.
"What's a girl school?"
Asked Richard.
"Oh, he is just being
funny." Huffed Ashley.
They all heard the footsteps climb
the outside porch. Then a soft glow
started to emanate from the center of the room.
Justin grabbed Ashley, who grabbed Richard, who hit
"What time is it?" Asked Ashley
"Midnight." Hissed
Then the hall clock struck twelve
times. On the final stroke the room
became bright and the furniture was new.
The dust and leaves were gone as if a maid had just cleaned the
room. The four teen's eyes were wide and
their jaws dropped to the floor at the transformation. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Three raps.
Tentative and in a hurry. A
beautiful woman entered from the opposite room and furtively opened the
door. A man hurried in.
The woman was dressed well in a
short skirt, sandals and a blue blouse.
It reminded Justin of the way his mom looked in pictures she showed him
taken of her in the early seventies. The
man was in jeans and jeans jacket. He
seemed nervous and anxious. The woman
pulled him into the room and sat next to him on a small sofa across from the
teens. She placed her hand on his, when
suddenly a large agonizing shout came from the wall behind the teens.
The man was wild and looked huge to
the group hidden behind the sofa.
Inaudible shouts were exchanged then suddenly one man had an axe and
raised it to strike the other man. A gun
was pulled and the axe fell upon the arm holding the weapon. A shot rang out and the woman fell. The woman muttered something as she hit the
ground, but the teens were too terrified to move and missed what she said. Then suddenly the men rushed to the door
another shot rang out and the axe kept falling and falling on the man on the
ground. Someone screamed a loud
terrified scream and the man with the axe turned.
Justin awoke from the terror before
his eyes to realize the screaming he heard was Ashley's. She was standing, pointing at the man with
the axe and just screaming. Justin grabbed
Ashley put a hand over her mouth and started to drag her to the back of the
house. But, it was too late. The man, the ghost, had seen her and was
heading for her with an upraised axe, ready to strike. The others let out a scream and started
running for the other room, the ghost hot on their trail.
The back door was locked. The windows were sealed. They tried every
exit and slammed the door shut between them and the ghost. It didn't work. The ghost just materialized on their side of
the door, axe raised ready to strike.
Justin thought, "Well, duh. That was a waste of
time."
He grabbed Ashley who was still screaming and ran
through the other door back to the front room.
As they were leaving the axe fell and Justin reached up to deflect it.
It grazed his hand and he felt the icy cold steel slice his palm and blood
begin to pool in his hand.
""Geez, guys he can hurt us. Run!" He yelled.
Richard and Tyler beat Justin and Ashley to the
front room.
They ran down the steps and to the main street,
yelling and waving their arms, trying to get somebody's attention. A police car pulled up and stopped, both
officers inside jumped out to help.
"What's wrong?" The first officer yelled over Ashley's
constant screaming.
Ashley stunned, finally shut up. Justin and Tyler jumped out of the car and
looked at the house.
"What happened?
Where did he go?" Said
Richard.
Justin followed the police to the front of the house
and up the steps to the door. It was
like it was before. Door ajar, old
broken window above, and leaves and dirt scattered about. There were no lights, no people, and the
furniture was still covered in sheets.
Tyler and Justin stared open mouthed at each other.
"There isn't anybody here now son." Said the officer as he grinned to his
companion.
"Maybe you just saw a ghost." Said the other officer.
"Yeah, let’s take you kids home. Some kids are always coming up here about
this time of year. You probably let your
imagination run wild. Just don't do it
again." Said the first
officer. Both officers grinned as they
turned to head back to the car.
"Yeah you had us going there, kids, especially
with his blood dripping out of his hands.
We'll take you down to the hospital to have it looked at before we take
you home, son." Said the second
officer.
It was only then that Justin saw the cut he still
had from his encounter with the man with the axe. Ashley, Justin, Tyler, and
Richard took one look at Justin's blood and streaked for the car. The officers turned the car around and headed
out the drive. It was then, while all of
them were looking out the back window that lights from the house shown
again. The gang never went back to the
house, even in daylight.