01 - Welcome to Dead House Read online

  Mr. Dawes stood back up and shrugged. “Can’t win ’em all.” He started back to his car, parked a few yards down the street. “I’m heading over to your house,” he told Josh and me. “Just want to see if there’s anything I can do to help your parents. Have fun, kids.”

  I watched him climb into his car and drive away.

  “He’s a nice guy,” Ray said.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. I was still feeling uncomfortable, wondering what the kids would do now that Mr. Dawes was gone.

  Would they form that frightening circle again?

  No. Everyone started walking, heading down the block to the playground behind the school. They were kidding each other and talking normally, and pretty much ignored Josh and me.

  I was starting to feel a little silly. It was obvious that they hadn’t been trying to scare Josh and me. I must have made the whole thing up in my mind.

  I must have.

  At least, I told myself, I hadn’t screamed or made a scene. At least I hadn’t made a total fool of myself.

  The playground was completely empty. I guessed that most kids had stayed inside because of the threatening sky. The playground was a large, flat grassy field, surrounded on all four sides by a tall metal fence. There were swings and slides at the end nearest the school building. There were two baseball diamonds on the other end. Beyond the fence, I could see a row of tennis courts, also deserted.

  Josh tied Petey to the fence, then came running over to join the rest of us. The boy named Jerry Franklin made up the teams. Ray and I were on the same team. Josh was on the other.

  As our team took the field, I felt excited and a little nervous. I’m not the best softball player in the world. I can hit the ball pretty well. But in the field, I’m a complete klutz. Luckily, Jerry sent me out to right field where not many balls are hit.

  The clouds began to part a little and the sky got lighter. We played two full innings. The other team was winning, eight to two. I was having fun.

  I had only messed up on one play. And I hit a double my first time at bat.

  It was fun being with a whole new group of kids. They seemed really nice, especially the girl named Karen Somerset, who talked with me while we waited for our turn at bat. Karen had a great smile, even though she wore braces on all her teeth, up and down. She seemed very eager to be friends.

  The sun was coming out as my team started to take the field for the beginning of the third inning. Suddenly, I heard a loud, shrill whistle. I looked around until I saw that it was Jerry Franklin, blowing a silver whistle.

  Everyone came running up to him. “We’d better quit,” he said, looking up at the brightening sky. “We promised our folks, remember, that we’d be home for lunch.”

  I glanced at my watch. It was only eleven-thirty. Still early.

  But to my surprise, no one protested.

  They all waved to each other and called out farewells, and then began to run. I couldn’t believe how fast everyone left. It was as if they were racing or something.

  Karen ran past me like the others, her head down, a serious expression on her pretty face. Then she stopped suddenly and turned around. “Nice meeting you, Amanda,” she called back. “We should get together sometime.”

  “Great!” I called to her. “Do you know where I live?”

  I couldn’t hear her answer very well. She nodded, and I thought she said, “Yes. I know it. I used to live in your house.”

  But that couldn’t have been what she said.

  11

  Several days went by. Josh and I were getting used to our new house and our new friends.

  The kids we met every day at the playground weren’t exactly friends yet. They talked with Josh and me, and let us on their teams. But it was really hard to get to know them.

  In my room, I kept hearing whispers late at night, and soft giggling, but I forced myself to ignore it. One night, I thought I saw a girl dressed all in white at the end of the upstairs hall. But when I walked over to investigate, there was just a pile of dirty sheets and other bedclothes against the wall.

  Josh and I were adjusting, but Petey was still acting really strange. We took him with us to the playground every day, but we had to leash him to the fence. Otherwise, he’d bark and snap at all the kids.

  “He’s still nervous being in a new place,” I told Josh. “He’ll calm down.”

  But Petey didn’t calm down. And about two weeks later, we were finishing up a softball game with Ray, and Karen Somerset, and Jerry Franklin, and George Carpenter, and a bunch of other kids, when I looked over to the fence and saw that Petey was gone.

  Somehow he had broken out of his leash and run away.

  We looked for hours, calling “Petey!” wandering from block to block, searching front yards and backyards, empty lots and woods. Then, after circling the neighborhood twice, Josh and I suddenly realized we had no idea where we were.

  The streets of Dark Falls looked the same. They were all lined with sprawling old brick or shingle houses, all filled with shady old trees.

  “I don’t believe it. We’re lost,” Josh said, leaning against a tree trunk, trying to catch his breath.

  “That stupid dog,” I muttered, my eyes searching up the street. “Why did he do this? He’s never run away before.”

  “I don’t know how he got loose,” Josh said, shaking his head, then wiping his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his T-shirt. “I tied him up really well.”

  “Hey—maybe he ran home,” I said. The idea immediately cheered me up.

  “Yeah!” Josh stepped away from the tree and headed back over to me. “I’ll bet you’re right, Amanda. He’s probably been home for hours. Wow. We’ve been stupid. We should’ve checked home first. Let’s go!”

  “Well,” I said, looking around at the empty yards, “we just have to figure out which way is home.”

  I looked up and down the street, trying to figure out which way we’d turned when we left the school playground. I couldn’t remember, so we just started walking.

  Luckily, as we reached the next corner, the school came into sight. We had made a full circle. It was easy to find our way from there.

  Passing the playground, I stared at the spot on the fence where Petey had been tied. That troublemaking dog. He’d been acting so badly ever since we came to Dark Falls.

  Would he be home when we got there? I hoped so.

  A few minutes later, Josh and I were running up the gravel driveway, calling the dog’s name at the top of our lungs. The front door burst open and Mom, her hair tied in a red bandanna, the knees of her jeans covered with dust, leaned out. She and Dad had been painting the back porch. “Where have you two been? Lunchtime was two hours ago!”

  Josh and I both answered at the same time. “Is Petey here?”

  “We’ve been looking for Petey!”

  “Is he here?”

  Mom’s face filled with confusion. “Petey? I thought he was with you.”

  My heart sank. Josh slumped to the driveway with a loud sigh, sprawling flat on his back in the gravel and leaves.

  “You haven’t seen him?” I asked, my trembling voice showing my disappointment. “He was with us. But he ran away.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” Mom said, motioning for Josh to get up from the driveway. “He ran away? I thought you’ve been keeping him on a leash.”

  “You’ve got to help us find him,” Josh pleaded, not budging from the ground. “Get the car. We’ve got to find him—right now!”

  “I’m sure he hasn’t gotten far,” Mom said. “You must be starving. Come in and have some lunch and then we’ll—”

  “No. Right now!” Josh screamed.

  “What’s going on?” Dad, his face and hair covered with tiny flecks of white paint, joined Mom on the front porch. “Josh—what’s all the yelling?”

  We explained to Dad what had happened. He said he was too busy to drive around looking for Petey. Mom said she’d do it, but only after we had some lunch. I pulled Josh up by bot
h arms and dragged him into the house.

  We washed up and gulped down some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then Mom took the car out of the garage, and we drove around and around the neighborhood searching for our lost pet.

  With no luck.

  No sign of him.

  Josh and I were miserable. Heartbroken. Mom and Dad called the local police. Dad kept saying that Petey had a good sense of direction, that he’d show up any minute.

  But we didn’t really believe it.

  Where was he?

  The four of us ate dinner in silence. It was the longest, most horrible evening of my life. “I tied him up really good,” Josh repeated, close to tears, his dinner plate still full.

  “Dogs are great escape artists,” Dad said, “Don’t worry. He’ll show up.”

  “Some night for a party,” Mom said glumly.

  I’d completely forgotten that they were going out. Some neighbors on the next block had invited them to a big potluck dinner party.

  “I sure don’t feel like partying, either,” Dad said with a sigh. “I’m beat from painting all day. But I guess we have to be neighborly. Sure you kids will be okay here?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” I said, thinking about Petey. I kept listening for his bark, listening for scratching at the door.

  But no. The hours dragged by. Petey still hadn’t shown up by bedtime.

  Josh and I both slinked upstairs. I felt really tired, weary from all the worrying, and the running around and searching for Petey, I guess. But I knew I’d never be able to get to sleep.

  In the hall outside my bedroom door, I heard whispering from inside my room and quiet footsteps. The usual sounds my room made. I wasn’t at all scared of them or surprised by them anymore.

  Without hesitating, I stepped into my room and clicked on the light. The room was empty, as I knew it would be. The mysterious sounds disappeared. I glanced at the curtains, which lay straight and still.

  Then I saw the clothes strewn all over my bed.

  Several pairs of jeans. Several T-shirts. A couple of sweatshirts. My only dress-up skirt.

  That’s strange, I thought. Mom was such a neat freak. If she had washed these things, she surely would have hung them up or put them into dresser drawers.

  Sighing wearily, I started to gather up the clothes and put them away. I figured that Mom simply had too much to do to be bothered. She had probably washed the stuff and then left it here for me to put away. Or she had put it all down, planning to come back later and put it away, and then got busy with other chores.

  Half an hour later, I was tucked into my bed wide awake, staring at the shadows on the ceiling.

  Some time after that—I lost track of the time—I was still wide awake, still thinking about Petey, thinking about the new kids I’d met, thinking about the new neighborhood, when I heard my bedroom door creak and swing open.

  Footsteps on the creaking floorboards.

  I sat up in the darkness as someone crept into my room.

  “Amanda—ssshh—it’s me.”

  Alarmed, it took me a few seconds to recognize the hushed whisper. “Josh! What do you want? What are you doing in here?”

  I gasped as a blinding light forced me to cover my eyes. “Oops. Sorry,” Josh said. “My flashlight. I didn’t mean to—”

  “Ow, that’s bright,” I said, blinking. He aimed the powerful beam of white light up at the ceiling.

  “Yeah. It’s a halogen flashlight,” he said.

  “Well, what do you want?” I asked irritably. I still couldn’t see well. I rubbed my eyes, but it didn’t help.

  “I know where Petey is,” Josh whispered, “and I’m going to go get him. Come with me?”

  “Huh?” I looked at the little clock on my bed table. “It’s after midnight, Josh.”

  “So? It won’t take long. Really.”

  My eyes were nearly normal by now. Staring at Josh in the light from the halogen flashlight, I noticed for the first time that he was fully dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.

  “I don’t get it, Josh,” I said, swinging around and putting my feet on the floor. “We looked everywhere. Where do you think Petey is?”

  “In the cemetery,” Josh answered. His eyes looked big and dark and serious in the white light.

  “Huh?”

  “That’s where he ran the first time, remember? When we first came to Dark Falls? He ran to that cemetery just past the school.”

  “Now, wait a minute—” I started.

  “We drove past it this afternoon, but we didn’t look inside. He’s there, Amanda. I know he is. And I’m going to go get him whether you come or not.”

  “Josh, calm down,” I said, putting my hands on his narrow shoulders. I was surprised to discover that he was trembling. “There’s no reason for Petey to be in that cemetery.”

  “That’s where he went the first time,” Josh insisted. “He was looking for something there that day. I could tell. I know he’s there again, Amanda.” He pulled away from me. “Are you coming or not?”

  My brother has to be the stubbornest, most headstrong person in the world.

  “Josh, you’re really going to walk into a strange cemetery so late at night?” I asked.

  “I’m not afraid,” he said, shining the bright light around my room.

  For a brief second, I thought the light caught someone, lurking behind the curtains. I opened my mouth to cry out. But there was no one there.

  “You coming or not?” he repeated impatiently.

  I was going to say no. But then, glancing at the curtains, I thought, it’s probably no more spooky out there in that cemetery than it is here in my own bedroom!

  “Yeah. Okay,” I said grudgingly. “Get out of here and let me get dressed.”

  “Okay,” he whispered, turning off the flashlight, plunging us into blackness. “Meet me down at the end of the driveway.”

  “Josh—one quick look at the cemetery, then we hurry home. Got it?” I told him.

  “Yeah. Right. We’ll be home before Mom and Dad get back from that party.” He crept out. I could hear him making his way quickly down the stairs.

  This is the craziest idea ever, I told myself as I searched in the darkness for some clothes to pull on.

  And it was also kind of exciting.

  Josh was wrong. No doubt about it. Petey wouldn’t be hanging around in that cemetery now. Why on earth should he?

  But at least it wasn’t a long walk. And it was an adventure. Something to write about to Kathy back home.

  And if Josh happened to be right, and we did manage to find poor, lost Petey, well, that would be great, too.

  A few minutes later, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, I crept out of the house and joined Josh at the bottom of the driveway. The night was still warm. A heavy blanket of clouds covered the moon. I realized for the first time that there were no streetlights on our block.

  Josh had the halogen flashlight on, aimed down at our feet. “You ready?” he asked.

  Dumb question. Would I be standing there if I weren’t ready?

  We crunched over dead leaves as we headed up the block, toward the school. From there, it was just two blocks to the cemetery.

  “It’s so dark,” I whispered. The houses were black and silent. There was no breeze at all. It was as if we were all alone in the world.

  “It’s too quiet,” I said, hurrying to keep up with Josh. “No crickets or anything. Are you sure you really want to go to the cemetery?”

  “I’m sure,” he said, his eyes following the circle of light from the flashlight as it bumped over the ground. “I really think Petey is there.”

  We walked in the street, keeping close to the curb. We had gone nearly two blocks. The school was just coming into sight on the next block when we heard the scraping steps behind us on the pavement.

  Josh and I both stopped. He lowered the light.

  We both heard the sounds. I wasn’t imagining them.

  Someone was following us
.

  12

  Josh was so startled, the flashlight tumbled from his hand and clattered onto the street. The light flickered but didn’t go out.

  By the time Josh had managed to pick it up, our pursuer had caught up to us. I spun around to face him, my heart pounding in my chest.

  “Ray! What are you doing here?”

  Josh aimed the light at Ray’s face, but Ray shot his arms up to shield his face and ducked back into the darkness. “What are you two doing here?” he cried, sounding almost as startled as I did.

  “You—you scared us,” Josh said angrily, aiming the flashlight back down at our feet.

  “Sorry,” Ray said, “I would’ve called out, but I wasn’t sure it was you.”

  “Josh has this crazy idea about where Petey might be,” I told him, still struggling to catch my breath. “That’s why we’re out here.”

  “What about you?” Josh asked Ray.

  “Well, sometimes I have trouble sleeping,” Ray said softly.

  “Don’t your parents mind you being out so late?” I asked.

  In the glow from the flashlight, I could see a wicked smile cross his face. “They don’t know.”

  “Are we going to the cemetery or not?” Josh asked impatiently. Without waiting for an answer, he started jogging up the road, the light bobbing on the pavement in front of him. I turned and followed, wanting to stay close to the light.

  “Where are you going?” Ray called, hurrying to catch up.

  “The cemetery,” I called back.

  “No,” Ray said. “You’re not.”

  His voice was so low, so threatening, that I stopped. “What?”

  “You’re not going there,” Ray repeated. I couldn’t see his face. It was hidden in darkness. But his words sounded menacing.

  “Hurry!” Josh called back to us. He hadn’t slowed down. He didn’t seem to notice the threat in Ray’s words.

  “Stop, Josh!” Ray called. It sounded more like an order than a request. “You can’t go there!”

  “Why not?” I demanded, suddenly afraid. Was Ray threatening Josh and me? Did he know something we didn’t? Or was I making a big deal out of nothing once again?