Headless Horseman House

• Zara Mesley, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2017

Halloween. Zoe’s favourite time of year. Nothing could spoil it this year. Nope, Zoe’s two best friends, Aria and Ethan, were coming over. Zoe’s mum had finally agreed to let them explore the supposably empty haunted house, ‘Headless Horseman House’, which was next to the town’s graveyard, Blackhill tombs.
“Zoe, come down now, your friend Aria is here,” her mother called. Zoe flew downstairs to meet her.
“Hi Aria.”
Just then the doorbell rang. Both girls ran to get it.
“Hi Ethan,” they said and flung a backpack full of torches on his back and pulled him out of the doorway and into the well-lit footpath.
After what felt like hours of walking they came to a huge, crumbling castle, with a sign saying ‘HEADLESS HORSEMAN HOUSE.’
The three friends walked slowly towards the castle.
Ethan walked bravely up to the door and pushed it open. The girls followed reluctantly. They walked into a dusty, dark room. Ethan pulled a torch out of the bag and lit it. They were in a room that looked like it used to be a parlour, but its extravagant armchairs looked like they were a million years old, they were so timeworn and battered. Zoe sat down on one of the armchairs and it broke under her weight. She jumped up and a piece of old paper with writing on it fell from the roof. They all made a grab for it but Ethan was fastest. He read it aloud. It said:
THAT WAS MY MOTHER’S
Zoe let out a shriek of terror.
“Shhhhhhhhh!” hissed Ethan. “Listen!” As Zoe hesitantly stopped screaming, the three friends heard a low, mournful, moaning.
“Agghhhhhhh!” They rushed out of the parlour and into a room that had rows upon rows of books. It was a library.
“Wow,” said Zoe, all worries forgotten. She walked over to the closest shelf and pulled out a book. A letter fell out of the book. It said:
GET OUT FILTHY CHILDREN
They screamed and ran out of the library and found themselves standing at the bottom of a tall, winding staircase.
“D’you reckon we should go up?” Zoe asked uncertainly.
“Um, Ok,” said Ethan. They slowly climbed the staircase. When they got to the top, the same wailing, moaning sound came from around the corner..…Zoe, Ethan and Aria all screamed as a silvery, grey man with a knife in his neck and nails in his hands floated out of a small room. He was talking, but the three teenagers couldn’t understand him. The ghost’s voice was like iron nails dragged over rock. It rose and fell, never once making the words audible. Then the mouth stretched wide in a hysterical scream. “Ooout!” it yelled. Zoe, Ethan and Aria didn’t waste time arguing. They fled down the stairs, screams wailing after them, and into the dark night.