James, G10A, RDF International School

瑞得福国际学校 张鹏森

There is a weird house beside my apartment. All my neighbors told me not to get too close to that house because they thought it was haunted. The entire house is covered with vines. The old and shabby roof seems like it would fall down at any time, and the garden hasn’t been clean for a long time. The house always makes a strange creaking sound. There also are some black cats wandering around it. They kept people away from the house.

One evening, I just bought some stuff from local grocery store. Darkness slowly climbed up on the evening sky. When I passed by that house, the house became even creepier under the night sky. A cold feeling slowly climbed up my back, but curiosity pushed me to step into the gate. I saw a dim light pass through the window covered with vines and shadows that fluttered on the second floor.

I walked in front of the doorway. The door didn’t close and the hinges on the door seemed they would fall off at any time. I walked right past it carefully and tried not to make loud noises. The floor was covered with dust and had a musty smell. And the air was filled with dust. The floor started to make creaky sounds when I stepped on it and it made me chilly. All the wallpapers were worn-out in the living room and faucet was covered with dust. The sink was full of dirty, unknown slime-like materials.

Suddenly, lightning flashed across the sky. Under the bright light of lighting, the silhouette of the strange-looking tree became even creepier than it looked during the day.

Then it started to rain. Raindrops made loud noises when it hit on the roof. Between the loud noises of the rain, there were some strange tapping sounds on the second floor. I walked up the old funky stairs; there was a beam of light behind the door. I slowly pushed the door open and saw the beautiful wallpaper and fancy drawing. A bed made of wood settled right in the middle of the room and I saw a man sitting on a ladder and fixing the leaky ceiling. The whole room made a strong comparison with the entire house. But suddenly a strike behind the back of my head put me in a coma.

When I woke up with some consciousness, there was a strange man sitting beside me and looking at me. I quickly realized this was the man I saw in that house. “What happened?”

The back of my head still really hurts. “Well, you were being knocked out by a wooden block, fortunately, no big deal,” said the man. “By the way, I’m your neighbor next door. Nice to meet you. I’m the owner of that house and I was doing some construction. It might be creepy now but not for long, my friend.”