The Howler Read Free

Then he bounced up and down as he stared at the monitor.
    “Why do you keep wasting your time, Spencer? Ikeep telling you, my house is haunted. There are ghosts all over the place.”
    “Scott—please don’t start that again,” I begged.
    “Yeah, Scott,” Vanessa agreed. “Please don’t start that.”
    “But it’s true ! he protested.
    After I became interested in ghosts, Scott started bragging that his house was haunted. He was always coming into school and telling everyone how a ghost kept him up all night. Or how he spotted a ghost in the basement or the attic.
    A few kids believed him. But I knew he was lying.
    I knew what he was doing. He just wanted attention. He always had to be the first one to do this, and the first one to do that.
    And now he wanted to make sure he was the first one to see a ghost.
    It was kind of sad, really. Why did he have to be the center of attention? Why did he feel he had to lie and brag and make up stories so that kids would like him?
    “Come over here,” he said, jumping up from my bed. He tossed my pillow against the wall. Then he pulled me up from my chair and dragged me to my bedroom window.
    “Check out my house,” he said, grabbing the sides of my head and turning it to face his house. “Look at the broken shutters. The faded shingles. The sagging roof. The dark attic windows. It looks like a haunted house, doesn’t it?”
    “It just looks old,” I said. I jerked my head, trying to knock his hands away. “Just because it’s old and a little run-down doesn’t mean it’s a haunted house, Scott.”
    He groaned. He wouldn’t let go of my head. “Look at it,” he insisted. “No lie. I’ve seen ghosts in there. I hear them at night, clanking up and down in the attic.”
    “Give me a break,” I sighed.
    “Give us both a break,” Vanessa chimed in.
    Scott had no idea how serious this was to me. I really couldn’t stand to hear any more of his phony ghost stories. I decided to end his ghost talk forever.
    “Okay,” I said. “Show us. Show us your ghosts—right now.”

6
    Scott’s cheeks turned pink: “Uh…I can’t right now,” he said, staring down at the floor.
    “Why not?” I demanded.
    “My mom has her book club over,” he replied. “And I’m not supposed to bother her.” He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “How about tomorrow?”
    I turned to Vanessa. “Is tomorrow okay?”
    She nodded. “I guess. But it’s a total waste of time. You know he doesn’t have any ghosts at his house. He’s making it all up.”
    “No way,” Scott insisted. “I’ll prove it to you. After school tomorrow.” He hurried away.
    The gray box buzzed. I spun away from the window and hurried back to the computer. The screen had gone black. The red and green lights had stopped blinking.
    “I can’t believe you bought this stupid thing,”Vanessa said. “It’s just a toy. That’s all.”
    I shrugged. “Whatever.”
     
    I thought about Scott’s ghosts all through school the next day. I knew there was no way he could show us any ghosts. I wondered what excuse he would give.
    Vanessa and I reached his house a little after three-thirty. He pushed open the back door, and we stepped into the kitchen. I inhaled deeply. “Wow, it smells good in here.”
    “My mom is roasting a chicken,” Scott said.
    “Do the ghosts like your mom’s cooking?” Vanessa asked.
    It was a joke. But Scott answered seriously, “I’ve never seen them eat. Sometimes they move the plates around, and we find them in different cabinets. But we’ve never had any food missing.”
    I squinted at Scott. Was he for real?
    No way, I decided. Scott will do anything to be the center of attention.
    And then I heard the howl. High and shrill.
    A ghostly howl. So near…So near…
    I gasped and turned to Vanessa. She’d heard it too.
    My eyes darted around the room. And I heard it again.
    A raspy howl, followed by eerie scratching sounds.
    The howl of a ghost.

7
    Another eerie howl