GHOSTS OF GOVERNMENT HOUSE EXCERPT
Ghosts of Government House
CHAPTER ONE
“Wouldn’t it be cool to live here?” asked Samantha. She brushed her long blonde hair out of her face and leaned over the balustrade on the second floor of the Government House Museum. Sam and her best friend Jensyn gazed down at the immense main hall. The gleaming hardwood floor of the old ballroom was almost as long as their school gymnasium.
“You’d practically need a skateboard to get around,” said Jensyn.
Sam laughed. “There’d be a hitch with the mats, J.J.” She eyed the large Oriental rugs scattered at intervals throughout.
“And the furniture,” said J.J., flicking her brown hair over her shoulders. A vintage player piano and several antique chairs sat around the perimeter of the room.
Sam heard sudden chatter coming from the last bedroom at the other end of the hall. The other kids on the local community tour had gathered there with their assigned host, Lisa.
“This was the home of six Lieutenant Governors starting in 1891, and the office of many more,” Lisa was explaining. The host’s voice droned on about the history of the government at the time. Their group leader, Mrs. Walker, listened intently.
Sam rolled her eyes at J.J. Her friend giggled.
Resting her arms on the banister, Sam stared at the scene below them while J.J. stood silently beside her. Soaking up the historic atmosphere of the magnificent place, Sam imagined the many families that had once lived there.
Down the hall, the chattering suddenly ceased.
Now the stately home was eerily still. It seemed as though it was on pause, waiting until the visitors left so that it might resume some unseen activities.
“Sam, J.J.!” Lisa called, breaking the silence. ”Keep up girls, so we have time to dress up in Victorian costumes.”
J.J. started forward, but Sam tugged her back. “We can dress up some other time. Let’s keep checking out this floor instead.”
“We’ll get into trouble…” J.J. hesitated.
“What kind of trouble could we get into?” Sam whispered, watching the others filing into the interpretative centre. “We’re not going to touch anything.” She ducked into a middle room, pulling J.J. with her. “They won’t even notice we’re missing.”
Moments later they heard the loud snick of a door closing.
“Yes! Where do you want to look first?” Sam asked. “How about….”
Suddenly, they were plunged into darkness.
J.J. squealed.
Sam shivered. “The lights must automatically go out when everyone leaves this part of the house.” Her voice wavered.
“Let’s go back to the group,” J.J. said.
They eased themselves along the upper hallway, brushing against the wall to feel their way to the interpretative centre door. Sam felt the velour wallpaper graze her hands.
Slap-slap, slap-slap, slap-slap, flap.
Sam gasped and clung to J.J. as the sound of footsteps approached. “Can you see anyone?” she hissed, peering over J.J.’s shoulder into blackness.
“No.” J.J.’s cold hand clutched her arm.
To their right, a tiny red glow from the Exit light cast muted shadows at the top of the broad staircase. Suddenly, it went out. The vast dark residence was like being deep in a cave.
“Maybe it’s the host coming back,” J.J. said faintly as the footsteps came closer. “Or a security guard?”
Sam shook her head and caught her breath. “There’s only one commissionaire on duty. He’s at the front door and isn’t supposed to leave his post.”
“Maybe he saw us on a monitor and is coming to investigate.”
In the blackness, Sam checked for tiny blinking security lights. But the broad hall and large centre well were completely steeped in darkness.
“Can’t see any cameras,” she whispered.
Slap-slap, slap-slap, slap-slap, slap.
“Well, whoever it is, they’re coming this way. In flip-flops.” J.J. huddled closer to Sam.
Sam peered into the dark room. Who was it? “I still can’t see anyone.”
J.J.’s grip on Sam’s arm tightened. “Do you think it’s a ghost?”
Sam felt a little shiver run up her spine. “Maybe…?”
She pressed back tightly against the wall as the footsteps headed straight towards them.
SLAP-SLAP, SLAP-SLAP, SLAP-SLAP.
Sam sucked in her breath as the footsteps drew level with them. Her heart pounded. Beside her, J.J. squeaked.
The footsteps went past, and on to the end of the hallway.
Sam strained to see through the shadows. But nobody was there. She gulped as the footsteps continued – right through a closed door.
J.J.’s fingers dug into Sam’s arm and didn’t let go. “Did you hear where those footsteps went?” J.J.’s voice wobbled.
Sam loosened J.J.’s hold. “Let’s get out of here.”
In silence, the girls edged as fast as they dared along the wall to the exit at the opposite end of the hall. When they reached the interpretive display area, Sam opened the door a crack. Subdued lighting cast an eerie glow. The power must have come on again. The girls darted into the foyer.
All the other kids were gone.
GHOSTS IN THE GARDEN EXCERPT
CHAPTER ONE
“Maybe it’s a little too dark to be down here,” suggested J.J. She and Sam inched their way down an almost dark hallway in the basement towards a door they could see several metres away. “We don’t want to trip and fall.”
“I suppose not,” said Sam. She felt along the cement wall. “There must be a light switch along here somewhere.”
“Overhead, but don’t grab the string.” A gravelly voice came out of nowhere.
J.J. screamed and Sam clutched her arm.
“Who’s that?” Sam croaked.
“George Watt at your service little misses. And just what brings you down this way?” A figure of a tall slim man with a dark curly moustache emerged from the shadows. A strange hissing sound came from somewhere down the hall behind him.
Sam’s eyes widened as J.J.’s fingers grasped her arm harder.
“This is not the place for guests of Sir Richard Lake to be dawdling.”
“Ah, we were, ah, that is we aren’t, uh…” Sam’s voice trailed off. “We aren’t Sir Richard’s Lake’s guests.”
“Just exploring,” J.J. came to the rescue. She eased her hold from Sam’s arm.
George Watt seemed not have heard her.
“I’ll bet you’ve come to see my special crop…fungi. Mind yourselves while I go switch on the light down the hall. Don’t want to have any lights on in this area. Mushrooms need darkness you know.” He pointed to the open doorway from which he must have stepped.
The girls peered into the dim/almost dark room. Sam could just make out stacks/shelves of shallow wooden boxes filled with dirt. The place smelled like her great-aunt Martha’s potato bin on the farm in the spring….mouldy and damp. The air was misty and there was that hissing again. Sam pulled J.J. back and they followed George Watt’s footsteps until he pulled on the light switch at the other end of the hall.
Judith Silverthorne 