Dead Scary: The Ghost who refused to leave

By Sally Gould

Adam is an ordinary boy, except for one thing. He can see and talk with ghosts.

When his family moves into what seems like the home of his dreams, Adam finds out it isn't his dream home after all. Edward Lawrence, a bossy ghost who was Adam's age when he died, regards the home as his own and he doesn't want to share it with an annoying boy who can see him.

After Edward fails to convince Adam to get his family to move out, he seeks powerful help from the earthbound spirit world to get rid of them.

However, Adam has an ally in the earthbound spirit world as well as knowing a handful of tricks to get rid of ghosts. Adam just has to get rid of Edward before the Council of Earthbound Spirits authorizes Warrior Spirits to get rid of Adam and his family.

But will Adam succeed in time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sally Gould
• Release date: Mar 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311481412

Sally Gould

Sally Gould loved books from a young age, but never considered writing them. While she was busy getting up to the mischief that teenagers get up to, she forgot about books all together. Then total insanity took hold and she became a corporate lawyer. Fortunately, she had two sons and they inspired her to write stories for children. Of course, her oldest son is responsible, logical, studious, considerate, grateful and even makes his bed. The youngest one is only interested in having fun - lots of it. And, except for his teachers, he makes everyone laugh. Their antics have inspired many of Sally's stories. Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her family and two dogs - Pebbles, who is sensible, and Jade, who just wants to have fun.For other books written by Sally, see: www.sallygould.com.au

Book preview

Dead Scary

The Ghost who refused to leave

Sally Gould

Copyright © 2014 Sally Gould

All rights reserved.

Published by Orbis Media

Editing by Brooke Clark, Spring Agency

Cover Design by www.ebooklaunch.com

The reality is that ghosts are all around us.

Mary Ann Winkowski

Author of 'When Ghosts Speak' and

Paranormal Consultant for the TV series Ghost Whisperer

Table of Contents

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Other books by Sally Gould:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

1

'Woodlands' was vintage red brick with big windows and lots of stained glass. The comfy chairs on the front veranda and the garden full of flowers made the house seem more friendly than grand. None of us spoke; we just stared out the car windows as Dad parked out the front. I reckon we still couldn't believe how our lives had changed. Mom's childless-super-rich-computer-software-whiz uncle had died in a plane crash and Mom inherited his whole fortune. For the first time I was happy we didn't have many relatives.

We'd only ever lived in a shoebox stuck in between two other shoeboxes, surrounded by asphalt, with barely a tree in sight. Now we were moving into the home from heaven. Lucky I knew who my friends were; I wouldn't want kids being my friend just so they could swim in my twenty-metre pool, soak in the spa, play tennis and hang out in the games room. I couldn't wait to invite my friends over. They'd probably want to move into one of the spare bedrooms.

Caesar barked when the removals truck beeped as it reversed into our driveway. I opened the car door and turned to Emily. Her pale blue eyes were wide open and she bounced on her seat. Usually she only got this excited the night before Christmas. 'Ready?'

She clung on to her favorite doll and followed me and Caesar to the front door. Emily liked our old shoebox and hadn't wanted to move at first. When she announced at dinner one night that she wasn't moving, Mom looked horrified. So I saved the day by telling her that living in a house with a big backyard would be better when she had her own dog. After that she couldn't wait to move. Problem solved, except Mom didn't want another dog. Mom wasn't impressed.

Dad unlocked the front door and Emily squealed. We raced down the wide hallway to our bedrooms. We'd chosen our rooms, the first time we got to see inside. When I saw it was a choice between unreal and unreal, I let Emily choose. All my clothes would fit into a quarter of the closet space and all my books would take up about ten per cent of the bookcase. I'd have to spread everything out. The desk went the whole way along one wall - who needed a desk that long?

Caesar began to bark like crazy in a room at the front of the house.

Mom called out from the kitchen, 'Adam, find out what's bothering Caesar.'

As soon as I'd sprinted back up the hallway to the study, I could see what was bothering Caesar. I patted him and whispered, 'It's okay.' He stopped barking and began to sniff around the room.

'Hello,' I said to the boy sitting on the bay window seat. He looked about the same age as me.

The boy looked round as if I were talking to someone else. Then, he said, 'Are you talking to me?'

'Who else would I be talking to?' I said telepathically. I communicate with ghosts by thinking the words, instead of saying them aloud. When I was little, I assumed everyone saw and talked to ghosts. Luckily, I worked out before I started school that 'normal' people couldn't see them.

The boy raised his eyebrows and I wondered whether he'd had a conversation with a living person since he died. He whispered, 'Can you see me?'

I nodded. 'My family won't be able to see you. Only me and my Grandpa George see ghosts.' His aura turned orange, which meant I'd irritated him. I see the auras of ghosts too. That's the energy surrounding the ghost, which changes color depending on the ghost's mood. Even my Grandpa George can't see auras; it's pretty unusual. He reckons for every one hundred people who can see and talk to ghosts, only one of them can see their auras. Grandpa George helped me to work out what the colors meant. What I couldn't work out with this ghost was what I'd said to irritate him.

He let out a big sigh. 'Only my Grandpa George and I can see ghosts. And, actually, Earthbound Spirits is the correct term.' His voice was as posh as.

'Yeah, Earthbound Spirits, ghosts - same thing. You weren't here the first time I came to the house.'

The boy shrugged. 'I must've been out.'

'What's your name?'

'Edward Lawrence. And you are Adam?'

'Castle.'

'Pleased to meet you, Adam. Your gift of sight is extraordinarily good. It's a privilege to meet a member of the Living who can tune in to our frequency.'

I don't like being called a 'member of the Living' - as though we're the weird ones.

'Who knows you have the gift of sight?'

'Only my Grandpa George. He reckons if we told my parents they'd send us to the nut house,' I said as Caesar sniffed Edward's shoe. He shrank back - he obviously didn't like dogs. I asked, 'Why are you wearing a blazer and tie?' I didn't mention his ridiculous-looking shorts.

'Why are you wearing jeans and a dirty T-shirt?' he replied.

When I didn't answer, he said, 'I died in my school uniform. I always remove my cap before teleporting inside.'

Ghosts move from place to place by thinking where they want to be. 'Lucky,' I said. 'My parents wouldn't be happy if the ghost of the house wore a cap inside.'

He rolled his eyes, but I could tell he liked my joke by the pinkish tinge of his aura.

'What's that on the inside of your hands?' I asked.

'Ink. Newspaper ink stained my hands. I used to help out at my father's newspaper office after school.'

'Was this your home when you died?'

'Yes.'

'When did you die?'

'1945.'

'How old were you then?' I asked.

'Fourteen.'

The look of pain on his face told me he was still upset about dying when he did. Ghosts were all the same. Most people go into the Light as soon as they die. Well, their bodies don't, just their spirits. That's what Grandpa George said spirits should do. Some spirits go to their own funerals, which is okay because they still have some time after the funeral before the Light disappears. Grandpa George reckons when a spirit goes into the Light it meets up with the spirits of the people they loved who have already crossed over. 'Why didn't you go into the Light?' I said.

He frowned. 'It was my choice. When you die, you have the choice to stay or to go into the Light.'

I took a step toward him. 'Okay, but don't suck out any of our energy. You have to get your energy from people outside.' Ghosts are pure energy and can only exist by taking energy from people. If they take too much energy, the person gets sick. But most ghosts don't do that (so they reckon) and, usually, it's just a bit draining for people who live with a ghost, like being around someone who whines all the time. Ghosts can't give a person their energy, like a happy fun person does when you hang round them.

'Adam, I always obey the rules that Earthbound Spirits are supposed to obey. Every

Reviews for Dead Scary

[eisah-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.(Spoilers within)The story is simple enough. In this tale the main character, Adam, can see ghosts, or "Earthbound Spirits". He's always been able to do this and considers dealing with them a normal part of life even though his parents can't see them and don't believe they exist. His family inherits a dream home. Unfortunately, the ghost who lives there, Eddie, is stubborn and demanding and won't leave. Adam has to deal with Eddie all by himself.I'd say there's mostly two characters in this book: Adam and Eddie. Other characters tend to exist to fill a role, like Adam's parents being big disbelievers, or his little sister being easily scared.The story moves along at a good pace. The first strange I noticed was incomplete sentences. I think there were more of these at the beginning of the story than at the end, but there were still several cases.His voice was as posh as.Waiting until tomorrow to find out about this Edward Lawrence wasn't on.Isabel, of course, thought she was as clever as.Ghosts are pure energy, so teleporting is as easy as.Every time I ran into one of these I stopped to re-read and make sure I hadn't missed something.There were also times it just said stuff.That must've been a good answer, because Mom gave me a quick smile and Eddie rolled his eyes and disappeared. We'd only just moved in and he already seemed to be fond of Emily.His action doesn't show him being fond of her at all. It's just said out of nowhere.So, the story goes along, Adam and Eddie can't stand each other, and Eddie decides to use his connections in order to force Adam and his family out of the house. Apparently, because of his high position in the Earthbound Spirit world, he can get the Council to send Warrior Spirits in order to force them out, and Warrior Spirits can essentially destroy a person's soul or something.There were two things about the plot that boggled my mind.One: When Isabel says, I don't see why the Council can't sit them both down and force them to work things out.The response she gets is:The Council doesn't have the authority to do that."The Council can send the elite supernatural assassin squad but they can't ask them to try and talk it out? This isn't even attempted.The second problem is that Adam is a child and is the only one who knows about the spirit world, and they're expecting Adam to convince his family to leave their brand new house. How? Young children are the ones who make those sort of decisions. You can't just hand them a magazine listing other houses and expect Adam to hop on over to the next home. It made no sense for so many people to expect Adam to be able to do that.This book is meant for grade schoolers who may not even notice those things. It definitely taxed my suspension of disbelief as an adult, but kids might just chug along and not care.It otherwise has a fun story to follow along with that the target audience will probably love so, despite the issues I had with it, I didn't have a hard time reading it.

[jbarr5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dead Scary: The Ghost who refused to leave by Sally GouldDon't usually read this type of book (about ghosts and such) but I did enjoy another book by the author.This middle grade children's book and starts out when the family arrives at their new house. Their mother's uncle had died and left the house to her. It's huge and so are the rooms, back yard, tennis courts, etc.Emily hadn't wanted to move and we had all picked out our rooms on our first visit. The little boy is comfortable talking to ghosts, not using words but just thoughts. Adam also sees their auras. The ghost tells Adam of the rules of the house and what renovations had been made. Edward wants the family out of his house. Isabel, Adam's ghost friend takes him places to show him of the council and what they can and can't do. They all have rules.Edward and Adam are finding way to compete with one another-Adam wants his family to stay in the house, Edward wants them all to leave. Grandfather might have some tips on what to do...Lots of details on how things are done in the ghost world...a huge confrontation occurs and they realize they must get along. Like how the ending was because it proves ghosts can get along with humans.Many other works by the author are excerpted at the end. Book was easy to follow along with all the ghost rules=gives you a good understanding as the story goes along if you can follow what's happening.I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.

[skstiles612 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have and probably always will ghost stories. They don't have to be super scary for me to enjoy them. They can even be funny. I grew up in an old farm house in Indiana that was haunted. My great-grandmother refused to go upstairs for that reason. My grandmother slept upstairs and since she was deaf heard none of the things the rest of us did. It took years before my father would admit to what he had seen as a child growing up in that house. I guess that is where my love of ghost stories began.In this story we have a young boy named Adam who has moved with his family into what they consider their dream home. There is one problem, there is a ghost, who prefers to be called 'an earthbound spirit' who lives in the house. Adam sees Edward sitting in a window seat and introduces himself to him. Edward is shocked to learn that Adam can see him. Adam knows a lot about ghosts since one of his best friends is a ghost. Edward starts out by setting up rules he expects Adam and his family to follow. They are more like a list of demands. Adam is not going to abide by this bossy ghost. When Edward doesn't get his way he seeks help and his wish is granted. A pack of Warrior Spirits will evict them. What will Adam do to protect his sister? How can his ghost busting grandfather help from so far away? Will he and Edward ever be able to work things out or is it too late? This is a quick book to read. It took me less than an hour. The pacing is great and will definitely hold the attention of kids. This is another great ghost story to add to my school shelves. For the reluctant reader it is short enough to entice them and the story is well written so it will keep them reading. I wasn't familiar with this author but I will check out her other books. Hopefully there will be future ghost stories.I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[cricket2014-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book from the author in a LibraryThing giveaway.Adam is a young boy and there is a strange thing about him--he can see ghosts and can talk to them. He and his parents have just moved into what he considers "the house of his dreams." The only thing wrong is that it is inhabited by another young ghost, Edward. Edward doesn't want Adam and his family to live there and will go to great lengths to get rid of them. Will Edward be successful? And what will happen to Adam and his family if he does?This was a delightful story, just right for middle grade readers. I liked the flow of the story, the characters were "real" including the ghost and the descriptions were fantastic (the iciness of the Warriors reminded me of Harry Potter's dementors).I would recommend this book to all middle graders that like ghost stories and maybe to other adults as well (there are those of us that like to read middle grade stories).

[Bharath Ramesh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is really amazing. It is a story of a boy named Adam who can communicate with "Earthbound spirits. He moves into a home with a bossy ghost named Eddie and refused to follow the rules that Eddie had for him if he wanted to stay in his home. Angry, Eddie summons the Warrior spirits who are supposed to kick Adam and his family out of their house. Adam is not moving and when the Warrior spirits come, he has to be brave and have help. This is a wonderful story about how people (or spirits!) should help each other in times of need.