Dare to Read It!: Moving into a Haunted House

By Lee Ching Kai

Richard and his little brother, Jeff, are very excited about moving into their new house with their family. Everything about the house seems great … until things start getting creepy. As the days go by, Richard begins to notice more and more strange things. At first he believes Jeff has simply become more of a prankster, teasing his brother from the shadows and making Richard think he’s seeing ghosts. But things are getting worse, and it can’t all be blamed on Jeff.

As the oddities begin to escalate, Richard tries to tell his parents he believes there may be something wrong with the house. They don’t listen to him, however, and the strange happenings continue.

With his parents’ reassurance, Richard begins to doubt that there are ghosts in his new house after all. His doubt is short-lived, however, for his suspicions are soon proven correct when he notices a girl he’s never seen before in a family photograph taken in the house. Can this be the ghost—the cause of all his bad luck? And if so, how can he get rid of her?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Dec 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781482894844

Lee Ching Kai

Lee Ching Kai is a graduate of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). Besides having a Bachelor Degree of Commerce (Hons) Accounting, he has completed the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) examinations. He is an author of 7 books. He has won multiple international book awards and writing competitions. He has won the Bronze Award in WOW Kampar's MENTION 2019 Best Feature Writing Award (Malaysia) and a Bronze Medal in Florida Authors & Publishers Association (FAPA) President's Book Awards 2020, one of the largest and most prestigious international book awards contests based in the United States. Also a winner in Eyelands International Book Award's Three Rock Residency Program 2020 (Greece), he has been selected as the finalist in Eyelands Book Awards (EBA) 2020 (Greece). While having been longlisted in 2019 Bumblebee Flash Fiction Prize (Canada), he was shortlisted in Strands International Flash Fiction Competition 2020 (India) and longlisted in Strands International Flash Fiction Competition 2021 (India). He also won an Honorable Mention in Purple Dragonfly Book Awards 2022 (USA). While he has been featured in The Star newspaper, he was also featured in Guang Ming Daily newspaper due to his accomplishments in the global awards contests. He has also been featured 3 times in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) online news.

Book preview

 1

If you are reading this book, you are brave enough to read it, because you, Richard, are probably in danger.

Want to know more about what will happen to you? Good. Just continue reading.

The Sunday evening sun was shining feebly in the navy blue sky. Sometimes, the grotesque clouds overhead blocked the sun, causing mild darkness to sweep over the area. At other times, the clouds moved away, and the beam of golden light poured over the land and gilded the surfaces of gnarled branches, rocks and roofs.

Then, the drowsy silence that hung over the Napolian Neighbourhood was shattered by the crunch of gravel and clunk of car doors being closed.

Yay! I shouted with joy. We’re moving into the new house!

Jeff, my brother, who always liked to make funny faces, trod up the road and opened the wrought-iron gate which was hot due to the heat from the sun. Jeff had a pair of blue eyes, a pointed nose, blonde hair and fair skin, and so did I. My friends always called me ‘bluey’ because of my blue eyes.

It was a nice nickname. Besides, I was kind of headstrong.

Mom walked into the yard and opened the panel door for us with the keys.

Come sons, let’s go into the house and explore what is inside there! said dad, closing the car door with a solid bang. Jeff and I bounced into the room with immense joy. I walked into the living room and it was pitch-dark inside there.

The light was not open yet. Thus, I groped for the switch on the wall and switched it on.

Tuck!

Wow! It was nicely decorated! There was a soft sofa at the centre of the living room and a jet black television behind the wall. In addition, there was a lacy-covered coffee table in front of the squashy couch.

A bead pendant lamp was dangling under the ceiling. It was very beautiful.

Suddenly, Jeff pinched me on my back and a flash of pain coursed down my back.

Ah! I moaned impatiently, rolling my eyes anti-clockwise. Whatcha doing, huh?

Serves you so right, said Jeff, making a funny face at me. Rat face.

Come Richard and Jeff, stop playing around with your rat face. Help me out with these stuffs, said dad who was carrying a box of accessories out from the car.

Help him to carry the box? It’s a piece of cake.

Jeff and I quickly rushed to the yard at dad’s command and helped him out with the box. Urgh, it was quite heavy. Not good. It’s not a piece of cake. It’s ten pieces of cakes.

Meanwhile, mom was surveying the kitchen thoroughly. Mom was our homemaker and she liked to cook delicious food for us. Health is wealth. This was what she always said.

Yes, I thought that it was very true, as health is the most important thing in the world, no matter how high-heeled someone was. To mom, health was much more important than wealth.

Also, she liked to wear her pink blouse and slim-fitting quarter pants that she had bought during Christmas last year. They had become her trademark. She said that ‘pink’ was her most favourite colour.

What about me? I liked ‘blue’. Why? Don’t ask me why. I was born with it.

Dad, Jeff and I carried the box and we put it onto the table in the dining room. Dad opened it—it was packed with shampoos, clothes and many others. I walked to the kitchen to wash my hand, but there was something that scared me… something which was creepy… something which was frightening…

A hand stretched out from below the kitchen sink and crawled up my leg. It was a ghost. If it was not a ghost, it must be a spirit…

I was petrified…

My heart was thumping madly…

My throat tightened and my blood was running cold… what could that be…

HA! said Jeff who had hid himself below the kitchen sink. I gave him a small kick on the bottom and he groaned with pain. My face had gone very yellow.

Hey, don’t play under the sink, it’s filthy! said mom, warning us impatiently.

Okay, mom, said Jeff in a perfunctory tone, climbing out from under the sink with a suggestion of laughter.

I felt kind of bored. So, I went to the end of the living room, faced the kitchen and closed my eyes. I walked on the floor slowly, counting my footsteps until I reached the kitchen.

One, two three, four, five, six…

There were sixty steps in total! That meant our house was quite big!

And what’s more, I felt an urge to survey my own bedroom upstairs.

Hey Jeff, why don’t we have a look at our bedrooms? I said joyously.

Jeff nodded without saying anything.

Thus, Jeff and I trudged up the stairs to have a look at our bedrooms. I opened my room, and it was full of spider webs. It was impossible. I had just cleaned the room a fortnight ago, it could not be so dirty now.

Without bothering to find its cause, I fetched a pole from the bathroom and swept away the webs. During the process, I was so sloppy that I had breathed in the webs into my nostrils, causing me to pick my nose immediately.

‘Yuck, disgusting!’ I complained to myself, a frown between my eyebrows.

After sweeping away the webs, I put the pole back to the bathroom and washed my hands thoroughly. Then, I splashed some water onto my face and let the water drip down my cheeks.

Ah… so very refreshing…

I trod out of the bathroom and looked at my own bedroom. There was a plush bed sitting at one corner, a dark brown wardrobe which was newly bought, and a writing desk which was painted brown. Besides, a hazel portrait was hanging on the wall.

RICHARD AND JEFF! COME DOWN! WE’RE GOING OUT FOR A LUNCH! said dad from downstairs. Alright. I was living in a single-storey house before, so dad would call me softly. But now, I was living in a double storey house, which meant dad would call me loudly whenever he felt he needed to do so. Fine.

I rolled my eyes. Jeff and I walked down the stairs and went to the yard straightaway.

 2

Dad and mom got into the car too. We fastened our seat belts and dad turned the key in the ignition and started