The Ghost of the Yellow Two-Story House

By Gail Allison Griffin

Mike and his family move from the big city to a little town in the middle of nowhere, where Mike hopes to find new friends. After the first couple of days at the new school, he discovers that it isnt so easyespecially after everyone finds out that he moved into the yellow two-story house over on 7th Street. Rumor has it that anyone who moves into that house will surely die. He does not understand what everyone is talking about until he meets up, face-to-face, with a little girl in a white dress.
What happened to this little girl and why did she die? These are just a few of the many questions Mike is determined to find the answers to. With the help of some new friends, he soon finds out that he might discover more than he bargained for.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Jul 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781489702418

Gail Allison Griffin

Gail Allison Griffi n grew up in a small town in Texas, where she met her husband. They have three children and five grandchildren. Gail loves to read books, bake cookies and of course, write childrens books. She fell in love with books when she visited her first library as a child. In high school she was one of the librarian aides and she knew she wanted to be part of that world. By working at a school library for twenty five years, Gail has devoted her life to putting books into the hands of young readers.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Gail Allison Griffin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

LifeRich Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.liferichpublishing.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Front and back cover artwork by Stacie Griffin Aclin.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0240-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0241-8 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 7/3/2014

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Acknowledgments

Free Preview: The Ghost In The Old Red Barn

Chapter 1

In memory of Mom

The Cookie Lady

May your legacy of the famous

Mrs. Allison’s cookies

Go on for many more generations

Outline of Characters:

Mistletoe, Texas

Main Characters:

Mike Franks:

Mother: Vicki Franks

Father: George Franks

Brothers: Joe, Bobby and Charlie

Sisters: Teri and Ella

Home:

The Old Henderson’s place: the yellow two story house on 7th street

Little girl ghost in the white dress: Charlotte, nickname Char-Char

Mother ghost of little girl ghost in the white dress

Brother of the little girl ghost in the white dress: Evan Henderson

Friends of Mike:

John Willis

Frank Cooper

Conroe Cartwright

Mr. Thompson and wife Bessie Lee

Conroe’s Grandma, Mrs. Emma Lou Cartwright

Conroe’s Dad, Sam Cartwright

Teacher:

Mrs. Taylor

Busy Body lady and family:

Mrs. Bendy

Son: Dawson Bendy II

Grandson: Dawson Bendy III

Chapter 1

When I was twelve years old, my family moved to a little town in Texas in the middle of nowhere. It was so strange because I was so used to living in a big city. My school was big, and my classes had at least fifty kids in each room. No one really paid attention to anyone else because there were too many kids to really get to know one another, so going to a small school where the classes only had fifteen kids in it was an adjustment for me. I really didn’t mind it, I would love to have some friends to get to know, but that is not what happened when we moved to the yellow two story house on 7th street.

At first, everyone was excited to see the new guy in town. Not too many new kids ever moved in to Mistletoe, so a new guy was cool. Everyone wanted to be my friend at first, but that only lasted a few days before they asked where I lived then no one wanted to have anything to do with me. You see, apparently everyone in the small town of Mistletoe was scared of the two story house over on 7th street. Rumors had it that there was a ghost in this house and no one I mean no one ever lived there for very long. Well, we did not know about this when we moved to Mistletoe town. We were just ordinary people with ordinary lives.

My name is Mike, and I have five brothers and sisters. I am the third child of the family. My older brother and sister are in high school. They are always busy with activities, and stuff like that so it didn’t take them long to get involved with sports and stuff. My younger siblings are not in school yet, so they don’t know about the things everyone is saying about the yellow two story house on 7th street.

The rumors started spreading around the cafeteria on my second day of school. I had already started talking with a boy named John on the first day. I think he was a new kid last year so he kind of felt sorry for me, and just started talking with me at lunch. He asked me where I was from, and did I like Mistletoe and stuff like that. When I got to the part about what house we moved into, that is when everyone stopped talking in the lunchroom. I have never seen anything like it, whispering all over the cafeteria. What was going on? Why would all the kids stop talking, and start pointing at me and whispering?

So I ask John, Hey man what’s the big deal?

John said, You know Mike, I can’t talk about it here, but meet me after school on the playground and I will try to explain something to you but please do not talk about it now…please, you will ruin everything if you don’t.

I thought this was weird, but I didn’t say anything. I just sat there like an idiot and just nodded my head up and down. What a strange way to start my year at a new school, but hopefully things will get better once I find out why living on 7th street in a big yellow two story house is so weird.

Later that day I met up with John on the playground.

Hey John, what’s up? I said.

John grabbed my arm and pulled me behind the big oak tree.

He said, Man Mike, you are in BIG trouble if you keep talking about where you live. I didn’t want to have to tell you but I like you and I wanted to have a friend to talk to and all but you bro are in serious trouble.

I was shocked…I didn’t expect him to be so blunt, so I asked him, What did I do?

John said, It is not what YOU did it is just where you LIVE.

What’s the big deal? Is the place haunted or something, I said just joking around.

Well, yeah, said John.

I guess the look on my face said it all. I think he felt sorry for me so he said, I can’t talk right now got to go catch the bus, but here is my phone number. Call me around four thirty, and I will explain everything, okay?

Then he was gone….I just stood there with a dumb look on my face and tried to take it all in. I started walking home and realized I forgot to tell him we don’t have a phone yet.

We moved to Mistletoe only about a week and a half ago, and the phone company said they would have to check us out and all before they could install a phone. Guess with everyone having cell phones nowadays, no one really has house phones.

We have to have one because my dad is a technician for an electrical company, and he gets calls all the time and if they can’t reach his cell they have to have another phone to call. My dad thinks I am not old enough to have a cell phone yet, and since my older brother and sister have one I guess it is too expensive for me to have one too.

So what am I going to do…..how am I going to call my new friend? Surely there is a pay phone somewhere in this dinky town. It is not a very big town; I can walk from the school to my house so as I was walking home I took a stroll to Main Street where all the stores are at hoping to find a pay phone. Luckily, I notice one in front of the Jiffy -Mart.

This is the convenience store where all the older people hang out apparently, sitting around drinking coffee and visiting. I got a bunch of funny looks from them when I walked by.

Guess they are just curious as to who the new kid is walking around town. I guess in small towns everyone knows everyone, so I am a new face in town.

Everyone is a new face to me.

I decided I had better head home.

Chapter 2

I got home about three-thirty, and no one was home which is strange because my mom is usually always home with my younger siblings. I looked for a note but didn’t see one, so I went upstairs to my room. I share a room with one of my little brothers. Charlie is almost five years old. His birthday is this month but you have to be five before September 1st to start school so he has to wait another year before he can start.

I don’t mind sharing a room with him. It is like I really have my own room but yet I don’t, Charlie sleeps in our room at night. He’s hardly ever in our room…..he likes to go in Bobby’s room. Bobby shares the room with my older brother. Bobby just turned four, and he and Charlie like to play together since they are so close in age. Mom and Dad feel better having each little brother in the room with us older guys just in case they need something in the middle of the night.

I put my books down on my desk and turned around and saw this white shadow. I thought I must be just imaging things, but this shadow moved. I blinked my eyes, and it was gone. What the heck was going on….is this a figment of my imagination, or is this a real thing? I sat down on the bed and try to think of some explanation of what I saw. I looked at the time and thought if I was going to go use the phone at the Jiffy- Mart, I had better get going.

The Jiffy-Mart is ten blocks away, and it will take twenty minutes to walk. It was ten after four now, so I started leaving my room to go down the stairs. That is when I saw the shadow again. It was standing, or I should say floating, on the top step of the stairs. OMG what is it and what is this thing going to do to me?

I started to back up into the door way of my room, and the shadow disappeared. I took that chance, and ran down the stairs as fast as I could. It didn’t take me long to get to the Jiffy-Mart.