The Past Repeated: Not Everything Is What It Seems . . .

By Madeline Israel and Benjamin Israel

Elissa Renee Cohen, an intelligent, empathetic person, is forced to move to San Francisco to take care of her maternal grandparents. They move into a tall, formidable house, which was sold at a low price because most people were scared of the haunted vibe the house gave off. Elissa and her family didn’t have the slightest notion of the despicable past and unfathomable secrets held by their new house. Without even knowing it, Elissa gets pulled into an evil ploy. This evil ploy had been done before, way back in the past, to a woman living in the same house. The plan unravels slowly, then too quick to process. Elissa has to figure out the truth about what’s really happening before history repeats itself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984517333

Madeline Israel

About the author - Madeline Yehudit Israel, called Maddy, is a lively twelve year old living in Purchase, New York. Maddy is a competitive gymnast at World Cup Gymnastics, where she practices around five times a week, and has competitions every month. She has two siblings, Abby Israel and Ari Israel, and parents named Mindy Israel and Ronen Israel. Ari, a dyslexic, hated reading for the longest time. Once he started really liking reading, it was books involving wars; his interest. Maddy knows that many people like ghosts and haunted houses, so in making a book about those topics she hopes to draw readers in who otherwise would not read.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Madeline Israel.

ISBN:                Softcover                978-1-9845-1698-5

                          eBook                      978-1-9845-1733-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/26/2018

Xlibris

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Contents

Dedication

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

Dedication

With great appreciation, I dedicate The Past Repeated to my former gymnastics coach, Edward Joshua Ward, or as us gymnasts called him, Josh. Josh had a golden presence and optimism that could spread through an entire gym like meteors from the sky. Josh, I hope you are proud of me and what I have accomplished in my twelve short years. I miss you so much, Josh. Nunca lo olvidaré - I’ll never forget him - as it is said in spanish.

C:\Users\Kids\Desktop\maddy with ari.png

Thank you to my brother Ari for giving me inspiration for a lot of my story ideas. I love you Ari!

CHAPTER 1

San Francisco, California

August 31, 2018

Welcome to our new home! my mom exclaimed. She had a smile set on her face that almost looked forced. I squeezed my eyes shut, imagining a tall rose-gold house sparkling in the San Francisco day. I imagined a wide hot-pink house stretching for a mile across the street. I imagined a brown-brick house, just like my old one in Michigan, the only exception being that it only gave off the illusion of being a normal brown-brick house. On the inside was a fun house of the most amazing kind. Roller coasters, pools, fun slides. But when I opened my eyes, I saw none of the things I imagined. Before me stood a formidable brown house that reached toward the bright blue sky. It stood still in front of us, yet it felt as if it were enclosing us in it. Jonah stared with wide eyes, and I grabbed his hand and squeezed. He was sweating, and his nerves were pulsing like a machine gun. I pushed my Harry Potter glasses up the bridge of my nose and pasted a neutral expression on my face for Jonah’s sake.

Come on, let’s get inside! Dad said with too much energy, considering we had just moved into a seemingly haunted house. Against my will, I opened the car door and stepped out into the chilly San Francisco day. Jonah had forgotten his sweatshirt, so I wrapped him up in my bronze penny sweater and rubbed his arms to make him warmer. If I had two pennies to live off, I’d give them both to my little seven-year-old brother.

I thought California was supposed to be warm! Jonah complained.

Not San Francisco, J, I said. Jonah groaned.

All right, kids. This way, Dad said, walking up the dark-brown steps and through the door. Jonah ran to my mom and grabbed her hand, with nails painted with fine light-pink polish, leaving me all alone in front of the house. I walked with a slow pace toward the door, but as soon as I touched the steps, I felt dizzy. I sat down and closed my eyes. Everything went white, and a man and woman came into view. The woman was pale, her long black hair flowing down her sides. She wore a dark-blue gown that trailed behind her. The man was also pale with slicked-back brown hair. He wore a black suit along with a dark-blue tie. He was penetratingly handsome. The man and woman slowly walked toward each other and grasped hands. As soon as they grasped hands, I heard screaming, and then they floated away from each other, whispering as they did, although I couldn’t understand what they said. Then everything went white again. A few seconds later, the pale woman came back into view.

Fifty years it has been! she exclaimed. Oh, you’ll regret even moving into this house. Yes, you will. She floated away with a sly smile. Suddenly, a frantic voice cut into the silence.

Elissa! Elissa! It was my mom. I opened my eyes to find I was sweating through my shirt and that my glasses were scattered on the ground.

Elissa! Darling! Are you okay? She picked up my glasses with her hand and put them on my tan face. My dad was born in Michigan, to Israeli parents, and my mom in India, to Indian parents. My dad’s skin is pale white, while my mom’s is a light brown. My mom’s brown skin and straight black hair made her so beautiful that boys couldn’t help but stare at her. However, she fell for my dad and converted to Judaism when she did. My brother’s skin and my skin are in the middle of our dad’s white skin and our mom’s dark skin, giving us a natural dark tan.

The look of worry on my mom’s dark-brown face when she put my glasses back on forced me into saying a white lie.

Yeah, Mom, I’m fine, I replied.

Well, c’mon then! We’re looking around and choosing rooms! She linked her arm in mine, and we walked into the house.

The house wasn’t much from the inside. Just empty room after room after room. My dad promised me we would decorate it as soon as possible, but it still gave off a sense of hauntedness that left me uncomfortable. I sat on the wooden floor in the middle of my small, empty room, debating over if I was being paranoid or not. I was, right?

Elissa, stop looking so gloomy and come on a tour with me! Jonah pleaded. I had to say yes to those pleading blue eyes, so we took off down the hallway. We walked down the mysterious dark hallways, all the same as the last, with empty rooms and bathrooms.

This could be a hotel! Jonah exclaimed.

I know, right? I agreed. Though I figured nobody would want to stay here. Maybe that’s why we got such a good deal on this mansion/house. Nobody wanted to live here. We continued walking, finding nothing but what was behind us, until Jonah spotted something that would change our lives forever. A darker floorboard. Now you may think, What does that have to do with anything? You’ll see.

Elissa! That’s so weird! Jonah exclaimed.

I know. Let’s just keep walking, I said nervously, pushing my glasses way up my nose. So Jonah stepped over the floorboard. Suddenly, the right-side wall burst into flames that in a few seconds, died down to make a hole in the wall. The pale woman appeared again.

I wouldn’t do that if I were you, she warned.