In the Shadows

By Michelle Leyland

Linda never believed in ghosts. Even with unexplained noises and footsteps late at night, she refuses to accept they exist. Her best friend Paul is convinced her house is haunted.

She continues to ignore it, but one terrifying encounter changes everything. She must come to terms with the unnerving fact that there are not just one or two spirits in the house...there are several!

Based on a true story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michelle Leyland
• Release date: Aug 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005971779

Michelle Leyland

Michelle Leyland was born in 1990 and spent all of her life living in Lancashire, England. She has always loved writing and drawing and since the age of 13 has dreamed of becoming a published author and illustrator one day. She has written several fiction stories for children, teenagers and adults, and illustrated all her children’s books.Michelle also loves to play drums, dance, sing, go to concerts, daydream and read.

Book preview

In The Shadows

Based on a true story

Published by Violet Star Publishing

United Kingdom

Category: Young Adult, Fiction

First published in e-book format 2022

Copyright Michelle Leyland © 2022

Cover design by kshipley_48772

ISBN : 9781005971779

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Chapter 1

Paul and I have been best friends for ages. We go way back to our first year in primary school and he lives a few streets away from me. When we were younger we would ride our bikes together and play video games. Now we’re in high school we mostly hang out and watch Netflix.

We decided to camp out one summer weekend, telling scary stories with our torches on, sitting underneath a darkened sky full of stars. I felt safe and happy, snuggled up warm in my sleeping bag and having fun with my best friend. It was good to get away from home for a while, things were getting unsettling there.

I decided to open up to Paul and see what he thought about my problem. I could trust him and we told each other everything.

‘I think something weird is going on in my house,’ I confessed to him feeling nervous.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked his brown eyes curious.

It was hard to explain but I tried to anyway. I needed to talk about it with someone and hopefully make sense of it.

I sighed, ‘Well…strange things keep happening that I can’t explain…Like yesterday, I was dusting my room and someone touched my back; but when I turned around no one was there.’

He frowned listening.

‘I even went out onto the landing to see if someone was messing with me, but there was no one upstairs or in the house. Mum was still out shopping.’

I waited for him to smirk and tell me I’m crazy, but he shrugged looking as puzzled by it as I was.

‘Are you sure you didn’t just feel like someone touched you and it was your hair or something?’ he asked being rational.

I shook my head, ‘No, I’ve tried thinking of every explanation and I definitely felt like someone poked me. It’s just so weird…How can someone touch me when they’re not there?’

‘Maybe it’s someone who can make themselves invisible? Like Harry Potter with his invisibility cloak,’ he teased.

I playfully pushed him, ‘I’m being serious, Paul. I don’t know what’s going on and it’s freaking me out. I hear footsteps late at night when no one else is awake. I thought it might be a burglar…’

‘Did you see anyone?’

‘No, that’s the thing! If it was a burglar then I would have seen them and called the police. There is never anyone around!’

‘Sounds like you’ve got a ghost,’ he told me thoughtfully.

I checked to see if he was still joking around but he looked solemn, as if he really thought this could be the answer to our mystery.

‘Don’t be silly, ghosts aren’t real,’ I scoffed.

He gave me a hurt look that I hadn’t taken him seriously. I know he’s obsessed with horror movies and believes in ghosts, but I don’t think they exist.

I was so wrong.

Chapter 2

Over time my house seemed to gradually get worse. I was used to hearing unexplained noises; it was an ongoing problem which I ignored.

However, when Paul came around he jumped as we both heard a bang noise from outside my bedroom.

‘What was that?’ he asked, looking around.

Of course there was no reason for a banging sound, nothing had fallen over. Everything was still in place as if nothing had happened, so who knows where that noise came from or why.

‘It’s nothing,’ I replied automatically. ‘It’s probably the neighbours next door or the house making noises.’

He looked unsure, ‘What if you do have ghosts?’

This time I didn’t tease him or say they were not real. I didn’t want to talk about it, so I distracted him with a new series on Netflix.

I didn’t say a word about how unsettled I felt. Sometimes I would feel like there was someone there watching me, but I ignored that too thinking I was being silly and paranoid. It must be my imagination. How could someone be watching me if there was no one else in the room but me?