“What if you lived in a haunted house?”
Prologue: 30 years ago

There was a very nice looking house on Maple Street. The yard was neatly trimmed. The house looked very clean. A respectable family lived in that house. That particular family, the Newmans, had never created a fuss in their neighborhood. The adults, Mr. and Mrs. Newman had never committed a crime. Their kids, Adam and Jane, were good students at their school. They led a very peaceful life, until one night, two burglars targeted the Newman house for a robbery. The whole family was there that night. Mr. Newman was reading the newspaper. Mrs. Newman was at the stove, cooking dinner. Adam, who was 10 years old, was watching TV. Jane, who was 8, was accessorizing her dolls. Adam and Hannah were upstairs, and couldn’t hear a soft tinkling noise because the TV was too loud. The tinkling noise was the sound of the burglars breaking a window near the front door. The burglars knocked out Mr. and Mrs. Newman and started going up the stairs. The kids, who heard someone coming up the stairs, came to see who it was. Adam, realizing who the people were grabbed Jane, and tried to get away. The burglars were too quick. They grabbed the kids, tied them up with some rope they had brought with them, and tossed them in Adam’s bedroom. As the burglars started looting the place, they were unaware of a slight burning smell. After awhile, they noticed the burning smell. They looked downstairs and saw a small fire. When they had knocked out Mrs. Newman, she had been working on the stove. They had forgotten to turn the stove off. The burglars started to go downstairs, but the temperature had become unbearable. They searched the entire upstairs, but they could not find any exit. They were trapped. Meanwhile, neighbors had noticed the fire, and had called the fire department. The neighbors desperately tried to find a sign of the Newmans, but to no avail. As the long night wore on, the whole town mourned the passing of the Newmans, a family who had brought joy and laughter to the entire town.
Present Day

“Mom, you can’t be serious. We can’t be moving into the old Newman house.” I had just received the horrible news. My mom was just smiling at me, expecting me to be happy. “Don’t worry Jacob. The Newman house is a regular house.” “Mom, it’s not just a regular house. 30 years ago, that particular house burned down. Even my friends at school think that house is weird.” “Jacob Cooper Green, stop complaining. The house was restored to its original nature.” I could never live at the Newman house. I had a reputation to keep at school. I was the most popular kid at school. I was in Athletics, and I participated in many after school activities. I couldn’t let my friends know that I was moving without everybody laughing at me. Anything anybody said, within 30 minutes, everybody in school would know what had been said. “Everything will be the same,” my mom told me. I hoped she was right. I was glad to say that my mom had been partially correct. The next day at school, I told my friends that I would be moving. They seemed relaxed when I told them, but after third period, everybody in the whole school knew I was moving. As I walked down the hallways, everybody seemed to stare at me. I couldn’t wait for the school day to end. After what seemed like an eternity, school finally ended. When I got home, I saw a moving truck parked right outside my house. When I went inside, my parents told me that while I was at school, they rented the moving truck. “Why do we have to move as soon as possible?” “We just want to get the move over with so we can start with our new life,” they told me. I ran upstairs. I was so mad. I didn’t want to move. I liked my old house and I wanted to stay. I just hoped everything would be the same after I moved.

The next few weeks went by like a blur. The day before I had to move, I was still trying to convince my parents not to move. I ate my dinner in silence that day. It seemed like nothing I did stopped “Moving Day” from coming. I tried to get good sleep that night so that I would have a lot of energy the next day. As much as I tried, I could not go to sleep. I finally drifted into a restless sleep, hoping something came up the next day, and I didn’t have to move. The next day, I woke up with a start. In two seconds, I realized what day it was. I got ready for the move and went downstairs. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one nervous. Both my parents had an excited look on their faces. I was just ready to get the move over with. After breakfast, we got in the car and drove to our new home. It looked like a regular. I stepped out and I felt like there were ghosts in the area. I couldn’t explain it. I shook it off, and went inside the house. Inside, it looked like a brand new house. I was starting to think that it wouldn’t too bad living here. The next few days were a blur. Everyone was busy unpacking and settling into the new home. After one week had passed, my parents said they were going to go out for dinner. I was fine with that. I loved staying home by myself. Only one thing bothered me. Everyday day that I lived in the new house the feeling of ghosts grew stronger. I usually shook off the feeling, but it still lingered on me. The day my parents went out, I settled into the couch, getting ready to read a book. As I started reading I was aware of a slight thumping noise. As the minutes passed, the sound grew louder. I noticed it was coming from the attic. I slowly went up the stairs. The sound kept getting louder. I approached the attic, ready to see what was in it. I pulled the door open suddenly and six orbs of light shot out. Two of the orbs shot away. The other four settled down in front of me. They morphed into human beings. There were two adults and two kids. “Hello, I am Mr. Newman,” the man said. “This is Mrs. Newman, Adam, and Hannah.” I realized that these people were the victims of the horrible fire. “Who were those other two people?” I asked. “They were the burglars who were the cause of the fire. You need to help us catch them. They are still looking for objects they can steal. If you catch them and somehow dispose of them, we, the Newmans, will finally rest in peace.” “I’ll help you Mr. Newman. I haven’t had a lot of fun in this house. I enjoy capturing those thieves.” I then started to formulate a plan against the burglars. According to the Newmans, the burglars were somewhere in the house. The Newmans and I settled on a plan. We were going to take a regular vase, and decorate it so that it looked valuable. It turned out that even though the Newmans were ghosts, they could still lift things up or throw objects. The bad part was that the burglars could use their hands too. After we decorated the vase, Mr. Newman put his hands over it and chanted a mysterious phrase. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but after he finished a strong gust of air blew into the house and settled into the vase. Mr. Newman quickly put a lid on the vase and set it on the table. “All we need to do know is wait for the burglars to come,” Mr. Newman said. At that moment, my parents arrived. I had been so caught up in what had happened, I hadn’t kept track of the time. It was already ten o’clock. “Can we do this tomorrow?” I asked Mr. Newman. “My family and I have waited 30 years for this opportunity. We can wait another day.” I hurried downstairs right when my parents opened the door. “Did you have a good time?” they asked me. “I had the best time,” I replied. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come. As I lay in bed that night, all I could think of was what would happen tomorrow.

The next day, I woke up and hurried downstairs. My parents were at the table, eating breakfast. “Do you have somewhere to go tonight?” I asked them. “As a matter of fact, we do,” my dad replied. “We have agreed to go with our neighbors to dinner. They said it would be best if only we could come. Is that all right with you?” “I’m fine with that I said,” I said. I couldn’t believe my luck. All I could think about the rest of the day was helping the Newmans. That night, I was almost forcing my parents to leave. The longer the Newmans had to wait, the longer they suffered. As soon as my parents left, I went upstairs and opened the attic. Just like yesterday, six orbs flew out. The two burglar orbs flew away again, leaving the Newmans there. “I’m ready to help,” I said. “When do you want to capture the thieves?” “We can do it right now”, Mr. Newman said. We need to sneak downstairs, put the vase on the table, and hide. We can’t let the burglars see us. If they see us, they will know something tricky is going on. Then, they won’t approach the vase.” After Mr. Newman said this, the Newmans and I went downstairs. I put the vase on a table, and quickly went to hind behind the curtains. The Newmans were already in the attic, hiding. The burglars could sense them if they were nearby. I waited for what seemed like hours, but when I looked at my watch, I saw that only ten minutes had passed. I was about to come out of hiding, when I saw two dressed in black approach the vase. I got back behind the curtains, and waited for the burglars to make their move. The burglars approached the vase apprehensively, ready if anything tricky happened. They finally touched the vase and looked satisfied. They went to open the lid, just like I hoped they did. After they opened the lid, a strong gust of air blew throughout the house. As I looked at the burglars to see what happened, I saw them trying to run away, but to no avail. The wind was just too strong. The burglars’ shape seemed to elongate. They were being sucked into the vase. Finally, they were trapped. I ran out of hiding, and closed the vase. Now was the crucial part. I had to somehow dispose of the vase. I suddenly had a great idea. I ran upstairs with the vase. I stood near the stairs, and flung the vase to the ground. As soon as the vase broke, there was a great flash of light. The force of the light was so strong the house actually lifted off the ground a few feet. After ten seconds, the light died down. I opened the attic and told the Newmans what had happened. “We are so thankful for your help,” Mr. Newman said. “Unfortunately, we have to leave this house, now that we have had our revenge. Goodbye, Jacob.” After he said that, he disappeared. I looked around, and the rest of the family had gone as well. I felt bad that they had left, but I was glad I was able to help them. I was still thinking of the Newmans when my parents. “Did you have a good time?” they asked. “I had the best time of my life,” I replied. As the next few days went by, I got adapted to my new life. My parents were right, nothing had changed. I still had friends, and I was still popular. I knew that no matter what happened to me, I would never forget the Newmans.