Hauntings Read Online Free

you’re IT!
    â€œWhat are you afraid of, Milo? Are you afraid of a girl? Milo’s a fraidycat! ’Fraid of a girl, ’fraid of a girl!” She giggled. He realized she was in the middle of the living room now. All she had to do was look up to see him between the bars of the staircase railing. He put his hand on the top step and pulled himself up very slowly, praying the stairs wouldn’t creak. His pants rubbed the dirty runner with a sandpapery sound.
    â€œWait till I tell everyone you’re scared of a girl . And you’ll still be IT, and everyone will know.” Milo drew back into the deep shadows on the second-floor landing. He heard her move to the bottom of the stairs and put her foot on the first step. “No matter where you go, everyone will know,” she singsonged. “No matter where you go, everyone will know. Milo’s IT, Milo’s IT.”
    He wrapped his arms around his knees, pulling himself into a tight ball. In his pocket the housekeys dug into the fold between his hip and thigh.
    â€œYou’ll have to take your turn sometime, Milo. Even if you move away everyone will know you’re IT. They’ll all hide from you. No one will play with you. You’ll always be IT. Always and always.”
    He dug in his heels and pushed himself around to the doorway of one of the bedrooms. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to see him in the darkness and she’d go away. Then he could go home.
    â€œI heard you. I heard you move. Now I know where you are. I’m gonna find you, Milo.” She came up the last steps, groping in the murky shadows. He could just make out the shape of her head and her ponytail.
    â€œGot you!” She sprang at him like a trap. “You’re IT!”
    â€œNo!”
    Milo kicked out. The darkness spun around him. For several seconds he felt her grabbing his arms and legs, trying to pull him out of hiding before her clutching hands fell away and her laughter was replaced by a series of thudding, crashing noises.
    On hands and knees, panting like a dog, he crept to the edge of the top step and looked down. Angie’s small form was just visible where it lay at the foot of the stairs. Her legs were still on the steps. The rest of her was spread on the floor with her head tilted at a questioning angle. Milo waited for her to get up crying, You pushed me, I’m telling! but she never moved. Slowly he went halfway down the stairs, clinging to the rickety bannister.
    â€œAngie?”
    She didn’t answer. He descended the rest of the way, careful to avoid her legs in case she suddenly came to life and tried to kick him.
    â€œAngie?”
    He knelt beside her. Her eyes were open, staring through him at nothing. He waited for her to blink or twitch, but she remained perfectly still. Milo didn’t touch her. She’d have done it to me, he thought. She would have, too. She’d have pushed him down the stairs to get to the goal first. After all, Sammy had kicked him off the other stairs so he couldn’t touch goal with him and Stevie. Now they were even. Sort of. Sammy had been on her side, after all. Milo stood up. She wouldn’t chase him anymore and she’d never touch his goal on him.
    He found his way to the back door, remembering to close it as he left. For a few moments he stood in the yard, trying to find the star he had wished on. Others were beginning to come out now. But the streetlights— something must be wrong with them, he thought. The city had forgotten about them. Or maybe there was a power failure. He should have wished for them to come on. That would have sent everyone home.
    While he stood there, the streetlights did come on, like eyes opening everywhere all over the neighborhood. Milo’s shoulders slumped with relief. Now he really had won. Everyone had to go home now. The game was over. It was over and he wouldn’t have to be IT.
    He ran through the playground, across Water St.