The Ghoul Next Door

Here's part of a story I wrote last year (sixth grade) in school. The theme was "Halloween" (Obviously) and I got an A+ thankyouverymuch...
(c) Queen Elizabeth III 2006

Sorry about the formatting by the way....silly Word. o__O

The Ghoul Next Door

Chapter 1
Vanessa was ecstatic. It was her first day in her new home, new city, new state, it was practically a whole new world, and she’d already started to make friends. "The girl next door is a spirit and the little boy down the street is Frankenstein's son!" she exclaimed that night at the dinner table.
"The Frankensteins? Why I remember them! Such a nice family, it's a shame we haven't seen them in so long." Her mother reminisced while stirring the gooey mess boiling in the cauldron over the stove.
"And the best part," Vanessa continued, "is the house across the street. A sorceress lives there! Today I saw her out in her yard poking a toy frog with her wand. She was obviously not doing so well with her spell so I went over to help. I turned the toy frog into a real one and then turned it pink 'cause I like that color better than the green it was before. Then the girl screamed and ran inside to get her mom. I guess she was just really excited that I had taught her the spell!"
"It's nice to see you've made some friends." Mrs. Haunter gushed, reaching for some cobra's fang and a pinch of werewolf's hair for the stew she was making. "Oh my, we're running a bit low," she furrowed her brow, examining the contents inside the crystal jar. “You and I will have to give your father a hair cut this weekend, so we can restock." Mr. Haunter howled from somewhere deep inside the house. “Oh, Harry!” Mrs. Haunter sighed. “I do hope he hasn’t been chasing the cat again!” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Vanessa, have you fed…”
“Oh!” Vanessa jumped up from the table, scattering spell books and papers and toppling her chair in the process. She gave a guilty smile and hurried out of the room.

Jenny had started outgrowing Halloween long ago. First came the fall when she found out that the boogieman was only a myth. That had taken the fun out of trick-or-treating in the dark. The next year she had gotten food poisoning. Good-bye candy. This year, as Halloween rolled around once again, Jenny was almost annoyed to see everyone in town in such a frenzy. So what? You dress up in hot, stifling polyester costumes, ring doorbells, and eat sugary foods until you puke. Big whoop! Where were the real monsters? Didn’t anyone every dress up as anything interesting anymore? (And no, that one time her little brother had thrown a sheet over his head and run around town screaming “Boo!” didn’t count.)
Now, Jenny sat with her younger sister Katie, Spectre Oak’s very own fairy princess. Katie sat Indian style under the big tree in their front yard and squinted at the toy frog at her feet. “Jenny! Why won’t it work?” She whined.
“Because,” Jenny whined back, “you aren’t doing it right.” Katie stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes stubbornly. “Give it here. It’ll show you,” Jenny instructed, grabbing the fairy princess’s wand. It was made of a cheap, translucent pink plastic with a large heart at the tip. Small canary yellow and peach pink feathers surrounded the heart, which "magically" lit up if you touched it in the center. The toy frog had come with the wand. “Guaranteed to turn even the ugliest of frogs into your Prince Charming,” the box had boasted. Now as Jenny held the stiff plastic in her hands she couldn’t have felt any less magical. Still, she put on what she hoped was a wise and knowing face to impress her little sister. When she spoke, her voice was deep, a low, soft whisper. Very mystical, and mysterious, thought Jenny.
“First you must close your eyes and picture the effect you’d like to achieve.” Though Jenny herself had her eyes closed she knew that Katie was cheating. “It doesn’t work if your eyes aren’t closed,” she taunted in an almost singsong voice. She heard Katie clap her palms over her eyes to refrain from peeking. “Then, you must—you can open your eyes now—you must wave the wand like this.” She demonstrated the movement with a graceful wave and a flick of her wrist. Jenny handed the wand to Katie. ”Now you try.” She rested her hands on her knees and watched as Katie waved the wand roughly between her stubby, three-year-old fingers. It was actually more like the shaking of a maraca than a graceful wave of a sorceress’s wand.
Jenny shrugged, “Close enough,” Katie smiled proudly. “But we still have one more step. We need to say the magic words.”
“You mean like abrah-um-abrah-rah---“
“Abracadabra? No, for this spell we need something a little more…” She screwed up her face in concentration. “Oh I know! I’ll turn this little guy into a prince in no time!” Jenny closed her eyes and sat silently. After ten seconds Katie started to grown impatient. After 20 she’d begun to squirm in her seat. At 45 she gave up completely and poked Jenny hard in the ribs. “Go on!” she whispered rather loudly.
Jenny started her spell slowly,

“Little froggy, little froggy,
green and warty, slimy too,
close your eyes and count to ten,
we’ll soon have made a prince of you!”

Jenny opened her eyes excitedly. A prince! A prince! A---oh, still a frog. What had she done wrong? She glanced at her sister who stared blankly at the plastic frog.
“It didn’t work.” She said lazily, clearly losing interest in the whole sorceresses business.
“Oh, I know that! I just wanted to see if you did!” Jenny lied lamely. “If the spell doesn’t work, and I admit it wasn’t one of my best, you can always give the frog a little prod.” But it was too late; Katie had now completely forgotten about her wand lessons and hurried off instead to play dolls. Jenny, irritated and bored, continued her ruthless poking of the plastic amphibian. She had so far managed to roll it onto its hard underbelly when a shadow gathered itself in front of her, blocking out the sun.
“Hi!” it said, “What’re ya doing?”
“Turning this frog into my prince charming,” Jenny replied with all of the little dignity she had left to muster.
“Oh!” The shadow person was strangely intrigued. “Is that your wand?” She swiped Katie’s wand from Jenny’s grasp and examined it closely. Jenny stood up to better examine the shadow and found that it wasn’t a shadow at all but a girl. She had long black hair and thick, wavy ringlets that rested easily on her pale shoulders. She wore a pink and purple checkerboard patterned sundress and dark purple pumps. She frowned slightly, “This isn’t a very good wand.” Then, realizing Jenny’s embarrassment she added, “Not to be rude.”
“No offense taken,” Jenny said clearing her throat. “It’s my sister’s after all.”
The girl continued as if talking to herself, “But it’ll have to do.” She shrugged and sat down on her knees. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath just as Jenny had done. Then, squinting her eyes against the orange, autumn sun, she looked at Jenny. “Don’t you have a spell?”
“Spell?” Jenny faltered, unable to believe that this strange girl was about to attempt sorcery. Did she think Jenny was nuts for trying it herself? Or was it the girl who was a little wrong in the head? Or maybe, by a very slim chance, this girl was a real sorceress! In that case Jenny would never tell her her own foolish “spell.” No way! Jenny shook her head numbly to clear it.
“But you have to have a spell! Every sorceress has a spell! Unless, oh my! You must be one of those really advanced sorceresses—I can’t believe I didn’t realize—this is so embarrassing! Would it be all right if I used a spell?” she added sheepishly.
Jenny nodded, her mouth feeling dry. She didn’t bother to correct the girl’s information.
“Let’s see.” She focused her gaze on the frog, staring him down. The girl began to mumble under her breath. Right in front of Jenny’s eyes the toy frog began to bubble and, shortly after that, to croak from deep inside its throat. The girl had done it! A real frog! Jenny gaped at her and the frog in turn.
“Oh! I can never get it right! It is a real frog now but he’s no Prince Charming. Would you mind?” As the girl waved Katie’s wand again the frog began to change colors. First from red to blue, then black to purple, and finally, with a swipe of the wand, the young sorceress changed the frog's color to pink. “There, I think this suits him better than that plain old green. Don’t you?” She smiled, handing the wand back to Jenny.
Jenny fumbled it between her fingers, her eyes the size of dinner plates. It was all too much! She grabbed the frog and sprinted for the front door to her house, screaming her head off all the while.
“You’re welcome,” Vanessa called after her.

Chapter 2
Vanessa hurried outside to their pool. To make it feel like home for the Haunter’s goldfish, Little Nessie, (named after Vanessa, of course) they had covered the pool with pebbles and small stones and magically encouraged algae to grow upon the sides. “Oh! I’m so sorry! I made a new friend and I was so excited that I completely forgot about you!” Little Nessie opened her mouth in what could have been a starving “feed me!” expression or a simple “glub, glub, glub!” Vanessa took it as a signal her fish was hungry and took a can of fish food from the side of the pool. “Here you go, little guy.”
As Little Nessie finished her dinner, a low grumble was heard from the depths of the pool. Vanessa gasped, one hand flying to her mouth. The head (and teeth) of a sea serpent emerged from the murky bottom, swallowing Little Nessie whole. Vanessa leapt to her feet laughing as the Loch Ness Monster pretended to eat the goldfish, signaling to Vanessa that she was hungry for her dinner as well. “Nessie! Spit her out right now and I’ll go get your dinner.” The sea monster bellowed and a wide-eyed goldfish tumbled from her ferocious jaws.

“Mom!’” Jenny ran into the kitchen dodging stray Barbies and hurdling over the family’s over stuffed couches in the process. Once in the kitchen, Jenny continued her screaming until she was blue in the face. Her mother, who had been attempting to make dinner, hold a gossipy conversation on the phone, and feed Jenny’s 18-month-old brother now hurried over to Jenny, ushering her into a chair.
“Jenny, Jenny, use your big girl words, you’re giving Mommy a headache.” She knelt down until she was level with her daughter. “Oh, honey, what’s happened to you?”
“Oh my God, Mom! I just met our new neighbors and let me tell you they are frea-ky!” Jenny began talking very fast and making flailing motions with her hands. “So I was trying to make a frog turn into a prince, right? And then this girl comes over, takes the wand, and starts talking ‘bout how it isn’t very good but it’ll have to work. So she waves the wand and turns the plastic frog into a real one. Then she turned it pink!” Jenny’s voice rose shrilly.
“So, wait. You tried to turn the frog into who now?” Jenny’s mom tried tiredly to piece together the story.
“Prince Charming, Mom!” Jenny said as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world. “Then the girl turned Katie’s toy frog into a real pink frog!”
“A pink frog?”
“Yes, Mom! Here, I’ll show you!” Jenny took the frog from her pocket and held it under her mom’s nose.
Jenny’s mom gave a start and leapt backwards. “Jennifer!”
“Mom!”
“Jenny, get that frog out of my house this instant! Eew!” She shrieked.
“But Mom, it’s not just any frog, it’s a pink frog!”
“Jenny sweetheart,” she reasoned, “I don’t care what color it is, just make it go away!”
“But I’d need my wand back for that.”
“Jenny!”
Sighing, Jenny walked to the back door, opened the screen and crouched down to free her not-so-handsome prince. But before he could get much farther than a single leap would take him, Jenny swept him back into her hands and placed him into her pocket.
“Mom?” she called. “I think I’m gonna take a walk.”
She watched her mother step off the chair on which she’d been standing and checking under that table to make sure no other frogs had found their way into her kitchen before giving Jenny a shaky smile and nod.
Jenny returned the gesture and waved. Then she patted the pocket containing her frog and set off around the house and across the street.

Chapter 3
“Hi, um, I’m looking for—uh—”
“Vanessa?” Vanessa’s mother glanced down her nose at Jenny. Assuming this was the young sorceress Vanessa had spoken of, she couldn’t help but look her up and down. In her ripped jeans, long tank top, flip flops and summer tan, Jenny didn’t look like any traditional sorceress. Of course Vanessa wasn’t very traditional either, but she was definantly more so than this girl. That was just like Vanessa, making friends with the rebellious, different sorts. “Of course, I’ll go get her for you. Would you like to come in?”
Jenny stepped inside timidly. At 6’2’’ Vanessa’s mother stood much taller than herself, and she dressed in all black as well: a black silken dress, and a back moonstone pendant made her and her clothing look very much like a sorceress was expected to look. But she wasn’t frightening; she had a gentle smile and spoke very warmly to Jenny.
“Vanessa?” Mrs. Haunter called again. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know where she’s run off to.”
“That’s all right, Mrs.—“
“Haunter. But you may call me Susan, if you’d like.”
“Thanks, uh, Susan.”

Just then Vanessa bounded into the room. “You called—hey!” Vanessa smiled excitedly. “Your name’s Jenny, right?”
How did she know that?
As if to answer Jenny’s question Vanessa giggled and pointed to her shirt. “Hope I don’t come off as a freak. I don’t read minds, though Aunty Lena can a little. I just saw your shirt.”
Jenny looked down. Sure enough her shirt said “Jenny” in bold print under the number 13. It was her favorite shirt ever because it had come from a soccer camp she had attended a few years back at which their team was named the “Springfield Sorceresses.”
Vanessa giggled again. Jenny liked her laugh. It was friendly, bubbly.
“Vanessa, why don’t you show Jenny your room?” Mrs. Haunter said. “It was very nice meeting you, Jennifer,” she added with a wink. Unsure of what she should do in the presence of a sorceress, she winked back and extended a hand. Mrs. Haunter laughed and shook it. She was the kind of person who wore lots of rings on her fingers. Jenny liked those kinds of people.
As Vanessa’s mother disappeared, Vanessa walked over to Jenny and linked arms with her as if they had been friends for a long time, not just had a startling first encounter only a half-hour before. “I see you’ve met my mom. Did she as you to call her Susan?” Vanessa groaned. “Parents can be so embarrassing!”
“I think she’s pretty cool. Is she a—“ Jenny regretted the words before they had even left her mouth.
“Sorceress? Yeah, she is. Is your Mom? Or is it from your Dad’s side?” They had reached the door to Vanessa’s room now, and Jenny was itching to take a peek inside.
“Actually I’m—wow!”
Vanessa’s room was painted a dark ruby with plum and peach accents. The walls were antiqued, ancient and falling apart in places, though somehow, it managed to look new, like a room right out of a designer catalogue. Floating (actually floating!) shelves adorned her walls. On these shelves sat spell books and potion ingredients, as well as a few beanie babies and pictures of her family on various vacations: visiting the Middle Ages, riding on the backs of dinosaurs, meeting the famous Cleopatra herself. As Jenny gawked at the pictures Vanessa moved across the room to her bed: a large four-poster with dozens of fancy embroidered pillows and a quilted orange and gold and yellow comforter.
“So what about your family?” The sudden sound of Vanessa’s voice gave Jenny a start.
“My family?” Jenny racked her brains trying to remember what they had been talking about. “Oh, um, actually my Mom and Dad aren’t…special,” she said, realizing that Vanessa had been wondering where she got (or didn’t get) her magic from. “Not, um, magical I mean.”
“So it’s just you? How cool is that! It must get kind of lonely sometimes though, being the only sorceress in your family.”
“It doesn’t actually.” Jenny suddenly felt hot patches form on her cheeks. It wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t the truth either. “Um, actually, it doesn’t get lonely, because…I’m not a sorceress.”
Vanessa laughed. Not mockingly, but as if Jenny had just come up with the funniest joke she’d ever heard.
“No, it’s true.”
Vanessa stopped laughing and stared hard at Jenny. “Seriously? But what about the frog?”
“I was pretending. Sure, I wish I was a witch,”
“We prefer the term sorceress,” Vanessa said, not unkindly.
“Oh, right, well I wish I was a sorceress but I’m not.” Jenny turned away, expecting Vanessa to do something awful, like turn her into a frog.
Instead Vanessa got to her feet and hugged Jenny’s shoulders, guiding her onto the bed. “It’s ok, really.”
“You aren’t mad?”
“Why would I be? I probably scared you, it’s no wonder you didn’t say anything before. It’s just hard, you know. It’s a new town, I haven’t met any one like me here so I jumped at the slightest thought that you might have been—“ She sighed, then, sensing it was troubling Jenny, changed the subject. “If I scared you, which — don’t deny it — I did, why’d you come back here anyways?”
“I brought you your frog.” Jenny said awkwardly. “My mom wouldn’t let me keep it.”
“Thanks.” Vanessa said, suddenly cheery again. “He’s cute. What should we call him?”
“Timmy.” Jenny offered. “Doesn’t he look like a Timmy?”
Vanessa studied the amphibian. “He does,” she nodded her approval. “Timmy it is!”

Chapter 4
Over the next few days the girls met frequently.

“So if you aren’t a sorceress, and practically no one here is, then what about the other creatures?” Vanessa asked one day. She indicated the different houses along the street as she spoke, “The Frankensteins, a werewolf, and over there, there lives a banshee, right?”
“Only for Halloween.” Jenny answered, handing Vanessa an ice cream sandwich. To celebrate the holiday the cookie was shaped like a jack-o-lantern. Vanessa seemed to like it. She pondered Jenny’s words as she licked the melting ice cream from the sides of the cookie.
“What’s that?”
Jenny had to hold back a laugh. “You don’t know what Halloween is?”
“No, maybe I don’t.” Vanessa racked her brain but found nothing to do with “Halloween” anywhere. “Tell me about it.”
“Halloween comes once every year, on October 31. That’s next week,” Jenny added, in case Vanessa didn’t know.
Vanessa nodded, taking a bite out of her sandwich. “Go on.”
“And on Halloween everyone gets to dress up. But not like just anything, it has to — well, it should be — something scary. No offense,” Jenny added hastily, “but to us, banshees and Frankenstein are pretty scary. So it’s fun to dress up like them on Halloween and have a laugh. Not a mean laugh, but a “ha, ha, it’s fun to be scared” kind of laugh. Then everyone walks from house to house in their costumes saying, “Trick-or-Treat!” so that they get candy.”
“Interesting,” Vanessa says. “What are you going to dress up as?”
“I dunno. Katie’s going to be a fairy princess, that’s why she had that wand, and my little brother’s going to be a tootsie roll. I was thinking of being a sorceress but now that I saw what you and your mom wear my costume looks totally lame and inauthentic.”
“Oh!” Vanessa squealed. “Show it to me!”
“Really? I don’t think you’d like it.”
“Try me. I just want to see. If it’s really as bad as you say I guess I’ll just have to take you back to my house and let you try on some of my outfits.” Vanessa tempted.
“Really?” Jenny exclaimed, excited at the idea of getting to wear a real sorceress’s costume.
“What are friends for?”
Jenny squealed and ran inside, returning after only a couple of seconds with her costume.
“That was fast.” Vanessa said admiringly. “Are you sure you aren’t magical?”
“I’m sure, no magic. Just quick on my feet.” Jenny held up her costume. “What do you think? Totally lame, no?”
“It’s not totally lame.” Vanessa examined the costume. It was a black polyester dress with a corset bodice tied with purple ribbon and sewn together with green and purple string. The matching hat had green and purple patches on it and a sparkly spider dangling from the tip. Jenny also held a broom. She hadn’t originally planned to use it with her costume but upon finding it she had decided to bring it out to show Vanessa.
“So V., what do you think?”
“I like the sparkles!” Vanessa mused, pointing to the sparkly purple and pink streamers that had taken the place of stiff brown bristles on Jenny’s broom.
“Oh.” Jenny blushed.
“No, really. I wish I had a broom like that! Over all the costume isn’t that bad. The hat’s actually kind of cute, though personally I can’t stand spiders. Apart from the fabric it’s pretty authentic. Just a little bit of ‘bibbity boppity boo’ and you, Miss Cinderella, will be ready for Halloween!”
“You’re going to use magic on my costume?” Though Jenny already knew Vanessa was a sorceress, the fact that she could do magic never ceased to amaze her.
“Why not?” Vanessa stood up and dusted the crumbs off her dress. Today it was a pale yellow with sparkly pumpkins. Jenny loved Vanessa’s dresses. They weren’t a dead giveaway that Vanessa was different, but they certainly were original. They fit Vanessa’s personality. Original, artistic, magical.
“Come on Cinderella, it’s time to get you ready for the ball.”

Chapter 5
Back in Vanessa’s room the girls were hard at work turning Jenny’s Party City costume into an authentic sorceress’s gown, cape, and broomstick.
“Yick! This is itchy, V.” Jenny complained from her perch on the stool. Vanessa circled Jenny, bewitching her sewing needles to hem the shirt, or add a sash whenever she felt it necessary.
“Stand still just one more second, Jen. I still haven’t figured out which fabric to use. Do you want this silky fabric or the soft cotton?” Vanessa conjured two swatches out of the middle of the air and held them up for Jenny to see.
“Which one is less itchy?”
“Hmmm,” Vanessa rubbed her fingers over each of the swatches in turn. “You’re right, let’s go with the cotton.” She waved her wand, a rich mahogany with an ivory base and emerald accents.
“Thank you.” Jenny sighed. She looked at her new flowing skirt, rocking slightly to see how it moved. “It’s nice. Good work, Fairy Godmother.”
“We aren’t done yet. You need some…sparkle.”
“Oh, V., more sequins?” Jenny looked down at the bodice of her dress already adorned with silk ribbons and sequins around the corset as well as the neckline.
“Sequins? No, I was thinking rubies.” Her eyes sparkled. “Blue topaz and rubies and emeralds.” Another flick of her wand and a shower of sparks settled themselves as precious stones on Jenny’s dress.
“I love magic!” Jenny gushed.
“I know.” Vanessa smiled. “Now hop down and spin.” Jenny did as she was told, excited to see her friend’s reaction to her new and improved costume.
“I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself.” Vanessa bubbled. “Jenny, you look Fab-u-lous!”

Chapter 6
It seemed to the girls that Halloween just couldn’t come fast enough.

“Jenny! Don’t you look pretty? Is this the costume Vanessa has been telling me so much about?” Vanessa’s mother nodded approvingly as Vanessa and Jenny came down the stairs in their costumes on Halloween night.
“Vanessa made it for me last week when I came over. Don’t you love it?”
“I do.” Mrs. Haunter smiled at Jenny before turning towards her daughter. “And what are you supposed to be?”
“I’m a cheerleader!” Vanessa spun around excitedly in her costume. “It’s a human thing,” she explained in response to her mother’s confused expression. “You know like with the little dance routines?” Vanessa jumped around and shook her pompoms.
Mrs. Haunter laughed. “All right. Now promise me you two will be back by midnight?”
“Yes, yes, otherwise Cinderella here’ll turn back into a pumpkin. Come on pumpkin girl.” Vanessa flicked Jenny playfully on the forehead and then pulled her sleeve, leading her towards the door.
“Have a good time, girls.” Mrs. Haunter called after them.
“Bye, Mom!” Vanessa waved until they reached the bottom of the driveway. “Oh, I’m so excited! Let’s go before all the good candy’s gone.” Vanessa dragged Jenny towards the neighbor’s house. “Come on!” She giggled. Vanessa had been looking forward to this night all week. She had even practiced saying “Tick-or-Treat” into the mirror and with Jenny to see which way sounded the cutest and would get her the most candy.
“Vanessa! Calm down! Man, you act like you’ve never had a Halloween before!” Jenny chided. “Just chill, would you?”
“I haven’t celebrated Halloween before! How can you expect me to chill?”
“All right, I get it. Let’s get going…”
“Yay!” Vanessa nearly jumped up and down out of pure excitement.

Chapter 7
“I’ll give you two 3 Musketeers bars for five caramel Hersheys,” Jenny bargained later that night.
“Add a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and it’s a deal.”
The girls had emptied their candy bags onto two large heaps on Jenny’s bed. So far, Vanessa had the largest stash of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and 3 Musketeers, while Jenny had a vast collection of m&ms and Kit Kats. They had pooled their Hershey Kisses together for a total of 28 candies and then divided them down the middle. Actually, there had been 29 candies but Jenny had eaten one secretly, which she thought was only fair considering now they were even. Sort of.
“You know what?” Jenny said thoughtfully while struggling with an m&m’s candy wrapper.
“What?” Vanessa asked, opening the candy easily with her wand.
“This has been the best Halloween ever. And you know why?”
“Why?” Vanessa stole an m&m from Jenny’s bag. “That was for eating my Hershey Kiss,” she teased.
“Hey!” Jenny took an empty foil wrapper from the pile on her bedside table and flicked it at Vanessa. “It was the best Halloween ever, because I have the best friend ever.”
“You really mean that Jen?”
“Of course I do!” Jenny reached across the piles of candy and pulled Vanessa into a hug. (She was also reaching for one of Vanessa’s candies, but she thought it would ruin the moment if she said so.)
“I saw that you know.” Vanessa smirked as Jenny popped the stolen candy into her mouth.
“I know. But that’s what friends are for, right?”
“Right. Exactly right.”