‘I don’t know about you,’ said Tom, ‘but I’m gettin’ out of here. If you want to stay to listen to some darned ghosts, you can, but not me. I’ll see you at home, Doug.’

Tom turned and ran.

Alone, Doug stood for a long while staring at the old house. Then he heard someone coming up the path behind him. He turned, his fists clenched, ready to defend himself against the midnight assailant.

‘Lisabell,’ he said. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I told you I’d be here. But what are you doing here? I thought you were a scaredy-cat. Is it true what they say? Did you find out anything? I mean, it’s all darn foolishness, isn’t it? There’s no such thing as ghosts, is there? That place can’t be haunted.’

‘We thought,’ said Doug, ‘we’d come here and wait and see. But the others got scared and left and now it’s only me. So I’m just standing here, waiting, listening.’

They listened. A low cry wafted out of the house into the night air.

Lisabell said, ‘Is that a ghost?’

Doug strained to listen. ‘Yes, that’s one.’

A moment later they heard another great whisper and cry.

‘Is that another?’

Doug looked at her face and said, ‘You look like you’re enjoying this.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Lisabell. ‘It’s kind of strange, but the more I hear, I —’ And here she smiled a strange smile. The whispers and the cries and murmurs from the house grew louder and Doug felt his whole body turn hot and then cold and then warm again.

Finally he reached down and found a large stone by the front of the house, reared his hand back, and flung it through the glass panes of the front door.

The glass exploded with a loud crash and the door creaked open, slowly. Suddenly, all the ghosts wailed at the same moment.

‘Doug!’ cried Lisabell. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Because …’ said Doug.

And then it happened.

There was a rush of feet, a torrent of whispers, and a swirling mob of white shapes burst out of the house and down the stairs and along the path and away into the ravine.

‘Doug,’ said Lisabell. ‘Why’d you do that?’

‘Because,’ said Doug, ‘I couldn’t stand it anymore. Someone had to scare them out. Someone had to act like they knew what they were doing. I bet they won’t come back.’

‘That’s terrible,’ said Lisabell. ‘Why would you want ghosts not to be here?’

‘Why would you think,’ said Doug, ‘that they had a right to be here? We don’t even know who they were.’

‘Well,’ said Lisabell, angrily. ‘Just for that I’m going to teach you a lesson.’

‘What?’ said Douglas.