George looked up at his mum, “I know you said it was an accident but I felt like you’ve always blamed me.”
Sue shook her head, “I didn’t mean to blame you. I just felt so guilty about being a terrible mum.”
Dave gave a short laugh, “What a terrible household this is! All of us feeling guilty for years. Is this why Charlotte is here? Did she want to put things right with us?”
I looked over at Charlotte. She had walked over to her mum and was smiling at her.
Charlotte said, “I want mum to smile again. I want her to stop shouting. And I want George to stop being so grumpy.”
I repeated her words to the family.
George said, “I’ll try.”
Sue finally smiled, “And I’ll try too. It might take me a while though. I think I’ve got used to shouting all the time.”
I asked Charlotte if there was anything else she wanted to say to her family.
She said, “I think that’s it. I wanted everyone to know that it was my fault for jumping off the swing.”
When I’ve dealt with ghosts before, and they’ve finished what they need to do, they glow white and then disappear.
I looked closer at Charlotte, she wasn’t glowing white at all.
She must have known what I was thinking because she said, “I think there is something else I need to do but I’m not sure what it is.”
I repeated this to everyone.
“Can I ask her something?” Sue said. “I want to know if she was in pain when she died? Does she blame us for not looking after her better? Can she ever forgive us?”
I repeated Charlotte’s answer. “She didn’t feel anything, and she certainly doesn’t blame you for not looking after her. She says that she thinks some people are supposed to die young so they can make room for someone else. Like Lucy. Charlotte wants to know what Lucy is like. Is she like Charlotte?”
Sue smiled and shook her head, “No one will ever be like you, Charlotte. You were the perfect daughter. Do you remember how we used to sit for hours and colour in pictures? Lucy never wants to do anything like that. She’s so noisy and never sits still. I’ve got a headache all the time!”
A sudden feeling of unease came over me. Something to do with Lucy.
Chapter 9
Emily came into the room and looked around. “Where’s Lucy? We’ve been playing hide and seek and I can’t find her anywhere.”
“How long have you been looking for her?” I asked.
“About five minutes. She must have found a really good hiding place,” Emily said.
George said, “Have you tried the cupboard under the stairs? That’s one of her favourite hiding places.”
“I’ll try looking there,” Emily said.
“I’ll come with you,” I stood up and followed Emily.
“Kate, is something wrong? You don’t look well,” Sue said.
“I’ve just got a funny feeling about Lucy,” I said. I walked out of the room.
Emily was already peering inside the cupboard under the stairs. “She’s not in here. The door was open, Mummy. Do you think she was going to go in but then changed her mind?”
The cupboard was directly opposite the room that we’d all been sitting in. The room door was open so Lucy would have heard everything that was being said. She would have heard what Sue said about her.
I turned around. Sue was staring at me, a worried look on her face. She said, “Do you think that Lucy heard what I said? I didn’t mean anything by it, I love Lucy so much, especially after losing Charlotte.”
George and Dave him out of the room. They heard what Sue had said.
“You do go on about Charlotte a bit,” George said. “Comparing them both.”
Sue began to cry again, “I didn’t realise. I’m a terrible mum.”
George gave her a little nudge and said, “We’ll be taking your mum badge off you at this rate.”
Sue looked at him and realised he was smiling. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “This isn’t about me. Let’s find Lucy. Where else does she hide?”
“She’s got lots of hiding places but I think I know them all,” George said.
He told us where Lucy’s hiding places were. We split up and ran around the house and garden looking for here. She was nowhere to be found.
Sue began to pace up and down the hall. “Where could she be? I couldn’t bear it if something happened to her.”
I thought of something. I said to George, “Does Lucy like going to the park?”
“She does but she knows she’s not supposed to go on her own. She likes going on the swings, just like Charlotte.”
“Just like Charlotte!” Sue said. “Do you think she’s going to do the same thing as Charlotte?”
Charlotte was at my side, I looked down at her face. She gave me a little nod.
“We’d better get to the park quickly,” I said. I took Emily’s hand and ran towards the door.
I raced out of the door and down the street. I could hear the others behind me. Charlotte was at my side, she seemed to be floating on the air beside me.
I hoped we wouldn’t be too late! Losing one child must be terrible, losing two just didn’t bear thinking about.
Once inside the park we ran past the roundabout and sandpit. The swings were at the far side of the park. Even from this distance I could see Lucy’s little figure swinging backwards and forwards on the middle swing. I ran faster.
As we got closer I called out, “Lucy! Slow down. You’re going too high.”
“I’m not high enough. I can go even higher,” Lucy called down to me.
Sue, Dave and George had caught up with me. They stood gasping at my side.
“Lucy! Please stop. I don’t know what you heard in the house but just know that I love you so much,” Sue said.
Lucy swung higher and higher. She shouted, “You don’t love me as much as Charlotte! You’re always talking about her being the perfect daughter. I bet you wish I was dead and Charlotte was alive.”
“That’s not true! I love you so much that my heart would break if anything happened to you. Please slow down,” Sue begged.
Lucy’s legs began to work even faster.
Dave shouted out, “Lucy! Stop this immediately. You’re scaring us.”
“I don’t care. No one cares about me. George hates me. He never called me a little princess.”
“I do care about you. I don’t even like princesses! I only said that to Charlotte to keep her happy. Please come down, I know I’ve been awful to you but I can try to be a better brother,” George pleaded.
The chains on the swing began to creak and squeak.
“She’s going even higher, Mummy,” Emily said.
“I know,” I said. I had a terrible feeling that something awful was going to happen. I didn’t want to let Emily witness an accident but I couldn’t walk away from the family.
I turned to Charlotte, “What can we do? What can we say to stop her?”
Charlotte shook her head, “You can’t say anything. She’s going to fly and no one can stop her.”
Chapter 10
George looked at me and said, “What did Charlotte say?”
I told him.
“This can’t happen again. I can’t lose another sister. Does Charlotte know when Lucy is going to throw herself off the swing?” George asked.
Charlotte said, “She’s nearly ready now, I can tell by how far the swing is going up.”
I repeated this to George.
George took a step forward and held out his arms. He called up to Lucy, “You can fly if you want to. I’ll catch you.”
“No! Don’t tell her to do that,” Sue said.
George ignored his mum and said to Lucy, “Come on, you can do it. You can fly, you’re amazing.”
“Will you really catch me?” Lucy said as she kicked her legs backwards and forwards.
“Of course I will, I’m your brother,” George said and he moved his arms wider.
Dave stepped forward and said, “I’ve got the biggest arms, I won’t drop you.”
Lucy looked down at her family, all waiting for her. She began to smile. She stopped kicking her legs.
Her family didn’t move. They stood there waiting with their arms outstretched.
“I won’t jump,” Lucy called out. “I don’t think I can fly anyway, my arms are too tired.”
Lucy let go of the swing chains and gave her tired arms a shake.
“No!” Sue screamed in horror.
Lucy slipped backwards off the swing.
Everything seemed to slow down. I saw the horrified looks on Sue, Dave and George’s faces as they realised they were at the wrong side of the swing to catch Lucy. George reacted first and began to spring forwards. I could see that he wasn’t going to make it.
Lucy screamed as she realised what was happening. Sue’s hands flew to her face. I put my hand over Emily’s eyes.
We all seemed to hold our breaths as Lucy fell towards the ground.
Then something happened.
Lucy slowed down. She tilted forward and landed gently on her feet.
Lucy smiled. “Somebody caught me.”
I knew who had caught her, it was Charlotte. She was standing just behind Lucy. You could tell they were sisters. They both had the same silly grin on their faces.
George reached out to Lucy and picked her up.
“Watch out! You’re squashing me,” Lucy laughed. Her mum and dad soon joined in the hugging.
“What happened?” Emily said. “I can’t see anything.”
I removed my hand from her eyes and told Emily what had happened.
“Phew! I’m glad Charlotte was here,” Emily said.
I looked over at Charlotte. She was beginning to glow white. It looked like her time here was done.
I walked over to the family and explained what was happening to Charlotte.
Lucy said, “Goodbye Charlotte, I’m sorry we never met but I’ll try to be the perfect daughter for mum.”
“You’re already perfect, just as you are. I wouldn’t change a thing about you,” Sue said.
Charlotte said a few more words then she said it was time for her to go. She glowed even whiter and then she gradually disappeared.
Sue let go of Lucy and came over to me. She said, “I don’t know where to begin. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. All the guilt I’ve been carrying around about Charlotte. I’ve been in constant bad mood with everyone. I can’t thank you enough for helping us.”
“There is something you can do. I don’t want everyone at school knowing that I can see ghosts. I don’t mind for myself but I don’t want the other children to make fun of Emily,” I said.
“I understand. I won’t say a word,” Sue said. “Do you want to come back to our house for a while? We could all do with a cup of tea.”
“No, thank you, I think you need to have some family time together. Besides, Emily has a big birthday cake that she needs to cut into,” I said.
“I’d forgotten that it was my birthday!” Emily said.
I took her hand and began walking away. Dealing with a child ghost hadn’t been as bad as I thought. I wouldn’t want to do it again in a hurry, but I knew that if a young ghost needed my help I would be there.
Emily and I walked back home. Emily talked non-stop.
“I can’t believe I forgot it was my birthday. Is it because I’m getting older? You forget things all the time, don’t you Mummy? Is it because you’re so old?”
“It’s because I have so many clever thoughts in my head that it makes me forget things that are not important,” I said.
Emily considered this. “I think you’re right. I think I must be getting more clever too. Being seven is hard work.”
I nodded, I thought I could just about remember being seven.
Emily smiled and began to skip. “I can’t wait until I’m eight! When can we start planning next year’s birthday party? Can I have a big sleepover? Can I invite everyone?”
About the author
I live in a town in the north of England. On the high street there are about 7 charity shops. They always have lovely window displays enticing you to enter. Quite often I have looked at the things in the windows and wondered who they belonged to, and why they have given them away. I also wondered what would happen if there were ghosts attached to some items. For a while I thought about the possible stories – and then I eventually wrote them down!
I set the stories in a second hand shop, rather than a charity shop, as it would give characters the opportunity to sell items they don’t want, or need, anymore.
I still look in the charity shop windows, it’s amazing the things that people donate.
Other books in this series:
Book 1 – The Final Bet
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Click here for Amazon UK
Book 2 – The Lost Baby
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Click here for Amazon UK
Book 3 – The Last Laugh
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Click here for Amazon UK
Book 4 – The Hidden Picture
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Click here for Amazon UK
You can visit my website at :
www.gillianlarkin.co.uk
Kind regards
Gillian
SECOND HAND GHOSTS
THE 7TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
By
GILLIAN LARKIN
KINDLE EDITION
www.gillianlarkin.co.uk
Published by Gillian Larkin on Kindle
Copyright 2013 by Gillian Larkin
Cover illustration by Vectorstock.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, electronically or mechanical without permission from the author.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About the author
Other books in this series:
Copyright
The 7th Birthday Party: A Ghost Mystery Story (Second Hand Ghosts Book 3) Page 3