Haunted House

Paulsen Dahl Fabio

Description

Daniel is a 10-year-old boy. Together with his parents, he is going to move from a suburban area in New Jersey to a new house not too far away. The small family is excited about moving to this new place, although they don't know anybody there. Daniel is the first to stay in the house alone, and what he discovers while staying there starts to haunt him. He is accepted in a new school and makes new friends in his class, but what frightens him most is his new English teacher. He knows something about their new house and what happened there. Daniel is a smart, tough boy who tries to confront the thing that haunts him. But as he goes along, he is getting too close to finding the truth and facing the consequences of knowing it.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 08 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528958837
• Langue: English

Extrait

Haunted House
Fabio Paulsen Dahl
Austin Macauley Publishers
2021-01-08
Haunted House Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen
The author grew up in Sandefjord, Norway, and moved to Bergen at the age of 21. He started studying business administration, then changed his major to mechanical engineering. However, in the second year, he discovered what he wanted to do—to write and do art. It was difficult to make a living out of this hobby, so there were some unfruitful years.
He realised he had to do something with the ideas that had been in his mind for such a long time. He focused on fiction stories and that led to this book.
Copyright © Fabio Paulsen Dahl (2021)
The right of Fabio Paulsen Dahl to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528908191 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528958837 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2021)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
I want to thank my mother, Inger Margaret Paulsen, for reading my draft and giving me good ideas that were very helpful during the writing process.
A special thanks to Emily Jane Berg. Her help with editing the story was truly valuable.
Chapter One
“Have you packed your things?” Laura asked her 10-year-old son, Daniel, who was watching his favourite TV program.
“No, Mum, I have a few things left.”
“You better hurry up!” she said with her stern, but loving motherly tone.
Daniel ran from the living room, upstairs to his own room where he continued gathering his things in a cardboard box while Laura headed towards the kitchen to work on her to-do list. As she passed the main entrance, her husband Richard walked in from the garage where he, like the rest of the family, had been doing his fair share of the needed preparations for their big move. The couple, both in their thirties, were happily married and excited for the change of moving to a larger house.
“Honey, are there any other boxes ready to be carried out?” he asked as he followed her as far as the kitchen doorway. She answered right away, pointing out a pile of boxes on the floor, but Richard barely heard her as his mind carried him back to a memory of when they first moved into this New Jersey suburb. He could still remember smelling her hair as he had held her close and danced with her in the very place she was now packing boxes. She had been seven months pregnant at the time, but it still brought him chills remembering the feeling of her lips as their dancing had turned to kissing. That had been a perfect night, from his perspective. They had also accomplished to finish their baby’s room. They had a good marriage and Richard was proud with anticipation of becoming a father. Ten years later so much seemed to have happened, yet so much stayed the same. Laura got a glimpse of him standing there.
“We don’t have all day!” she exclaimed, snapping him out of his thoughts
“Sorry, I’m on it!”
He picked up the closest box and started out to the car with it. It took him six trips in total, including the box Daniel brought down for him, then he came back looking for Laura again.
“I just took Daniel’s stuff out. Can’t wait for the day when we’re settled! Was that the last one?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she said smiling.
“Finally—” he started to respond, but he barely got the word out before she put on her thinking face on and cut him off.
“Oh wait, I know there is one more in the living room!”
“There isn’t a lot of room left in the car. Maybe you can have one on your lap when we drive?” he answered.
“And the one in the bathroom,” she interjected. “No, I’ll have something else with me in the front already.”
“If there’s that much more we’ll have to make another trip anyways. The trunk is already pushing its capacity and we should get going,” Richard replied.
“Yes. Plus I think there are actually two in the living room.” Agreeing with her husband’s assessment they got Daniel and started for the car. Daniel had a stuffed bear with him that didn’t fit the rest of his belongings, he placed the bear on the empty seat to the left and put the seat belt around him before securing himself. Laura carried a potted plant that she tried to balance while locking up, then she got into the car. Richard took the wheel and backed the car onto the trailer hook before he drove down 507 Allenton Road, New Jersey.
“Don’t forget that you still have to drop off your keys,” Laura reminded him.
“Right,” he replied.
“I haven’t forgotten, but thanks for reminding me.” He took a turn towards Sheraton Parsippany Hotel where he had an appointment with a colleague who also was his friend. It wasn’t very far, so not long after leaving their home, he pulled into a parking space outside the grand building.
“I’ll just be a minute,” he said, getting out of the car. Richard walked straight to the entrance. Inside, he went to the front desk and asked the smiling girl working there to talk to Jonas. Richard had been working together with him for six years now. Every employee at the hotel liked him, that and his good looks were probably a large part of the reason he had advanced so quickly to the position as manager there. Somehow, in addition to his honest and gentle nature, he was also very precise. He got things done and valued punctuality. His punctuality was one of his greatest strengths, but probably also his weakness. He never managed to hide the frustration he felt when running behind schedule, but today was no problem. Richard felt a hand touching his right shoulder.
“There you are, old buddy, nice to see you again. It’s been a long time,” Jonas said to the right of him. Richard turned, looked at his friend he hadn’t seen in a long time and took his hand.
“It has! Almost a year if I remember correctly. I’m surprised you haven’t gone grey!” he teased him as he reached into his pocket to find the keys. “Here are the keys to the valve and the other rooms,” he said while handling them to Jonas. “Sorry we don’t have time to catch up, but I don’t want to leave Laura and Daniel waiting in the car too long. Plus we still have a lot to do before the day is done.”
“No worries. I don’t have much time to spare right now anyways. Good luck with the house and I’ll see you in a couple…” he said and corrected himself as he rounded the desk to get back to work. He turned to look at Richard one last time. “Four. It was four days right?”
“Right. See you on Tuesday,” Richard added.
When he got back to the car, Laura sat absorbed with something on her iPhone, and Daniel entertained himself with his own portable device in the back. Richard took a look at them, both totally focused and absent. “Huh,” he muttered, then he started driving again, heading for the highway. About 15 minutes later while they were on Franklin Road, Daniel asked.
“Are we almost there?”
“It’s not far from here darling,” his mother responded. Not too long after, Laura started pointing out the window where they were going, so Daniel could see for himself. First towards their new street which was Richter Street, and then towards the new house.
“There it is,” she said to her son who had been looking forward to seeing it for days.
“Yup. Here we are.” Richard added as they pulled into the driveway. The whole family got out of the car and took a moment to examine the façade. The wood panelling had certainly once been a rich brown, but over the years it had faded to a sort of greyish colour. Judging by the new white front door in place, the previous owners had started fixing things up, but they didn’t get very far. It was odd that they moved so suddenly despite having begun renovations. Perhaps the previous tenants not wanting to finish the work was one of the reasons the Smiths were able to buy the place for so much less than the market value. Despite the work they would have to do on the outside, they now looked forward to setting up the already renovated and highly modern interior. They had expected a fixer upper when they had first seen the listed price, and they’d been pleasantly surprised when it looked great, and even passed inspections with flying colours.
When they first went there to look inside the house, the couple acted a bit strange. Laura had asked the couple why they wanted to move, and after an uncomfortable silence the man had said it had something to do with his new job. He didn’t tell them that they had been living there for only four months. Before that, the house had been standing empty for years.
“We better get to work right away if we want to make that one last trip to the old place before it gets dark,” Richard said to Laura as he started for the trunk.
“You’re right,” Laura responded, holding on to the potted plant. “I’ll get the door.” She headed for the door, moving one hand down to find the keys and fumbled with them for a moment, trying to balance the potted plant on the other. She finally fit the key in the k