The Bark of the Ghost: Part 1 of 2

"Dad, is this really the house we're going to live in?" Mikayla asked her father as their family's car pulled into the driveway. Mikayla's father, mother, brother, and herself got out of the car and looked up at the house.1

It was a large light blue house with gray shingles covering the pointed roof. Their new home was a ways away from the town with only one other house to the left of theirs.2

Mikayla crossed her arms as her older brother, Joe, swung his arm around her shoulder.3

"Think of it this way, little sis," he said, "If anyone wants to egg our house, they gotta drive five miles to do it!"4

Mikayla smiled and rolled her eyes playfully. Her older brother always had a knack for cheering her up. He was sixteen, just two years older than her, and had a nice sense of humor. He was probably the coolest and nicest older brother on the planet.5

"Well," Mikayla's mother said, "Why don't we go inside and choose our rooms while we wait for the moving truck to come.6

"Okay!" Mikayla, Joe, and their father said in unison as they hurried inside to see who would claim the largest room.7

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After the moving truck arrived, they managed to get everything inside the house in one afternoon with a million boxes to unload afterwards. By nighttime, they had all of the furniture in their bedrooms and the living room was furnished with two cream colored couches, a mahogany coffee table, and a big flat-screen TV.9

Mikayla's mother and father had gotten the largest room, Joe got the second largest, and Mikayla got the smallest bedroom in the house. Dispite this, her room was still fairly large.10

After a late supper of McDonald's, everyone sat around talking for a while. They bragged about how big or how cool their room was or complained about how much stuff they had and that their room was too small.11

At about ten o'clock, everyone went to bed. After all, it had been an exhausting day.12

Mikayla went to her bedroom, put on her pajamas, and climbed into her bed. She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. Just as she was about to lose consciousness, she heard the barking of a dog. She jolted upright and went to her window.13

Mikayla's bedroom window had a clear view of the neighbors' front yard and the side of the neighbors' house. As she looked down at the neighbors' yard through the open window, she saw, chained to a fence, a large Black Lab that was barking madly at her.14

Mikayla stuck her head back inside and closed the window. At least now the sound was muffled. She got back in her bed and, despite the barking, managed to get to sleep.15

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The next day was a Sunday and Mikayla decided she would go and tell the neighbors about their dog. As everyone busied themselves with unpacking their own stuff, Mikayla got the approval from her mom to go outside and explore around.17

She went outside and headed over to the neighbors' house. As she approached the house, the Black Lab who'd been barking last night rushed out from behind some bushes and started barking at her.18

Mikayla was stunned at the large dog and almost didn't notice it when a boy about her age came to her rescue.19

"Dan, stop barking and sit!" he ordered the dog. Immediately, the dog, Dan, did as the boy asked and quietly sat down in the grass.20

"Thanks," Mikayla said eyeing the dog nervously.21

"Don't mention it," the boy said. He held out his hand for her to shake and said, "I'm Adrian."22

Mikayla shook his hand. "Hey, I'm Mikayla," she said smiling.23

They let their hands drop to their sides and Adrian asked, "So, was there a reason you came walking up the sidewalk to our house?"24

Mikayla had almost forgotten the reason she'd come here. "Uh, yeah," she said, "Your dog was, uh, keeping me up last night. Y'know, barking at my window and stuff like that."25

"Oh, yeah, Dan gets over-excited at night. I'll try to fix that problem."26

Mikayla nodded and looked at Dan. He was panting with his tongue flopping over the side of his bottom lip.27

"So, do you go to school in town?" Mikayla asked looking back at Adrian.28

"No, I'm home-schooled," he replied. Mikayla nodded again.29

"Your parents must not believe the legend about your house for them to move you guys there," Adrian said looking at Mikayla's house.30

"Legend? What are you talking about?" she asked.31

"You don't know?" Adrian asked raising his eyebrows. Mikayla shook her head.32

Well, the story goes like this," he began, "Supposedly, every family that moves into that house, something strange happens."33

"What do you mean 'strange'?"34

"Well, apparently the youngest person of the house will see and hear things that no one else is able to."35

"You mean...things like ghosts?" Mikayla asked, suddenly very curious.36

"Exactly like ghosts," Adrian replied.37

"So, who's the youngest in your family?" he asked.38

"Um, my...my brother," she lied.39

Adrian smiled at her and said, "You're lying."40

"Why...How do you know?" she asked.41

"I just know."42

Mikayla smiled and shook her head.43

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As Mikayla came back inside the house, she was greeted by her mother in the kitchen.45

"So, what did you 'discover'?" her mother asked.46

"Well," Mikayla smiled and rocked back and forth on her heels, "I saw this really cute guy."47

"Oh really? What's his name?" her mother asked unpacking a box full of dinner plates.48

"Adrian. He's really cool and funny."49

"Oh, where does he go to school?"50

"Um, he's home-schooled."51

"That's too bad, you could have seen him at school tomorrow."52

Mikayla paused, realizing she'd forgotten that she had school tomorrow.53

Just as Mikayla was about to say more, her mother asked, "Mikayla can you help me unpack? I'd like to get this done as quickly as possible, but I don't want to break anything."54

"Sure, mom,"55

It wasn't long before the unpacking of the dishes was done and the whole family headed out to Subway for lunch.56

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That night, as Mikayla was lying in her bed, she heard the barking again.58

“So much for ‘fixing the problem’,” Mikayla thought to herself. Getting out of her bed, she headed over to the window to close it tightly. From now on, she decided, she was going to keep that window closed whenever she slept.59

It was well into the night before Mikayla finally fell asleep and had dreams of her new school.