• The wind, howling as it whipped around our house, caused me to look up. I shut the book I was trying to read, cracked my window open and put my face close to the opening.

    The wind—heavy with the smell of rain and damp earth—swirled in, brushing the hair from my face. The thrashing of trees and the scuttling of leaves was all that could be heard in the night. The clouds that had been present all day still lingered in the sky, obscuring the stars from view.

    As I brought my gaze back down to earth, I jumped. There, standing on the sidewalk directly opposite our house and staring straight at me, was a boy. He was small and looked no older than seven, or eight. The street was then momentarily illuminated by the headlights of a car, and as it passed, I lost sight of the boy. Then the car was gone, and so was the boy. I gazed around, both startled and frightened by the sudden appearance and disappearance of the strange boy. Another car passed, and I gasped. The boy was back, but this time, another boy accompanied him. He looked about my age; fourteen.

    He had his hand on the younger boy’s shoulder and both were staring grimly up at me. My door rattled suddenly, and I whirled around. No one was there. Of course no one was there; I was home alone. I turned back around, and screamed. The face of the older boy was peering in through my open window. His lips moved, and the breath of a whisper, almost like the voice of the wind, drifted in.

    “Help us…”


    I slammed my window closed, smacked down both latches and flung the curtains shut.

    “G-ghosts,” I whispered to myself, and my already racing heart doubled its pace. But something was wrong. Wind was blowing in through the vent above my bed.

    “We’re not ghosts…”


    I shrieked and raced out of my room and down the hall, but everywhere I went, the voices followed, coming from the vents…the windows. I raced down the stairs and, in a last, desperate attempt to escape them; I flung myself out the front door. I stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, and then I turned around, and there they were. Standing only a few yards away, were the two boys.