Home, Sweet Haunt by P.J. Night

soon she felt better.
    â€œThanks,” Nora told her friends. “You rescued me.”
    â€œWe were getting ready to look for a movie on TV,” Aleah said, “when we heard you shouting inside the walls.”
    â€œWe were hoping you’d sneak back,” Caitlin admitted. “I somehow imagined it would be with less dramatic an entrance, though.” She raised an eyebrow.
    â€œI planned to scare you,” Nora told them.
    â€œWell,” LL said, “you did do that!” She put an arm around Nora. “We’re glad you’re okay.”
    â€œI’m fine,” Nora said. She nodded toward the dumbwaiter shaft. “I’m not sure how I’m going to get home. That was my ride.”
    â€œWe’ll figure everything out tomorrow,” Caitlin said. “For now, just enjoy the sleepover.”
    Aleah read aloud a list of classic horror movies that were playing tonight. Nora had seen them all. And she loved them all.
    Caitlin ran to her room and dug up a pillow and a sleeping bag. She handed them to Nora.
    Nora knew she shouldn’t be there. She knew she was supposed to be upstairs. She knew she had no way to sneak back into her room now. She knew her parents would be mad about the dumbwaiter. She knew all that.
    Nora also knew she wasn’t ready to go home.
    Halloween wasn’t over.
    Not yet.
    As Nora settled in to spend the night, she asked Aleah, “What happened at the end of the story?”
    â€œStory?” Aleah paused the movie. “What story?”
    â€œThe soldier. The lady,” Nora said. “I left before the end.”
    â€œOh,” Aleah told Nora, “I was almost finished. The woman went inside and left him standing on the street.” She pressed play on the film. The opening music began. “She called a few friends to tell them what had happened. A few days later she died.”
    â€œFrom what?” Nora asked.
    â€œThe website didn’t say. I offered to write a better ending,” Aleah told Nora. “Caitlin and LL turned me down.”
    â€œIt’s supposed to be true,” Caitlin said. “If you made up what happened next, it wouldn’t be true.”
    â€œJust saying, my explanation would have been better than no explanation.” Aleah shrugged and clicked up the volume on the TV.
    â€œHmmm.” Nora tucked Caitlin’s pillow behind her head.
    Maybe there was no ending simply because no one, except the soldier and the lady, knew the whole story, and they weren’t telling.

CHAPTER 12
    As midnight crept closer, the girls were full of candy and growing sleepy. Caitlin’s cat was snoozing at the edge of Caitlin’s sleeping bag. She was curled up in a tight black fuzz ball and breathing deeply.
    â€œOne last story, Aleah. Please.” Caitlin wanted to hear another true ghost story before they crashed for the night.
    The lights were off. They’d gotten bored with the movies. Aleah’s computer screen glowed in the darkness. “I’ll find one that will give us all bad dreams,” Aleah said with a chuckle.
    â€œI’ll sleep like a baby,” LL assured her. “Don’t worry about me.”
    â€œSounds like a challenge,” Aleah told LL. Everyone sat quietly while Aleah browsed websites. The only noise was her fingers striking keyboard keys, until she said, “Okay. I think— Wait. What’s this?” Aleah leaned forward so that her face was eerily illuminated by the screen. “Here it is. What I’d been looking for all along. A story about this exact building.”
    â€œHa! I knew it!” Caitlin pumped the air. “There is a ghost on the ninth floor after all.”
    â€œNo.” Aleah scanned through the story, then reported, “But I think this might be the source of the ghost rumor, Caitlin.” She began to retell the news story. “Earlier tonight, I looked for stories about people who died, or ghost