The Dowd Center and Thurber House

Ghost Stories Autumn 2007

The children of the Dowd Education Center participated in a joint venture with Thurber House Ghost Story Writing Workshop. The Project is a collaboration of Thurber House, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Upper Arlington Public Library, and Worthington Libraries, featuring workshop leaders Noreen Mulcahy, Kathy Matthews, and dramatic readings by actors from The Phoenix Theatre for Children. Here is the story they created.

THE ATTACK OF THE EVIL DOG & VAMPIRE

AUTHORS:

     Booster sighed and picked up barbells to do some weight-lifting. At 11 years old, Booster was already five feet tall and had six-pack abs.  He loved running up and down the Hollywood hills at a steady pace of six miles an hour.  But right now, he just felt lonely.

     The doorbell rang.

     "Christyana!  Did we order pizza?" he called.  Booster loved pizza, especially pepperoni pizza. 

     "Shut-up!  I'm sleeping!" she yelled down the stairs. Booster opened the front door.

     A beautiful teenage girl stood there, wearing a skirt, tank top and high heels.  Long, curly brownish red hair cascaded down her back and her light greenish-blue eyes smiled at him under thick lashes. "Hi," she said, shyly, "I'm Angel." She gestured at the big black dog standing next to her.  "And this is Devil, my dog.  Can I come in? I'm a friend of your sister's...!, uh, wanted to see if she'd like to go out for pizza,"

      Angel was the prettiest girl Booster had ever seen. And she was talking to HIM! "S-s-s-sure!" said Booster, "Come right in!"

      Angel stepped into the house, followed by her enormous dog. "I'll get my sister?just hold on," Booster rushed past Angel, stepping on her foot by mistake.

     "Ow!" she yelled. "Get off!"

     Just for a second, Booster thought her eyes turned from green to black. Devil growled. Then Angel looked just as pretty as before.
Booster blinked. Weird. He ran up to Christyana's bedroom and shook her by the shoulder. "Your friend Angel is here! Let's go out for pizza with her! Please!"

     Christyana sat up and snarled, "I WAS SLEEPING! I don't want pizza and I don't have a friend named Angel!"

     "B-b-but," said Booster, "She's right downstairs."

     "Quit making up stories, you freak, and leave me alone." Christyana flopped back down on the bed and started snoring. Loudly.
Booster went back to Angel. "Christyana is sleeping right now. Sorry."

     Angel gave him a huge smile. She had very white, shiny teeth. "Well, would you like to get some pizza with me? I don't feel like going alone."

     Just then Christyana walked down the stairs, rubbing her eyes. She had serious bed-head, her black hair sticking up in all directions.

     Devil growled at her, showing a set of sharp, white teeth.

     Christyana glared at Devil. "You're not going anywhere, Booster. You've got chores. And I don't like this dog."

     "No! I'm bored and I'm leaving. You never do anything fun with me," said Booster. He grabbed Angel's hand and they ran out the door into the dark night.

     "Get back here, you little idiot!" Christyana ran after them. But Devil stood on the sidewalk, growling and blocking her way, ready to pounce. Christyana's eyes opened wide. "Uh, nice doggie, nice doggie, I'm going back in the house now." She backed into the house and slammed the door shut. "Something is really wrong."

     Just then, a huge, furry person came rolling down the stairs. He landed with a loud thump and moan. His club flew out of his hand and landed at Christyana's feet.

      "Ooooh, Ezekiel head hurt/' mumbled the big hairy man in a deep voice. He wore animal skins and had red eyes and brown teeth. Old burns scarred his face and hands. The caveman staggered to his feet and held out his hands to Christyana. "Ezekiel need diamond. Omnitrix diamond. Diamond send me home."

     "What!" Christyana squawked, putting her hands on her hips. "You break into my house, fall down my stairs and want me to give you a diamond? We don't have any diamonds here, you dimwit! What do we look like? Rock stars?"

     The caveman scratched his head. "Ezekiel like eat dead people. You got dead people?"

     "Ewww! You freak! That's disgusting! Get out of here!" Christyana pushed the caveman out the front door, threw his club out after him and slammed the door shut. "Whew! This night keeps getting stranger and stranger." She grabbed her hoodie. "And now I've got to go find my stupid brother."

     She walked out the house. The caveman was sitting on their front porch examining the sweaty t-shirt Booster had left there after his run today.
"Give me that!" Christyana snatched the shirt from the caveman. She could smell Booster's cologne on the shirt. He always wore too much cologne.

     Ezekiel got up, sniffing the air. "Boy went this way," he said. "Ezekiel smell him."

     This might save me some time, thought Christyana. "Hey, if you help me find Booster, maybe I can help you find that diamond." Christyana had no idea how she would locate a diamond, but finding Booster was the most important thing right now.

     The hairy caveman took off down the sidewalk, with Christyana following right behind him.

     Meanwhile...

     Booster, Angel and Devil stood outside a pretty little house with green shutters and a red roof.

     "I just need to grab some money for pizza," said Angel. As they walked down the path to the backdoor, Booster realized that Angel's
backyard was actually a misty graveyard, full of broken tombstones and overgrown grass.

     The back door let out a slow moaning creak as they stepped into the shadowy kitchen. The house looked entirely different on the inside. Stained wallpaper hung in shreds on the walls and dirt coated the floor. Thick cobwebs hung from the ceiling.

     A huge black spider scurried over Booster's foot. "ACK!" he yelled.

     "It's just a little spider," said Angel. She let the spider crawl up her arm. "See...harmless." She placed the spider on a counter. "I think I left my money downstairs. C'mon."

      Booster followed Angel downstairs, realizing too late that he was stepping into a dark basement. The door slammed shut behind him. Devil blocked his escape, snarling.

     "You know," said Angel, her voice suddenly slow and creepy. "I don't think I'm hungry for pizza anymore. Now I think I'm in the mood for blood."

     Angel opened her mouth wide. In the faint light from the basement window, Booster saw the gleam of her shiny, white, sharp fangs.

     Meanwhile...

     "This is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. Hasn't she ever heard of a cleaning service?!" Christyana stepped into the dirty kitchen and put her hands on her hips. "And the spiders!" She grabbed Ezekiel's club and smashed the black spider crawling on the counter.

      Christyana handed him back his club. Ezekiel licked the spider off. "Not good," he said.

     "Yeah? Well, I'm sure dead people taste soooo much better. Hey, can you still smell Booster?"

     Ezekiel sniffed the air and walked over to a door. "Smell ends here."

     Christyana pulled open the door and looked down into the basement. Two figures struggled in the dark below.

     "Help! Help me! She's a vampire!" Christyana heard Booster call out.

     Devil stood on the stairs, growling at Christyana, blocking her way.

     "Ezekiel, get down there!" Christyana ordered.

     The caveman ran through the door and tripped on the dog. Both of them tumbled down the stairs in a mass of flying fur. Christyana jumped over them and grabbed handfuls of Angel's long hair. She yanked as hard as she could. The vampire's head snapped back. Booster punched Angel in the stomach and broke free.

     Ezekiel shook off the dog. Then he stared at Angel the vampire. "You smell like dead person!" he said happily, his red eyes glowing with excitement. "Me like eat dead people!"

     "No, you big hairball! I'm undead! UN-DEAD!" the vampire cried.

     Ezekiel ran towards her, swinging his club. Angel ran up the stairs, with Ezekiel right behind. Devil followed Ezekiel. And then Christyana and Booster followed them.

     Angel ran out of the house and into the backyard. Ezekiel caught Angel and they struggled. He tried to bite her. She tried to bite him. Back and forth they went, bumping into trees, stumbling over tombstones, slipping on Devil's old dog poop, which Angel never bothered to pick up.
No one had noticed that the sky was growing lighter and the stars had disappeared. The bright sun peeked over the horizon, sending rays of light through the graveyard.

     The sunlight hit Angel. She burst into flames. "Aaaaaaah! Noooooo!" she shrieked.

     "Eeeek!" screamed Ezekiel. "Fire!!"

     He staggered away from Angel just as she exploded into a cloud of smoke and...vanished.

     Christyana put an arm around Booster. "Well, I was totally right about that girl. I knew there was something weird about her. But I really don't want to say I told you so."

     "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you," said Booster.

     A whimpering sound came from behind them. They turned to find Devil, looking very confused. He walked up to Booster and licked his hand.
"He must have been cursed by the vampire," said Booster, petting him. "Look how nice he is now. Hey, what's this?" Booster knelt down and removed Devil's collar. A huge diamond hung from the collar.

     "Diamond! Diamond!" cried Ezekiel, jumping up and down in excitement. "Me need Omnitrix diamond!"

     "Again with the diamond stuff? Here, take it," said Christyana, tossing Ezekiel the collar.

     "Now me go home, back in time, see my sister!" Ezekiel held the diamond and, as Booster and Christyana watched, he slowly dissolved, getting fainter and fainter, until he was gone. The only thing left behind was his club.

     "Okay, Booster, let's get out of here," said Christyana. "I think I need a nap."

     "Can Devil come home with us?" asked Booster.

     "Yeah. I think we could use a dog to keep out the vampires and cavemen, don't you?" Christyana slung the club over her shoulder and the three of them walked home, making sure to pick up a pepperoni pizza on the way.
 

THE END