The Haunted Hotel
By Josh Weatherall
It was a Saturday evening, and my name is Josh. Were just arriving at a hotel for the weekend away. It had taken a long time to get there because it was a long way from home. When we arrived, we saw huge big black gates and they just opened on their own which scared me, but I was okay. As I climbed out of the car, I noticed that the air smelt damp and musty. At first glance, the hotel looked almost abandoned. It appeared to date from the Victorian era. It was built from granite blocks, grey and forbidding. The window frames were wooden, but the wood was rotting away and had not been painted for many years. When we walked into the house it must have been three hundred years old. There was a skinny and frail man standing at the front desk who said nothing. I asked him, “is the house haunted?” He replied saying “no” but it wasn’t very convincing. He gave us our room number and we went up the terribly creaky stairs to the top floor where we unpacked our bags and got settled. That night I couldn’t sleep one bit because I was terrified of the howling that came from outside the window. So, I pulled my act together and got out of bed to go and investigate. When I left the room, the floorboards were creaking loudly but sometimes they would creak when I was standing dead still. When I got downstairs, I thought I would look around. After about ten minutes I found a library which was very mysterious because I just had the feeling that I was being watched, but I knew I wasn’t. I pulled out a book about the supernatural and as soon as I knew, the bookcase turned and there was a long and dark passageway of stairs that probably led to something. But it was late, and I was very scared, so I put the book back and it closed, and I went up to bed.
The next morning my mum said that we could look around and I went straight to the library and I told my sister and she said it was nonsense. So, I was on my own, I grabbed the book and rushed down saying to myself there is no such thing as ghosts, and it seemed endless but eventually I got to the bottom and I found a switch, but it didn't work so I got out a match and walked around. I heard sounds, screams that sounded so real. After about five minutes I got to a door which was locked so I bashed it down and it was a study which looked abandoned. I had a look around. When I opened a chest of draws, I found a vase and thought I would take the lid off to see what was in it as it was quite heavy. As soon as I opened it a ghost jumped out at me and it screamed at me and I screamed back at it and ran away as quickly as I could. When I got to the stairs, I tripped on the first one and bashed my head knocking myself out. When I woke up, I was strapped to a chair in that same room but this time I knew I wasn’t on my own. The ghost was staring at me and I was very scared, but I knew I couldn’t move so I just stared back. After about 5 minuets he said, “what are you doing here” and I said, “I was just looking around”. He didn’t believe me, so he disagreed with me. I asked if I could leave but he said no and that I had to have a punishment. I asked what It was, and he said I would leave myself, but I didn’t know what he meant. Later that day I heard my sister calling me, so I knew that I had to get out of there. So, I remembered that I had a knife in my pocket, so I got that out and slowly cut my way through. When I got out, I rushed up the stairs and put the book back and rushed to my Dad and for some reason I just ran straight through him which scared me, but I couldn’t get over that.
. Hours later I was just thinking how this happened and then I hit me, the ghost said that I would leave myself and I must have been a ghost!! After about ten minutes I had taken the facts in I knew that I was a ghost forever. So, I went to the library I got out the book on the supernatural and I found something that said that I could change back. It said that I need to make a spell called the cruciateus curse which said I need to be with another ghost, and I need a person to recite it. I was very fumbled about how I was going to do that. Then I thought I could get that ghost that I saw in the room, but whether he will do it or not I don’t know. I thought about being a ghost and It wasn’t so bad because I could go through walls, so I thought. When I thought I would try my powers, so I walked to the wall and for some reason I didn’t go through. Then I realized what it said in that book, it said that if you become a ghost not by death you have 3 days to become human again. This to me was the greatest thing that had happened to as a ghost. When I had taken all this In, I knew that I had to go to the other ghost. So, I went to the library I found that my hand just went straight through but not with the other books which was strange. Then I realized that there could be another way into the study. So, I looked around and found nothing then I also realized that I also needed a human to recite the spell. So, I left the other passageway idea behind I knew that the only person I could really trust was my sister. So, I went to find her and found her in the garden. It was probably a very beautiful garden once, but everything was dead. I realized she wouldn’t hear me so I would have to write it to her. I found she was hanging from a tree and knew I should write it there. So wrote this ‘this is your brother Josh and I know this is going to sound strange, but I am ghost and I need your help’. By the time I had finished writing she gasped and fainted. I picked her up and shook her and she woke up. I drew an arrow to the writing, and she read it and called my name, and I wrote ‘Hi’ She said hi whilst looking into space. Then I wrote ‘Follow me’ and I drew a line where I was going, and she followed me’. I picked some stones up and made a path on the floor when we went to the house and led her to the library and said with books “pull out the book on supernatural things and go to page 172” and she did that perfectly. The bookcase moved and then she just automatically went in there. I followed her and eventually we got to the door and I opened it and at this time it probably was very scary for my sister, but she managed. After about five minutes of her just looking around she found the pot and opened the lid and that ghost came out and she fainted, but I just looked at him. He said to me “what are you doing here?” I said, “I need your help, and I want to be human again” but he said “no” but I was not convinced so I complained and said why, and he said, “that I had to be punished for snooping around”. By this time my sister was staring at me, but I knew she couldn’t see me. When I moved, her eyes moved which must have been scary. Anyway, I kept talking to him and I asked him his name, and he said it was Frank and I said mine was Josh, but he seemed not to care. I knew he wouldn’t help me unless I bribed him. I said I will smash your vase and he seemed very shocked when I picked it up. He said “alright” and that felt good to me. We went upstairs and because my sister could see me, I asked her to follow me, and Frank followed too. When we got to the library, I asked my sister to read the instructions and it said that we needed to be in the middle of the woods, we went to the door and found a gun and Frank took it just in case. I asked why, and he said “that the evil spirits will try to get to us and kill us. This was scaring me. We opened the door and walked for an hour or so and found that it was pitch black when we stopped. Frank lit some candles, and my sister was almost frozen stiff because she was wearing a pink teeshirt and a yellow skirt. By the time we had made a circle you would not be able to see any more than two meters in front of you which was unsettling knowing anything could be out there and you don’t know it.
I was told by Frank that I should stand in the middle of the circle and as soon my sister began to read the spell the candles blew out and I heard screaming just like the ones I heard last night. A soon as I looked around, I saw red eyes staring at me and there were more and more until it was just red all around us. When this was happening, Frank got out the gun and was shouting whilst shooting “For my family� and shot almost all of them until they floated away, but I knew they would come back in bigger numbers. We lit the candles once more and the last step to the curse was for me to float up in the sky and stay there, and that I did. Then my sister recited the curse saying From the depths of hell, we summon you to bring Josh back to His original body and restore is soul With all the power of the gods I summon you to become mortal again!!! And that it did, I slowly faded back to my human body and I was me again, but Frank said can you recite a spell for me please. My sister said what page and he said page sixty-nine and she went to the page and she said that it was a spell to send ghosts to heaven. My sister recited it and I said goodbye and hugged him and then he slowly faded away into nothing, but I knew this was what he wanted. So, we walked back and when we arrived, I found my Mum and Dad looking very worried and then she said let's go home. We left and I slept so well that night knowing that many more ghosts had gone.
Bet seller of the 2021 national book awards