Ghosts of Government House by Judith Silverthorne

Author:Judith Silverthorne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Government House, ghosts, Juvenile Fiction, Saskatchewan, Canada, haunted houses, ghost stories
Publisher: Your Nickel's Worth Publishing
Published: 2011-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

___

That evening Sam lay in bed chatting with J.J., reviewing the day. J.J. sat up suddenly. “Hey, we never looked at that picture you took of Sheldon. Grab my camera.”

Sam reached over and dug the digital camera out of J.J.’s backpack. She advanced the photos until she came to the one she’d taken of Sheldon in Government House.

“Yikes,” Sam gasped. She leaned in for a closer look.

The outer edges of the photograph showed the morning room as it had looked when they’d visited. But in the middle was a starburst flare of white with a washed out image of Sheldon in a stark hospital room with subdued white and beige walls and a plainly-draped window. Sheldon was sitting in his wheelchair at a small table between two beds, with a teacup in front of him. A Great Dane lay at his feet.

“Proof of two ghosts!” J.J. whispered, grabbing the camera from Sam.

“Even Gabe can’t deny this,” said Sam.

She took the camera back. It seemed to burn in her hands. As quickly as she could, she shut it off and plopped it onto the nightstand. “This ghost detecting is kind of creepy,” she said.

“Yeah, but it’s fun too,” said J.J. “Especially seeing Jocko.”

Sam giggled. A few minutes later she felt safe enough to turn off the lights. She closed her eyes. Beside her, J.J. mumbled a few more words, then fell silent. Sam drifted towards sleep.

All of a sudden she stiffened. Her eyes jolted open.

She nudged J.J. “Wh-wha…what’s that?”

Near the door was the faint outline of a boy. As they stared, a transparent image of Ben slowly materialized.

“What are you doing here?” Sam gasped.

“I don’t know,” the ghostly image said. “I was just thinking about visiting you and here I am.”

“Uh, you’re kind of scaring us,” said Sam. She pulled the covers tighter around her shoulders. “Maybe you should go back.”

“Wait,” said J.J. “Ben, could you help us?”

“How?” Ben’s voice wavered. His image grew fainter.

“We’re trying to find Howie. He’s another ghost who lives in Government House.”

“Now you’re scaring me,” said Ben, fading. “I’m not a ghost! And I can’t help you.”

“Well, we certainly aren’t ghosts,” said Sam.

Ben vanished.

J.J. buried her head in Sam’s shoulder. “Oh no, now ghosts are coming to visit us!” she said in a muffled voice.

Sam’s heart hammered in her chest. With a trembling hand she patted J.J. on the back. “Tomorrow we have to prove to Ben that he’s the ghost and that it’s okay. And we have to prove to Gabe that ghosts are real.”

“You will, you mean. I don’t think I want to do this anymore,” J.J. wailed. She curled into a ball and pulled the covers over her head.

“I’m not sure I do either,” Sam said in a tiny voice. “But I don’t know if we can stop now.”

She wiggled farther under the covers and squeezed her eyes shut tight.

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