The Most Frightening Story Ever Told by Philip Kerr

Author:Philip Kerr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2016-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

“Wow, that is such a creepy story,” exclaimed Billy. “I don’t know, but that might just be the creepiest story I’ve ever heard. I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight thinking about it. And if I do manage to sleep, I bet I have the worst nightmare anyone has ever had.” He shook his head. “The kind of nightmare where you think you’re falling from a great height. Or the kind of nightmare where you’re dead. I have that one a lot.”

“Everyone has nightmares like that, Billy,” said Miss McBatty.

“But that story is so creepy. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.”

“Creepy, yes,” said Miss McBatty. “But unfortunately for me, it wasn’t supernatural. After all, it was only a teddy bear, not a ghost.”

Billy shrugged. “So what’s the problem?”

“Bil-ly,” said Miss McBatty. “I’m a ghost hunter. I’m supposed to hunt ghosts and find them and stuff. A teddy bear just doesn’t qualify, on account of the fact that it wasn’t a ghost, but something very much alive.” Miss McBatty sighed and looked sad for a moment. “Can I tell you a secret, Billy?”

“Of course you can,” said Billy, leaning forward on Edgar Allan Poe’s armchair.

“It’s this.” Miss McBatty sighed again. “Back in Kansas City I may have given you the impression that I might have actually seen a ghost. But the honest truth is, I haven’t. Not ever. Not once. Those bath faucets turning on in that Kansas City hotel were about the nearest I’ve ever come to a genuine ghostly experience.”

“I see,” said Billy, trying to hide his disappointment.

Only he didn’t do it very well, because Miss McBatty said, “You’re quite right to be disappointed, Billy. I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I was a total fake.”

“I don’t think that at all,” insisted Billy. “In fact, I think you’re kind of wonderful.”

But Miss McBatty wasn’t really listening. She was too busy listening to the sound of the disappointment in her own self that she was failing to hear what Billy had to say.

“I mean, I’ve got all this expensive equipment for detecting ghosts, but the fact is that I never have actually detected a ghost. Let alone seen one. What kind of ghost hunter does that make me?”

“An unlucky one?” Billy suggested. And when Miss McBatty didn’t look convinced, he added, “You’ve only just started, Mercedes. May I call you Mercedes?”

Mercedes McBatty nodded. “I wish you would, Billy. I can’t ever get used to the idea of people calling me Miss. It makes me sound like a sort of target.”

Billy nodded. “What I mean is this: you’re just fifteen years old, Mercedes. You ask me, you’ve got plenty of time to see a ghost before you can start calling yourself a fake and a failure. I think you’re brave and wonderful. I know I wouldn’t have had the courage to pick up a teddy bear I suspected of having eaten someone’s baby. And certainly I couldn’t ever have put my finger near its mouth.”

“Thank you, Billy,” said Mercedes. “I think you’re one of the kindest people I ever met.

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