Malloy Manor
By Fatima I Rana, 6th Grade
Sarah Barnes shivered in her thin jacket on the cold October day. She made a mental note in her head to remind her mom to get a new, thicker coat. She was having a crummy day. She was scolded by her science teacher for such poor marks on her test, and had to take another next week. As Sarah walked on in her small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia, she caught a glimpse of the old Malloy Manor, she thought about her parents’ plans for the old, rickety manor. They had started renovating it a month ago, and their plans to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast were highly doubted by Sarah. But then again, there was the prospect of a ghost to look forward to. Old, creepy manors like this surely must have a ghost haunting them. Sarah always faced a thrill of delight when thinking about being a ghost hunter. She arrived at her 11-year-old cousin Diana Barry’s house. Since they were the same age, they often played together and the girls were best friends. She found Diana in the backyard, reading a book while watching over her 5-year-old twin brothers, Tommy and Timmy, who were playing in the sandbox. They delightedly watched sand being lifted and dropped out of the little plastic bulldozer. Diana’s baby sister Nora was playing with her baby toys nearby in the grass. Diana looked up and, seeing Sarah, waved. Sarah noticed that the title of the book she had been reading was ‘The Prince and the Pauper’. “Hi!” Diana called out. “I was in the middle of Prince Edward’s escape from John Canty! Oh, it’s so exciting!” “Yes, I’m sure it must be.” Sarah replied, although she wasn’t really the booky type and didn’t really understand what was so interesting about them. They were just books. “But I wanted to know if you’d like to go ghost-hunting with me at the old Malloy place. Diana seemed surprised. “You mean that old place your parents want to turn into a bed-and-breakfast?” she asked. “Exactly” “But you know that there are no such things as ghosts!” Diana said reproachfully. “Well,” Sarah said, exasperated, “have you ever heard of something called pretending? Honestly, Diana, after reading all those books I’m surprised that you still don’t imagine stuff.” “Well,” Diana said hesitantly, laying down her book, “I suppose it could be an adventure…” “Yeah!” Sarah said, gaining excitement, “Just imagine it like a story in a book. An old, scary, supposedly haunted manor. Perfect!” “All right, I give in.” Diana said as she rose to her feet. “But just promise not to creep me out too badly. I’ve read a lot of horror books, and there’re really freaky.” “Oh, Diana!” Sarah cried out as she rushed to give her cousin a hug. “What would I do without you?” “Well, for one thing, you wouldn’t be suffocating me!” Diana choked out. “Oh, sorry!” Sarah released her and she began gasping for breath. “But how are we going to get inside?” Diana asked as soon as she got her breath back. Sarah smiled. “Since I have to go home for dinner right now, we’re going tomorrow, and dad’s going to leave the door open tomorrow for the plumber. He’s got to fix some water pipes in the basement.” “All right, then,” Diana said. She knew that her cousin could really stick to an idea once she took it up. “See you tomorrow!”
…………..
“This is creepy!” Diana whispered. It was the next day, and she and Sarah were in the dusty living room of Malloy Manor. Cobwebs covered each corner, and Sarah was beginning to regret ever stepping foot in the old house. “Wow, this place is real old. It’ll take a lot of work to fix it up.” she said, looking around. “Your dad would probably think that a haunted manor would just attract guests!” Diana said scornfully. “I mean, who would want to stay at a haunted hotel?” “Bed-and-breakfast” Sarah corrected. “Whatever!” Diana said. She sat down on a couch. “Wow, this is actually comfy. The owners must have been rich.” Suddenly, she froze, staring at the wall, her eyes wide. “What’s the matter?” Sarah asked. “You look like you’ve seen a….” her voice trailed off as she followed Diana’s gaze. On the wall was a shadow, rocking back and forth, growing larger and larger. It was in the shape of a baby’s cradle. Then the girls both screamed and ran out of the manor, never stopping or looking back, until they were both safely home, doors locked and shut.
…………..
“Did your parents believe you?” Diana’s voice called over the phone. It was a few hours later, and both girls were pretty shaken up. “No.” was Sarah’s reply. “They both thought that I was scared of the manor and was making things up. Did yours?” “No” Diana said sadly. “They just scolded me for reading too many scary books” “Well,” said Sarah into the phone, “I’m going back, now that I know that there’s a real ghost and a real mystery.” “What?! Are you crazy? Didn’t you see that… that… that-““Shadow. Yes.” Sarah said firmly. “But I’m going back. Just don’t tell your parents. They’ll think we’re hallucinating and will call a doctor.” “But why pull me into this?” Diana complained on the other end. “Because even I can’t go alone. Please, Diana. Come with me” Sarah pleaded. There was a silence on the other end. After a while, Diana spoke up.
“Sarah?”
“Yeah?”
“YOU ARE NUTS!”
“Fine!” Sarah snapped. “I’ll go by myself.” Diana sighed. “Oh all right.”, Diana gave up, “You’ll get killed and I’ll have your cold, dead body on my conscience.” “All right, then.” Sarah let out a sigh, relieved. “Thanks” “Don’t mention it.” Diana grumbled. “Meet me after school tomorrow”, Sarah said, “at the Manor. We’ll go explore” Suddenly, as she was about to put the phone back onto the receiver, she said one last thing into the phone: “And bring a flashlight. Ghosts hate light”
…………..
The next day, two small figures could be seen sneaking into a tall building. When Sarah and Diana entered, it was dark and unusually cold. Shivering, the two girls shone their flashlights around. The two beams of light revealed the usual: cobwebs, dust, and the occasional spider. “Hey, what was that?” Sarah whispered suddenly. Diana froze, and both girls strained their ears, trying to hear. “What noise?” Diana asked finally. “Th-th-that noise!” Sarah looked terrified. And then they heard it. It was high, shrill singing. It sent shivers down Sarah’s spine. It was rising and lowering in pitches, and frightened the girls terribly. They stood there, trembling, not knowing what do. Then, just as Sarah thought she’d go crazy, it stopped. Sarah and Diana looked at each other with wide eyes, and Sarah said, “I-I think i-it came f-from u-upstairs!” Diana looked ready to break down. “Oh, Sarah, don’t tell me you want to go up there.” Sarah looked scared, but took a deep breath and said, “Come on, Diana. We have to solve this mystery!” “Hold on a minute. Just back up slowly. Since when were we solving a mystery?” Diana asked defiantly. “And they say I read too many books!” Sarah glared at Diana with such a look that it could have frozen a waterfall in July. “Oh all right” Diana said. Sarah smiled, but going upstairs she could be heard saying under her breath, “Baby”. Unfortunately, Diana heard, and whispered, “Chicken!” and with that gave a push. “Scaredy-cat!” Sarah retorted, followed by a mighty shove. The name-calling and pushing continued as the girls ascended up the stairs. Suddenly, the shrieking started again, and the girls froze instantly. Shaking, Sarah started down the corridor of the second floor. Diana was following slowly, and reluctantly, behind her. When the peered inside, they saw that there was an old quilt on a dusty bed, which looked as if it were going to collapse at any moment. The singing was louder here, and the girls covered their ears with their hands. In the middle of the room stood a dark, shadowy figure. It was about as tall as Sarah, and was reaching out a dark hand, if you could call it that. Diana screamed, and ran out of the room, and the girls ran down the stairs and out the door, not stopping until they were safely home, doors locked. As all this happened, Sarah felt an odd sense of déjà vu. She had always run away and hid. It was tiring. That feeling made her feel helpless. And she was sick of it.
…………..
The next day Sarah set out towards Diana’s house, firm that she was going to get rid of that thing. But when she reached the house, it seemed… oddly different. Then she realized it was quieter. Where are Tommy and Timmy? Sarah wondered. She shook off the thought with a shrug and rang the doorbell. Diana’s mom answered, and smiled. “Why, hello, Sarah!” she said. “If you’re looking for Diana, she’s in her room. She’d seemed awfully anxious to see you.” “Thanks, Aunt Jo!” Sarah replied. Aunt Jo’s real name was Aunt Josephine, but when Sarah was smaller she couldn’t say Josephine, so all that came out was: “Aunt Jo!” “Oh, could you please do one more favor for me, please? I’m sorry.” “Sure.” Sarah said. “Could you call Timmy, Tommy and Nora inside? I’m afraid they’ve been playing on that new seesaw their Aunt Megan got them.” Sarah frowned. “But Aunt Jo,” she said, “They’re not there.” Just then Diana came rushing in. “Sarah, Sarah, I’ve got it!” But when she the look on her mother’s face, she stopped. “What’s the matter?” she asked. But Aunt Jo was already on the phone. “Oh, great, she’s probably calling the police or something.” And sure enough, they could hear Aunt Jo giving her address, name and phone number. “Come on, I have something to tell you.” Diana led Sarah to her room. They sat down on her bed. “I did some research on the Manor’s former owner, William Malloy. His father, Henry, had a mental sister, Lorraine. She came to live with him and his wife, Martha. Once, she took baby William upstairs to her room and tried to suffocate him with a blanket. But his parents found out and saved him. They boarded up her room and she died the next year. But her ghost haunted them and did weird stuff, like breaking vases and stuff like that. So they moved to New Jersey and never came back.” “Okay,” said Sarah, “that figure and singing and shadow were all Lorraine.” “And oh, Sarah,” said Diana, her eyes welling with tears, “Timmy and Tommy probably went to the Manor, because I told them not to.” Sarah gave Diana a hug. “Don’t worry. They’ll be all right.” “Let’s go.” Sarah said. A few minute later, the girls were running up to the door of Malloy Manor. When they opened the door, however, two figures came flying out from behind the door. The twins, it had seemed, had hid behind
the door. “The lady took Nora. She smiled and said she’d bring her back.” Tommy said, pointing up the stairs. “Come on!” yelled Sarah. Sarah and Diana ran up the stairs. The wind was blowing, but the windows were nailed shut. They ran into the first room whose doorknob they could get hands on and ran in. It was the room in which they had seen the figure. On the bed was the quilt, and it was wiggling. “Nora!” cried Diana. The girls lunged forward. They tried yanking the quilt off, but some invisible force kept it on. “Lorraine! Back off!” yelled Sarah. There was a scream, and suddenly the wind stopped. Diana scooped up Nora. Her eyelids were half open, and only the whites of her eyes showed. “Is she…”Sarah asked, peering in on Nora’s face. “No,” Diana sighed, relieved, “That’s what she looks like when she’s sleeping.” Both girls laughed.
…………..
It was a few days later, and Sarah was lying on the grass in her backyard, thinking of what had happened just a few days ago. Diana’s mother had talked to her parents, and they had decided not to have a bed-and-breakfast after all. Nora was safe. Lorraine was gone, at least from their lives.
