The Tween Detectives - Oct. Prep Month

October 14th, 2017 - A Ghost With a Heart

“A Ghost With a Heart”

A Short Story

Written By

PureSciFiPlus
Aka PureSciFi

     Looking through his binoculars, Carl Everett could see all of the town below from the mountain his house sat upon. A closer looked showed him individual houses, streets, and people. Carl was concentrating on the town so much he didn’t even hear Maxwell Peters step up next to his wheelchair.

     “Three more have arrived.” First, Maxwell looked at Carl. Then he looked down at the town too.

     “How many does that make?” Carl asked without taking his eyes off Middletown.

     “I’m not exactly sure. But I think they make it sixty-four.”

     Carl looked up at Maxwell. “Is it another family, or are they individuals?”

     “They are individuals. And before you ask, they are two men and one woman. They don’t appear to be related to each other. But they could be. It’s hard to tell with them. We can barely tell if they are men or women.”

     “When we started this town twelve years ago, did you ever think that something like this would happen to it, to us?” Carl returned to looking through his binoculars.

     “No, I didn’t. I don’t think that any of us did. We were one hundred and twenty men who wanted to strike it rich with oil. About two hundred with wives, sisters, brothers, and children. No one could have known this was going to happen.”

     “We thought some would try to take our land away from us,” said Carl. “But nothing like this.”

     A few seconds later Carl continued. “That’s why I built this mansion to look like a mansion instead of a fort. It still looks like a mansion on the inside too. But it was being used like it was a fort. I didn’t want them to know we were watching them until we could call our people below. Not one of them ever got past us.”

     “No, they didn’t. And now we know why,” said Maxwell. “It’s because of them.”

     Carl looked at Maxwell again. “I don’t think that’s why. They didn’t start arriving here until about a year ago.”

     “We didn’t even have a name for our small town.” Carl returned to staring down below with his binoculars. “Then we found out we were in the center of America in all directions.”

     “That’s when Middletown was officially founded.” Carl continued a few seconds later. “At first, we thought One Twenty. But we quickly decided against that. We didn’t know what to name it. Then we found out where we were located.”

     “Even then we couldn’t decide on a name,” continued Maxwell. “But after arguing about it for several years, we finally did.”

     Maxwell got behind Carl and gripped the handles of his wheelchair. “That’s enough observation for today. It’s starting to get dark. Let’s get you back inside before night falls upon us.”

     Carl laid the binocular in his lap as Maxwell started wheeling him back to his mansion. About halfway there, Carl looked back up at Maxwell. “I wonder how many there are going to end up being. How many more ghosts do you think will come here to Middletown, KS to live?”

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     “Everyone thinks that I died because of my wealth, or because someone killed me. But neither is true.” Carl walked up and down the length of auditorium stage. Every few seconds he would look at the students seated in front of him. He would look at the teachers and staff behind him every so often too.

     “I died because of my health. And I could have left my town. But why should I. I finally had some friends.”

     Carl stopped about in the center stage and looked at his audience of teenagers. “But with all my new friends, I was still bored. They didn’t want to come up to see me. And I got tired of coming down to see them. So, I ended up spending most of my time by myself.”

     “After I died, there was no need for an assistant to help me. So, Maxwell returned to his life below. He owned and ran the general store in town. After I got sick, he came to live with me. Then I died. And he left me too.”

     “Oh, I eventually he would return to me. But that was many years later after he died. And by then I had all of you.”

     Carl started pacing again. “It was sixty-eight years this year that the mayor of Middletown, KS came to me and asked me if I would let my mansion become a haunted house. I finally had a reason to live again. And I have been doing it ever since then.”

     “For the first few years, that’s all it was. A haunted house for the month of Halloween. Then it became a lot more than that. At first, the visitors only came because of Halloween. But then it became year-round.”

     “Now, we get thousands of them every year. And I love it, especially this time of year.”

     Carl stopped center stage again and faced his audience of teenagers. “It’s only a few weeks until the month of Halloween begins. Who here wants to help me make this Halloween another great one? One that will keep them coming back all year.”

     A choir of activity erupted as almost every student raised their hands. Some just raised them. And some waved them. But quite a few waved them frantically. Carl smiled as he looked out at his audience.

Word Count = 902