Supernatural writing contest

It happened years ago when I was only a little girl. My family and I had moved to Kirkcaldy in Scotland for my father's job with united friendly, at least I think that's what the company was called. Anyway, there we were, me, my two elder brothers David and lee, and my parents.

We lived in a large three bedroom house that was the biggest house I've ever seen, and it dated back to the 60s or whenever the awful pebble dash was all the rage. It was a peaceful house to live in if you don't count the ghostly old man who also occupied the home. As I said he was peaceful and never harmed us, but he would cause mischief that me and and brothers Initially got the blame for.

It started as soon as we moved in, the cupboard under the stairs would unbolt and be left wide open. Whoever was doing it would also turn on the light inside. Whenever my mother saw it open she would turn the light off and lock it once more, but as soon as she came past it again to go upstairs or to the kitchen it would be open once more, and the light turned on.

This happened all day everyday at least twenty times, and naturally we got the blame. Of course we denied it because why would we do that? She never believed us until the day it kept happening when we weren't in, as we were at our friends houses and school. That's when she started to notice other strange things happening, and very strange they were.

The living room door would also open by itself, the handle turning and swinging inward as though someone was coming through, except nobody ever did. After a while there was also the sightings. It would happen while my mother was bent over at the oven cooking or ironing, she would see a gray haired old man in a brown suit dating back to the 70’s out of the corner of her eye.

When she looked back, or turned to speak to him he was gone,he had disappeared. Naturally at first she thought it was my father returned home from work but soon realised it wasn't, when after turning to speak to him he was gone once more.

She even called my father's work number and low and behold he was still at work and we were at school. So who was it? She became used to these sightings and wasn't scared or creeped out, he was peaceful as I have said. Maybe he was lonely and wanted the company? Maybe he was just curious what she was doing?

So, time went on and we had been living there for about six months or so. The under stairs cupboard kept opening, the living room door kept opening, and the sightings kept happening. She no longer blamed us for anything strange that happened. She had told my father of the ghostly mischief but he would ridicule her, and not believe her. By this time their marriage was on the verge of divorce due to his affair so she gave up trying to tell him, and just got on with things.

The big incident that happened was just before their marriage ended, only weeks before my mother took us children and moved back to England. It was a Saturday night and we were all home, my parents were downstairs watching TV, I was in my bedroom playing, and my brother's were in theirs playing pool. Like I said it was a huge house and my brother's had a shared bedroom the full length of the house, large enough to fit a pool table in with plenty of room to spare.

They were happily knocking the balls around the table and listening to their radio, when it happened. My brother Lee was just about to take his shot when suddenly the window at the other end of the room, which was shut and locked with the key, opened. The small key in the handle turned, with a click the button pressed in, and the handle lifting the window opened outwardly.

Nobody was near the window as it was too far away from the pool table, and the rest of us were doing our own things so that did it!! They were terrified!! Screaming like a raving lunatic, and crying distraught they thumped as fast as they could down the stairs to the living room. This alarmed my parents and when they asked what the matter was my brother's started rambling about the window and ghosts.

This was when I upon hearing the commotion wandered downstairs, to see what was the matter. The scene I found was my mother believing them and trying to calm them, but my father denying it and telling them to not be so stupid because ghosts don't exist. “It was probably the wind,” he said, but how could it be the wind when it wasn't even windy that day? Plus the window had been locked.

My brother's never really felt comfortable in their room again and were glad when not long after, we moved back home. My father stayed living there for work for a time, initially he didn't believe the strange goings he found he was now noticing as a ghost, but couldn't deny it for long. Sure enough the stair cupboard kept opening despite how many times he shut it, the living room door kept swinging open, and eventually he even saw the sightings.

He had his back turned and was ironing the first time he saw him, so instantly he rang my mother to ask what she had seen. She told him, “A gray haired man in a brown suit.” He now believed her but it was too late, and he wasn't the only one to experience the strange occurrences.

One night after we had been gone a few months, his old boss from England had business in Scotland so he offered him a room there. It would save him paying for a hotel and my father would have company for the night. His boss was sat in the living room waiting for my father who was upstairs getting ready, they were going out for a few drinks you see, and what happened??

The door handle turned and the door swung open. He thought it was my father finished getting ready so he said something to him, but nobody appeared. He waited for another few seconds before he got up to look and entered the hall. Feeling frightened and confused he shouted my father and where was he but still upstairs!!!

He hadn't been downstairs and he hadn't opened the door. Well, he announced then and there, that he wasn't staying at the house that night and was booking a hotel. Over drinks my father told him all about the things that kept happening and his old boss called the house “creepy”, and he said “He was never stepping foot inside again”.

He never did either and he did stay at a hotel that night. It wasn't long before my father sold the house either and he returned to England also, and the reason was because I think he was scared to be alone there. My mother never did research the house or the grounds to find out who it was but she should have, and true to her luck the next house she chose was just as haunted.

It was in Middlesbrough on a road called Swainston close. It was the corner House and extremely creepy and cold, it would never warm up no matter how much the heating was on. It was just a few odd occurrences here with no sightings, the first thing being that whenever she went up the stairs it felt like something at the top would punch her and try to push her back down.
The other thing was that apparently my dolls would talk by themselves when I was asleep, that can't be a ghost I hear you say, but how did they talk when I had removed the battery packs? Needless to say they were promptly thrown out.

My brother also heard them talk as him and me shared a portion of the house. I had the loft conversion which had short stairs leading up to it, and he had the room at the bottom of those stairs. There was no door to my room as only one person previously used the full area to themselves so neither of us had any privacy, but I loved that room as it was full of Disney wall murals.

The stairs had Peter Pan, Wendy, and Michael flying up it, my main wall was the jungle book, and I also had others scattered around such as the Flintstones. Anyway that staircase was terrify to me, I felt safe in my room but I always imagined something evil on those stairs waiting to get me. I would run up and down, unwilling to walk because I thought it would get me. No matter how much I loved that room, when my mother and her boyfriend wanted the section of the house for their bedroom and his computer room i was glad.

It meant I wouldn't have to use those creepy stairs anymore. Well those were mine and my family's experiences and every word is true. I hope you enjoyed it.