Margaret and the Haunted Attic

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Margaret.

Margaret had big, round, thick glasses.

Without her glasses, Margaret could barely see!

When Margaret was eight years old, she went to live with her grandparents.

Margaret’s grandparents lived in a spooky old manor.

And Margaret’s room was in the spookiest room of them all–the attic!

But Margaret didn’t mind.

Margaret liked the scary winding staircase that went around and around.

She liked the dusty books that she had to ask her grandpa to get off the tall library shelves for her.

She liked the black cat who would curl up at her feet while she read by the fire.

Most of all, she liked her room!

The roof of Margaret’s room had crazy angles.

When it rained, she could hear the sound of every last raindrop.

It helped her to fall asleep.

Every night, Margaret would take off her glasses before bed, curl up under the covers, and turn off the light.

And from the closet… A GHOST WOULD ARRIVE.

Margaret’s room was haunted after all!

But here’s a secret about ghosts…

Ghosts like scaring people because they think it’s funny!

It’s really boring being a ghost if you don’t scare someone every now and then.

The ghost in Margaret’s room was called Craig.

Craig hadn’t been able to scare anyone for 30 years, so he was really bored!

On the first night, he made his teeth look really long and sharp like a lion.

He made the floor creak to wake Margaret up, and she looked over at him and saw…

Nothing.

Her glasses were on the bedside table, and she couldn’t see a thing!

“Silly old house” she said, and went back to bed.

Craig was so annoyed!

The next night, Craig made his face look hairy like a gorilla.

He blew a wind through the window, and Margaret woke up and saw…

Nothing again!

“Such a windy night” she said, and closed the window before going back to bed.

Craig couldn’t believe it!!

On the third night, Craig spent extra long preparing his scary appearance.

He had the teeth of a lion, the hair of a gorilla, AND he made his hair stick out in every direction.

“This time, I’ll get her for sure” he said

But right before he was about to wake Margaret up, he heard a noise coming from downstairs.

Margaret’s grandparents were both sound sleepers, so Craig knew it wasn’t them.

He floated downstairs to check, peeking through the wall.

And he saw two robbers crawling in through the window!

“This old couple will never know what hit them, hehe”

“That’s right, we’re gonna steal all their stuff while they sleep!”

Craig watched through the walls as the robbers started to climb the spiral staircase.

Around, and around, and around they went.

Until they reached the tippy top where the door to Margaret’s room was.

Craig suddenly felt something he hadn’t felt since becoming a ghost.

Craig felt mad!

He flew behind the robbers, made his face look as scary as possible, and said…

“BOO!”

The robbers were so scared!

Craig thought their faces were really funny.

Craig chased them down the stairs and out of the house, laughing the whole time.

One of the robbers was in such a hurry that he left his shoe behind!

Craig thought that was extra funny.

After he watched the robbers run away, Craig floated back up the stairs to check on Margaret.

Only to find her sound asleep!

She was used to the sounds of the old house by now, so she slept through the whole thing.

Craig knew he wouldn’t be scaring her any time soon.

Besides, he didn’t want to anymore.

He thought that scaring the robbers was funny.

But he also didn’t want them to hurt Margaret.

He liked Margaret.

He wanted to keep her safe.

Sure, she might not be easy to scare.

But she’s a friend to the cat who kept him company for the last 10 years.

And she likes the same dusty old books that he likes.

And she likes the rain.

He wouldn’t keep trying to scare her after all.

He would protect her!