FEAR: The Haunted Castle

FEAR

Fear is a new horror series for teens

Book 1: The Haunted Castle

Book 2: The Black Shadow (coming in November 2012)

Book 3: Mirrors (coming in March 2013)

***

For Mandy, Owen & Austyn, my three beautiful children.

Imagination is a gift. Don't waste it!

FEAR

#1

The Haunted Castle

***

The Haunted Castle

Chapter 1

     Since my earliest childhood, haunted houses and ghosts have always been a wonder. At each full moon, I remember sneaking out of my room with my sister, and going to the next door bedroom where there was an immense window that we could flip open and see the old Grand Champs castle. The castle was in a grove of trees next to my father’s lands. There, we were waiting, hoping to see the ghost of the Spanish girl who was murdered in the late nineteenth century in the old ruins of Grand Champs. The Grand Champs castle is an old castle that is said to be haunted. During the nineteenth century, the castle was occupied by the Lord of Meslin- L’Eveque. The Lord of Meslin- L’Eveque was known to be a cold blooded killer. Among the innocent that he murdered, was a young Spanish girl who arrived at the castle by a tempestuous night of autumn with two young men. One was said to be the driver and the other one was her husband. No one really knows what happened that night, but what is certain is that none of the three were seen leaving the castle. The servants confessed that the Lord ordered his butler and slave to chain up the two men in the basement while he raped and tortured to death the poor Spanish girl. Before her last breath of life, she murmured some incantation and looked straight into the Lord’s eyes. The butler said her eyes were rolling over and almost popped out of their sockets. Her last words to the Lord were that she will haunt him beyond eternity. Philippe, the Lord didn’t care. However, after her death, Philippe started to hallucinate. He was restless for a few weeks before he hung himself in the basement. A note was nailed to the beam which he used to tie the rope he hung himself with. "She hasn’t left. She will kill us all. Leave this place while you can." All the workers and slaves of the castle left except for one of the butlers, Raymond who was the one who chained up the two men that had arrived that night with Margarita, the Spanish girl.

***

Every full moon after the death of Lord Philippe, people have witnessed a white ghostly light. The light floated around the castle’s perimeter. At first, no one paid attention to the light. Everybody thought it was Raymond who was patrolling around the castle, but when he died, the light was still seen floating around the castle at each full moon. One day a mob of villagers decided to go chase the light away, armed with axes, forks and rifles. They all waited outside of the main gate. When darkness came, a white and foggy light came out of the torture chamber, and took the shape of the young Spanish girl. The villagers panicked and ran away from the castle. Since that night, no one has been allowed anywhere near the castle. People who went into the castle have said to be possessed and bewitched and were killed as soon as they returned from their little spooky trip.

Chapter 2

     Hundreds of years later, people from my village in Belgium still believe that the Grand Champs castle is haunted.

At school, our teachers didn’t want to tell us anything about the legend. One day, Brice asked, "Mrs. Nicole, could you tell us about the legend of Grand Champs?"