A Gracious Host (standard:mystery, 1551 words)
Author: LisaAnn	Added: Feb 23 2001	Views/Reads: 5151/2544	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Two children decide to take an adventurous walk in the woods. But what they find there is something they never would have thought or dreamed of.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

Against Tina's will, Tommy dragged her to the front door.  He knocked. 
And knocked again.  The light shut off immediately after the second 
knock and the door opened slowly. 

Tommy said, "Hhhello?"  Then someone peeked around the corner and said,
"Hello?  May I help you?" 

"Um, my name is Tommy and this is my sister Tina.  We were taking a walk
and before we knew it, it was so dark and we can't find our way back 
home.  Can we stay here until morning?"  Tommy was getting nervous 
because it was dark inside this person's house and he couldn't see 
inside very well. 

"Of course you can stay here.  You can't very well stay outside now, can
you?  It's much safer in here anyway."  He said. 

As Tommy and Tina stepped through the doorway, something seemed strange
to them, until the lights turned on.  The person was standing behind 
the door when he let them in.  Now with the lights on he stood facing 
them. 

"Why don't you sit yourselves down and I'll bring you kids something to
drink."  The stranger left them and went into another room. 

Tommy couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with this
whole situation.  The house, this stranger, evevrything!  When he came 
back, he brought a tray with snacks on it and some hot chocolate. 

Tommy got a better look at him now.  He was an older man, and walked
sort of hunched over.  When he stood, he swayed a little side to side.  
His hair was a dark color, and he had on a blue suit.  He also wore 
spectacles. 

"My name is George Host.  But everyone calls me G. Host.  So, I suppose
you kids are going to have to stay the night.  I do have an extra room 
upstairs.  I'll be right back.  I'll go make up the beds for you."  He 
got up from the table and left. 

Tina was sipping her drink when Tommy said, "I'm going to follow him
upstairs." 

"No, don't.  What about if he gets mad?  Let's just wait for him to come
back.  At least we'll be together that way."  Tina said. 

G. Host came back downstairs quickly.  "If you kids are all done, I'll
show you to your room.   I'm sorry if I'm acting a bit strange this 
evening, but I don't feel quite myself tonight." 

As they walked through the house, everything looked normal.  In one
room, there was a couch, chair and television set that was turned on.  
In another room was a library with bookshelves lining the walls and a 
radio was playing music.  He led them to the smaller of the two 
bedrooms. 

"Here you are."  G. Host said.  "You should be all set until morning. 
Have a good sleep."  He closed the door behind him and it creaked the 
whole way shut. 

"Well, now that we're here, we might as well go to sleep.  we can always
sneak out early in the morning and we'll run the whole way home.  He'll 
never know we left."  Tommy said. 

"We can't do that Tommy.  We have to tell him good-bye.  After all, he
did let us stay here overnight, right?"  Tina asked. 

"I guess.  Let's just worry about it in the morning."  Tommy said
sleepily. 

They fell asleep fast.  But Tommy woke up when he heard a noise from
outside.  It was a loud chopping sound.  He got out of bed, went over 
to the window, and saw G. Host chopping wood with the axe they first 
seen when walking towards the house. 

There was something strange about the way he was chopping the wood and
putting it into piles.  He was sort of floating in the air.  "Oh my 
gosh!  He was floating in the air."  Tommy thought aloud. 

Tommy went over to his sister who was still sleeping.  "Tina, wake up
and look at this." 

She got up and went to the window and saw what Tommy was pointing to. 
She screamed. 

G. Host looked up and saw them in the window looking frightened.  He
didn't want them to be scared.  He floated up towards the window and 
said, "Tommy, Tina!"  It's okay.  I would never hurt you.  Tommy, 
Tina." 

They backed away from the window, jumped in bed and threw the covers
over them. 

G. Host was still calling their names.  "Tommy, Tina, Tommy, Tina." 

When Tommy took the covers off his head and looked around, his mom was
saying, "Tommy, Tina, wake up.  It's getting late.  The bus is coming 
soon." 

Tommy said, "Okay mom, I'll wake Tina up.  We'll be ready in a minute." 

Tina woke up and looked at her brother.  "Tommy, I had the weirdest
dream, it seemed so real though." 

"I know.  We were both there.  I don't think it was a dream.  I think it
was real.  It seemed that way."  He said. 

"We better get ready for school."  Tina said walking to the bathroom. 

When they were in class, their teacher talked about things that happened
years ago.  "There was a man named George Host, but many people called 
him G. Host.  He lived in a house in the middle of the woods.  One 
night, while he was chopping wood outside, a terrible windstorm came 
through out of nowhere, and it knocked him into the woodpile, killing 
him instantly.  It was a freak accident.  When people go into the woods 
to walk or bike ride, they say his house is haunted by his ghost.  They 
hear music playing loudly, and from the windows, sometimes closer to 
nighttime, a light will be on in the room.  Some can even hear him 
chopping wood with his axe.  Do you dare not believe this story?"  The 
teacher asked ominously. 

The class laughed.  But not Tommy and Tina.  They knew what they saw and
heard.  Maybe one day they would go back there and check out the house. 
But for now, all they could do was wonder. 

LisaAnn


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