The Ghost of Genny Castle 2 par J.Escott

It was Christmas time! Villagers were preparing for the big feast.  That evening Claire and her aunt drove up to the church to attend the ceremonies. Along the way, Claire was totally absent-minded; she thought about the witch, the stone and the castle. When the party was over, she and her aunt drove back home. On their way back home, aunt Min was driving slowly, everything was covered with white snow, and driving was so difficult. Claire was looking at the snow through the car window, then she looked ahead and saw the castle; it was only a few miles away. Unexpectedly, the car went faster and faster and hit a big tree. When the car stopped they got quickly out of it. The car broke down and aunt Min's house was still a few miles away. She  was old   and could not walk for a long distance, so they began to walk across Mr. Burge's field.

Mr. Burge's cottage was only a mile away. At that time he was reading a book about the castle; in fact he knew all the stories about it. His cat “Alexa” was nearby, then it went directly to the kitchen and jumped through the window out into the snow. A few moments later Mr. Burge called his cat but  it was not there . He knew that his cat was a strange one because it  went to his castle every night, so he prepared himself and went out to follow “Alexa”.

Claire and her aunt finally arrived at Mr.Burge's cottage. They knocked on  the door, but no voice answered, so they moved towards the back door, and entered  the room. Aunt Min took a seat in front of the fire and Claire went to the kitchen and made her a cup of tea. Later, she went out to look for Mr.Burge, and she followed his footprints.

On  top of the “Black Tower” there was an orange cat, it was “Alexa”.  When Claire reached the castle she saw an orange light there. She was scared to death, so she called for Mr. Burge, but he was screaming inside that orange light. Then  he heard someone call  his name.  Mr. Burge answered, but he did not recognize Claire’s little voice.  Then he remembered that “Claire” was the name of the man's daughter that had died a long time ago in this castle because the witch refused to help her; he thought that she was that dead girl! At that moment, a third voice rose up; it was a   woman's voice “Claire!” she said, “Claire's not dead!” Suddenly the light disappeared and there was no sound for a while, then the wall began to fall down. Mr. Burge and Claire ran out into the snow. As soon as they stepped out, most of the “Black Tower” fell down. Later, the cat was found dead.

The old man and the little girl returned to the cottage, and when they arrived aunt Min woke up. While Mr. Burge was driving back to aunt Min's house, Claire looked  at her watch; it was after midnight!  “Merry Christmas” she said! The next morning while Mr. Burge was visiting his old castle he discovered that the dead cat had disappeared. After that, no one saw the Ghost of Genny Castle again.

THE END