by Pat Hancock
“Of course,” Raymond answered softly. “But I think you were just having a bad dream.”
“But she said she missed me. Can people talk to you like that in a dream?”
“I’ve had some dreams with people talking to me in them, so don’t worry about it. I tell you what. Let’s take this blanket and go sit on that swing seat in the screened-in porch. Maybe we can watch some of those noisy birds from there. Be very quiet and follow me.”
“Aren’t you the early birds,” Mr. Fortuna said when he got up and found them snuggled up on the swing. “Did you two have a good sleep?”
“Yes,” Raymond answered for both of them, watching Angelina, and his sister nodded in agreement.
“Then come on in and eat. Cinnamon toast and apple sauce are on the menu this morning. And crunchy granola if that’s not enough.”
After breakfast, Mr. Fortuna started making new frames for some of the windows, and Raymond and Angelina went back to constructing what Angelina said would be “the best sandcastle village ever.” They didn’t notice their visitor until the man had pulled his canoe up on to the beach and called out, “Hello.”
“Pleased to meet you,” he said when Mr. Fortuna walked down and introduced himself.
“I’m Calvin Corbett and I’ve got a place across the lake,” he said, pointing to a clearing in the trees. When I saw your lights on last night, I decided to paddle over this morning. I know Ross Bernier, the owner, and I thought I should see who was here. No one’s been here for a long time now, not since the accident …” Then he paused.
Mr. Fortuna broke the silence. “We’re just here for a week. Ross Bernier is my boss, and he wanted me to spruce up the place a bit. But he didn’t say anything about an accident. What accident?”
“Well, he probably finds it harder to rent if he talks about it. But the Benways used to rent here every summer, and three years ago, Carol — the mother — drowned. It was horrible. Fred and Carol and their little girl, Emily, were such a close, loving family, and Carol adored Emily. She was always watching over her like a mother hen. Fred and Emily never came back,” he added, slowly shaking his head, “and no one else has stayed here since then.”
Angelina had gone back to digging up the sand, but Raymond had been listening closely to what Mr. Corbett had said.
“Excuse me, but you knew those people well, right?” he interrupted.
Mr. Corbett nodded.
“Well, I was just wondering if the lady who drowned had black hair.”
“No. She was a blonde.”
“Why do you want to know, son?” Mr. Fortuna asked, looking puzzled.
“No reason. I was just wondering. That’s all,” Raymond answered quickly before going back to Angelina.
Mr. Corbett left soon after, and Mr. Fortuna carried on working.
A little while later, Angelina jumped up and ran toward the cottage. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she yelled. “I’ll be right back.”
But she didn’t come right back, so Raymond finally went to see what she was up to. As he opened the door, he heard her say, “Not now. I can’t. Go away.”
Worried, Raymond went in and found her standing at the kitchen sink. “Who were you talking to?” he demanded.
“The lady, but she’s gone again. Don’t be mad, Ray Ray. I told her to go away.”
“I’m not mad, Angelina. Here, let me get you a drink. And here’s an apple. Let’s go back outside and eat our apples, okay?”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Raymond followed Angelina outside, and sat beside her at the picnic table, not knowing what to do. Should he tell his dad about the mysterious lady? But she can’t be real, he told himself, or he would have seen and heard her too. So what should he say? That he was starting to worry because Angelina was imagining too many strange things? That sounded really lame. And maybe his imagination was starting to work overtime too. Why else had he asked Mr. Corbett that question about the drowned lady’s hair? No, he ordered himself. Just don’t think any more crazy thoughts, keep a close eye on your sister, and everything will be fine.
And everything was fine for the rest of the day. But when Mr. Fortuna headed off to call Montreal after putting Angelina to bed, Raymond thought he heard voices again coming from his sister’s room. Just like the night before, when he went in to check on her, she was sound asleep and silence filled the room. But this time, even though it was still hot out, when he passed by the window he felt an icy chill so cold it sent shivers up his spine.
Back in the kitchen, Raymond decided he needed a plan to take care of Angelina during the night that he wouldn’t have to tell his dad about. And later, after his dad went to bed, he put his plan into action. Taking his book and a pillow and top sheet from his bed, he tiptoed into Angelina’s room. He put the pillow on the floor near the nightlight by her bed, and slid down the wall to sit on it. Then, wrapping the sheet around his shoulders, he picked up his book and started reading by the nightlight’s glow. His plan was to stay awake all night guarding Angelina, but his plan failed.
When he woke up hours later, he was slumped down on the floor, his head halfway on the pillow and the sheet twisted around his legs. Heart beating faster, he pushed himself up on his knees and peered over at Angelina’s bed. It was empty. Calm down, he told himself. Maybe she’s just gone to the bathroom and that’s what woke me up.
He tiptoed down to the bathroom, but she wasn’t there. Heart pounding now, he decided to check out the swing on the porch before waking up his dad. She wasn’t there either. But just as he turned to head back to his dad’s room, he looked out toward the beach, and in the pale light of a breaking dawn he saw her — a small figure with her right arm reaching up as if holding somebody’s hand. And she was walking into the water.
“Angelina, no! Come back!” he screamed as he crashed through the door. “Come back!”
The water was nearly up to his sister’s neck when he reached the shore.
“Stop, stop,” he pleaded as he struggled to reach her, and suddenly she did.
As if in a trance, she looked back at him and said, “She needs me, Ray Ray. She misses me.”
By now Raymond had reached his sister. “We need you more,” he sobbed as he grabbed her left hand. But something seemed to pull her away from him.
“Let her go!” he cried, looking just past Angelina. “She’s not yours. You can’t have her.”
Just then Raymond’s dad pushed past him, snatched up his daughter and waded back to shore. Arms wrapped tightly around her father’s neck, she looked down at Raymond and asked, “You saw her, didn’t you, Ray Ray?”
“No, I didn’t. But I know she was there.”
“Who? What are you talking about? And what in the world were you two doing out here anyway?” Mr. Fortuna asked, glaring down at Raymond.
“Don’t be mad at Ray Ray, Daddy. Can we go in now? I’m cold.”
“So am I,” Raymond added, shivering. “I’ll try to tell you what happened after I dry off, and maybe you can come up with a better plan to keep Angelina safe. If not, maybe we’ll have to go home.”
“I miss Mommy,” Angelina said as they went inside. “Do you miss her too, Ray Ray? And I like pancakes. Can we have pancakes for breakfast?”
Amazing, Raymond thought as he listened to his little sister chattering. It’s as if she’s already forgotten what just happened. I wish I could do the same.
But even though he’d never seen her, Raymond knew that no matter how hard he tried to forget Angelina’s lady, memories of what she had tried to do to his sister would haunt him for many years to come.
Read the whole chilling series.
Haunted Canada: True Ghost Stories
By Pat Hancock
ISBN 978-0-7791-1410-8
Paperback, 112 pages
A collection of chilling true ghost stories, from all across Canada, to send shivers down your spine: from poltergeists who terrorize hunters in a remote cabin, to a man who gets frightened to dea
th in a graveyard.
Prepare yourself to be haunted!
Haunted Canada 2: True Tales of Terror
By Pat Hancock
ISBN 978-0-439-96122-6
Paperback, 120 pages
These true tales of terror from all parts of Canada will chill you to the bone. Strange fires break out, serpents rise from the waves, and giant beasts lumber through the trees. Ghostly forms drift by and eerie discs lower silently from the sky.
Prepare yourself to be haunted!
Haunted Canada 3: More True Ghost Stories
By Pat Hancock
ISBN 978-0-439-93777-1
Paperback, 128 pages
Ready for more true ghost stories? Somewhere in Canada, a strange light glows near the water, a chain rattles in an abandoned cell, and footsteps scurry across an empty room. Somewhere a headless woman wanders the streets, a blood-covered face appears in a mirror, and the eyes of a statue flutter open.
Prepare yourself to be haunted!
The Unexplained: A Haunted Canada Book
Edited by Janet Lunn
ISBN 978-0-545-99314-2
Paperback, 160 pages
Fifteen shivery stories, including tales by some of Canada’s top writers:
* Joyce Barkhouse
* Hazel Boswell
* Karleen Bradford
* Jean Brien
* Brian Doyle
* Monica Hughes
* Jean Little
* Janet Lunn
* Andrew MacFarlane
* L. M. Montgomery
* Kit Pearson
* Ken Roberts
* James F. Robinson
* Sharon Siamon
* Carole Spray
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
A longtime collector of funny-but-true facts, Pat Hancock is well-known for her Crazy Canadian Trivia and Haunted Canada series. Pat lives in Toronto, Ontario, where she works as a freelance writer, editor and fact-checker for the children’s market.
Allan Gould was a journalist, lecturer, speechwriter and successful author of more than thirty books. A fan of spooky stories, Allan spent many years reviewing children’s books for newspapers across Canada before finally writing one of his own.
Scholastic Canada Ltd.
604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada
Scholastic Inc.
557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, USA
Scholastic Australia Pty Limited
PO Box 579, Gosford, NSW 2250, Australia
Scholastic New Zealand Limited
Private Bag 94407, Botany, Manukau 2163, New Zealand
Scholastic Children’s Books
Euston House, 24 Eversholt Street, London NW1 1DB, UK
www.scholastic.ca
ISBN: 978-1-4431-3307-4
Stories in this collection originally appeared in Grim and Ghostly Stories and Strange and Spooky Stories.
“The Sleeping Boy” copyright © 1993, 2006, 2014 by Pat Hancock.
“Golden Eyes,” “Game Boy,” “A Dream Come True,” “A Boy’s Best Friend,” “Robber’s Reward” copyright © 1993, 2006, 2014 by Pat Hancock and Allan Gould.
“Life Guard” copyright © 2014 by Pat Hancock.
All other text copyright © 2005, 2014 by Pat Hancock.
Illustrations copyright © 2005, 2006, 2014 by Scholastic Canada.
Cover photo copyright © by Margaret M. Stewart/Shutterstock.com
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Scholastic Canada Ltd., 604 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1E1, Canada.
First eBook edition: April 2014
