Trouble Next Door

by Chris Higgins

  She wasn’t literally in the doghouse. That would mean she was in a kennel. Though she might as well be.

  She was in her bedroom on her own, reflecting on her actions. Again. Being in the doghouse meant she was in BIG TROUBLE!

  She’d tried to explain to Mum that it wasn’t her fault, it was an accident, but Mum wouldn’t listen.

  “I’m very disappointed in you, Bella,” she’d said. “You used to be such a good girl. Now go to your room and don’t come down till I tell you.”

  At tea time Mum allowed Bella downstairs to eat fish and chips, her favourite, but she didn’t enjoy them very much. Not with the torn, muddy wedding dress hanging on the back of the door like a phantom bride, reminding her of her misdeeds.

  “I’m going to have to take it to a specialist shop to put it right and it’s going to cost a fortune!” complained Mum for the umpteenth time.

  “Is it worth it?” asked Dad, who was far more interested in tucking into his cod and chips. “I mean, it’s not like you’re ever going to wear it again, is it? You probably wouldn’t fit into it now, even if you wanted to.”

  The room fell silent but Dad didn’t notice. He was too busy shoving forkfuls of food into his mouth.

  Mum’s face grew redder and redder. Bella held her breath, waiting for her to go bang.

  When she did, it was in a surprisingly quiet way, like a controlled explosion. She pushed her plate away, stood up quietly, picked up Dad’s dinner and chucked it in the bin, plate and all. Then she sat back down again at the table, with her arms folded and her nose in the air.

  Dad looked really funny sitting there with his knife and fork in his hands and no dinner. He pretended to look for it under the table and under his chair and Sid started laughing. Mum ignored him.

  Dad got up and looked for his dinner behind the curtain.

  Bella giggled. She couldn’t help it.

  Then he looked behind the cushions.

  Mum took no notice. But Bella noticed her shoulders were shaking.

  Dad scratched his head, bent down with his hands on his knees and peered up the chimney.

  Sid and Bella yelped with laughter but Mum bit her lip and kept her mouth straight. She couldn’t stop her eyes from smiling though.

  Finally, Dad got down on his tummy and crawled under the coffee table. He lay there with his head on his hands, blinking at them sadly.

  “What are you doing, Dad?” asked Bella.

  “Woof,” he said. “I’m in the doghouse.”

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  Even Mum.

  GOOD INTENTIONS

  The next morning, just as they were finishing breakfast, Magda knocked on the door. She was wearing a short frilly skirt and a pretty top, and she had blue ribbons in her hair which fanned out over her shoulders. Bella thought that she looked like an angel. All she needed was a pair of wings.

  She looked a bit nervous when she saw Mum standing behind Bella.

  “Please can Bella and Sid come out to play?” she asked in a timid little voice, and Bella thought she even sounded like an angel.

  Mum must have thought so too because she said, “All right, as long as you promise to keep our Bella out of trouble.”

  “I will!” smiled Magda.

  Bella and Sid ran out quickly before Mum could change her mind and followed Magda into her garden. Magda climbed up the tree so the others climbed up after her.

  “I’m sorry you got told off about the wedding dress,” said Magda.

  “It doesn’t matter,” said Bella, and it didn’t any more.

  Magda pulled a half-eaten packet of sweets out of her pocket and handed them down to her.

  “These are for you.”

  “Thank you,” said Bella.

  “That’s all right, I don’t like them. What shall we do today?”

  Bella thought she’d like to sit in the tree and share her sweets with Sid. But Magda had other ideas.

  “I know! Let’s play Buried Alive.”

  “How d’you play that?”

  “There’s been a massive earthquake, right? You two have been buried alive and I’m the brave heroine who has to dig you out with my bare hands.”

  “Wicked!” said Sid, but Bella didn’t want to be buried alive.

  “No, let’s play something else.”

  “OK, let’s play Lost at Sea.”

  “How do you play Lost at Sea?”

  “Two of us are sailors cast adrift in the ocean and one of us is a bloodthirsty pirate who rescues them then makes them walk the plank!”

  “Yeah!” said Sid, his eyes shining. “I’m the bloodthirsty pirate!”

  “No, I’m the bloodthirsty pirate,” said Magda.

  “Ohh!” said Sid, disappointed. “I don’t want to play any more.”

  Magda looked fed up.

  “Let’s play school instead,” suggested Bella.

  Magda brightened up. “OK. I’m the teacher and you’re in my class. You have to do what I tell you to.”

  Bella didn’t like the sound of this. Neither did Sid.

  “I know! Let’s play hide-and-seek,” he suggested.

  “Where?”

  “In your house.”

  “No, let’s play it in your house,” said Magda. “It’s bigger than mine. There are more places to hide.”

  “Like the attic,” piped up Sid.

  “Have you got an attic? Luck-y!”

  “Bella says there’s a ghost in it,” he announced importantly.

  Magda’s jaw dropped open. “What? A real live one?”

  “I’m not sure,” said Bella. “Are ghosts alive or dead?”

  “Does it go, Whoo-whoo-whoooooo?” Magda put her arms above her head, wailing, and nearly fell head first out of the tree.

  “No. But it flaps about a bit.”

  “It sounds like it’s alive,” said Magda. “Come on!”

  She swung herself off the branch and dropped to the ground. The others scrambled down after her.

  “Where are we going?” asked Sid.

  “Your house. To find the ghost!”

  “No, Magda!” yelled Bella, but her friend ignored her.

  “Wait for us!” shouted Sid.

  GHOST HUNT

  “Magda! Come back! ”

  Too late! Magda was already knocking on the front door by the time Bella and Sid caught up with her.

  “Stop it, Magda,” said Bella, worriedly. “We’re not allowed to play inside today. Not after yesterday.”

  “I don’t want to play. I want to find your ghost,” Magda said and banged on the door again.

  “No! Let’s go back to your garden,” said Bella, tugging at her arm, but Magda shook her off.

  “Bella! I’m trying to help you! I’m going to scare your ghost away.” She peered in through the window. “That’s funny. There’s nobody in.”

  “Where’s Mum and Dad?” said Bella, puzzled.

  “In the garage?” suggested Sid. “I heard them say they were going to clear it out this morning.”

  They tiptoed round the back and peeped inside the garage. Sure enough, Mum and Dad were both in there, knee-deep in boxes.

  “Now’s our chance,” whispered Magda. “Let’s go and find the ghost while they’re busy out here.”

  “Please, Bella?” pleaded Sid, his face bright with excitement.

  Bella hesitated. She didn’t want to get into trouble again. Though it wouldn’t hurt to have a sneaky little peek in the attic, would it? Just to check there was nothing there. At least then she wouldn’t have to worry that her house was haunted. But … “What if we do find a ghost up there?” she said in a tiny little voice.

  Magda folded her arms and looked fierce like a warrior. “I’ll chase it away for you!”

  She would too. Magda was tough and brave and scared of nothing. If anyone could frighten a ghost off, it would be Magda.

  Bella came to a decision.

  “Come on then, quick!” she announced, more bravely than she
actually felt. “Let’s do it now.”

  IN THE ATTIC

  The three children stared glumly at the old wooden door. It was locked.

  Secretly, Bella was relieved.

  “Have you got the key?” asked Magda.

  “No,” said Bella quickly.

  “I can open it!” said Sid. He put his shoulder to the door and groaned, “Heave!” but he was too little.

  Magda refused to be beaten.

  “Stand back!” she ordered. “I’ve seen them do this on TV.”

  Magda gave a massive kick. The door burst open and she fell into the attic. Clouds of dust rose up in the air.

  From inside Bella thought she could hear a fluttering noise and her tummy turned a somersault.

  Then she heard her mother’s voice calling, “Bella? Sid? Where are you?” and her tummy did a backflip.

  Mum would go mad if she caught them up here.

  Quick as a flash, she pushed Sid into the dark void of the attic, stepped in after him and let the door fall shut behind them.

  Inside it was pitch-black. Bella couldn’t see a thing.

  “Magda? Where are you?”

  “Over here,” shrieked Magda. “Something trailed across my face!”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “It’s the ghost!” breathed Sid. “Wicked!”

  “Put the light on!” said Magda, sounding a bit agitated.

  “There isn’t one,” said Bella.

  “I’m getting out of here!” Magda pushed past her. “Where’s the door?”

  “Careful! Watch where you’re going.”

  Now her eyes were adjusting, Bella discovered it wasn’t pitch-black in the attic after all.

  Above her head, sunshine sneaked through a narrow gap between the roof and the wall. A tiny shaft of light filtered across the middle of the room, leaving the rest in deep shadow.

  Slowly she turned around.

  The attic was empty. There was nothing here at all. Just billions of cobwebs hanging from the rafters like curtains, and a thick layer of dust.

  “Cobwebs,” she said. “That’s what you felt.”

  Magda looked a bit sheepish.

  Bella felt the floor give a little beneath her foot and wondered how safe it was.

  “Stand on those beams,” she warned her little brother. “Don’t walk on the soft bits in between.”

  Sid did as he was told. “Where’s the ghost?”

  “Gone,” said Magda, sounding more like her normal confident self. “I must have frightened it away.” She stared around the attic with interest. “You know what? This would make a brilliant den for us.”

  Why didn’t I think of that? thought Bella. Magda always has the best ideas.

  “Come on, you two,” said Bella.” We’d better go down before Mum catches us.”

  But some things are easier said than done.

  Too late, Bella realised that there was no handle on this side of the door.

  It was shut tight and there was no way out.

  THE GHOST

  “We’re trapped!” said Magda, sounding panicky again. “It’s your fault, Bella!”

  “There must be something we can do,” said Bella desperately.

  “I know! We could tie sheets together and climb out of the window,” suggested Sid.

  “We haven’t got any sheets,” said Magda. “And there’s no window.”

  “We could ring 999 and call the fire brigade,” he said.

  “We haven’t got a phone,” she pointed out.

  “We could cut down a huge tree and make a battering ram and bash the door down.” Sid wasn’t going to give up easily.

  “Duh!” Magda spread her arms wide. “Show me the trees?”

  Sid sat down on the beam to think up some more ideas.

  Magda kicked the door but it wouldn’t budge. “Right,” she said, “we’re going to have to call for help!”

  “No!” said Bella in alarm. She didn’t want her mum to know what they were up to. But it was too late.

  “HELP!” shouted Magda, thumping the door with her fists.

  Bella’s heart sank. Now she was for it.

  Then she heard something. A soft, whispering, fluttering sound. It was coming from above.

  Bella looked up. She couldn’t see anything but she knew. Something was up there in the shadows, watching them.

  Then she heard it again. Quiet but spooky, it made the hairs on Bella’s neck stand on end. She sat down next to Sid and put her arm around him.

  “Is that the ghost?” whispered Sid, shuffling up close to her.

  But before Bella could answer, Magda bawled, “HEEEEEEELP!” at the top of her voice.

  And that’s when it happened.

  Out of the dark, with a flurry of wings and a blood-curdling shriek, the ghost came swooping down from the rafters and made straight for Magda.

  Magda screeched and ducked as it skimmed her head, swept back up into the roof then dropped down again.

  Magda fell to her knees and kept on screeching. The crazy, flapping thing kept coming at her, whirling and wheeling, diving and squealing. The more she screamed, the closer it came and the faster it flew.

  Bella leapt to her feet to save her friend. She would beat off the ghost with her own bare hands if she had to.

  There was a loud crack as her foot went through the floor.

  “Watch out!” Sid yelled and tried to grab her. But it was too late.

  With an almighty crash, the floor gave way and Bella felt herself falling.

  The others watched in horror as Bella and the ghost disappeared in a cloud of dust.

  AFTERWARDS

  “Well, at least you didn’t hurt yourself,” said Mum, staring around glumly at her wrecked bedroom. She picked a lump of ceiling plaster off her dressing table and dropped it into the bin.

  Bella had crashed through the attic floor into Mum and Dad’s bedroom and landed on their king-size bed.

  They’d rushed upstairs to find her in a room full of rubble and Magda and Sid’s horrified faces peering down at them from a hole in the ceiling.

  Once they were all safely down, Mum said, “What were you doing up there in the first place?”

  “We were on a ghost hunt,” explained Magda. “Bella said there was one in your attic.”

  “I think you found it!” said Dad, trying to catch the panicked, flapping bird that was beating itself against the window.

  “Here’s your ghost.”

  The bird took refuge on the curtain pole, glared at them all and did a big splat on the window.

  Bella couldn’t believe she’d thought it was a ghost. It had seemed huge in the dark, confined attic but now she could see it wasn’t that big after all.

  “Just some poor seabird that’s lost its way,” said Dad. He opened the window and the bird flew off.

  “Magda was really scared!” piped up Sid.

  “No I wasn’t!” said Magda, her cheeks scarlet.

  “Yes you were,” insisted Sid. “You were screaming.”

  “Why didn’t you come down if you didn’t like it?” asked Mum, kindly.

  “I couldn’t,” explained Magda. “Bella had locked me in.”

  Mum’s jaw dropped open. “Bella, you and I need to have a serious talk.”

  So after Magda had gone home, they did. Well, Mum talked – Bella and Sid listened.

  It was all about TRUST and DOING AS YOU’RE TOLD and BEING KIND TO YOUR FRIENDS.

  Bella couldn’t get a word in edgeways.

  At last Mum stopped talking seriously and her voice grew soft again. “You’ve always been such a good girl, Bella. I know you don’t like living here but you mustn’t take it out on poor Magda.”

  Bella blinked in surprise. “But I do! Like living here, I mean. I love it. I didn’t mean to lock us in the attic. The door slammed shut behind me.”

  “And Bella is kind to Magda,” protested Sid. “She tried to save her from the ghost. I mean the bird.
But she thought it was a ghost!”

  “That was brave of you,” said Mum, and Bella smiled and stood up tall.

  “Poor Magda,” sighed Mum. “I’m afraid she’s a bit of a trouble magnet. She seems to attract trouble wherever she goes.”

  “It’s all right, Mum,” said Sid. “She’s got our Bella to look after her now.”

  “That,” said Mum, “is exactly what worries me.”

  CHRIS HIGGINS began writing young fiction when she rapidly acquired a whole bunch of grandchildren, and is the author of the My Funny Family series. Chris has travelled the world and lives in Cornwall with her husband.

  Trouble Next Door is the first book in her exciting new series for Bloomsbury.

  EMILY MACKENZIE is an illustrator and keen knitter. She is the author and illustrator of Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar and Stanley the Amazing Knitting Cat. Emily lives in Edinburgh.

  Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi and Sydney

  First published in Great Britain in January 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

  www.bloomsbury.com

  This electronic edition published in 2017 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  BLOOMSBURY is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Text copyright © Chris Higgins 2017

  Illustrations copyright © Emily Mackenzie 2017

  The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted

  All rights reserved

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