I personally don't believe in ghosts, but I like ghost stories, although they usually keep me up at night! Okay, I just made this up now, so here goes:
"Are you sure about this?" Lilly asked nervously, glancing apprehensively up at the old Winkler house.
"Positive, I've done this a million times before," Mark said confidently, giving Lilly a sideways look. "Why--you're not scared, are you?"
"No! I mean...Of course not!" Lilly retorted indignantly.
"Well then, let's go!" Mark said, starting up toward the house. Lilly took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and followed Mark to the faded wooden front door of the old Winkler house.
The house's interior was as uncared for as the outside, but dustier, withmore cobwebs. It was dark, and had a musty smell that made Lilly wrinkle her nose in disgust. "Ugh! Somebody should fire the housekeeper," she said, picking up a faded doily and watching as an inch of dust fluttered to the gray floors.
"It's too dark in here," Mark complained, pulling something small out of his pocket. Maybe a tiny little flashlight?
But it was a miniscule box. Mark slid it open and pulled out something even smaller out of the little itty bitty box.
What is it? Lilly wondered, starting to worry a little. Mark was doing something with his hands...Lilly knew what he was going to do the instant before he did it...before she could tell him no...
There was a small hissing sound as the match Mark had struck sputtered to life.
"Mark!" Lilly almost shrieked, remembering to keep her voice down at the last second so as not to be heard by the neighbors. "You could start a fire!"
"I'll be careful," Mark replied nonchalantly. "You worry too much. C'mon, let's go upstairs and explore." Reluctantly, Lilly followed him.
They ducked into room after room, avoiding the occasional spider that dangled in the doorways. They saw a bathroom, an office, and several bedrooms. None of the rooms were locked...
Until they got to the door at the end of the hall.
"We don't really need to get in there, do we?" Lilly asked nervously, watching Mark as he examined the lock.
"I want to see. Okay, this is an old lock, so it should be pretty easy. Stand back," he added, taking a step backwards, then kicking the door with all his might.
"Mark!" Lilly gasped. "That's vandalism!"
"So?" asked Mark. "Nobody lives here." He strolled into the room, glancing around. "Looks like some sort of study."
"Mark, I don't know that we should be in here," Lilly said, trying not to stutter. "That door was locked for a reason!"
"Doesn't stop me," Mark said.