Free The Haunting of Tabitha Grey by Vanessa Curtis

an arm, though.
    A white arm, reaching out to touch the carved oak banisters of the manor staircase.
    And at the very bottom of the black smudge, a smaller shape with fuzzy edges so that I have to stare and stare even though I really don’t want to and my ears are buzzing like a faulty
fridge.
    I know what it is even before I work out the shape.
    It’s tiny, black and with pointy ears.
    One of Lady Eleanor’s dogs.
    On the floor next to me, Ben starts to cry.
    When Dad comes back into our flat I’m huddled in the corner of the sofa with my laptop still on.
    I’ve got to show Dad and he’s got to see it. He’s got to start believing me. He’s got to. Otherwise I might go mad soon. Either that or I will just drop dead of being
scared.
    ‘Good day?’ says Dad, filling the kettle behind me and then coming to see what I’m doing.
    Honestly. He must be one of the most unobservant people on the planet. I mean – you’d only have to look at my pale face and runny eyeliner to know that I’d been crying. But Dad
seems never to see things like that. He doesn’t see it in Mum, either. Sometimes he thinks she’s been having a great time when really she’s been crying herself to sleep and
refusing to eat.
    Dad flings himself down next to me and loosens his top shirt button.
    ‘Hey, you’ve done the photos!’ he says. ‘Mind if I have a look?’
    He pages through the pictures making the odd comment and then he gets to the last one.
    ‘Oh, shame about the blurry bit,’ he says. ‘Never mind. You can do it again another time for me.’
    I don’t say anything. I lean forwards and click the magnify button so that Dad is looking at exactly the same thing I’ve just had to see.
    He peers a bit more closely. Then he gets his glasses out and puts them on the end of his nose and peers again.
    I watch his face.
    It goes from being puzzled to being something else. Just for a split second. For an instant my dad looks unsettled. Like somebody took the wind out of his sails. Then a great big smile breaks
over his face.
    ‘Nice one, Tabs!’ he says. ‘You nearly had me going there! I didn’t realise that Kevin had put that app on for you. Well, it obviously works!’
    I feel my heart sinking towards my feet.
    ‘What app?’ I say.
    ‘The Photoshop app!’ says Dad. ‘You’ve worked out how to use it already. I’m impressed!’
    I shake my head so hard that I give myself a headache.
    ‘No, I don’t know what you mean, Dad,’ I say. ‘I haven’t got a Photoshop app. I don’t even know what it is.’
    Dad laughs and goes over to make himself a cup of tea.
    ‘Kevin must have thought you’d enjoy it,’ he says. ‘Downloaded it on to your phone as a surprise. Probably thought you could have some fun messing about with it. I mean
– the manor’s a brilliant place for doing fake photos, isn’t it?
    This is some kind of joke. Doesn’t Dad realise that this sort of stuff isn’t exactly my idea of fun?
    ‘I don’t even know how to find the app,’ I whisper but Dad has already got tired of me and my photos and has gone off to have a shower, so I just put my arm around Ben and we
sit there in silence for ages until Mum wakes up and comes out to make dinner.
    She’s in a good mood and I so want to tell her everything, but Mum’s funny about hearing anything to do with ghosts and so I can’t.
    There’s nobody I can turn to for help and nobody believes me.
    Except Ben.
    But he’s too little to do anything about it.
    I watch television with Mum while we’re eating supper but I can’t remember a thing about what we watched.
    We have to carry on living here. And I’m more frightened than I’ve ever been in my life.

 
Chapter Nine
    I t’s like this huge relief to get back to school for the rest of the term.
    Never thought I’d hear myself think that, but it’s true.
    I even want to see Jake now. We never got to meet up in the end what with me being ill or him playing football and now I want to see