Megan had always suspected her house was haunted. Regularly she would hear unexplained bangs; objects would vanish and the chilling whisper of her name. However, one Halloween she was proved correct but nothing is ever as simple at that…

Megan, Sophie and Alice had been best friends since they started secondary school. They knew everything about each other and were inseparable - even when they started college they still remained the best of friends and were typical 16-years-olds. It was the evening before Halloween and the girls were planning a night-in at Megan's to watch horror films and gossip.

"I can't wait until tomorrow Megan!" cried Sophie "It's going to be so much fun and I'm bringing a surprise! Trust me it will be a laugh."

Megan and Alice exchanged worried looks. The last time Sophie had brought along a 'surprise' it was her rough boyfriend Dave and two of his friends. They drank all the alcohol in Alice's house before trashing the place and leaving to let off fireworks.

"Don't worry it is not anything living, trust me! I would never invite lads around for a quiet drink again!" Sophie giggled.

"OK, so don't forget the films tomorrow, we better go. My mum will kill me if I'm late home again!" Megan said seriously "See you both at mine at about 5 o clock tomorrow, c-ya!"
The girls waved to each other before departing.

The next evening Megan was setting out snacks for the group when she heard a loud "crack" from upstairs. She jumped in fright and threw the dips over herself. "Dam it!" she groaned. However, she was more concerned about the source of the noise than the new top she had just ruined.

Cautiously she walked to the bottom of the stairs and gazed up in wonder. Behind her was the front door and already some idiot had thrown rotten eggs at the house. Taking several deep breaths she stood wondering whether to investigate. Glancing once again at the top of the stairs it seemed as if she was stood at the bottom of Mount Everest. Wiping her clammy hands down her jeans she decided she could not avoid going up, as she needed to change her top. After a final glance around her she set off up the stairs, counting each step to keep herself calm.

"One…two…" she counted "…twelve …nearly there" she whispered relieved as she could now see the door leading to her bedroom. "Thirteen..." She stopped at this step, both feet frozen to the spot.

"Megan" an icy voice whispered.

Reluctantly, she turned her head to look over her right shoulder, stopped briefly to look at the wall before looking behind her, down to the front door again. "Ha" she laughed almost convinced her mind was playing tricks on her.

Quickly Megan skipped up the remaining steps and rushed into her bedroom. Nothing was out of place in her room and she quickly changed her top and headed back down stairs to finish preparing the snacks.

Megan promptly finished preparing the food and glanced at the clock. "Five minutes before they arrive" she thought out loud. "Ding-dong," rang the doorbell. Megan ran towards the door expecting Sophie and Alice and was slightly disappointed to find a couple of mini-witches.

"Trick a Treat" they sang, eyes sparkling.

"Wow they're great costumes!" She lied, "Now would you like some chocolate or some jelly sweets?"

"Chocolate please lady" they sang again, smiles widening.

Megan passed the girls some chocolate and some jelly sweets, "You can have both as I like your costumes so much!"

"Thank you" they chuckled as they skipped down the stone path, just as Sophie and Alice were heading up it towards Megan.

"Hi, guys" Megan grinned. "Hope you're ready for some gory films!" They girls went inside and sat in the room chatting. Megan told them of the strange noise she heard and they laughed it off together.

After answering the door to a dozen more witches and a squirrel, the girls went upstairs to see the surprise Sophie had brought with her and how much damage it was going to cause!

"Now promise me it isn't going to set anything on fire or get me grounded for the rest of my life!" Megan pleaded with Sophie.

"Buzz" The lights flickered and dimmed in the room.

"Oh, my God, Sophie, what the hell have you brought?" Alice chuckled.

Then the lights went out completely. "Brilliant" thought Megan. She stood up "We had better go get some candles from downstairs"

They followed Megan down the stairs, making ghostly noises and shouting, "BOO" every other step then bursting out in a fit of laughter. When they had covered the room with a range of lit candles, they sat down and waited for Sophie to end the suspense and show them the surprise.

Slowly Megan's rusty door creaked open and the girls each sat waiting for a planned prank from each other. The door eventually swung completely open with no one in sight. They all looked at each other for an explanation, before caching a glimpse of a leg disappear behind the bathroom door. They all jumped up in excitement and ran to the bathroom. Surprisingly there was nothing to be seen or heard, apart from the noisy drip of the bath tap.

"Oh very scary Megan, your prank was a little…crap ha," Alice laughed. Megan leaned over and turned the tap off.

"Look," said Sophie, pointing into the bath; the water looked more like blood in the bottom of the bathtub. The girls leaned in towards to bathtub for a closer look when they noticed parts of the bottom of the bath could be seen through the red-water. It was as it some one was drawing with an invisible stick. The markings quickly became clearer but were not recognisable writing - it looked like Ancient Egyptian. As rapidly as they appeared they went and the red water was noisily sucked down the plug hole. Megan turned on the tap again and crystal clear water flowed.
The girls walked out of the bathroom, shocked and sat silently in deep thought.

Sophie was the first one to break the long silence, "Do you want to see what I brought then or what?" she shakily said.

Megan and Alice nodded as Sophie rummaged in her backpack and took out a dilapidated box, which looked like it had once stored a board game. Sophie removed the lid and was reviled the contents inside.

"SMASH" The noise came from downstairs. Megan and Alice sprinted down the stairs and Sophie steadily followed. As Sophie reached the bottom of the steps she looked out of the window at the bright full moon.

"Sophie." an ice-cold voice screeched. Sophie spun around. She could not see Megan or Alice, but could hear them in the kitchen so she hurried to them. There was smashed glass scattered over the floor, which glittered in the candlelight.

Megan was sweeping it up and mumbling how it was her mother's favourite glass and shovelled it into the dustbin.

"Right, I want to know what you brought Sophie before we have anymore distractions!" giggled Alice as she raced up to Megan's room.
Megan and Sophie followed. When they got up there, Alice was kneeling beside the box carefully examining the contents.

"You're not serious are you, Sophie," muttered Alice as she held up a weegee board. "My sister once played with one of these and the shelf almost fell on top of her!"

"Hell, yeah, I'm serious, Alice!" Sophie shouted "

"Why not? Are you scared?"

"I am," whispered Megan. "You know that my house is haunted, I don't want to cause any trouble!"

"Well we can find out the truth" announced Sophie and set out the weegee board and placed a small white triangle onto it.

"No," screamed Alice, but before she could explain she was thrown across the room into the door. Sophie ran to Alice and helped her up apologising, while Megan stood over the weegee board watching the little triangle swiftly run over the letters. A foggy wind blew in the room the force of a gale, sending papers flying off of the desk and collectable ornaments smashing into the walls.

Suddenly a figure appeared wearing a long black hooded cloak, it towered over the girls and headed towards Megan, who stood rooted to the spot. He stood silently beside her and pointed to the weegee board. She watched the hooded figure out of the corner of her eye while concentrating on the weegee board.

Books from the shelf began hurling across the room and towards Alice and Sophie, who let out fearful screams. The lights were flickering constantly and all the candle flames were extinguished. The room was pitch black and only lit up briefly when the lights flickered. It was as if they were watching one of Grandpa's old movies.
Alice yelled as a book collided with her face and she collapsed onto the floor and curled up into a ball in horrific pain. Sophie bent down and tried to shield Alice as more and more books flew towards them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Megan could see the hooded figure gazing at her, although she could not see its face, which appeared to be empty blackness. The figure shuffled towards Megan who jumped back.

"BANG." The bookshelf collapsed, causing the floor to shake and Megan to loose her balance and fall. The hooded figure stepped in front of Megan and towered over her. It started mumbling and moving its arms up and down jerkily. Megan stared wide-eyed and grabbed a piece of wood from the collapsed bookshelf and swung it at the figure. However the wood just passed through the figure which laughed at Megan's pathetic attempt.

Alice and Sophie were now attempting to open the door, which was sealed shut while helplessly watching the figure edge closer and closer to Megan. "That is the scariest thing I have ever seen and I've seen my brother in his boxers" whispered Alice to Sophie.

The figure stood rigid and turned towards Alice and Sophie. "Ha," it croaked. "You shall see much scarier things before the end of your time, child" It once again turned to Megan who was on the floor clutching the shelf.

The madness then stopped and all was silent but the hooded figure remained. Megan ignored the figure and went to Alice and Sophie and hugged them each in turn. All were shaking uncontrollably in pure fear as the hooded figure paced towards them.

Megan glanced up and into the figure's face. It slightly resembled the face of a human but only slightly. Its eyes were a swirl of grey and as cold as a shark. The remainder of its face was completely emotionless but very, very intimidating.

The hooded figure stared at Megan before mercilessly snarling, "Your day, will come, not yet, but you will know, when the time has come, for you to release evil into this world."

It sniggered and pointed towards the calendar on the wall, the pages were fiercely turning and stopped abruptly at December. A bloody red circle appeared around the 25th and an Ancient Egyptian symbol appeared. The figure raised its arm before vanishing with an ear-piercing scream.

The girls cowered on the floor for some time before plucking up the courage to move and discuss the frightening event. After a long talk, the girls took the weegee board into the bark garden and used the shredder to destroy it once and for all, although they knew this would not stop the ghost haunting Megan's house.

They made a pact to never again play with a weegee board. They also researched the symbol on the calendar and it turned out to represent 'poison drink' so on Christmas day Megan stayed well clear of the kitchen and spent most of the day in her room.

As far as she knows she didn't release evil into the world. However she still occasionally hears unexplained bangs and the eerie summoning of her name.