Welcome, to Marigold Valley!

• Up to 250 Words
• Genre – Ghost Story
• Action – Looking under a bed
• Word – Neat

“Welcome, to Marigold Valley!” Mitch Abernathy proudly spread his arms as he and the Callow family rode horseback into the ghost town nestled outside the Lompoc Hills Mountain Range in California.

“Rumor has it,” Mitch continued, “old James Jackdaw lost half his left leg in a mining accident. Started drinking, hobbling around town on one good leg in a work boot and a steel post strapped to the other. Got drunk one night, went crazy and slaughtered everyone in the saloon!”

Mitch halted the horses in front of the saloon and sounded out the walk Jackdaw might have done; clomp-clink, clomp-clink. “They say his ghost roams the saloon halls at night, ready to kill again.”

Mitch’s gaze was trained on the boy, Brett, who had periodically feigned falling asleep on the way through the valley.

“Neat.” Brett’s monosyllabic reply conveyed disinterest as only a pre-teen can.

That night, Brett slept in a barely furnished bedroom on the second floor of the old saloon. He awoke with a start, hearing the clomp-clink sound Mitch spoke of earlier in the day. Glancing out the window, he saw Mitch and his parents, still around the campfire. Fear gripping him, the sound coming closer, he took refuge in the only place he could hide. Slowly, the door creaked open, and the clomp-clink repeated closer and closer, stopping directly beside the bed.

As old James Jackdaw’s ghost dropped to the ground, gazed under the bed, and clacked his teeth, Brett Callow screamed in terror.

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