I waited with them as the police came. I was still sobbing my heart out, my nose all blocked, and yet tears were still spurting out of my bloodshot eyes. The police took me to the council, and told me to wait for the Social Servicing team to come. I stared out of the window, at the waves banging the sandy bank. A family of five walked past with a golden retriever, laughing and joking. I felt a pang of jealousy and I thought I was going to cry again.
“Er, are you by any chance ‘Samantha Ashbury, ten years of age, lives at 17 Maisy Trelladone Way, and likes playing with cuddly toys?” a sharp looking woman said. She had thick frames and a stripy black suit.
“Yes, yes I am,” I managed. My throat was sore and I sat up straight, brushing the hair out of my eyes.
“Well, come with me.”
I followed the woman into a small neat office with a big towering green plant in the corner, which was taking up all the space. I sat down in a chair and watched as the woman sat down in her own seat, turning on her laptop.
“My name is Pippa Salisbury, but you can call me Pip. This is Hope, my house - or rather office - plant,” she pointed to her plant. “Now, I know you are probably too emotional at the moment to tell me about your life?”
“Um, w-well, I s-suppose I c-can,”
“Okay. Well stay here just a second, and I’m just going to ask my colleague Georgina to send me the form for you to fill in.”
A few minutes passed, and I was beginning to get tedious. The room was becoming darker, as the sun was setting. I soon found myself in a room so dark, I had no choice but to get up and look for the light. I managed to bump into Pippa on the way to the light switch.
“Oops! Sorry! Should’ve knocked! Are you okay sweetie? Does it hurt now?” She had hit my head on the door, which wasn’t the best feeling!
“Oh yes, I’m fine, thank you.”
“Well, sorry I took so long! It seems my colleague was ill today, so I’ll have to find the form online. Come and sit down! Come, come!”
She typed some things into her laptop, and five minutes later, the printer was roaring like a lion.
“Oh, sorry, this printer’s very dodgy! It seems that whenever I print something off, it has to make a huge roaring sound. Ooh - hold your ears - another big roar is coming-”
A roar so loud I squinted filled the room. I clamped my ears immediately and was gasping when the sound ended. A dozen copies of a form titled ‘FORM FOR MINORS UNDER THE AGE OF 13’ came shooting out the other end. Pippa banged the printer very hard, and the printing stopped. What was going on? I must have been in a dream… And I was going to wake up right now…
Nothing happened. Pippa came over to me and gave a look of sorry before handing me the form and a pen.
Name: Samantha Amelia Rachael Ashbury
D.O.B: 3rd February 2002
Address: 17 Maisy Trelladone Way, South Incoveshire
Postcode: SI4 9TB
Interests: My best friends Gabi, Honey, Kate and Alice. I like cuddly toys especially Disney ones. I have recently been interested in
The Last Battle game.
Other information: My phone number is 07070908010. My mother Amy died when I was very little, and now my father Richard and brother Charlie is now dead. I do not know how they died, but I know something is going on in my attic. I intend to find out what, but when I am older. I do not mind where you put me now, as long as I can take a few of my valuable memories and keep the key to the house. I am allergic to lettuce, cucumber, Soya, corn flour and some fish.
That seemed to be good enough. I gave the form to Pippa and waited. She read it through, a few times to be exact, before handing the form back to me to sign. I signed my name, and waited yet again. I waited in silence as she folded the form in half and put it in an A5 brown envelope, with the address:
Mr Harvey Holmes
Office 787, Room 124
Fin Charles Business Building
North Incoveshire
NI2 H7M
Would I have to meet him? I just hoped he would read the form and understand. Boy, I would’ve given anything for people to understand. What if they got the wrong idea and thought I had killed them myself? There were too many possibilities of what could happen now. I just had to think positive. Think positive…
Pippa saw me in my reverie and clicked her fingers. I jumped, ready for anything.
“Ok, well I’m going to send this off, and when I get the letter back, I will get hold of you to discuss more on this topic. Meanwhile, you will be sent home to collect your things, as requested, and then my chauffer will take you to Maple Tree House, a children‘s home.
You will stay there, and go to school normally, and will leave for your future when you are eighteen. Please be a good girl and follow this routine properly, I don’t want to hear that you have run away, or anything like that. You will visit me every month, once or twice, and I will take you for tea in a café of my choice. If you, however, do not wish to see me, you do not have to. Just bear in mind you will get someone else to replace me!” I smiled at this last remark, and started fiddling with my thumbs.
“The chauffer is outside, Samantha, do you not want to go?” Pippa said after a few minutes.
“Oh right! Oh, yes, but I thought- Okay, I’ll be going then.”
Pippa gave me one more smile as I left the room. My cardigan sleeves were soaked to the rim, and my hair was very messy. I slipped on one of the stairs to the bottom, but managed to keep all my body parts as I left the tall building towards a black car, where a chauffer was standing with the door open. He gave me a smirk as I sat inside, and we drove back to my haunted old house.
YOU ARE READING
The Spirit Stealers
TerrorSamantha's family is dead. They've been taken by the Spirit Stealers, an evil group of dead spirits managed by the Head Spirit Stealer. Seven years later, Sam wants to find out everything she can about the attic where her family died, and kill off t...
