ELTHAM HIGH SCHOOL ANTHOLOGY   

I never actually believed in haunted houses until I moved into one. I was seven years old when we first moved in. I lived with my parents and my younger brother. The house was in the middle of nowhere and it was around about half an hour’s drive to the nearest town. There was nothing but dirt roads, land and an old cemeretary down the road. The house itself was three storeys high and quite large. It was very old and covered in cobwebs, it looked to be hundreds of years old. We lived in that old house for many years, I have horrible memories from living there. I remember the day that I watched my first horror movie alongside my friend and thinking of how much my house resembled the ‘haunted house.’ It was from that point that I got spooked out, I was extremely scared of seeing the scary possessed things that I had seen in the movie. At night I would make sure that my doona covered up my whole body, even on the warmer nights. Most times I would lay awake not daring to move. There were many times where I was so frightened by the noise of footsteps on the roof even though I knew very well that it was possums. Sometimes I would wake up from hearing a heavy breathing like noise coming from the roof. Whenever I heard the creaking of footsteps on the old wooden floors, I was so scared. I remember when it was pitch black at night and I would see things that I would always fear where scary creatures of some sort. Every morning I woke up surprised that I even made it through the night. I told my parents many times that I was having difficulties living in that house, but they told me that I was overreacting and that I should grow up. My parents never really where very supportive of me. Whenever I needed help or felt uncomfortable with something they were never by my side. I may have overreacted. My parents were probably right that I was a sook and needed to grow up, but I couldn’t control the emotions I felt towards the place. After all I was still young. None of this matters now anyway, it’s all in the past. All I know is that I will never move into an old building that looks vaguely like a haunted house.