Find The Chest

Authors Note: This is my story to get graded on the writing rubric. 

James Price thanked his parents for the lovely meal. The brand new car they gave him for his birthday was perched on the street.  Now comes the long trip back to Madison. He is on his way home in the country. He hasn’t seen a house for miles. After driving for a while, he sees something in the distance. He can’t quite figure out what it is. It looks like a deer or a tree. When he approaches it disappears. When he gets to where it was, it comes back and it is a man in the road! James slams on the brakes but is unable to stop and hits the man. The man goes flying through the air. James rushes out of the car fearful that the man is dead.

 When James gets to him he says,” Where did you come from?  You came out of nowhere! Where do you live?”

The man only replies, “Find the chest.”

Puzzled, James says,” What do you mean?”

Right before the man can say anything he dies. Then James looks around and when he looks back the man is gone.

After the long and hurtful trip home, James opens the door to his house and it is trashed. There is graffiti all over the wall saying, “ get out! You don’t need anything from here”, “You are in danger,” “Find the chest.” James is convinced that a bunch of his friends did it. James walks up stairs to his room and his whole room is destroyed. All the lights are smashed and it is pitch black out so he can’t turn them on. James walked down the hall to Jeremy’s room. Jeremy is one of his roommates. His room is perfect. Just the way he left it. He walks down to his other three roommate’s rooms and they even look like someone cleaned them. James is really confused at the moment. He is thinking that someone is after him. James looks at the ceiling and sees the ladder to the attic. He knows he must go up.

James struggles to climb the old ladder. After a step brakes on him he becomes even more fearful. James is up in the attic and sees the only working light in the house. He turns it on and it flickers a lot. After a while it stays lit and doesn’t flicker. James looks around and right under the light is a chest.  James takes a good look at it and turns to go.

James Walks out to this car to go back to his parents house to stay there till his roommates are back. Finally he gets to his parents house and tells them all that has happened to him, but he leaves out one thing... the chest. After a while of watching TV and worrying about what is happening, he falls asleep. Mr. Price, James’ Dad, is up all night thinking about what is happening to his son.

“ Breakfast is done”, yells Mrs. Price from upstairs.  

 James wakes up and on the table his Mom had made him his favorite meal, pancakes and bacon with orange juice. Mr. Price wakes up after a long night up.

After they are done eating Mr. Price sits down James and says, “ James all this that is happening to you happened to me as a kid in college.  Now, listen very carefully.  Is there a chest up in the attic?”

James says, “ Yes. Why do you ask?”

Mr. Price says,” I put that up there when you moved there, I have to, otherwise the ghosts that are in your house will get me and kill me for what I did”.

” So how do I get them to go away”, James said

Mr. Price says,” Get the chest and open it and everything will go away. It won’t be in the same spot anymore when you get home”.

James left and thanked his father.

On the long drive home James has no people walking in front of him or anything. He finally gets home and the house is worse and there is no chest anywhere in site. So he walks out of the house to look around and there on the roof is the Man he hit with his car, standing there pointing at the chest.

 James says,” How do I get up here?” .

The Man says,” Use your jumping power, just jump”.

James jumps and gets up there and right after he reaches for the chest he is pushed off the roof by one of the ghosts and he jumps right back up and grabs the chest to take with him. James runs to his car and drives to his parents house. It is about 11 P.M. when he leaves and finally gets there at about midnight. James runs inside.

James yells,” I Got the chest!”.

Mr. Price says in a faded voice,” We are too late”.
James says,” What do you mean?”

Mr. Price says,” I forgot to tell you….. you have to open it by midnight, and it is 12:17”

James says,” Well what will happen? What are you taking about! I did what you asked.”

James Dad looks to the side and there is the ghost that pushed him off the roof pointing at his Dad.

James yelling,” Get out of here! No one wants you here! I found the chest and you should be gone!”

Mr. Prices last words are,” Goodbye James, I’m one of them now.”