As soon as the doorbell rang, Brandon jumped up from his chair.  It was a warm summer night, and with no homework or school to worry about, Brandon was having a sleepover with his friend Adam and his cousin Christopher. The boys came in and immediately went to play in the spare room.

Brandon

Christopher

Adam

"Follow me guys!"

Brandon’s father, Joseph, popped his head into the room and got the attention of the three boys. “Hey guys, I know you only just got here, but I need to run a quick errand.  You can do whatever you want while I’m gone, but the attic is off-limits! I don’t want you guys going up there, but if that isn’t enough of a deterrent, you should also know that it’s haunted by a ghost.” Joseph chuckled under his breath. “Don’t worry guys, I’ll be back soon.”

"Be right back boys, stay out of the attic!"

Brandon and Adam, being as curious as they were, immediately decided that they were going to explore the attic anyways. Christopher wasn’t as enthusiastic as the other two however, and he asked them to reconsider.

"I'm so excited to go explore the attic!"

"Me too! I wonder what's really up there!"

"I don't think it's a good idea

guys..."

Christopher was very nervous, but after a bit of coaxing, the boys convinced him to climb the ladder with them and peek into the attic. The space was small and dusty, and there were several boxes scattered around on the floor. “Whoa, is that a treasure chest?” Adam said excitedly, pointing to a mysterious trunk in the corner of the room. “Hey Christopher, you should open it and see what’s inside!”

"Whoa, is that a treasure chest!"

Christopher finished climbing the ladder and reluctantly inched his way towards the chest in the corner of the room. He gripped the top of the chest with both hands and flipped the lid open with one quick motion. Inside, there was a beautiful and undoubtedly very expensive diamond necklace. Intrigued, the boys started tossing the necklace around and jokingly saying, “This must belong to the ghost!”

"Haha, this must belong to the ghost...eww how scary!"

“Put it back guys!’ Christopher yelled. Unlike the other boys, Christopher really believed that the ghost was real. Christopher continued, “The ghost is going to get upset if we keep playing with his necklace.”

"Put it back guys!"

Suddenly, a loud, rhythmic thumping sound started from underneath the floorboards.  The boys all stopped in their tracks, looked at each other, and darted for the ladder.  As Adam frantically descended, he fumbled the necklace and dropped it onto the floor below.  Once the three were at the bottom of the ladder, they all paused and waited to see if the thumping sound had stopped. In an instant, a ghostly figure glided around the corner and into view.

The boys screamed and ran back into the spare room where they had been playing earlier, but the ghost was close behind. With nowhere to run, the boys held their breath in terror. The ghost drifted into the room, and right as the boys had lost all hope, Joseph threw the sheet he had been wearing to the ground and revealed that he had been the ghost all along!

"Surprise! It's me!"