The Old Mansion by Emilia Kurylewska

Junior Short Story entry

“Claire, Jake! We’re leaving!” yelled Mum.
“Ok, just wait. Don’t leave without us!” Claire and Jake exclaimed together. They quickly got their things and hurried to the car. The Hanson family was moving houses, far away. They were so excited to go, especially Claire and Jake, because they hated their school, their neighbourhood and they really didn’t like their next door neighbour, Dr. Molar either. In case you haven’t guessed, Dr. Molar was a dentist. An evil dentist! And the worst part was, she wasn’t only their neighbour, but also their family dentist! Scary! Claire and Jake were happy that they would never see her dentist’s drill again.

“Are we there yet?” asked Claire, interrupting her game of ‘I Spy’ with Jake.
“No, not yet,” replied Dad. Claire and Jake continued to play ‘I Spy.’

Eventually, they got to their new house.
“Are you sure this is the right address?” asked Jake. They were looking at an old, scary mansion.
“Oh, that’s just our next door neighbour’s house,” said Mum. “That’s our house.” She pointed to the house next to the old mansion.
“Phew, that’s a relief! I would be so scared to live in that old place next door!” said Jake.

Their new house was a much better than the mansion! It was a two-storey house with it a pool, and the best thing was…it had a king-size bed in each room!
“Hey Jake, let’s go check out that freaky mansion!” said Claire, excitedly after they’d moved in some of their things. As Claire was two years older than Jake, she bossed him around all of the time.
“No! You just heard me say that I’m scared of that place!” he replied indignantly.
“Fine! It’s your choice if you want to stay here and unpack for the rest of the day,” Claire said, starting to leave. Jake hesitated, then after a minute he called out; “Wait! I’m coming with you!”
“Works every time,” thought Claire.

“Wow, this place is so scary. I cannot believe you convinced me to go,” Jake complained.
“Shhhhhhhh!” Claire whispered. They stepped up the stairs and knocked on the door. Then the door opened, but there was no one standing there. “Weird,” said Claire. “Let’s go in!”
“Fine,” muttered Jake. Then suddenly a big voice yelled out, “COME IN! I LOVE HAVING GUESTS OVER!” Claire and Jake exchanged frightened glances and turned to leave but the door slammed shut behind them. “Please don’t hurt us. We just came in to say hello - we are your new neighbours,” said Claire, nervously.
“I’M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!” said the big voice again and then a giant tarantula came out of the shadows. “I JUST WANT SOME FRIENDS. WILL YOU BE MY FRIENDS?” it asked.
“Of course we’ll be friends with you! As long as you promise never to eat us, ok?” exclaimed Claire.
“CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE!” Replied the tarantula.

So, Claire, Jake and the tarantula became life long friends as the Hanson family never moved houses again.