Ages:

Marcia: 12
Cherry: 12
Randy: 13
Bob: 13

Marcia gripped her sleeping bag tightly as she stepped into the house. The heavy wooden doors slammed behind her, making the entire house shake. She shivered. Her so called 'friends' had dared her to spend the night in the Wilson Mansion, which was supposedly haunted. She was determined to prove that she wasn't a baby.
The floor creaked as she walked up a long flight of stairs. At the top of the staircase was a long, dark hallway.
She shivered again. She felt like she was being watched. She stood still for a minute. Behind her, a floorboard creaked.
She whipped around. Nothing was behind her.
She continued searching for a room to stay in, constantly looking behind her. She stopped at a rusty metal door. Noises were coming from behind it. Almost like...voices.
She felt her heart thump in her chest. What could be behind the door?
It took all of her willpower not to run out of the house. With a shaking hand, she rattled the door handle. It was locked.
All sounds inside the room stopped. Marcia gulped.
Suddenly, the door started to open, just a crack. Marcia yelped, jumping back. The door slammed shut again.
She put her ear to the door. Hushed whispers sounded from inside the door.
She took a deep breath as she considered what she was about to do. Ghosts didn't exist, right?
Slowly, she knocked on the door.
It opened a crack again.
"H-hello?" Marcia whimpered. The door creaked opened to reveal...a scrawny blonde kid?
He looked at Marcia, and his eyes widened in fear.
"Are you a ghost?" He yelped. She laughed.
"No," her eyes suddenly widened. "Are you?"
"No," he said. He opened the door a little more to reveal two other kids standing behind him.
"I'm Bob," he held out his hand. Marcia shook it gingerly. "This is Randy," he pointed to a brunette kid. "and Cherry," he nodded his head towards a pretty redhead. "What's your name?"
"Marcia," Marcia said, extending her hand.
---
After an hour of talking, the four became fast friends. The three told Marcia about how they normally hung out in the old house, and Marcia told them about how she had been dared to stay the night.
"And as I walked through the hall," Marcia explained, "I heard a floorboard creak behind me." She grinned at her new friends. "That was pretty funny, you guys. You really had me scared for a second there."
They all stopped smiling. "That wasn't us," Cherry said. Randy shook his head.
"Then who was it?" Marcia asked.
Bob shrugged. " I guess some things are better left unexplained."
They all shivered, but tried to keep up their normal conversation.
Maybe Bob was right. Maybe sometimes it was better to just not know.

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARCIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, I wish S.E. Hinton had told us Marcia's last name. Ah well. I feel like it'd be Coleman, but I don't know why or where I got that from. Just a random guess. *shrugs*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARCIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay Gold, Tucker, Stay Gold.

Orange_Elephant a.k.a. SCR