All italicized notes are written by Madeline.

This account of a hunting takes place in a little-known town with an unnaturally large population of haunting. I call it a hunt because that's what we do-we hunt down ghosts. If that seems dangerous for a single father and his teenage daughter, then you obviously never have heard of the two of us. The name of the town is withheld. The haunted area is an old Victorian manor on the outskirts of town, the street's called Lane Avenue. I don't know if they were so uncreative, they took two kinds of streets and made a name out of that, or if some guy there who did something for the town was named Lane. I hope it's the latter.

I was somewhat known in the area because my daughter, Madeline, supposedly can see ghosts. We'll get a call, someone claims there's a ghost, and we go there, check it out, and deal with the ghost if there is one.

I've gotten calls from Mr. Brian before, since the cemetery is so large and people had a tendency to take parts of loved ones gravestones and hide them in the house (literally-the piece of stone is buried within the walls). This was suppose to scare away bad spirits and to keep the loved ones close, but so far, all they do is scare the hell out of people and cause chaos. I really think these are the bad spirits, or maybe they're reacting to the fact that the weirdos who did this are now dead and there are new occupants. I never get calls from people whose family have lived in the same house for generations, after all.

Today, it seems like it's just some normal (well, for us-cute, right?) haunting. I was quite confused, and still am, about what Mr. Brian had said about the place.

"Well," he began, blowing a huge cloud of smoke in the air-the mayor (Mr. Brian) is quite known for his cigars- "we all know it's been haunted for a long time, but you were never brought in because it's  never been an issue until now. People are stupid, you know this-" here he waved his cigar around, I remember this because Madeline started coughing due to the smoke- "they go into the building, they try to stay the night-really, we only have issue around June 10th, but lately they've been acting strange."

"Well, if they've entered a supposedly haunted building, and get scared out of their wits, 'course they'll act strange," I had pointed out.

"But that's the thing. Acting strange is what's driving them to enter!" Mr. Brian waved his arm around. "They seem normal, then they'll just walk by, and their family reports their strange behavior, not eating, not sleeping, then they'll sneak out in the middle of the night and kill 'emselves! Why, Irene Jones, you know her, most sensible woman, didn't believe in ghosts until she had that candlestick thrown at her out of nowhere-"

I nodded at this; I had dealt with that case, and left with several bruises. It was very nasty.

"Well, she never went near that place, thought it was ridiculous that anyone would enter-just last night, someone found her ripping the boards off the front door with her bare hands, dazed look in her eyes-he tried to stop her, but she grabbed them by the neck and pulled them inside. Almost killed him. According to him, she went upstairs and he heard a gunshot. Instantly came running to us. Scared witless. Think he saw something more, he wouldn't speak much more than that, wet himself quite badly, trembling like a Chihuahua. Poor kid."

"I feel bad for him," Madeline had said.

"So do I, but there's nothin' much we can do, hm? Tell you what. I'll let you two get some sleep-I've arranged for you to stay in the same apartment as last time. I'd like to see the two of you, 10 A.M., my office. Got that?"

"Depends on if I'm allowed to come in my pajamas. I don't get dressed until 12," I joked, shaking his hand across the desk. "Hang on-why do you only have issue around June 10th?"

"Ahhh...you never heard of the screaming lady, have you?"

I shook my head, and he sighed. "Well, let me tell you, it's strange. Every year, on June 10th, around eleven-ish, there's a scream. A woman. It starts off with pleading, then a scream."

"Could it be the wind?" Madeline suggested.

"Does wind make the same noise the same time, same date, every dang year?" Mr. Brian shook his head. "Nah, this is definitely a woman. Wind doesn't make light turn on in one of the windows, either. Something tells me there's been a murder, and that's her ghost."

"We will get right to the bottom of this," I had promised.

I've got a bad feeling about this. Something tells me this case is different than the others. But then, I feel that way about the other cases.

I really, really hope this is a good first chapter. I also really hope that this is really creepy, since it's a horror. I'm so glad I actually finished the first chapter in one night. Please comment and vote and tell me (honestly) it's really good. Please.