فصل 02

CHAPTER TWO

THE WITCH MUSEUM

School finishes at 3.30 p.m. Kelly and Megan meet their friends outside.

“Do you have any ideas for our Halloween party?” Kelly asks.

“No, I don’t,” says Susan.

“I have an idea,” says Megan. “Let’s visit one of the Salem Witch Museums! We can get many ideas from there.”

“That’s a good idea!” says Susan. “There are a lot of scary things there. Remember, Salem is the ‘Witch City’. At the museum there are pictures of the witch hangings. There are also the names of the Salem witches of 1692. We can read about their terrible magic.”

“Oh, how exciting!” say Megan and Kelly.

“Let’s go,” says Susan.

The girls call Nick and Bill. Together the five friends go to the museum. When they arrive it’s late.

“How many tickets do you want?” asks the attendant.

“Five tickets, please,” says Bill.

“That’s $10. Remember, the museum closes at 5 p.m. You only have half an hour.”

The five friends walk around the museum. They look at the interesting exhibits.

“Look, here are the names of the witches of 1692… and here are the pictures of the hangings,” says Nick.

“Look at this rope!” says Bill.

“How scary!” say the girls.

“I’m going upstairs,” says Megan.

“Be careful,” says Kelly.

Megan laughs, “I’m not afraid of witches or ghosts.”

There are no visitors upstairs. There is a sweet smell of roses in the air. Megan walks around and looks at everything. Then she sees an old lady. She has a long black dress with small black buttons. Her skin is very white and her lips are very red. There is a strange red mark around her neck. She smiles at Megan. Megan smiles too, but she is nervous. Suddenly the air is very cold.

“How strange,” she thinks. “I want to go downstairs.”

When Kelly sees her, she asks, “What’s upstairs?”

“Oh, some interesting exhibits,” answers Megan.

“The museum closes in five minutes,” says the attendant.

Susan buys a book called Salem and the Witches of 1692.

The three girls walk to the front door.

“Is there anyone still upstairs?” asks the attendant.

“Yes,” says Megan. “There’s an old lady.”

“Really!” says the attendant. “That’s strange. You are the only visitors in the museum this afternoon. There aren’t many visitors here on Fridays.”

“There is an old lady upstairs,” says Megan.

“I’m going upstairs to see,” says the attendant.

After a few minutes he returns. His face is red and he says, “Is this a joke? There’s no one upstairs… and the only door of the museum is this front door.”

Megan’s friends look at her. She is silent.

Then she says, “Let’s look outside.”

They run out of the museum and look outside. There’s no one in the street, only a black cat.

After this strange experience they walk home.

“Now I have a lot of ideas for our Halloween party,” says Kelly.

“Yes, I do too,” says Susan.

“You’re very quiet, Megan,” says Bill.

“I’m thinking about the old lady at the museum.”