Buffy Summers parked her car outside Lawson Manor and slowly got out. She looked up at the large mansion and opened her eyes wide

"Woah!" She said. The mansion belonged to her boyfriend’s grandfather. He had inherited it just after he died two weeks ago. He had invited Buffy and her friends to live in it.

Buffy stepped inside the mansion and began to look around. There was dust everywhere she looked. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for years.

"This certainly looks like a fixer- upper." She said and walked up the large spiral staircase. There were eight bedrooms upstairs and she hoped to get here early to get the best one for her and her boyfriend.

Spike. The punk rocker type. He wanted to live in this mansion but Buffy couldn’t see why. The guy had peroxide blonde hair and a great body. He always wore black which freaked Buffy out a bit. Buffy liked Spike because he saw her for who she is and not as a dumb blonde who dropped out of high school. Buffy’s now twenty-one and Spike is the same.

A noise came which drew her away from her thoughts, it sounded like creaking floorboards. She then heard laughing.

"Hello?" she called as she carried on walking up the corridor. She turned into the smallest room and decided to look in there. It looked like a small child’s room. The bed was small and this room was the only room in the house that was painted a bright colour. She opened the closet and she got hit by a load of toys.

"Owww!" She picked a wooden spinning top up and inspected it.

"This is old." She said to herself. "Why didn’t Spike’s grandfather get rid of all of these?" Buffy shrugged and put the toy back. "I’ll clean this up later." Buffy began to wander back down the corridor again. She heard that noise again. It sounded like a child running and laughing along this very corridor. Just then Buffy saw a figure run into the master bedroom.

"Hello?" Buffy ran into the bedroom. There on the floor was a small boy playing with a doll’s house. It was as if Buffy could see right through him. He was dressed strangely as well, like he was about to attend a funeral. Like the old Victorian clothes.

"Hello little boy, what’s your name?"

"Are you my mommy?" The boy asked.

"No sweetheart. What’s your name?"

"I’ll only tell you if you help me find my mommy."

"I’m sorry I don’t know your mommy."

"Then leave me alone!" The boy shouted. He screamed and disappeared.

"Oh my God!" Buffy yelled and ran downstairs and out of the house.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"I’m telling you Buffy, that is weird." Xander said and burst out laughing. Buffy hit him and he immediately stopped.

"Maybe there is a ghost. Maybe, just maybe." Willow said.

"I’ll tell you what, we’ll go and have a look ourselves." Spike said and opened his car door for Buffy. Willow and Xander climbed into the back seat. Spike sped off and they were in the mansion within ten minutes. Spike immediately heard the laughing when he stepped inside.

"You heard that right, it’s not just me?" Buffy said.

"Yeah, we heard it." Xander said. Buffy nodded. The little boy appeared again and ran right through Buffy and stopped.

"Are you my mommy?" He said to Willow.

"No. I don’t know your mommy." Willow said.

"GET OUT!" The boy screamed and everyone went flying through the door they came in from.

"We just got beaten by a five year old." Xander said.

"He’s a child with unfinished business. He needs to find his mommy." Willow said.

"That’s easy, all we have to do is find his mommy and we’ll be on our way." Spike said.

"It’s not that simple. He’s dead and judging from the way he’s dressed he’s been for a long time so if he’s dead then so is his mom. His mom moved on but he didn’t. That’s why he’s still here." Willow explained.

"Well, we need to find out who he is and how he died and everything else so we should hit the books and I’ll search the net."

"Good idea Red." Spike said.

They all got in the car and drove off.
………………………………………………………………………………………

To Be Continued……

Feedback is appreciated

Spike, Buffy, Willow, Anya and Xander were all gathered round the table in Willow’s apartment. Willow was clicking away at her laptop and the others were pretending to read the books.

“What’s the name of the house?” Willow asked Spike.

“Lawson Manor.”

“Okay.” Willow said a carried on typing away. Buffy was now staring across the table at Spike and Spike was staring back with loving eyes. Buffy blew him a kiss and carried on with research.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

“I got it!” Willow screamed. Everyone gathered round her end of the table and stared at the screen.

“In the last hundred and fifty years, there have been near enough thirty-seven murders and deaths at the house. In 1894, a young boy, Joseph Lawson was found dead in the attic of the manor. His body parts were found in various places in the house. This happened just days after his mother, Mrs. Kathryn Lawson, went missing. His father, Mr. Burt Lawson, was nowhere to be found after his son’s murder. Kathryn Lawson was never found after that. Neither was Burt. Burt Lawson was the main suspect in this murder so the police were pretty bummed when they didn’t find him. Another suspect was his brother, Mark Lawson. Mark Lawson was married with three kids and didn’t seem like the murderous person. He died of a heart attack in 1901.”

“Okay, so we have a ghost in our house. Interesting.” Buffy said and looked at Spike.

“Hey, don’t look at me, you’re the one who wanted to move in here.”

“Am I certain that I wanna be a part of your family or are ya gonna start killing people?” Buffy said playfully.

“Hmmm… let’s have a kid or two and see how long it takes for them to go missing.”

“Spike, don’t be so cruel!” Willow yelled.

“Sorry.” Spike chuckled and hugged Buffy close. “Let’s see if we can find anything in the attic that’ll help us.” Spike said. Buffy nodded and ran up the stairs with Spike following her.


…………………………………………………………………………………………

The two of them began looking in boxes in the attic. Spike pulled out an old trunk and blew the dust off of it. He struggled to get in the box so Buffy came and helped him.

“Wow, how boring!” Buffy said. In the box were about three photo albums and old letters. Spike pulled out one of the albums and began looking at them. In a photo was a man next to a woman holding a baby, in the next one was a little boy sitting on this box, another one was a little boy sitting down, his back to the camera, playing with a toy. Just like Buffy had seen him in the bedroom when he asked for his mommy.

“Wait, de ja vu. That’s exactly how the boy looked when I saw him a few days ago.”

“This is the last one in the album. There’s no more after that, it must have been taken the day the boy died, probably by the killer, and if the killer could find the camera and know how it works, then it must have been someone that lived there. Like his father.”

“It makes sense, his wife went missing before he did, maybe he killed her as well.” Buffy said.

“More than likely. We should go tell the others and…”

“Wait a minute, look at this letter.” Buffy handed him the letter and Spike began to read.

Dear Burt,

I am going away for a few days so I can get my head around everything. I can’t stand this house any longer. The weird things that happen here are too much to bear. I really can’t stand it.

I hope to be back soon

Kathryn

“Sounds like the house was haunted before Joseph died.” Buffy said. “Maybe there are so many ghosts here they do things to people. They see them and think that they are crazy or something”

“Could be.” Spike agreed.

“Wow, was I smart for once, yay!”

“Hang on a minute, I don’t think Burt killed Kathryn, maybe she just didn’t come back from her few days away, maybe she died there and her body was never sent home.” Spike said. “I think we’re getting somewhere here…” A ghostly voice interrupted Spike. Buffy and Spike turned around to find the little boy standing there.

“You’ll never find out about the things my father did. They didn’t back then and they won’t know. The only proof you have is those photos that are very cryptic and me. It was my father who killed me. And my mother. Mother did not write that letter, t’was my father. He made her write that so if it was ever found he would be dropped of all murder charges against. They never found her but she was right under their nose the whole time. She’s buried in the garden in an unmarked grave. I am in the garden in a marked grave. My father killed me. He came in and started flashing the camera at me from behind. He grabbed me, I didn’t get to finish my game. He took me and got the knife. He stabbed me many times in the stomach and then removed my arms and legs. It was horrible. He then put them around the house so that people would find me piece by piece. He then hid in the basement. I got up from where I was. I couldn’t touch anything. I went down to see my father. I saw him behind the locked basement door with a knife in his hand. He slit his own throat and killed himself. No-one could ever get into that basement as he had the only key. That’s why they never found him. He haunts this house as well as me. He tries to say sorry for what he did and I try to finish my game but I never can. We will never move on.” The little boy explained. He then disappeared.

“Wow. That’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.” Suddenly, a great grey thing flew across the room and through Spike.

“Let’s get out of here!” Buffy shouted. They both ran downstairs.

Buffy, Spike, Willow and Xander stood outside the house looking at it in wonder. They started to walk towards Spike’s car and got inside. Spike got in the driver’s seat, turned the key and stepped on it. They all sped off with Spike, not knowing where they were going. Just getting away from that house. Buffy still wanted to live in it. And she was going to do everything in her power to get rid of that ghost so she could live in it. Spike stopped the car outside Buffy’s stepfather’s house.

Giles was a man in his late forties, and loved the supernatural. Some people thought he was a bit crazy, but he just likes his books and occult stuff. He married Buffy’s mother two years before she died and since then he has been trying to get her back. Everyone knows he won’t succeed but Buffy was worried about it all just the same. What if he did succeed, there was a like ten billion to one chance but what if he did? Would she have her mother back?

Buffy got out first and ran to his door. She banged on it non-stop until he answered it.

“All right, all right keep your hair on I’m coming. Dear Lord.” Giles muttered as he opened the door. He was still in his bathrobe and quickly tightened it when he saw Buffy. “Buffy. Nice of you to pop round. I haven’t seen you in a while. And it seems you brought the whole herd. Come in, come in it’s awfully cold out there.” Giles said and ushered them inside.

“Thanks Giles.” Buffy said as she entered. She walked into the living room and sat on the couch. His house always smelled of incense and candles, which Buffy liked but always wondered what he was doing.

“Giles, you know I was moving into William’s grandfather’s house don’t you?” Buffy asked. Willow Xander and Spike sat down on the two couches and looked at Buffy.

“Yes dear.” Giles replied, looking confused.

“Well, we think… we think that… we think the house is haunted.” Buffy finished quickly.

“Well, you are innocent if you didn’t know that. Everyone in town knows that.”

“Well we saw the boy that haunts it. His name is Joseph Lawson. He’s there because he wants to finish his game and find his mother, who is buried in an unmarked grave outside the house.”

“Well, we should get all the ghosts together and make them finish their business so you can move into the house.”

“Good let’s go.” Buffy got up to leave.

“Wait till I get dressed for God’s sake.” Giles said.

………………………………………………………………………………………

The five of them drove to Lawson Manor and stood outside. Giles stood there looking at the house for a while and walked inside. He had a bag over his shoulder that he always carried with him. No-one knew what was ever in it and no-one dared to ask. Giles put his bag down and opened it. He pulled out six candles and put them in a circle and lit them. He got out three pots of powder and handed them to Buffy, Willow and Xander.

“Spike, will you be so kind as to stand in the middle. I need a family connection to start the spell.” Spike stepped into the middle and gave Buffy a confused look. “The rest of you, I want you to blow the powder onto Spike when I finish my incantation.” The three friends nodded. Giles started to chant something in Latin and nodded for them to blow. Spike started coughing and around him came three ghosts; Joseph, Burt and Kathryn.

“Hello again Lawsons.” Giles said. Kathryn nodded Joseph smiled and Burt scowled. “Now Joseph, what is your game that you wanted to finish?” Joseph held up a little, Victorian spinning top and gave it to Giles. The rope that you need to spin it was snapped in two. Giles presented another spinning top from his bag and handed it to the boy. Joseph span it and ran upstairs and disappeared. Kathryn ran after him. No-one knew what Burt had to do to rest. He disappeared laughing.

“Didn’t Joseph say something about Burt’s body still being in the basement?” Willow said.

“Let’s go.” Buffy said and ran into the kitchen where the door to the basement was. Buffy pulled the door but it wouldn’t budge. Spike tried and it still wouldn’t budge. He walked backwards a bit then lunged at the door. The door snapped in two and a disgusting smell enveloped the room.

“Well that did it. And what the hell is that smell?” Xander said and held his nose. Buffy, Spike and Giles walked down into the basement.

“I… err… think we’ll stay here.” Xander said and hugged Willow.

Buffy and Spike took one way and Giles took the other. All Buffy and Spike had to do was follow the smell of rotting flesh to find Burt. Behind a large trunk they found Burt. A skeleton with skin and other stuff hanging off. Buffy fainted and Spike caught her.

“Willow, Xander, call the police and an ambulance!”

………………………………………………………………………………………

Buffy was sitting on the couch while the police were downstairs in the basement sorting out the body. Spike came up and sat next to Buffy.

“Are you alright luv?” He asked her. Buffy nodded and lied her head on his shoulder. Spike put his arm around her. Suddenly, the ghosts appeared in front of them. Kathryn was holding Burt by his collar and Joseph was playing with his spinning top.

“Thank you. All of you. Thank you.”

“It was the least we could do, plus we didn’t want you haunting us while we were living here!” Buffy said.

“Don’t push it!” Kathryn said. She gave them one last nod and disappeared. The ghosts were gone for good. Xander and Willow walked into the room.

“Who were you talking to?” Xander said.

“Ghosts.” Spike replied.

“They gone?” Willow asked.

“Yep.” Spike said. Buffy smiled and they all gave a sigh of relief. The ghosts were out of their lives. Now they could move in peacefully.

THE END