First let me tell you about my name! My parents named me that. Why I don't know! But, it's kind of cool because my name is so unusual that I don't get mixed up with any other kid with that name at school. Anyway, I've been asked to write my story about what happened to me and my family in our house. I have decided to tell it like I remember, like it's happening right at this moment.

        Ready? Well, first of all, I live on Jefferson Street in Indiana. I really like it here, the country is beautiful and I love seeing the horses on people's farms. I'm nine years old. I'm a pretty normal kid, except that I have red hair and I'm very smart for my age. I love to hang out with my friends. But some weird things have been happening to me since we moved.

        It all began when we moved into this really old house. It's a hundred years old. It's really big and comfy. We've got a fireplace and I have my very own bedroom. Everything happened one night when I was laying in bed reading my book (I love to read, don't you?) and it was about three o'clock in the morning. All of a sudden I heard this cry. Okay, I thought at first that it was my baby sister, but it turned out she was asleep with my parents in their bed.

        So, I lay back down and began to read my book again. Then I heard it a second time. A cry, a sad low cry, like a little child around three or four. So, I got up again and went to check on my other sister, she is four. Nope, it wasn't her, she was asleep in her Barbie bed. What the heck was it? I began to feel a little scared. Maybe I should wake up my Mom and Dad. I decided not to, it was three o'clock in the morning after all, they were sound asleep and it wasn't an emergency or anything.

         So once more, I lay down. I was pretty cozy with my nice cool blanket on me, it was a little chilly that night. I closed my book. I decided I had better go to sleep. I put my book under my pillow (to keep it safe from my sisters). I didn't hear it again that night ....

Author REBECCA J. ZARRINNEGAR

         Rebecca Zarrinnegar is a freelance children's author who recently recently fulfilled a long-time dream of living in the country by relocating from Southern California two years ago to Indiana. She lives in a one hundred-year-old house with her three beautiful children, beloved husband, and many pet friends. Rebecca loves to write stories for children, and most are based on real-life occurrences. Keep a look out for new titles in E-book and paperback by Rebecca Zarrinnegar.