As Jamie rested on top of his bedspread, texting four people at once, he heard a sound. Footsteps were coming down the hallway. He paused, waiting for what he knew would come.

Knock knock.

“What?”

A young girl, nine years old, pushed the door open and sat at the end of Jamie’s bedspread. “We need to talk.”

Jamie raised his eyebrows. “And what do we need to talk about, Jenny?”

“There’s a ghost in our basement.”

Laughing quietly, Jamie put his phone down and sat up, sitting against the headboard. “So how did a ghost get into our basement?”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me, but I’m telling the truth. There’s a ghost in our basement. His name’s Freddie.”

Jamie couldn’t remember how many times he’d tried to convince his sister that a ghost from the cemetery near there school that didn’t like bratty little sisters was going to come and haunt her. Jenny had never fallen for it before, so these new concerns about ghosts were somewhat surprising. “Really? How do you know his name?”

Jenny shook her head. “Because I know. And don’t talk to me like I’m stupid. I know that everybody says that ghosts aren’t real and I used to believe it too, but everybody’s wrong and you have to believe me!” Jenny crossed her arms, glaring at her older brother.

Grabbing his phone again, Jamie flipped it open and hit the keypad as he spoke.
“I don’t know, Jenny. I’ve been around about eight years longer than you have, and I don’t really remember meeting any ghosts in our basement. Try Mom or Dad though, they’ve been around forever, they might know something I don’t.”

“Mom and Dad won’t believe me. You’re my only chance!” Tears started to glisten in Jenny’s eyes, but she didn’t let them fall as she tried to stare her brother down.

Jamie placed the phone back on the nightstand. “Jenny. Listen to me. There’s no ghost in the basement.”

“But I heard it!” Jenny’s voice was rising, gaining pitch and threatening to go into full-on tantrum mode. “It walks around and makes noises and I think it threw a tire one time because one of the tires downstairs moved and I didn’t move it and you didn’t move it and Dad didn’t move it either and you can’t just tell me that a tire could have moved on its own because tires don’t do that, Jamie.”

Jamie laughed quietly to himself again. So his sister really believed that there was a ghost named Freddie in the basement. “Dad has been getting stuff out of storage in the basement for awhile. I’m sure he could have moved a tire. And wind and animals make noises. And ghosts aren’t real. Which means that there’s no ghost in the basement.”

Crossing her arms again, Jenny climbed off her brother’s bed and sulked to the doorway. She slammed the door shut.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me!”