BACK		Greenlake Cottage

Prologue
Greenlake Cottage

He opened the front door and proceeded up the large oak staircase in front of him. This house had been in his family for generations. Set in the Scottish countryside with acres of land around it, it was not only private but also lonely and quiet. Not many people came out to this part of the county. The nearest town was fifteen miles away and the nearest neighbour was nearly ten miles away. With it’s eight bedrooms and bathrooms it was a very big house with a number of large rooms on the ground floor. The house was three storeys high and even had a basement. This night his sister had thrown a party. She had inherited the house after their parents had died. He still lived there with her husband and two children, twins aged six years. After the party had finished everybody stayed the night. As he climbed the stairs to the first floor the only sound that could be heard was his heavy breathing. He got to the first floor and made his way to his sister’s bedroom. He had decided she had to be the first. Eventually he made his was through all the bedrooms on the first floor then moved onto the second floor. He went from room to room, tiptoeing as he went so nobody could hear him. None of the doors were locked so he had easy access to each of the rooms and everybody was asleep which was a bonus. All the rooms were similar. The walls having a pastel colour with matching curtains and lampshades. In each room there was either a double bed or two twin beds. After he had been in every room he went downstairs into the mail living room to the left of the staircase. He picked up the phone and dialled a number. When someone at the other end picked up he spoke. “I live in Greenlake Cottage on Forest Hill. I have just chopped up my sister, her husband and friends. I’m just about to shoot myself.” As he was saying this he picked up a small handgun and put it to his head. Everyone in the police station heard the bang down the phone lines. Immediately, about a dozen police officers ran out of the room and into their cars. When they got to Greenlake Cottage they found the body of a man and the dismembered body parts of about twenty people. Nobody ever found out why he did it.

Chapter 1
The Chosen Few
**60 years later**

“A number of celebrities have been contacted and we will reveal who will be going to Greenlake Cottage at the end of the show,” said Peter Hayes, a channel 4 presenter. Twelve celebrities were going to spend a week in a haunted house for charity and depending on how many days they stayed there for, a certain amount of money will be given to the charity of the celebrity’s choice. Channel 4 had chosen Greenlake Cottage. Nobody had lived there for sixty years. Shortly after the deaths of all those people a family brought the house but left after less than a week because of ‘paranormal’ activity. Cameras had been set up around the house to monitor the reactions of the people going in it.
“So tomorrow morning,” said Peter Hayes at the end of the show that would be showing footage from the house. “Twelve celebrities will be going into this house for a week. They can do whatever they like during the day but have to remain in the cottage at night. Channel 4 has chosen three bands. Natasha, Jenny and Liz from Atomic Kitten, Hollie, Claire, Anna and Lara from Honest. And finally, Shane, Mark, Kian, Nicky and Bryan from Westlife.” Peter said goodnight and closed the show.

In a hotel just outside Scotland all three bands sat in the bar.
“I can’t believe we are all going to do this,” Liz said.
“Neither can I,” agreed Lara. “Does everybody know the story?” Everybody nodded their heads. A representative of Channel 4 had told them all what had happened in the house.
After a couple more hours in the bar they all went to bed. All three bands knew each other well. They had all been in the music business for the same amount of time, nearly three years and each were doing as well as the others and getting plenty of number ones. Westlife were Irish, Honest came from the south of England while Atomic Kitten came from further up north. While they were in the bar they were getting quite a few weird looks.
“This is going to be a breeze,” Bryan said just before they all went to their rooms. “The house isn’t haunted. People are just scared because a few people got killed there. It’s no big deal you’ll see.”
“So you don’t believe in ghosts?” Tash asked him.
“I’ve never seen one so I’d have to say no for now,” he answered.
“Goodnight!” they all said to each other.

Chapter 2
Day 1

They all entered the house one by one. Jenny went in first closely followed by Claire. They put their bags in the hall and went to explore the ground floor. To each side of the staircase there were little hallways, each with three doors. The first door on the left was a large room with three long sofas, a television and countless amounts of books on high shelves. The next room was a large dining room. Centred down the middle was a long thin table big enough to fit twenty people around. The next room was the kitchen. It had a small storage room attached to it. Bright sun shone through the window. It as unusually sunny for an early February morning. On the other side of the staircase there was another living room the same as the other one. This room also had a stereo system and a computer. The next room had games and a poole table in it. The final room was the biggest room of all. The walls had light blue and white tiles and the floor had dark blue tiles. Huge windows from floor to ceiling ran along the wall facing the back garden. In the middle of the room, a swimming pool with clear glistening water.

After choosing their rooms they all spent the day in the game room. At 5pm it had started to get dark. Everyone was at ease as nobody had seen or heard anything unusual and thought the stories were just made up.
“I’m going to go for a swim before dinner,” said Liz.
“I’ll join you,” said Lara.
Shane and Hollie had been in the kitchen for the last hour debating on what to cook. Every time one of them moved to get something the buzzing of the cameras following them could be heard. They all have to wear microphones all day so the people watching at home could hear everything that was going on. Hollie and Shane were just getting into a heated debate about what to cook the following night when a loud piercing scream came from the swimming pool. Everyone ran into the room to find it in total darkness. The light switch was near the door and Kian turned it on. The lights flickered for a while then became stable. Liz and Lara were in the far corner of the swimming pool with their arms around each other and looking deathly pale.
“Ha ha very funny,” Bryan joked. “Turning the lights off and screaming to make it look like somebody was in the house. Good one.”
“We didn’t do it!” Lara yelled angrily as Nicky and Mark helped the two girls from the pool. Both of them were shaking. “The lights went off and at first we thought it was faulty lighting so we decided to get out. We looked over at the windows and there was somebody there watching us. He ran away after we screamed.”
“What did they look like?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know,” Liz admitted. “It was dark and they had a mask on their face. Well it looked like a mask.” Suddenly an alarm went off which made everybody jump. Shane and Hollie looked at each other. “Oh no!” they both said together and ran out of the room. The others followed slowly. As they got to the hallway they smelled something burning. They got to the kitchen to find it thick with smoke. Claire opened the windows.
“I could have sworn I only put it on number five,” they heard Shane say.
“Obviously you didn’t otherwise it would still be on five now,” Hollie replied. Soon the smoke started to clear and on the table lay a blackened turkey.
“But even on number nine it still would have taken an hour at least to cook,” Shane continued. “And I only just put it in.”
“That is was too freaky,” Mark said.
“Well it’s an old oven,” Nicky added.
After dinner they all sat down to watch television. At 11pm they all went to bed.

Chapter 3
The visitor

Claire thought she was having a dream. It was still dark and the moonlight shone through the window. Something was banging above her head. That was Jenny’s room above theirs. Claire looked at the clock beside her bed, 3:17am. Between each bang she heard the restful breathing of Hollie who she was sharing the room with. The banging continued so Claire put on her dressing gown and went out onto the landing. It was freezing cold and she turned on the lights as she went.

The viewers watching live on E4 had heard the banging. The cameras were on Claire as she made her way up the stairs and onto the second floor. Everybody in the Channel 4 studio were looking hastily through plans of the show. Things were showing up on the cameras that they hadn’t expected. There was a television screen for every camera in the house and everyone’s hair was standing on end. People were looking for plans of events. The idea was that they would stay in the house with no interruptions. So what was going on? The whole room fell into silence as Claire got to Jenny’s door.

A scream filled the night air. The lights in Jenny’s room flickered on and the rest of the group bundled, sleepy eyed into the room.
“What’s going on?” Jenny yawned.
“As Claire she screamed,” Hollie replied.
“I…I…saw a…a…man,” Claire stammered. “St…standing over her.”
“But there’s nobody here,” said Liz.
!I know what I saw!” Claire yelled.
“Ok we’ll go check the house and make sure nobody has gotten in,” said Shane. Shane, Nicky, Bryan, Mark and Kian proceeded downstairs to start on the ground floor while the girls moved to Anna and Lara’s room.
“What did he look like?” Tash asked.
“He had these checked trousers on with a red shirt. I couldn’t really see his face very well, He had short dark hair. That’s all I saw.”
“And he was just standing there?” Anna asked.
“Yeah,” Claire replied. “Just watching her.” Jenny shivered and the boys came back.
“Everything’s locked up and there’s no sign of a break in,” Kian said.
“I’m still feeling a little shaky. Maybe we should all stay in here for the rest of the night,” Said Hollie.
“I’d feel safer,” Liz agreed.

Everyone slept in the next morning. Nicky woke up to find his arms around Anna. He looked over the side of the bed and onto the floor. His duvet lay in a heap on the floor. He was sure he fell asleep on the floor. Lara was asleep in her bed and everyone else was huddled on the floor. Nicky had liked Anna for ages but wasn’t exactly sure about his feelings. He had been with his girlfriend for two years. Mark and Claire were going out in secret. They had only been together for three months and during the night the infrared on the cameras had caught then kissing. Nicky sat up and immediately heard the camera training on him. What would everyone think about him sharing a bed with a girl who wasn’t his girlfriend? He didn’t care right now. He just wanted to get through the week.

more coming soon