Read Online It's All Downhill from Here by P.J. Night - Free Book Online Page B

if for a concert.
    â€œBack in the old days, people invited their friends over and played music, just for fun,” Sophie said.
    â€œLife without iPods, huh,” Maggie added, trying to keep her mood up, despite her feelings of dread. They stepped from the room and closed the door.
    The two friends continued down the hall. Maggie felt grim again almost instantly.
    â€œWe still haven’t found whatever it was that made that crashing noise,” she pointed out to Sophie.
    â€œUh, I think we just did,” Sophie replied, openingthe next door along the hallway and peeking in.
    Stepping into the room, they discovered framed photographs hung on the wall and placed on shelves. Sophie pointed to a rectangular shape on the wall, at the top of which hung an empty picture hook. Glancing down, she spotted a framed photo lying on the floor, surrounded by shattered glass.
    â€œThere,” she said. “Where that photograph had obviously been hanging for a long time. That’s what fell and crashed.”
    Maggie hurried over and picked up the photo from the floor. She carefully turned it over. Additional shards of what had been the protective glass tumbled down and shattered.
    Maggie and Sophie stared at the black-and-white photograph of two men standing outside in a winter wonderland. The men bore some resemblance to each other. They each had an arm around the other’s shoulder. One was much older than the other.
    The older one was dressed in a thick sweater and a cap that nearly coverd his eyes. The other was wearing a ski outfit complete with gloves and goggles and clutched a pair of skis, which stood upright in his hand.It was hard to tell who either was with their caps and goggles on, but Maggie couldn’t help but wonder if she’d seen these faces before. She also didn’t feel much like thinking about it, not after everything that had been happening.
    â€œOld Man Wharton’s ghost must have knocked this off the wall!” Maggie concluded. “And I don’t think it’s coincidence that of all the pictures in this room, he chose the one that had a skier in it. He’s trying to send us a message. Just like Ms. Walcott said. He’s upset that my parents are going to turn his home into a ski resort!”
    Sophie shivered. “He’s not some random spirit that people catch a glimpse of, or a ghost who makes the temperature in a room drop suddenly. Old Man Wharton is walking around knocking pictures off the wall. And specific pictures about a specific subject, too.”
    â€œI don’t need to explore anymore, Soph,” Maggie said anxiously. “I think we should just hang out until my parents get back. Then of course we’ve got to find a way to prove to them that the ghost is real. If we show them this smashed photo, they’ll just think I did it.”
    The two friends headed back to the kitchen for a little lunch, then hunkered down in the living room, spendingthe rest of the afternoon munching on snacks, flipping through magazines, and chatting about school—the one they both currently attended back in the suburbs.
    As the afternoon wore on and the light grew dimmer, Maggie thought about her brother.
    â€œHey, Simon told us he’d be back before sunset,” she said, peering out the window. “The sun’s going to drop behind that mountain in a few minutes, so where is he?”
    Sophie put down her magazine and joined her friend at the window. The last reddish-orange rays of sunshine spilled out onto the pristine whiteness, sending off a lustrous glow.
    â€œI don’t like this, Soph,” Maggie said after a few seconds. “I didn’t like it when he left this morning, and I really don’t like it now.”
    â€œLet’s give him a few more minutes,” Sophie said, trying to sound as reassuring as she could. “He probably just wanted to go on one more run. You know Simon and his skiing.”
    â€œI