The Book of Death?"

It was a warm, sunny morning. As usual, I got up and went to the kitchen for breakfast prepared by my mother.

"Hi, Mom!

" "Hi, Przemek! What are you doing today?" my mother asked me.

"Oh? I don't know. Well, when I get home from school, I'll do my homework and study, but after that, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I'll go to Mateusz's.

" "Aha," my mother replied, "Because my dad and I are going to Szczecin for an important meeting and we won't be home for the next few days, probably the weekend.

" "Damn!!! Can Mateusz and Kinga sleep at my place?? Please, Mom!?" I asked with glee.

"No!!!" my mother told me.

"But Mom, please!? We won't go crazy or do anything bad, I promise!!! Please!?

" "Okay, but on one condition!!!"

"What condition?" I asked.

"The condition is that when we get back, the house has to be in the same condition it was before we left. Is it a deal?

" "Sure!!! Thanks, Mom.

" "We're leaving at 11:30. You'll be at school then. I'll prepare food for you and leave a few zlotys for 'debauchery'. Dad will get you a fishing rod if you want to go fishing. Just remember!!! Don't go to the cliff and listen to your sister!!!

"Okay, Mom. Thank you again for letting me." I said, putting on my backpack and leaving the house for school. "See you later, Mom!!!

" "See you later!!! "

On my way to school, I met Mateusz.

"Hi Mateusz. Will you be sleeping at my place?

" "Hi. I can sleep, I'll just ask Mom. Will anyone else be coming?

" "Maybe Kinga too. Tomorrow is Saturday and my parents are going away for the weekend!!! And my sister is going to her boyfriend's and will be back on Tuesday. So, the house is free!!! "? "? "

- Great!!! Then I'll come to your place after school with my stuff. OK??? "

- OK!!! And we'll go pick up Kinga and ask if she can sleep in. We'll have a party on Sunday. We'll invite all our friends, tomorrow we'll have a feast, and the three of us will eat the food my mom prepared.

"That's a great idea, but let's hurry, or we'll miss class. "

While running, he said something to me.

"You know what, Przemek? I heard a rumor that some guy lived in your house before you moved in who killed his entire family. What do you think? Is that true?

" "Definitely not!!! It's just some stupid rumor."

And we quickly ran to our classrooms.

After school, on our way back from class, we picked up Kinga. We asked her if she'd sleep over. She had a hard time convincing her parents.

At 3 p.m., Kinga and Mateusz came to my place. We set the table for tomorrow's feast and went to bed. Saturday morning arrived, warm and sunny as always. When we got up, we prepared the feast. We set all the dishes on the table and sat down to eat together.

After the feast, we had nothing to do, so we decided to postpone the party until tonight. We went to inform all our friends about the party. After returning home, we started preparing and decorating the living room. A warm evening arrived. The starry sky illuminated our town. We waited impatiently for our guests. Edyta arrived first, then Patryk 1 and Dawid. Next came Ania and Karina. Last came Radek and Patryk 2.

The whole gang had arrived for the party. We started at 6:00 PM. We played spin the bottle on command, danced, and ate, until finally Iza and Edzia came up with the idea of summoning spirits. The three of us (me, Mateusz—that is, Buli—and Kinga) refused, but everyone was reluctant, so we gave in. We went to the dark basement. Everyone settled in and began summoning spirits. Ania placed a very old book on the floor, one I'd found in this basement when I'd just moved in. It was titled "The Book of Death." Ania plunged a knife into it, which I'd also found there. She lit three candles and placed them next to the book with the knife. I recited a few incantations. The first candle went out. A deathly silence fell. No one uttered a peep. We were simply frozen. Suddenly, we felt a cold draft, but there were no windows in the basement, and the door was locked. I began reciting more incantations. No one spoke. Nothing happened until we heard something shatter in the house.

I summoned my courage and went upstairs. The windows were open, though they had all been locked. The doors were also wide open, but I'd locked them first, with the key around my neck. I locked all the windows and doors, then checked again and went to see what had broken. It was my mother's vase. I swept up his remains and threw them in the trash. I went to the basement and told everyone what had happened, because they were so scared that no one even dared to go up with me.

Kinga recited the next incantations. Then the second candle went out, and a moment later the third. A deep darkness fell in the basement, as nothing else was burning except the candles. Everyone headed for the door, but it was locked. We panicked and forced the door open. The whole gang got dressed and dispersed. Only the three of us remained. We locked ourselves in my room and didn't come out until morning. They promised they wouldn't leave me alone until my parents arrived.

The next day passed quite quickly, but the night was the longest and most terrible night of our lives. When it got dark, we locked ourselves in the room again and, exhausted, fell asleep. I had a terrible nightmare. It was something very strange. Some guy tried to kill me with a knife that Ania had stabbed into the "book of death." In his other hand, he was holding the book. Three pages flew out. When the guy raised the knife and swung it at me, I woke up. Kinga and Mateusz woke up at the same time.

I asked Kinga,

"Did you dream something, Kinga?"

"Oh yeah!!! And a very terrible one at that!!! Some guy (he was very strange) was holding a knife covered in blood in one hand and a bloody "book of death" in the other. He was leaving our room.

"Did you dream something, Bulla?" I asked Mateusz.

"Yes." That guy with the bloody knife and book was going into the basement, and I went to our room, where we are now, and I saw...

I was simply speechless at that moment.

"Tell me!!! Quickly!!! Who was that?? Tell me!!!" Kinga asked Mateusz.

"It was me," I said.

"How so? How did you know?" Buli asked me with great surprise.

"Because I dreamed of the same guy, with the book, but with a knife that wasn't covered in blood. When he raised it to me, I woke up. Haven't you noticed we have similar dreams? It's like we had one dream divided into three parts.

This guy raised a knife that wasn't covered in blood, and I woke up. Then Kinga dreamed that he already had a bloody knife and was leaving our room, and Mateusz dreamed that he was going further and entering the basement.

"That's impossible!" Mateusz and Kinga denied.

"But it's possible. The ghost we summoned was the former owner of this house and wants to kill me," I said.

At that moment, we got up and went to the basement. We saw the "book of death," a knife, and three burning candles. I checked the book and three pages were missing.

"Heeeey!!! Listen!!!" I told Mateusz and Kinga, "I also dreamed that three pages fell out of the book that guy was holding. And those three pages aren't here!!! Maybe if we found them?

" "So what? As long as we stick together, he won't kill anyone.

" "She's right!!!" said Bull.

"So what? Are we supposed to stick together forever?

" "Nooooo. So, let's look for those pages.

We looked everywhere. Finally, we found them under my bed. But there were only two. We glued them into the book. But nothing happened. Then I remembered there was a page in my mother's broken jug. I didn't even look at it, I just threw it away along with the remains of the vase." I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of paper from the trash. We stuck it in the middle of the book. It read:

"Whoever pierces this book will release an evil spirit that will kill the youngest resident of the house, and whoever burns this book will also burn an evil spirit that will soon go to hell, never to escape and never to harm anyone again."

I read it and said,

"You know what? By piercing the 'book of death,' Ania released a spirit that wants to kill me, so I need to burn it as quickly as possible and cast it into hell forever." At that moment, a ghost appeared in the doorway. It began slowly descending the stairs. The seconds that passed seemed like hours.

I shouted to Kinga, standing opposite me,

"Kinga, burn, burn.

" "What?

" "Come on, burn the book! Burn the book! Quickly!!!

" "I don't have any matches!!!

" "Light it from the candle! Quickly! It's coming towards me!!!"

Kinga lit the book and threw it to the ground. The ghost came up to me, grabbed me by the neck, and lifted me up. Then he bent down to pick up the knife at his feet. The book, burning, opened in the middle. A large, red gate opened in the floor, leading straight to hell. The spirit fell into it with me. Then the gate closed.

Kinga and Buli were stunned. They ran to my room, where we had been previously. Unsure of what was happening to me, they burst into tears, knelt before my bed, and began to pray. I appeared on the bed out of nowhere, remembering nothing. They were so happy to see me that they hugged and kissed me with joy. I didn't know what was happening. They told me what had happened. We fell asleep from exhaustion. We woke up around 11:00. My parents and sister weren't there yet. We got up, cleaned the house as I had promised my mother, and with our savings, we bought a vase, which was much cheaper and similar to the previous one.

As they left, Kinga and Buli said,

"Now we can go. You're safe.

" "Yeah!!! Thanks for everything, just let's promise each other that we'll never summon spirits again. "

And we all said together, holding hands,

"We'll never summon spirits again!!!" 1 2 3

My friends left. To make sure everything was alright, I went to the basement. When I went downstairs, I saw the "book of death" intact. I was even more terrified than before. When I opened it, I saw blank pages. I started leafing through them. When I reached the center of the book, I saw a terrifying inscription:

"Beware, or I will come."