Harris WilliamCHAPTER ONE
I'll Begin at the Beginning
I don't know when the game began.
My wife died twelve years ago and the game began soon after that. But I can't remember exactly when. I continued to live in this house after she died. I still live here. It's a big house, but I don't want to move to a smaller place. I love this house and everything in it. You see, I haven't got many friends, and all the things in this house are important to me. I can't live without them.
Some time after my wife's death, I realized that my bedroom was haunted. It's the only room in the house that's haunted. One night, I suddenly realized there was a ghost in the room. I wasn't afraid because this ghost was friendly. It was a happy ghost. I always wanted to laugh when it was in the room. You'll say it was my wife's ghost. I don't know I always think of the ghost as 'he', not 'she'. I named the ghost 'Poldy'. I made up the name 'Poldy' from the word 'poltergeist'. You know that a poltergeist is a playful ghost. It likes to drop things on the floor; it likes to make a noise; it likes to throw things round the room. It likes to move your bed and to play games. Poldy was friendly and playful, so we made up a little game. We play it every night. We've played it for years now. In fact, I must always play the game before I go to sleep. I can't go to sleep if I don't play it. Poldy doesn't 'appear' at midnight or anything like that. He's not that kind of ghost. He's always in the room. But he only appears when we play the game. Of course, I don't have to play the game, but I always want to play. I know Poldy does too. I'm writing this story because I want to tell you about this game. Nobody knows about it. My best friend (perhaps he's my only friend) doesn't know about it. I know about it and Poldy knows about it, and that's all. It's our secret. But I'm talking too much. When you live alone, you're always talking to yourself! I must begin at the beginning.
My name is William Harris. I'm forty-eight years old. Perhaps you've heard of me. I'm not famous, but many people have heard of me. You see, I'm a writer. I've written about twenty-five books. I write all kinds of stories: love stories, detective stories and - yes, ghost stories. But don't get the wrong idea. This isn't just another ghost story. This is different from any story that I've ever written. Why? Because it's a true story. Everything in this story has really happened. In fact, strange things are still happening.