whatwasthatbook: Book I read in school

Hi.

I read a book in year 7 in school (in England) which would be when I was 11 so that's ten years ago as I am now 21. It was part of 'library lesson' which was basically getting use used to the bigger library of secondary school. We had to read one book from every genre and write a report on it. For the horror genre I read this really good book but for the life of me remember the title. I'm going to dash point the things I remember under the cut so it doesn't get too messy to read.

-I think there was a house on the cover and the cover was in blue tones
-Title may have involved the word 'house' but don't quote me on that
-Was set in the 90's I think in rural America maybe the south
-His family life seems strained.
-His mother is a single parent, I don't think the father is mentioned.
-He has an elder sister and possibly an elder brother who died
-Set in a small town where the?protagonists family have lived since the Civil War or before
-The first chapter involves the protagonist and his friends going to play a prank or rob a petrol station (gas station) but upon arriving find the owner dead and the shop trashed, The owner seemed to have been attacked by a wild animal
-Then the protagonists friends start dying. One is found dead on the train tracks that divide the town. Having been attacked by fire ants then wandered onto the tracks
-The protagonists dreams of his dead friend talking to him covered in ant bites and wounds the way he looked when he was found
-At some point the protagonist works in an old peoples home with a girl her likes and one of the residents or the girl mentions that he might have a ghost following him.
-The book has a chapter or two that is letters?during the American Civil War?back and forth from a woman (who we later find out is a relative of the protagonist) to her soldier fiance
-The soldier died leant up againt a two forked tree. Propped up in the middle of the fork
-The thing that killed the petrol station owner is revealed to be the child of the woman and the soldier which she died giving birth to in the wilderness near the town
-Through a curse or oath of some sort spoken by the mother as she died (maybe) the child has stayed alive and been raised by the cayote/wolf population. It is old looking but also monstrous.
-Its nails are long and like claws and it can't speak
-The monster/child is never a danger to the protagonist and I can't remember why or how his friends died.
-The monster/child wants it to end, wants the protagonist to break the curse.
-The book ends with the protagonist breaking the family 'curse' and the moster/child blows away like dust

Source: http://whatwasthatbook.livejournal.com/2314595.html

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