Haunting of Lily Frost (9 page)

Ruby sends me a message and I stop looking at the notices to read it. She thinks I've got the letters all wrong on the floor. She thinks the F is actually an E, but it can't be because that wouldn't make sense. It couldn't be Lily Erost. I'm sure it's an F. She thinks the name isn't mine, but it's someone else's. I think she's just trying to distract me.

Pulling a milk bottle lolly out of the bag, I chew the top off and go back to reading all the signs on the window. A breeze blows up from down the street and knocks over the metal casings that hold the newspaper front pages. I reach down to right them, and as I do, I see a tatty, faded photograph of a girl's face. I bend down to look at it closer. It's freaky. Her hair's longer and she looks a bit younger, but otherwise there's something about her eyes. I feel like I'm looking at mine.

I read the caption. Missing: Matilda Rose Sarenson.

Oh. That name Matilda. It's got to be her, the girl from my house, the girl who Danny knows. And she's missing. Looking around to make sure no one's watching, I pull the paper sign from the window. I can't believe it's her. I shove it in my pocket and hurry away.

As I turn around, an old lady is watching me. I can't work out where she came from because she wasn't there when I checked. I try to walk past her, hoping she hasn't just seen me take the notice, but as I pass, she speaks to me.

‘You're living in the Sarensons' old house?'

‘Sorry?'

‘The creepy house on Simpson Street.'

Now she's got me. I step closer, wanting to know what she knows. She tilts her head, inspecting me. ‘You being haunted?'

‘What?'

‘Don't pretend, girly. You being haunted? Water on the floor? Things missing? Rooms cold when they shouldn't be, that sort of thing.'

I can't answer her. It's not that she scares me; she doesn't. I'm just shocked that she knows things she can't possibly know.

‘You look like her, you realise. The one that went missing.'

‘Who – Matilda?'

‘Yeah.'

As I walk away, my brain's spinning. How can she know all this? Now I need to find out about Matilda Rose. What happened to her? I spin round with more questions, but the lady has gone, disappeared completely, and now I wonder again if this is all in my head. I really am losing it.

As I start to shiver, I try to edge the zip on the hoodie up higher, but it won't go. And I realise as I'm tugging it crazily that Ruby didn't leave this hoodie behind; Matilda Rose did and somehow I ended up with it. When I put it on at school, they thought I was saying something about her. I think Danny came looking for the badge because
it was Matilda's and it meant something to him. Maybe she was his friend. A million questions are pumping through me and there's no explanation why an old lady knows what's happening in the attic.

Racing home, I can't stop thinking. I need answers. I need to know what's going on. Mum's waiting for me as I rush into the house, but I don't stop. I grab the laptop from the lounge and take the stairs three at a time.

‘Lil, how was school?' she calls up at me, but I shut the door, hoping that for once she'll take the hint and leave me alone. As I settle down on my bed, the room's colder than I'd expect, like it would be in the middle of winter. I think back to what the old lady said, about rooms being cold, and I wonder. What is it about the attic that means it's colder than other parts of the house? It should be warmer, being at the top of the house, but it's not. Are haunted rooms always cold?

My parents aren't very interested in technology, so the computer's a hundred years old and takes ages to boot up. They've promised to buy me a new one for my sixteenth birthday, but now that we're living in Gideon, probably no one's even seen a computer before. I bet they're still using typewriters from last century. While I wait, I shoot nervous glances around the room, waiting for something or someone to leap out at me.

Finally the computer comes on and I click on Google. I can't remember how to spell her last name. I try Matilda Rose Sorensen, Gideon. But all that comes up is something about a Danish actress, the website for a Bible distributor, and a meaning for the name Gideon, which means destroyer. Nice. I wonder if Mum and Dad know about that one.

I must be spelling her surname wrong. Then I remember the poster: that'll have the spelling. As I take it from my pocket, the paper rips, it must be pretty weathered, and it just splits apart, right down the middle; her face now in two sections. I pat the pieces down and try to hold them together. Matilda Rose Sarenson, Gideon. I type her name into Google and wait. As the screen flickers and threatens to crash, I hold down the keys and hope it doesn't take ages for something to happen. But the screen goes black. It never does this in our old house.

Then before I even get to reboot, there's another flicker and a face is staring at me. It's her. I know even without reading the caption. My arms are covered in goosebumps. The old lady was right: we do look alike.

My door swings open before I can read the article in the paper.

‘Lil, come on, love. That's enough screen time.'

‘It's been five minutes, Mum.'

‘But I thought we could go for a walk around town.'

‘Why?'

‘To explore.'

‘I've done that already. About nine times. It doesn't take long.'

‘Come on, Lil.'

‘I'm doing something for school, Mum. An assignment.'

‘Really?'

‘Yep. I have to finish it by tomorrow.' A sweet smile might seal it for me.

‘Right.'

‘Thanks, Mum.'

‘Okay.'

And I keep smiling at her until she finally leaves.

Matilda's still there when I look back at the screen. She hasn't moved or disappeared like I half expected her to, but then I know before I start reading about her that I'm not going to like what I read. And that feeling comes back. That dizzy, sick, weird feeling where I want to faint. With my eyes closed, I can see her walking around this room. Her hair's down and it's as straight as mine. She's looking in the mirror and brushing her hair, then – she's gone.

I start reading slowly, letting my fear sit uncomfortably close.

‘Fourteen-year-old Matilda Rose Sarenson disappeared on the evening of 20 September, 2012. She'd been at the Gideon Royal Show with friends when she went for a walk, and was last seen behind the oval by a local man at 7.00pm. She goes by the nickname “Tilly”. And she may be wearing blue jeans, blue Converse sneakers and a red hoodie.'

I look down at the red hoodie that I happen to be wearing and with a sickening thought, I rip the zip down, pulling it off the teeth, and getting it jammed. I fight with the two sides until finally I pull it open, yank my arms out and toss the hoodie as far away as I can. This is
her
hoodie. It's the one she went missing in. So how did it end up back in my room? It wasn't here when we moved in. So who put it here? And why?

There's a flash and the computer screen goes black. Without the bright electronic light, the room's suddenly darker too. The little window barely lets in enough light, and it seems that shadows are creeping their way around the walls.

I jab frantically at the keys, but nothing happens. I press restart, and wait for the familiar sound of the computer rebooting, but there's nothing. And then my door slams shut.

‘Max? Mum? Dad?'

No answer. Then suddenly there's a crash and a large tower of books topples down and sprawls across the floor. I look over sharply, expecting to see someone or something in my room. But there's nothing. I'm so jumpy.

As I slowly move off my bed and stand up on the floor, my feet hit water. I look down and there's a large puddle near my bed. Just like the one from the other day. I step over it, desperate now to get to the door and open it again, terrified that maybe it's jammed, or been locked. But as I reach the door, the handle starts turning like there's someone outside. I go to grab it and the handle's wet. The door swings open, but there's no one outside. How can a door open and close on its own?

Downstairs I can hear my family laughing about something. I think the television's on, and for a moment I'm so tempted to run down the stairs and pretend nothing's wrong. But then something decides for me. I hear the sound of the computer rebooting. Computers don't just reboot by themselves. There has to be some presence in the room that wants me to find something.

And anyway, I'm so intrigued to know more about Matilda, or Tilly as she was obviously called, that I can't help myself. I tiptoe back to the bed, trying not to make any noise, and as I do, a dreadful cold air rushes through me, like I've just stepped through something or someone. Then the air slithers across me and is gone. Before I can reach the bed, a voice comes on the computer. It makes me freeze until I realise it's just the voice of a news reporter.

‘
Police are appealing for the public's help to locate a girl reported missing in the small town of Gideon, in the state's north-west. Matilda Sarenson, fourteen, was last seen at the Gideon Showgrounds at 7.00pm on Saturday 20 September. Police and relatives have attempted to contact Matilda by phone, but it appears her mobile has been turned off since Saturday night. Police from Local Area Command were alerted to the disappearance yesterday afternoon. Her mother is concerned she may have run away. Anyone with information about Matilda's whereabouts should immediately contact police.'

As I return to the laptop, there's a picture of Tilly's face. It chills me to look at her, because
I'm sure she's trying to tell me something. I click on the other link and end up on a feature article from the local paper. Her mum is quoted in it. ‘Tilly was really excited about the Royal Show. She was going to be in the parade and I have no idea why she would have walked away before then. I've spoken to her friends and they think that maybe she did a runner. I just want my baby back.'

They mention her birthday and it's three days before mine. She's a Leo. King of the lions. I close my eyes and try to see her, but I can't. She's not in my head anymore. All I see is water. Coughing, I open my eyes fast to stop the feeling. And there's water on my arm. I check it to make sure it's not spit or something gross that I've coughed up onto myself, but it's thin like water. I rub my arm against my doona cover, and when I look back at the computer screen, Tilly's still staring at me. What's she trying to tell me? The last sentence of the article mentions her boyfriend Danny Taylor. And I know it's him. It has to be. How many Dannys can there be in one small town?

The sick feeling spreads through my body and I can't stop it. It's like my whole body feels this dread. I head for the stairs. I have to be quick if I'm going to make it. The only crap thing about living in the attic is that the toilets are downstairs.

Mum hears me vomiting in the bathroom. I shake her off, pretending I'm fine, but I'm white and shivering. She asks if I want to go to bed, but I don't want to go back up there, not now, so I pretend I can't make the stairs. She parks me on the couch and that'll do for tonight. The couch is safe. I love this old thing. I used to sit next to Ruby here when she was sleeping over and we'd stay up watching trashy movies. I can lose myself easily in them.

‘What's up with you?' Max says, staring at me from the doorway. I must look awful or maybe he's staying away from me because he doesn't want to start vomiting too.

‘Do you ever feel like this house is a bit –' I start.

‘Creepy?' he says.

‘You feel it too?' I jump at the idea that I'm not losing my mind.

‘Nah,' he says. ‘It's just a house. You're weird, Lil.'

As he slouches off, I hear the basketball bounce down the hallway. It's like he can't go anywhere now without bouncing it. Maybe he's right. I am weird. Maybe there's nothing creepy about this house and it's all in my mind. Anyway down here on my old couch, Matilda Rose can't find me. But her name snakes through my head. I can't stop it. I can't stop seeing the letters in her name and as I do, I'm sure Ruby is right. The letter I thought was an F is actually an E, which means those carvings on the floor weren't meant for me, they were Matilda's. She carved them. It's a message.

I call Ruby and she answers straightaway. ‘Lil? What's wrong?'

That's what we have between us. We always know when the other one's in trouble.

‘Rubes, the girl who lived in this house before me, well she disappeared. She looked like me. We've got almost the same birthday. And those letters on the floor, you were right. It was an E, not an F. It's her name. Matilda Rose. She called herself Tilly Rose. We've got the same letters in our names except for the F and the E. Ruby, I'm really scared.'

‘Lil, calm down. Explain. Calmly.'

I do. And by the end I can tell even Ruby, who's never been scared by ghost stories, and never got freaked out at crazy birthday party séances, is starting to agree with me.

‘You need to find out what happened.'

‘How?'

‘Dig around. Ask Danny what he knows.'

‘Yeah, like he's going to tell me anything.'

‘Keep wearing her hoodie.'

‘But I think that's what scares me most.'

‘What? Feeling like you could be her? You're not. That's just silly.'

‘Is it? What if she's brought me here somehow?'

‘Lil –'

‘Okay, okay.' She's right. I'm getting too freaked and I know that it could all be nothing, but still there's a girl who's missing and she lived in this house, and I have to find out what happened to her.

‘Lil –'

‘Yeah?'

‘Be careful.'

‘I will.' But as I hang up I still feel really scared and I'm not sure if being careful is what I need to be worried about.