The Haunting Within (12 page)

35

Aiden started telling Lisa about the smell on the stairs and what he saw, or rather, what he
thought
he saw in the garden. He told her about the grave yard and the scream he heard again and the scratching and banging on the doors as well as the unfriendly looking foxes he had come across. As he relayed it all to her his panic started to build up again and as he brushed back his hair in subconscious nervousness he realised his hands were clammy and cold. The more he thought about it the more he realised
he
was cold,
the room
was cold. He rubbed his hands together to warm them to no avail and he noticed Lisa unconsciously mimic his movement. As they spoke they noticed their breath curling out of their mouths and vaporising into the air around them.

“God, its freezing in here! Are you sure you shut the front door?” Lisa asked him.

“I’m positive! Besides, it was warm in here up until a few seconds ago. Come on and I’ll show you what I found.”

They walked past the stairs and just as they neared the bottom they saw that the front doors were standing wide open.

“You definitely shut the doors Aid?” Lisa asked hoping that she didn’t sound accusing. She silently prayed he might have forgotten to shut the doors in all the commotion.

“Yes! Definitely!” Aiden replied hoping he didn’t sound as scared as he was. “You would have seen them open when we took mum to bed.”

“It must have been mum then. She must have gotten out of the bedroom.” Lisa said as she took the last few steps and crossed to the doors. She pushed them firmly closed. They turned back to the stairs and returned to the bedroom where they left their mum sleeping.

Before she unlocked the door she tried it and found it was still locked. After a quick sideways glance at Aiden she turned the key and gently pushed open the door. The curtains were open letting in the light from the huge full moon which looked in through the window at them and they could see clearly. There was their mum still fast asleep in the bed. They looked at each other but said nothing. Something was playing games with them and they didn’t like it at all.

“At least that explains the coldness.” Aiden said as they started back downstairs.             

“Yes, but it doesn’t explain how the door opened in the first place does it?!”

Aiden came to an abrupt standstill in front of Lisa on the third step from the bottom.

“What did you stop just like that fo…” Her voice trailed off as she saw the reason for Aiden’s sudden halt. The two front doors were standing wide open again letting in a blustery, howling wind that was sweeping leaves through the hall.

“Oh my God! I shut it Aid! I swear to you I shut that door!” Her voice trembled and the words caught in her throat making them hard to say.

They both warily approached the doors and looked outside into the cold dark space that stood in front of them. They could see nothing except the outlines of the trees and hedges and the silhouette of the water fountain. The wind was even more unsettling because it was the middle of summer yet the wind was strong and cold.

“Come on, I want you to show me the graveyard.” Lisa said over her shoulder as she walked down the stone steps towards the topiary hedge. She wanted to go now, hoping that what Aiden saw might not be anything other than maybe a memorial or something like that. She wanted to set her mind at ease. And she sure as Hell didn’t want to seem scared because that would make her an easy target. As she strode across the gravel she exuded fake self-assurance.

“Don’t you think we should leave it until the morning?” Aiden’s voice sounded pleading as he cautiously looked out at the garden her. Knowing Lisa wouldn’t turn back, he reluctantly followed her past the fountain, overtaking her and leading them through the gap in the hedges to the makeshift cemetery. Lisa was horrified by the names she saw on the head stones; Margaret Reynolds, Alexander Holmes, Leyton Clifford, and there were so many more she didn’t dare to look at.

Her skin looked sallow in the moonlight, her cheeks gaunt as she stared out at the sea of headstones.               “Aiden, these were his patients!”

36

They made their way back towards the house in silence. Lisa wondered why there was a cemetery next to an old hospital. Maybe that’s how it was in those days. Once they were back in the kitchen again Aiden told Lisa about the things that happened to him earlier.

“I went over to the grave yard because I heard a noise.” What noise did he hear? Was he even sure he heard anything anymore? “I…I thought it was a scream. Like the one I heard on the stairs…it sounded like it was coming from behind the hedge. When I got right near the front doors, they slammed shut on me! Then the scratching started and then the banging on the door. I don’t know what’s going on Lis!” his eyes looked huge and full of terror and Lisa knew she couldn’t show her fear, so she calmly told him what she thought were rational explanations for the night’s events.

“Aiden, calm down. It’s hard to see things rationally when you’re scared, but…”

“Too bloody right I’m scared!”

“I know which is why you need to listen to me. The scream you heard was probably just an animal, maybe it was being attacked by something. There must be so much wildlife in those woods” she indicated her head to the general direction of the front doors. “You’re probably right about it coming from behind the hedges, but maybe you scared whatever it was away when you went over there. Maybe it was the fox you saw that had killed whatever animal it was. The wind would have been the reason the front doors swung shut on you too, and the scratching could have been leaves or twigs being blown up against the door.”             

Recalling the way the wind came out of nowhere and seemed to whisper his name, Aiden shivered, but he could see the rationality of the explanation. That could have easily happened couldn’t it? The wind was strong enough to slam the doors shut wasn’t it?

“What about the bang on the door?”

“That could have been anything blown against the door by the wind.” Lisa tried to reason with her younger brother.

“Yeah, well it would have to of been something really big to make the door shake like it did!”

“Aiden, coincidences do happen you know! And to be honest, you need to think reasonably about the things that are happening because if you don’t then you’ll just go crazy! I believe it because I’m not prepared to believe anything that scares me or that just isn’t logical!” Lisa finished her sentence with a sigh and she slumped back in her chair. Aiden said nothing.

She made them both another mug of hot tea and they sat and drank it while Aiden told her about the cellar.

“Aiden, please. Let’s not talk about any of this anymore.” she pleaded with an icy cold shiver running down her back. “I’m tired and I want to go to bed.”             

With their drinks finished they got up to go to bed. Walking towards the hallway they once again felt freezing air swirling around them. Casting a quick glance at each other they went to the front doors, only to find them standing proudly wide open again. With tears in her eyes Lisa stared at the doors until Aiden broke her concentration by calling for her to help him move a table. She went to the doors and pushed them closed and then helped Aiden pull up the large heavy hall table and wedge it in front of the doors. Damn her mum for adding the houses keys to her own keys. And damn her for losing them. Lisa didn’t want to spend another minute here but knew with sad recognition that she had no choice; they weren’t going anywhere.

37

They both decided it would be best for everyone if they slept in the same room as their mum. When they unlocked the bedroom door they were tremendously relieved to see Debbie in the same spot she was in when they left her, sleeping soundly, on her side in a foetal-like position. Aiden curled up on a reclining chair that was in the corner of the bedroom with a few old blankets to cover him. Lisa slept in the bed next to her mum and when she climbed in beside her, her mum turned to face her and cuddled up to her. It was just like when Lisa was a child again and she would climb into her mum’s bed with her when she’d had a bad dream. She’d always felt safe next to her. The irony of the situation didn’t escape Lisa, it was her mum cuddling up to her now to feel safe and secure in
her
arms after the nightmare of the day. She was expecting to be tossing and turning all night, but she and Aiden fell asleep almost instantly and enjoyed a surprisingly peaceful night’s sleep.

He awoke the next morning to his sister prodding him. “Aiden! Wake-up! Its mum, she’s gone!” Lisa’s voice sounded urgent.

Aiden jumped up from his home-made bed and quickly scanned the room. It took a second or two for it to sink in where they were. They both rushed out of the bedroom and for a horrible moment, couldn’t remember the way to the stairs. As quickly as the panic and the confusion came, it passed and they had their bearings again. As they dashed downstairs they were praying for it not to be another episode like last night. They were on the bottom few steps when they heard a humming noise coming from the kitchen along with a heavenly smell of fresh coffee and bacon. They hadn’t realised how hungry they were until the delicious scent hit their nostrils. They glanced at each other and had a wonderful feeling that everything would be alright.

Debbie was standing at the aga frying bacon when they entered the room. She turned and smiled a lovely warm smile at them. “It’s about time sleepy-heads! I was hoping the smell of bacon sarnies would get you out of bed.”

She walked over to them with two plates of sandwiches stuffed full with bacon and gave a plate to each of them. Then she walked to the kitchen side and brought them two mugs of steaming hot coffee. She plonked them down in front of her children and bent over and gave each one a kiss on the head. Lisa saw Debbie had showered - the dried blood in her hair had gone and as much as the bruises looked stark against her porcelain skin, the cuts seemed less brutal now they had scabbed over.

“At least my Father was good enough to have stocked up on a few bits of food before he popped his clogs! There’s not much, but we won’t need much, just enough for breakfast, then maybe we can stop off at a café on the way home for some dinner?!” she said as she returned to the table with her own coffee and bacon sandwich.             

As Debbie sat across from them tucking into her breakfast they watched her closely. Apart from the cuts and bruises, she looked her old self again, the beautiful kind smile, the sparkle in her pale blue/grey eyes. They breathed a sigh of relief.

“How are you feeling this morning mum?” Lisa ventured tentatively.

“Oh, I’m feeling much better thank you darling. I’m sorry about yesterday, it must have frightened you.”             

“Just a bit!” laughed Aiden. “But never mind as long as you’re okay now.”             

“I am! My Father is pleased with me today you see. He apologised for punishing me yesterday.” she finished with a smile.

“You don’t believe that it was him who did this to you?” asked Lisa incredulously.

“What are you talking about? Of course it was him! Aiden saw him hurting me didn’t you son?”

Lisa glanced at Aiden who was sat next to her with a look of utter sadness on his face. They said no more about it to her. It was obvious she believed it was her father and trying to get her to see sense would probably do more damage than good. They knew then that things weren’t alright, far from it in fact.

They somehow managed to finish their breakfasts with their mum chattering away like nothing had happened, telling them she had found her keys. They were in her handbag all along she told them with a childish laugh. They were utterly frustrated at hearing this remark. If only she had looked for them properly last night they wouldn’t have had to spend the night in the horrible old house, but they knew there was no point in bringing this up with her so they left it, happy in the knowledge that they could go home after the estate agent had been later that day. She insisted to them that she wanted to do some cleaning to “keep her Father happy”. So they let her get on with it. While she was upstairs cleaning, Aiden and Lisa were downstairs in the kitchen. This was the best room in the house, the one with the nicest atmosphere. This morning it was even nicer. The sun was streaming in through the windows and they could hear the birds chirping merrily outside. It made it all the more difficult to believe what was going on.

“Do you remember when we came here with mum as kids?” Lisa posed the dreaded question to Aiden.

They had never spoken about it since, but both knew it was time they had to discuss it.

“Course I remember, I don’t think I’ll ever forget!”             

They both fell silent as in their minds the years slipped away and they were small innocent children again, visiting their Grandfather for the first time.

38

When they first entered the house, after being ushered in by a pretty, petite, dark-haired lady in a pristine old fashioned black dress with a crisp white pinafore over the top and a white cap which was completely out-dated for the time they realised now, their grandfather was nowhere in sight, much to their mum’s obvious relief. The children were amazed by the house and all its splendour. They had never seen such a big house or décor this rich and ornate. Their home was lovely and very cosy, but a world away from a place such as this. They just wanted to run and explore everywhere all at once and began to get increasingly excited. For them it was like being inside a fairy-tale, they had never seen a place like this. Lisa thought it was like being in her very own version of Beauty and the Beast. She could just imagine herself as Belle, waltzing down the regal-looking staircase in her most beautiful ball gown, while her prince awaited her at the bottom. She stood, craning her neck and looking up at the high ceiling which was ordained with a huge crystal chandelier that reflected tiny prisms containing all the colours of the rainbow as the sun streamed in through the high windows and bounced off it. She would sit down and draw this wondrous sight when she got home so she could always remember it. Little did she realise that she would not need a drawing to remember it for it would be etched like some sort of mental acid in her mind for the rest of her life. Nor did she realise that she would not
want
to remember it as she thought she would.

Debbie was waiting for her father to come to greet them, his only grandchildren. She hoped with all of her heart that he would adore them and spoil them. She had dreamed of this day for so long. In her dreams her father would come and welcome them with open arms and sweep Lisa and Aiden up into a cuddle and all would be forgotten. She knew that it would not be like that though. It couldn’t. Too much had happened for it to be put behind them but she was willing to try. Debbie loved her father so much, wanted to be accepted into his heart. She would do anything to keep him happy. She thought that if she obeyed him he would love her like a father should love his only daughter; his only child. Was that too much to ask of a father? Reality though was very different. Debbie didn’t expect him to have changed just because he was meeting his grandchildren for the first time. She understood that he was ill, maybe that’s why she had kept in touch with him, although it was more so for her mother’s sake. Now with her mother gone, she should have left him to it, left him to his own sorrow and regret of how badly he had treated her beloved mother, yet here she was again and she knew with pure sadness and regret that she would come running every time he needed her. She hated herself for bringing her children with her. They wouldn’t be able to cope with this; with
him
. She had known nothing else, being brought up in this place she knew what to expect and how to handle things, but they; her beautiful babies, had never been subjected to anything but love during their young lives. They wouldn’t know what to do or what to say. She was totally disgusted with herself for bringing them into his hellish world.

She glanced to her side and saw that the children were not there. She specifically told them to behave and here they were wondering off, disobeying her. Did they not understand how important, how crucial it was to please her father? Of course they didn’t, she had never told them what he was like, she had wanted to protect them from his evil. What a laugh that was! Debbie gave an inward nervous and disgusted giggle to herself even though she didn’t find it remotely funny. She had tried so hard for so many years to protect them from him, successfully as well, and now here they were, about to be dragged into her nightmare by her of all people, the one person in the whole world who should protect them from harm, from danger. She had always protected them, kept them safe, and stood up for them. They depended on her to keep them safe and secure, they trusted her implicitly and here she was, letting them both down in the worst possible way. She shook her head at the irony of the whole sad, sorry situation. She so badly wanted to leave, to escape from this awful place, but she knew she was just as likely to take the children and leave as her father was to have changed his cruel ways. It was fear more than anything that kept her in the house she had lived in when she was a child. Her childhood had been destroyed by bad memories and she felt that she had lost her innocence. She had never been permitted to be a child, to play and get dirty, to run and shout and scream, she was never even allowed to speak like a child. Since she could remember her father had drummed it into her that she must
always
speak properly. He wouldn’t stand for anything less! If she so much as slouched in her chair she would be punished which usually meant being locked in the cupboard under the stairs for hours and hours on end, only to be let out to endure a caning at his huge, vicious hands. The being locked away had started when she was just four years old, still a baby! When, after about three years of that being the main punishment - apart from the beatings - her father had decided that she had become “immune” to the cupboard. He thought that it didn’t bother her any longer but he was so wrong! She was scared witless of the cupboard! Not just the cupboard but the whole house. She would often see things, things that she knew she shouldn’t be seeing. Although the cupboard was pitch black and she could see absolutely nothing, she still heard the voices coming from inside the small space with her, seeping out of the darkness to find her. No, she had never become accustomed to the closet. She just somehow managed to control her terror enough to stop the screams and the pleading because she knew they got her nowhere. In fact it sometimes made him
worse              and he would punish her harder and longer with the cane afterwards for making so much noise.

Because he thought she had grown accustomed to the cupboard, her punishments moved to the other part of the house where her father had run his psychiatric hospital from. He would tell her that if she was a naughty girl, the ghosts of the patients would get her. She didn’t need to be told that though, she saw them all the time. While she was locked in the different parts of the old hospital - depending on whichever place her father thought necessary that particular day, be it the patients claustrophobic cold, damp rooms or the isolation room with the padded walls, or even sometimes the treatment room where he would strap her to a chair and leave her there whimpering to herself - she would see them and hear them. There was no place in the house that she didn’t see them when she was alone. Her mother told her not to worry about them, that they couldn’t hurt her, but she was so frightened of them. They were all so strange. Not at all like any person she’d ever seen before. They plodded around slowly, aimlessly, without purpose like they didn’t know where they were going. They often spoke to themselves as well, mumbling as they ambled by her on their way to nowhere with a line of spittle drooling its way from in between their slightly parted lips to the floor that their soft-soled shoes made no sound on. She never dared tell her father about the strange people though. He would use it as another reason to punish her. In a way, she thought he already knew about them and that was why he kept locking her in with them. They never spoke to her, never even seemed to notice her. It was as though they were in a world of their own, completely oblivious to their surroundings. It was in her dreams that one of
them
noticed her and she hated him. He was scary and he knew she didn’t like him. That’s why he always crept up on her in her state of slumber when the dream already had hold of her and there was no way of escaping from him. She had never been alone in this house. Even in her dreams…