The Rattler (Rattler Trilogy Book 1) (8 page)

1

Tuesday
morning, 10.30 am. Vana was knocking furiously on the front door. She took out
her phone and dialled Zoe. “Come on, Zoe, where the hell are you? I’ve been
banging on the door for the last ten minutes,” she grumbled, looking around the
house for signs of life.

Zoe
struggled to wake up, turned towards the musical jangle coming from her phone,
and answered it, drowsily. “Hello, my wake up call.”

“It’s
me! Come on, open up. I’m freezing my knockers off down here!”

“Shit!
Sorry hun. I’ll be right down.” Zoe struggled out of bed and went downstairs.
She opened the front door. “Oh, my God!” cried Vana. “What’s happened to you?
You look as if you’ve been on the roofies last night. You remind me of Carla.”
Zoe looked a real mess; her face was pasty white, eyes black and blue, hair all
over the place, and there was a distinctly sweaty smell. “Thanks, Vana! That’s
not even funny! Remember what happened to her last year after a night out in
Halls? The rapist was never found.”

“Sorry,
love. It’s just, well, you look a mess.”

“Gee
thanks.”

“Come
on, I’ll make some coffee whilst you get dressed.”

2

Zoe
took a quick shower and came back down to the aroma of coffee and toast in the
kitchen. “Right,” said Vana, “I want info. What’s been going on? What the hell
happened last night?” Zoe sat at the table, head in hands. “To be quite honest,
I don’t know. I can’t remember a thing. I might as well have been on the Rohypnol.
The night’s a complete blank. All I know is that I feel like shit. It’s like
the biggest hangover in the world – without the pleasure of the wine!”

“Here,”
replied her friend, “have some toast and coffee; that should help. Anyway,
something must have happened because all that Jake keeps texting me about is
the two videos you made last night.”

“That
I made?” Zoe was puzzled. Vana rolled her eyes.
“Bloody hell,
Zoe!
Get your laptop; we need to have a look at these.” Zoe felt dizzy
and confused, and staggered as she got up from the table.
“Hey,
hun.
Stay there. I’ll get your Mac. Is it upstairs?”

“Yes,”
mumbled Zoe.

3

Vana
returned a couple of minutes later, laptop in hand. She placed it on the table
and booted it up. “Time to get to the bottom of this little mystery,” she said.
The girls sat glued to the screen as the first recording started. “What’s
that?” said Vana. “Quick! Turn it up!” The whispering noises Zoe thought she
heard were now coming from the computer.
“Holy shit!
I
deffo heard that,” yelled Vana. The friends could not tear their eyes away from
the screen as the events of the previous night unfolded.

They
watched, silently, as Zoe walked towards the second floor and saw, clearly, the
shadow of a man hiding behind the bathroom door as she reached the landing.
“Effin’ Hell!
What IS that? Did you see it?” said Vana,
excitedly pointing at the screen. “Rewind it, let’s have another look.” Zoe
rewound the video, and the image came into view again. “I don’t believe it.
It’s a shadow person,” said Zoe,
pausing
the machine.

“What’s
a shadow person?”

“I
can’t remember her name, but that woman on that ghost programme on television
is always seeing them.” The girls continued to watch the video playing. “No
wonder Jake’s been bothering you. I can’t believe this happened,” said Zoe.
They watched in silence, seeing the orbs dance around in the basement, and then
the discovery of the old newspaper. “This is fuckin’ fantastic!” said Vana, as
Zoe passed her the newspaper. “Have a quiet read whilst I get us some more
coffee,” replied Zoe.

4

Vana’s
eyes widened as she read the article in the Daily Express. “Come on, let’s see
the next video,” she said, enthusiastically. The video showed Zoe approaching
the attic; Vana covered her face, peeking through opened fingers, but Zoe was
bewildered – she could not remember any of this. “Well,” said Vana, taking a
sip of coffee, “he was deffo up there with you. Are you sure watching it didn’t
trigger anything off in your memory?”

“Unfortunately
not, but I’m so glad I managed to capture it.” Zoe was looking with interest at
her Internet history, and saw that she had bookmarked the
Manor Murderer
.
The girls read the reports with interest; the entire affair really captured
Vana’s imagination. “I can’t believe this all ended with his arrest right here.
Do you think he could have blocked your memory from last night?
And, if so, why?
I suppose all of this could explain why the
house has been empty for so long. I guess people don’t want to buy a haunted
house, and share it with
the living dead
.”

Zoe
took the cups to the sink. “Please don’t say that! I’ve got to sleep here,
remember?”

“Don’t
worry, hun, I’m still staying. It doesn’t scare me.”

Vana
opened up her rucksack and took out a DVD. “I thought we could watch this
tonight – it will certainly put us in the mood for spending a night in a
haunted house,” she laughed. “What’s it about?” asked Zoe. “Well, it’s a PAF
Brothers’ film about a serial killer who is captured, drugged, and then given a
sex-change. It’s called
The Way they Turn the Knife
. It’s not actually
scary, just a good thriller,” smiled Vana.

5

After
a quick visit to the local takeaway for lunch, and a walk to clear Zoe’s head,
the girls sat on the sofa as they waited for a message from Vana’s boyfriend,
Matthew, to say he had set up the game
Fall of Duties
they had planned
to play as a four player co-op game.

“Have
you spoken to your mum yet?”

“Yes,
they arrived safely. By the sounds of it, it’s perfect tanning weather.”

“Lucky them!
Have you told her what’s been going
on?”

“God, no!
Can you imagine what she’d be
like? She’d be pulling her hair out – she hates anything to do with the
paranormal. Plus she’d only end up worrying about me.”

“Your dad, then?
Don’t you think they should
know?”

Zoe’s
parents were very protective of her, and Mary, in particular, had found it hard
when Zoe went off to Oxford. “I don’t know, Vana. They’ll think I’m going
crazy. Aunt Sally would be OK about it, though. After my uncle died she really
got into it, and saw Mediums and everything.”

“Well,
hun, there is certainly something going on here, and we’ve got the videos to
prove it. Tonight should be very interesting indeed.” Vana could hardly contain
her excitement. Zoe glanced at her but then a single beep on Vana’s phone and a
Game Invite
message on the top right corner of the TV screen helped
changed the subject.

1

After
an afternoon’s session of
Fall of Duties
played against Matthew and one
of his friends, the girls watched a pirate copy of the film
MeSays
. Zoe
removed the disc from the DVD player. “Dad would absolutely kill me if he knew
we had this,” she said. “I know,” replied Vana, “but having seen the trailers I
just thought it might be fun.” Zoe placed the first disc back into its case,
and put the next one into the machine.

“In what way
fun?
”

“Well,
perhaps
fun
isn’t quite the right word; that was before I knew about the
weird things happening here. It was actually filmed in a haunted building, and
those EVP’s are real.”

“EVP’s?
Remind me?” Zoe sat beside
her.
“Electric voice phenomenon.
It’s great! You set
up a voice recorder and then ask questions. Sometimes an answer is picked up by
the machine that can’t be heard by the human ear.”

“That’s
right. I remember now. Again, they used to use them on that television
programme. So, they weren’t just added in for effects?”

“No,
deffo not, it was real. I read about it in an interview.”

2

It
was now 7 pm; the girls were hungry and the pizza hadn’t arrived. “What time
did we order the pizza?” asked Zoe.

“About
half an hour ago, I guess.”

“It
should be well on its way by now, surely.” Just then, there was a loud knock on
the front door, which made them both jump; spooky films and girls go together
like milk and cookies – and these two were no different.
“Balls!
That’ll be the pizza. You get that, Vana; he’s gonna think I’ve got a crush on
him.” Zoe
paused
the film.

“Is
he cute?”

“Kind of.”

Vana
grinned. “What, a
lights off
or
lights on
moment?” The pizza boy
knocked again. “Just get the bloody door,” replied Zoe.

Vana
opened the front door and smiled at the delivery boy. “Hi there,” she said,
suggestively. “Hi,” he replied, handing over the pizza and Coke. Her fingers brushed
his hand gently as she gave him the discount voucher and some cash. She took
the pizza, opened the box to check its contents and then put it down on the
floor. “What time do you get off? You should come and join us,” she said, in a
sexy, almost slutty voice.

The
embarrassed
lad gave Vana her change, and watched as
she bent down again, provocatively, to pick up the pizza. “I can’t; I really
should get going,” he stammered, his eyes wandering over her body. “Your loss,
not mine,” said Vana, smiling as she turned and closed the door.

3

It
was way past midnight by the time they eventually went upstairs. They were
lying on the bed, having a late night feast of crisps and chocolate, whilst
watching television. “Zoe, all this bed-in needs now is the fellas.”

“You
could be right,” was her friend’s reply.

Sometime
later, the girls were asleep. They did not hear the sound of the front door
gently closing, or the stairs creaking. They were not aware of the dark shadow
which appeared on the landing and peeked round the bedroom door, watching them
as they slept, before it continued up the stairs towards the attic.

A
loud bang woke the girls from their deep sleep. “What the effin’ hell was
that?” cried a startled Vana.

“It
came from upstairs. Sounded like the attic door.”

Vana
was first out of the bed. “Hey, wait a minute, where are you going?” asked Zoe.
“I’m going to see what the heck that was,” replied Vana; it didn’t take her
long to bubble into life. “Wait for me, we need to stick together.” The girls
grabbed their mobile phones. “Come on! Hurry up!” said Vana, excitedly, peering
into the darkness on the landing. Zoe followed her enthusiastic friend, and
they started towards the stairs.

There
was movement in the attic. It sounded like furniture being dragged over the
floor. “There’s deffo someone up there,” whispered Zoe. “Do you think it’s a
burglar?” Vana stared at her. “Don’t know. What do we do if it is? Go and grab
something heavy.” Zoe rushed back into the bedroom, whilst Vana walked slowly
around the landing, using her iPhone as a torch. She could feel a chill, and
had the weird sensation that someone, or something, was watching her.

Zoe
returned a minute or so later and tapped Vana on the back. The girl jumped.
“Shit, Zoe!
I nearly pebble-dashed the floor!”

“Sorry,
hun. Here, take this, it’s all I could find.”

“What
the hell am I supposed to do with a wire coat hanger?”

The
girls cautiously approached the stairs leading to the attic. The noises
stopped. “Whoever is up there is trapped; they can’t get out unless they come
by us,” said Vana. The atmosphere had changed. The temperature was Atlantic
cold – it was freezing. After a few deep breaths, Vana slowly pushed open the
attic door. The room was empty. “Oh that’s spooky, very spooky,” said Vana, walking
around the attic. “Now do you believe me? I’ve not been making it up!” Vana
turned towards Zoe. “I’ve always believed you hun, and this just confirms it.”
She walked over to the chest and saw scratch marks on the floor. “Look,
something or someone was deffo here. This chest has been moved. Come on,
Zoe,
give me a hand to move it over there.”

The
girls struggled but finally managed to move the chest. They looked down at the
space where it had been. “What shall we do now?” asked Zoe.

“Let’s
check for any loose floorboards, like you found in the cellar.”

“Why?”

“Just
humour me for a sec.”

The
girls felt around the floor and eventually came across a loose floorboard. Vana
lifted it up, getting a splinter in her hand as she did so. “Bingo!” she
exclaimed, as she reached down and triumphantly lifted up an old,
musty-smelling book. Zoe, amazed at Vana’s idea of moving the chest, replaced
the floorboard. “You’d certainly make one good detective. What made you look
under the chest?”

“Don’t
know, really. I guess it just felt obvious – there was such a racket going on,
and then seeing the marks on the floor just made me think it was worth a punt.”
Zoe was impressed.

The
house had given up another relic.