Haunted House Tales

by Riley Amitrani

  The afternoon bought more rain. Jess normally didn’t mind the rain, but walking back from the tube station carrying two heavy blue IKEA sacks meant that she had no hands free to hold an umbrella. She had spent the afternoon following the yellow arrows around IKEA, buying the bits and pieces she needed to make the house feel like a home. They had planned on waiting until the next weekend to do the renovations together, but there was a strange atmosphere in the house, something that she wanted to get rid of and felt only possible through completely decorating as quickly as possible. As she walked down their street she looked at all the houses. Although all similar in style, most of them now looked very pleasant. Gone was weird crazy paving and bad rendering and replaced with bay trees, flowers and nice cars. This was a nice street. That was until Jess saw their house on the corner. Magnolia House didn’t seem to get the sunlight like the others. It was positioned next to the boundary of the train line. The boundary was marked by an ugly iron fence, and the other side of it was overgrown trees and stinging nettles. There was discarded crisp packets and drink cans in there as well.

  Jess reached the front of the house. She put down one of the bags, and fumbled around in her pocket for her keys. She looked up at the house. She saw the net curtain of the second bedroom, the one where she had made her study. The net curtain was twitching from the wind. She must have left a window open. Jess found her keys and went inside. She left her IKEA bags in the hall and went upstairs. She looked in the bedroom. The window was closed. Jess went into the main bedroom, then the bathroom. All of the windows were closed. But how was the net curtain swinging in the wind? Jess put it down to her imagination.

  She spent the rest of the afternoon pulling off the rest of the cladding. When she was finished, she sanded down the walls, then painted with a layer of white paint.

  “Jess, I’m home,” Mickey shouted from downstairs.

  “I’m upstairs in my study, I’m decorating so be careful.” Jess applied the last of the paint to one of the corners. She stood back and surveyed her work. It was starting to feel better already.

  “So I have just come home from a busy day at work and can hear my lovely Jess is decorating.” Mickey was talking to himself, filming as usual. “She is in the bedroom which she has claimed to be her writer’s den. Let’s open up and see what she had done so far.” The door opened and the camera came in, followed by Mickey. “Wow. What a transformation. So before this room had wooden cladding around the whole place, it was like a Swedish sauna minus any fun. Now it is looking good…. But what’s this?” Mickey knelt on the floor and shone the camera into a corner. “Are we trying to get into art now as well as writing?” Jess rolled her eyes at him. She was sick of Mickey the vlogger. He had to put on a persona rather than just act like himself. She looked at what he was pointing at. On one of the walls there was red crayon scrawled all over it.

  “That wasn’t me.” She looked closer at the crayon. It was brand new marks, similar to those which were underneath the wood on the old wallpaper. She pushed the camera away from him. “Are you trying to sabotage my painting just to make your stupid videos?” Jess shouted. He was determined to make their lives more dramatic, and by creating fake drama in this house, he would certainly succeed. “Why would you muck up the wall I’ve just painted?” Mickey turned his camera off.

  “Umm I haven’t. How would I? I’ve just got in the house.” He said. He went out the door and slammed it behind him. Jess looked at the wall. If it wasn’t her, and it wasn’t Mickey, then who was it?’

  Secrets of the Past

  The next morning Jess woke up early. She could hear Mickey making a coffee in the kitchen. She walked downstairs and into the living room. Staring at her from the sofa was the grotesque doll she had thrown out two days previously. She screamed.

  “What the hell is the matter?” Mickey ran into the living room, to see Jess standing, transfixed by the doll.

  “What the hell is that thing doing in here?” Jess shouted, pointing at the doll.

  “I found it in the bin,” he said. “I pulled it out, I want to film it for the vlog.”

  “Why the hell do you want to film that disgusting thing?”

  “It’s cool,” he went over to the doll and picked it up. “Look at it, it must be from the seventies. It’s practically an antique.”

  “Well I don’t want it anywhere near me.” Jess crossed her arms. “And take it off our sofa. That thing is filthy and has been in the bin.” As she was talking, she could sense the eyes of the doll looking in her direction.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll tell you what, I’ll go and put the doll in the garage.” Mickey went outside. Somehow Jess didn’t feel that the garage was far enough away for the doll to go.

  Jess spent the morning continuing work on the house. She stripped the brown wallpaper off the walls of their bedroom and painted it white. The walls were rough and really needed the plaster redoing first, but Jess didn’t care. It would do for now. Anything was better than looking at the remains of what was there before. She then started on the living room. She pulled off the wallpaper in chunks not caring if she damaged the wall behind. Afterwards she went back to her study to cover up the crayon marks. She painted the ceiling as well. When she was finished she hung up some blinds in the room. If it wasn’t for the floor, the room looked almost modern. There was something she didn’t like about the room though, something about it wasn’t quite right. As she was thinking, she could hear people talking outside. She went over to the new blinds and peeped through them. Outside was a man in his eighties or so. He had thick rimmed glasses on and was pushing one of those walkers old people use. He was stood looking at the house. Next to him was a woman who appeared in her sixties. She had a white bob. They were pointing and looking at the house. Jess didn’t want to alert them to her presence, but felt that she wanted to know what they were talking about. She ran downstairs and went to the living room where she had the window wide open to let out the paint fumes. She stood to one side of the window and leaned as close as possible without making her presence seen.

  “- It’s a young couple I think. I saw the woman walking back home yesterday in the rain.” The man said.

  “Do you think they know about what happened?” The woman said.

  “I don’t know. Would you want to live there? I certainly wouldn’t. Not after… well you know.”

  “Yes, I remember it as if it was yesterday. I can’t forget. I suppose it is better than seeing it empty.”

  “I suppose you’re right. I’d better get on my way; besides I don’t want anyone to see us standing here.”

  Jess could hear the couple shuffling off on their separate directions. She was perplexed. What could they be talking about? Had something terrible happened in the house? She had never heard of any such event, and Mickey hadn’t either. She was interrupted by the sound of him coming through the door.

  “I have just heard the strangest thing,” Jess said, walking into the hallway.

  “Hang about, let me get in first,” he said, taking off his work boots and overalls in the hall and leaving them on the mat. The hallway was such a mess it didn’t really matter, but it was a habit left over from when they had lived in their old flat.

  “Sorry, it’s just I heard two people outside. They were talking about the house, saying that something bad had happened here. Do you know what they could be talking about?”

  “No idea. Are you sure they were talking about this house?” Mickey kissed her on the cheek, then went past her to the kitchen and put the kettle on.

  “Yes, they were pointing and talking about the young couple who had just moved in. It was this house.”

  Mickey wasn’t really paying attention. He was too busy getting a lump of cheese out of the fridge. “I’m sure they weren’t. They probably don’t have all their marbles. Even if they were, what does it matter? Anyway, what do you want for dinner? I’m starving.”

  “Maybe you’re right. I need to spen
d less time thinking about the house, and more time writing… it’s just if I can just get rid of all the old things, then I can really start to feel like this house is ours.” Mickey got his head out of the fridge, and gave her a cheesy breathed kiss.

  “I think you are doing a great job at doing up the house. It is starting to look fantastic. I’m jealous I haven’t had more of a chance to help.” Mickey said. “Now, get out of the kitchen. I’m going to make lasagne.”

  The next morning Jess awoke feeling invigorated. She didn’t know why she had got so hung up on the house. The main thing was it was theirs. No more creepy landlords dropping in unannounced and talking to her breasts. No more mould on the walls that never gets fixed, even after countless phone calls. No more dreading every time their contract was coming to an end, and wondering whether it would get renewed or not.

  Today was going to be the day she finished making the living room habitable. If the living room was habitable then Bella could come back. That morning, Jess took the train to a flooring shop. She ordered a cheap lino to go on the living room floor. It wasn’t the wood panelling they wanted, but she could get it that day They delivered the flooring that afternoon. The room was starting to look normal. The only thing that stood out was the gas fire. It was old fashioned, like the kind you get in 60s council houses. It was brown in colour and had a large metal grill on the front. They had decided to get rid of it and have a modern gas fire put in instead. Jess examined how it was attached to the wall. The gas had already been disconnected. Jess realised that as it wasn’t connected to the gas, she could just pull the fireplace out. She looked at her watch, it was half five. Mickey would be home at six. She contemplated waiting for him, but the temptation was too much. She laid out an old sheet got her tool kit. It didn’t take long to unscrew the fireplace. It generated a lot of dust. She pulled it off the wall. The brickwork inside the chimney was an attractive red colour. She looked closer at the fireplace. There was a slight breeze coming from it. She got closer to it and leaned it. She couldn’t see daylight at the top. She reached her hand inside and felt around. She touched something that felt like twigs. She gripped around it and pulled it out. In her hand was a dead bird the size of a blackbird. It had been dead a long time, now just fragile bones, a beak and a few dusty feathers. Jess screamed and dropped it to the floor. She stood up and looked at it for a moment.

  “Pull yourself together Jess,” she laughed. She picked up the bird and took it to the garden where she put it in the bin. She went back into the living room to get rid of the dust sheet. That was when she noticed something else. At the bottom of the fireplace was a tin the size of a large book. She must have dislodged it when she pulled out the bird. She picked it up. It was a biscuit tin, rusty and covered in dirt, decorated with a Victorian street scene on it. She opened it. Inside there was a black metal key. Jess picked it up. Why would someone hide a key in a fireplace? She looked at it. Then she realised what it could be. She looked to the open kitchen door. On the floor was the locked cellar door, the room that they hadn’t been able to get into. The room that had been locked since the day they had moved in. She had forgotten about it, to be honest. She got up and went into the kitchen. She placed the key in the hole. It was a perfect fit. She turned the key. Jess paused, did she really want to open it up? She was frightened, but her curiosity won. She lifted the hatch. Cold air came up from under the ground. She looked inside. There were steps going down.

  “What the hell! You’ve opened it!” A voice behind her said. Jess dropped the hatch with a bang and jumped up, bumping into Mickey who was stood over her.

  “Ouch. What the hell Mickey! Why did you make me jump?” Jess said, rubbing her head.

  “Me? I said hello when I came in. I didn’t expect you to be here. How’d you get into the cellar?” Mickey rubbed his head.

  “I found the key behind the fireplace in the living room,” Mickey was busy studying the key.

  “Wait here. I left my phone in the living room,” Mickey ran back to the living room. He came back a minute later with his phone and a torch. “Ok, let’s go down.”

  “Are you joking? I’m not going down there. It’s like something out of a horror movie.” Jess said.

  “Ok then, I’ll go.” Mickey took out his phone and started filming as he lifted open the hatch. He shone the torch down. They could make out more steps, but couldn’t see to the bottom.

  “Wait up,” Jess said. “I’ll come with you. You’ll need more light.” She got a torch from under the sink. Mickey started to head down the steps, Jess following. It smelt damp. Mickey headed down the way. Jess counted ten steps down until she got to the bottom. It was a small room with a low ceiling, about the size of the kitchen. The walls were made of brick. The floor was covered in red stone tiles. Jess shone her torch up. She could see thin streams of light coming in from in-between the floor boards above.

  “I don’t understand, why has this house has got a cellar and we didn’t know about it?” Jess’ voice echoed around.

  “No idea, but this is great. We can use it for storage. Or maybe it could be a den?” Mickey was examining every corner with his camera.

  “I think I’m going to go back upstairs,” Jess said. She turned to leave. As she turned the hatch moved. It slammed shut, plunging them both into darkness.

  Betrayal

  Jess heard a scream. It took her a minute to work out it was her. She fell backwards, dropping her torch as she did so. Mickey grabbed her.

  “Hey it’s ok Jess,” he said.

  “The door has fucking closed! By itself,” Jess shouted. She stood up and felt for the bannister. She held onto it tight. “You need to go up there and open it.”

  “Ok, calm down,” he said. Mickey held her by the waist and moved past her to get to the bottom steps. Jess noticed he was still filming. She felt on the floor until she found her torch. She found it next to her foot. She stared to where Mickey was, her eyes slowly getting used to the lack of light. She shone her torch to the steps to help light Mickey’s way. He went slowly up the stairs. When he got to the top he felt for the hatch. He went to push it.

  “It’s stuck,” he called down.

  “What do you mean it’s stuck?” Jess whispered. “Did someone lock us in?”

  Mickey didn’t answer for a second. He was too busy pushing the door. “Here, hold this for me,” he handed her the phone.

  “I don’t think this is the time to get footage for your bloody blog!” Jess spat.

  “I can’t hold the torch and the camera and open the hatch I haven’t got enough hands.” Mickey shouted. As they were arguing she heard a sound.

  “Be quiet,” she said to Mickey.

  “Stop bossing me around,” he retorted.

  She silenced him with a shush. Jess could hear someone upstairs in their house. She could hear soft footsteps on the floorboards above them. Dust fell from the ceiling with each step the unseen person took. Then she heard a noise which sounded like a little girl laughing.

  “I’ve got it,” Mickey said as he pushed the hatch open. Light flooded in. He held the door open for Jess who pushed past him. She ran up into the kitchen and looked around. Mickey came up after her.

  “What the hell was that?” She said. Mickey was looking down the hole to where they had just been. He walked over to her and took the phone out of her hands.

  “I’m sure it was nothing. The door must have just blown shut on us,” he said. He looked around the room with his phone.

  “Turn that camera off,” Jess said. He obliged. “Did you hear the laughter? There was someone up here.”

  “I didn’t hear anything Jess. You were frightened, it must have been your imagination.”

  “I heard something. There was someone in the house.”

  “How? The front door is locked, the back door is locked,” He walked over to the back door and demonstrated it by shaking the handle. “See. It was nothing.”

  Jess ran to the fron
t door. Mickey was right it was locked and the chain was on the door on the inside. No one would get in. Jess ran upstairs and looked in each bedroom. As she ran back downstairs she almost tripped over the rubber ball. She jumped over that step just in time, grabbing onto the bannister for safety. She swore at the ball. Then she ran into the kichen. She took the key to the hatch and locked it. She put the key in her pocket. “I am never going in there again. And I want it kept locked.”

  “I think you’re over reacting.” He put out his hand to take the key from her.

  “No, I’m not. And I’ll keep the key. I’m going to put it somewhere safe.” Jess said, folding her arms. Mickey kept his hand out for a minute. Then he laughed, he pulled Jess to her and embraced her.

  “Of course you can,” he said. “We can forget all about the cellar. Come on, have a glass of wine and I’ll make you dinner.”

  The next morning Jess knocked on Mrs Hobbs door. She had a bouquet of lilies in one arm. In her other hand a tin of freshly made shortbread. She waited for what felt like forever as she heard the sound of shuffling feet coming along the corridor. Mrs Hobbs opened the door slowly and looked at Jess. She seemed to take a moment to recognise her.

  “Hello Mrs Hobbs,” Jess said. “I’m here to say thank you for looking after Bella for me.” She held out the flowers to Mrs Hobbs. She looked at them but didn’t take them. “Can I come in? I’d like to take Bella home. Perhaps we can have a chat?” Mrs Hobbs still didn’t move from the door. She instead lifted her hand up and held it against her head.

  “I’m sorry Dear, I just have the most awful headache. You will have to come back another day.”