“Hello Officer, thank you for coming to see me.” Ashley opened the door and let the officer in. He was in his sixties or so, short and wide and walked with the kind of swagger of someone who thought they were tougher looking than they actually were. He had the deep creases in his face of a man who had seen a lot over his career.
“I wouldn’t have ordinarily come out for something like this. But you said you have evidence of not one, but two missing people?” He said. He looked at her with his head cocked to one side as if he was trying to read her.
“Yes,” Ashley nodded. “I do.”
“I’m Officer Morgan,” he said as he walked into the house.
She walked into the kitchen, and he followed. The pile of papers were still on the desk, stacked in neat piles as she had left them. She looked down to pick up the Beautiful Blush catalog. It wasn’t where she had left it. She looked around. It wasn’t on the table or on the floor. She looked for the newspaper articles relating to the missing boy. They were gone as well.
“What’s wrong?” Officer Morgan said, his voice weary.
“It was here a minute ago,” Ashley said as she rifled through the piles of papers. “It was all here, all of the evidence, I don’t understand.” The cop sighed and took out his notepad. “You say you had evidence that the boy Brodie Churchill went missing from this property?”
“Yes,” Ashley said, she knocked some of the papers onto the floor in her haste to look for what she had needed. “And of Mr. Fisher. He was a make-up seller who went missing in Sprucewood in the nineties.”
“Yes I remember,” the Officer said. He walked around the kitchen, looking out of the windows and staring into the other rooms. “He was an ex-banker who had made some crooked investments. He narrowly escaped jail and ended up selling door to door. He lost his kids in a custody battle. It was presumed he had run away, we just never found a body to prove it.” He stood and watched Ashley as she desperately searched. “Look, are you ok?”
“No I’m not ok, I left these papers here a minute ago, and now they’re gone,”
“How old are you? Nineteen, twenty?”
“Twenty,” Ashley said, she stopped searching and looked at him. “I’m not making this up. I have evidence. There were papers here a minute ago, and now they are gone.”
“Is there anyone else in the house with you?” He said.
“No, I’m house sitting. I’m alone.”
“Staying away from home can be scary, can’t it? Do you think it has gotten the better of you?”
“No, I can look after myself,” Ashley felt a hot tear run down her face, that was going against what she had just said. The man came up and pulled a chair out and sat down. He gestured to her to sit too.
“Ok just tell me what you have found.”
Ashley sat next to him and started telling him everything. The missing cat, the person she saw near the lake, the viewer who had run away, the weird dream, the woman who had run past the house and had said that the last owners were horrible. He listened to everything and made some notes. “Ok, do you want to show me the rest of the contents of the box?” Ashley nodded and pushed everything towards him. He looked at all of the papers. He held the silver necklace up to the light. It was a locket that opened up. He looked inside where there was a faded sepia photograph of a man and an inscription ‘AR’ on it.
“Does that mean anything to you?” Ashley said.
“No. But I will take all of this back to the station and look over it. If there is anything of interest I will be in touch.” He started packing everything into the box. He handed her a card. “Here’s my card. When you find the missing papers give me a call. And remember you can call me if you need anything.” Ashley took the card and nodded and showed him to the door. She waved him off and shut the door. She sank down and sat on the step in the hallway. She could hear a voice outside. She crept up to the front door and opened it a crack. Officer Morgan was outside on his phone. She opened the door a bit further and listened from behind it so he wouldn’t be able to see her.
“Yeah, nothing to report. Just a scared girl, barely older than a kid. I’ll write this all up, but there is nothing here. To be honest, I would have charged her with wasting police time, but she was just so young. Yeah, I’m heading back now.”
Ashley shut the door. No one believed her. She was alone. She went outside to the front lawn to get some air. She watched as the police car drove off into the distance. She turned back and looked up at the house. She looked at the strange turret at the front. She had been in the round room downstairs, but there wasn’t a room upstairs with a curved wall. She looked at the upper room. The window was boarded up. Ashley realized that there was a secret room in the house she hadn’t been into and she had to find it.
Ashley went up the stairs to the first floor and looked at the hallway. She went to each wall and ran her hand along it, hoping to find a ridge where a door had been covered up. But the wall was flat. She went into each bedroom and did the same. Then she tapped all the walls, hoping to find one which was hollow, but they were all solid. She went to the bedroom and sat on the end of the bed. She stared up at the ceiling in a dazed state. Then she realized she hadn't thought of trying the attic. She ran from room to room, looking for the way up. She found it in the hallway. It was a hatch. She stood on a chair to reach it then pushed it open. Warm air hit her face, and dust descended on her. She pulled a ladder out which creaked as it moved towards the floor. She climbed up the ladder and looked in. There were several boxes inside. She could see a rope which she pulled. A bare light bulb flickered on. She went up the last steps and climbed into the attic. She looked around at the boxes. They were all marked with fresh labels written with sharpies. She tore one open. It had crockery inside. Nothing suspicious there. There was the noise of footsteps downstairs. Ashley froze. She crept over to the attic door and looked down. There was no one there. She went back down the stairs and shut the attic door. The sound must have been her imagination. She caught a glance of herself in the mirror. She was covered in dust and spiderwebs.
"You look in a right state," she said to herself. Ashley laughed out loud at her appearance. She headed to the bathroom and turned the shower on. She stripped off and wrapped a robe around her. She went to the bedroom and got some fresh clothes out of the wardrobe. She put on the radio and turned it up high. She went into the bathroom, leaving the door open so she could hear it. Steam had filled the room. She opened the shower door and got in. She took a generous pump of the luxury floral shower soap that was in there and covered herself in it, luxuriating in the bubbles as they spread over her. She closed her eyes and let the water wash off of her. She heard a scratching noise. She turned around and looked down. There was a cat outside the shower, scratching to get in. But it wasn’t Sissy. This must be Sally. Ashley opened the shower door and jumped out, scaring the cat off. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her. She ran out into the hallway just in time to see the flash of a cat going into a spare bedroom. She followed it. She went into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. She knew that the cat couldn’t get out. She looked around the room.
“I’ve got you now kitty. You come out so I can see you,” she said. She knelt down and looked under the bed. There was no cat. She heard a meow of a cat behind her. She spun around and looked around. She couldn’t see her. Behind her was a large dark wood closet. She opened it. It was full of winter coats and furs. She tapped the wood behind it. It was hollow. She pulled the furs out of the wardrobe and threw them on the floor revealing a wooden panel behind it. She stepped into the closet and pushed it in. The panel moved inwards and then slid to the side. It revealed a passageway. Ashley hesitated for a moment as the cool air hit her face. Should she call the police again? She wasn’t sure, but she knew she needed to get dressed. She ran into the bedroom and put on some clothes. She heard a noise at the window. It was like a stone had hit it. She ran over and looked outside. She looked down and could see a boy b
elow in the garden on his bike. He was wearing a puffy jacket. She looked at him for a moment, he stared up at her, then rode off. Ashley stepped away and left the room. A trespassing kid in the garden was the least of her problems. She went back to the dressing room and looked at the door. It had moved inwards revealing a passageway inside. She took a step in. She was in a long and thin corridor, it took her past the hole in the wall, towards the front of the house, and through an open door. She was in the top part of the turret. She looked at the curved brick walls. On the wall was a mirror. She realized this was the room from her dream. She heard a noise behind her and turned. The door behind her had slammed shut, trapping her inside.
Annie
Officer Morgan signed his name at the bottom of the paperwork and put it in his outbox tray. He looked at his watch. It was seven forty. He looked at the last file on his desk. It was the kid who had called him out about the disappearance earlier that day. He grabbed the evidence bag that was next to him. He took out the plastic bag which contained the papers and junk he had taken. He tipped it on his desk and switched on his desk light. He leaned back on his chair and peeked into the office, checking it was empty. It was. He took a pack of cigarettes out of his top pocket and lit one up. He took the first piece of paper from the pile. It was a page torn out from a book. There was some text on one side, but it was too faded to work out what it was, On the other side was a symbol it looked like a circle with a shape in it, perhaps a star. He assumed it was a religious symbol, it could be a symbol of Satanism, but it wasn’t a concern. He placed it down and picked up more pieces of paper, one by one. Most of them were indistinguishable. Then he got the locket out again. He could make out the ‘AR’, but he realized there was more writing. He got a magnifying glass out of a draw and had a closer look. To my AR, I am yours forever, love…then the bottom letters were scratched off. He looked at the old picture on the other side of the locket. It was a black and white photograph of a young woman. He stared at it. It looked familiar, but he wasn’t sure where from. He opened up his computer and logged onto his database and searched for missing persons in Sprucewood with the initials AR. There were no results. He searched for robberies, but there was nothing. He searched for homicides. Still nothing. He leaned back on his chair and took out another cigarette. It was frustrating him. He felt that there was something in the back of his mind, but he wasn’t sure what. Then he had a thought. He stood up and went out of his office, down the corridor and headed to the reception. He tried the door to the storage area, where they kept the older files which hadn’t been uploaded onto the computer system yet. It was locked. He went over to the reception desk’s top drawer and found a bunch of keys. He unlocked the door and turned on the lights. There was wall upon wall of box files dating back years and years. He went back to his office and put on a pot of coffee. The phone behind him rang. He almost dropped the jug of coffee. He poured it into his cup and set the jug down and went over to his desk.
“Morgan,” he grunted.
“You said you wouldn’t be working late tonight.” It was his wife. Morgan rubbed his eyes.
“I’m sorry honey, I just need to get a bit more work done and then I’ll be home,” he said.
“You said you were going to treat me to dinner tonight.”
“I know I did. I just have one last case to finish up then I’m off for the whole weekend. I tell you what. Pack a suitcase, and I’ll drive us up to the mountains tonight. We can get to the mountain in time to see the sunrise then we’ll go stay at that nice motel again. What do you say?”
“That sounds lovely Jeff. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too honey,” he said as he looked at the locket again. They hung up. Jeff downed his hot coffee, scolding his throat then went back to the storeroom. He took out the box files and started looking through them one by one. He knew there must be something. Then he found the one he had been searching through in the box and searching the back of his mind for, a missing girl, Annie.
~
Ashley reached for the door and ran her hand along it, looking for the handle. But there wasn’t one there. It had been removed. She turned and looked around the dark room as her eyes adjusted to the light. There was a window at the far end, but it was boarded up from the inside. It was a cold and dusty room. The noise of the creaking floorboards echoed around the room as she walked. There was a large closet. She opened it up. Hanging on the inside door was a long black cape that looked like a prop from an old film. Who would wear that? She looked into the wardrobe. It was strange, inside there were several large storage bags, all around six-foot-tall and a couple of foot wide. The bags were made of canvas and wrapped around the object inside several times. Ashley looked at them. They looked the right size and shape to be concealing a body. She reached out, her hand shaking and touched the one at the front. This one was smaller than the others. As her fingers touched it, she felt a sudden rush go through her body, like she had touched an electric socket. Her mind went black, then she saw a flash of memories of the past, but these weren’t hers, they were someone else’s.
Brodie ran down the front of the drive, as quick as he could. He didn’t look back. If he could just get to the road, he would be alright. Then a figure jumped out in front of him. It was a figure wearing a black cape. He was tall and managed to wrap an arm around Brodie’s waist and knock him straight off of the bike. He fell backward and hit his head on the ground. As his eyes started to close he saw his bike on its side of the driveway, the paintwork scratched. Brodie panicked for a second. His mom would tell him off when she saw the state of it.
Brodie woke to be looking up at a ceiling in a round room. He tried to move, but he was tied to a bed. He shook his body, but it was getting him nowhere. Then he noticed he wasn’t alone. There were three figures in the room. All of them were wearing black capes pulled low over his face. They were chanting. They ignored him. The room started to feel cold. There was a breeze even though the window was shut. The ceiling started to turn and turn, like a swirling pool of water. A thunder cloud came out of the ceiling. It was grey and angry. It started to change shape and to take the form of a face. Its eyes were hollow and dark. It looked like it was frowning. Its mouth opened and got wider and wider and became a gaping hole that moved closer and closer to Brodie until it hovered over the top of Brodie. It went down towards Brodie until Brodie was inside of its mouth. He tried to move but he couldn’t. He could feel something being sucked out of him. He wasn’t sure what it was until he realized that he was no longer in his own body but being sucked into this cloud-like monster. He could feel himself start to separate into millions of little pieces which were being absorbed and becoming part of this cloud. The last thing he saw was his body he was leaving behind. His body looked crusty and gaunt, his mouth twisted into a position of pain. The monster had sucked the life out of him. He was but a shadow standing next to it — a bodiless ghost.
Ashley jumped back. There was a body in the bag. It was the body of a young boy, and she had felt his last moments. She had no idea how she had felt it, but she had. She needed to get out. She turned and ran back to the door. She started kicking it and screaming and shouting. It didn’t succeed in opening the door. She ran to the window and grabbed one of the pieces of wood, but it wouldn’t budge. It was nailed down in several places. Ashley heard a sound and turned around.
“I can see you found my secret room.” A woman’s voice said. Ashley looked, there was a woman standing in the open doorway. She was wearing a smart suit and high heels. She had long highlighted hair and manicured nails. She was holding the missing cat Sally, who was asleep in her arms. “I knew you would be the right person to house sit. I needed someone stupid enough to not find this place for a few days, and someone no one will miss.” She bent down and lowered Sally to the floor. She ran off down the corridor.
“Miss Faye?” Ashley said. Ashley noticed that the woman had Ashley’s cell phone in her hand. “Why have you got my phone?”
<
br /> “I needed to make sure that no one would expect anything. It wasn’t too hard. I can see that your friends don’t message you much anymore. You dropped out of college, and everyone would expect you to drop out of house sitting too.” Ashley grabbed the phone out of the woman’s hands. She opened it up and looked at the text messages last sent.
Hi Mom
I’ve left house sitting to go traveling with a new friend. We’re off to South Africa! Will be in touch soon.
Ash.
Ashley dialed 911. She pressed call, but a message flashed saying “Not in Service.”
“Do you really think I would let you grab your phone if there was a chance it would still work?” The woman laughed. She suddenly ran up to Ashley and put her fist up to her neck. Ashley felt a sharp pain as a needle went into her skin, then she realized it was too late. She stepped backward and grabbed hold of her neck. She fell backward and felt herself fall into the wardrobe. The body bags fell out of the wardrobe. Some landed on top of her. She fell to the floor where she was trapped. Her eyes started to close, her body numb, she fought at first but eventually gave in, and all was darkness.
Miss Faye
Officer Morgan pulled up in front of Sprucewood Mansion. He looked at his watch. It was near 2am. He had an hour or so till he had to be home and get ready to start driving to the mountains. His wife would kill him if he went back on this promise too. He looked at the house. There were no lights on. Perhaps he should go back tomorrow? But he couldn’t do that. He wanted to be with his wife. Maybe he needed to let someone else at the precinct know what was going on? They could come and search the property properly. Get forensics in. But he really wanted to be the one who broke the case, to tell that young lady that she was right and that he believed her. He had worked out who ‘AR’ was. She was a missing person from the 1970s. He could barely remember the case. He hadn’t even been a cop at the time. But when he had found the old newspaper article it had come back to them. Annie Redmond was a young lady from Tennessee. She was fifteen when she had met an ex-convict, Doug and had run away with him. They had managed to get married after providing some false documentation, and they were on the run from the police. Her parents were devastated that their young girl had been kidnapped by some older man. They were missing for two months until one day Doug found by the side of the road passed out in Sprucewood lying on the floor next to his truck. He was covered in Annie’s blood. He was high on cocaine and told the cops that he and Annie had stopped to help a woman whose car had broken down. That was the last thing he could remember. He was arrested for the disappearance and murder of Annie. He claimed that he hadn’t hurt her. He said that Annie had got hurt in a struggle, but he couldn’t remember anything else. He was sentenced to years in prison, but he hung himself after only six months. Annie’s name was found tattooed on his arm. Annie’s body was never found, but she was presumed dead. The case was never conclusive, but the police didn’t investigate any further. The likelihood that she had been murdered and dumped her boyfriend seemed plausible, and the case was not reopened, or the evidence looked at until Morgan had noticed that the locket he had found had a picture of Richard inside. Morgan took another drag from his cigarette. He looked at the house. He could see a thin strip of light coming from an upstairs window. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like it was boarded up from the inside. He had to go in. He got out of the car and shut the door behind him. He took his radio and was about to call for back up. He stopped, he would just go and have a look inside first.
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