The Evil Within

by S M Hardy

  ‘Get away from me!’ Miriam shouted, and I’m sure it was Miriam, as her eyes darted from Krystal to Benji.

  My soul to take.

  ‘You can’t hurt me. You’re dead. Dead,’ David snarled.

  Benji wasn’t much acting like a dead dog, and I was pretty sure he’d more on his mind than savaging Miriam’s ankles. Going for the throat was more likely.

  Now I lay me …

  ‘Shut up. Shut up,’ Miriam cried and lifted her hands to cover her ears. David was made of stronger stuff. Miriam’s face hardened and her hands dropped away.

  ‘You can’t hurt me.’

  What’s the matter, David? A voice said, and standing next to Krystal was another figure I recognised. Peter Davies. He and Krystal took a step towards Miriam, who almost fell in her haste to back away from them.

  ‘Get away from me.’

  It’s time to atone.

  And other figures began to appear, first as shadowy silhouettes, but gradually growing in substance until, although still apparitions, they were recognisable as having once been human.

  I moved to stand beside Lucy, and she looked up at me with terrified eyes. I glanced back at Miriam and, while her mind was clearly on other things, I pulled the duct tape from Lucy’s mouth as gently as I could.

  I was still carefully easing it off when she started to speak, unable to contain herself any longer. ‘Can you see them?’ she asked. ‘Can you see Krystal and Benji?’

  ‘Yes, how about the others?’

  ‘What others?’

  When I looked back ‘the others’ had joined Krystal and the reverend and were slowly descending upon Miriam. Her head was jerking from side to side, her face a mask of fear.

  ‘The dead can’t hurt me!’ she shouted, but Peter Davies knew who was talking.

  Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but the living most certainly can.

  A sly expression crossed Miriam’s face and David was back and in control. ‘What? Him?’ he sneered pointing at me, and the spirits began to laugh. He froze for a moment and his mouth dropped open into an ‘O’. ‘No,’ David roared. ‘No! Darcy, you bitch!’ and if any tiny part of Miriam had been there before, she was gone now as her face contorted into a masculine mask of rage. ‘You’re not going to win, you sanctimonious bastard,’ he snarled at the reverend. ‘If I go, I’m going to take them with me,’ and ignoring the apparitions between us he raised the knife to head height, the lethal blade glinting viciously in the moonlight, and hurled himself straight towards Lucy and me. The phantoms dispersed like smoke as he ploughed through them, leaving a trail of mist in his wake.

  I had no weapon with which to defend myself, but I didn’t hesitate, I threw myself forward. I heard Lucy cry my name as the creature that once had been Miriam Garvin and I collided, my shoulder hitting him in the chest. He staggered back a few steps, but I hadn’t even winded him. He gave a cry of triumph and I leapt back as he took a swipe at my unguarded belly.

  The raincoat billowed around me engulfing the blade, but barely for a moment as it sliced through the thick waterproof material as though it was a slab of cream cheese. I was in no doubt if it connected with me, I was a dead man. It would cut through flesh with just as much ease.

  He began to laugh. ‘Prepare to die, Jim Hawkes.’ And he strode towards me, the knife once more held at head height. ‘But don’t worry. I’ll leave enough life in you that you can watch me take your slut to pieces before I end your miserable existence.’

  I glanced about me. I had nowhere to go. Lucy had dragged herself along the railing behind me so she was out of the way, but other than running for it, which wasn’t an option, I had no choice other than to try and fight him off.

  Lucy must have known what I was thinking. ‘Run, Jim, save yourself!’

  ‘No,’ I said, straightening up and raising my fists. ‘I’ll not leave you.’

  David laughed again.

  The clock’s ticking, David. I heard Reverend Davies say.

  ‘But not fast enough to save this piece of shit,’ and with another stride he was upon me.

  His arm drew back, he began to grin, and the blade surged towards me. I ducked to his left away from the knife and thumped him as hard as I could with my right fist, hoping to connect with his kidneys. As my wet-weather gear had saved me from his knife, his cushioned the blow, making it as ineffective as the punch of a child.

  As I moved to pass him, he swung around following me, leaving my back wide open to that vicious blade. Lucy screamed as I spun around to face him. The knife rushed towards me and I felt it caress the sleeve of my coat as I jerked away. I didn’t have time to thank my good fortune as he kept on coming, a relentless force. He might only be in a vehicle of flesh and blood, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was locked in mortal combat with a supernatural entity. Even his face appeared demonic as the light from the moon danced across his features before being briefly obscured by clouds time and time again.

  Then he gave a yell and rushed at me, flipping the blade from one hand to another as I raised my arm to block it. I was back-pedalling again, desperately trying to get out of the way of that blade, too slow, too slow. I saw the knife coming, arcing down towards me and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop it. I heard Lucy cry out again and as the blade scythed towards me, I trod on something hard. I skidded, fought to regain my balance, he lunged at me and I stumbled and fell.

  My back hit the ground, jarring my body and knocking the breath out of me, but there was no time to think about pain, no time to think about anything other than the creature trying to kill me. I scrabbled, trying to get to my feet, but I was too late. He loomed over me, knife pointed at my unprotected chest and his expression triumphant. I was about to die.

  Tick-tock, David! Tick-tock! I heard the reverend whisper.

  David snarled. ‘Too late for Jimbo here.’ He drew his arm back. ‘Much too late.’

  He stepped forward so his legs were astride me and dropped to his knees, pinning me down.

  ‘I did so want to make your last moments memorable,’ he said, ‘but apparently my stupid fucking sister is about to bugger it all up. Nevertheless, I can still make it bloody and painful.’ He lowered the knife, so the tip of the blade hovered about an inch from my right eye. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t kill you. Maybe I should just cut you so badly that you’ll spend the rest of your life wishing you were dead. Doubt your pretty young slut will want you then.’

  He lowered the knife a tad more. I flinched, turning my head to one side. With his free hand he grabbed hold of my chin and twisted my head around so I was looking at him.

  ‘Kind of fitting that my face will be the last thing you ever see,’ he said, laughing.

  ‘No,’ I said and grabbed hold of his wrist. Had he balls I would have tried to punch him in them, but as he hadn’t, I used the other hand to strengthen my hold on the arm with the knife at the end of it and at the same time I began to struggle.

  By God, he was strong. I couldn’t hold him back. The knife thudded down just missing my right ear. He wrenched his arm upwards pulling me with it, but I wasn’t about to let go. With his free hand he punched at my face. It grazed my chin, but it was his left hand and there was no real power behind it.

  His lips twisted into a grimace and he tried again. This time he scuffed the side of my head, but my arms were beginning to weaken. He was pushing down and I was trying to push his arm upwards. I was fighting a losing battle and had seconds before it would be game over. He knew it too. He began to laugh.

  Then I heard Benji barking and Krystal began to sing. Now I lay me …

  His lips twisted into a grimace.

  And if I die before I wake …

  The muscles in my arms were trembling as the knife filled my vision.

  I pray the Lord …

  Then Peter Davies said, my soul to take.

  David’s laughter died on his lips. ‘Darcy, you fucking bitch,’ he snarled and a myriad of emotions flashed across his face. Contempt
, anger and finally a sly smile, which lasted only a second before he drew in a shuddery breath and the expression changed to confusion. Miriam – I was sure it was Miriam – looked down on me and then to the knife in her hand.

  ‘What?’ she cried, and the hand dropped to her side with a gasp.

  ‘David?’ she whispered. ‘David?’

  A tear slipped down her cheek. ‘David!’ she cried. ‘Nooooooo!’ and it was a wail from the heart, pathetic and full of despair. ‘Nooooo!’ She staggered to her feet. ‘No. No, it can’t be.’ She stepped away from me. ‘Darcy! Darcy – no! What have you done? What have you done?’ and she threw back her head and let out an anguished howl, the howl of heartbreak and a woman bereft. A howl that I imagined would echo in my memory for all time. Her cry had barely faded away before she began to run. She ran towards Chalfont, coat flapping behind her, with Benji bounding along snapping at her heels.

  On legs like rubber I clambered to my feet. ‘What just happened?’ I said.

  If Krystal and Peter Davies knew they didn’t say, though they both had sunny smiles as they slowly faded away, leaving Lucy and me alone in the pale moonlight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  I found the torch. It was what I had trodden on and had almost been my undoing.

  ‘I don’t understand what just happened,’ Lucy said, as I slowly unpicked the tape binding her. I couldn’t find Miriam’s knife and guessed she must have taken it with her.

  ‘It’s a long story.’

  ‘We’ve got a long walk home.’

  ‘There’s no time,’ I told her. ‘We’ve got to hurry. Miriam stabbed Jed.’

  But when we reached the spot where I thought I’d left him, Jed was gone, so I told her – everything. I thought she deserved it, although I wasn’t sure how much she’d believe. She listened, not interrupting, and when I’d finished she passed no comment and instead told me how she’d been knocked over the head as she’d left the Sly to come to the cottage and when she’d come to she’d been in Emma’s larder.

  ‘I should take you to hospital. You could be concussed.’

  ‘When we find Jed, you can take us both.’

  The lights were still on at The Grange when we walked up the drive, and I wondered if Jed would have gone there to ring for help as we’d seen no sign of him at all on the way back. Tellingly, his car was gone.

  ‘Maybe he drove himself to the hospital,’ Lucy suggested.

  ‘Maybe,’ I said, ‘but knowing him, I doubt it. Do you know where he lives?’

  ‘The other end of the village, just past the Sly.’

  ‘Do you feel up to taking me there?’

  ‘Come on,’ she said, holding me by the hand, and I wondered at the strength of this woman. She had been assaulted, held hostage and terrorised, yet she was holding it together when most people would have been a total mess.

  We went back to the cottage and picked up my car to drive to Jed’s, and when Lucy told me to pull up outside a grand-looking house at the other end of the village, I thought she must be mistaken.

  ‘This is where Jed lives?’

  ‘His family home,’ Lucy told me, and once again it occurred to me that there was an awful lot I didn’t know about Jed. The man was an enigma and I said as much to Lucy.

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘There are lots of rumours, but that’s villages for you.’

  ‘His family must have been well off,’ I said, looking up at the building.

  ‘Rich, ruthless and heartless, so I’ve been told.’

  I frowned at her. ‘What do you mean?’

  She pulled a face. ‘You know what Jed’s like, how he gets messages from the dead?’

  I nodded. ‘He’s never hidden the fact.’

  ‘Well, story has it that as soon as his mother realised he was different,’ Lucy grimaced, ‘she tried to beat it out of him. When that didn’t work, she had him sent him away to boarding school.’

  ‘That’s terrible.’

  ‘It gets worse. When he came home for holidays, she virtually shunned him. Apparently, she considered him an abomination against God and didn’t mind telling him so. When Jed grew up, not wanting to return to a home where he knew he wasn’t wanted, he joined the army straight from school. It was only when his mother died that he came back for good.’

  ‘Poor bugger,’ I said.

  ‘It’s sad. He’s such a nice bloke.’

  She was right, he was, and I was worried about him. The house was in darkness and when I knocked on the door there was no reply. I tried the bell. Its strident ringing echoed throughout the corridors making the house sound empty and hollow as though abandoned and filling me with disquiet.

  ‘No answer,’ I said getting back into the car. ‘I hope he’s all right.’

  ‘He probably did drive himself to hospital,’ Lucy said, hugging me to her. ‘If not for himself, to be with Emma.’

  ‘Well, that’s where I’m taking you.’

  ‘Huh-uh. I’m fine.’

  ‘You were knocked out, not to mention terrorised by a lunatic.’

  ‘I just want to go home,’ she said.

  ‘OK, but I’d better come in with you. If your dad sees you like this …’

  She put her fingers across my lips. ‘I meant your home,’ she said.

  So that’s where we went.

  I did try phoning Jed while Lucy was in the shower, but I went straight to voicemail, so I left a message asking him to phone me as soon as he could. My gut instinct was to phone the police. Miriam, or even worse David, was still out there somewhere, and while one of them was none of us were safe, but I needed to speak to Jed first. If we called in the police, we had to all be telling the same story, and that couldn’t include possession and ghostly children.

  I was checking the windows and doors when my phone went ping. Jed had sent me a message.

  At hospital. All well. No police until we speak. See you tomorrow a.m.

  I felt weak with relief. Jed was OK and I guessed he was of the same opinion as me, we needed to get our story straight if we were to involve the police. I shambled towards the shower, hoping it would wake me up a bit. We were all safe, but we weren’t anywhere near out of the woods. I wouldn’t be happy until I knew where Miriam was.

  By the time I’d finished in the shower, Lucy was fast asleep. I was bone-tired, but I didn’t dare join her. I locked and bolted the bedroom door and dragged the chair from under the window to next to the bed. Then, armed with the largest knife I could find in the kitchen, I sat down to wait for morning. It wasn’t long before my eyes began to droop, as any fear I might have gave way to exhaustion and, as my eyes finally fluttered shut, I thought I heard a child’s laughter. Maybe it was my imagination, but nevertheless, for some reason I found it comforting.

  I woke up to an empty bed and the patter of rain against the window. Our Indian summer appeared to have come to an end.

  I wondered if Lucy had crept off home, but when I crossed the hallway to use the bathroom, I caught a waft of frying bacon floating up the stairs and decided things were definitely looking a lot better than they had the night before. I’d been sure that in the clear light of day she’d probably not want another thing to do with me.

  I found Lucy downstairs in the kitchen cooking bacon and eggs, wearing one of my T-shirts and not much else. ‘I was going to bring you breakfast in bed,’ she said upon seeing me.

  ‘How’re you feeling?’

  ‘Good, actually. I’ve a bit of a bump on my temple, but that’s about it.’ I lifted her chin to look at where Miriam had pierced her skin with the knife. ‘I think it felt and looked worse than it was.’

  ‘Won’t your mum and dad be worried where you are?’ I asked.

  ‘They know where I am.’

  ‘Really?’

  She giggled. ‘I phoned them, silly.’

  ‘Won’t they mind? I mean, you being here.’

  ‘I am a grown-up in case you hadn’t noticed,’ she said, putting her arms around my neck and th
en proceeded to give me a hint of how grown-up she could be. Before I could take it any further, she batted my hands away. ‘First, we have breakfast.’

  ‘What about after?’

  Her lips curled into a sexy smile. ‘Maybe, if you eat all your bacon.’

  It all felt so normal, us sitting there together eating bacon and eggs, drinking tea and making small talk, but the spectres of David and Miriam were there even if both Lucy and I were trying to ignore them. When every bit of bacon was eaten and the last drips of egg yolk were wiped from our plates we lapsed into silence. It was almost as though we suddenly realised that what had happened the previous night wasn’t a dream and although we had escaped, more or less unscathed, it was by no means over. We might not have wanted to get the authorities involved, but something did have to be done.

  I slipped my mobile from my pocket to check for messages while Lucy was putting the plates in the sink.

  ‘Anything more from Jed?’ she asked when she saw the phone in my hand.

  I shook my head. ‘He did say he—’ and I was interrupted by a bang, bang, bang on the back door.

  ‘Jim?’ I heard a familiar voice call.

  When I unbolted the door, Jed was standing outside with Emma by his side.

  ‘Thank God,’ we both said at once and then began to laugh.

  ‘Come in, come in,’ I said, moving aside.

  ‘I’ll just put some clothes on,’ I heard Lucy say from behind me and glanced around to see her disappearing out into the hall.

  ‘Tea – coffee?’ I asked, gesturing for them to sit and make themselves comfortable.

  ‘Are you and Lucy all right?’ Emma asked. ‘We’ve been worried.’

  ‘No more than we have about Jed,’ I said. ‘How’s your arm, by the way?’

  ‘Good, thanks. Bit stiff, but good.’

  ‘You can’t believe how relieved I was when I got your message. When we couldn’t find you, we didn’t know what to think,’ I told Jed over my shoulder as I poured the tea. ‘So, what are we going to tell the police?’ Jed and Emma exchanged a look. I handed them both their drinks with a frown. ‘What’s happened?’ I asked, as I was pretty much sure that something significant had.