Promised Land Lane

by Brown, Marcus

  Sarah’s disappearance had cast a shadow over both their lives. She wished Nathan would understand why she had to find out what happened that night.

  Chapter 10

  “I must be bloody mad letting you talk me into this,” Hilary, said in between bouts of nervous laughter.

  “We’ll be fine, Hils. Don’t worry,” she replied trying to convince the both of them. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

  “Err… we may never be seen alive again,” Hilary, snapped back as Sandra stared at her. “Fuck, Sand, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it to come across like that. You know what I mean. I’m shitting myself at the thought of going, but there’s no way I’m letting you go there alone. Although, if I ever meet Rachel again, I’m going to smack her right in that fat face of hers.”

  Sandra burst out laughing at the thought of Hilary, the Brown Owl, smacking anybody in the face, let alone Rachel. As usual when one of them started laughing the other followed.

  Tim walked into the living room and looked at the two of them giggling like schoolgirls and shook his head as he sat down in his favourite armchair.

  “Just for the record,” he said, looking over his glasses. “Before you both go creeping around derelict old houses, I think both of you need sectioning.”

  “Your views are duly noted, but when I want your opinion oh handsome man of mine, I’ll put a suggestion box outside the door,” Hilary responded sarcastically.

  Tim rolled his eyes at his wife as Sandra snorted like a pig, trying not to laugh.

  “You know I don’t believe in all this mumbo jumbo about haunted houses, and I find it incredulous that two grown-up, and supposedly intelligent, women are indulging in this fantasy.”

  Sandra was annoyed at Tim’s poor choice of words. For an educated and civilized man, he could appear tactless.

  “Sand, you know I said I was going to smack Rachel’s fat face, can I add another name to that list?” Hilary pointed in Tim’s direction.

  “Charming.” Tim ignored his wife’s icy stare.

  Sandra put her head down before the giggles came again.

  “Save the lectures for your students, Tim, we aren’t interested… unless you want to come with us, of course,” she said with a seductive tone to her voice.

  “Absolutely not, Hilary. I will not be part of this madness, no matter how much you tiptoe around me.”

  “Suit yourself, but any decent husband would be there to protect his wife.”

  “Decent wives wouldn’t go skulking around haunted houses in the middle of the night,” he fired back at her.

  “Whatever,” she said sarcastically. It was her go-to reply when she knew she’d lost the argument.

  “Oh, and do remember to save this little story for your Brownie group next week. I’m sure there must be a badge they can award you for sheer stupidity.”

  “Yes, Tim, you’re right. There is, but there’s also one for being the biggest arsehole.”

  Sandra burst out laughing. It was obvious they were totally devoted to each other, but their personalities were as different as chalk and cheese.

  Hilary was a very pretty girl with a mousey-brown bob and perfect bone structure, but she didn’t possess a single curve. Sandra envied the fact Hilary didn’t need to wear make up to look attractive and looked much younger than her thirty-five years. She spent most of her free time riding her horse and lived in leggings and jumpers. She didn’t have a prissy bone in her body and could have been considered a tomboy, whilst Tim was a very handsome doe-eyed hunk of a man. He had short dark brown curly hair and gorgeous brown, almost black eyes, and was six feet two inches tall with a rugby player’s build. He could have had his pick of any woman, but he only had eyes for Hilary, and nothing had changed since the day they met.

  Sandra felt slight pangs of jealousy when she was in their company as they had what she no longer did. Her thoughts flicked back to happier times with Nathan before the images crept in of him shagging his secretary on their living room sofa.

  Tim uncharacteristically stuck his two fingers up, making both Sandra and Hilary burst out laughing.

  “Just pour yourself a glass of Armadillo Sherry and we’ll be back in no time at all.”

  “Ha, bloody ha! You’re quite the comedian. You should go and audition for next year’s Britain’s Got Talent. We could do with the money.”

  “Oh, could we? Well, in that case, remind me to call Simon Cowell tomorrow and I’ll see when he can squeeze me in. Anyway, stop trying to distract us. We’re off.”

  “And, by the way, it’s Amontillado Sherry as you well know.”

  “That’s what I said, smart-arse.” The grin spread across her face. “Love you,” she shouted as she headed out the door.

  “Love you too, and be careful for God’s sake.”

  “Will do! And before I forget, no smoking in the bloody house. It smells like camel shite.” She slammed the front door shut.

  Sandra and Hilary linked their arms as they walked down the path towards the car. Sandra was tittering to herself.

  “You two should have your own sitcom, you know. Seriously, you’re both absolutely crackers,” Sandra said, continuing to giggle.

  “Trust me, Sand, I have all of the personality in this relationship. He would bore most people to death. I don’t know why I put up with him.”

  “I’ll tell you why, shall I?”

  “Ooh, do enlighten me with your wisdom, oh wise one,” Hilary joked.

  “Because you adore him,” Sandra said. “And he is bloody gorgeous.”

  “Oh yeah, there is that, but I was thinking more about the fact he has a huge knob,” Hilary said and they both erupted into raucous laughter.

  “Trollop.”

  Hilary jumped into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition on, completely forgetting the CD player was turned up to maximum volume.

  “Jesus Christ, Hils, that frightened the shite out of me,” Sandra shouted as Rick Astley blasted out of the stereo. “My nerves are bad enough without that racket rupturing my ear drums at a million decibels.”

  “Whoops! Sorry. You know I like my music loud, and I do love a bit of Rick,” she said, lowering the volume.

  “Oh, I know you love a bit of Rick,” Sandra said, making herself laugh with the innuendo

  “You filthy bitch. Knock it off will you. We’re about to get murdered!” Hilary said, feigning offense and laughing at her ill-judged joke.

  “Sorry.” Sandra giggled before once again turning her attention to the music. “Anyway, turn this crap off and get something good on. If this is my last night on Earth, I’m not going out singing along to Rick bleeding Astley.”

  Hilary ignored her best friend and sang along at the top of her voice as she pulled away from her house.

  They had the same old arguments all the time. Sandra pretended to hate her friend’s taste in music, but it wasn’t long until both of them were in full song and word perfect.

  Driving down the dark country roads they were trying their best to lighten the mood. They had sung for most of the way, but as they were approaching the lane, their nerves had got the better of them and their thoughts had taken over. Silent now, their minds were anywhere, but on what was blaring out from the speakers.

  Sandra began to tremble. The closer they got to the lane, the more real the situation became. In perfect sync, they looked at each other. Hilary reached for Sandra’s hand and squeezed it tight as if to show her support.

  It was obvious that Hilary had slowed down the car in a bid to delay their arrival. Sandra wouldn’t admit it, but she was terrified. The car slowed to a stop. The house was in total darkness and hadn’t changed in twenty years from what Sandra could see. Only the gates guarded the outside world from whatever lay in wait.

  Sandra was constantly questioning her own motives for getting involved in this madness. Was it to satisfy her own curiosity over Sarah’s disappearance or to get one over on Rachel? It was probably a mixture of both. One thing was for
sure, Rachel expected her to refuse this assignment, and there was no way Sandra was going to look like a coward in front of her colleagues, or her boss. Stupid move or otherwise, she agreed to the assignment, and here she was once again, staring at the creepy old house on Promised Land Lane.

  Nothing had changed since the last time she had been here with Sarah. The memories of that night came back with an almost blunt force. Even the smell was the same. Sandra looked at the house with the huge iron gates and railings, and felt a chill pass right through her. It was as though time had stood still.

  Sandra could never understand why people would choose to live here. The lane was infamous due to the rumours and unexplained events that had happened in the past. It was dark and creepy and seemed to be totally isolated from the outside world. There was no passing traffic and at night it looked like a scene from an old black and white horror movie. There were huge trees everywhere shadowing the lane from the moonlight.

  Sandra turned to look at Hilary, noticing the colour had drained from her face and suddenly she felt guilty for inviting her into this nightmare.

  Hilary turned the CD player off and both of them sat in silence. “Sand, I’m not sure I can do this you know. I’m shitting myself here.”

  “I’m shitting myself too, but I have to know what happened that night and now I’m here, the worst part is out of the way. I can go in by myself if you want?”

  “There is no way you...” A piercing scream cut off the remaining words as a black and white cat jumped onto the bonnet of the car. Sandra nearly jumped out of her seat with fright.

  The cat turned to face them and hissed, its eyes glowing before it pranced off, ran through the gates and into the darkness.

  Sandra remembered all of the cats from the last time she was there. She had hated cats ever since then and refused point blank when Nathan had insisted that he wanted one.

  “Fucking hell! That frightened the life out of me,” Sandra said regaining her composure.

  Hilary stared at her, her face was ghostly white.

  “Sand, I think I’ve pissed myself. Really, I think I have.”

  “Well if you have, take your knickers off and shove them in this,” she said, trying not to laugh as she passed her a nappy sack that she carried in her handbag.

  “Oh, how charming. Not only do I have to walk around a haunted house at daft o’clock at night, but I have to do it with the wind howling up my foo-foo.”

  “Stop it, you’re going to make me laugh,” Sandra said putting her hand over her mouth.

  “Well I’m glad you find it amusing, but it’s blowing a gale out there, and I have a bloody skirt on. You could have warned me beforehand.”

  “Pardon me, but if I’d known you’d piss yourself, I would’ve brought you a spare pair. Now shut up, get your dirty drawers off and get out of this bloody car or we’ll be here all night and I have work tomorrow.”

  Mumbling to herself, Hilary got out of the car, pulled her wet knickers off, giving herself a quick wash with a baby wipe courtesy of Sandra and shoved them into the nappy sack, before throwing them on the back seat of her car.

  Chapter 11

  Sandra got out and walked around the car. She had her bag on her shoulder which contained the torches she had bought on her way home from work. Grabbing hold of Hilary’s hand as tightly as she could without cutting off the circulation, they made their way towards the side gate of the house. Using this gate would be easier than trying to move the main gates. Probably a lot quieter too.

  “Oh, God. Why didn’t I ignore you on that first day in school?” Hilary said, half joking. “My mum said you’d be trouble and she was right.”

  “And then you would’ve missed out on all the fun.”

  “Fun! Trust me, Sandra Jane Brown,” she said referring to her by her maiden name, “there’s no fun in walking around a haunted house at midnight with the wind howling up my skirt whilst you’re dressed like a character out of a spy movie.”

  ‘Well, I do apologise, your Ladyship, but I didn’t think you’d come in your best Princess Anne attire, did I? Sneaking around houses in the middle of the night requires stealth. Have you never watched James Bond?”

  “You know I can’t stand James Bond and pardon me for not understanding de rigueur for snooping around old houses in the middle of the night.”

  “De rigueur? Bloody hell, I’ve heard it all now,” she said, shaking her head at her best friend. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring your horse and brownie group along. Now get moving will you and stop moaning. Tally-ho.”

  “Oh, shut up, you sarky cow. The quicker we get out of here the better. I’m so scared my knees are knocking together and my arse is freezing cold, so you get a move on.”

  Sandra tittered to herself. Despite her nerves being frazzled, it was moments like this that reminded her why she loved her best friend so much.

  The gate opened more easily than either of them thought it would. The tree branches hung down almost to the ground and made Sandra feel even more nervous. The place was eerie enough without the shadows cast by the trees.

  Sandra spotted the side entrance that led to the garden. “This way.” She pointed as she led Hilary around to the left. Approaching the entrance, both of them turned on their torches. Their fear subsided a little as they could see where they were heading. The pathway seemed to go on for an eternity, but all of a sudden, there they were. In front of them, a garden that seemed to stretch for miles.

  Sandra’s heart hammered in her chest as all the old memories and feelings came rushing back. She stood observing the huge overgrown back garden full of tress surrounded by a brick wall.

  Walking tentatively through the tall grass, Sandra shone her torch towards the rear of the garden and nudged Hilary, making her jump slightly.

  “There it is over there,” Sandra whispered.

  “There what is?” she whispered back. She seemed slightly pissed off at Sandra for making her jump.

  “The well, look over there,” she said, waving her torch in the general direction. ”You can just make it out.”

  “Bloody hell, Sand, you’d need eyes like a shithouse rat to make that out. Let’s go a little closer so I can have a good look at it,” she whispered, curiosity getting the better of her.

  The wind rustled through the trees.

  Sandra grabbed Hilary’s hand, unnerved by both the noises and the moving shadows.

  Making their way towards the bottom of the garden, Sandra felt as though she was being watched by a thousand eyes and then she heard them hissing. The cats were watching their every move.

  Shining her torch along the wall, she could see their eyes reflected back, making them look even more threatening. She nudged Hilary once again, making her jump.

  “Stop doing that or I’ll wet myself again, or worse.”

  “I didn’t bring the baby wipes with me,” Sandra teased.

  “Why are there so many cats here?” Hilary asked nervously. ”I thought you were exaggerating.”

  “I told you. The place is riddled with them. It was the same last time I was here.”

  The sound of footsteps approached.

  They came to a halt and held their breath, fumbling to grab hold of one another. They could feel each other’s tension through their linked arms. Standing silent, they listened to the sound of leaves being crushed underfoot.

  Neither of them could see who was approaching or from which direction. Sandra froze as a familiar sound echoed around the garden, the terrifying high pitched crying of a child in pain.

  Sandra could feel Hilary trembling.

  “What the hell was that, Sand? Tell me you heard that?” At that moment, the crying stopped.

  “Ssshhh, listen,” Sandra said, holding her finger to her lips. “Do you hear that?”

  “I don’t hear anything,” Hilary replied quietly.

  The faint wheezing noise became louder. Hilary gasped and clung tighter to Sandra.

  “We should never have come ba
ck here. I’m sorry, we need to go now.”

  Suddenly the cats began to move towards them forming a circle as a man approached.

  Sandra and Hilary stared at him, too afraid to move. He looked directly at Sandra.

  “Why did you return after all of this time?” the man said. “You should never have come back here.”

  “What’s he talking about, Sand?” Hilary asked nervously, but Sandra ignored the question.

  The man stepped forwards forcing them to step back.

  Sandra felt Hilary grip her hand tighter. “It’s okay,” Sandra whispered.

  Both of them slowly moved backwards. Sandra noticed the cats were surrounding them. Sandra began to panic as more memories came flooding back to her. No longer a vulnerable teenage girl, she still felt the fear of twenty years ago. She couldn’t think straight and began to hyperventilate.

  “Sand, listen to me. Now isn’t the time to panic. We need to get out of here,” Hilary hissed.

  The moonlight fully illuminated the man as he stepped out of the shadows. Fear slipped away from Sandra, as she realized the beautiful dark-haired stranger before her meant no harm.

  She felt more confident and loosened her grip from Hilary.

  The child’s crying suddenly resumed, frightening Hilary. “Shit, it’s that crying again. Don’t let go,” she said, grabbing a tight hold of Sandra’s hand once again.

  As the man approached slowly, the cats opened their circle allowing him to enter.

  “You have to leave and never return. Both of you. Go now,” he ordered. “I can only keep her at bay for so long. Please, she knows you’ve returned, and you must go.”

  The child’s crying got louder and echoed around the garden. The cats arched their backs and began to hiss.

  Sandra didn’t know if she was more threatened by the hissing cats or the child’s cry.

  A high-pitched scream from the rear of the garden shifted their focus from the man. They both turned and shone their torches towards the well.

  Hilary gasped, dropped her torch and screamed at the top of her lungs, before ripping her hand out of Sandra’s and running towards the side of the house.