“Yes, Juan. I saw something on the first day, when the glass of the attic window broke.”
Juan shouldn’t have been surprised at that point, but his eyes widened under the flashlight.
“What was it?” Juan could guess what it was, after his last traumatic experience.
Pili started moving her little hands under the flashlight, and said: “It was like a human figure. I think there was something up there. But I could not see it all. It was sort of blurry. It was like a shade.”
Juan opened his mouth widely.
“Have you seen something else?”
“That thing followed me everywhere while the owner of the house was talking. I saw it at the top of the stairs, among the trees, and on every corner. That is why I lock up in my bedroom and I always sleep covered by the sheets.
Juan directed his gaze to the flashlight that had started to flicker, as if the batteries were running low. Then he gazed up at his sister absorbedly.
“Well, I had a different experience at first, before I saw anything. I was in the attic testing the antenna.” Juan opened his arms building an arc. “And then the wind came up. As if someone would have turn a huge fan on. It was so strong that it pushed me out. I was on the verge of falling out the window, because the wind was pushing me through the window...”
“Blimey!” His sister exclaimed, putting her hands in her mouth. “What happened next?”
“Nothing, the wind stopped.”
Juan shrugged. He had started sweating profusely inside that mass of straw. Pili’s forehead was dry and soft though.
“What a funny thing.”
“Do you still see those forms or things?”
“Of course I do.”
“Do you hear those noises every night?”
“Yes. It sounds as if someone spent all night long opening and closing the barn door. I can even hear the latch.”
“Mom says that they are the rats.”
“And dad says it is something evil that is inside the house.”
Juan changed the subject saying: “I know, but dad used to do many weird things wearing a black cassock or a cloak, and with that pendulum. And there were noises where we used to live before too. It was nothing like this, though. It seems as if something unusual was following dad and the rest of us got entangled in it.”
“Mom doesn’t believe in it” She said frowning.
“Mom is always drunk.” He said with a trace of a smile under the diminishing flashlight.
They remained silent for a few seconds and then, picking up the theme again, kept on talking.
“What else have you seen, Pili?”
The flashlight flickered again. Juan hit it and it started working normally again.
“One day mom was bathing me, and I saw something much worse. It was coming out of the fireplace, which was blazing at that moment. But the smoke that was supposed to go up got stuck in the fireplace and it started turning into a person. It had two black patches instead of eyes and it had a mouth. It also had two long arms and very long and strange hands. I told mum, but she ignored me. It was grey, I think...”
“Just like me!” Juan interrupted snapping his fingers.
“Speak more quietly or they will hear us.”
“Who will?”
“Mom will, for example”
“Or they will.” Juan whispered getting closer to his sister, rolling his back and bringing his face forward as if he wanted to cheek kiss her. They were seated facing each other.
“Mom is worse than them.”
“That is because nothing has happened to you in this house, you only see things.”
“Like you.”
“It happened only once, well, maybe twice.” Juan corrected closing his eyes.
Pili slouched on a straw bale, thinking on the possibility of a snake coming out from the straw. But she stopped thinking about it immediately.
“Would you like to know something else?”
His brother was all ears.
“Of course, tell me.”
“Do you remember the goats’ day?”
Juan nodded, his head drenched in sweat.
“Well, the goat, Duska, was trying to chase away one of those things, which was in the room, where they are...”
“Ok, go on” Juan interrupted anxiously.
“It was almost white. It looked like a woman, and it was close to the wall. Duska could see it and that is why it was charging against it, but every time Duska came near the thing turned into smoke and then appeared somewhere else. Duska was seeing all that. Like the rest of the goats, and I myself.”
Juan was wide-eyed and his mouth formed a perfect O.
No it was his turn to speak, about his experience.
“I saw something that night, something similar to what you are talking about. I have always been scared to look through that window at night. I always imagined that someone wanted to come in or that one of those vampire kids with yellow eyes and long fangs was going to appear suddenly looking through my window. Do you remember that film?”
“Of course I do. It was about vamps; the image of the vamp kids was terrifying.” Pili agreed grimacing.
“Well, I am scared. I have their image inside my mind. It was really scary.”
“And do you remember that girl whose head was turning backwards?”
Juan stood back, placing his bony shoulders on the Straw.
“Don’t remind that to me! I was completely terrified all the time we spent living in the other house.” Juan acknowledged raising one hand and showing his open palm. His fingers were trembling.
“That’s true. When we were living at Anglés, we watched lots of terror films.” Pili remembered with a trace of a smile on her lips.
“I was always holding your hand. Yes, that was nice.” Juan touched his chin and remained thoughtful for a while, and then he added: “Now I want to tell you about what I saw before I fainted. Everything was pitch-black at first. It was like a wolf’s throat. I was too scared to go near the window to close it but I felt as if someone was pushing me from my back, and then it was very cold. It started feeling pins and needles in my face and my hands and a white ball, like smoke, suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere. I was terrified while I was getting closer and closer to the window. Then that thing took the shape of a face. Firstly, empty eyes, then a mouth, and finally, two long arms with claws at the end of them. And just when it was going to bite me or catch me, I don’t know what, everything turned into black.”
Pili was looking at him with her mouth open and her heart started running faster under her little breast, with no boobs yet.
“Blimey! That's scary. It's like that thing I saw in the fireplace.”
Juan nodded and again the flashlight started flickering. He beat it against his right hand and the light came alive again.
Juan was now thinking of former times and he found out, maybe for the first time, that they had always had a sibling bond. He knew it as soon as he saw her sister's straight-face expression.
If her sister had lied to him he would have noticed from the way she curved her lips. When her lips were tight, she was lying. But now they were open and quivering, like they used to be when dad had nearly lost his mind with the black magic.
They had talked a lot about it. They were much younger and their gaze was more innocent, but they were capable to understand that when your father wears a black cloak and says weird prayers, different from the ones you learn when you do your First Holy Communion something has gone wrong with his brain.
But all that was over and done with. Four years later, they had developed their skills and they knew that the things that were happening were not normal. After having kept some distance from each other for some months, they had joined again for a good cause.
They promised to tell each other everything they saw and hear in this new house. And, above all, they'd take care of Mom and specially Dad. But they did not really know why they should do it.
2
3
Even though Juan kept on walking around the woods on his own talking to himself, he always found a moment to talk to his sister. Sometimes they chatted inside a reed hut that was built at the end of the path that lead to the henhouse, and other times they did it inside the barn next to the death curve. Juan also had also invited his sister to cross the river, which was below the planted fields. She had ended up soaking more than once, sitting at the river bank. They would burst out laughing, but she usually stood in the sun to let the water dry, out of prudence. Mom had become more aggressive with her, as she had started hitting the bottle more often than usual. When she did she used to sing silly songs bellowing like a goat.
And Dad was also changing.
She did not know what.
But he didn't love her as much as before.
24
Pili was lying on the sofa at the entrance of the house that long ago had been used to let the horses and carts in. But now there were only a few pieces of furniture; a sofa, a wall cabinet with two shelves and a cupboard that was full of hard liquor bottles. It was then when she discovered the bruise in Mom's arm.
It was a bluish patch, and it was quite big.
25
Two days later things started to get worse, apart from the constant noises made by the rats climbing up the beams and the barn door slamming after midnight.
Juan and Pili usually climbed the stairs holding hands and sliding the other hand up the wall, until they reached the final landing and they turned the light on. That weak light illuminated the ground which would make them feel less scared.
Juan used to escort Pili to her bedroom, still holding hands with her and walking carefully because the floor had loose and hollow tiles. Then, he would return to the light switch to turn it off, and he would race to his bedroom in the dark, stepping on the loose tiles that kept cracking under his feet.
Sometimes, during day light hours, he raised some floor tiles, or "bricks", as he called them, and he could see the sitting room through the gap, where his mother was drinking her whisky and coke, pacing up and down like a zombie.
Juan had not closed the window for two days, mainly because he had not opened it since then. That way he could sleep better. Now he could see it as if it was a big frame, and he was glad he could not see the darkness through it or that thing. He felt sick every time he remembered it.
Pili had ceramic tiles on her bedroom floor. It was the only room that had been refurbished, so she didn't have to worry about hollow tiles. Her window, which was opened like every night, would give her a new surprise. She had not seen anything strange for a few days. At first, she seemed to be the only one who could see things. But knowing that she was not the only one was her solace.
Up till then.
Pili had undressed. She was wearing a white nightgown, which was very soft to the touch but looked like a shroud. And it made her look like a deceased person, with her dark hair and her pale face. And she wasn't thin, she had rosy cheeks, but her lips were a bit whitish. Her brown eyes were swollen with dark circles.
The moon was waning so it did not shine that night, and the light at the entrance had been turned off. Sometimes it was left on all night. Those nights Pili had to close the window a little bit to prevent the glow of the light. It was not too strong, but it was uncomfortable.
Thus, Pili decided to throw open the two panel window, which had opaque glasses. One of them was cracked. When she got near the window, she could see the tree tops and the branches of the fig tree that seemed to be wishing to go into her bedroom through the window.
When she opened the window, she could hear the squeaky hinges, as usual. She wondered if there would be something in that house that was not rusted. She did not want to think about it at that moment. She just wanted to listen to the sharp chirping of the crickets and the rusty hinges.
And then, when she was feeling the air caressing her face, she saw it.
Suddenly, a sharp face appeared out of nowhere. It had dark eyes, and the most disturbing look she had ever seen. Its mouth was tight closed, like a zip. It had no hair, but something dark covered its head. She could not identify what it was. Pili’s heart skipped a beat. Her temples throbbed, and she started sweating.
Someone or something was pushing her out of the window, like it had happened to her brother. But then she bumped into that face. It had a pale, colorless skin, like a corpse inside a coffin. There was a fungal and almost transparent mass, similar to mucus, running through the face, which had wrinkles and stretch marks. Then it opened its mouth to say something. Firstly it showed a row of black teeth and a dark tongue. Then she heard her name that was coming out from that bloody mouth.
Pili’s eyes popped out her head, she wanted to open her mouth and shout as she was on the brink of insanity. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything for a few long and intense moments, and finally she shouted from the top of her lungs. She exploded like a thunder and bounced all over the house.
And the she heard a door opening and his father’s fast steps going up the stairs.
26
“What’s wrong, Pili?” Her father asked with wild eyes.
“I have seen her at the window.”
“Don’t you see, dad? What I saw the other day is also true.” Juan explained eagerly. But when his father swatted him aside, Juan was puzzled.
“Whom did you see?”
“I saw a woman with a pale face and something gelatinous covering it...”
“Ectoplasm” His wide-eyed finished. “And then the dead shall rise, Jesus said.”
Pili frowned, still with a heavy heart. Juan was behind his father, leaning against the door in his underwear. Now he was staring a fixed point between the room and the bedroom, with his arms folded.
“I don’t know what it is, but you are saying odd things, dad. What do you mean by the dead shall rise?”
“That this house is cursed. They are here and they want to drive us crazy. He is pursuing me for all the things I had done in the past, but now the Lord Almighty is helping me.
“Helping you? You see things, don’t you?” Pili wanted to know, almost sick with fear.
“I don’t see anything yet, but they will manifest soon and I will send them away with the power of the Lord.”
“Dad...”
“Shut up!” Her father ranted.
Pili jumped up, and her naked feet hit the cold floor. It was the first time daddy had shouted at her, at least in such a hard way. Something was changing inside him, and not in a good way.
27
Angels had said the first day that she wanted to spend a week with them at home. She said, in a moment of thoughtlessness, that she had much to tell about the house and her ancestors. Antonia was not particularly excited about the idea, and she did not go to pick her up the first time. But one September day, when she had gone to buy some bread to Bonmati, a small town located 10 kilometers from the house, she saw her again.
“Hello, Antonia,” A familiar voice said.
Antonia pretended she had not heard it and she didn’t answer. She was about to open her car door. It was a white Seat 127. She took the keys out of her handbag and chose the wrong key, so she couldn’t insert it into the lock.
“Buff!” Antonia huffed raising her hand with the keys tingling in the air.
“Did you hurt yourself?” It was Angel’s voice, who had been watching her from the distance, supported by a black walking stick.
“Ah! Are you there? How nice to see you again” All the words that came out from her mouth were lies. She had heard her calling from the first moment and she had recalled that first day when that awful fat woman could not stop talking. She was so mean she had tried to pretend she had not seen her.
“I have been calling you for a while” Angels said, with her everlasting smile across her face under the sunlight. “You forgot me.”
“Ups my bad” Antonia lied once again, glancing towards her. Her blonde hair was shiny, as shiny as her golden ea
rrings. “You know we have been really busy with the removal of all the furniture first, then, cleaning and painting the house, and then with the first animals at the barn. So we forgot. Please forgive us.” Antonia’s lips were trembling after such a lot of lies, but she knew how to hide her displeasure quite well.
"I can imagine." Angels answered, leaning against her walking stick. "But I could take a few days off with you, right now."
It hit her like a ton of bricks, and she reacted opening her eyes wide with uneasiness.
"Are you willing to come right now?" Antonia's lips trembled a bit. She would have liked to see that old woman exploding like a bomb. But she was behind her. She could hear her coming closer, tapping on the floor with her walking stick. She wished with all her heart that the question was answered with a resounding no.
But it was not.
"I need nothing. I could get into your car and spend the whole week with you." She pointed towards the car with her walking stick, but Antonia didn't see her.
"Oh, that would be nice." She bit her lips and closed her eyes.
The sun was probably still shining somewhere else, but she felt a cloud in the sky and everything turned darker, the street and the houses, as if there were ghosts lurking. Then the sun started shining again and the shadows quickly disappeared without a trace.
"Do you agree to take me with you?"
There was an ominous silence for a moment. Antonia wanted to sink through the floor. Her heart was pounding. Her trembling fingers kept trying to choose the right key for a few endless seconds while turning around.
"Yes, of course, it will be a pleasure for us." Antonia lied, with a smirk.
Angels nodded.
She had spoiled Antonia's day.
Or maybe she had spoiled Antonia’s whole week.
"Will you help me to get into the car?" She pointed to the car again.
Antonia closed her eyes without ever losing her fake smile.
28
Angels' presence was very uncomfortable for all the family. But they knew how to conceal their discomfort quite well. Although the first day they talked to her about many trivial things, and the second day they kept trying, but it was becoming quite difficult to see her around with the same huge pants and the tension did not stop increasing.
The House of Bonmati Page 6