3AM

by Amy Cross

  “It's a dump,” Megan replied, getting to her feet and walking over to the window. Outside, late-night lights burned bright, filling the horizon with a kind of orange glow. “It's like a wasteland,” she added, looking down at the concrete square in front of the tower-block and watching as a figure struggled against the wind, carrying some bags of shopping from the parking lot. “I had no idea people lived like this. It's just miserable, and no-one seems to talk to their neighbor. It's like they each live in their little box and ignore anyone they meet. God, I hate cities.”

  “I'm sure Aunt Pat got them talking.”

  “Apparently not. That's one of the weirdest things, it's like she was a different person when she was here. Whenever she came to family gatherings, she was always happy and talkative. You remember what she was like. But from what I've heard so far, it sounds like she was like everyone else when she was here. She just stayed in her flat and never spoke to anyone.”

  “Are you sure you've got the right flat? That doesn't sound like Pat at all!”

  “There's no mistake. I even found her glasses.”

  “How the hell would she go anywhere without those?”

  “Exactly,” Megan muttered, as she heard police sirens in the distance.

  “Sounds like a nice building,” Rose replied with a laugh. “Are you sure it's good for you being there? Crap, I'm looking at a picture of it now online, it looks like a tomb!God, you probably look so funny right now. You're so not a city girl.”

  “I can manage.”

  “I was talking to my friend Ben this morning,” Rose continued, “and he reckons he has this equipment that can be used to detect strange presences.”

  “This would be Ben the so-called ghost-hunter, would it?”

  “He approaches it from a scientific angle!”

  “It's still rubbish,” Megan replied. “I'm not quite desperate enough to start entertaining that kind of possibility. Not yet.”

  “So when do you think you will be desperate enough? Tomorrow? The day after?”

  “I should get to sleep,” Megan replied wearily. “There's...”

  Her voice trailed off for a moment.

  “There's what?” Rose asked.

  “There are stories about this place,” she continued, turning and looking across the empty room. “People keep saying odd things about it. I can't work out if it's some kind of practical joke designed to scare new people, or...”

  “Or what?”

  “Nothing. It's just a load of rubbish, probably some kind of initiation thing they do around here to everyone new who arrives. You know what people are like, they try to fill their lives with weird stories and urban legends, and eventually they probably forget that the whole thing was originally a lie. We'll talk tomorrow, okay? Hopefully I'll have something to report by then. Plus, I need to make sure there are no rats in the flat. I can hear them in the walls, but I really don't want to wake up and find one in the bed with me.”

  “Let me know when you've talked to the cops.”

  “I just hate the idea of reporting her missing,” Megan replied. “It makes the whole thing more official, like she's really gone and it's serious.”

  “I think it is serious,” Rose said. “It's been weeks since anyone heard from her. People don't just vanish like that unless there's a reason, and the reasons are usually...” She paused. “You know what I mean.”

  “I do,” Megan said quietly, before yawning. “I was just so relieved when we came into the flat earlier and she wasn't... you know...”

  “Dead on the bed?”

  “Dead on the bed.”

  “Well that's why you have to go to the cops and get them to do this stuff. It's too much for you, you can't carry out some kind of major-league search operation, especially after everything that happened with Scott.”

  Megan flinched at the mention of that name. Heading over to the desk in the corner of the bedroom, she picked up an old notebook that had been left behind, and then she opened a drawer to find several large cardboard folders.

  “There's stuff here,” she said after a moment, as she looked down at the crescent moon necklace that was hanging on her chest. She considered taking it off, before deciding to keep it on for just one more night. Tomorrow. She could take it off tomorrow and then put it away permanently. “Too much to look at tonight,” she continued, leafing through the folders, “but I'll go through it in the morning. You never know, maybe there'll be something that helps.” She paused as she felt a faint rumble in her belly. “I should go,” she added. “It's late.”

  “Take care of yourself,” Rose said after a moment. “You sound down, sis. Don't make me get on a train and come up there, okay? You know how much I hate London, it gives me a migraine just thinking about the place. I think I'm going to have to go out tonight and get extra wasted just to stop feeling bad for you.”

  “Thanks,” Megan replied with a sigh. “I think.”

  Once the call was over, she took a moment to do a little research online. Trawling through page after page of search results, she looked for any information about Marshall Heights, but apart from a few basic entries on the local council's housing page, she found nothing. Having half-expected to uncover a whole load of crazy stories and warnings about 3am, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as she realized that Marshall Heights was, after all, just an ordinary tower block. Closing the browser on her phone, she realized that midnight was fast approaching. Too tired to sleep immediately, she read for a while before finally dozing off just before 1am.

  The only sound in the room came from a faint scratching sound as a rat scurried along inside the walls, and the only light came from the red L.E.D. display on the bedside clock.

  Eight

  Standing in the kitchen, Charmian placed a slice of cheese on a piece of bread before reaching into her top pocket and taking out a sleeping pill.

  She glanced through to the dark hallway, to make sure that Beth hadn't come through to watch, and then she used the back of a spoon to crush the pill. Once she had a little pile of white powder prepared, she took a jar of chutney and scooped out a spoonful, which she carefully mixed with the crushed sleeping pill, before smearing the whole lot over the top of the cheese.

  ***

  “This'll have to do,” she said as she sat on the edge of Beth's bed in the dark room and handed her daughter the bread and cheese, taking care to not spill any of the chutney. “Eat this, and then you have to sleep.”

  “But -”

  “You have to sleep.”

  “Can I have a burger?” Beth asked.

  “No.”

  “Please, mum, I'm hungry.”

  “You had dinner just a few hours ago,” she replied, checking her watch. “You can't have another meal at bedtime. Do you think I'm made of money?”

  “Are we poor?” Beth asked.

  “No,” Charmian replied, trying not to sound too defensive, “but we're not rich either. Now eat that bread and cheese, or shall I have it?”

  She listened to the sound of Beth eating in the darkness. Checking her watch, she saw that the time was now a little after half one, and although she was certain that Beth would fall asleep once she'd absorbed the pills, she was still worried.

  “How's the tooth?” she asked finally.

  “It's okay,” Beth replied.

  “If it doesn't come out tomorrow,” Charmian told her, “we'll pull it. When I was your age, my father put a piece of string around one of mine and attached the other end to the door, and then he slammed it shut and the tooth came flying out!”

  “No. That'll hurt.”

  “It won't hurt, it's just a baby tooth. Don't worry, though, we'll find a better way of doing it than the old string and door method.” She paused for a moment. “You've got a big adult one pushing its way through, don't you want to see?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I just don't.”

  “Adult teeth are good,” Charmian continued
. “You're growing up, sweetheart, it's nothing to be worried about. If your dad could see you right now, he'd be so proud.”

  “I miss dad.”

  “I know. We both do.”

  “Will the tooth fairy put money under my pillow after my tooth falls out?”

  “Maybe,” Charmian replied .”We'll see.”

  “This chutney tastes funny,” Beth said. “It doesn't taste like the chutney I had at the supermarket that time.”

  “Just eat it.”

  “But -”

  “It's good for you. You need it.”

  She listened to the sound of Beth chewing for a moment longer, and then finally she heard her daughter swallowing.

  “All gone.”

  “Great.” Taking the plate, she leaned across the bed and found Beth in the darkness, before giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Now go to sleep. It's late.”

  “I'm not tired.

  “You will be:”

  “Mum, while you were out I heard -”

  “Good night,” Charmian said firmly, interrupting her before she could finish the sentence.

  “But -”

  “You really need to sleep.” Hearing a scratching sound in the walls, she bumped her fist against the plaster just to the left of the light-switch, instantly scaring the unseen rat away. “Goodnight, Beth,” she added. “Now sleep!”

  Getting to her feet, Charmian headed to the door. Once she was out in the hallway, she set the plate down and grabbed her purse. After rooting through the various compartments, she finally found an old fifty pence piece, and although she couldn't really afford to part with any cash at all, she figured she couldn't disappoint Beth when the tooth fairy was finally due. Slipping the coin away, she made her way toward the bathroom, before stopping and glancing at the front door for a moment. A cold shiver passed through her body, before she checked her watch.

  1:45am.

  Another seventy-five minutes to go.

  Nine

  “Scott?”

  Sitting up suddenly in the dark, Megan looked around the room and for a moment she felt she was back at home, with her boyfriend next to her. Reaching out to run her hand across the other side of the bed, she finally remembered that she was at Marshall Heights, although she was dimly aware of a dream about home that seemed to be fading from her mind. She dreamed about Scott every night, which was both a good and a bad thing: good because she liked seeing him again, and bad because the dreams made it harder for her to let him go. Feeling a little breathless, she reached over and checked the time on her phone:

  2:55am.

  “Almost three,” she whispered with a smile. Spotting a new text message, she opened it and found another drunken missive from her sister:

  Wasted at the union bar. Hope yr having fun in the big bad city with all the ghosts. Miss you.

  Getting out of bed, she took her phone and wandered wearily through to the bathroom. She was still waiting for her period, but she figured all the stress of the past few months had been more than enough to knock her body out of whack and besides, there was no way she could possibly be pregnant. Keeping her eye on the time, she watched as the display changed first to 2:56am and then to 2:57am. By the time it reached 2:58am she was in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water. She headed back into the hallway and glanced at the door, before making her way to the bedroom and climbing back under the covers. As she set the phone down, she checked the time once again:

  2:59am.

  In the darkness above the bed, a scratching sound could be heard.

  “Go away, rat,” Megan whispered.

  The sound continued for a few seconds, before stopping suddenly.

  “Thank you,” she added.

  Closing her eyes, she tried to remember something of the dream from a few minutes ago, but although she knew it had been about her home life with Scott, the details were remaining stubbornly vague; they'd been in a house, maybe a cottage somewhere, maybe painting, perhaps a nursery or -

  Suddenly she heard a brief banging sound outside, as if someone was knocking on the front door of the flat. Opening her eyes, she instinctively grabbed her phone and checked the time:

  3am on the dot.

  She waited, telling herself not to be so easily freaked out while at the same time holding her breath. Reaching up and checking her pulse, she found that her heart was racing, but she told herself to stop panicking.

  And then someone knocked again.

  She froze.

  Silence.

  Another knock. Slow, deliberate, unmistakeable.

  “Hello?” a female voice called out from the hallway outside the flat, knocking yet again. “Are you in there?”

  Sitting up, Megan waited, convinced that the unexpected caller would simply go away if she didn't answer.

  “Please,” the voice continued, starting to sound scared, “I need to come inside. I can't be out here right now, it's...” She seemed to pause for a moment. “Have you seen the time? It's three, I can't be out here, it's too dangerous. Please, no-one else will let me in, you have to open the door!”

  Megan opened her mouth to reply, but at the last moment she stopped herself.

  “He's out here!” the voice shouted. “I can tell he's here and he's getting closer, he wants to hurt me for what I did to him! Please, I thought I'd managed to get rid of him, but he's on the other side and he's ready to come back through! I can hear him screaming in the dark place! He's finally noticed the bait!”

  Megan waited, holding her breath.

  “He's coming!” the voice continued, banging on the door again. “For God's sake, what's wrong with you? I know you're in there, why won't you open the door? If you don't help me, he's going to get me!”

  Climbing out of bed, Megan made her way across the room and then peered out into the dark hallway. A figure was visible through the frosted glass in the front door, just a blurred silhouette against the night sky, and after a moment there was another knock.

  “I get it,” the voice said, “you're scared, but please, you can't leave me out here! When he comes through, he's going to want to hurt me. Please, when he's angry he... I don't know what he'll do, but he's had a long time to plan his revenge!”

  Staying quiet, Megan tried to decide what to do. Ordinarily she'd always go and help someone who was in danger, but this time she felt as if something wasn't quite right. The stranger outside the door sounded subtly different each time she spoke, almost as if she was cycling through different emotions, trying to find the right one that would get the door open. Looking through at the clock on the cooker, she saw that the time was now 3:03am, but she almost jumped out of her skin as she heard another knock on the front door.

  “Please help me,” the voice continued, sounding close to tears. “What if he comes tonight? What if he breaks through? If you think he'll stop when he's done with me, you're wrong. He wants to come through permanently, he wants to get away from the dark place and come back to this world!”

  Trembling with fear, Megan stared at the vague dark shape that was just about visible through the frosted glass.

  “Please,” the voice continued, starting to sob now. “I'm scared. I thought I'd got rid of him forever, but now I think he's going to find a way back. I can hear them screaming, they all want to come with him. If you don't open this door, I'll -”

  Suddenly the figure seemed to turn and look along the walkway. A second later, she stepped back and was no longer visible through the frosted glass. Megan held her breath, waiting to see if the ordeal was over while simultaneously telling herself that the whole thing was in her head. She reached down and pinched her arm, but the immediate flash of pain was enough for her to be certain she wasn't dreaming, in which case -

  “Help me!” the voice screamed, appearing at the door again and banging on the glass with much more force than before. “Let me in! You have to help!”

  Megan instinctively took a step back.

  “Oh God,” the voice continued, soundi
ng far more terrified than before, “I can hear him! He's coming for me! Please, you have to help me, I can't stay out here! He'll find me!”

  She started hammering on the door again, so hard that it seemed she might break the glass.

  “Let me in!” she screamed. “Don't leave me out here! Don't let him get me!”

  Suddenly Megan realized she could hear another sound outside, like a kind of heavy scratch being cut into the concrete walls. She turned to go back into the bedroom, but at the last moment she glanced back at the frosted window.

  “Help!” the voice screamed. “Please, you have to save me, you have to -”

  “Wait!” Megan shouted, running to the door and fumbling with the lock. Just as she managed to pull it open, however, she became aware of a whimpering sound outside, and as she swung the door open she glimpsed something rushing past. Leaning out, she looked for the terrified girl but there was no sign of anyone.

  She waited.

  “Hello?” she said, stepping out onto the walkway. The concrete felt icy beneath her bare feet, but as she looked both ways, she realized that whoever had been outside was nowhere to be seen.

  Glancing out at the dark city, she listened for a moment to a kind of deep roar that filled the sky. For just a few seconds, she felt as if the roar was something new, something primal and angry, until she reminded herself that it was just the usual background noise that people always heard in cities at night.

  Stepping back into the flat, she pushed the door shut and made doubly certain to slide the bolt across, before heading back to the dark bedroom. Her heart was still racing, and she had no idea what had just happened: she kept telling herself that the whole thing had been some kind of trick, but she couldn't shake the fear that she'd just turned a terrified girl away from her door.

  Ten