The Lady Screams
Page 12
I briefly consider knocking again and asking if he has a spare flashlight, but then I remind myself that it doesn't matter. I'll be asleep for the rest of the night anyway, and there'll be light in the morning. And then hopefully Alex will show up, and she'll probably have some amazing plan all worked out, and we'll be out of here. One day soon, the house on Cathmore Road will be nothing more than a weird story I tell to people when they ask what it was like being homeless.
Turning, I walk away from Jerry's front door. I make my way to the pavement, and then I head to the narrow walkway that runs down to the back garden, but then I stop as I spot the railings at the front of the house. It's dark out here, almost too dark to see anything, and when I look up at the sky I realize that it's a moonless night.
I look at the railings again, and I hear Jerry's words echoing in my thoughts.
“When I was a boy,” he told me earlier, “there was an old story... that when there was no moon, if you dared go all the way up to the railings, you'd see the ghost of Doctor Charles Grazier hanging there on the threads of his torn skin, with his guts spilled out all over the pavement.”
The story sounds like some kind of schlock from a bad horror movie, but at the same time I can't help staring at the railings now. I've already had a few scares tonight, but I've always been a big believe in confronting your fears head-on, rather than hiding from them and letting them grow. Finally, even though I know I should get inside as quickly as possible, I start making my way along to the front of the house until I'm outside the window to the left of the front door, which Jerry said was the one that Doctor Grazier jumped from. I hesitate for a moment, staring at the railings, which I can just about make out in the darkness.
I know this is a load of nonsense, but I can't deny that there's a faint tightening sensation of fear in my chest.
Finally I force myself to step forward, edging closer to the railings until I'm pretty sure I'd be able to see any ghost that might be hanging here. In my mind's eye, I imagine a horrific, split-open figure suddenly leaning toward me from the darkness and screaming, but I wait a good couple of minutes and nothing appears.
Of course nothing appears. Everyone knows that ghosts aren't real.
I reach out and touch the railings, feeling the cold, rusting metal for a moment, and then I turn and head back around to the rear of the house. As I walk, I feel a little silly for letting Jerry's stories get to me, but I guess that's only human. And to be fair, given the crazy hallucinations of the past few days, I think I'm actually making some pretty good progress.
Once I'm back inside, I fumble through the darkness and make my way up the main staircase. I can't see anything, not until I reach the landing, by which point my eyes have adjusted just enough for me to be able to see the plate of cat food that I left out earlier. I was hoping to come back and find that the cat had ventured out in my absence. Even if I didn't see the cat tonight, I'd have liked to have seen evidence that it had been here, but the plate is undisturbed and nothing has touched the food.
I look at the open doors that lead off the landing, and I try to imagine the cat lurking in there somewhere, watching me.
“Eat up,” I say out loud, my voice sounding so small and cold in the darkness. “It's good food. Eat some during the night, yeah?”
I hesitate for a moment.
“Please? For me?”
I wait a few seconds longer, hoping for a meow, before looking at the plate of food again. And then, figuring that the cat won't come out while I'm here, I turn and head back downstairs, down to the hallway. I figure I'll sleep in one of the ground floor rooms, and I'll get up early and then Alex will probably show up tomorrow.
And the cat will eat during the night, I'm sure. Assuming he's not full from the rats in the basement. That plate'll be empty in the morning.
Coming Soon
A BEAST WELL TAMED
(THE HOUSE OF JACK THE RIPPER BOOK 5)
Maddie starts to notice more strange things in the house on Cathmore Road, but then she's startled by a new arrival. Meanwhile, back in the late nineteenth century, Doctor Charles Grazier tries to understand exactly what he has created, while Jack faces a crisis that leads him to make a terrible mistake.
Also by Amy Cross
THE ASH HOUSE
Why would anyone ever return to a haunted house?
For Diane Mercer the answer is simple. She's dying of cancer, and she wants to know once and for all whether ghosts are real.
Heading home with her young son, Diane is determined to find out whether the stories are real. After all, everyone else claimed to see and hear strange things in the house over the years. Everyone except Diane had some kind of experience in the house, or in the little ash house in the yard.
As Diane explores the house where she grew up, however, her son is exploring the yard and the forest. And while his mother might be struggling to come to terms with her own impending death, Daniel Mercer is puzzled by fleeting appearances of a strange little girl who seems drawn to the ash house, and by strange, rasping coughs that he keeps hearing at night.
The Ash House is a horror novel about a woman who desperately wants to know what will happen to her when she dies, and about a boy who uncovers the shocking truth about a young girl's murder.
Also by Amy Cross
HAUNTED
Twenty years ago, the ghost of a dead little girl drove Sheriff Michael Blaine to his death.
Now, that same ghost is coming for his daughter.
Returning to the small town where she grew up, Alex Roberts is determined to live a normal, quiet life. For the residents of Railham, however, she's an unwelcome reminder of the town's darkest hour.
Twenty years ago, nine-year-old Mo Garvey was found brutally murdered in a nearby forest. Everyone thinks that Alex's father was responsible, but if the killer was brought to justice, why is the ghost of Mo Garvey still after revenge?
And how far will the real killer go to protect his secret, when Alex starts getting closer to the truth?
Haunted is a horror novel about a woman who has to face her past, about a town that would rather forget, and about a little girl who refuses to let death stand in her way.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BRIDE OF ASHBYRN HOUSE
“I have waited so long for your return.”
In the English countryside, miles from the nearest town, there stands an old stone house. Nobody has set foot in the house for years. Nobody has dared. For it is said that even though the lady of the house is long dead, a face can sometimes be seen at one of the windows. A pale, dead face that waits patiently behind a silk wedding veil.
Seeking an escape from his life in London, Owen Stone purchases Ashbyrn House without waiting to find out about its history. As far as Owen is concerned, ghosts aren't real and his only company in the house will be the thin-legged spiders that lurk on the walls. Even after he moves in, and after he starts hearing strange noises in the night, Owen insists that Ashbyrn House can't possibly be haunted.
But Owen knows nothing about the ghostly figure that is said to haunt the house. Or about the mysterious church bells that ring out across the lawn at night. Or about the terrible fate that befell the house's previous inhabitants when they dared defy the bride. Even as Owen starts to understand the horrific truth about Ashbyrn House's past, he might be too late to escape the clutches of the presence that watches his every move.
The Bride of Ashbyrn House is a ghost story about a man who believes the past can't hurt him, and about a woman whose search for a husband has survived even her own tragic death.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF
“We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”
When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying
discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.
A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.
The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.
Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?
The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.
OTHER BOOKS
BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE
Horror
The Soul Auction
The Ash House
The Camera Man
The Bride of Ashbyrn House
The Body at Auercliff
Haunted
B&B
Laura
Asylum
Meds (Asylum 2)
Annie's Room
The Farm
The Ghost of Molly Holt
The Curse of Wetherley House
The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel
The Haunting of Blackwych Grange
The Ghosts of Hexley Airport
The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)
Darper Danver: The Complete First Series
The Disappearance of Katie Wren
The Horror of Devil's Root Lake
The Printer From Hell
The Nurse
American Coven
Eli's Town
The Night Girl
Devil's Briar
The Cabin
After the Cabin
Last Wrong Turn
The Ghost of Shapley Hall
A House in London
The Blood House
The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)
Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)
The Border
Short Story Collections
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories
Twisted Little Things and Other Stories
The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories
The Vampire of Downing Street and Other Stories
Thrillers
The Murder at Skellin Cottage (Jo Mason book 1)
The Return of Rachel Stone (Jo Mason book 2)
The Girl Who Never Came Back
Other People's Bodies
Dystopian / Science Fiction
The Dog
The Island (The Island book 1)
Persona (The Island book 2)
The Abyss (The Island book 3)