Lady Arabella

by W. H. Cann

The north aisle was one section of the abbey that was still in a good state of repair, but the roof had deteriorated badly in a couple of places. Unless work was done to repair the minor damage soon, it would get much worse, something that was a high probability due to the lack of funds available. It saddened the Cairnby’s to see such buildings going to ruin, especially those that could be preserved and restored without requiring extensive rebuilding work.

  William strolled along the aisle glancing up at the ceiling and walls. Sealed glass fronted cases were fixed to the outer wall in between the tall stained glass windows. Each one contained a complete skeleton of someone who was believed to be important in the abbey’s history, although no one knew for certain. All of the skeletons were well preserved and in excellent condition, which could not be said for the others found outside. William gazed at each in turn as he walked, wondering who they were and if they were indeed important or influential figures from the past.

  Half way along the aisle, William suddenly felt very cold. There was no breeze and the air was still quite warm. He then had the distinct feeling he was being watched. When he turned around, there was no one to be seen, nor was there any sound. He sighed, and turned to continue walking along the aisle. As he glanced up at the skeleton to his right, he froze.

  Instead of seeing an expressionless skull, William saw a woman’s face smiling at him. He stared in shock, felt his pulse increase, and wondered if he was just seeing things, but the face remained clearly visible. Then the image of the body gradually materialised. She was a very attractive woman with long brown hair tied in the fashion of the sixteenth century. William shook his head in disbelief, turned and began walking away, convinced he was just imagining it all.

  Another shiver wracked his body, but he decided to ignore it and continued walking along the aisle, brushing aside what he believed was his over active imagination. Moments later, the compulsion to turn back and look was so strong he was unable to resist it. He stopped, took a few deep breaths, and felt foolish thinking he had seen a woman instead of the skeleton.

  “What are you doing William?” he said as he gazed back at the case on the wall. “You’re losing your mind,” he sighed and turned his head away when he saw only a skeleton in the case.

  The woman he believed he had seen was very attractive, with pale green eyes and a fair complexion. He wondered who she was, and tried to picture the face in his mind, believing it was someone he had seen, either in person or in a picture. Despite this, he remained convinced it was his imagination playing tricks with him. William had always been open-minded about the existence of ghosts, had visited many historical buildings that were supposed to be haunted, but he had never seen one for himself.

  With the compulsion to turn around still plaguing him, he sighed lightly and turned. When he looked down the north aisle from whence he came, he had the greatest shock of his life. Standing several metres in front of him was the woman he had seen in the glass case. His heart began to race, a pain shot through his body and intensified in his chest. William swore he was having a heart attack, and supposed the hallucination was an early sign of it. An icy coldness gripped him, his breathing became laboured, the pain in his chest intensified, and a feeling of dread flooded his soul.

  The woman was still smiling, a warm and kindly smile, but it did not alleviate William’s condition. He felt his legs weakening and he thought he was about to die. The woman approached him, reached out and pressed her hand gently against his cheek. It was icy cold. His mind reeled from shock. “How can I feel her hand if she’s a ghost?” he asked himself.

  The woman ignored his question. “William, I am so pleased you came,” she said, her voice gentle and pleasant.

  William’s eyes widened with shock, he wanted to turn and walk away, but he was unable to make his legs move. He tried to speak, but it felt as if he were struck dumb. He gazed at the woman, her warm smile and the brightness of her eyes spoke of love and kindness. Her face was free from blemish, smooth as marble, but pale; her skin almost white in colour. Her style of dress suggested she was of high standing, of noble birth.

  Then he thought she might be an angel come to take his spirit to the otherworld, perhaps heaven or somewhere the spirits lived on after death. William believed he was about to discover.

  “I have waited so long to meet you, much longer than memories would normally allow.” When he failed to respond, the woman frowned. “I would not have expected you to be silent, William. Are you not able to speak?”

  “This is not happening. It cannot be real.” He whispered so softly it was barely audible to human ears, but the ghostly apparition heard it clearly.

  She smiled again. “It is happening William. You are awake and I stand before you. I am as real as you are William,” she said, her expression radiant. “I am Lady Arabella, the daughter of Sir Eldred, and I have come seeking your help.”

  William doubted what he saw with his eyes and heard with his ears. He was convinced he was hallucinating, on the cusp of death and seeing the angel of death.

  “Please relax William; I mean you no harm, but I do need your help. Please, come with me,” she said. Lady Arabella reached out to take hold of his hand, but William took a step backward. “Please William, there is little time.”

  He gazed at her intently. Her eyes that sparkled with brightness revealed her desperation and her pain. He sighed wondering if he could trust this ghost, if it was indeed the spirit of Lady Arabella. Reluctantly, he raised his hand toward her, allowing her to grasp it. He expected to feel nothing, or perhaps a cold sensation as her hand passed straight through his, but it was solid and icy cold. It sent a shiver through his body. When she made to walk along the aisle, William failed to move. His legs felt as if they had taken root.

  Lady Arabella smiled. She understood his reservation, his concern, and so waited patiently. William fought back his fear and took a step forward. She continued smiling, and led him along the north aisle to the door which led into the small Chapel of St Peter.

  Once inside the nave, Lady Arabella, still holding his hand, turned to face him. “Of all those I have encountered in the last three hundred years, you are the only one who has . . . survived.”

  William stared at her dumbfounded. “What do you mean, the only one who has survived?”

  Lady Arabella sighed, sadness evident in her expression. “I have heard of many people who have said they’ve seen a ghost, but those whom I have encountered here in this abbey died from fright, and I do not understand why. It was not like this long ago.”

  William did not know what to think or say.

  “Why are you so silent, William? You have always been inquisitive, even in regard to the paranormal.”

  “How do you know this, and what do you mean it was not like this long ago?”

  “I know much about what happens in this time and still remember much of what I have learnt over the centuries. In days gone by, many people accepted the presence of spirits without question or fear. I myself saw two when I was a child. Now, in your time, people seem to be more frail, easily frightened, and weak natured.”

  “There are many who do believe in the afterlife, in spirits, and the paranormal. I have, as you pointed out, been open-minded about the spirit world, but until now, have never encountered a spirit. So why is my surviving this encounter so important?”

  Lady Arabella smiled. “It proves you are the one who will be able to free my spirit from being bound to this world, to set me free so my spirit can at last find peace and rest, along with those who are bound here with me.”

  William gazed around the nave, which was empty and silent. It was an eerie silence that chilled him to the bone, and Lady Arabella’s silence made it more surreal. The Chapel of St Peter was the only complete and undamaged of the three naves contained in the abbey. The central nave, the Chapel of St Mark was in a state of partial ruin. The roof had collapsed several years ago, but the damage to the interior had already been done.

  Lady Ara
bella began walking toward the central nave, stopped when William failed to move, and smiled at him. “Come William. I have something to show you.”

  William was still suffering from shock over what was happening. He gazed at her in wonderment, still unable to believe he was holding the hand of the first ghost he had ever encountered. As he continued looking at her, he became unsure about his state of mind, and whether he was in fact awake, or still in bed at the guest house, fast asleep and dreaming.

  Lady Arabella pulled gently and William walked at her side, unable to resist her warm friendly smile. She opened the door to St Mark’s chapel and walked through. William followed closely behind, albeit hesitantly. The longer he remained in her presence, the more nervous he became. The impulse to break free from her grip grew, but it felt as if his hand had frozen to hers and he was unable to move any of his fingers.

  Despite his anxiety and concern, William was intrigued about this woman, what had happened to her that resulted in her spirit being bound to the abbey, and to roam endlessly without finding peace and rest. He also wondered why she was taking him to the Chapel of St Mark, and what significance it held to her fate.

  The scene that presented itself to him as he stepped into the chapel shocked him to the core. He knew what the interior looked like in its ruined condition from recent photos he had studied, and had seen paintings of what it was like at the height of its glory, which was how he was seeing it now. The roof was undamaged, stained glass windows were complete, tapestries were hanging on the walls, ornaments and other objects were on tables, and vases filled with flowers were on the window sills.

  The greatest shock, however, was in seeing a group of people kneeling before the altar. A priest was blessing several peasant families, while more families waited in the pews, mostly peasant but some were obviously from the gentry. As he absorbed the scene before him, pain wracked his chest, and his breathing became shallow and laboured. Seeing and talking to one ghost was more than he could ever had ever expected to experience, but now he saw more than a dozen ghosts. What was more intriguing and surprising was that they all appeared to be solid, not the translucent apparitions often described by those who believed they had seen ghosts.

  “Where am I?” asked William.

  Arabella smiled. Despite William pulling his hand as if trying to break free, she maintained her grip. Had she let go, all he could see and witness would disappear, and her hopes for release would be shattered before the truth could be revealed.

  “You are in the Chapel of St Mark of course, witnessing the last blessings of those whose bones you collected earlier.”

  “What? Are you telling me I’m seeing the past? Am I amongst the spirits too?” It was too much for him to comprehend.

  Lady Arabella stifled a laugh. “No William, you are still alive. You’re mind and spirit has been opened to the spirit world and the truth. We,” she said sweeping her arm indicating all of the others, “are the spirits of those who are condemned to roam the land forever, unless someone makes atonement for us. What you are witnessing is how it was over four centuries ago: Our last moments alive. It was created by the spirit world to torment us.”

  William stared at her, aghast and yet saddened.

  “In forcing us to relive our last days of life over and over, we are made to suffer the pain of what we knew, and where we have been deprived of going: Paradise after life. We grow tired William, very tired.”

  William looked at her curiously. “Can spirits tire?”

  Lady Arabella smiled and nodded. “Indeed we can, but not in the same sense as the living. Father Tomos will enlighten you on why we are here, and how you can help.”

  The scene was unbelievable, incredible, something you would expect to see in film or a dream, but it all appeared to be real. William wondered how it could be so. “How can I see all of this?”

  “You are now in the spirit world, the life after death,” she said smiling.

  There was a sparkle in her eye, one that lit up William’s heart. For reasons beyond his comprehension, he was able to feel not only the presence of Lady Arabella, but her emotions as well. She was filled with grief and sadness, and it impacted on William in a profound way.

  He turned sharply to face her. “You mean I’m dead!”

  Lady Arabella laughed. “No William, your spirit has been, well, transported to our world. You need not fear; your body is quite safe, and no one will miss you.”

  Despite her calm reassurances, the Lady’s words troubled him. He was not convinced his spirit would be able to return to his body, but even so, he was still unsure if this was a dream, a very vivid dream, or not. “How can the spirit return to the body? Surely once the two are parted, death is inevitable?”

  “In normal circumstances, yes, what you say is true. However, we have powers that transcend those of humanity. Yes, it is what you call magic, and it does exist. The modern world has forgotten how to utilise it, lost sight of the truth, lost unity and harmony with nature and life.”

  “You say you’re growing tired. What will happen if you do not find peace?”

  “Our spirits will fade in strength, what you see now will diminish in clarity, and we will no longer be able to prevent the horror of what the spirit world can invoke on those who desecrate our graves, where we died, or venture here at troubled times.”

  William became increasingly curious about the spirit world and its affect on life. “Troubled times?”

  “They are the anniversaries of certain events that led us to the moment of death, freak weather conditions such as the storm that raged last night, and paranormal interference. The spirits can walk peacefully for many years, not peace of mind, but simply roam the land without malicious intent, wandering aimlessly in sadness, longing for release from their prison. Eventually, this will end and then the spirits are prone to tormenting, driving people insane, or even to their deaths.”

  “But you have walked peacefully for centuries.”

  Even though Lady Arabella smiled, there was no mistaking the sadness in her expression. “That is true. However, I fear I will no longer be able to do so. As I said, we grow tired.”

  There was so much to take in, so much to understand about the spirit world, he wondered if anyone would believe him if he told them, that was of course if he lived to tell them. William gazed toward the group of people kneeling in front of the altar. He could not even begin to imagine what suffering they were enduring, or what impact their continued existence would have on their spirits. There was something about the whole situation that touched his heart and his spirit, and he knew he had to help them, but would he be able to do so? Was it really in his power to release these poor souls from their prison?

  Then the priest looked up, turned his head to face William and fixed him with a stony glare. William saw something sinister in the depths of the priest’s eyes that chilled him to the bone, and made him think all would not be well. He wondered if the priest had already weakened to the point where he would begin acting maliciously.

  Chapter Four