“Oh,” he said, taken aback by her enthusiasm. “Alarm?” he said almost questioning himself more than Karen.
“Great. Come in!” she stepped back and let him inside.
He looked about.
“This is beautiful!”
As the man lifted his head to examine the house’s interior, Karen could see a bald spot forming on his already receding hairline.
“Oh, thank you. We’ve just moved in.” Karen felt like pushing the alarm engineer around the house with greater urgency so he would get to the point of installation as soon as possible.
“So, first things first, I need to survey the place; see what needs to go where, and then I’ll put in the temporary one.” He smiled.
Karen returned it and said, “Great! Do you need anything or do you just want to get on with it?”
“If you’re happy enough?”
She nodded.
“I’ll be in the kitchen back there.” She pointed to the hallway.
“I’ll start here then.” He moved to the left living room. Karen watched him for a second and then made her way to the kitchen.
The alarm installation guy, or Terry, as his ID badge said, entered the kitchen ten minutes later. He gave Karen a quick smile as she drank her coffee and then returned his glance to the ceiling and windows. Made a few notes, looked around again, and left, closing the door behind him.
Karen stared out of the kitchen window surveying the lake and forest she essentially owned. ‘Lady of Blackwater Manor’ indeed. Her coffee cupped in between her hands, she savored the warmth on the crisp, cold day. She followed the flight of a bird as it whipped and dived above the lake. It was putting on a daring acrobatic show just for her. She did not know for how long she stood watching the display when a voice behind her made her jump.
“Ma’am?”
She let out a startled noise and turned giggling.
“Sorry.” He smiled. “I've finished with my notes. I should be back in a day or two to install the full thing. I don’t know when exactly but I will contact you. I just need to install the door sensors and I’ll be out of your hair today.”
“That’s fantastic. Thank you.” She offered the man her most genuine smile.
All in, Terry, the alarm guy was in the house roughly two hours. Those two hours were the safest Karen had felt in weeks. She needed this alarm for her own sanity.
“Okay. To turn it on, you push the four-digit pin code. Put in one now.”
Karen typed ‘1967’ the year of their graduation and engagement. The keypad beeped.
“Then you hit ‘arm’, and you’ll hear two beeps.” He pushed the appropriate button and a series of beeps issued from the box.
“That’s it?” Karen asked wide-eyed.
“That’s it. Just put in your pin code before you arm and disarm the alarm. There will be a call system on the full thing. If the alarm goes off, we ring and ask you security questions to see if everything is alright. If not, we will dispatch the police.” He held his hands apart and smirked. The gesture said, ‘simple’.
“Oh, thank you so much! You’ve really put me at ease.”
“No offense, but I wouldn’t have thought Blackwater would have required an alarm system.”
“I know but there was a man staring in at me from that grass.” She pointed behind Terry.
He turned and looked. When he resumed his gaze, he seemed a little concerned.
“I understand, ma’am.”
Terry packed his equipment back into the large duffel bag and shook Karen’s hand. Karen walked him to the door.
“Thank you again, Terry!” she said, fighting the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
“It was my pleasure, ma’am.”
She waved to him as he reversed the truck back down the steep drive. Once the cab was out of sight, Karen slammed the door and set the alarm immediately.
She raced up the stairs to the master bedroom. She sat away from the window in the rocking chair they had picked up at Judd’s. Sophie was tucked safely up in bed having her afternoon nap, the window firmly shut and locked.
Late in the afternoon, Karen heard James’ Pontiac pulling into the drive. She awoke from her doze in the rocking chair, a creak now formed in her neck. She rushed down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Karen reached the door and the alarm panel just in time to disarm it before James could set it off.
James opened the door and jumped, taken aback by the sudden appearance of his wife.
“Oh, honey! Come look!” she dragged him, briefcase and slackened tie to the control panel. “It’s easy. Code and ‘arm’. Code, ‘disarm’.”
She did this in quick succession.
“Calm down, babe”
“Sorry...I’m just so happy it’s in!”
He laughed. “I can’t imagine what you’d be like when the full system is put in.”
Karen smiled, thinking to herself, “You have no idea...”
41
Marcus moved into the attic almost immediately. That first night he managed everything except the bed, which he nagged James to lift the following day.
The easy placement of Marcus old room and his new one in the attic meant the only difficult stage was the ascension of the stairs.
The bed was a tight squeeze but once turned it entered the room easily enough.
With all of Marcus’ toys and posters in place on the once barren walls of the attic, it didn't seem so ominous. Karen still had an uneasy feeling. It lurked deep in her stomach, threatening to pop up any minute and vomit its opinion on the matter.
Everything seemed better until the night arrived. A high pitched pulsating melody screamed. James and Karen sat startled in bed. The alarm was sounding. They looked at each other, trying to decide whether it was an accident, or whether there was an intruder.
The question was of course, was this intruder no stranger to Blackwater House?
“Get the kids and lock yourself in the bathroom!” James ordered.
Karen rushed out the door after James.
He grabbed the baseball bat that sat against the back of the door. Its aluminum body light but powerful in his hands.
He slowly made his way down the stairs, his heart beating out of his chest. James struggled to control his breathing.
“Mom? Dad?” Marcus was nearing the bottom of the staircase from the attic. He rubbed at his eyes.
“Shh! Go with your mother!” James hissed.
Karen appeared from Sophie’s room with the drowsy child in her arms. She was whispering in the child’s ear.
At the bottom of the stairs, James paused. He tried to channel out the alarm. Could he hear any movement? Voices?
Just as he was about to step out from his perch, the telephone rang. He uttered a yelp. He looked around him for safety and reached for the phone.
“Hello?” he whispered.
“Sir, this is Addison Home Security. I can see that there has been an alarm activation in your home. Can you confirm your name and security password?”
“I think there is someone in my house. Send the police!”
“Okay, sir. Hang on, officers are on their way.”
“Thank you.” James placed the phone back in its cradle. His hands shook so badly that it took several attempts. The handset clattered noisily in the darkness. He whipped his head to look behind him down the long, dark passageway to the kitchen and the dining room. He felt something watching from the dark.
James retreated backwards up the staircase, whirling blinding to the left and right, afraid that someone or something would come running out the dark abyss. The baseball bat held out in front of him, ready, he sat at the top of the landing, staring down at the barely illuminated front door.
The minutes crawled at a maddening pace. James fatigue set in. The blaring alarm no longer an imposition upon his ability to sleep. His head bobbed up and down as he caught himself drifting, aware again of his possibly life-threatening situation.
When the pol
ice finally showed, James was sure whoever had been in the house was gone. Officers examined the windows and doors and concluded there was no forced entry.
“A pet perhaps? Cat or dog? A spider moving across a sensor?” The stout officer shrugged.
“We haven’t got one.” James stood, arms folded, unimpressed.
“You didn't close any windows down here?”
“No.”
This is going nowhere, James thought.
“Well whoever it was, the alarm must have scared him off.”
The officer turned to leave.
“That's it?!” James said, reaching out to touch the officer’s shoulder.
“There’s nothing more we can do, apart from get the full alarm system installed soon!”
The stout cop continued his exit before turning at the door.
“Maybe it was a faulty system. That can happen...”
And with that, he closed the door behind him.
James dumbfounded in the middle of the hall stared after the cop through the solid wooden door.
42
Karen contacted the alarm company again the next day querying what the problem with the alarm could have been. The woman with whom she spoke confirmed that there could have been a glitch but the full system should avoid future problems.
Resigned to acceptance, Karen confirmed that, two days later, they would finish the installation. She just had to make it ‘til then.
The night time was rough. She lay in the dark, eyes flicking at each sound. The house was old, the pipes moved and the floors creaked.
They also creaked when someone walked on them, she thought.
The day gave no relief. She slept when she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore, only to be plagued by hellish visions.
The young woman in the basement kept appearing to her. Her chest gored and rotten.
Karen would awake screaming at the empty house, sweat running down the back of her neck, her heart threatening to break out of her chest like the thing from ‘Alien’. Ribs cracking, blood and gore spurting.
Jeez, I need to stop watching that shit...at least until the house is sorted, she thought.
Terry’s smiling face appeared at the door.
“The big day has arrived!”
“I know!” Karen said with relief.
“We’ve got sensors, we’ve got cameras...it’ll be like Fort Knox by the time I’m finished.” He held up a large metal box.
The security handyman worked his way around the house throughout the day.
The kids returned and James was back in time to see the last of the cameras installed.
“Same as before – keypad, passcode etc. The cameras are hooked up to this monitor in the basement.” The security man said as he led James down the stairs into the pitch black basement. A faint burr and flickering light came from a corner in the back, past the boxes of junk and the portrait of Henry Clark. His harsh unforgiving eyes were still visible, penetrating the darkness.
I know who won’t be checking the cameras, James thought amused.
“You use the clicker and it switches channels and the cameras...” Terry did so, and James saw the view from the eave above the front door, then a view high up at the right hand side of the house, looking at the woods. Leaves rustled noiselessly.
“There’s no sound?” James asked.
“No. Not yet. Technology is moving fast though!” The man winked.
Terry flicked through several more channels, showing the various cameras and their respective views; a view of the lake, and one from the opposite side of the house.
“They all record to tape. The tape runs for 48 hours and then re-records so you’ve two days to look back at the footage. You obviously can’t view and record though. You gotta stop the tape first.”
That night, the alarm sounded again. Like before, Karen and the kids hid in the bathroom whilst James investigated. The phone rang, he gave his password and they called the police. This time though, they had footage.
James stood, hands on his hips, his dressing gown open to the cool draft breeze. The basement was stifling. An officer was half bent squinting at the VCR machine. He pushed buttons and looked at the screen. He examined the footage and returned to the VCR controls. Eventually, with some technical help from James, the officer found the relevant time stamp for the alarm.
They watched the cameras over the front door. The black and white image showed nothing. They watched for ten minutes and saw no one enter or leave.
Rewinding the tape, the footage now showed the forest. Again, no one appeared. The officer turned to his colleague. They exchanged a look but said nothing.
The remaining cameras had no evidence of an intruder. The officers turned to James.
“This is the second time someone has called us out, sir. No evidence of unlawful entry. There is either an issue with your alarm system, or someone in this household is playing pranks, and wasting valuable police time and resources!”
The officer fixed James with a stern stare. James felt like telling the guy to ‘go fuck himself’ but thought better. A caved in skull at 3am was sure to leave a hangover in the morning.
“I am sorry in any case, officer...”
James dropped his gaze. He couldn’t look the man in the eye, he would get too annoyed.
After escorting the prick officers back to their cruiser, James turned to a gaunt Karen.
“It happened again, didn't it?” she quivered. “There was nothing there...?”
“The cameras showed nothing, no...but that doesn’t mean it’s anything untoward!”
James hugged his wife, she shook with her sobs. He shushed as she cried into his chest.
43
Karen awoke. She could hear her daughter’s angelic giggling.
The horror of the night before had passed somehow, subsiding in her mind enough to let her drift into a dreamless sleep.
Thankfully, Karen thought. She was sick of the nightmares every night.
James had left to go see the alarm company about the recent events.
Karen threw her legs out from under the covers, the biting cold air a shock from the perfectly insulated bed.
“Honey?” she called as she walked across the hallway. “It’s so late! Please tell me your brother got you breakfast!” Her voice a relaxed sing-song.
She opened the door, expecting to see Marcus and Sophie laughing and joking. A lone Sophie greeted her.
“Soph?!” Karen looked around the room. She entered and checked behind the door. “Where’s your brother?”
The girl shrugged. “I dunno, mommy. Still asleep?” The girl resumed her focus on the dolls in front of her.
“Who were you talking to, then?” Karen said, not really wanting to know the answer.
“Emma!” Sophie smiled her beautiful smile. That face could melt the stoniest of hearts.
“Is she a new friend...?” Karen ventured.
The girl smiled and nodded.
“An...imaginary friend?” Karen did not know how to ask. She needed reassurance though.
The little girl giggled. “Imaginary?” She laughed again. “You're silly, mommy!”
Karen tried to smile with Sophie but couldn’t. “I know, honey, but...she’s not really here though...right now...she leaves when I'm around...?”
“What are you talking about, mommy? She’s standing right behind you!”
Karen swirled around. Her chest pounded. Sweat formed instantly on her neck and back. She saw nothing. A nervous giggle escaped her lips.
“Ah yes...hello, Emma...” Karen knelt and extended her hand, pretending to shake a tiny fist.
Now her daughter was the one giggling.
Karen turned and smiled at her daughter. “What?”
“You're shaking her knee! She’s a grown up, like you!”
Karen went cold. The sweat came back to her.
“You're im --- friend...is an adult?”
“Uh-huh!” The girl nodded enthusiastically. “Sh
e used to live here a very long time ago!”
“She did, huh?” Karen licked her dry lips. Her tongue stuck to them, drying almost immediately when she stuck it out.
“Yep!”
“Did...she say what happened here?”
“You're weird, mommy!”
Karen looked as confused as Sophie. She was asking weird questions.
“What I mean is...did she say why she left the house?”
“She said she didn't like it. She said she ran away.” The girl picked at a particularly attractive doll’s hair. It’s jet-black color impossibly fine and soft. “Mommy? Why do people run away from home?”
Karen whistled a low, slow sound.
“Tough one...” Karen said contemplatively.
The girl waited patiently.
“Well...some people aren’t very happy...”
“Why?”
Karen exhaled another hard puff of air.
What on earth? Where’s James when I need him.
“Because...well, for lots of reasons. Some people don’t have nice parents, or brothers and sisters...”
“Why aren’t they nice?” Sophie’s tiny face frowned deeply.
Her confusion broke Karen’s heart. She did not know what to say. She stared at the young girl’s large hazel eyes. Finally, she managed, “I don’t know...”
Sophie studied her mother for a few seconds longer and then nodded, returning her attention to the dolls.
Karen desperately wanted out of the situation, for the conversation to return to simpler questions. The kind a child should be asking. She turned awkwardly and made her way to the bedroom door. When she reached it, she said weakly, her voice breaking as if from little use, “Wake your brother up and come down for breakfast...”
“Okay!” Sophie response was bright and airy – carefree.
Karen padded down the stairs, wrapping her dressing gown tightly around her, struggling to stave off the cold morning. She ventured a glance either side of her at the foot of the staircase. She popped her head into the living room on her right. The alarm beeped.
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