by Sheila Tibbs
Mrs. Leadbetter opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. The revolting life form began to laugh. Mrs. Leadbetter covered her ears and fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. She had never felt so scared as she felt now. How could she have mistaken that for a helpless child?
She prayed for help, but somehow, from deep inside, she knew she was alone and that she was about to die. Then she felt it.
The lump, small at first, in the back of her throat. She tried to clear it but it just got bigger and bigger, until she was gasping for air.
'Oh, God, no, please not like this!' she thought.
She could feel her eyes begin to bulge, and her face contorted as she fought for air. The ground seemed to come up to meet her and she hit the dirty trail with force.
As the last breath left her mouth, she tried to focus on the creature in front of her, yet, once again, it appeared to be a young girl, so beautiful.
“My name is Isobel,” she smiled.
Mrs. Leadbetter breathed no more.
•
“Isobel, are you okay, love? You’re miles away,” the substitute teacher asked.
“Yes, miss, I’m fine, now,” she smiled.
The bell sounded for the end of school and the children ran onto the playground to meet their mothers. Sarah waited by the main gate for Isobel, as she had always done. Together they walked off home.
Father Mather replaced the receiver without dialling Sarah’s number. He knew she would now be collecting Isobel from school. He had been too late to warn her before she met her. He would have to take his chances and telephone her when Isobel was there. A task he was dreading more than facing her himself.
All the way home, Isobel hummed Girls and boys come out to play. Sarah shuddered.
Back in her room, her music box played in time.
Chapter twenty-five.
Father Mather waited until four o' clock to phone Sarah again, knowing that by then, she would be home from collecting Isobel from school.
Taking a deep breath, he rehearsed again in his mind how he would word his discovery to Sarah. Picking up the handset, he dialled the number to the Manor. The phone was answered but not by Sarah, by a voice that spat pure evil.
“You are too late, Father, Sarah is mine.” Then the laugh came.
Father Mather pulled the receiver from his ear and stared at it in disbelief. The mouthpiece contorted and a long, black, snake like tongue protruded from it, into the room. Father Mather screamed and dropped the handset. Quickly making the sign of the cross, he recited the Lord ’s Prayer over and over again. The tongue disappeared and the laughter began again.
“Spawn of Satan, I challenge thee. Stop your mind games, stop your foolery and show yourself,” Father Mather hissed. Again the laughter came.
“Your time will come old man, then we will see how great your God is, he is no match for me. Your belief in him is already faltering, you're pathetic, I shall enjoy watching you suffer.”
The line went dead.
•
David sat in his vast office, looking at the woman in front of him.
“It’s so long since I have seen you, why don’t you visit me at night anymore?” he asked.
“Hush, David,” she said, placing a finger gently on his lips. “Remember, ask me no questions and I will give you pleasures beyond your wildest dreams.”
Then, as if by magic, she was naked in front of him. The want in David’s eyes was evident. She slowly walked round to his side of the desk and sat in front of him, legs wide open. David leaned forward and kissed her. His hands found her breasts and he started to fondle each one, until her nipples stood erect. The phone rang.
“Ignore it, David,” she said.
“No, I can’t, love, I’m waiting for an important call from a client, it won’t take a minute ... stay where you are.” He smiled.
David reached over for the telephone, but before he could answer it, she spat, “I said LEAVE IT! It’s not your client, just that stupid minister from your home town!”
David stared up at her, just in time to see her face for what it really was, the yellow tinge of her eyes, the ugliness of her face.
“Oh my God, who ... what are you?”
He couldn’t hide the fear in his voice. She looked at him and laughed, and then she was gone.
With shaking hands, David reached for the phone that was still ringing.
“Hello.”
“Thank God I’ve reached you, David! It’s Father Mather.
Sarah is in danger, I know you don’t believe what Sarah has been telling you, but it’s true, trust me. I can’t explain it all now but I will. Right now though, Sarah needs you! I will meet you at them Manor. And, David, hurry!” The line went dead.
David, still shocked by the image he had just seen, didn’t question what he had just heard.
He reached for his car keys and ran from his office.
Father Mather grabbed his coat and left the cottage. He slammed his car into gear and sped off towards the Manor, making sure he had a large supply of Holy water and his bible beside him.
He turned into the lane that led to the Manor moments later. As he approached the bend, the Manor’s drive came into view. Then, there she was, Isobel, standing in front of him as he turned the bend.
He slammed on his brakes, nothing. He kept hitting them, praying for them to work. He swerved, the car was out of control, and the large oak tree loomed in front of him. He raised his arms to cover his face ... then he felt it - the tree branches smashing the windscreen.
The impact shook him and the vehicle ... then nothing but the laughter could be heard.
David pulled into the lane some half-hour later. As he rounded the bend, he saw Father Mather’s car wrapped round the old oak tree, the same tree that had claimed the lives of Sarah’s parents. He pulled over and ran to the car. Father Mather was still alive.
“Okay, Father, it’s me, David. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“No, it’s too late for me, David, leave me be. You must go, go help Sarah.”
“No, Father, let me get my mobile from the car ... get the ambulance! You’re going to be okay!”
As David ran towards his car, the explosion threw him off his feet and he hit the ground. He spun round.
Father Mather’s car was a ball of flames. David got to his feet and tried to reach him, but the flames beat him back. He looked up and saw the driveway to the Manor in front of him. He ran towards it.
“Sarah, Sarah!” he shouted.
He ran onto the drive, he could see the Manor in front of him, but it seemed to be getting further away, the more he ran, the further away the Manor seemed.
“NOOOO!” he shouted and ran as fast as he could.
Eventually, as he reached the front door, it swung open.
There in front of him stood the woman who had visited him in his office, the woman who had shared his bed at night. He stopped. She smiled at him.
“Come in, David, I’ve been expecting you.”
David pushed passed her. “Sarah, where are you, darling?” he shouted. Then, turning to the woman, he said. “If you’ve hurt her, God help you!”
“It is you who needs his help,” she laughed. Then she was gone.
David ran through the house, calling Sarah. In the kitchen the basement door stood open. He ran down the stairs.
“Sarah, Sarah? Are you down here? Oh God, help me!”
Sarah was indeed down there. Pinned against the wall by this thing and she had cuts and bruises all over her. With tear stained eyes, she looked pleadingly at David and mouthed the word; 'Isobel.'
“What the Hell…” he shouted.
From behind him, he heard movement. There stood Isobel.
“Yes, David” she said. “Have you met my son? Sarah has, many times, many nights. Haven’t you, Sarah?”
“What?” he said, looking first at the little girl, then at the creature mauling his wife. His feet seemed to be stuck to the gr
ound, he couldn’t move.
“Yes. While I was with you, David, my son, well, he was with Sarah, wasn’t he Sarah?”
She laughed and the beast chuckled.
“Get off her, leave her alone!” he cried.
He looked back at Isobel. The little girl had changed into the woman he had seen both at his office and upstairs in the hall.
The woman he had copulated with and enjoyed every moment they had shared. The woman he had wanted so much ... she had made him reach such sexual heights, he had longed for her every hour of every day. Now though, he felt sick, she repulsed him.
“Who are you?” he pleaded.
“Why, David, it’s me ... Isobel.” She laughed.
“What?” he said, stunned. He couldn’t comprehend what she was saying, or what he was seeing. He felt it was all a bad dream and he would wake at any moment.
“Oh David, David,” she said. “Where do I start?”
David heard Sarah whimpering.
“Please get him off her, make him stop.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, David. It’s what she deserves.”
David, sickened by what was happening in front of him, lunged at Isobel.
Suddenly, he and Isobel were standing in Isobel’s bedroom. She was once again a seven-year-old little girl, crying.
“David, what have I done? Why are you angry? Please don’t hit me!” she cried.
Confused, David looked round the room. What the Hell was going on? Then he saw Isobel for her true self, in the dressing table mirror. Her music box began to play. He looked at the little girl in front of him and ran, pushing her through the doors and over the balcony.
“Go to Hell!” he shouted.
As Isobel fell, she laughed a spine-chilling laugh.
“It’s not over!” she shouted.
Then, nothing.
David looked over the balcony and Isobel had gone, there was nothing laying on the concrete drive below.
“Sarah!” he shouted and ran down to the basement.
There he found Sarah, naked and a heap on the floor, the beast had gone. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and there, they sat hugging each other.
•
At the hospital, the doctor came into the side room where Sarah and David sat.
“Well, Sarah, the good news is the wounds are superficial and will heal ... and your baby is fine, no damage.” He smiled.
“Baby? What baby?” Sarah asked, then looked at David in complete shock.
“What you didn’t know? You're four months pregnant.”
Sarah and David looked at each other and smiled.
“Congratulations,” the doctor said and left the room.
David and Sarah hugged and kissed. David placed his hand on Sarah’s stomach and said, “I’m sorry, Sarah for not believing you.”
“Hush. It’s all over. She’s gone,” she smiled.
The following day, they left the hospital hand in hand.
•
Father Mather’s accident was recorded as just that, an accident. All the deaths that had taken place in that sleepy village over the previous months, had all been recorded as either natural death, or accident.
Over the coming months, the residents learned to live with the misfortunes that had been bestowed upon them - and Isobel was never mentioned. People didn’t whisper their beliefs or her name. She was forgotten - it was like she had never existed.
Their lives continued as they had done before she had arrived. They knew they couldn’t talk of their fears, after all, who outside the village would believe them? There was no seven-year old little girl, alive or dead.
Christmas came and went in a blur of excitement and disbelief for David and Sarah. Excitement about the news they received at the hospital, and disbelief that the whole Isobel episode had actually happened.
The more days and weeks that passed, the more it all seemed like a bad dream.
The doctor had been right too. Sarah’s wounds all healed, eventually the bruises turned yellow and faded completely, the scratches disappeared and there was no longer any reminder of that awful day. Sarah could look again in the mirror and only see herself, as she really was.
•
It was May 11th when Sarah went into labour, two weeks early and she caught both herself and David by surprise.
David rushed Sarah to Southend hospital’s maternity unit in a blind state of panic. Sarah on the other hand, was abnormally calm and took the coming of their longed for child in her stride.
Three hours after arriving on the unit, the birth took place and their beautiful baby daughter was born safe and sound at 23.59.
The young nurse who had delivered her laughed. “One minute later, little girl, and you would have been born on May 12th.”
She handed Sarah her daughter. For a fleeting moment, Sarah remembered that Isobel had been born on May 12th, just passed midnight, and that her twin had come into the world on May 11th, just before midnight.
But, as the precious little bundle was placed into her arms, all thoughts of Isobel vanished. David and Sarah decided they would call their daughter Bethany.
On May 14th, David pulled up outside the Manor and holding Bethany in his arms he said, “Welcome home, darling,” and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. Bethany stirred in his arms. Holding the door open for Sarah, she stepped out into the sunlight.
After ten days of paternal bliss, David returned to work, phoning Sarah almost hourly to check on her and his beloved daughter. Sarah found this both charming and annoying, as every time she tried to do something, the phone would ring.
•
The weeks turned into months and before they knew where they were, Bethany was six months old, smiling at every one, gurgling away and chewing her fist. She was so happy and good. They felt they had truly been blessed. David, however, still phoned regularly, although not hourly, and Sarah now found his calls comforting, someone to talk to even if it was just a fleeting conversation. David had decorated the nursery in pastel pink and cream with Disney characters on the walls and ceiling. One end of the nursery was covered in cuddly toys of all shapes, sizes and colours, gifts from the well wishers of the village. David had bought Bethany’s cot, a beautiful four poster with draping pink and cream curtains and matching bedding. A cot fit for a princess he had said, and that’s what Bethany was in their eyes.
•
The summer had come and gone and the autumn had set in weeks before. The leaves on the trees in the lane had turned warming shades of red and gold. This year, the summer had been quite cold and wet, unlike the previous summer, and the autumn had bought with it more rain and strong winds.
The old Manor groaned and creaked under the force of the wind and often, as Sarah lay awake at night, it would sound as if there was someone, or something, moving around down stairs.
•
It was on November 18th that Sarah had her first worry about Bethany.
She had just laid Bethany down, for an afternoon sleep, when she could hear her laughing. On entering the nursery, a cold chill seemed to sweep through Sarah and catch her breath. Bethany looked up at her mother and the smile fell from her face and was replaced by a grimace.
“No!” she shouted at Sarah and turned her head away.
Sarah left the room, and within moments Bethany was again laughing.
The following morning, Sarah sat Bethany in her swinging chair, attached to the door-frame of the kitchen, while she busied herself with the housework.
As she entered the lounge, she again heard Bethany begin to laugh with excitement. Sarah stuck her head around the door to see what could be so funny, then wished she hadn’t, for there, in front of her, was Bethany’s toy bear, floating in the air just inside the kitchen. Sarah gasped, Bethany shot round, and the toy fell to the floor.
“No!” she shouted. Her lovely blue eyes seemed to have gone black, the look of sheer anger aimed at her mother had made Sarah retreat back into the lounge.
When David returned home, just after lunch, Sarah told him what she had seen and how Bethany had reacted.
David slammed his fist onto the table and shouted. “Enough Sarah! What’s wrong with you? I won’t hear all of this, not again, do you hear me.”
“But I was right last time, David, remember? There’s nothing wrong with me, I know what I saw, Bethany’s not right, she’s…”
“I’m warning you. Stop it, just stop it!”
He stormed upstairs to the nursery where Sarah had left Bethany. Bethany sat in her cot, smiling. David walked into the nursery, Bethany pointed to the French doors with her chubby little fingers and said; 'Mama.'
David went to her and picked her up.
“No, sweetheart, mummy’s downstairs in the kitchen, she’s not through the door, see?”
Bethany put her face to the door and giggled and David giggled too.
Downstairs, Sarah paced around, wringing her hands and mumbling to herself.
“So, you think I imagined it, do you? Just like I did last year, huh? Well, who was right then? Me, that’s who. We can’t have children remember, David, but what a miracle that I conceived Bethany, just when SHE was here. It’s not right I tell you. It will end in tears.”
It was a week later when Sarah’s worst fears where confirmed.
A parcel arrived by courier, addressed to Bethany. Sarah signed for the package and closed the door.
“Look, honey,” she said, “someone’s sent you a present. I don’t know who though, there seems to be no note or senders address?”
Bethany giggled. When she opened the parcel, Sarah gasped. There, in front of her, was the most beautiful cot mobile she had ever seen. It was covered in what looked like antique lace, in colours that matched Bethany’s bedroom perfectly.
“Oh, Bethany, you lucky girl.” She smiled at her daughter, who in turn smiled back.
Taking Bethany up to her nursery for her nap, Sarah fixed the mobile to her four-poster cot. It was perfect. Bethany lay there staring at it, reaching up with her chubby hands and giggling. The mobile began to turn, and then the music started. ‘Girls and Boys come Out to Play,’ echoed round the room. Sarah stood there, transfixed. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Suddenly, she screamed.