Her heart had calmed down to resume its normal beating. She was considering calling Cate or Blair but didn’t know what to tell them. She had decided to wait until she knew more.
She didn’t know whether it was from a lack of sleep or the adrenaline of what had just happened, but her body suddenly felt tired. She sat down underneath the tree again and continued to watch the house. She checked her watch, the police had been inside for almost twenty minutes. She hadn’t heard any gunshots, that had to be a good sign, she figured.
The sound of an approaching car distracted her from the house. She stood up in time to see Blair’s car just as it was pulling into the driveway. He parked next to the police vehicle and jumped out.
“Charlie, what’s going on?”
“I think someone’s broken into the house.” She went to Blair and he took her in a tight hug.
“What happened?”
“It’s just a mess inside. Cate is going to be so upset.”
“You’re alright though? Were you here?”
“No, I came home to find it like this. I called the police straight away, I thought they might still be in the house.”
“You did the right thing then. I should have been here, you should have called me.”
“You couldn’t have done anything. I’m fine, really. Just a bit shaken,” she tried to force a reassuring smile.
The front door of the house opened and the policemen walked down the drive. They were talking to each other, the younger one taking notes. Charlie let go of Blair and waited to hear what they had found. Blair shook hands with both officers when they approached.
“There doesn’t appear to be anyone inside. Was it the front room that you first discovered had been upset?” The older officer spoke, directing his question to Charlie, she nodded. “That looks like the only room with visible signs of damage. Upstairs looks untouched, as do the other rooms on the lower level. You either scared the guys off, or they were just kids out to do some damage.”
“I guess that’s one good thing. What happens now?”
“There’s not a great deal more we can do unfortunately. Just make sure you inform your insurance company and keep your doors locked.”
“That’s it? What if they come back?”
“We typically find that this kind of perpetrator doesn’t return. They have their fun and then move on. I’m sure you’ll be okay here. It’s probably a good idea to have someone around with you for a few days, just for your own peace of mind.”
Charlie felt like she was getting the brush off. She knew he was trying to be helpful, but it sounded to her like he was telling her to just keep a big strong man around and he’d stop her from worrying. She wasn’t just a paranoid woman, there may be a very real danger of them returning. Even in small towns, violent crimes occurred. They weren’t immune.
Blair thanked the policemen and they gave him their card if anything else happened. They sped off in their patrol car down the country road. Blair moved his car up the remainder of the driveway, Charlie went with him - she didn’t want to go inside alone. He parked the vehicle in front of the garage doors and they walked into the house through the front door together. They headed straight for the living room.
“Geez, they did a good job of this room,” Blair exclaimed as he took in the room. The glass crunched underneath his footsteps.
“I think we should try and clean it up before Cate and Rahni get home. It’s going to devastate them.”
“I agree, they don’t need to see this.”
Charlie went into the kitchen and picked up the broom, dustpan and vacuum cleaner. She walked them back to the living room. Blair was bent down looking at the floor and the scattered remains of what was a ceramic lamp base.
“It’s like they’ve pulverised everything. They haven’t just picked it up and dropped it.”
“Or knocked it off the table. Can you see why I was so upset now?” She plugged in the vacuum cleaner. “Did you look at the pictures that used to be on the walls?
“It’s madness. Why not just drop it? Why go to the extent of smashing something so completely?” He shook his head. “The good news is the picture frames are fine, only the glass will need to be replaced.”
“It’s like the attack is personal. Not that it would be though. The sickos that did this obviously have issues with something.”
“They were probably doped up on drugs or alcohol. At least it’s only in this room. It could have been a lot worse.”
“I don’t think Cate will see it that way. Here,” she threw him the dustpan “We better get started.”
She turned on the vacuum cleaner while Blair used the dustpan to pick up the larger pieces of ceramic. It took them until well after lunchtime to remove the shards from the floor. It helped that it was made of old wooden floorboards. If the flooring was covered in carpet, they would have been there for days. The pieces of glass were minute, even after vacuuming they just had to hope they had managed to get it all.
“We should make sure to wear shoes in here for a while. Otherwise we’ll all end up with glass in our feet,” Charlie commented.
“Yeah, it would hurt like hell trying to get it out. We’ll have to keep an eye on Rahni, make sure she doesn’t play on the floor in here for a while.” Blair slid the last remaining contents of the dustpan into a black garbage bag and tied it up tight. He went outside to place the bag in the garbage bin.
Charlie looked around the room and put all the photos in a pile. It was such a pity that they would have to be reframed. Hopefully Cate wouldn’t take it as some symbolic reference that her family had been shattered. She knew her sister could be like that at times, seeing meaning in every little thing that happened. Sometimes a spade was just a spade. Sometimes human beings were just bastards that destroyed your personal possessions.
She was lost in thought, the sound of the door being shut behind her made her jump. She turned around and saw Blair and Cate crossing the foyer. She braced herself for the reaction.
“Rahni, why don’t you go upstairs and play? I’ll bring you something to eat in a minute,” Cate ushered her daughter up the stairs and away from the living room. Blair had obviously given her a heads up on the recent events.
Cate walked into the room slowly, dreading what she was about to see. In her mind, from what she could ascertain from Blair, she imagined the whole place destroyed - furniture slashed, television on the floor smoking, writing in blood on the walls. She was surprised to see the room didn’t look too bad. Besides the walls and tabletops being bare, it looked normal.
“So they only smashed anything breakable?” She asked.
“Yeah, they only touched the pictures and ornaments. All the furniture and everything are fine.”
Cate was visibly relieved, at least they could be replaced - mostly. “It’s not as bad as I was expecting. Are they the photos that were on the wall?” She pointed to the neat pile.
“Yep. We’ve cleaned all the glass and stuff, salvaged what we could. The photos are fine, they just need to be reframed. I can drop them off for you tomorrow, if you’d like.”
“We’ll get them reframed, they’ll look just like new ones. Thank you for cleaning up. Was it a really big mess?”
Blair and Charlie looked at each other. Blair held up his hands: “I have blisters from cleaning and I never clean. That’s how bad it was.”
“It’s very much appreciated. Come on, I’ll get you some band-aids for those poor hands.” Cate led them into the kitchen and pulled out a box of plasters from the panty. She made Blair sit down at the table while she covered his blisters.
Charlie watched with amusement. “You know Blair, if you cleaned up more at home you wouldn’t get blisters. You build up a callous, look at my hands - as good as new.”
“I’ll keep that in mind and take it into consideration when we get home.”
“Sure you will. Cate, do you want me to take a snack to Rahni?”
“Thank you. There is a cupcake in my bag th
at I got for her. It’s the pink one.”
Charlie retrieved the cupcake and went upstairs to where Rahni was playing in her bedroom. She had a jigsaw puzzle spread over the floor, half completed.
“Your mum sent up a cupcake for you. It’s strawberry - your favourite.”
Rahni sat up and put the piece of jigsaw she was holding onto back into the box. She reached over and took the cake, testing the icing with her finger. “Hmm, yummy.”
“Is Alice playing with you at the moment?” Charlie asked, she was still intrigued by her niece’s imaginary friend. Even though her imaginary friend didn’t seem so keen on Charlie.
“No, she’s not here. She said she might come and play later on, but she had some things to do first.”
“Cool, she must be a busy person then. Do you need anything?”
“Nope. Thanks for the cupcake.”
“You’re welcome. Just call if you want something.” Charlie left the room, almost closing the door behind her. She walked down the corridor, trying hard not to think of the strangers that had been in the house that morning. Even though the police had carried out a thorough check of the place, she still didn’t feel at ease. The house was big. It would have been easy to hide, especially seeing as though she had called out for Blair when she first arrived home. They would have had plenty of time to find a comfortable hiding place and just lie in wait. She hastened her pace down the stairs, happy to be returning to the kitchen where she saw familiar faces.
“The patient has survived I see,” she smiled at Blair who was sipping from a mug of hot coffee.
“Nurse Sinclair fixed me up. At least she showed a bit of sympathy for the walking wounded.”
Charlie sat beside him, she took his right hand and kissed over the band-aid. “There, better?” Blair leaned in for a kiss on the lips.
“Much better, thank you.”
“Was Rahni okay upstairs?” Cate asked.
“Yeah, she was putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Said to say thanks for the cupcake. It met her seal of approval.”
“How wrong could I go with a pink cupcake? What shall we do for dinner tonight? I don’t know about you guys but I don’t really feel like being here tonight.”
“I agree. Why don’t we go into town for dinner? Maybe we could even catch a movie. Does this place have a cinema?” Blair asked.
“The closest cinema is probably about an hour’s drive from here.”
“I didn’t realise we were so far from civilisation. So just dinner it is then.”
“I’ll call and make a reservation.” Cate went straight over to the phone hanging on the wall and dialled.
“They don’t have a cinema and yet you still have to make reservations for dinner?” Blair whispered in Charlie’s ear.
She smiled. “There’s only one restaurant, so bookings are kind of essential. It’s the place to be seen in town.”
“I’m so not a country boy.”
“Of course you aren’t Honey. With all the farm equipment around here, you’d be dead in six months.”
“You think I’d last that long?”
“I was giving you the benefit of the doubt,” she teased. He kissed her before noticing that Rahni was standing at the kitchen entryway, watching them.
“Little Rahni, what can we do for you?” He asked, letting Charlie know they were being observed.
“I have a message from Alice. She said to tell you straight away.” Rahni leant against the wall, not entering any further into the kitchen. She was clutching one of her dolls, a cabbage patch doll with its blue eyes wide open.
Blair let go of Charlie and turned to face the little girl. “What’s the message?”
“I can’t tell you, it’s only for Charlie.”
Charlie pushed her chair back from the table and stood. She walked past Rahni and into the foyer. Rahni followed. Walking half-way down the corridor, she stopped and bent down so she was eye to eye with her niece. “Rahni, what’s the message?”
Rahni squirmed, she was visibly uncomfortable with what she was about to say. “You have to promise not to tell anyone else. Alice told me I could only tell you if you promised.”
“I promise,” she made a cross over her chest, “Cross my heart and hope to die. Pinkie swear?” She held out her little finger, Rahni did the same and they shook fingers. “Now, what’s the message?”
“She said that it was a warning.”
“What was a warning?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me that. She just said that it was a warning and that you should listen.”
“Does Alice not like me?”
“She does like you, that’s why you’ve got to listen to her,” Rahni rolled her eyes as if she was trying to explain something simple to an idiot.
Something clicked in Charlie’s mind. It sounded crazy, but she thought she knew what the girl was talking about. “Did she give me the warning today? Was it Alice?”
“No, it was them.”
“Who are they?” Charlie was wondering how far she should take the conversation. She didn’t want to upset Rahni who was already acting strangely.
“They live in the house too. I haven’t seen them before because Alice keeps them away. But she can’t keep them away from you because you’re special.”
“I’m special?”
“She says you’re gifted and that’s what attracts them. Alice said you only get one warning and that you should listen to her.”
“Did she say anything else?”
“Just that you have to listen to her.”
“Do you trust Alice? Do you think she’s telling the truth or is she just playing a joke on me?” Charlie was starting to feel that Alice wasn’t quite as imaginary as everyone had first thought. She didn’t want to even think about the consequences of that idea.
“Alice is my friend. She’s nice.”
“Okay, thank you for telling me. I promise I won’t tell anyone else. If you get any more messages, will you tell me straight away?” Rahni nodded before running back upstairs.
Charlie didn’t walk straight back into the kitchen. She took a few minutes and stood in the hall, trying to put her thoughts into some kind of logical order. It didn’t work, the more she thought about everything that had happened since she arrived at Sage Manor, the more she thought something wasn’t right. She couldn’t believe the conclusion she came up with, but couldn’t rationalise it any other way.
Alice was either real or Rahni had an imagination far beyond her years. There had to be something in this house - the dreams, noises, footsteps, faces appearing in walls, it just couldn’t be any other explanation. “Unless I’m stark raving mad,” she told herself.
She remembered a time when she was about Rahni’s age. Her family had been living in a rented house by the ocean. It had been the perfect house for them and they had all been so happy there. Except Charlie had been keeping a secret from everyone - she had seen the presence of something on a regular basis. She hadn’t been afraid of it, she found it more comforting than harmful. It would manifest itself by way of a reflection, or a flash of light. One time she had even seen the full face and body in so much detail she could accurately describe the person from head to toe. She could still picture the woman dressed all in white.
In fact, the whole time she was growing up, there had always been something with her. It would follow her from house to house, sometimes she would be visited by more than one at a time. She had assumed they were normal, that everyone could see them. That only changed when she started school and realised all the other kids couldn’t see them. From that day onwards she had kept it to herself. Eventually they became less and less until, as a teenager, she realised she hadn’t seen one in years. She hadn’t thought about them since.
She didn’t know what to do next, she couldn’t just walk into the kitchen and announce that the house was probably haunted and she had to leave because Rahni’s imaginary friend told her to. She had never told anyone about her experiences as
a child, not even Cate. To be talking like this when you’re an adult is just plain crazy. She took several deep breaths, inhaling the air slowly in and then out. She checked her hands, they had finally stopped shaking. She decided to keep her ideas to herself for the time being, maybe if she just ignored the situation then it would go away. After all, it’s ridiculous to believe in ghosts.
Cate and Blair were sitting around the kitchen table, discussing their dinner plans. The restaurant only had an opening at 5:30 p.m. so they would have to leave shortly in order to meet the time. Charlie took the seat next to Blair and tried to push any thoughts of spirits to the back of her mind.
She plastered a smile across her face. “Do we need to dress up for this place?”
“I believe smart-casual is the dress code of Pickerton. They do have standards though, no thongs and you must be wearing a shirt,” Cate answered with a very serious tone to her voice but the glint in her eye betrayed her.
“Blair, hear that? This is no hick town - you have to wear a shirt.”
“Damn and I was so looking forward to showing off these pecks. Did I even bring a smart-casual shirt?”
“I’m sure if we look hard enough you can find one. Although I didn’t supervise your packing so who knows what you brought down.”
“We’d best be getting ready. We don’t want to miss our reservation. Did I see Rahni down here before?” Cate stood up to leave.
“Yeah, she came down for a minute and then went back upstairs to play. She’s probably in her room.” Charlie pushed her chair back, Blair did the same. They walked up the stairs and down the corridor to the blue room, leaving Cate to go in the opposite direction to Rahni’s play room.
They found some suitable clothes and changed quickly before returning downstairs. Cate and Rahni soon followed. They piled into Cate’s 4wd and drove into town.
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