Gifted

by Campbell, Jamie

  “I think I’ll start with a blessing ceremony in the conservatory. It seems like a nice big room. After that, I will walk around the house again and use the holy water to bless each room individually. I warn you, this is a powerful blessing. If there is something evil here, they might not react well to the presence of God.”

  “We can handle it. Let’s go,” Blair led them into the conservatory at the back of the house. The smell of fresh paint faintly lingered in the air.

  Father Perry held up a large wooden cross and started his blessing prayers. Blair watched on intently. It seemed very foreign to Charlie, having never stepped foot inside a church outside of a wedding or a christening before. It was interesting to watch though. The priest’s voice was growing louder as he went on. His grip on the cross was so tight his knuckles were starting to go white.

  “... in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bless this house…”

  As the priest was finishing, suddenly the furniture and ornaments in the room started to shake violently. Father Perry didn’t stop, instead his voice grew even louder until he was almost shouting. Charlie looked around the room in a panic, she knew what the spirit was capable of already and had a knot of fear in her stomach. Her mind was telling her to run and get out of there are quickly as possible. Her feet were firmly planted on the ground, however. She couldn’t move them if she tried.

  The temperature of the room dropped, faint mists of frost were starting to form on the outside windows. Charlie shivered, rubbing her arms to try to get warm again. She looked over at Blair, he was doing the same.

  A ceramic duck that had been positioned next to the back door started rocking back and forth. Without warning, it flew up in the air and was thrown across the room by an unseen force. It hit the wall and smashed loudly into thousands of pieces. Charlie screamed as she watched the impact. Blair held on to her arm, silently telling her to stay strong, it would be over soon. The priest had his eyes closed and was continuing to pray, seemingly oblivious to what was happening around him.

  The windows on the glass wall started to rattle and shake on their hinges. The door started to bang as if a hurricane was beating on it from the other side. The lights above their heads flickered on and off. Charlie and Blair both looked up to stare at them at the same time. It would have been a pretty twinkling effect under any other circumstance.

  Loud banging noises started to come from the ceiling. It sounded like someone was standing above them and bashing on the roof with a hammer. It was getting difficult to hear the priest, even though he was now shouting his prayers.

  “... with God’s grace, be gone!...”

  A gusting wind started to swirl around the room, collecting fragments of broken ceramic as it twirled. It enveloped them like a cocoon. It sent more objects crashing to the ground and breaking upon impact. The weather outside was nothing compared to the chaos in the conservatory.

  Father Perry opened his eyes and surveyed the scene around him. His eyes grew wide with the realisation of what was happening. He lowered the cross and pressed it against his chest. For the next few minutes, all three of them couldn’t do anything but stare at the room. They were glued to their spots, unsure whether they could move or not. The cyclone of wind around them made it almost impossible to do anything but cling to each other.

  “I think we should get out of here,” Father Perry yelled. Through the wind they could still hear the outside windows and doors rattling. The only prospect of getting out of the room was the inside door that led back down the hallway. Summoning all their courage and bracing themselves for the onslaught, they stepped into the wind gusts. Splinters of dust and ceramic lashed around them as they hurried towards the door.

  Blair reached the door first, he pulled on it with all his strength to get it to open. After several sharp tugs, it relented and finally opened. He stepped back and pushed Charlie through before letting the priest hurry by. He followed and closed the door after they were safe in the hallway.

  On the other side of the door, there were no signs of the madness and terror that was occurring on the opposite side. It was eerily quiet as if they had stepped into a vacuum.

  The priest started to hurry down the hallway, past all the rooms until he reached the foyer. He grabbed his holy water and held it close.

  “I’ll go around the house quickly and distribute this holy water. After that, I’m leaving. Something is wrong in this house. What we encountered in there is not one of God’s creatures. He belongs to the devil,” Father Perry was visibly shaken. He ran from room to room and flicked the waters around everywhere he went. Blair followed close behind, trying to be as helpful as possible.

  Charlie stood in the foyer and waited, she didn’t trust herself to be able to walk just yet. Instead, she sunk down and sat on the floor. It was cold underneath her but she didn’t feel it. She let her head rest on the wall behind her and closed her eyes. All she could hear were the faint footsteps of Father Perry and Blair and the steady rain outside. It sounded so normal it didn’t seem real. She stayed there until they returned.

  “Good luck. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. I can speak to my superior on your behalf and explain the situation. Whatever is in this house is too powerful for me. Maybe if we got a few of the clergy together, it would be enough,” the priest looked apologetic. He was slightly puffed and flustered from hurrying around the house.

  “Thank you, whatever help you can offer would be appreciated,” Blair replied, disappointed the priest’s visit hadn’t improved their situation. He picked up the umbrella from outside and helped him to his waiting car. He waved as the vehicle reversed across the driveway and disappeared down the road. Blair went back inside and crouched down next to Charlie.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I can’t believe this is happening. If a priest and a psychic can’t get rid of this thing, then nothing is going to. Cate’s going to have to move,” Charlie reached out and buried her head in Blair’s shoulder. He patted her back.

  “We can’t give up. There has to be a way somehow,” he soothed.

  They stayed there in the foyer consoling each other until the afternoon was almost over. It was only when Cate and Rahni returned did they realise how late it was. They walked in, Cate holding some Chinese take-away bags in her hand.

  “I’ve bought some dinner home,” Cate declared before seeing Charlie and Blair sitting on the floor. “What’s happened now?”

  “The priest’s blessing didn’t go as planned,” Blair explained.

  They ate dinner in the living room while catching up on the news. The atmosphere was depressing, no-one wanting to talk about the inevitable move. The television offered them a convenient escape from their problems.

  As the night went on, Blair excused himself to take a shower. Charlie, Rahni and Cate had all showered earlier when it was still daylight. While he was gone, the girls made up the beds for the night. They wondered how many more times they would have to turn the living room into a bedroom in order to get some sleep. It was ridiculous, three grown adults all having to sleep in the same room just to feel safe. It would have been acceptable if there was a real living, breathing person to be scared of but they were being hunted by a ghost. It didn’t seem real, like they were trapped in a horror film. Unfortunately, they hadn’t seen a horror film that had a happy ending yet.

  They crawled into bed and turned the television off. Rahni was already starting to nod off as her head hit the pillow. Charlie was waiting for Blair to return, he seemed to be taking a long time getting ready for bed. She considered whether she should go and check on him but didn’t like the prospect of walking up the stairs alone. Even with the lights on, the house was creepy. There was safety in numbers. She only had to look at her hands covered in cuts and bruises to be reminded how dangerous the house was. The memory made her shudder.

  Charlie was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a series of thuds on the staircase. They were heavier than footsteps so it couldn’t have been Bla
ir returning. She looked at Cate who mirrored her concerned expression. Together, they hurried into the foyer to see what the source of the noise was. They stood at the foot of the staircase and looked up. Blair was halfway down the staircase, lying across several of the stairs and hanging on to the bottom of the banister with one arm. They raced to help him.

  “What happened?” Charlie asked.

  “Someone pushed me! I was just about to come downstairs and felt this thing on my back. Next thing I knew, I couldn’t help but lose my balance and fall down the stairs. It was only grabbing the banister that stopped me going right down to the very bottom,” Blair answered, slightly befuddled by the incident. Charlie and Cate stood either side of him and helped him to stand up. They guided him down the remainder of the steps.

  “Are you sure you didn’t just slip?” Cate didn’t want to believe someone else was hurt again by the house.

  “I’m positive. I felt the push on my back. I couldn’t stop myself from moving forward from the impact. They did it on purpose.”

  They led Blair to the blow-up bed where he laid down. A bruise was already starting to form on his arms from where it had hit the steps. Charlie comforted him until he was calm enough to fall asleep.

  * * *

  The next day, the rain was still pouring down from the heavy clouds above. They were sick and tired of being cooped up indoors and the house was starting to feel damp. The wetness was seeping into everything and, combined with the already bad moods, was creating a house full of doom and gloom. Tempers were frayed and nerves were stretched to their absolute maximum.

  “Rahni and I are going to the movies. Do you want to come?” Cate asked over breakfast. She was trying to find every excuse possible to leave the house. They had seen more movies in the last few weeks than in the past year combined. Similarly, they had never spent so much time with their friends.

  “We’ll pass, thanks anyway,” Charlie muttered. Neither she, nor Blair, were in a fit state to be in public. Charlie still wasn’t able to leave the gauze off the cut on her face and now Blair was covered in bruises from his fall the previous night. They felt like the walking wounded, fresh from the battlegrounds. In a way, they were right.

  “Suit yourself, just don’t try anything radical in the house while we’re gone. Okay? We need a day of calm, if that’s even possible anymore.” They finished with their breakfast and hurried out, exclaiming they didn’t want to be late for the start of the movie.

  As soon as they left, Charlie looked at Blair. “Well, Mr Bennett, what do you want to do today? Crawl underneath a rock and die? ‘Cause that’s what I feel like doing. I am over this whole damn thing.”

  “I want to find out what’s buried in the back yard. I’m tired of waiting for it to stop raining. We have the plans, we know where to dig. I say we grab a shovel and find it.”

  “In the rain? It’s bucketing down out there,” Charlie wanted to find the object as much as Blair did, but the prospect of getting drenched through didn’t appeal to her.

  “I’m over it too. Besides, it’s only rain.”

  There was no arguing with him. They finished their coffee and went through to the conservatory. The room looked like a disaster area with so much dust and debris covering every available surface. They stood at the back door, trying not to remember how it was rattling yesterday. It didn’t look like the rain was going to ease up any time soon. They steeled themselves, took a deep breath, and opened the door. They stepped out into the rain and ran for the back shed. For the few seconds it took to reach the shelter, they were soaked right through. They found two shovels.

  “The plans said the day room ended around there,” Blair pointed to the end of the flowerbed. They would have to dig up the lawn to be looking in the right place. “We’ll start at the middle and work our way outwards. Okay?”

  Charlie nodded and they ran back out into the rain. They started to dig up the lawn. Rain kept filling the holes they made but they didn’t stop. They continued to dig down and then across. Blair went left, Charlie went right. They moved further and further apart, leaving muddy puddles in their wake. Charlie was starting to get cold from being soaking wet for so long. The weather was making the search a long and arduous process.

  “Maybe we’re looking in the wrong spot again,” Charlie had to almost yell through the heavy rain to be heard.

  “We should check the plans again,” Blair yelled back.

  “I’ll go and get them,” she volunteered. Charlie left Blair, still digging, and returned to the house. Her heart sunk when she remembered where they were. They had taken them to the blue room for safe keeping which meant having to go upstairs on her own, something she hadn’t done for many days.

  She cautiously took one step at a time, her senses on overload trying to listen for the tiniest noise. A trail of water was left in her path as she moved. As she reached the top of the stairs, she held on to the banister as tight as she could, determined she wouldn’t suffer the same fate as Blair had. She looked down the hallway, first left and then right. Everything looked quiet and innocent. That was the problem with Sage Manor, everything looked normal until you scratched the surface.

  She took one step after another and slowly moved down the corridor into the blue room. She opened the door and searched the room with her eyes. There was no dent in the bed, no smoke seeping from underneath the bathroom door. She quickly entered, making sure the door was still open behind her. She wanted a fast escape route should she need it. She walked straight to the chest of drawers and opened the first drawer. Immediately, she placed her hands on the plans and picked them up. Creeping over to the window, she looked down into the back yard to check on Blair. He was still digging with a determination set into his bones. She couldn’t help but smile at him, he was definitely one of the good guys.

  There was a loud bang behind her which made her jump. She spun around, the door had closed. She hurried over to it and turned the handle, it wouldn’t move. The door had locked. She tried to twist the lock but it wouldn’t budge from its position. She kept trying to turn the handle, with each attempt she put more force into the action. Whatever she did, she couldn’t get it to open. She kept trying until her hand was red and painful from the pressure. She walked back to the window, trying in vain to get Blair’s attention. She doubted whether he could even see a metre in front of him through the heavy rain, let alone her face from the second storey window. She rapped on the glass, knowing inside it was useless. She looked around the room, trying to see if there was anything she could use to open the door. There was nothing she could do to lever it in any way. She tried the door again, praying it would open as if nothing had happened. It didn’t move. Resigning herself to the fact she would have to wait to be rescued, she stood at the window and watched Blair’s progress. A shiver ran down her spine, reminding her she was still dripping with water. She found a set of clothes and changed into them. It felt good to be dry again. She took her position at the window again.

  Blair dug for another half hour. Charlie felt guilty watching him work hard in the rain while she just stood inside. Still, there was nothing she could do about it while the door refused to unlock itself. She watched on as his shovel hit something. He bent down and used his hands to pull out the dirt and water. He was getting mud all over himself and covering his arms in the thick muck. He gave up squatting down and sat on the ground, still pulling mud out of the hole he had dug. It was deep. With each load he had to reach in right up until his shoulders were almost level with the ground. He reached in one last time and pulled something out. It was rectangular, flat, and covered in brown mud. He wiped away at the dirt, the rain washing it off in seconds. He stood up and Charlie watched him leave the garden.

  She returned to the door and hit it hard, trying to get Blair’s attention from downstairs. She banged and banged, trying to make as much noise as she could.

  “Blair! I’m stuck! Blair!” Charlie yelled. She alternated the knocking with the shouting until her vo
ice was hoarse. She couldn’t yell anymore and her hands were throbbing with pain.

  She sat on the bed for a moment to take a breather. She didn’t like the feeling that was creeping over her. It felt like there were hundreds of eyes watching her again. She kept looking around the room, paranoid that something would happen to her.

  In the distance, she could hear her name being called. At first, it made her blood run cold. She stood up again and pressed her ear to the door. It was Blair’s voice. Relieved, she banged on the door one last time to get his attention. It worked.

  “Charlie? Are you in there?” Blair was standing right outside the door.

  “Blair! I’m locked in. The door closed and locked itself. I can’t get out.”

  Blair tried turning the door handle, he couldn’t move it either. “It won’t move. Have you tried unlocking it?”

  “Of course I have! It’s stuck and won’t move at all. I’ve been trying for ages.“

  “Can you see if there is anything stuck in the lock or something?“

  “Everything looks normal. What did you find in the garden?” Charlie’s curiosity overcame her.

  “I found a leather satchel. It’s got something inside but I haven’t opened it yet. I’ve been looking all over for you. I thought I’d wait to show you before I opened it. Does Cate have keys for the room? Maybe a key could work if the latch doesn’t,” Blair said through the door. He was dripping water over the wooden floorboards as he stood there.

  “Cate has keys in the kitchen. Look for one with a blue handle, it will be for the blue room. They are hanging on the back of the pantry door.”

  “Okay, I’ll be back in a minute. Sit tight.”