A Spectre in the Stones

by John Kitchen

  “Take a look at that, man,” he whispered, and the students strained their heads, peering over the hedge.

  Gradually the flame pressed forward, searching out a path between the stones – delicate, like nothing more than the spasmodic flame over marshland – and not a student stirred. No one said a word, and still the flame pushed on, tracking among the grasses, drawing closer until the flitting light was dancing at their feet, pushing across towards the stone circles. With wisps like marsh gas, it searched out the two circles, shooting anticlockwise, finding first the inner ring, then the outer, until both circles flashed in an evanescence of pale-blue light. Flames were leaping across a path from Sarson Hall all the way to Brookley Henge now, and then, a gasp of awe and incredulity as a line, like lightning, split the land, and shot out across the fields towards Avebury, streaking away from the Henge.

  Flash followed flash until the piercing arrows merged into one consistent line.

  And still no one spoke.

  They just watched and stared.

  Whatever it was – this fragile blue light – something big was happening and Lloyd’s heart was pounding.

  Then, from the distant horizon, he saw the line slowly extinguish itself, from Sarson Hall outward.

  The ensuing darkness followed the same pattern as the light, on towards Brookley Henge until the flashing flames danced only around the two stone circles.

  For a few minutes they all watched as the fire leapt from stone to stone. Then, with a crack, like a splitting thunderbolt, the flames went out and a line of livid-blue shot across the land from Brookley Henge towards Avebury and then… it was gone.

  Nothing – no sound, no light, no movement, and no one breathed… until one of the students began to clap; a slow, steady clap – and others joined in, clapping and cheering. And crazed across the sky, edges of the cloud broke and, lighting up the clouds’ tips, they saw, for the first time, hints of moonlight.

  They watched and clapped and cheered and stamped, while the clouds continued to break, ripping open the sky, and stars glinted through.

  And Lloyd stared, his heart thumping. He was watching, as the landscape across the downs reflected, at first patches, then a flood of silver… the skies cleared – and the plains between Brookley and Sarson Hall were bathed at last in unbroken moonlight.

  Chapter 17

  There were congratulations and back slapping all the way back to the entrance.

  The students crowded into the minibus while Rudi and Lloyd went with Justin, Jenny and the professor in the pick-up. All the way back Justin had his broad smile on and Jenny and James couldn’t stop talking. They were like kids, especially Jenny, going over what had happened blow-by-blow.

  Rudi was just as bad, reliving the moments from the first sighting of the blue flame to its final extinction, but Lloyd wasn’t so drawn in to the excitement. He was drained and suddenly it was more like a dream. Everything was happening so fast.

  “There’ll be changes down Sarson Hall, don’t you reckon?” he said.

  And there were changes.

  There was a calm – a feeling of tranquillity that had never been there before. Most of the kids were watching TV, and they probably hadn’t even noticed. It was just that they weren’t bickering. They were sprawled out on the chairs and couches. A few were sleeping – exhausted by the nightly ravages. There was a bit of good-natured banter, but no malice… and that dreadful, sickly sweet smell had gone.

  Christine was on duty. She greeted them at the door, and there was still an air of disdain with her. “You two boys had better get cleaned up for supper,” she said. “I’ll take the professor and his wife down to see Dave.”

  Their bedroom had a different feel to it as well – the same peaceful ambience that permeated the whole building. “Can you sense it?” Lloyd said. “It’s like there isn’t no grief nowhere anymore.”

  Rudi sniffed, as though he could smell the changes. “It doesn’t feel the same,” he said. “I can’t put my finger on it, but it isn’t like it was.”

  James and Jenny had booked into a hotel in Brookley for the night. They hadn’t planned for Lloyd’s project to end so quickly, but Jenny said it would be good to stay anyway – it would give them all another day together.

  It was when she said that, that Lloyd felt the first pang. This was what he’d been afraid of. There was a finality about the coming day – one last chance to prolong the dream… and then… it would be over. Once James and Jenny had gone, there’d be no reason for them to come back.

  Rudi went to the television lounge, but Lloyd stood on the doorstep, watching the retreating lights of James’s car.

  He needed to be alone, to get a grip on his thoughts – to lick the suppressed dreams back into reality – because he didn’t want to be hurt again. He wanted to face the “goodbyes” tomorrow as the inevitable step in the process. It was the passing ships syndrome; it was what seemed to make up so much of everyone’s life.

  Eventually he wandered back indoors, just as Caitlin came out of the television lounge. She looked at him with the half-disclosed smile – and that always made his adrenaline surge. “You notice anything?” he said, but she just looked blank. “I mean, there isn’t no bitching. Didn’t you notice?”

  She smiled. “No – but, now you’ve said.”

  He walked with her up the stairs. “That’s because we broke the curse.”

  “I saw you mucking around with them stones you dug up,” she said. “But that didn’t do nothing – I mean, it was just a load of overgrown kids playing games. I seen babies do that – making lines with bricks.”

  “We wasn’t mucking around,” Lloyd said. “We laid the line of stones to draw the curse out of Sarson Hall. We took the power back to Brookley.”

  “Yeah, right,” she said, and there was an expression of mocking disbelief.

  “You come down the North Wing with me, and you’ll see. I’ll guarantee there isn’t no bad stuff going on down there.”

  They passed through the fire doors and it had to be obvious, even to her.

  For a start there was no chill – in fact, there was a warmth permeating the air, generated by the central-heating system… and the smell – that was always the first thing that hit him; but the smell wasn’t there anymore.

  They went into Caitlin’s room and that was different too – warm, almost cosy, and there was no tremulous flicker when he flicked the light switch, no sense of anything out of the ordinary.

  “If you still don’t believe me,” he said, “come down the cellar.”

  He felt her tense up. But he grabbed her hand. “It’s okay. Trust me.”

  When he turned the light on in the cellar, even that had a different feel to it. There wasn’t any eerie intimation – just dim rays of an inadequate but functional bulb.

  “It isn’t scary, but that’s because I’m with you,” Caitlin said.

  He looked at her and shook his head. “You’re not going to get scared no more, man,” he said. He was still holding her hand and his throat was caught by an inexplicable hitch.

  “What about tonight, when I do the sleepwalking?”

  “You aren’t going to do that. That’s all done with. You aren’t going to do any of that ever again.”

  “But what if I do?”

  He sighed. “Okay, like always, I’ll come down tonight – just in case. But you got to believe me. It’s finished. It isn’t going to happen.”

  She gave a suppressed giggle. “I’m going to miss it if you don’t come down,” she said, and that made him look harder into her face.

  “What you saying, man?”

  She was gazing at the floor, her long eyelashes hiding the look in her eyes, and he watched as her foot moved gently over the ground. “You, tucking me in every night. It was all right, that was.”

  He gave a self-conscious laugh and he was looking at the floor too. Suddenly he moved forward, brushing her lips and then he pulled her into some kind of a hug. She was holding him as t
ightly as he held her. He knew his face was filling with colour… and he didn’t know what to do next.

  Caitlin was blushing too and, after a minute, she pulled away, still looking down. But, even in the dim cellar light, he could see her face was on fire.

  At last he said, “Yeah, but if I got caught doing that every night we’d be in big trouble with Dave. And we don’t have to do it.

  I mean… we got each other – like, there’s this sort of closeness, isn’t there – between you and me? That isn’t going to go away. Least ways, I don’t reckon it is.”

  Her hair was brushing her cheeks and she shook her head. “No.

  I don’t reckon so neither,” she said. Then she looked up and her eyes were beautifully soft, so much so he let out a gasp. “You’re well nice, Lloyd Lewis,” she said. “You’re the nicest guy I ever met.”

  “Yeah. That’s good that is,” he muttered. “I appreciate that, man. That shows respect, that does.”

  They stood there then, both awkward, both staring at the floor. “Anyway,” he said. “Tonight, I’ll be there, okay? Just in case you do the sleepwalking, so you don’t need to worry.” And, slowly, they made their way back up the steps to the North Wing.

  For the rest of the evening the feeling around the place was completely tranquil. Many of the children were in a state of exhaustion, and most of them were dozing in the television lounge.

  Dinner was quieter than in the most disciplined of homes.

  No one commented. It was a bit like when the tide turns

  and the change passes unnoticed, but change was there. Marion and Christine were sitting, poised to launch their usual offensive – and they were left with guns primed and nothing to shoot at. He could see the bewilderment in their faces.

  Dave’s face didn’t give anything away. He just sat at his place, waiting for the first miscreant and his snide warning at the end of dinner showed just how little he was aware of what was happening. “Now, you lot, you’d better stay quiet,” he said. “Because we’ll be keeping a close watch. I can tell when there’s something brewing, and believe me, this dinnertime has been infused with hatching plots. We’re not stupid, you know? If you’ve got any schemes in mind, don’t even go there, because if I have to come out to you once tonight, there’ll be real trouble.”

  Lloyd looked at Rudi. “I’d still love to smack him one,” he said. “What we done didn’t change nothing in that guy’s head.”

  But Martin noticed the change. “You done something out there today, haven’t you?” he said. “I can sense it.” They were settling into bed and, for the first time, there was no pandemonium outside. Even Christine had been silenced. “What went on with you and them students up there?”

  They told him, and, for the first time, he looked really interested. He didn’t show any sign of lethargy and Lloyd laughed. “It’s changed you too, man. Yesterday, if we told you that stuff, you’d be sleeping by the end of it.”

  “No way,” Martin said. “That is so brilliant, what you done.

  I wish I’d gone up there. It would have been awesome to see that light coming across the downs and everything. It’s dead impressive, that is.”

  He hadn’t changed that much though, because, five minutes later he was buried in pillows and duvet, his curls splayed out around him and he was fathoms into sleep… only this time the sleep was deep, dreamless and cleansing.

  When the lights went out and he was certain Marion and Christine had gone back to the common room, Lloyd crept down to the North Wing, just to put Caitlin’s mind at rest. And it was calm. There wasn’t even a groan from the floorboards, and Caitlin’s door never opened.

  He’d known that would happen, but there was something about it that confused his feelings. It was like everything else connected with the ghost. There had been good bits, and this ritual with Caitlin, there was something special about that – guiding her back to her room, the hooded glances and that enigmatic half-smile. And it was finished, just like all the other good things.

  He knew none of it would ever happen again and it left part of him with an empty feeling.

  James and Jenny were there soon after breakfast the next morning and, before they picked up Lloyd and Rudi, they went off to see Dave.

  Dave came out of his office with them when they’d finished, and he was his usual simpering self with James and Jenny. His pale eyes peered at Lloyd and Rudi and there was that self-righteous malevolence in his voice. “You boys have certainly landed yourselves in clover, haven’t you?” he said. “And you’d better make sure you appreciate it.” He looked at James and Jenny with that smug smile and added, “I suppose I should say – how is it the Americans put it? ‘Have a nice day’ – is that right?”

  Even the good wishes had an edge, and it made Lloyd’s hand itch. “One day,” he whispered to Rudi. “One day I’m going to rearrange that guy’s face.”

  Rudi hushed him up, but he saw James glance at Jenny and grin.

  They went up to the henge and it was almost as good as being on Hampstead Heath. The sun was out and it was warm. Insects droned among the grasses and, for the first time, the henge, like Sarson Hall, was at peace with itself.

  Justin joined them and they kicked a ball about. They rambled the moorland and chatted, joking and teasing.

  Lloyd dowsed the trail towards Avebury, and the forces of the ley line infiltrated every nerve in his body. “It’s okay,” he said. “And that is so weird. I mean, it’s like, it hasn’t been doing this since Tudor times – not since Queen Elizabeth the first and Shakespeare.”

  “And it’s all down to you,” James said. “Your tenacity and powers of deduction, and the skill and logic, that’s what made it happen.”

  “I’m really proud of you,” Jenny said, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “That’s respect, man,” said Lloyd. “That’s appreciated, that is, isn’t that right Rudi? Because you done your part. I mean, without you and Justin, I wouldn’t have done nothing.”

  It was great and, for the whole morning and early into the afternoon, there was this feeling that he didn’t want any of it to end. But then reality punched him in the very depths of his gut.

  James and Jenny began packing the picnic stuff into the car.

  “We’d best be making a move,” Jenny said. “James has got a lot of preparation to do before college tomorrow.” And immediately the thought flashed through his head.

  It was over.

  The project, the archaeology, the exercise to stamp out the curse, they were all done. James might write up something for a journal – but, after that, it was finished. He would go back to his students and his seminars and tutorials, and that was the last they’d see of him.

  Lloyd had been sitting on the car rug, but when Jenny said about moving, he stood up and looked around. It was as if he wanted to take a mental picture, so the memory would stay with him forever.

  “That’s it, then,” he said. He wanted to say more but the words wouldn’t come. He did manage to make a few noises. “I don’t reckon we’ll be seeing you no more. Not till I come up to university – and, I’m going to do that, man – as soon as I got the qualifications – and Rudi too, isn’t that right, Rudi? Until then, well… like I said.”

  He was watching their faces and he saw Jenny look at James.

  “Perhaps…” she said. “We’ll see.”

  It was a bitter blow. All the pain and resentment was surging in him and he knew he’d done it again. He’d let his guard down. He’d let two people into his life and into his affections. He’d let them into his hopes and they were about to drop him, like everyone else did. Only this time it was worse – worse even than Jean and Bill, because… with Jenny and the professor it was like… not an adult–child relationship. It was more like man-to-man, and still they were going to let him down.

  He could have wrung his own neck for allowing it to happen, but it had happened and he’d got no defence against it.

  “Perhaps… We’ll
see.” That’s what she’d said. It was like they didn’t even believe him and Rudi would make it to university.

  He wasn’t going to let them see the hurt though, even though he knew his face had coloured up. That was a big advantage of being black; it was harder to see that kind of thing. With a bit of luck they wouldn’t even have noticed.

  “Yeah, right,” he said. “And it’s been great. I want you to know that. Like I said, I couldn’t have done none of it without all of you.”

  Suddenly Jenny had her arms around him, giving him the biggest hug ever and she was kissing him on the cheek. Then she did the same with Rudi, and James hugged him too. They hugged Justin – but Justin was all right. He was going back to university in the autumn. It wasn’t over for him.

  Then they said goodbye all over again and got into the car… and, for Lloyd, there was such a bitterness hearing the engine roar and seeing the cloud of dust hover over the road when the car had gone. It was all so empty, and there was desolation bleaker than anything the curse had thrown onto Brookley Henge.

  “I told you,” he said to Rudi when Justin had dropped them back at Sarson Hall. “Up there, when we was staying in London, I told you. You can’t trust none of them. It’s always the same. It’s like, they play with you – being your friend because it suits them, being close, giving you treats, but it don’t last. It’s like, with them, friendship is something you turn on like a light when it’s dark, and when you don’t need it no more you just turn it off. You see it all the time, man. People going off on holiday, they go to functions and stuff – they meet up with other people and do things together like they’ve known them all their lives and then they walk off and forget they’ve ever seen these people. That’s the way they work. It don’t do to trust none of them.”

  Rudi nodded and it was as if he was beginning to understand. But Lloyd knew the guy was hurting and he wished he could have saved him from that.

  “I did warn you, man,” he said.

  “I know.”

  They were sitting on the seat outside the hall, and it had a cruel irony because the grounds were bathed in the afterglow of a perfect day; its beauty seemed to mock the emptiness.