Chapter 6: DAVID IS ANNOYED
At 7.30am, after less than five hours’ sleep, Jack was awoken by an expertly placed lick across his face from Barney. The dog had burst into the boys’ room and jumped on first one then the other. Barney wanted his morning walk and was fed up waiting for the lazy, two-legged members of the family to rise from their beds.
Jack sat upright in bed, blinking. He had had a strange dream, something about hiding in an old lady’s garden and watching out for ghosts who turned up and scared the life out of him.
His phone beeped. It was a text from Lou: ‘Hope you’re ok after last night, us all 2 meet 4 coffee my place 11am? L.’
No, it hadn’t been a dream, but terrifyingly real. Now, with sunlight streaming through the windows and the dogs leaping about, wagging their tails, the night’s events seemed far-fetched, even ludicrous. Whatever would the others say? He glanced across at David who was eyeing him curiously.
‘Well,’ said David, ‘you didn’t get back until nearly two in the morning. What were you doing until then? What do you think mum and dad would say if they knew that you and Lou were out until that time ghost-hunting?’
‘They would think that at least one of their children had some guts, hopefully,’ said Jack, who could hear the irritation in his brother’s voice. Why was David so vexed about it all? He could guess, sure enough. Now that the morning had come and the sun had risen and Jack was back safe and sound without having been turned to stone overnight, David was wishing he he’d been there, too.
‘So what happened, exactly,’ said David. ‘The pair of you went back in the dark and cold to Mrs Owen’s house, just after 11pm. You hid somewhere in her back garden for a few minutes and presumably there was nothing to see and then, three hours later you slip back into bed. I know, because I heard you come in. That’s an awfully long time to take.’
‘David, you had the chance to come with us and you chose not to, there’s no point in being cross now,’ said Jack. ‘We most certainly did see and hear things and it was pretty terrifying, but we’ll talk about it later with Lou. She’s asked us to go round to hers for 11am.’
David and Jack bickered throughout breakfast, to their parents’ surprise and concern. Jack knew that David was annoyed with himself that he had missed out on an adventure. He was itching to blurt out something about Jack’s ghost hunt but held back, knowing that Lou would be mad with him if he did. Meanwhile, Jack was bleary-eyed and naggy and worried what David might choose to say.
Their parents were hoping to take the children over to Porth Dinllaen on the other side of the peninsula, for lunch outside the Ty Coch pub on the beach. It was a beautiful, tranquil spot and they were disappointed when the children announced they planned to go off with Lou again for the day.
‘Why don’t we go to Porth Dinllaen tomorrow instead,’ suggested Emily, who loved the walk across the beach to Ty Coch and sitting outside the pub having lunch, looking out across the bay.
‘Very well,’ said their father with a sigh, ‘we’ll go tomorrow, but if you turn us down again your mother and I will go without you, is that understood? I don’t know, we thought we had kids who clung to us like limpets, now they want to be with Lou night and day.’
‘Yep,’ said David, winking, ‘night and day, hey Jack?’
Jack looked furiously at David but fortunately their parents failed to notice.
‘At least they are getting out and about with Lou and enjoying the fresh air – fingers crossed they won’t get into any more scrapes with her this time round, though,’ said Mrs Johnson. ‘Make sure you keep out of the way of smugglers and dodgy antique dealers,’ she added, smiling at her youngsters.
‘And ghosts,’ David couldn’t resist adding.
‘Yes that’s right, David, and ghosts,’ said Mrs Johnson, not attaching any significance to David’s second impish remark.
Jack, David and Emily walked across the beach to Lou’s. When the tide was out, they could get to her cottage from the shore. They climbed the path hewn into the rocks and up a footpath, past the chain bearing the warning sign ‘Private’. It reminded Jack of his first encounter with Lou earlier that summer. That was nearly three months ago, but it seemed far longer, so much had happened since.
On that occasion, he had been in a bad mood with David, he recalled, and that was the reason for him storming off to the beach in the first place. Then, it was his natural curiosity which persuaded him to climb the rocks and explore along a private path. It was funny to think that if he had never been adventurous enough to go trespassing that day, he and the others would never have met Lou and had such fun and thrilling times with her.
Lou greeted them with a smile. She had the kettle on and the aroma of teacakes filled her cottage.
‘Come on then, Lou,’ said David, a trifle brusquely, ‘spill the beans. Did you really spend three hours hunting for ghosts? It must have been terribly boring.’
Jack and Lou exchanged glances. ‘I’ve tried telling him that it was more terrifying than boring but he won’t take any notice,’ said Jack, wearily. ‘He’s feeling raw, Lou, that he didn’t come with us so why don’t you tell him what went on. He’s more likely to believe you than me.’
Lou’s vivid green eyes fixed on David. She could tell instantly that he was in a bad mood – seemingly annoyed with both Jack and herself.
‘David you chose not to come and to be frank, you made the right decision,’ said Lou, calmly. ‘Had I known what we would face up there, I might not have gone myself and certainly not taken Jack or any of you with me. There is something odd happening at that old lady’s property and I could do with your help getting to the bottom of it, so please don’t sulk.’
Then she noticed Emily’s face drop. Perhaps she felt left out, too. ‘I want your help as well, Emily. Four heads are better than one and if we all discuss what happened, we might between us be able to form a clearer picture.’
‘Lou,’ said Emily, her soft blue eyes opening wide, ‘whatever did happen? Jack hasn’t told us a thing because he wanted to wait until we were all together, so we don’t know anything. What is worrying you? Were you in danger last night? You didn’t genuinely see ghosts, did you?’
‘Here,’ said Lou, ‘let’s get the drinks in first. As a special treat, I’ve made us lattes – you know, that frothy, milky coffee we like in the café in Abersoch? There are plenty of teacakes or biscuits in that tin. Let’s go and sit on the patio in the sunshine and talk it through. It will be more cheerful than being indoors.’
That remark made Emily feel even more curious and perplexed. She followed Lou and the others out into the warmth of the patio, which trapped the autumn sunshine well. When they were nursing big mugs of frothy latte and held something to munch on in their hands, gazing out across the bay, Lou recounted the night’s events.
‘We had been almost ready to go back, thinking nothing was happening,’ said Lou. ‘There were the usual false alarms as you might expect if you crouch at the back of an old cottage garden past midnight under a full moon. The chimney pot rattled, the ivy clinging to the walls rustled, an owl hooted, the wind whistled under the eaves – it was ghostly even though it wasn’t, if you get what I mean. Then weird, bloodcurdling things started to happen. An absolutely horrible wailing, groaning noise started up, it seemed to radiate out of the depths of the ground itself beneath our feet. We began to see orbs of straw-coloured light dancing through the air and rising upwards, far above the house. A few seconds later, great white ghostly figures started dancing about through the garden under the full moon, like huge white blobs. They were almost like cartoon ghosts, with holes for the eyes and mouth and flappy outstretched wings.’
‘Then, we heard an ear-splitting scream,’ added Jack, ‘which we think might have been from Mrs Owen inside the house. She must have been terrified.’
‘So must you both,’ said Emily, her eyes wide and mouth open. Their account chilled her to the core, even with the sun shining brightly ov
erhead.
‘We were petrified,’ admitted Lou. ‘In the end we curled up like hedgehogs together in the undergrowth and put our hands over our ears. We couldn’t take any more of it.’
‘What happened then?’ asked Emily.
‘Eventually, we realised we could hear nothing and we sat up and everything was back to normal, as it had been before,’ said Lou. ‘We waited a couple more minutes then we scampered out, walked back across the moor to our bikes and cycled away. We were cold and shaking with fear so we lit a fire and had a hot drink and teacakes in front of it and tried to cheer each other up. Then Jack went home. And that’s it.’
There was silence for a few seconds as David and Emily struggled to take it in.
‘Are you absolutely sure you aren’t exaggerating?’ said David, eventually, who seemed determined to be aggravating. ‘It seems incredibly far-fetched – too theatrically ghostly to be true. Perhaps your imaginations got the better of you.’
‘David I’m going to throw you over the balcony in a minute,’ said Lou. She was joking, but cross with him for belittling their story. ‘Do you seriously think we would make that sort of thing up or exaggerate it?’
‘Perhaps your mind could play tricks on you in such a situation,’ he ploughed on, unaware of the irritation he was causing. ‘Anyway, at least you had a cosy feast to cheer yourselves up with afterwards.’
Lou’s eyes fixed on David coldly. ‘How would you know what it’s like to be in that situation – have you ever staked out ghosts in the middle of the night? I’m puzzled why you’re behaving this way.’
‘David’s jealous,’ said Emily to Lou, ‘because you and Jack spent three hours together on this amazing escapade which he wasn’t brave enough to take part in. It’s not that he doesn’t believe you, it’s just that he’s nursing wounded pride and having a right old sulk, aren’t you, David?’
David blushed and said nothing.
Lou guessed that Emily was right and decided against seeking to embarrass him further. ‘I agree, it does sound far-fetched. Nonetheless, that’s what happened. What we experienced ties in more or less exactly with what poor old Mrs Owen saw and heard. We half disbelieved her thinking she was imagining things at her age but she wasn’t. So the question is, what could be causing these bizarre phenomena?’
‘It’s obvious,’ said Emily, looking seriously first at Lou, then at Jack and David. ‘We now know that the spirit world does exist and the dead can come back to haunt us. We have certain proof. What we don’t know is why are tormented souls from the past returning and making Mrs Owen’s life a misery? What do they want from her? She is trapped in a haunted house.’
‘We must go back and see her,’ said Lou, quietly. ‘If it’s a dreadful experience for Jack and me at our age, what must it be like for her, so frail and elderly?’
Something Strange in the Cellar Page 6