The Haunting Within

by Michelle Burley

  Although it wasn’t fully dark yet and wouldn’t be for another hour or so she felt their need for light. The house was eerie enough in broad daylight, let alone in the depth of night. She had never had a penchant for dark corners that couldn’t be seen and this house certainly had more than its fair share of them. The house was made of sharp angles and corners that protruded out everywhere; there was not one room in the house that had a soft shape to it. The corners gave way to darkness and it seemed like the purpose of the walls that stuck out so sharply was to shield the corners of the rooms from any light. There were so many darkened areas in the house that the dark appeared to reflect from wall to wall creating an extremely dull and oppressing atmosphere as though the walls were closing in. The darkness seemed to have a life of its own as it moved around the rooms during the day, much as daylight would move casting shadows on the walls and floors as the sun moved across the sky, the darkness had the same quality as light when it came to bouncing from walls to another place in a room. The lighting did little to help as different lights and lamps illuminated their own small areas but they also created new shadows in places where there were none before. The darkness that Lisa and Aiden knew of was a soft blackness that didn’t move, nor did it reflect off anything, but the darkness in the house seemed to do just that. Its inky form appeared to be all around them, engulfing everything the seemingly solid mass touched and sucking it into its black heart, it was everywhere. Even with the overhead lights on it still managed to worm its way into the outskirts, leaking a little of its poisonous mass into the safe haven of the light, a constant reminder of what awaited them.

  Lisa refilled the kettle again and took comfort in the noise the fast running water made as it hit the empty metal. It was a familiar, welcomed noise. She put it on the stove that sat in a recess made of bare brick and lit the burner with the matches that were on the work surface next to the aga. It amazed her just how old fashioned this house was. It was nothing like their little home. Under ordinary circumstances she would have loved to visit a house like this, loved to see how things used to be. But this was definitely not an ordinary circumstance.

  Aiden came in while she had her back to the rest of the kitchen. It was only when he spoke to their mum that she knew he was there. “You alright mum? Lisa’s making us a nice coffee and maybe she can look for some biscuits eh?” He looked over at Lisa and gave her his most cheeky smile. “Go on sis. Any’ll do, but if there is any I’d prefer chocolate ones. Ooh, or hob-nobs. Whatever.” He turned back to his mum who looked so pale and tired. “Hob-nobs are your favourite aren’t they mum?” Aiden was purposefully trying to keep the conversation relaxed and hide the disquiet he felt at seeing his mum have a meltdown.

  “Huh? What did you say love?” Debbie asked her son.

  “I said hob-nobs are your favourite aren’t they?” he replied.

  “Do you know, I can remember one time when I was, oh, now how old would I have been?” Debbie’s forehead wrinkled in a frown as she tried to recall her age. “I must have been about five. My father came home from work one day, this was after his practice was closed down, that happened before I was even born. Anyway, he came home from his job as an assistant psychologist - which meant he didn’t actually see any patients, just helped to analyse their cases, I think that’s the correct name for it, and walked in here and went over to my mother who was stood at the sink washing-up, just near where you are Lisa.” Lisa subconsciously moved away from the sink with a shiver passing the length of her spine “and he gave her a kiss. I hardly ever saw my parents kiss so I knew he was in a good mood. Then he came over to me and sat at the table next to me, right where I’m sat now, that’s where I was sat that day” her eyes glazed over at the memory. “He pulled a huge package from under his arm and handed it to me. It was wrapped up in pretty pink paper with a big red bow tied round the middle. He said that it was mine for being a good girl and he called me his princess. I was so happy, I tore the wrapping off and it was the most beautiful dolls house I had ever seen. He took me into the lounge and helped me put all the furniture inside just how I wanted it. It even had the dollies with it. I absolutely adored it. For the rest of that night I played with it and the next day when my father was at work me and my mother played with it together. I felt wonderful and knew that he must love me after all.”

  Her children were watching her as she spoke so contentedly, but suddenly her eyes became moist and tears started rolling down her cheeks. They didn’t like to see her cry and they rarely did, except for today.

  “Only, the next day when he arrived home from work he was in a bad mood again. After shouting at my mother for not having his dinner ready he turned on me. He marched me up to my room and told me I must be punished for being naughty. To this day I don’t know what I’d done to make him so angry with me. He went over to my beloved doll’s house and smashed it to pieces while I stood there crying, then he just walked straight past me as though I wasn’t even there. I scrambled around on the floor crying, trying to put my precious doll’s house back together again while he was down stairs punishing my mother for his dinner being late. She used to try so hard not to scream so I didn’t get frightened but when he beat her with things, whatever was to hand, a belt, a pan, a fire poker, or if nothing was in his reach, his hands would do, she couldn’t help but scream. I was five years old for God’s sake. No child should have to go through that” she trailed off and cried even harder. Lisa and Aiden comforted her as best they could until the tears stopped flowing.

  17

  As the kettle whistled its high-pitched squeal in the silence of the kitchen Lisa busied herself making more drinks. Aiden rose from the table. “I’m just off to the loo” he told them, speaking more to Lisa than his mother. He wanted to make sure she knew he was leaving the room. He didn’t think his mum should be left alone.

  On his way to the toilet Aiden thought about the difference in his mum since they’d arrived there that afternoon. Just one afternoon? That couldn’t be right. It felt like they had spent days here already. He had never seen this side to her before. She seemed so vulnerable and small, almost child-like. He reached the bathroom thanks to the memories he had from the only other time he had been here when he was just nine. He’d been so frightened by what had happened to him that he wet himself and his mum had to take him to the bathroom and clean him up leaving him feeling so dirty and ashamed. He felt his cheeks burn as he remembered the horrible undignified incident. Even though he was only a small child when it happened it didn’t lessen the embarrassment he felt. Before he had a chance to think back to that day he started humming a tune to himself, no tune in particular, just anything to break the pull of his memories trying to wrap themselves around his mind and lure him back to that day. He hated being in this house again, but he was a man now, he shouldn’t be scared anymore. It was alright trying to tell himself that, but he couldn’t help being scared, he couldn’t help hating every second of being here in this house that had ruined his childhood, taken his innocence away from him, and from Lisa for that matter. Yes, he was scared. Terrified if truth be known but he was also angry that he felt that way. He was an adult now! Hadn’t he been banging on and on for months to his mum about that fact? Hadn’t he been acting like an adult even longer around his friends? So why, when he needed to act like one more than ever could he not stop himself feeling like a frightened child? His mum and his sister needed him to be strong for them. So strong he would be. He had no choice.

  Lisa was at the sink washing the mugs before using them. Goodness knew how long they had been left to sit in the cupboards without being used. She would not drink from a dirty mug. Making the coffee she absentmindedly carried on the one-sided conversation with her mum like a mother talking to her baby. She didn’t expect an answer. She just needed to fill the silence. When she crossed the kitchen to look for some biscuits she heard the grind of the wooden chair scrape along the floors stone tiles. Thinking her mum was just fidgeting she continued to look f
or the biscuits, all the while keeping up the same monologue.

  “Where’s mum?” at the sound of Aiden’s voice she turned round. Her mother wasn’t at the table, she wasn’t in the kitchen.

  “Maybe she’s gone to the toilet.” Lisa said with a shrug.

  “I’ve just come from the toilet and I didn’t pass her.”

  “She probably went to the upstairs one. She knew you were using the downstairs one.” Lisa reassured her brother.

  He said no more and they sat down at the table with their freshly-made coffee and chocolate digestives.

  The minutes ticked by in slow motion. The large antique-looking Grandfather clock that stood grandly next to the huge front doors was the only sound that pierced the air. The noise was far from comforting. It sent chills down their spines as the ticking reverberated around the empty rooms. It sounded silly, but Lisa was silently willing it to stop ticking for fear that it would arouse the senses of someone or something that lurked in the dark, still rooms of the house. After what seemed like a million loud, invasive ticks of the second hand of the Grandfather clock, their mother still wasn’t back.

  “Do you think we should go look for her?” asked Aiden beginning to worry. Lisa reluctantly agreed.

  Deciding to look in the upstairs bathroom first, in case she had, in fact, gone to the toilet, they climbed the creaky staircase as fast as their lead-heavy legs would allow, one step at a time, neither of them wanting to go upstairs, yet knowing they had to. The carpet on the stairs was extremely worn in the middle of each step and the further they climbed, the mustier the air became and the heavier the atmosphere got. The banister had an awful sticky texture to it that made Lisa feel physically sick. It was almost as though the house lived and breathed, the stickiness on the banister was like some kind of disgusting perspiration oozing from the pores of the house. She tried to remember not to touch it, but instinctively reached out to it every time they heard a noise from above or below them, which was every couple of short, shallow breaths they took. She didn’t want to go first, scared of what she might see, but she also hated the idea of going last too because if something was behind her she wouldn’t be able to run until Aiden did to get away from it… How ridiculous she was being! It was a house. Ok, it was old and spooky, but a house all the same. Plus her brother was right behind her. It’s not like she was alone. What kind of example was she giving him, her baby brother, acting all scared and jumpy. She needed to get a grip.

  They reached the top of the landing and passed opposite the long thin windows that didn’t quite manage to give much light to the unnaturally dark staircase. They were huge windows and this part of the landing was bathed in a warm glow as the sun set on the horizon. Aiden made his way to the front of the landing where he stood and peered out through the glass, noticing how rapidly it had become dark outside. His eyes were drawn to the topiary hedges that surrounded the garden and that stood out menacingly, looming through the coming darkness of the night. They didn’t seem real to him. The hedges were as domineering as they would be if they had been painted in thick black tar against a pale grey background on a drawing. The edges were very clear like they were silhouetted against the background. He could hear an owl hooting from a nearby oak that made him return his attention to where he was and he saw that he had been breathing so hard that he had made a mist on the window panes. He watched it spread out like a bird unfolding its wings when he breathed out and curl into itself as he took the next breath. He found it hard to tear his eyes away from the window. Lisa was waiting cautiously at the top of the stairs where he’d left her. Turning his back to the window he made to cross the gallery landing to her when he heard what sounded like a glass shattering scream from outside that pierced through the air and penetrated the walls of the house. His heart felt like it had actually stopped beating for a second.

  “Did you hear that?” he asked in a breathless whisper.

  “Did I hear what?”

  “I thought I just heard a scream from outside.”

  “It was probably just an animal, that’s all! Don’t be a wuss!”

  Lisa was pleased with her explanation but Aiden didn’t buy it. He heard it and it didn’t sound like any animal he’d ever heard before. Even so, he said nothing more about it, not wanting to frighten his sister, and, in all truthfulness, himself. Lisa tried to forget the unnatural sound and focus on finding their mum.

  18

  The ceilings were extremely high and the shadows reached right to the top completely filling every single recess like a sheet of pure solid blackness. The air upstairs was cool and calm apart from every so often when a slight breeze would whisper past their ears as though the house was talking to them, warning them about what lurked inside the desolate rooms…

  Taking the corridor that led straight ahead at the top of the staircase, the first door they came to had a tarnished brass sign hanging on the outside that said “bathroom” in an old-fashioned type of ornamental font. She didn't know why it would matter enough to her to give it second thought but Lisa found herself thinking of how heavy the plaque must be.

  Praying silently that she was in here so they could all just go back downstairs to the kitchen and stay there Lisa called through the old wooden door “Mum? Are you in here?” Pressing her ear against the door she could see up close the grain markings of the wood and smell the slight scent of varnish tinged with dust.

  There was no reply. Lisa asked again and still there came no reply. She put her hand around the circular metal door-knob which was warm, strangely, like someone had stood with their hand wrapped around it to warm it up. She turned the knob and pushed open the door. A strange sickly sweet, cloying smell like a floral scented perfume wafted past them, followed immediately by another smell of bleach that was so powerful it stung their eyes. Lisa groped around on the wall just inside the door for a light switch and flicked it on. It was a large bathroom with brass fittings that had rusted with age. In the centre of the room stood a large free-standing roll-top bath with clawed feet. To the right against the wall was an unremarkable toilet and next to that a bidet which Lisa thought was the epitome of posh. The squared porcelain washbasin was on the opposite wall. Much to their disappointment, their mum wasn’t in there with the old fashioned suite and its fittings. The tap in the sink was leaking steadily, making an annoying plopping noise as the stagnant water which lay in the rusted, lime-scaled taps wormed its way from the opening and splashed onto the cracked and yellowed enamel of the basin. Lisa crossed over to it and tightened the faucet to stop the monotonous dripping. As she looked up into the mirrored medicine cabinet on the wall above the sink she saw a shadow moving behind her to her left. Assuming that Aiden had followed her in the room she turned to face him but he wasn’t there. She looked to where the shadow had walked and saw it led to a door on the other side of the room. Becoming annoyed at her brothers immature game of hide and seek, she sidled quietly over to the wooden slatted door and gripped the handle firmly. Yanking the door open she prepared herself to be scared as Aiden jumped out at her, thinking he was funny, but what she saw was towels. Nothing but towels neatly folded on shelves. Aiden wasn’t in there. There was nowhere for him to hide either. The whole inside was taken up by shelves. Where was he then? She knew she’d seen him. What a time for him to play the prize prat and try scaring her. She was so going to get him back for this. Closing the door quietly she turned back to the room and saw the deep bath in its centre. That was plenty big enough for Aiden to lie down in and hide. Bloody idiot he was. She should have been used to him and his mind-numbing pranks by now. After all she had had years of them. He was always doing childish things at home. Lisa had lost count of the amount of times he’d untwisted the salt pot lid and watched with glee as the contents poured onto her tea. He would be doubled over with laughter as she scraped the majority off her food. Not funny. Another one of his maddening tricks was to prop the books in her cupboard right on the edge of the shelves and wait for the inevitable thud thud thu
d as they all toppled to the floor when she opened the door. Again, so not funny. Well, maybe just a bit, but only when she had gotten over her fury.

  This was different though. He knew she hated being here because he hated it just as much. Maybe this was his way of lightening the mood and could she really be angry with him for trying to do that? She walked quickly over to the bath, wanting his stupid games to end because this wasn’t the time and certainly not the place for them, and peered over the rim. There were water marks below the taps from where the water had been left to drip. On the side of the bath was a rather large spider that seemed to watch Lisa closely, as if waiting for her to make her move. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand it was spiders and creepy-crawlies. But there was no Aiden. Cringing, she turned on the tap with much effort and with a loud squeak and a series of chugging noises that were so powerful they made the bath vibrate, it finally let out a few spurts of murky water after giving one last clunk for good measure. The water looked like it had been sat in the pipes for years; it was laden with bits of rust and it gave off a foul smell of decay. Not wanting to put her hand under it in case she caught some awful disease she stood and watched, hoping it would run clear. After a moment or two she got her wish and the water began to look normal and the smell disappeared in a whirlpool down the dark plughole with the diseased water. She looked around for something to fill but could see nothing so she cupped her hand under the stream and let it run on her warm, clammy skin, cold and wet. When her palm was full she quickly and with a slight flick of her wrist chucked the water onto the fat spider. The first lot of water did nothing to remove it from its vantage point so she did it again and it fell to the bottom of the bath. She swore she heard a tiny thud from the huge creatures’ grotesque body landing on the enamel. Filling her palm with as much water as it would take she threw it on the spider again and again, each time washing it nearer and nearer to the plughole. When it was close enough she turned the tap on more and let it drench the spider and send it tumbling into the black abyss. Just to make sure it was gone Lisa left the tap running for a few seconds. Happy that she had gotten rid of it she turned off the tap tightly. As she was doing so she saw something in the corner of her eye and turned towards it. There was nothing there. Frowning she turned to the bathroom door and saw Aiden stood on the other side of the door, peering round the door-frame, gingerly waiting for her to come out.