The Haunting Within

by Michelle Burley

  This pleased them very much. They wanted nothing more than to go home and wait for everything to be done. They also informed Mr. Matlock that every piece of furniture would be left in the house for the new buyers to which he became visibly thrilled at that piece of information which he said it would help the house to sell even faster because of that.

  “I have never had a house of such value on my books before, but in my experience houses like this with a lot of potential are usually sold quite quickly. That was a lovely cup of tea Mrs. Adams. If you will excuse me I must be getting back. Here’s my card” he passed her a small business card with his name, work address and phone number on and his mobile number printed on it, nothing close to as fancy as Mr. Leeson’s business card which was all embossed writing and a decorative border, but that pleased Lisa and Aiden. This was a man who was down to earth. The saying ‘what you see is what you get’ fitted perfectly. He flapped about as he tried to stuff everything back into his briefcase.

  “If you need me for anything at all please, do not hesitate to get in touch with me. If you could just give me your home address and phone number before I go so that we can get everything done over the phone?” Debbie reeled off the address and number and he wrote it down in his note book before bidding them a goodnight.

  They stood at the door and watched as he struggled to get his rather substantial bulk behind the wheel of his silver Ford Mondeo and drove out of the grounds and out of sight, sticking a podgy arm through the open window to wave to them one last time.

  Turning on the head lights as he rounded the curve that led from the drive to the lane where the gates stood at the end, he nearly had a panic attack at the sight that confronted him from the darkness. There in front of his head lights stood three small foxes, staring with their glowing eyes through the windscreen of the car at him. If he hadn’t turned on the lights when he did they would almost certainly of been hit. As he looked at their tiny faces he waited for them to scarper, but they did nothing of the sort, only stood there, in front of his car and continued regarding him intently. He thought about sounding the horn to scare them off but changed his mind just as his hand was poised over the horn. He wouldn’t want to scare Mrs. Adams and her children. Instead he slowly started the car moving forward, thinking they would make a run for it, only they did not. They moved around to the sides of the car so they were flanking him, one on one side, two on the other, moving at a very leisurely pace. Getting a little flustered, thinking they may be diseased, he pressed forwards faster and faster and for some reason that he didn’t understand he plipped the central locking. He looked out of the rear view mirror and to his disbelief and slight horror he saw the three little foxes chasing the car. He started to panic when he couldn’t remember if he had left the gate open or if he had closed it upon entering. If it was closed what would he do? He couldn’t get out of the car to open it, they would surely pounce on him and he couldn’t sound the horn to alert the family to his predicament as they would probably pounce on them too! His imagined dilemma and subsequent worry subsided as he came face to face with the gates and saw, much to his relief that they were standing wide open. Swinging his car round and onto the road he watched for the foxes but they didn’t appear, it was as though they did not belong outside the gates, they dared not venture through them.

  Turning on the radio to calm him he began the long drive back into town, looking forward to getting home and to his routine of his wife’s huge dinner that no doubt waited, then on with his slippers and into his comfy old chair where he would dose off to one of his wife’s soap operas playing in the background.

  58

  When they were back inside Aiden looked at his watch. “God! It’s five-to-nine already! I didn’t think he’d been here that long.”

  “I don’t care what time it is. We’re gonna be rich!” Debbie shouted throwing her arms around her children. “I can’t possibly sleep now! I’m far too excited! I can’t believe it! One point six million! What shall we do with it?”

  They all sat around the kitchen table talking about the money and what they thought they should do with it until the early hours of the morning. They decided they should all try and get some sleep if they were going to be up early tomorrow morning, or rather that morning, to get home as soon as possible. Their moods were good, their spirits lifted as they made their way to bed - the same situation as the night before because they still didn’t want to sleep alone - because of the unexpected news and the fact they were going home in a few short hours and never had to come back again.

  Debbie fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but Lisa and Aiden lie there for a while thinking about what they would like to do with their share of the money. They had all decided it would be split equally three ways and they would probably be able to live off the interest. Lisa was thinking that she could finish her course at college and then do a cookery course and when she had graduated she would open her own restaurant and build her chain from there. This pleasing thought eventually sent her off to a deep dream-filled sleep. Aiden was thinking about his money. At the moment he was a quarter of a way through a Health and Fitness course at college. He wanted to be a personal trainer. He decided that when he finished his course he would buy his own gym and run training sessions with himself as one of the instructors. He was deep in thought when sleep crept up and engulfed him without him even knowing it had been waiting.

  They all slept peacefully again, apart from Aiden who had a dream about dying. He didn’t know how he had died in the dream, he just saw himself lying on the floor of the kitchen in his grandfather’s house, bleeding. In his dream it was as though he was having an out-of-body experience. He was watching himself die and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. He could feel a pain in his chest and stomach which made it hard for him to breathe and he could taste blood in his mouth; his blood. Under his closed eyelids his eyes moved rapidly left and right as though searching for something or someone unseen. All of a sudden he felt extremely hot. He could hear a kind of roaring noise and then…nothing. He could see only blackness and he couldn’t feel anything - no more pain, nothing. After this he had a peaceful, uninterrupted sleep.

  Debbie stood silently in the dark staring at, but not seeing, her son sleeping. She stood rigidly next to him for a very long time until she finally stumbled back into bed and slept the rest of the night away.

  59

  Debbie woke at six-thirty from a bad dream. She dreamed her father was still alive and well and he had called her to his study. He told her neither she nor the children would ever be allowed to leave. He told Debbie that they must all stay with him so he could teach them all how to behave correctly. They needed to be severely punished for their sins and he was the right person to do it. She sat on the end of the bed with her head in her hands and her hair dripping from sweat caused by the nightmare. Her hands were clammy and her back was wet too. Although her father was dead, she really had seen him, and he really did assault her in the cellar. She was just as terrified of him now as she was when he was alive, if not more so now he had become so violent. He was very real to her and that meant he was real, she wasn’t imagining this, even if Lisa and Aiden didn’t believe her. That maddened her, the fact that they didn’t believe their own mother. Just because they were lucky enough to not have seen him yet. But she was sure they would. It was only a matter of time before he appeared to them.

  She was roused from her thoughts by the familiar daunting voice booming up the stairs. Her father was shouting her name, demanding she went down stairs at once. She feared he would wake Lisa and Aiden so she got out of bed and dressed as fast as she could and rushed down stairs to him.

  Lisa woke up around an hour later and was worried by the fact that her mother’s side of the bed was empty. She again had to shake her brother awake and they hurried downstairs, dreading what they would find today. Aiden was thinking it was like the movie Groundhog Day where the main character woke up over and over again on the same da
y. His sister would say it was deja-vu. He was certain that their mum would be making breakfast for them when they got into the kitchen. She probably couldn’t sleep because she was excited they were leaving today he hoped to himself as they walked down the winding staircase.

  Sure enough, there she was in the kitchen just dishing up breakfast; two fried eggs, fried bacon, fried bread, plum tomatoes, baked beans, sausages, mushrooms, butter beans, the whole works. They were foods that Lisa had seen in the larder the day before but thought they wouldn’t do for tea, there wasn’t enough to fill their empty stomachs, plus she didn’t know how long they had all been there. Sure, she could have had a sniff of the bacon and she would have been able to tell straight away from the smell if the eggs were off or not, but she decided against it for a late meal. Even so, everything smelt delicious and she was incredibly hungry so she would certainly tuck in with pleasure. Only Debbie didn’t acknowledge them when they entered the kitchen. They assumed she was just in a world of her own thinking about the money.

  “Mm! Something smells nice mum.” Aiden sat down at the table waiting for his breakfast.

  Debbie didn’t answer him.

  “How are you this morning mum?” Lisa asked sitting opposite her brother at the kitchen table.

  Still Debbie didn’t speak. She brought the plate of food over to the table and put it at the opposite end of the table to which either of them where sitting.

  “Would you like a cup of tea, father?” Debbie spoke to the empty seat. “Yes, we do have coffee.” Debbie said as if answering a silent question. “If that is what you would prefer, I will make you a cup of coffee.”

  She turned and walked to the boiling kettle and proceeded to make a cup of steaming hot coffee. She walked back to the table, completely ignoring Lisa and Aiden and she placed the cup down next to the plate of food. Lisa and Aiden were sat watching her, completely gob smacked by her actions. They were becoming increasingly alarmed now as she began talking to her “father” again.

  “I am sorry Father; I forgot you take two sugars in your coffee. It will not happen again, I can assure you that. I will put the sugar in for you right away.”

  Debbie turned as if to walk back to the side, but she turned back before taking a step.

  “What do you mean you don’t want it Father? I can make you a fresh one if you prefer? Oh, Father please don’t! I’m begging you, I said I’m sorry! I’ll make you another. Father, please! Father!” Lisa and Aiden watched in horror and disbelief as she picked up the cup of steaming hot coffee and held it above her head and began to pour it over her face all the while screaming at her father to stop.

  They felt physically sick as they watched her; they were both too shocked to move so all they could do was watch. They could see the steam rising from her face as the coffee washed over her like a stream of brown water. Almost straight away the blisters began to appear, bubbling away on her once smooth unblemished skin. Lisa finally found the strength in her weak, trembling legs to run to her mother and take the cup from her. She had to literally prise open her fingers to get the cup because Debbie had curled her fingers tightly as the coffee burned her face. Lisa struggled to take the coffee away from her unstable mother. All the time Aiden just sat there, not able to move through pure fear and shock. Debbie was crying, still pleading with her father not to harm her anymore. Lisa didn’t know what to do so she rushed to the sink and filled the closest thing to her; an enamel jug, with cold water. She ran back to her mum who was now on her knees holding her face in her shaking hands and still screaming and Lisa threw the water over her.

  Debbie stopped crying immediately from the shock of cold water on her red hot skin. Aiden didn’t know if he had imagined it, but he was almost sure he heard the hiss of the cold water as it made contact with the sizzling skin. He felt sick to his stomach. Debbie looked up at Lisa for the first time that morning and Lisa saw the ugly bright red blisters forming on her beautiful face. She knelt down next to her mum and took her into her arms, careful not to touch her raw skin, and she held her for what seemed like an eternity before Debbie spoke.

  “I don’t know why he did this to me Lisa, I said I would make him another cup of coffee, I didn’t mind.” Pulling herself up from the floor she looked at the plate of uneaten food on the table. “He hasn’t even eaten his breakfast” she said shaking her head.

  “Come on mum; let’s get your face seen to.” Lisa said gently as she steered her mother to the kitchen sink.

  “We’ll have to hurry up then so I can get the washing-up done before he sees them left there.”

  Lisa looked over at Aiden who was still sat at the table and she gave him such a sad look that at that moment, his heart felt like it had actually broken.

  Standing on shaking legs, Aiden picked up the plate of food and hurled it at the kitchen wall. “This is not his food! Do you hear me mum?! He’s DEAD! Stop talking to him for fucks sake! Stop talking about him! I’m fucking sick of it! I don’t know what to do mum, I’m trying but I don’t know what else to do! He’s dead! He’s dead…” he fell to his knee’s on the cold stone floor and with his head in his hands he wept. He wept for his mum, he wept for all of them. “Please stop talking about him mum.” he said in a small pleading voice. He didn’t have the energy left to shout. He didn’t have the energy to be mad. He didn’t have the energy left to protect his lovely mum. He didn’t know what to do anymore. He had a feeling of dread, that everything he loved would be lost. He felt completely helpless. What was happening to them?

  Lisa, who had watched this with a mixture of fright and complete understanding, left Debbie standing at the kitchen sink as she went to her baby brother who was very much in need of some love and affection. Dropping to the floor beside him she took him gently in her arms and cradled him as though he was her baby. Not for the first time since they had been at the house, he returned the hug. They cried together, wrapped in one another’s embrace. Looking to the sink Lisa saw her mother washing her hands as if nothing had happened, as if her baby was not crying out for her. A brief look of contempt flashed in her eyes for her mum, before she turned to her brother again. She didn’t hate her mum, she loved her with all of her heart, but why was she doing this? The explanation that came to her was terrifying. It was him. It had to be. Their mum wasn’t crazy. Jesus, would they ever be able to get back to normal? Right now “normal” seemed as impossible as them getting out of this god-forsaken house.

  60

  It had taken Lisa about thirty minutes to bathe her mother’s blisters. She had to stop and turn away while she retched at the swollen, pus-filled skin that kept sticking to the cotton pads. When she had done all she could do for her, including giving her some painkillers to make her as comfortable as possible, she led her into the lounge and got her comfy on the settee with a nice warm cup of tea - she had purposefully left the tea to cool for a while before handing it over to her, as you would do if you were giving a child a drink of tea, for fear of a repeat performance with someone unseen by her and Aiden. Once Aiden, who had calmed down after getting it out of his system, was in the room with her, Lisa set about washing the pots up while she shed silent tears.

  When the kitchen was cleared she went back into the lounge and asked her mum and brother if they wanted any breakfast. She already knew the answer. How could they want to eat after what had happened? Even Aiden who could normally eat like a horse said he wasn’t hungry. Lisa sat next to her mum who was staring vacantly at the wall.

  “When we get home we’ll let you have a nice long rest.” She talked soothingly, all the time gently brushing away her wet fringe from her forehead where it was catching on the broken skin. “You won’t have to worry about anything; me and Aiden will take care of everything for you.” She placed her hand on top of her mothers who pulled away from her touch.

  “What do you mean “when we get home”? We are home.” Debbie replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

  “This isn’t our home mum. We’re going home th
is morning. Do you remember what we decided last night?” Lisa answered not wanting to raise her voice, but finding it very difficult not to.

  “Of course I remember what we talked about last night! I’m not fucking stupid you know! Don’t talk to me like I am!” Debbie snapped back. “This is our home now.”

  Stunned at the venom in her mums words Lisa tried to keep calm and not panic. “No it isn’t. We have our own home and I am definitely not staying here for a minute longer than I have to! We’re going home this morning mum. We’re selling this house, we got it all sorted out yesterday.” Lisa felt like she was talking to an impossible child who refused to listen to reason.

  “I’m not selling this house now. I shall phone the estate agents later and tell him I want it taken off the market!”

  They didn’t know what to do. It was like their mum had disappeared and they were left with an irrational, irresponsible person who didn’t even look like their mum in a lot of ways. Most things seemed the same, the hair - except for the bald patches, the frame, although slightly smaller and more hunched than usual like she carried an enormous weight on her narrow shoulders, and the face – if you could look passed the bruises and the horrendous looking blisters. It was the eye’s that were different. They looked cold and unloving, not at all like her eye’s normally looked. They had lost all their sparkle and radiance, all their life and vitality. They now just looked like empty shells that once were so full and kind. They were scared of the thought that they were losing her to this house, just like their grandmother had lost their grandfather to it all those years ago. They knew they had to get her out, but they couldn’t very well drag her kicking and screaming could they? She was the only one of them who could drive, they needed her to leave the house of her own free will and drive them home. They realised how serious the dilemma was that they faced. They had to make her see sense before they lost her completely. If not they would have to phone a taxi. And what? Leave her there alone? Lisa couldn’t do that. Besides, a taxi would be too expensive to get it all the way back home; even though they stood to inherit so much, they didn’t have the money on them to pay for a five-and-a-half hour journey home.