The Haunting of Seafield House
Caroline Clark
Spooky Night Books
Contents
Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Called From Beyond Preview
Preview: The Haunting of Brynlee House
Also by Caroline Clark
About the Author
Introduction
I hope you enjoy this haunted house book. Like all of my books this one has a little bit of real house weaved into the story. The people and places are of course all fiction. However the spirits, maybe they come from my imagination or maybe they come from my memory. You decide! Best read with the lights on.
This is the first book in the Spirit Guide Series for a limited time you can get Called From Beyond – The Spirit Guide The second book in this series for just 0.99. They are both standalone complete stories and can be read in any order.
Called From Beyond – The Spirit Guide
A non-believer, a terrible accident, a stupid mistake. Is Mark going mad or was his girlfriend Called from Beyond? http://a-fwd.to/1w2qbGw
Get The Black Eyed Children for FREE subscribe to Caroline Clark’s newsletter for new release announcements and occasional free content: http://eepurl.com/cGdNvX
Prologue
30th June 1901
Seafield House.
Barton Flats,
Yorkshire.
England.
00.01 am.
Jenny Thornton sucked in a tortured breath and hunkered down behind the curtains. The coarse material seemed to stick to her face, to cling there as if holding her down. Fighting back the thought and the panic it engendered she crouched even lower and tried to stop the shaking of her knees, to still the panting of her breath. It was imperative that she did not breathe too loudly, that she kept quiet and still. If she was to survive with just a beating, then she knew she must hide. Tonight he was worse than she had ever seen him before. Somehow, tonight was different, she could feel it in the air.
Footsteps approached on the landing. They were easy to hear through the door and seemed to mock her as they approached. Each step was like another punch to her stomach, and she could feel them reverberating through her bruises. Why had she not fled the house?
As if in answer, lightening flashed across the sky and lit up the sparsely furnished room. There was nothing between her and the door. A dresser to her right provided no shelter for an adult yet her eyes were drawn to the door on its front. It did not move but stood slightly ajar. Inside, her precious Alice would keep quiet. They had played this game before, and the child knew that she must never come out when Daddy was angry. When he was shouting. Would it be enough to keep her safe? Why had Jenny chosen this room? Before she could think, thunder boomed across the sky and she let out a yelp.
Tears were running down her face, had he heard her? It seemed unlikely that he could hear such a noise over the thunder and yet the footsteps had stopped. Oh my, he was coming back. Jenny tried to make herself smaller and to shrink into the thick velvet curtains, but there was nowhere else to go.
If only she had listened to her father, if only she had told him about Alice. For a moment, all was quiet, she could hear the house creak and settle as the storm raged outside. The fire would have burned low, and soon the house would be cold. This was the least of her problems. Maybe she should leave the room and lead Abe away from their daughter. Maybe it was her best choice. Their best choice.
Lightning flashed across the sky and filled the room with shadows. Jenny let out a scream for he was already there. A face like an overstuffed turkey loomed out of the darkness, and a hand grabbed onto her dress. Jenny was hauled off her feet and thrown across the room. Her neck hit the top of the dresser, and she slumped to the floor next to the door. How she wanted to warn Alice to stay quiet, to stay inside but she could not make a sound. There was no pain, no feeling and yet she knew that she was broken. Something had snapped when she hit the cabinet, and somehow she knew it could never be fixed. That it was over for her. In her mind, she prayed that her daughter, the child who had become her daughter, would be safe just before a distended hand reached out and grabbed her around the neck. There was no feeling just a strange burning in her lungs. The fact that she did not fight seemed to make him angrier and she was picked up and thrown again.
As she hit the window, she heard the glass shatter, but she did not feel the impact. Did not feel anything. Suddenly, the realization hit her and she wanted to scream, to wail out the injustice of it but her mouth would not move. Then he was bending over her.
“Beg for your life, woman,” Abe Thornton shouted and sprayed her with spittle.
Jenny tried to open her mouth, not to beg for her own life but to beg for that of her daughter’s. She wanted to ask him to tell others about the child they had always kept a secret, the one that he had denied. To admit that they had a daughter and maybe to let the child go to her grandparents. Only her mouth would not move, and no sound came from her throat.
She could see the red fury in his eyes, could feel the pressure building up inside of him and yet she could not even blink in defense. This was it, the end, and for a moment, she welcomed the release. Then she thought of Alice, alone in that cupboard for so long. Now, who would visit her, who would look after her? There was no one, and she knew she could never leave her child.
Abe grabbed her by the front of her dress and lifted her high above his head. The anger was like a living beast inside him, and he shook her like she was nothing but a rag doll. Then with a scream of rage, he threw her. This time she saw the curtains flick against her face and then there was nothing but air.
The night was dark, rain streamed down, and she fell with it. Alongside it she fell, tumbling down into the darkness. In her mind she wheeled her arms, in her mind she screamed out the injustice, but she never moved, never made a sound.
Instead, she just plummeted toward the earth.
Lightning flashed just before she hit the ground. It lit up the jagged rocks at the base of the house, lit up the fate that awaited her and then it was dark. Jenny was overwhelmed with fear and panic, but there was no time to react, even if she could. Jenny smashed into the rocks with a hard thump and then a squelch, but she did not feel a thing.
“Alice, I will come back for you,” she said in her mind. Then it was dark, it was cold, and there was nothing.
Chapter 1
25th June 2017
15 Elm Field Road.
London.
England.
1.00 pm.
Gail Parker stopped the car and rested her head against the steering wheel. Suddenly, she felt so exhausted, so totally shattered that she did not think she could walk the few feet back to her house. It was not the walk that she dreaded but having to hide her diagnosis. Having to face Jesse and either tell him what had happened, or even worse, to keep it from him.
Yet now was not the time to give him her news. Jesse was excited, which wasn’t unusual. Whenever he found a new house to investigate he was always excited. Only this one seemed different. This time he was so sure, and this time she had agreed to go with him. She would give him this one weekend, and then s
he would tell him the news. They would face it together, or she would face it alone. It did not matter. Nothing could alter the outcome.
Tears prickled at the back of her eyes but she bit down on her lip and forced them away. A blue Daisy waved at her from the dashboard. When she bought the Volkswagen beetle, the little Daisy had delighted her, yet now she wanted to rip it from the dashboard and stamp on it. A laugh escaped her. As if that would really help.
Pulling down the visor she checked her face. Though her eyes were a little puffy, they were not too bad. This month she had lost 12 lbs, and that hid some of the damage. It didn’t look as if she had been crying, she would do.
It was time to put a smile on her face and pretend nothing had happened.
Seafield House,
Brinkley Moor,
Yorkshire.
7.45 pm
After a four hour drive, Jesse pulled the 10-year-old Jeep up outside a dilapidated house. The car was his pride and joy, it was the only vehicle that could take all of his equipment. It was not that it was any bigger than other cars, it was just that Jesse had spent years getting it just right, every corner, every nook, and every cranny was filled with custom-made pockets for his equipment. Sometimes Gail would wish he would change it, get something newer, something that had working air conditioning, but she knew it would never happen and the trusty car had never let them down... yet.
Gail was tired, and there was a deep throbbing behind her right eye. All she wanted to do was have a bath, take a couple of tablets and go to sleep. Looking at the rundown place before them, that didn’t seem likely.
Jesse was also looking up at the house, she could see the excitement in the set of his jaw, in the way he leaned forward eagerly and slowly scanned the property. Gail bit back the sigh that threatened to escape her and turned her eyes back to the property.
It was almost dusk, the sun was setting behind the house and seemed to bathe it in a dusky rose light. The windows were like mirrors reflecting back at them like empty eyes. It was as if it did not want them to see inside and she felt herself shudder. Quickly, she looked away. It had surprised her that it would be called Seafield House when it was so far from the sea, and yet, now she understood. A field next to the house was filled with long grass. As the wind tickled across its surface, it looked like the ocean. True, a green ocean, but the grass waved and undulated like water. The sight delighted her, and she thought maybe this would not be so bad after all.
Gradually, her eyes were pulled back to the property. It was a large house, dilapidated and obviously empty for many years. Yet surprisingly, there were no broken panes of glass and no graffiti. It was two stories high, the roof had seen better days, and a few tiles had slipped off and laid on the ground below it.
A crumbling wall surrounded the property and between that and the house was dry patchy grass. It looked as if it had been burned by the sun and yet it had not been that hot this year. There were a few trees scattered about. The leaves were bare, their branches just misshapen twigs that reached up to the sky. For a second, she imagined them beseeching the great god of rain. It was as if they were starved of moisture, starved of something and they were begging for release. Gail shook her head, what was she doing? Jesse was the one who believed in all this and here she was imagining trees begging for water. It looked like she was getting a little carried away.
“I have a good feeling about this place,” Jesse said, turning towards her.
Gail nodded. There was a light in his gray eyes and excitement there that had been missing for over a year. This weekend would be good for him, and she would make sure that he enjoyed it as much as he could. Memories might be all they had now, and it was time to create some good ones.
“It’s certainly a little creepy,” Gail said. “Is somebody meeting us?”
Jesse shook his head and opened the car door. “No, I have the key. Let’s get all the equipment inside and then I believe there’s a local pub. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. A good meal, and chatting with the locals sounds like the perfect way to get to know the house a little better.”
Jesse got out of the Jeep and walked around to the back. He was already unloading equipment as Gail just sat and stared at the house. Something about it disturbed her and yet she knew she was being silly. How many of these houses had Jesse been to? There were dozens, and he had never found a thing. So why was she scared of going into this one? For a moment, tears filled her eyes, she knew it was not the fear of the house but the fear of the unknown to come that made her feel so desolate.
Blinking back the tears, she took one more look at Seafield House. There were six windows on the top floor, and three on either side of the door on the bottom floor. Her eyes were drawn to the uppermost left window, and a gasp escaped her. Just for a moment, she had seen a child, staring from the window. The girl had long dark hair and was wearing a white dress, but then she was gone almost as quickly as she appeared.
“Jesse, look,” Gail said and pointed towards the house.
“What is it?” Jesse asked.
Gail found herself staring at the empty window. The glare of the sun made it impossible to see through the glass. What had she seen? As if in answer, a shadow from the clouds passed across the window. Gail laughed.
“I guess I’m just spooking myself, I thought I saw a girl at the window. Good company I’m gonna be.”
Jesse had his hand's full of equipment, camera bags over his shoulders. “Don’t discount anything you see.” he said with a grin. “I want to hear everything no matter how small.”
Gail could not help but see the little boy inside the man. Jesse was excited, and part of her hoped that this time he would find something. Another part of her didn’t know whether to laugh at such an idea or to be terrified by it. So, she grabbed a couple of bags from the back and followed him into the house.
As she reached the door, Jesse was fumbling with the key. It was large and rusted and looked like something out of a comedy show. Eventually, he had the key ready, juggling with his bags, and she had to stifle another grin. This was typical Jesse, instead of making three trips he piled everything he could hang onto into his arms, over his shoulders, around his neck, and then he’d stumble and shuffle towards the house. Now he had so many bags, and his hands were not free enough to open the door. Gail put her own bags down and took the key from him, giving him a little smile as she did so.
Jesse laughed. “I know, I know. Too many bags, how many times have you told me?”
Despite her headache, Gail gave him a big smile and then turned quickly to the door. How much she loved this man, it hurt her deeply as she thought of his pain to come.
Taking the key in her right hand, she put her left hand on the door. The wood felt rough and crumbly beneath her fingers. As she pushed, it became almost slick and moist as if she had put her fingers into a moldy goo. Every instinct told her to pull back and to run. Maybe she was letting this get to her just a little bit too much? As she tried to insert the key, the door moved away from her. The place was unlocked! For some reason that filled her with dread.
Jesse just laughed. “I guess there’s nothing in here to steal so why would it be locked?”
Gail nodded, she supposed that made sense.
Her first view of the house was a little disappointing. It just looked old, dirty and run down. What had she expected?
It took them about half an hour to unpack all of the equipment. They put most of it just inside the door in a large entrance hallway. There were four doors leading off the room and a staircase on the left. Gail watched Jesse check over some of the equipment. She did not know what most of it was. Obviously, she recognized the cameras, the video recording equipment, the tripods, et cetera. Over the years she had heard Jesse talking about much of the rest of it. There were EMF meters, temperature recording equipment, equipment to record radio waves and other waves that she just could not remember. By the time it was all unloaded, she was exhausted and the thought of spending t
he night in this damp and desolate house filled her with a disquiet that she could not understand. Maybe it was just the idea of being so uncomfortable, of having no electric, no hot water, and the dread of having to tell Jesse about her diagnosis. Yet, something about the place made her hair stand on end.
There were plenty of windows. It should have been light inside, and yet a gloom hung over the place like a heavy cloud. It was also eerily silent, but maybe that was just the difference between a secluded house and living for all her life on a busy London street. There was no traffic noise, no noise from people, and no anything. There wasn't even birdsong or the sound of the wind. The house just seemed quiet. It was almost as if it was waiting for something.
"Are you ready?" Jesse said.
Gail nodded.
Jesse looked more alive than he had in months. There was a constant smile on his face, a spring in his step, and a glistening desire for sheer excitement in his eyes. Watching him made her feel good. It gave her the ability to push away her gloomy thoughts. She would enjoy this night, the excitement of exploring this house together. It was an adventure and one she should relish.
"I'm ready,” she said. "How far is this pub and what's it called?"
Jesse laughed a little. "It's only a five-minute walk. It's actually the closest neighbor, being just on the outskirts of the village. Real cheery sounding place. It's called ‘The Hanged Man’."
The Haunting of Seafield House (The Spirit Guide Book 1) Page 1