"Maybe it just collapsed?" he stated, and as he turned back the EMF meter shrieked a little louder.
Jesse waved his arm in front of him left to right and as he did the shrieking rose and lowered. Eventually, he found the highest point and headed in the direction of the footsteps.
Gail followed, and yet her feet felt like lead, and every step was exhausting.
Every few paces the EMF got louder, and Jesse moved a little quicker. Soon they had covered the room and were stood in front of a wall. Even from the poor light of the head torch, Gail could see that the footsteps ended in front of the wall. It was as if the child had walked through it.
"What now?" she asked.
Jesse was running his hands across the wall.
"There has to be something here," he said. "So, we find it."
Now he was tapping on the wall. Tap tap tap, tap tap tap, tap tap thud. The noise changed, and she could see the excitement on his face.
"What does it mean?" Gail asked even though she already knew. As an architect, she understood that the sound signified a hollow space. It was possible that it was loose paneling, but she doubted that. There was probably a hidden room and yet she really hoped she was wrong.
"This could be the entrance to the cellar," Jesse said. "If I can find a way in I think we are onto something."
He passed over the EMF to Gail. It felt strange in her hand as it shrieked out a warning. The needle was going into the red almost all the time and each time it did she felt a shock course through her. It was only nerves, but it felt real. While she stood there holding the meter as far away from her as she could, Jesse tapped and searched the wall. Now she could see it clearer she could see that it was covered in wood panels. After some time he found a loose one and pulled it free. There was a blank space behind it. Jesse turned and grinned at her.
"We found it," he said and then carried on pulling off planks before she had time to stop him.
Chapter 5
Soon enough all the planks had been removed to reveal a dark opening. It had obviously once been a doorway and stone steps led down into the depths below. Jesse turned towards her and gave her a great big smile. As he did the light flashed across her face and the pain flared inside her head. He was getting better, and the glare only stayed there for a moment, so she bit down on her lip, a taste of blood filling her mouth, and she swallowed it down as she looked into his big gray eyes. They were filled with excitement, with passion, and were the most alive she had seen them in over two years. Jesse needed this, and as much as the thought of going into that cellar terrified her, she knew that she would go.
"Maybe we should get a bigger lamp?" Gail asked.
"The dark can't hurt us," Jesse said. "Yet, it is better for the infrared camera on my head, and it is better for any spirits that may be left here. If they have been alone for some time, they will be scared. Too much light is difficult for them. So, it's always best if we keep it to the minimum."
Gail guessed she understood what he was saying but knew she would feel better with a bigger lamp. Still, Jesse knew what he was doing more than she did and the more light there was, the more her head pounded, so she accepted his expertise.
"When are we going down?" Gail asked, and yet she knew the answer already.
"There's no time like the present," Jesse said with a wink.
Taking the EMF from her, he turned towards the dark hole and let the light chase down into its depths. It was covered in cobwebs, and dusty paint was flaking from walls. The stone steps looked worn and uneven. As she got nearer, she could feel a stream of cool damp air rising from below. A musty odor, a little like rotting meat, filled her nostrils. The smell clogged at the back of her throat and made it hard to breathe and for a moment she thought that she would be sick.
Jesse didn’t notice, he was stood on the threshold ready to step down into whatever lay below.
"What happens when we get down there?" Gail asked.
"We look around, take more footage on the headcam, take some readings and see if we can find anything. Maybe we can find remains or even the spirit. If we do, then we work out why it's here, and we document it as well as we can. Isn't this just the most exciting experience you've ever had?"
Gail tried to put on a smile, but it never reached her eyes. It didn't matter, Jesse was so excited he was already stepping down into the darkness below.
Each step down into the cellar filled Gail with terror. Not only was she constantly covered in cobwebs, the thought of the spiders was almost more than she could bear. There was also the stench from below and the cold air brushing past them... but more than anything it was the darkness. The head torch barely penetrated more than a few feet in front of Jesse, and she had to rush to keep up with him. To stay close to the bubble of light.
The excitement in him was obvious. This was a dream come true, an accumulation of years of searching, of researching and it was a validation of his past. A validation of his grandfather. Even though it was hard for her, Gail knew it was worth it, so she gritted her teeth, her arms flapping like a windmill against the cobwebs as she followed him down into the cellar.
It seemed to take forever and yet there were only 15 steps. Gail knew this because she counted every last one. The floor felt like dirt beneath her feet. She had expected it to be hard packed and yet it was loose and powdery, and it was so quiet and still down here, that it felt like they were in a vacuum.
Jesse stepped into the cellar and slowly started to walk around it. The EMF had gone quiet. She did not know if he had turned it off or if it no longer picked anything up. It seemed strange if it was the latter. To Gail, the cellar felt crowded. It was as if they were not alone, she could almost hear people whispering, and was expecting their hands to touch her back, and yet there was nobody there. It was like a pressure, a presence, something just out of the corner of her eye. How could Jesse cope? It seemed to be building and Gail wanted to scream and yet he was so calm before her.
Jesse walked slowly in front of her and did not acknowledge anything was wrong.
Did he feel it?
Was it just her?
Was it just her tumor making her see things that were not there?
Slowly, he checked the room searching the floor for any signs of disturbance. With each step, her anxiety got worse, and her lungs were aching from holding her breath. Her bottom lip was sore from where her teeth were constantly chewing on it.
The torch chased before them, barely touching the darkness and it was as if they were walking through a filtered landscape that was always a little darker than it should be.
Gail wanted to grab hold of Jesse's hand. It would give her comfort, give her courage and yet she knew she must not. If he suspected how scared she was, she thought that he would send her away. Possibly even drive her up to the pub. Even though that was exactly what she wanted she knew it was not what she needed, not what they needed. So, she gritted her teeth, bit down on her lip and followed him through the dreadful dark and dreary cellar.
"The EMF has stopped," Jesse's voice scared her and she jumped behind him.
"Sorry," he said with amusement in his voice. "I know it can get pretty scary down in the dark, but you have nothing to fear. In most houses the cellar is the hub of activity, in others, it can be the attic. These are the places we tend to hide our secrets. These are the places the bodies are buried. However, I'm not feeling anything here… maybe this is just another hoax after all."
"Are you sure?" Gail asked as she could not believe that he did not feel what she did. Maybe he was just saying that to make her feel better.
"We will have a look around, I will check all the floor and maybe later bring down some more equipment. But at the moment, this just feels like a cellar."
Gail wondered if she should say something. Would he think her silly? Was it just the tumor? She toyed with the idea as they walked further into the cellar. Something scuttled ahead of them and she ran back so quick she bumped into the wall.
"
Don't worry, it was just a rat." Jesse was laughing a little as he said the words.
"Just a rat! Since when was a rat just a rat?" Gail also laughed, but it was more nerves than humor. The thought of the creepy rat riddled with fleas and disease made her shudder. If they were down here what about upstairs? How would she ever sleep knowing there were rats in the building?
"There’s something here," Jesse said, and he moved forward so quickly that Gail was shrouded in darkness.
Her heart hammering she raced after him. Jesse was on his knees. He had pulled a small trowel from his pocket and was digging in the ground. Digging where the rat had been running. For a moment Gail felt sick, she wanted to just turn and run, and yet she knew she could not.
"What have you found?" she asked.
"I think we have bones," Jesse said, his voice high with excitement.
"Bones?" Surely he meant chicken bones or lamb bones… there was no way he could mean human bones.
Jesse let out a big sigh and stood up.
"It looks like it's just a dog."
"A dog!?" Gail could not get her head around what he meant.
"It looks like someone buried their dog down here," Jesse said as he brushed the soil off his hands. "Let's look a little further."
Looking further was the last thing that Gail wanted, and yet she followed him deeper into the cellar.
At the farthest corner, they found some old boxes. They looked like they had been there for years and were stacked three high and four deep. The bottom ones had obviously succumbed to damp and were leaning precariously with the weight on top of them.
Jesse rushed to them and began to open the first box.
“This could be something,” he said as he pulled out clothes and a then an ancient looking journal. Turning the pages, he leaned over and was scanning down the pages. “This is from the 1800’s... it is hard to read, but it looks like it shows the history of the original family.”
“Maybe we should take it upstairs and read it in comfort?”
Jesse turned and blinded her for a moment, she screwed up her eyes and raised a hand to try and stop the pain. It did little good, and she felt a wave of nausea roll over her.
“This is really good, it looks like it was written by the woman who was killed here, Jenny Thornton.”
Jesse was reading the journal, she could see his lips move as he struggled to make out the words and she wanted to shout at him to move. To take it back upstairs, away from the stench of decay and the feeling of pressure that was building all around her. As she watched Jesse read, she could feel the hairs on her arms stand up, the air cooled, and she shivered, and yet Jesse seemed to notice nothing. What was wrong with him?
“It talks about a child,” Jesse said. “Oh, this is good, it looks like the child was... I think maybe it was hidden.”
As Jesse spoke Gail felt the pressure increase, something whispered across her ear. It was just a touch, almost like a gust of air but she jumped back, and her hands flapped wildly at her head.
“What is it?” Jesse asked and grabbed her arm.
“I just feel something,” she said.
Suddenly, his eyes were serious. “What do you feel?”
Gail took a breath and felt the hairs on her arms go down, and the pressure eased. How could she know if this was her illness or the house... or a ghost? Searching her mind, she tried to remember all the symptoms the doctor said she would have. Headaches were obvious, they had been the reason for her visit. He had also mentioned that she could go dizzy and that in a few weeks she would have to stop driving. Then there were going to be hallucinations, and what else? It was so hard to remember.
“Gail,” Jesse spoke softly but the word was like a lifeline, and it brought her back to the present.
“I’m sorry,” she managed. “It’s like a pressure. Like I can feel that someone is here but can’t quite see them. Then, it is hard to breathe, or the air is cold, sometimes I can almost hear whispers, and I don’t know whether it is all in my head.” Suddenly, she was crying, and Jesse pulled her into his arms. Leaning against his chest, she sobbed and clutched onto his shirt. It felt so good as he put his arms around her and gently rubbed her back.
Gradually she started to relax, and the tears slowed down.
“There, there,” he whispered into her ear. “It’s all okay, don’t you worry now, nothing can hurt you.”
The words broke her heart, and she cried again, almost wailing into his shirt as the warm salty tears streamed down her face. What was she to do? Maybe now was the time to tell him? To explain why she was so on edge. Swallowing, she knew she was right. This was the moment. Maybe it would spoil the weekend, the house he had worked so hard to find, but suddenly it didn’t matter. There was nothing more important to her than telling him how she felt. So she pushed back and smiled up at his face. It was mainly in shadow as the head torch was shining off to the right. It created a ghostly visage, and suddenly she wanted to laugh. Before she could, an almighty crash heralded from above. It sounded as if something was throwing things against the wall.
CRASH, CRASH, CRASH.
Over and over the noise rang through the house and Gail swore that she could feel the concussion of whatever was making that awful noise. Jesse had pulled her into him and was holding her close again. She could feel a slight shake of his hands before he clamped them to her and spun her around behind him.
Gail felt the breath catch in her throat, and her knees were weak. Jesse started to pull away. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. “What was it?”
Jesse was already heading across the cellar. All she could see was a moving patch of light, and she was suddenly engulfed in the dark. What should she do? Stay here in the dark and the whispers or follow him to whatever made the noise?
As Jesse reached the stairs and the light faded even more, she knew she could not stay and began to run for the last remaining spot of light. Would she make it before he was up the stairs and she was left in total darkness?
Chapter 6
"Jesse, just wait," Gail shouted as she raced across the dark cellar. Her feet stumbled and caught in the dirt, and she was pitched forward. Thrusting her arms out before her she fell against the wall. The dim light was to her left bouncing as Jesse took the stairs two at a time. She could hear the sound of his footsteps as they slap, slap, slapped on the concrete steps. Turning, she followed the light. It was hard to climb in the darkness. The steps were uneven, and she slipped and skinned her knee on the concrete. Once more cobwebs traced across her face and she had to fight hard to not scream and tear at them.
"Jesse, please wait," she shouted at Jesse but he was already turning the corner, and the stairway was plunged into blackness.
Gail felt as if a hand squeezed her heart and she could hear whispers all around her. It was impossible to tell what they were saying, but it felt like a threat. The sibilant hiss drove her on, and she picked herself up and crouched over. Using her hands to help, she made her way up the stairs like an animal. At the top, she turned left, and she could see the light in the hallway from the kitchen. It was enough to show her the route, to show her there were no obstacles. Now she was out of that awful hole, she felt as if the pressure had been released and the house was once more silent, she ran across the kitchen and into the hallway.
The lamp had been thrown to the floor and cast strange shadows. Equipment had been tossed around the room. There were tripods on the floor video cameras, and still cameras were discarded against the wall. Recording devices were strewn across the ground, and Jesse stood in the middle just staring.
Gail's heart was pounding, her hands were sweating, and she was gasping for breath, and yet Jesse looked completely calm. Was this something he was used to?
"What happened?" she asked.
Jesse turned to face her, his expression was strangely blank, and then it changed, and he put a smile on his face.
"I think it was just the wind," he said and pointed to the door.
That was when Gail noticed that the door was open and yet she could not feel a breeze through it. How much wind would have been needed to throw the heavy cameras off their purpose-built tripods? It didn't make sense, and she had had enough. The house didn't want them here, it was time to leave.
"I think we should go," she said.
"I can't leave now," Jesse said as he started picking up the equipment.
"Something wants to hurt us, something wants us gone," Gail knew she sounded desperate. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him towards the door.
Jesse shook his arm free and took her hand in his. "This can't have been a spirit or any form of entity," he said. "The EMF meter worked in the kitchen but it showed nothing here, and it showed nothing in the cellar. That means there is something in the kitchen that is affecting the gauge. It is more than likely a power line outside, or a power line running under the house.” The disappointment was plain on his face. “However, there are things I want to investigate here, this journal that I need to read." He showed her the book he had found in the cellar. "Maybe I can still find something, but it is nothing that means we have to leave, it is nothing to be scared of."
Gail looked at the smashed cameras and the debris that had been thrown around the room. "How can you say that?" she asked. "Is this really worth putting our lives at risk?"
Jesse looked at her with such a pained expression that she flinched away from him.
"How can you say that?" he asked. "You know how important this is to me, you know how long I've worked on this, and now, when I suddenly find the real thing you want to destroy it for me."
"That's just not true," she said. "I would do anything for you, and you know that."
"Then stop being such a whiny bitch and help me investigate this house." Jesse turned away from her and started picking up the equipment.
Gail did not know what to do, this was not like him, not like him at all. Jesse never swore and never even raised his voice at her. Was it the house making him this way? Was he feeling the same pressure as she was, or was she really just letting him down?
The Haunting of Seafield House (The Spirit Guide Book 1) Page 4