The Haunting

by Raymond M Hall

  ‘Good day, sir, I trust you slept well.’ Said the stranger.

  ‘Well enough but the journey is taking forever.’ Replied Luke.

  The skinny man smiled looking straight at Lilly now,

  ‘We may have to stay over at the next inn because the roads need time to dry out, I believe we do not have far to go to the next staging post.’

  The conversation dried up, but he continued to appraise Lilly until the stage pulled to a stop in the yard of an inn. The door was thrown open by the driver,

  ‘You’ll have to put up here for the night. The road is too muddy from here. It might be better in the morning if this accursed rain stops for long enough, if not you’ll have to make the best of it.’

  Lilly helped Luke from the coach ably assisted by the other passenger,

  ‘Here, let me help you with your father.’ He said.

  Lilly didn’t know what to say. Certainly Luke was older than herself, and they weren’t married, so she chose to remain silent and allow the man to assume he was correct.

  ‘I should introduce myself, my name is Josh.’ He said. There was no bow or wave of the hand which would have been evident from a gentleman, so she assumed he had no more status than herself.

  She introduced herself as Lilly but didn’t add Luke who was struggling to get the circulation going after sitting in one position for so long.

  The three travellers made their way into the inn and secured rooms for the night. One for the traveller and one for Lilly and her ‘father’. She found it was easier to go along with the deception than to change Luke’s status in mid-stream.

  The staging inn, like many others, had been built at a convenient location for changing the never ending teams of horses rather than in a populated area. Consequently, many of them were somewhat isolated and this one was no exception. Apart from the coaches, there were very few local customers, so the small tavern area was theirs to occupy as they pleased.

  Josh was soon well into his cups having enjoyed several mugs of ale with his meal. Lilly sat at a table on the other side of the room by herself. Luke had retired early, and although it was not the done thing for a lady to be in a tavern by herself unless she was of a particular class, Lilly had been obliged to sit and eat her meal in the small dingy bar area.

  Josh sauntered over to her as she finished and plonked himself down beside her. His close contact surprised her, and she drew back hurriedly. Lilly was not experienced in the ways of the outside world and remained silent. Josh, taking her silence for assent began to talk to her in a whisper and what he said shocked her to the core. He was openly propositioning her, and she recoiled at the very thought of what he was suggesting, with his stale beery breath mixed with tobacco from his pipe. He laughed as she pulled away,

  ‘Come on; it’s just a bit of fun to while away the time, your father won’t mind. Come up to my room.’

  Lilly, at last, managed to find her voice to say no and quietly got to her feet, walking away. Josh leered after her again taking her quiet no as an invitation rather than an outright refusal. He followed her to the stairs leaving the tavern empty; even the landlord had retired for the night there being no more customers in the bar.

  Lilly went up the stairs conscious of Josh just behind her. She tried to stay aloof, but that came to nought when she felt a hand sliding up her dress between her legs. She slapped the hand away violently but remained silent not wanting to alert Luke to the situation when it might well get out of control and escalate into violence which he was most certainly not equipped to deal with. As Lilly reached the landing and made for her door, Josh grabbed her from behind and lifted her bodily, opening the door to his own room at the same time. Before she could cry out, Lilly found herself in his room with the door firmly closed, trapping her.

  Now she knew she was in real trouble and went to scream for help, but he was ready for that. With one hand clamped over her mouth, he showed her a wicked looking knife in the other. He touched the cold steel of the blade to her throat and cautioned her to remain quiet,

  ‘First you, then your dear old father, I’ll do for the both of you if you dare make a sound.’ He hissed at her through clenched teeth.

  Lilly broke down and began to sob; she knew Luke would be no match for this younger man.

  Josh’s blood was up, and he had thrown caution to the wind, he hadn’t thought any of it through, had no idea how he would handle the situation in the morning when there would be plenty of others to take him if Lilly made a complaint of rape. The penalty was exact and brutal, hanged by the neck and left to rot at the nearest gallows. He considered it now as he held the knife to this woman’s lovely throat. In his hazy drunken stupor, he realised he had crossed a line. There was no going back, if he released her now she would tell her father and he, in turn, would report it to the innkeeper and the coachmen. He would be taken before a magistrate charged with, at the very least, attempted rape and the knife he now held would make the charge even more severe. He probably wouldn’t hang, but the prospect of being transported to the Americas was almost as bad.

  All these thoughts flashed through his mind in seconds, but the scent of Lilly’s body perspiring with fear was overpowering. His brain clouded with desire, he flung her onto the bed and ripped her clothing in his desperation to get at her. He dropped the knife on the floor, so he had the use of both hands. The more he revealed, the more his passion rose. As her breasts bounced free, the spittle poured from his open mouth and he panted like a dog. Her skirt came next, and in his desperation, pulled so violently that both her legs were in the air. Still, she remained silent, terrified of the knife. His prize lay before him. Lilly was on her back, naked, with her hands covering herself as best she could. Her boots and stockings were still on and looked incongruous in the situation. Josh cared nothing for that; her body lay before him, her femininity exposed and so inviting.

  He struggled with his belt as he pulled down his breeches and shuffled towards her. Grabbing her ankles, he sighed with lust and still drooling climbed onto the bed. She looked up into his animal like features, and the face of Seth came into her mind. She screamed then, not loudly but a scream just the same, her face contorted with the effort of keeping the scream stifled.

  Josh didn’t care and took no heed of her protests. He began to lower himself down on her and closed his eyes in blissful expectation.

  Lilly also had her eyes tightly shut to keep out the ugly picture of the beast about to rape her and was shocked as the full weight of Josh descended upon her. She lay trapped under his weight but felt no movement. Josh’s body covered her completely, she opened her eyes and could just see over his shoulder. There, standing over both of them was the disfigured face of Luke. He heaved at the still body, and it slid awkwardly onto the floor. Lilly got up immediately, the apologies tumbling from her mouth,

  ‘It’s not what you think, Luke, honestly.’

  He put a finger to his scarred lips and shushed her into silence.

  ‘I know what happened, Lilly, I was watching from the doorway, he didn’t hear me come in, but I had to wait for an opportunity to take him. I knew I wouldn’t be strong enough to face him head on.’

  Lilly gathered up her clothes and hurriedly put them on,

  ‘What are we going to do?’ She asked. ‘Surely the authorities will believe us when we explain what happened.’

  ‘Maybe, or then again maybe not. I’m not a pretty sight, and in a courtroom, my appearance will only count against me. It could easily be said I was a jealous lover taking revenge.’

  Lilly began to sob,

  ‘Is there no end to our torture?’

  Luke thought while she sobbed quietly and now made up his mind,

  ‘There’s only one way out, help me get him onto the bed.’

  He first cleaned the knife blade on Josh’s clothing before putting it into a pocket in the dead man’s breeches.

  ‘Now, heap the bedlinen all around him and put some on the floor hanging over the side.’<
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  Two candles were burning on a small table, and Luke picked up both carefully. He lay them in such a position that the linen would soon catch fire. Lilly looked on horrified as she realised his intention.

  ‘What about the others, they might be trapped, might be burned too.’ As she said it, she was looking at Luke’s scarred features the shocking memories of Luke’s screams as the fire burned his face uppermost in her mind.

  ‘We’ll raise the alarm once the room is well alight.’ Said Luke, adding, ‘Lilly, it’s the only way.’

  The two candles were doing their work, and the linen was beginning to catch fire, Luke put the wooden chair next to the bed to speed up the inferno when it got going. Then the pair left, closing the door firmly behind them. In their room, they hastily gathered their luggage together and waited by the door. It wasn’t long before tell-tale wisps of smoke began to infiltrate the chamber.

  ‘We’ll wait a bit longer; I don’t want any possibility of the others putting the fire out before that bastard is charred and unrecognisable.’

  The smoke was getting heavier in their room and through the timber wall, they could clearly hear the crackling of flames. They must flee now before the hallway became impassable. Rushing out they barely made it past the other door before it burst into flames, the heat following them as they clattered downstairs shouting ‘fire’ as they went. Suddenly there was pandemonium in the inn. Everybody was awake and rushing around carrying pathetic buckets of water in an attempt to douse the flames. It was no use, the fire had taken hold and the only option was to run out into the night. The hostlers had already removed the horses from the adjoining stable; the animals would have smelled the smoke long before any human, alerting their handlers who would have saved their precious charges before bothering to raise the alarm.

  The innkeeper, staff and travellers stood watching; then the inn exploded into a fireball of flame as the roof caved in.

  The innkeeper, looking on sadly as his livelihood disappeared in flames, asked if everybody had managed to get out.

  Lilly spoke up,

  ‘The man next door was very drunk when he went into his room and I don’t see him here.’

  The coachman scowled,

  ‘Probably him what caused the fire, drunken sod upset a candle, I bet.’

  It was a common enough occurrence, a dislodged candle or a burning ember from an open fireplace and the building would be consumed in minutes. The consensus was that it was indeed the skinny man who had caused this disaster and everyone cursed him soundly. There was nothing for it but to hitch up the horses and continue on their journey in the darkness, it would be slow going through the mud, but it was pointless remaining at the ruins of the inn.

  It was a sombre bunch of weary travellers who eventually arrived at the port city of Bristol. Luke and Lilly found a cheap hotel near the docks and set about securing a voyage. They could sail in a week they learned and booked the passage. Lilly had remained quiet ever since that fateful night at the post inn, the memory of the man attacking her and his subsequent death would not leave her. Try as he may, Luke, was unable to talk her round.

  Chapter 39

  It was early afternoon and Sebastian sat comfortably with Briony in the kitchen. It seemed to be the only reception room ever used, and he supposed it had always been the case. The traditional kitchen had always been the primary place for most families; only the gentry lived any differently. The kitchen was always warm for the mostly damp and cold climate of England. The other reception rooms would only be used in the case of special visitors or strangely enough where a deceased member of the family would lay in their coffin before interment.

  The pair sat together, the attraction between them almost electric when the comfortable scene was shattered by the sudden appearance of Caroline at the open door,

  ‘Oh, how sweet, just look at the happy couple billing and cooing like a pair of bloody turtle doves!’ She exclaimed in a loud voice.

  Sebastian and Briony exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

  ‘Who pulled your chain, dear sister, or need I ask?’ He said, still chuckling.

  Caroline didn’t answer but came into the room, the atmosphere suddenly becoming stifling. It was as if a storm cloud had invaded the house. As she approached Briony, the pressure increased until she could get no closer. Briony felt herself being pushed away by some unseen force and twisted around awkwardly in her chair. The two women were now facing each other with Sebastian looking from one to the other, mesmerised by the forces surrounding them.

  Another shadow flicked across the doorway; he looked up to see James standing there. The sky outside had darkened; a chill wind blew through the open door scattering papers from the table. Sebastian could smell rain on the way, but before he could utter a word, the storm broke. The wind howled and lightning rent the sky followed by loud claps of thunder. Nobody moved, the scene was reminiscent of an old theatrical movie with flashes of intense light illuminating the players. There was a crash from upstairs; Sebastian turned to see a thick tendril of smoke floating down the stairs and across the kitchen floor. As he glanced at the old chair, the familiar wisp of tobacco smoke rose to the ceiling. He looked down and shuddered; the familiar patch of blood beginning to pool at his feet. The wind outside increased, and he could clearly hear the bakery oven door banging against its frame like the sound of a frustrated child beating its cup against the cot rails. He thought he might be going mad as more people appeared. The boy with his head tilted at a strange angle was walking dreamlike and appeared to be searching, looking this way and that. Another figure appeared, a young man, walking through the kitchen but as he passed, Sebastian could clearly see a cavernous hole in the back of his head. His neck saturated in blood and gore. Sebastian attempted to get up from his seat, but his body felt as heavy as lead. Caroline and Briony had not changed their positions, and James was standing looking directly at the pair, his face a mask of concentration. The storm was still increasing in ferocity and Sebastian's head was spinning; he could take no more and collapsed onto the floor.

  Sebastian’s eyes flickered open, and he looked around at his familiar bedroom. He was in bed, and Briony was sitting next to him, a look of concern on her face,

  ‘Thank God, I thought you might have had a heart attack!’ She exclaimed. ‘You were downstairs and suddenly curled up in a ball and fell to the floor; it was as much as I could do to get you up here, you’re no lightweight.’

  Sebastian looked around the room, everything appeared normal, through the window he could see blue sky and the gentle glow of the sun. Briony put out her hand, and he took it in his own. The heat of her body travelled through until he could feel it embrace his heart with its warmth. Sebastian closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep. He felt tired, physically and mentally and sought out the peaceful places in his mind where he could go to revive his strength. Even though fast asleep he was still conscious of her hand in his own and smiled, the smile travelling from his thoughts to warmly light up his face as he lay upon the pillow.

  Sebastian slept through the rest of the day and night awakening to the dawn chorus feeling refreshed and invigorated. Looking to the side, he was rewarded with the sight of Briony laying with him. She was a picture of innocence breathing steadily and shallowly, like a beautiful angel he thought. As he looked she opened her eyes and smiled; he thought his heart would burst with happiness as he leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips.

  ‘Hello, you.’ He said.

  ‘Hello you, too.’ She purred back.

  ‘Do you believe dreams can be an indication of the future or are they always based in the past?’ He asked her.

  Briony sat up in bed,

  ‘Wow, that’s a massive start to the day, what brought that on?’ She asked laughingly.

  Sebastian lay back down on the pillow and related his dream from yesterday holding nothing back.

  ‘I don’t understand how it happened, I thought I was downstairs, but I must h
ave been in bed.’ He said looking at her quizzically.

  ‘But you were downstairs, at least you were when you collapsed.’ She answered.

  ‘Perhaps it was a daydream?’ He wondered to himself aloud.

  Briony chuckled,

  ‘Well, if it was it was a whopper of a daydream, I’d hate to be in your head when you have a nightdream.’

  ‘What happened to James and Caroline?’ He asked.

  ‘They left together after you collapsed, didn’t even stay to help me get you upstairs. But at least the storm abated, just after they walked out.’

  Briony’s voice faded away as she finished the sentence, a faraway look in her eyes.

  ‘I must say, that sister of yours has changed since the last time she was here. I found her frivolous but charming at the same time, now though, nothing is charming about her at all. No wonder James is attracted to her, they are the perfect match.’

  They spent an idyllic day together doing absolutely nothing. Sebastian had lost interest in renovating the house; he was content to be with Briony. They said very little to each other, merely sitting side by side and looking up at the clouds, she reaching out her hand, and he taking it in his own, remaining like that for hours.

  As night drew its veil across the land, she made her excuses and left. He no longer objected, he was used to her ways now. He knew very well that if he followed her, at some stage, she would simply disappear from view. How or to where he still had no idea but somehow it didn’t seem to matter.

  When the night finally arrived, the yard was bathed in the soft glow of a full moon. In a weird sort of way it was almost as bright as day, the buildings were all clearly visible, and he could even see across the adjoining fields. It gave an eerie feel to the place, the daytime sounds of birds and insects had ceased, and silence reigned supreme. He walked around the yard, noticing the bakery door wide open as usual and ignored it. As he passed the side of the main house to walk out into the quiet road, he stopped short. Across the road, the scaffold had reappeared, and this time it was not empty. The figure of a man was hanging by the neck. There was no breeze, and the body was completely motionless. Instead of hanging from the top of the scaffold as he imagined would be the typical case the body had been suspended only inches from the ground. Sebastian walked across the road expecting at any moment the vision would disappear, but it remained, becoming clearer the closer he got. The body had not decomposed, and the man’s eyes still stared sightlessly, looking straight ahead.