by Cat Knight
“OK well here’s why I don’t think you’re crazy. You both saw the man in the window, right?” The two girls nodded. Aileen shivered. “I mean, according to the DSM, hallucinations are always unique to the individual. If you two are sharing the same hallucination, then it must be grounded in reality in some form or another.” A wry smirk, which Keira imagined he thought to be comforting showed up on his face, “Therefore, you two can't be crazy.” Keira found herself relaxing. Despite the madness someone believed them. His funny little smile was a comfort after-all.
Feeling encouraged since the first time she had arrived at this God forsaken place today, Keira headed for the car.
“So I’m freezing my bits off, we should leave now.”
“What about your jeans and stuff? What about Pixie, I can’t leave her in there.”
“I don’t care about a pair of jeans and some panties. And don’t worry about Pixie, your cat will be fine.” Keira tried to sound convincing covering up the guilty part of her that niggled for her to agree with Aileen and stay. “And don’t worry about clothes for yourself, I’ve got you covered.”
“NO I’m not leaving without Pixie. Go if you want. I’m gonna find her.” Aileen was shouting louder than she realised.
“It’s alight cuz.” Noah was speaking calmly, he touched her arm reassuring her. “I’ll stick around. We’ll find her.” There was an uncomfortable silence. Keira turned to Aileen.
“Well, OK. If he stays too, that’s the three of us and if we stay together maybe we’ll be alright and we can all look for her together. And if there is an actual someone hiding out, Noah can crack him on the skull for us.” She shot Noah a – ‘this is all your fault’ kind of a look.
Aileen gave a thin nervous laugh and wiped tears away. “This twiggy boy? Aye right.”
Noah began to flex, though his scrawny arms failed to impress anyone. “Hey, those drink trays can get pretty heavy sometimes.” He lowered his arms, “But skinny or not I think I can pack a good punch.”
When he was out of earshot, Aileen turned to Keira, full of false bluff and transferring the attention off of herself. “You got the glad eye for my cousin?”
Keira scoffed, “I got the glad eye for staying alive. Only for you Aileen, would I stay in this house.”
“Well you very nearly didn’t except for Noah.”
“I wasn’t leaving without you though. Even if I’d carried you.”
“Thanks.” An awkward silence surrounded them.
“Noah is a bit of a twig, though isn’t he?” Aileen stubbed her foot to the ground. Keira just shook her head in frustration.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Pixie…. Pixie….” Don’t you have anything that she’ll come out for. The three had spent over forty minutes… forty-four minutes, to be exact, looking for the tortoise-shell cat. Aileen had checked all her hiding spots but she was nowhere.
Keira could see she was becoming frantic. Her face was flushed and her eyes had a bright look about them. Truth be told, Keira was getting concerned herself. It looked like they would be sleeping here after-all. Pixie had been a stray tortoiseshell cat and Cait had told Aileen that they were special, and that type cat would bring them luck - so said Aileen. Yeah, what kind of luck has that cat bought. The ‘stranded in a house with a foul spirit kind of luck.’ Keira kept her thoughts to herself. There was not a cupboard unemptied, a corner not searched or a bed not looked under. But with all the stuff that was scattered everywhere – it wasn’t surprising they couldn’t find her.
Noah had lost his sparkle. Outside, he’d seemed quite eager but his expression immediately changed while inside. The smile had dropped off his face and he looked slightly afraid. Keira wondered if he felt the heavy air of oppression in the home. It was worse now, even more than when she had left, she hoped that Pixie, was indeed alright, and just hidden.
More than a few times, Noah stumbled over stacks of books and documents that had no shelf or desk to call home. “Haven't been here in so long. Looks different,” he said as he examined the clutter strewn about the floor and on the furniture.
Aileen shrugged, “Sorry, ma's a bit of a pack rat.”
The sound of rain grew louder on the roof as the downpour smacked against the windows. Lightning flashed through the gaudy, washed out curtains, followed by the roaring thunder.
The clock now read 3 AM. Noah finally announced, “Well that cat’s not coming out tonight, probably hiding from the gardai and the storm. And the spectre thought Keira.
“I’m beat, I vote we sleep here for the rest of the night.” Noah rubbed his eyes.
Aileen’s eyes were red rimmed and she opened her mouth in a wide yawn. “I’m about to collapse I’m so exhausted. I almost don’t care if the thing gets me.”
“So I’m not driving home on my own then, in my wreck of a car, that means I guess I’ll stay as well. We will all stay in the same room? Yeah?”
The three of them walked upstairs to the bedroom. Keira climbed into bed, while Noah and Aileen shared the sleeping bag and the floor.
The room was dark, but the door was left agape to let the hallway light bring a sliver of illumination. It provided small comfort but Keira thought she’d prefer to fight something in the light, as in the dark. Besides it had disappeared when they’d turned the light on before.
While Keira lay on her back, her hands began to tremble. The occasional crack of thunder couldn't drown her thoughts. She could feel the bruises on her neck burn the longer she held still. A slow fear trickled within her. Her head throbbed and breathing became harder.
Aileen and Noah were back to back sleeping breathing evenly, seemingly peaceful. It's all in my mind. You’re safe. Just go to sleep. She closed her eyes hoping her mind would submit to her body, but she tossed with anxiety and restlessness.
The rhythmic drum of the rain and Aileen's nose-whistling snore whittled away at her tenseness, and slowly but surely, her body relaxed into the mattress. Her mind quieted.
Her eyes shot open when she noticed the quiet scraping sound coming from the ceiling.
Keira lay on the bed fighting the paralysing fear that was overtaking her. She forced herself to slowly turn on her side, toward the door. The scraping noise became long, drawn out and loud. Whatever it was wanted to be heard. In Keira’s mind, it sounded as though a dull knife was being slowly and deliberately dragged across the old wooden floor. An occasional crack sounded as wood splintered underneath the knife. She kept still, silent, hoping it might go away. And when it didn’t, she told herself it might be rats, or something else just as sensible.
But the longer she listened, the more she realized there was a rhythm to it. There was something methodical about it, enough so to suggest that the force behind it was intelligent. Her heart hammered; and hot bitter vomit rose in her throat.
She turned to look at Noah. His eyes weren’t closed; he laid still with his hands folded, staring up at the ceiling. He looked eerily calm for someone who was probably witnessing preternatural activity.
“Do you hear that?” Keira whispered.
He waited a few seconds before nodding slightly. “Yeah.”
Aileen mumbled and rolled over, seemingly intent on staying asleep.
“Aileen! Wake up!” Keira still spoke under her breath, fearing that whatever was creating the noise would hear her.
Aileen rubbed her eyes, “What is it?”
“Your attic. I can hear something coming from the ceiling.” Her head turned to Keira, but she paused before speaking to listen to the sound.
“Feck.” Her voice shook. “What is this? What do we do? Do we call the guards again?” “What is calling them going to do?”
Noah scoffed. “They didn’t do anything last time; they won’t do anything for us now.”
Aileen certainly looked more awake at this point. She sprung up locking the bedroom door and pressing her back against it. The scraping got quieter, but wouldn’t stop.
“You really think that’s going to hel
p?” Keira glared at Aileen. “It might break through the ceiling!”
Noah took a deep breath. “I’ll go up there.”
Keira turned to Noah, “By yourself? Are you mad?” She couldn’t imagine what going into the attic would accomplish.
“You’re welcome to join, if you’d like.”
Keira grew a shade paler. “I’d really rather not.”
The sound of a large impact boomed from overhead, like someone had slammed an axe into the attic floor. The walls shook and dust fell on their heads.
Aileen yelped and pressed her palm into her heart. Keira froze in fear. It sounded so close; she feared her prediction was coming true - that whatever that was, it was going to break through the ceiling and into Aileen’s room any second.
“Get out of my way,” Noah immediately stood and nudged Aileen away from the door, “I’m going to see what that is.”
He grabbed a torch that Aileen kept on her dresser and hurried out the door.
“Eejit!” Aileen clenched her fists.
After a moment of indecision, Keira got out of bed to follow him. “He can’t go alone.” She passed by her car keys, which she’d set on Aileen’s bedside table earlier, and snagged them at the last second. She wanted them on her, just in case.
Noah ran to the end of the lit hallway. An old flimsy ladder stood upright against the end of the hall that led up to the closed attic door. He tucked the torch between his chin and his shoulder, grabbed the ladder, shook it into position and began the ascent. The ladder creaked and bent as Noah put his weight on it. He climbed up, his movements fast and confident. His fingers worked deftly to undo the latch and he pushed open the door until a hole in the ceiling appeared. Putting his arms on each side, he pulled himself up.
“Wait!” Keira yelled across the hallway. He didn’t stop despite her calls and kept going until he was through the opening and standing up. Keira could see the light from the torch which he now held in his hand. Hurrying to the base of the ladder Keira peered up at him seeing only a beam of light, but nothing else. “What do you see?” Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she waited for a response.
Noah was quiet and continued to look around.
“Noah” she yelled in a whisper.
“Nothing, I don’t see anything yet.”
Aileen finally stumbled her way over. She’d tried to run after Keira but had gotten tangled in her sleeping bag.
“Bloody hell, what are you trying to do?” she yelled up into the blackness.
“I’m trying to find something. Anything. But I don’t see anything yet.” His voice reverberated from above.
In that moment, Keira swallowed her fear. “I’m coming up there.” Her hands gripped the splintery wood, each step feeling like the thing might give way under her. For a moment, she couldn’t imagine that it would have been able to hold Noah’s weight, but then her mind flashed back to his slightly emaciated appearance. Chipped paint cracked under her palms as she climbed up. She pushed herself through the open doorway, and Noah grabbed her hand to help her the rest of the way up. Strings of broken cobweb fell onto her face as she found her footing.
The smell of mould and old dirt was strong, filling her nose almost immediately. Noah stood off to the right, making long, slow sweeps of the attic with his torch.
It was extremely dark and seemed to stretch on forever. The rain hit the tin roof and provided an almost deafening symphony. Keira could barely hear herself think. The beam of light from Noah’s torch illuminated as much of this upper area as it could, which revealed little more than junk that piled up to the ceiling.
Boxes, stacks of papers and books, clothes, large plastic bags nearly full to bursting were all covering almost every surface of the floor of the tiny attic. There was no semblance of organization to the placement of anything.
Everything there was covered in a fine layer of dust; it looked like it hadn’t been disturbed in years.
Noah shook his head.
“And I thought the rest of the house was bad.”
“It is bad.” Keira wiped dust and paint chips off her hands and onto her pyjama bottoms. “This is just worse.”
The sound of the ladder creaking gave Keira a shock. She spun around, heart in her throat, only to see Aileen, whose eyes darted around the attic like she had never seen it before. Keira reached out her hand to help her up. Aileen took it, and Keira could feel her shaking.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I brought my phone to use as a torch.” She fiddled with the device until a beam of light shot from the back of it. “You guys see anything?”
“Nothing,” Keira shrugged.
“Nothing yet.” Noah corrected. “Is there a light switch up here?”
“Don’t bother,” said Aileen. “Ma hasn’t replaced the bulb in years.”
“Wonderful,” Keira sighed.
The cluttered nature of the room didn’t afford them much space to move around.
They shuffled, sticking together closely, looking for signs of any disturbance, though it occurred to Keira that anything might look normal in the chaotic mess they were wading through.
And a spectre could hide quite well. As soon as the thought appeared a low grumbling rolled through the attic, it came from within, not without. Keira gulped hard. In the torchlight Aileen’s face was white. She said. “It does that sometimes.”
Chapter Five
“If you’re up here, then show yourself!” Noah yelled.
Aileen grabbed his arm and shook him, “What are you doing?”
“We don’t know what you want from us but we’re willing to listen. We want to do whatever we can to help you move on from this world.”
Lightening cracked above and the tin roof shrieked. Aileen held onto his arm and searched with her eyes. Keira noticed her breathing was hard. Her arms were shaking as she shone her light up beaming it wildly around, searching. Rain thrummed on the roof, causing Noah to shout when he spoke. Keira wondered if that was even necessary – maybe a ghoul could hear everything despite whatever noise was going on. Nothing moved.
“We know you’re here.” Noah’s voice grew calmer and more confident. “Show yourself.”
Or better yet don’t, thought Keira.
Every time Noah finished telling the spectre to show itself, Keira tensed up waiting for an answer. It would be so much worse if it showed itself. Again, and Again he called to it, but they received no answer. Eventually, Noah gave up.
His light swept over a large box they’d stepped over twice. It had somehow fallen before they’d gotten there, and its contents spilled dozens of photographs onto the damaged wood flooring. Keira walked over them and knelt down. One image caught her eye, and she picked it up.
Upon closer inspection, she could see that it was of a girl on a bright red tricycle. The girl had pigtails and a big grin with a tooth missing. “Aileen, is this you?” She asked as she held it out.
Aileen looked over Keira’s shoulder and squinted. The quality of the photo was horrible as the child’s face was blurred from water damage. Still, the round features and blonde hair made it clear who it was. “Yeah. I think I’m around five right there.”
Keira picked up another. This one showed young Aileen, a toddler at the time, sitting unhappily on the lap of a man.
Her tiny face screwed up in a scowl. “Is that your da?”
Aileen nodded, “Yeah, it is.”
The man had her weird way of smiling, with tightened lips and sharp curves at the corner of the mouth. He didn’t seem to have much hair but what was left was blonde, stringy, and combed back. His face had scruffy whiskers that blanketed a square chin. His eyes were small and sunken into his head and sat under eyebrows that were so light and sparse that it almost looked as if he had none at all.
“You never really talk about him,” Keira observed. She looked at Aileen inquiringly.
Aileen frowned and shook her head. “I don’t like to think about him much. Left me and ma when I was just a kid
. Never showed his face since. Leaving a girl without a da is one of the worst things a man can do. I hate him for it, hope he rots in the pits of hades.”
A loud bang sounded somewhere close by. The three of them stopped dead still. The saliva in Keira’s mouth dried up while the thickness of the air made it almost impossible to breathe. Her heart was thumping relentlessly, she put her hand over it, trying to calm it. Aileen whimpered and covered her mouth, her usually small eyes as big as saucers. She seemed to sway, and Keira moved close by to her.
Noah gulped, for all of his bravado and calling for the ghost, Keira that he really was afraid. Rustling noises moved around them. Suddenly Aileen let out a piercing yell. The tortoise-shell cat had landed on her back, clinging with its claws. Noah lunged for it but it jumped, hissed and made its way to the opening then scooted down the ladder. Aileen, still screaming in pain, took off after it.
“OH, OH, THAT FECKIN’ CAT” yelled Keira. “It scared me to death, I nearly peed myself. We’ve got the rotten thing now though. Perhaps we can leave.”
Noah was rifling through the photos thoughtfully. Something had taken his attention.
“What is it?” Keira quizzed. “Let’s get outta here!”
“I don’t know... I’m not sure… I just… the photos… I remember this man. He was no good if you ask my ma. Seeing him again after all these years… something doesn’t seem right – I don’t know what it is… a feeling... the family has all but forgotten him. I’m surprised, that there are any photos here to be honest.”
Keira had questions, but she wasn’t sure if she should ask them.
“He was an awful da. Aileen’s well rid of him. I remember my ma said he use to beat Cait. I still remember being a kid and she’d come over, crying and with bruises. Ma would send me to my room but I could always hear them arguing about him.”
“Why did she stay with him?”
Noah shook his head, “For whatever reason, she refused to leave him. Wouldn’t let us call the guard either. My ma would yell at her about it but nothing changed, until he eventually left.”