The Ghosts and Hauntings Collection

by Cat Knight

“I think this might work,” Keira pulled off the road, her car bouncing as it passed over wet, uneven ground, and stopping a short distance away from the moss-covered outcropping.

  Putting her car into park she left it running; the headlights would be needed to illuminate the area.

  The three opened their doors and left the car. Keira unlocked the boot and Aileen picked up the bones with trembling hands.

  “You alright?” Noah asked.

  “Yeah, I think so,” Aileen nodded.

  The ground underneath the outcrop wasn’t dry, but it was a lot less damp than the surrounding area. Noah took the shovel out of the boot and began to dig. As the hole grew larger, the temperature plummeted. Keira could feel her skin getting colder. It wasn’t long before she was shivering, her teeth chattering. Aileen was rubbing her arms and jumping on the spot.

  “Hurry up N-Noah, we don’t want to g-give him any c-chances.”

  “I’m digging, I’m digging.” Frost wafted from his mouth as he spoke. Keira had the urge to run, and wondered at poor Aileen’s suffering all of these years. It was difficult not to turn tail and she fought hard to keep her courage where it needed to be.

  “Don’t think about ‘What If’s’. Just do it.”

  The air around them turned fetid with a pungent odour, and a slow breeze began to blow across the grass. The grey dawn light that had been peeping through violet clouds had lent a peaceful hue and spanned the sky with silver threads but, now a deep gloom descended. Keira looked up to see violet change to purple black thunder clouds that formed in a thick knot, blocking the sun. “Noah, somethings changing here we need to get this done fast.” Noah looked back at her, despite the cold of the air, sweat formed in the crevices of his forehead. He nodded.

  “OK, this will do.” The hole was about three-foot-deep and mounds of earth ringed it. “You got the lighter?”

  “Yes.” She held her hand up in proof, the petrol sat by her feet.

  “Alright,” Noah glanced toward to Aileen. “Hand me the bones…” Aileen didn’t move. Keira turned to look at Aileen; her face opened up in dread.

  Aileen’s seemed rooted to the spot. She was barely breathing and her skin was white as alabaster, yet her eyes were alive with terror the greyness of them shining with fear. Keira could see that she was trying to speak, but could not form the words.

  Keira was screaming and pulling at Aileen’s limbs trying to get her moving. “NOAH, help me.” A low sinister rumble sounded from the cloud that hovered above, the atmosphere became still and close. Noah looked up at Aileen and a flash of insight registered on his face. Without warning he leapt up and lunged at Aileen knocking her sideways. A terrible crack resounded through the air. Keira screamed as a lightning bolt whizzed past her and the ground burned up where Aileen had stood.

  As Noah and Aileen hit the ground Aileen’s eyes bulged and a terrified wail came from her before it was replaced by a gurgling from her throat. Noah rolled to the side and tugged at the bones. They seemed welded into her arms. Keira could see the exertion on his face as he tried to prise loose her grip of them.

  Kneeling to help him, she slid her own fingers under Aileen’s and one by one helped to loosen her hold. At the same time Noah worked his own hand under Aileen’s and forced the bones free.

  They fell loose with a thunk, as they hit the ground. Keira imagined she felt it and lost her breath for a moment. Noah’s voice was frantic “Get them. Don’t leave them there. Burn them now.” He dragged the semi-conscious Aileen toward the car.

  Keira ran and gripped the bag tight. A blackness fell over her mind and a great pressure began to settle over her. Frightened, she dragged herself to the edge of the pit to dump the bones down. Most of them hit the side and tumbled roughly, bringing damp and loose soil to fall on top of them. A few remained on the surface, she pushed them in as fast as she could, hot tears springing at her eyes. Praying had never been a strong point for Keira, but right now she pleaded as she tossed the last ones over, God let them burn.

  A foul odour descended around her. Keira’s throat began to close. Frantically she unscrewed the plastic lid of the fuel and dumped it upside down over the bones. The sharp smell hit her. It surprised her with a freshness as it cleared the abhorrent taste of rot from her nose and throat. The petrol splattered down over the remains. The dirt grew black and wet with the liquid. Burn you bastard burn. Gripping the lighter, the harshness of the flint wheel cut into her thumb. She rolled it hard.

  “Arrrgh.” Keira went flying sideways. A tremendous force slammed into her, tossing her onto her stomach. The breath was knocked out as she flopped like a ragdoll; she lay gasping for breath, her face rammed uncomfortably into the edges of the loose dirt.

  Lifting her head with some difficulty, she peered into the pit, staring at the bones. A scream started in her throat, but a creeping noxious sensation was messing with her head.

  It wound through her neck, and arms and legs, breathing became laboured, the screamed died in her throat, and Keira could not move.

  James’ spectre stood above her. The lines of his form outlined against the sky as a faded old photograph, a sliver of who he once was. The grey face was twisted in malice, soulless eyes held her gaze with a frightening force. Keira tried to look away but was transfixed. The spectre hovered closer, malevolence filled the spaces around her. A noise seemed to be screaming in the distance. Noah’s voice broke through.

  “Set them alight, Keira do it now. THE BONES. NOW.”

  Keira tried to lift her arm but it refused all efforts and stayed put. The lighter remained gripped in her hand but it was useless to her now, her thumb would not move over it.

  A weight fell on top of her. Trying with all of her strength to push it off, a voice came. “It’s me... Noah.” Prying hard with his hands he forced her fingers off the flint and rolled his own thumb over. Keira saw the light flicker. Warmth began to flow back into her body, and she scrambled to her knees, still gripping the lighter.

  Noah was still holding on tight. Keira saw rabid fear in his eyes. Breathless and shaking he forced the wheel again. Its flame flickered yellow and green and together they bent low into the pit and held it over the bones, waiting until the flames licked the petrol and burned.

  Noah, lay next to her on the ground, with a deep scratch on his face. Keira covered her mouth from the fumes with the sleeve of her jumper yet heaved great gasps against it. The crackling of the bones filled her ears.

  Chapter Eight

  A week had passed since Keira watched James' bones burn to ashes on the outskirts of Rathcoole. These were the worst weeks she had ever experienced, maybe that any one had ever experienced. Now back in Dublin, every night she spent a good amount of time in the bathroom, dry heaving and occasionally vomiting. It seemed impossible to keep food down and her body was overcome with fatigue and aching.

  Sleep mostly evaded her with no more than a few hours at a time before waking up in a cold sweat. Nightmares snatched away her dreams. Sometimes she felt that the darkness she experienced at the O’Doherty home never left her. Her biggest fear was that it never would. It had started with small things. Her things were moved to a different place, a door would close unexpectedly, the lights would flicker and go out.

  One night she came home from work and her place looked like someone had a rummage sale in her flat. That’s when she knew something was really, really wrong. There was no forced entry. And no-one in her block had seen anything. Nothing was missing.

  Sinking into her most comfy chair, she closed her eyes, just for a minute. Maybe she could catch forty winks. The sun had set, and only a dim floor lamp brought light to Keira's tiny living room. The space was compact with just the right amount of furniture.

  At one time the dark hardwood floor with its eggshell white walls and framed images of woodlands, oceans and mountains seemed peaceful. The narrow bookshelf in the corner holding all her favourite novels including a few she had yet to read, used to beckon her. Now her windows were closed
to keep out the cold that she could never shake, no matter how high she turned the heating. And the cosy atmosphere that she had created so well, was gone, although nothing had changed. Nothing at all. Except the little things.

  Rubbing her bloodshot eyes, Keira contemplated her new normal.

  She was sick all the time, it seemed, and even if she’d wanted to leave the confinement of her home she could not.

  If it wasn’t the biliousness, then anxiety pulled at her whenever she tried to step through the front door. Keira couldn’t understand. Maybe she needed some therapy. T

  thumbing through the pages of a novel that sat on her lap, at some point her mind lost track of the words and her thoughts wandered aimlessly. She had hoped a book might whisk her away to another world, somewhere that might have a semblance of peace and order to it, but her tormented mind could not focus.

  A queasiness swirled in her stomach.

  Keira got up and moved to the bathroom again and surveyed her washed out face and bloodshot eyes. Her hair was dishevelled, its hadn't been washed for days and strands of it clung to her neck and cheek. It was all she could do to stand under the shower these days. Soaping seemed like too much trouble. Heaving into the toilet and emptying her stomach of nothing but bile, Keira, made her way back to the sitting room.

  The floor lamp that stood next to the end table flickered and turned off. Groaning in frustration, she played with its switch. The hallway light was still on; it hadn’t flickered at all. The electricity was working just fine. The light bulb burnt out, that's all. What the hell's the matter with me?

  Yeah, but a lot of them have burned out lately. She sighed as weariness flowed through her bones.

  Standing up she made her way slowly into the hallway, fossicking in a small closet where she had stored a few spare bulbs. With a herculean effort, she pulled aside stacks of paper and dusty trinkets before her hands landed on the glass bulb. Lethargy pulled at her and she willed herself back to the living room, her head throbbing with each step she took.

  The nausea inducing migraines had started two days ago. Or was it three or four? They came in waves and this one felt like a tsunami ready to sweep her away. With a monumental effort, she unscrewed the light bulb and replaced it with the new one. Dim light shone around. Breathing a sigh of relief, Keira sunk back into her chair. It should last a little while at least.

  Looking at the novel again she picked it up, tried to read and then put it back down. I'm too tired. Light shadows cast from the outside city, flickered across her room.

  They seemed long, and alive. Alive? The thought reached her mind and she sat up straight as though ice water had been poured over her. Her eyes locked onto a moth that flew across the room until she realized where it landed; on the shadow of someone else in her home.

  A wave of fear swept across her. There was no object that could cast that shadow.

  Nothing from which it could have originated from. Glued to the chair Keira cast her eyes about the room. Was someone standing in the darkness and somehow their shadow was falling on the wall? Keeping her head very still, she moved her eyes around, taking in whatever she could see. Nothing was in her vision. Besides it would have to have come from near the bookcase the way it was landing on the wall and she could clearly see nothing was there.

  The shadow swayed ever so slightly. Keira stayed completely still and observed the object. The shape of a human body registered in her mind. The arms were long, and the fingers protruded in a relaxed manner from open hands. Its head was slightly cocked to the side, studying her. It was sentient. She knew. It must have been the source of all her anguish this past week.

  Keira's breath came in ragged heaves. She tried to quieten it, but her throat closed up on her, making everything wheeze in and out from her nose. There was no where she could go. Terrifying prickles and tingles ran over her body. If she moved it could easily follow her.

  “What are you?” Her words were nearly caught in her throat. “What the hell are you?”

  Minutes went by as she dared not to move. Her legs quivered and shook. The figure slowly lifted its head, from its quizzical stance and its neck straightened on its shoulders. “What do you want from me?”

  An empty drinking glass sat on the end table to her right. Reaching out gingerly she stared straight ahead keeping a kind of eye contact, but feeling around until her hand connected with the glass. Wrapping her fingers around it, she drew it in, and its astonishing speed for the physical condition she found herself in these last days, Keira threw it at the figure with all the strength she could muster.

  The glass slipped through the figure completely and shattered against the walls. Chunks of glass slid along the hardwood flooring. The shadow did not respond.

  Slowly, she stood, backing away out of the sitting room toward the hallway, never taking her eyes from the it. She kept going until her back hit the wall. Trembling all over, she slid down collapsing to the floor. The floor lamp began to flicker with an ill shade of orange until its light died out completely.

  Keira had waited a long time, expecting the shadow to come for her. It never did. After a while, she stood and made her way to her bed and lay there in the dark. Sleep alluded her, panic left her, but a dull pit of dread pulsated through her body.

  Her mind previously dulled with sickness was now awash with fear, waiting and alert.

  Moonlight slipped between the gap in her curtains and Keira watched the shadowy figure move around her room. Sometimes close, sometimes to the furthest wall. But it never left. Whatever it was, it didn’t speak.

  But Keira was aware of an intensely evil presence. It was guarding her. In her heart, she knew she would not escape it. She hadn't attempted to speak with it since her first encounter that evening. The sight of it instilled macabre dread in her. What is this? God please help me. Something inside of her told her that the dark presence fed on her fear and despair. If she sniffled it came closer, and tears brought a putrid odour into her nose.

  The presence seemed to inhabit everything. Or was it just her mind? On top of her dresser was a fluffy rabbit her mother had given her. Floppy’s eyes glowed a sinister yellow and appeared large and disproportionate, her mouth fell open in a leering smile and somehow even Floppy’s face was brimming with evil. Next to Floppy sat her very first doll, Bridget. Her yellow hair, frizzed about wildly and her blue eyes stared wide in hysterical mockery. Bridget’s mouth smirked in ghoulish anticipation. The shadow stopped walking, his head cocked to the side. It was looking directly at her. Examining her for fear.

  Chapter Nine

  “What do you want?” She asked, her voice like a sorrowful wind passing through her dried and cracked lips. “What do you want?”

  The shadow crept close to her. Huge tears filled her eyes. Immediately its presence increased. Be brave Keira. Fighting with everything that was in her, Keira tried to think of happy things, anything to drive the terrible distress that was encompassing her now.

  It was a useless effort. Rivers of anxiety washed through her. The more she fought it, the more she feared. Burning the bones had not got rid of James. And now he was here. And now she understood.

  Sheer hatred pierced her. Aileen was the source of all of these problems.

  If she could just kill her, get rid of her, everything would be alright. A wave of emotion swept over her. Poor James had been neglected. Cait should have done better by him, and the beatings would never have happened. He just had to teach her.

  But she wouldn’t learn and it was all because of that snivelling, grizzling sprog that he never asked for.

  Keira saw herself from afar, she was sitting on Aileen, squashing the breath from her stomach and wrapping her hands around her neck, choking it from her lungs. The sound of her gurgling was a satisfying salve to the insults and wounds that James had suffered. And then - what about what had happened to her own sweet self - Keira? It was Aileen’s fault. She was such a baby, calling and texting, worrying the life out of people. If Keira had not
gone to Aileen’s that night, none of this would be happening to her now. It was just too bad that Aileen had ever been born. The presence of James clung to her like a parasite, she understood what he wanted. His animosity and hatred rose up in her. Get rid of Aileen and I’ll be free of James.

  Her mind swirled with dark intention yet from the depths beyond it, came another voice, and with it the image of Aileen. Aileen and Keira, giggling in class at the teacher’s funny hairdo, and then another memory surfaced. Aileen holding her in an embrace as Keira sobbed her sixteen-year-old heart out

  because her boyfriend dumped her for a girl who would ‘go all the way.’

  Desperation raged in side of Keira, she called out, pleading into the darkness and to the shadow of James. “NO I can’t do it, I can’t do it, leave me alone.” The shadow swirled around her, a voice in her mind kept repeating. DO IT. DO IT.

  “NO. NO. NO.” Keira’s screams pierced the night and reverberated off the walls. She lay breathless in her bed, afraid for Aileen and for herself.

  The feelings of hate toward Aileen had almost overwhelmed her. It was possible that she could kill Aileen if those overwhelming emotions took her completely.

  To her right, something fell over. The doll was knocked off the dresser and tumbled to the floor. Bridget’s face was covered in red. As she stared at it astonished, she could see Aileen’s bloodied face in her mind. An unintelligible whisper pulled her attention to the centre of the room. The shadow leapt onto the bed and moved towards Keira, a mass of darkness rushing towards her.

  Keira screamed and jumped out of bed, the shadow stinging her flesh as it neared her body. She ran to the wall and turned around only to see that the shadow was gone. Her skin crawled and her muscles trembled uncontrollably. Every instinct told her to run but there was nowhere to run and no one to run to.

  Keira was left her with an unbearable sense of shame. If she didn’t do it, James would kill her.