‘What the hell was that?’ Lee exclaimed, looking up through the windscreen.
It was almost dark, and Neil guessed it was pebbles showering them.
‘This is crazy,’ Lee shouted as he and Neil got out of the car, ducking down while shielding their heads with their hands. They both briefly hesitated outside the house, uncertain about going in.
‘Ready?’ Neil asked Lee, trying to muster up all his courage. There was nobody else around, which was probably a good thing.
‘Yeah mate,’ Lee answered. Suddenly Lee pointed behind him. ‘Look out!’
Neil turned to hear a loud bang as an object hit the roof of his car parked in the drive. He jumped back in surprise. Instead of bouncing off the roof like the other stones, the object had stayed on top of the car where it landed. It seemed as if it was magnetised to the roof. Neil looked at the object and picked it up to examine it. It was a small brick coloured rock, which had left a dent in its place. ‘That could have been my head,’ Neil whispered. He decided to take his chances in the house. Shaking, he struggled to get the key inside the front door. Adrenalin raced through his body and as pebbles clattered onto the drive he realised he was once again under fire. ‘Get in, get in,’ Neil growled at the key, willing it to turn. The familiar ring tone of his mobile phone played out. The door opened as Neil put the phone to his ear. ‘Hello?’ Neil answered breathlessly, hoping to hear a friendly voice. Instead he was greeted with a loud scratching noise. Frowning, he disconnected the call and shoved the phone deep into his trouser pocket. Neil pushed the door open and spoke to Lee. ‘Right, you let the dogs out the back and I’ll get their food ready.’
Lee nodded, his face cloaked in apprehension. The dogs came bounding out, and he opened the back door.
Clang. A butter knife whizzed by Neil’s shoulder and hit the ground with force. ‘Ah,’ Neil shouted, ‘Watch out mate, it’s throwing knives.’ He picked up the object and put it away.
‘Whoa.’ Lee swerved as a fork struck the ground beside him. ‘That nearly hit me.’
Neil tried to focus. ‘Let’s get the dogs sorted and get the hell out of here.’ He prepared the food quickly and put it in the dogs’ room. The air was punctuated with clanging noises as more missiles of cutlery were flung wildly in their direction. ‘Just leave the lights on, I’m not walking out in the dark,’ Neil shouted. With the house secured, Neil and Lee made their way outside. Clack… Clack… Clack. The attacks were relentless, and pebbles rained down on them again. They jumped into the car and started the engine. Driving away from the house, Neil felt the tension slowly leave his body.
‘I can’t believe that. Can you imagine what would have happened if we stayed there?’ Lee said.
‘I know. Those stones came from thin air, and the rock… it worries me. What if that hit us? How would we explain it?’ Neil was relieved he was not on his own.
Lee was having similar thoughts. ‘Err, Neil, do you mind if I come back with you for a while?’
It was a reasonable request. Nobody would want to be on their own after such a frightening experience. ‘Yeah, of course you can.’ Neil was happy to help Lee in return. Neil’s mobile phone rang continuously all the way back to his parents’ flat. He answered it twice to hear the same scratching noises. He put the phone on vibrate and tried to ignore it.
Lee’s mobile phone rang. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and showed Neil the caller display. The call was coming from Neil’s house. ‘There is no way I’m answering that!’ Lee said, emitting a nervous laugh. He turned off his phone, but the calls persisted as Neil’s phone rang out.
‘It’s calling me now,’ Neil said. He did not want to turn off his phone in case his mother tried to call. She might worry when there was no answer at home.
‘Just ignore it,’ Lee said, taking a cigarette from his packet of tobacco and unwinding the window. The phone rang continuously throughout their journey to Clacton. ‘Maybe if I answer it will stop,’ Neil said, parking outside his mother’s flat. He pressed the answer button on his mobile phone and held his breath as he put the phone to his ear. All he could hear was the same scratching noise he heard earlier. He hung up the phone, vowing not to answer it again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Voices From Beyond
Neil and Lee walked into the flat just as Valerie’s home phone began to ring. ‘Mum, be careful answering that, check who it’s from,’ Neil warned.
Valerie put on her glasses and looked at the phone display, her eyebrows knitted together in a frown. ‘Why are you ringing me?’ ‘Neil’ displayed on the caller ID. His locked phone was deep in his pocket. Unperturbed, Valerie accepted the call. ‘Hello? Hello?’ After a few seconds she hung up. ‘There’s nobody there apart from some funny scratching sound. Never mind, I’ll make a cup of tea, and you can tell me what’s been happening.’ Valerie shuffled into the kitchen and gave a short gasp. ‘Who put that there?’
Neil followed her in to see a bottle of washing up liquid on the centre of the floor. ‘Oh God, not here as well,’ he said, holding his palm to his forehead and closing his eyes.
Valerie stood with her hands on her hips and tutted. It was one thing seeing strange occurrences in her son’s home, but she did not welcome activity like this in her own flat.
Neil’s father Ben abruptly folded his newspaper under his arm and strode to his room. ‘I don’t want to hear about it, I’m going to bed.’
Neil and Lee stayed up in the sitting room talking while everyone else went to bed. Some hours later Lee fell asleep on the chair opposite. Neil sat back in the leather chair, tiredness overcoming him. The Grandfather clock in the hall bonged the arrival of each hour. Bloody clock, Neil thought as the incessant ticking made the night long and drawn. His eyelids became heavy, and he began to snooze. A sudden slap to the top of his head made him leap forward, disorientated, and confused.
‘What’s wrong?’ Lee asked, his voice drowsy from sleep. Neil looked down at his father’s cloth glass case resting on his lap. It was not the only thing to be thrown his way. As Neil dozed off, tablemats, a tea towel and Lacy doily were thrown lightly in his direction. His head bobbed in exhaustion as he tried to stay awake. As the clock bonged four, the torment stopped long enough for him to get some sleep. Lee went home as dawn broke, dark shadows circling his eyes from lack of sleep.
Valerie cooked breakfast as she spoke, her back turned to Neil. He breathed in the aroma of bacon and eggs, and temporarily zoned out. ‘… And I agree with your father, you’re going to see Father *Luke today after mass. Those mediums mean well, but you know as well as I do, the Catholic Church are the only ones that can do a proper exorcism.’
Neil’s head snapped upwards. Did she just say exorcism? How does she know about exorcisms? ‘All right mum, don’t nag, I’ll go. But not on my own.’
‘You don’t need to worry about that,’ Valerie said, serving up. ‘Your father is going with you.’
Neil and his father waited outside the church after service, the sounds of the choir filtering through the air. Neil shuffled his feet in the churchyard gravel, still trying to work out how he would approach the subject of exorcisms in a tactful manner.
The congregation exited the church. He was five years old again as his father grabbed him by the arm and marched him up to the priest. Neil opened his mouth and stuttered, trying to find the right words.
‘Oh for heaven’s sake,’ Ben uttered as he looked at Father Luke and sighed. ‘He’s got a ghost,’ he blurted, jabbing his thumb in Neil’s direction.
Neil cringed in embarrassment. His father did not waste any time. Neil explained as best as he could to the elderly priest, who said he would ‘look into it’ when they suggested an exorcism.
Neil and Lee returned to the house the next day to drive Joe and Sarah to school. It was decided David would stay in Clacton until Neil knew the house was safe. The car rumbled onto the drive, and Neil hoped everything would be okay. Things always seemed better in daylight. Neil got out and hes
itated before letting the children out of the back.
Sarah knocked impatiently on the car window, ‘Can we get out now?’ She rattled the door handle, the child lock preventing her escape.
Neil ignored her pleas as he looked up at the sky. It was clear. ‘They weren’t there yesterday,’ he extended a finger towards the scattering of pebbles on the brickwork. ‘That must be what fell on us last night.’
Lee glanced up at the roof, preoccupied with the bigger stones. ‘Are your roof tiles loose Neil?’
‘No, why, what’s wrong?’
Lee pointed to the pieces of brick stuck in the guttering of the house. ‘One of them looks like the rock that fell on the car last night.’ Unless someone got up with a stepladder onto the roof it would have been impossible.
Neil hoped the rocks would stay where they were. He opened the car and the children rushed to the front door. ‘Wait! Let me in first,’ Neil said, blocking their path with his arm. He cautiously glanced into the kitchen and living room. Shafts of light flooded in through the window blinds and the dogs barked a chorus, demanding his attention. ‘All right, come through,’ Neil said over the barks of the dogs, imploring their freedom.
Sarah and Joe climbed upstairs to get changed so Neil and Lee could drop them to school. Not long after returning to the house the second time, the phone began to ring.
Neil slowly picked up the phone and put it to his ear. Scratching noises clawed their way down the line, but this time accompanied by a gasping, groaning noise in the background. ‘Uuuuuuuuuh,’ it moaned. Neil held the phone away from his ear, his face ashen.
‘Who was it?’ Lee asked. A flicker of fear ran through Neil. The entity was evolving. ‘It’s changed. It's trying to speak.’ Neil shakily dropped the phone back into the cradle. ‘Whatever it’s trying to say, I don’t want to hear it.’
A loud clanging noise rang from the kitchen, and the dogs barked in response. They stood their ground in the hall, refusing to go in. Lee frowned. ‘We better check it out.’
Neil led the way into the kitchen. A large metal frying pan lay in the middle of the floor. He picked it up and put it away, wondering if it was a response to his comment about the phone. Scanning the rest of the kitchen, Neil took a mental image of every item’s placement. He walked back into the living room with Lee to spend some time with the dogs, which had been starved of attention since the calamities began. ‘Aw, bloody hell!’ Neil said. Large red sofa cushions were scattered all over the floor. He rubbed his face, wondering if he was ever going to get any peace. He thought of his friend Chris, who expressed his interest in further occurrences. Neil gave him a quick call and invited him around, hoping there would be safety in numbers. Chris lived nearby and stated he would be there within minutes.
The phone rang just as Neil ended the call. It was his older brother, Andrew, who lived with his family in London. Word had spread and Andrew was curious. Neil filled him in while Lee replaced the cushions in an attempt to restore some normality. Andrew had never been a believer in the Paranormal, but he wanted to help.
‘Why don’t you ask it what it wants?’ Andrew suggested.
‘You must be joking! I’m not asking that. What if it says something?’ Neil’s voice tapered off as he heard a faint cackle down the phone. ‘Did you just laugh?’
‘No, why?’ Andrew said.
‘Oh, nothing, thought I heard something that’s all.’ Neil walked into the kitchen to light a cigarette when his attention was drawn to the microwave.
‘Hang on, I’ve found something.’ Neil reached for a folded piece of paper, which was sticking out of the top of the microwave door. He unfolded the paper and gasped.
‘Neil?’ Andrew asked.
‘Shit,’ the note quivered in Neil’s hands.
‘Neil are you there?’ Andrew demanded again, concern growing in his voice.
‘I’m here… I just found a piece of paper. It’s got some writing on it… It says… NEIL’.
‘That doesn’t sound good, maybe you should get out of there.’
Neil needed time to think. ‘It’s all right. Listen Andrew I’ve got to go, I’ll ring you tonight.’ He joined Lee in the sitting room and slouched down in the seat before his legs gave way. Handing Lee the note, he tried to comprehend the meaning. What does it mean? Does it want me? The writing was scrawled in purple pen.
Lee’s eyes widened as Neil explained its origin.
Neil took the note back, folded it carefully, and shoved it in his pocket. A mixture of curiosity and dread overcame him. Written messages were taking proceedings a step further. A knock at the front door signalled Chris’s arrival. ‘Come in,’ Neil said, greeting his friend, ‘didn’t take you long to get here.’
Chris smiled, slightly out of breath, ‘I didn’t want to miss anything. What’s been happening?’
‘Plenty. But first I need a cigarette, do you want one?’
‘I suppose one wouldn’t do any harm,’ Chris said, walking behind Neil and Lee towards the kitchen. Suddenly, a small round ashtray gave flight as it hurtled from the dining room table in Chris’s direction, hitting the floor with a bang. Lee sidestepped as Chris jumped back to avoid it.
‘Did you see that?’ Chris said, having witnessed his first paranormal encounter.
‘Huh, that’s nothing,’ Neil said from the kitchen, ‘you should see this.’
Neil explained the most recent occurrences and showed Chris the note.
Chris stared at the paper, deep in thought. ‘You know what you should do now, don’t you,’ he said.
It was apparent they did not as both Lee and Neil looked at him blankly.
‘Get a pen and paper and ask it to write some more, find out who this is.’
‘Yeah, that’s a good idea.’ Neil stubbed out his cigarette and blew the remainder of the smoke out the corner of his mouth. He began pulling open kitchen drawers, scattering their contents everywhere.
‘Are you all right mate?’ Lee asked.
‘I’m trying to find a pen – ah, here’s one.’ Satisfied, he pulled out a chewed marker pen and scrap of frayed paper. He tapped the paper with the pen, wondering what to write. Neil scribbled, ‘Please tell me your name’ on the paper, leaving it on the kitchen counter.
The men sat and waited in the living room, tapping their feet. After a couple of minutes of small talk, Chris raised his head and nodded towards the kitchen. ‘That should be enough time. Will we have a look?’
Neil steeled himself to check for an answer. He was still pretty shaken up by what he found earlier, and was not sure he wanted to see what else had been written.
‘Look, it’s written something,’ Chris whispered. A scrawl stained the paper in purple ink. He picked it up to examine it. The letter ‘D’ was squiggled on the paper. ‘Maybe we interrupted him, we’d better leave it and give him more time,’ Chris said, fascinated. But Chris was to be disappointed. He stayed for another hour and nothing else occurred. Chris said his goodbyes and made his way home.
Neil decided to check the kitchen one more time. He picked up the paper. ‘Look at that… it’s written with a different pen, where did it get the pen from?’
‘He’s probably got a little shop in the sky,’ Lee chuckled, looking over Neil’s shoulder. An ‘0’ and an ‘8’ were shakily written in blue ink.
Perplexed, Neil put the paper away. A door slammed loudly upstairs, and a saucepan fell to the floor in the kitchen. Neil bit his lip. He had a feeling the entity did not appreciate Chris’s visit. A loud bang vibrated upstairs.
Neil needed answers. He telephoned Steve, the psychic who attended the house previously. He answered his phone on the first ring. The conversation was punctuated by banging noises from upstairs and clanging from the kitchen as appliances were flung to the floor. Neil tried to explain, and the occurrences became increasingly violent as the house came alive. Doors slammed shut, and banging noises vibrated against the walls in an angry display of power. The entity was in full flow and Neil was at his
wits end. ‘Can you come Steve? It’s happening now, can you hear it?’
‘Yes, I can hear it. You really should get out of there,’ Steve said. His voice was calm, indicating no apparent wish to join him.
‘Can you help? My wife’s not here, and I don’t know what to do.’
Steve snorted unsympathetically. ‘Your marriage isn’t going to last with all this going on.’
‘What? What the hell does that mean?’
Steve continued, ‘I’m just saying, generally marriages don’t last when these sort of things happen. Its unlikely you’ll stay together.’
Neil was aghast. ‘Who the hell are you, to tell me my marriage won’t last? Nothing will come between me and my wife.’
‘Look Neil, I just meant…’
Neil interrupted him mid-sentence. ‘Don’t bother, forget I called.’ Neil hung up the phone and relayed the news to Lee. ‘I don’t understand it. He doesn’t want to know. The stuff he was saying… it didn’t make sense.’ His sentence was punctuated by a coffee cup smashing as it hit the floor.
Lee put his hand on Neil’s shoulder. ‘Don’t worry about it, look, this thing is really pissed off, let’s go.’ Lee looked ready to bolt at any minute.
Neil grew aware of his surroundings and walked briskly to the back door to lock it. A fork flung itself in his direction, narrowly missing his head. His breath quickened as he dug in his jeans pocket for his car keys. He rushed to the hall, jumping as the kitchen door slammed behind him with force. ‘Shit,’ Neil exclaimed. Fumbling with his car keys, he dropped them on the floor. He glanced behind him before crouching to pick the keys up and ran to the front door, where Lee was already waiting. A shower of stones pinged against the ground and the metal of the parked cars outside. Neil’s phone rang into life as he rushed to open the car door. He stood frozen with fear, the realisation hitting him. Nowhere is safe. There is no getting away from it. He watched Lee take cover inside his own car that was parked in behind his.
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