‘No, just leave it,’ I said, not wanting to devote any of our thoughts or energy to the subject. I tried to pull myself together and carry on, but the memory of the negative energy refused to let go.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Out of Control
It was a cold September morning when Neil went to the house alone. Everybody else was either at school or at work. He was contemplating what to do with his day when the doorbell rang.
‘Everything OK mate? I tried ringing you on your mobile, but there was no answer,’ Lee said, standing in the doorway.
Neil resorted to leaving his mobile in the house at night. The odd rasping calls were relentless and he’d had enough. ‘Hi Lee, come in, I’ve not been checking my phone. Have a seat in the living room and I’ll make us a coffee.’
Neil walked to the kitchen to boil the kettle and check his messages. He searched for his phone and found it balancing precariously on top of a bottle of water. Neil rubbed the back of his neck as a prickle of worry grew. The back door was locked and his phone had been on the counter minutes earlier. He reached for his phone and slid it in his jeans pocket. Ping. A small missile resounded against the back of his head. Neil instinctively crouched, protecting his head with his hands. Twisting around, he glanced to see what was behind him. The object came from behind, and Lee was still in the living room. Neil looked down to see a small piece of dried dog food on the floor. Could that be what hit him? He bent down and picked it up, rolling it between his fingers. It felt about the right size. He scanned the rest of the kitchen floor and it was clean. Neil placed the dog nut on the kitchen counter and returned to the kettle. Ping. Something light hit the back of his head. ‘Ah, what now?’ Neil said through gritted teeth.
‘Are you OK Neil?’ Lee shouted.
Neil did not answer. He was engrossed in looking for the missile. Finally he saw it. A tiny crisp piece of cereal lay on the floor. He picked it up just as Lee walked in. Neil tried to explain. ‘I was hit twice on the head. First by a dog nut, and now this.’ He held up the tiny piece of cereal to show Lee. ‘It’s just a rice Krispie,’ Neil said, crushing it between his fingers.
‘Looks like it’s playing games,’ Lee said. ‘Best ignore it.’
Neil agreed, but every time they turned around they were pelted with dried dog nuts or cereal from behind. Someone was taking great amusement in tormenting them, and soon the floor was dotted in cereal. ‘You go first and I’ll follow you out,’ Neil said, planning their retreat. ‘Nothing will happen to you if I’m watching.’ Neil watched Lee walk towards the door. Neil gaped in disbelief as a handful of cereal came from thin air and sprayed Lee on the back of the head.
‘Whoa,’ Lee said. Ducking down, he made a rapid exit through the door.
Neil was right behind him. ‘I can’t believe I just saw that. It came from thin air.’ Curiosity overcame them both, and they slowly returned to the kitchen. ‘Where are they getting it from?’ Neil asked.
Lee pointed into a bowl of dry cereal that the children had left out. ‘It looks like someone has scooped some out from the bowl.’
‘You’re right, it does. We’d better check the dog food then.’ He walked over to the plastic tub used to keep the food fresh. ‘Look. This was flat earlier on. I topped it up and levelled it this morning,’ Neil said. He could clearly see outlines of fingers where they had been scooped out. ‘That’s well creepy,’ Neil said, covering the tub. Neil had mixed reactions about Lee’s presence. He knew that when he was with Lee they often acted as a catalyst for paranormal events, but he did not want to be on his own in the house. An uncomfortable feeling rose in the pit of his stomach. As they turned to walk out to the living room Neil scanned the kitchen one more time. He noticed the toaster was turned on, and unplugged it from the wall. His nostrils were filled with a pungent smell, like rotting cabbage. ‘Awe mate, is that you?’ Neil gagged as the smell grew stronger.
Lee laughed at being accused of producing something so odious. ‘No it bloody well isn’t. That’s disgusting.’ Neil opened the back door and they both went outside for air.
‘You have to admit, it’s kind of funny… a farting ghost.’ Lee chuckled at the prospect.
Neil couldn’t help but join in. After a few gulps of fresh air they returned to the kitchen. Neil’s eyes flicked to the tea towel, which was now placed neatly on top of the mop bucket. It had been on the kitchen counter seconds previously. Neil ignored the tea towel and began to clean the kitchen. A clicking noise came from the iron on the counter. It was the built in safety feature which turned the iron off to prevent it from overheating. Neil groaned as he unplugged it from the wall and left it on the counter to cool down. He really hated when electrical items became involved. The men retreated to the living room, not bothering to sit down. The nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach told Neil the entity was not finished yet. Within seconds another sound emanated from the kitchen.
Neil walked towards the glowing light coming from the open fridge door. ‘Oh for God’s sake!’ A tin of golden syrup was laying on its side oozing sticky contents down the door of the fridge. ‘This is going to take ages to clean.’ He filled a basin of hot soapy water while Lee kept lookout. Bending down to clean the fridge a sense of doom enveloped him, thick and murky, like the syrup he was trying to scrub away. After five minutes of scrubbing he tipped the dirty water down the sink. Neil made some coffee and returned to the living room to watch TV. Lee said something, but Neil was not listening. He was concentrating on the smell that floated in the air. ‘I think I can smell burning, I’m just going to check the kitchen.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Lee said, following him through to the kitchen towards the direction of the smell. It was coming from the iron. Not only had it been plugged back in, it was also pushed up against a loaf of bread on the counter.
‘Ow!’ Neil shouted as he pulled his fingers back from the burning bread wrapper. He unplugged the iron and examined the sticky wrapping, which was stuck fast to the hotplate. ‘Great. It’s ruined. We just bought this a couple of weeks ago.’ He wrapped the cord tightly around the iron and shoved it in a drawer. Neil scowled. It did not seem like he was going to get any peace that day. Satisfied they were safe, he checked the kitchen one more time and joined Lee in the living room.
Neil turned on the television, and ten minutes into the programme, he raised his head and sniffed. Is that burning? He burst through the kitchen door. Red flames danced on the toaster at the far end of the kitchen. ‘Ah hell, it’s on fire,’ he shouted. The toaster was plugged back in and turned on. A tea towel was on fire beside the toaster. ‘Open the door,’ Neil instructed Lee, ‘I need to throw the towel outside.’
‘This is getting dangerous,’ Lee said, swiftly opening the door. Toasters turning on by themselves could be managed, but this was a deliberate attempt to start a fire. Was this a warning for bigger things to come? Neil shook his head. The towel must have been placed on top of the toaster until it combusted from the source of the heat. Once alight, it was mysteriously placed on the counter. There was no way anyone else could have done this. Lee had not left his side the whole morning. The back door was locked. The garden was surrounded by a six-foot secure fence and wall, which backed out onto a busy road. If anyone were to scale the fence unseen, they would have to force open the back door, light the fire then leave. There was no way someone would break into the kitchen without anyone noticing.
Neil walked outside to check the tea towel on the ground. It was gone. He scratched his head and searched the garden. He found it smouldering on top of a roll of garden membrane leaning up against the wall of the house. Grabbing the towel, he threw it on the ground to put it out. Stamping and swearing, he took out his frustrations on the towel until he felt a little better. He binned what was left of the towel and wrapped the cord around the toaster, put it in the cupboard and slammed the door shut. Scanning the room, he ensured the rest of the electrical appliances were hidden out of sight. But there was one appliance he coul
d not hide. Click… Click… Click went the igniter of the gas hob, followed by a flame, bursting into life. ‘I don’t believe this,’ Neil uttered. He turned around to see the cooker flame alight.
The theme of the day was fire starting, and Neil became increasingly frustrated. He could have just left for Clacton, but as bad as the situation was, he did not want to risk the house burning down. Every time Neil tried to walk out of the kitchen the hob igniter clicked on. He stood back, amazed. It was not the easiest of ovens to figure out. This thing must be smart. ‘Right,’ Neil said, flicking off a red switch on the wall that controlled the electricity source. It was rarely turned off and was extremely stiff. ‘Now try turning that on.’ The click of the red button reverberated in response. ‘Ahh!’ Neil shouted, ‘What am I going to do now?’
Lee stepped forward. ‘I’ve an idea. Have you got a screwdriver? It means disconnecting the supply, but it’s worth it for peace of mind.’ Lee unscrewed the red switch from the wall and disconnected the electrical wires.
Neil bit his fingernail, hoping the entity would not take their reaction as a personal challenge. ‘Hopefully that will be the end of it.’
‘Yeah,’ Lee smiled, ‘he would have to be an electrician to turn that back on.’
Neil nodded, unable to raise a smile. Complacency was not an option. Feeling the need for reassurance, he walked inside to telephone Mike. He pressed the speaker button as he dialled the number. It enabled him to have his hands free in case anything else occurred.
Lee lit a cigarette and walked to the front of the house to smoke it. Smoking inside the house was banned, and there was enough smoke lingering in the kitchen already.
Neil continued talking to Mike while following Lee to the front of the house.
‘I wouldn’t worry,’ Mike said.’ Fires can happen in poltergeist cases, but usually they’re small and extinguish by themselves. The entity would not be powerful enough to light a big fire.’
Neil stood at the front door and glanced around. ‘Do you smell smoke?’ he said to Lee, hoping his neighbour had lit a bonfire.
Lee looked at Neil with confusion as a cloud of smoke billowed past. It was coming from the back of the house. He flashed Neil a look of alarm, then turned on his heel and ran to the back garden, with Neil behind.
Neil prayed he was wrong as a feeling of dread washed over him. They got to the back garden and ran towards the plumes of smoke.
‘Neil, the branches are on fire,’ Lee shouted, referring to the cut trees which Neil accumulated from gardening work weeks previously. Dead tree branches crackled and spit as flames fanned wildly from the trees. Neil froze. He was in the garden minutes earlier, and now a fire was burning out of control. There was no doubt in his mind where it had come from. Neil remembered he was still on the line to Mike. ‘It’s lit a fire, its set fire to the trees at the side of the house.’ Terrified the house would catch alight, Neil shouted to Lee, who was looking for a hose. ‘Fill up the mop bucket, throw some water on it!’
Lee grabbed the bucket and filled it with water. He threw it on the hissing trees, the flames fighting to spread upwards.
Neil pulled the bucket from his hands and held it under the running tap. It was not just the trees that were alight. Lee cycled to Neil’s house that day and his mountain bicycle was ablaze. Thick black smoke fanned from the front tyre, which was melting in the heat.
Lee tried to pull his bike away from the flames. He pressed his hands against the hot handlebars, burning his leg against the flaming tyre in the process. Lee dropped the bike and choked a cough as the smell of burning rubber filled his lungs.
Ever the investigator, Mike instructed Neil to take pictures of the fire.
It was the last thing on Neil’s mind. He needed to get the flames out quick. The lawnmower was not far from the trees, and he was scared it would catch alight. He dragged everything out as best he could and finally extinguished the hissing flames. Shaking, Neil wiped his forehead with his blackened arm and stopped to recover his breath. He looked at Lee’s hands and leg; they were burnt from handling the bike. ‘Are you OK mate, do you need that looked at?’
‘No, it’s OK,’ Lee examined his hands. ‘But I’ve had enough for one day. Can you drop me home?’
Neil obliged, feeling dejected. Lee’s bike was ruined and as far as Neil was concerned, Mike’s theory of poltergeists not being able to start big fires had been disproved. He returned to the house alone and exhausted. Neil made himself a coffee and tried to contemplate what had occurred. Nursing his cup, he recalled Mike asking where Lee was when the fire begun. Neil was only about three seconds behind Lee as he went to the front of the house. The fire took place at the back. A high wall and a stiff wooden gate enclosed the back garden. For Lee to be responsible he would have had to run past Neil, through the house, light the fire, then run back to the front. The other option was going down the side alleyway through the stiff gate, around to the other side of the property, light the fire then run back around to the front of the house – all in a three second time frame. It was impossible. So why did Mike ask where he was? Thoughts of worry and concern clawed their way into Neil’s mind. Did Mike suspect Lee of trying to set fire to his house? To the home of a Police Officer? It was ludicrous. But what if people thought they were both responsible… what if… Neil shook the thoughts away. It was not the first time irrational thoughts filled his head, and lately they were becoming more and more frequent.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Firefighters
Neil called me at work to update me about the fire. It added to the mountain of stress, which was overwhelming me. Drowning in a sea of despair, I could see no help in sight.
I hung up the phone and put my head in my hands. How am I going to get through another two hours at work? I walked to my locker and opened a pack of cigarettes that I kept for emergencies. Standing outside at the back of the station, I inhaled the cigarette, allowing the guilty pleasure to overcome me. I kept busy and finally it was time to go home.
The children were setting the table for a takeaway Neil had just bought. I said hello and headed straight out for the trees. My priority was to investigate the charred remains of the fire before it got dark.
Neil followed behind and pointed to the leaves, his brow furrowed. ‘I don’t think anyone could have started the fire so quickly, even if they wanted to. It’s got to be him.’
I knew Neil was referring to our tormentor, but did not want to readily accept the entity was responsible. ‘Well there’s one way to find out. Give me your lighter.’
‘But what if the fire starts again?’
‘It won’t. Call it a controlled experiment,’ I said, eyeing the bucket of water nearby. I held my breath as I flicked the lighter, holding the flame under the driest leaf. There was no reaction, not even a spark. The flame went out and I tried again.
‘Ow,’ I said, pulling back my fingers from the hot flint. I shook my hand and tried again, and again. Nothing. I could not even burn a leaf, let alone the branches. ‘Give me your cigarette,’ I beckoned to Neil.
‘I don’t think it’s a good idea you starting up again.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Not for smoking silly, I want to see if I can light the trees.’
‘Oh, why didn’t you say so? Here, let me try. I don’t want an inferno on my hands,’ Neil held the lit cigarette to the leaf, trying to burn a hole. Apart from a small circular burn it would not take light.
I noticed something odd on the ground and bent down for a closer look.
‘Neil, have you seen this?’ I said, pointing to some soot.
Neil joined me and gazed at the ground. ‘That’s weird. Where’s that come from?’
‘It looks like a diamond shape.’ I touched the soot with my finger and examined the smudge on my skin. ‘Hmmm. This is strange. The soot is in little granules.’ The marking was also several feet from the fire. I stood up and walked over to the charred bicycle. ‘I wonder if it happened when the bike was moved,’ I said
as I wheeled the bike on the gravel, pressing the burnt tyre hard against the ground.
‘I can’t see how the tyre could have made a perfect diamond shape. In fact, it’s not making any mark at all, is it?’ Neil said. I gave up trying and wondering if the diamond shape was of significance.
We sat with the children eating our Chinese takeaway. Halfway through I pushed mine away, my appetite lost. I massaged my temples, to ease a growing headache.
The children brought their plates to the kitchen and Neil leaned forward, ‘Mike has suggested calling the fire brigade.’
‘That’s not a bad idea,’ I replied, ‘I’ll give them a call tomorrow. Let’s see if they can work out the cause. We need to keep an open mind,’ I whispered.
Neil nodded in reply as Alice walked into the room.
I masked a smile as I stood up to give her a hug, ‘C’mon, we’re staying in Nanny’s tonight.’
The next day I returned to the area when I noticed two small wooden sticks in the shape of a cross. I kicked the twigs apart and forgot about them, until later that day when I returned to find them back in the same position. Four stones lay nearby, in a diamond shape. Does it mean anything? Witchcraft maybe? I tutted at my thoughts which were running away in wild abandon. Get a grip woman, you’re just being paranoid. I made the call to the fire station hoping someone would make a discreet visit.
I cringed when a big red fire engine parked up outside our drive.
‘What are you going to say?’ Neil asked, digging his hands into his jeans pockets.
‘Well I’m not telling them about the ghost if that’s what you think. Just let me do the talking,’ I said, walking towards the door.
Two firefighters in full uniform stood at the door. I thanked them for attending so promptly and led them through the house to the back garden. Discussing my concerns about the fire, I mentioned I was a Police Officer and asked them to check for signs of arson. It was a fair point, and I waited in anticipation as they looked through the debris. They could not find any cause for the fire. No sign of any accelerant and nothing to suggest it was lit purposely.
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