“Of course I’m serious,” Mrs. Grant said, leaning in closer. “Haven’t you felt anything in the house? No sudden chills or strange sounds?”
Ashley could still hear the swinging rope from her office, and the man… the man in the hall who had threatened to kill the children.
“You have, haven’t you?”
“What do I do?”
“Convince Duke to close the Home,” Mrs. Grant pleaded, picking up her shopping. “Before another innocent child dies.”
Ashley felt her throat tighten in panic.
With the whole staff thinking she was crazy, how was she going to convince anyone of anything?
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Demonic Hold
“Gregory,” Ashley called from her office. “Could I see you for a moment?”
She tried to appear calm when Gregory walked into her office. Gregory looked like he hadn’t slept well himself. His usually neat hair was sticking up at the back, and he had missed a spot on his jaw while shaving.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Please take a seat.”
“What’s this about?”
Ashley took a moment to choose her words.
“I know you think I’m crazy after what happened last night.”
“No, that’s Sasha. She’s convinced you’re mad. I just think your mind was playing tricks on you. It can happen in the dark, and especially when you’ve heard a horrible story about the place only recently.”
Relief flooded Ashley.
“I’m glad to hear you say it, Greg, but what I’m about to say next will test your judgement of me.”
Gregory simply looked at her with slightly raised brows.
“I did see someone in the hall last night. In fact, I’ve been hearing things I can’t explain. The man in the room told me he’d murder every child in this house…”
“Isn’t it possible you were imagining it? You were half asleep, it was dark, and Joshua Abbot was on your mind.”
“It is possible. But it’s not only that. I’ve heard voices in this room, I lost forty minutes in this room, I simply can’t recollect what I did in those forty minutes. Look, you don’t have to believe me. But I know that if you accompany me tonight, patrol the halls, you’ll see what I saw too.”
“You’re convinced something is out to get the kids?”
“Yes.”
Gregory seemed to consider this. He bit his lip and scratched his hair.
“Okay. But Sasha can’t know anything about this. She’s already on your case, and this would be enough for her to have you fired.”
“I understand. And Gregory, thank you.”
***
The moon was high by the time Ashley and Gregory began their rounds, but the wind had blown a cluster of clouds in that blocked the light from time to time. Sasha had been up late, with Jamie and Toast, discussing politics in the kitchen; Ashley had waited to hear Sasha’s bedroom door click locked before she’d texted Gregory to rendezvous on the first floor landing in twenty minutes.
“Anything?” Gregory asked, shivering slightly.
“No,” Ashley said. She had switched her flashlight off. Intuition told her it would be useless against the ghosts that haunted the mansion and would make them harder to see. “Maybe we should check downstairs.”
“Okay.”
They made their way back to the landing. Ashley was wondering about the uneventful evening as she descended the first step. All sound ceased, freezing Ashley in her tracks. Ashley rubbed her ears, and shook her head. There was a ringing in her ears as if a bomb had gone off nearby, robbing her of her ability to hear.
Someone was shaking her by the arm.
Gregory was saying something to her but she couldn’t hear him. The blood suddenly drained from his face. He looked at the bottom of the stairs, and his grip tightened on Ashley’s arm.
A faint moaning rose from the ringing in her ear till it was the only sound she could hear. Someone was in great pain. Ashley looked down the stairs. A woman lay spread-eagled on the floor, her dress hiked up to show bruised thighs.
As Ashley watched, the woman sat up, slowly, agonizingly stretched her hands towards the stairs.
My children…
The woman turned her face to them. The skin under her eyes had been slashed as if she had run her own nails in long tracks through her cheeks. Her eyes were pale and staring, and her hands were black with blood. She began to howl in pain; Ashley raised her hands to her ears to drown out the horrible sound. Gregory was shaking her hand harder than before, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the woman crawling up the stairs.
“Ashley!!”
Gregory managed to pull her back off the stairs, and they fell in a heap on the landing. Ashley scrambled to her feet and look down the stairs to make sure the ghost wasn’t upon them.
But there was nothing there. The ghost had vanished.
“Did you see that? You see!! I told you there was something wrong with this house!”
“Ashley,” Gregory was breathing hard. “I…”
A blood-curdling scream tore the air. It was coming from the East Wing.
“Someone’s in trouble!” Ashley cried. “Can’t you hear them screaming?”
Ashley and Gregory got on their feet and rushed down the East Wing. The moon went behind a cloud, increasing shadows in the hall. Gregory turned his flashlight on, the light bouncing off the walls erratically as he ran. They came to a sudden stop.
Lucy was standing in the middle of the hall. She was rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
“Lucy,” Ashley came to a stop by the little girl. “What happened? Why did you scream?”
“She took the doll away,” Lucy was crying. “She pushed me and took the doll away. I’m never going to play with her again?”
“Who pushed you, Honey?” Gregory asked.
“The girl with the pretty dress,” Lucy hiccupped. “She has scars on her face. She says it’s her doll.”
“Do you know her name?” Ashley asked, her body going cold.
“Eveline.”
“Gregory,” Ashley stood up. “Take Lucy and the rest of the children to Jamie’s cottage. They’ll be safe there.”
“Ashley.”
“Gregory, we don’t have time. Just go.”
Gregory stayed a minute longer. He looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it.
“Come on Lucy.”
Ashley waited until Gregory had left with Lucy to collect the rest of the girls before making her way to her room. Not really her room, though, was it. It was clear to Ashley who this room belonged to now.
The knocking the first day she had arrived. The hand that snatched at her in the dark. And the doll in the toy chest.
She had been hiding in the toy chest, that’s what they had told her. Poor little Eveline, frightened by the sounds of her screaming loved-ones had taken refuge in her toys. What must the poor thing have gone through?
Ashley opened the closet and pulled the toy chest out. The carved roses were encased in a bramble of thorns. Ashley opened the lid, feeling the small groves in the smooth wood. The doll sat exactly where Ashley had found it. It’s painted face wore a quizzical expression. Ashley traced the face, then noticed the desperate nail tracks in the wood. A sob escaped her lips, imagining the terror, the desperate need to hold on to something to stop her father getting her out of her hiding place.
He’s coming for you
Ashley looked up. A small figure stood in the closet. A pretty pink dress was splashed with unsightly blood, and the arms were scarred, but Eveline Abbot’s face was a horror. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles, and her nose and lips were missing.
“Who is?”
He’s coming for you like he came for me
Save the children
Save me
Eveline’s ghost came closer with each sentence, her exposed teeth looked like a leering grin.
“How? Please, tell me how?”
&nb
sp; Eveline’s ghost leaned down and touched Ashley’s forehead. Ashley felt as if an ice cold dagger had pierced her skin.
Kill him!
The ghost suddenly sprung back.
He’s coming
HE’S COMING!
Ashley didn’t have time to think. She got up off the floor just in time to see the shadow of a large man entering the doorway. It was the same man she had seen in the West Wing last night. Ashley shrunk back from the ghost of Joshua Abbot.
His face was terrible. Blood-shot eyes in an emaciated face were dominated by large mutton-chops. His hands were skeletal; long fingers like claws flexed at his side. A sneer played on his face.
I warned you. Now you must die!
Ashley screamed and ran across the room. The ghost of Joshua Abbot followed. Ashley picked up her bedside lamp and slashed at his face. Joshua howled in pain. Ashley took that opportunity to run from the room.
Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She couldn’t breathe. She ran faster hoping the children were safe, that Gregory had gotten them out in time.
Sasha!
Ashley stopped in her tracks. She had been so preoccupied with saving the children that she had completely forgotten about Sasha. She was terrified of going back, but she couldn’t leave Sasha to die.
Ashley turned back. The clouds flitted off the moon, and moonlight bathed the landing where she stood. The ghost of Joshua Abbot was standing in the East Wing, staring at her, challenging her to come save Sasha.
“I’m not afraid of you!” Ashley shouted. “Do you hear me? I’m not afraid of you!”
Joshua’s ghost roared in anger and charged at her. Ashley stood her ground. The ghost collided with her and she struggled against his demonic hold. She twisted and turned, and bit and scratched, but he was too powerful. He flung her to the floor, and swooped to finish the job, but Ashley’s instincts kicked in and she kicked with all her might.
Joshua’s ghost went sprawling down the stairs with a high-pitched scream.
Ashley lay there breathing hard, her lungs on fire.
It’s over. It’s finally over. I’m going to tell Duke this place isn’t fit for children. He has to move the Home to some other location.
“Oh my God! Gregory!”
The silence was pierced by hysterical screams. Ashley scrambled to her feet, looking for the source of the noise. It was coming from downstairs. Ashley limped to the landing and saw the most horrific sight she had ever seen.
Gregory Pitt lay spread-eagled at an impossible angle on the marble floor, his face twisted in a grimace, a pool of blood spreading out beneath him. Sasha was leaning by his side, and Jamie and Toast were running in from the front door.
“What happened?” Ashley rushed downstairs.
“You!” Sasha screamed. “You killed him!”
“I didn’t! Are you crazy, Sasha?”
“No, you’re the crazy one,” Sasha wiped the tears off her livid face. “He told us about your theory of ghosts in the mansion. I told him to go on the rounds with you to make sure you didn’t harm yourself or the kids.”
“He saw the ghost of the nurse,” Ashley screeched. “He saw her too!”
“No, he didn’t.” Jamie looked unusually sombre. “When he told us he’d be patrolling with you tonight he asked us to stay up just in case he needed backup.”
“And he was right,” Toast said, hedging Ashley in from the right side. “He came to the cottage with the children saying you were acting strange.”
“He said you had completely frozen on the staircase and made weird noises,” Sasha said. “He said you had then gone rushing down the East Wing, saying someone was screaming when he hadn’t heard a thing.”
“He was lying!” Ashley nearly screamed.
“He told us that Lucy was out of bed, she was crying because she’d wet the bed, but you asked her if she knew someone’s name, and then ordered him to take the children to Jamie’s cottage when Lucy didn’t say anything.”
“Lucy did say something!” Ashley cried. “Call Lucy in here. Ask her about Eveline and the doll!”
“You’re really insane if you actually think we’re going to let you near the children after what you did to Gregory!” Sasha said.
“I didn’t do this!”
“I saw you!” Sasha screamed. “I saw him try and tackle you to the ground and you pushed Gregory down the stairs!”
Ashley’s mind was unravelling. What was happening? Why had Gregory lied? He had seen the nurse; he had heard Lucy. Why didn’t anyone believe her?
“This place is haunted,” Ashley said.
“Ashley, please,” Toast rolled his eyes.
“No! Jamie’s mom told me she didn’t want him working here because of the hauntings.”
“My mom?” Jamie was suddenly very still.
“Yes, when I went in to town this afternoon,” Ashley said, hope sprung inside her again. Jamie would believe her. Of course he would.
“Ashley,” Jamie said, taking a step closer, “my mother died when I was ten.”
Ashley felt like the ground had been yanked from under her feet.
“No.”
“She had cancer, and she wasn’t strong enough to survive it.”
“No, you’re wrong. I saw her. She was in her fifties, she had auburn hair…”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about but my mum was thirty-eight when she died, and she was a blonde.”
“Why are you lying?”
“That’s enough!” Sasha said. “Boy’s, lock her up. I’m going to call the police and then Duncan.”
“No!” Ashley screamed. “You don’t know what you’re doing! We have to get out of here! We have to get out before the ghosts kill us like they killed Gregory!”
Jamie and Toast grabbed her by the legs and arms and pushed her towards the offices. She screamed but they only held her tighter. Ashley screamed for help but no one came for her. They were dragging her to her office to lock her up till the police arrived.
Ashley…
Ashley’s head whipped around to the stairs. They were all standing there. Each and every one of them. Joshua, Daniella, Eveline and Philip Abbot, the Nurse, Jamie’s mother, the boy from the Thorpe house, Misha and even Whitney Price.
We’ll see you soon Ashley. Some place where you’ll only have us to play with.
Ashley screamed, and passed out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
May God have Mercy
Duke Abbot’s coffee was getting cold. He suddenly found he had no appetite for it.
“I’m sorry Mr. Abbot,” Dr Patel said.
“Yes, so am I,” Duke sighed. “She seemed so put together. I had high hopes for her in the Home.”
“Her psychosis was well concealed and they often go undetected in the child care system. There just aren’t enough funds for psychiatric evaluations.”
“But she went to court-authorized psychiatric evaluations not six months ago? How could the doctors have missed something?”
“As I’ve mentioned,” Dr Patel said, straightening the notes on his table. “The court-assigned psychiatrist did suspect Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but needed Ashley to come in for the recommended sessions to determine it. You have to understand that this is a very rare disease, and usually affects people in their sixties.”
“And that’s what she has?” Duke asked.
“Unfortunately,” Dr Patel sighed. “How fast the patient’s mental health will deteriorate is unique to each patient, but the fact is it can’t be stopped.”
“So there is no cure?”
“90% of CJD patients die within the year.”
Duke sighed heavily. When he had employed Ashley Ridley, he had hoped to make Abbot Child Care Home part of her success story; the exiled social service worker honed and now heads the most successful child care home in the country.
It had backfired, like many had told him it would. Sasha, his friend of ten years, had been chief of the naysayers, but he had ignored her so
und advice.
“May I see her?”
“If you like,” Dr Patel paused. “Although I would not recommend it. She won’t recognize you, and it can be traumatic to view someone you knew in a less than favourable condition.”
“I understand,” Duke said standing up. “Thank you for your time Dr Patel. Please care for Miss Ridley to the best of your ability. I’ll try and visit as often as I can.”
Duke was deep in his unpleasant thoughts as he walked back to his car. He glanced back once at the Kent Institute for The Criminally Insane, at the large brick walls that surrounded the property, topped with barbed wire.
A face peeked at him from one of the windows. It was Ashley Ridley, her hair hanging around her face in greasy ropes, a large, vacant smile on her face. She raised her hand, Duke raised his. Ashley’s face changed, the grin became a grimace and she slapped her hand on the glass, hard, again and again till an orderly restrained her.
Duke swallowed hard. He took his keys out with shaking fingers and started the car. Dr Patel had been right. This was a sight he would have thankfully avoided.
“Goodbye, Ashley,” Duke whispered as he drove out of the heavily guarded front gate. “May God have mercy on your soul.”
~The End~
The Haunting of Shadowcreek House
Clarice Black
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Prologue
Real horror isn’t to be tangibly measured. It’s the body’s unique unanticipated awareness, skin inadvertently subjected to a shroud of intense numbness, as if tarantula tarsi were sent to skitter over every pore and fine hair. It’s when peripheral vision tricks itself, convincing an observer of a foreboding presence. True horror is only felt. It’s the apotheosis of all negativity, all sadness and pain. Much like forgotten bones buried deep in the woods, horror makes its home under the surface; from where it extends the reaches of its macabre talons towards your unsuspecting heart, and grasps it in an unforgiving clench, never to let go again.
13 Hauntings Page 22
