by Tony Walker
I didn’t see how Greg could be standing up here in his everyday clothes. In fact, I knew he couldn’t be. But this was a spirit sent to change me. The message it bore was that you need to fight for what’s yours. I needed to fight for what was mine.
I took a last look at Greg’s expressionless face.
He stood there emotionless and then I turned and ran. I ran, managing not to fall, and soon I found a wide stone path delineated by the larger stones on either side. I ran. I don’t know where I found the energy, but I did. And then, breathing ragged and chest burning, I slowed to a jog then exhausted to a walk. For the first time I dared looked behind me, but he wasn’t there. My mind whirled. There was no explanation for this. I couldn’t make sense of it. But I knew I would get my girls back. Even if I didn’t get Jess back, I would have my daughters: I’d go to their weddings, I’d see their kids. I wouldn’t give up.
I don’t remember the long trudge down the fell. Eventually, it must have been hours, the snow stopped, and I dropped below the cloud line. The wet, drab December green of the Eden Valley spread out before and below me. Eventually, I descended the open fell and came to small fields and stands of trees. The village of Dufton with its ancient building and welcoming inn was before me.
In front of the inn were three police vans. I just kept walking to the inn. When they saw me, officers got out of the vans, wearing high-visibility batons. One even had a Taser as if they were expecting trouble. I would give no trouble. At first, I didn’t know how they’d found me then I remembered saying I was coming to Dufton. I’d booked that room over the phone, using a false address, but in my stupidity, I’d booked old George’s place online and left my address and phone number. I guessed that George, worried for my safety had called the rescue and the police. And the police had been looking for me.
An officer came up to me. ‘Steven Jones, I am arresting you for the murder of Greg Williamson on 26th December this year.’ He said something more, but I wasn’t listening.
I’d spend time in prison, which was fair. But I wouldn’t die.
11
An Old School Revenant
My dad burst into the room of our house at Troutbeck, and I could tell he was mad at me. “You can stop that right now,” he said.
I was like: “What?”
“I’m not a fool Holly,” he said. “I know the smell of cannabis.”
But we weren’t smoking weed. We had a couple of bottles of Blue WKD, and Rachel had smuggled in a half bottle of vodka, to help with the pre-sesh, but we were not smoking anything, never mind weed.
I took the opportunity to be righteously indignant in front of my friends. “Dad, it’s the smell of a joss stick.” He thinks he’s so cool, but he’s as far away from the drugs scene as you could possibly be. I think he maybe took a drag of someone’s spliff when he was 19 at Uni, but that was it. My mum’s worse: a sniff of advocaat at Christmas gets her all giggly and wanting to play charades.
He was wrong-footed. He could see the joss stick burning in the little fat Buddha thing he got me when he went to Hong Kong with work. “Oh,” he said. But then as he couldn’t back down, he said, “And you can pack that in right away.” He was pointing to the Ouija Board.
I bet my friends thought he was a total tool, but I love him really, dumb as he can be for a smart man.
“It’s just a game, dad. You don’t really believe in all that do you?”
He blustered. “Of course not. It’s just they’re dangerous.”
“If you don’t believe in ghosts, then how can they be dangerous?”
“Don’t argue with me Holly,” he said, in the tone I know means that he realises he’s losing the argument. “Anyway,” he said. “It’s not ghosts. It’s evil spirits.”
I put my hand to my mouth to stifle a laugh. “Evil spirits? Come on dad. This isn’t Paranormal Activity III.”
“You always have an answer, Holly,” he said. He loves me really. “Anyway, I thought you were going out?”
“We are, but not till about ten. Drinks are too expensive, so we pre-sesh here first.”
“Holly never buys a drink anyway,” said Nev, being mischievous. “The boys always fall over each other to get her one first.”
“Shut it, Nev!” I snapped at her. There are lots of things my dad shouldn’t know. And that’s the beginning of the start of them.
He sighed wearily and closed the door.
“Ok, let’s get back to this,” said Talya. She was the one who’d brought the Ouija Board, and the one most into it.
“Yeah, but we’ve got to finish getting changed soon,” I said. There was me, Nev, Talya and Rachel in my bedroom.
Nev switched off the overhead light, and we just had the bedside lamp. It was her who’d lit the joss stick too - to give it a ‘mystic’ atmosphere.
We all joined hands and placed them on the little planchette thing that moves around the board - going from letter to letter to spell out words. Rachel was writing the letters down on a piece of paper.
“So,” Talya said. “Is there anybody there?”
There was a round of nervous giggles. A pause. Then Rachel said, “I guess not.”
“No, wait,” I said. “It’s moving.”
And sure enough the planchette with all our fingers placed on it began to move across the board.
“You’re moving it!” said Rachel.
“Really, I’m not,” I said.
Talya and Nev said, “Me neither,” both at the same time.
“This is freaky,” said Rachel.
“Just go with it,” said Talya.
“It’s moving to the ‘yes’.”
On Ouija Boards the letters are all set out, but there is also Yes and No in the top corners of the board. That’s how it gets its name — from the French and German for ‘yes’ run together - so Oui and Ja.
“So there is somebody there,” said Talya.
“Are you living or dead?” I asked.
“You’ve done this before,” said Nev.
I shook my head. “I saw it on Supernatural.”
And the planchette moved again. This time it went to the ‘d’.
“Dead,” said Talya. “It’s going to spell out ‘dead’”.
“Just let it go,” I said. And it spelled out dead.
“You must be pushing this, one of you,” said Rachel.
I knew I wasn’t, but I didn’t totally trust the others. I said, “Do you have a message for any of us?” And the planchette moved towards ’yes’.
“Which one? Can you spell out her name?”
The planchette moved to the ‘t’.
“It’s for Talya!” Nev shouted.
“Is it for Talya?” I said, and the planchette moved to ‘yes’.
She shuddered.
I said, “Ok, what is the message?”
Then the planchette began to move quickly, sliding across the board. As it paused at each letter, Rachel wrote them down with her free hand. It spelled out:
Talya - you are going to…
“Going to what?” said Nev.
“It’s still moving,” said Rachel.
With a horrible, sense of not being able to stop what was happening, we watched as the planchette moved to ‘d’ then ‘i’ then ‘e’.
“This is stupid,” said Talya. “If any of you thinks this is funny, they can just fuck off.”
She was about to pull her hand away but Rachel stopped her. “You can’t just take your hand away. They curse you if you do. We have to thank the spirit and bid it farewell.”
“This is such bullshit,” said Talya. I could tell she was nearly crying. I reached up and put my free hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Then on an impulse I said, “What is your name, spirit?”
The planchette began to move again, quickly spelling the letters of a woman’s name. It spelled out ‘Janet’.
“Oh,” gasped Talya. “Janet was my Nana. She passed away last year.”
We all knew how close Talya had been
to Janet. She’d more or less been brought up by her and her death had hit Talya very hard.
I said, “Do you want to protect Talya?”
And the planchette went to the ‘yes’.
“See,” said Nev, who had a kind heart. “It’s all good. She wants to protect you.”
“But it says I’m going to die!” said Talya.
“Can you protect her from dying?” I spoke to the room, to the Ouija Board, and to the invisible spirit of Janet.
The planchette moved again and this time it spelled out the message “If she listens to me, she will be safe. I will protect her from it.”
“It?” I said.
“The fate? The event?” said Rachel.
“Sounds like it was a thing, not just a happening, — to me anyway,” said Nev.
“Shut the fuck up, Nev. You’re scaring me to death,” said Talya.
“It’s just silly Tal,” I said. “It’s just a stupid parlour game. It’s not real. I bet Nev was pushing the planchette.”
Talya looked relieved. Nev looked hurt. “I was not!” she said.
And then a knock came at the door. It made us all jump. It was just my dad. He said, “Ok, are you ready for your lift? I’ll drive you to Windermere but I’m not coming to fetch you. You’ll have to get a taxi from town.”
As we went downstairs, mum was watching the TV with our dog Hector by her feet.
“Ok loves. Have a nice night, but be careful and don’t drink too much,” she said.
“Mum, you remember that Talya and Rachel and Nev are coming back here to stay tonight?” Even though I lived three miles out of town, it was the most convenient of all our houses and it was like one of the sleepovers we used to have when we were little. But instead of wearing comfy pyjamas and watching 101 Dalmatians, now we talked about boys and clothes and the bitches at school we didn’t like. We were 18 and soon we’d all leave each other - our childhood would be gone and we’d go off to universities and jobs, but this was a honeymoon period with adulthood; we had the pleasures of being an adult but none of the responsibilities. We were determined to enjoy ourselves.
We went round town and then got into the local nightclub. Windermere is a small town, but it does have a nightclub! It was the usual night - we all got a bit tipsy. Rachel fell on the street as she couldn’t walk in her 5 inch heels. Nev started crying because the boy she fancied - James Bliss - was kissing another girl. Talya was quiet.
I said, “Penny for them.”
“Eh?”
“Your thoughts.”
“Oh, just can’t get that stupid Ouija Board out of my head.”
I put my arm round her. “Don’t worry. It’s just silly. I’m still sure it was Nev and Rachel playing tricks.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Want a drink?”
She nodded. “Cheeky Vimto please.”
“You shouldn’t drink that stuff. It’ll kill ya,” I said.
She shrugged and smiled. “Apparently I haven’t got long left, anyway.” She was joking, but I didn’t like her talking like that so I punched her arm gently and said, “Come with me to the bar?”
We lost Rachel for a while but found her in a dark corner with a man in his 30s. Despite her protestations, we pulled her off him and went outside to wait for the taxi. Nev had got over her upset - James had kissed her too and promised her he would take her out to Nando’s at Kendal - so all was well.
The taxi took us an odd way back to my house.
I leaned forward from the back seat and said, “Why are we going this way?”
The taxi driver shrugged and said, “Isn’t this the best way?”
I said, “Well, it’s a way, but not the best.”
I guessed he was taking us the long way round, so the meter ran up a higher price.
“I’m only paying you what we normally pay though,” I added.
“We’re going past the old school,” said Rachel, pointing out the window.
“Ooh creepy,” said Nev.
Greengill School had been for special kids - kids with learning disabilities. The County Council owned it, but a man called Andrew Hayes ran it for years. Then it turned out he had been abusing the kids — tying them to chairs and toilets and hitting them with bamboo canes. One of them died after he chained him to a radiator and then he’d got found out and gone to prison. While he was there another of the in-mates stabbed him to death with a piece of metal. They said they did it because he was a child killer.
As we drove past, the old school stood there in darkness. Part of the roof was shattered, and it looked like a broken tooth. The night was heavily overcast with the rain gently pattering down. The iron gates were chained up but you could get in through a hole in the wall. The school had closed down when I was about ten and we used to sneak in. Though the front door was locked, the back door had been kicked in and tramps used to stay there and kids from the town would light fires and vandalise anything that wasn’t already broken.
“They say he used to drink the kids’ blood, you know,” said Rachel.
“Who?”
“The old headmaster - Andrew Hayes. They say he was in league with the devil.”
“You’ll believe anything, Rachel,” I said. “He wasn’t a vampire or a demon; he was just a criminal.”
“It’s said that he comes hunting at night and kidnaps children and drinks their blood.”
“For God’s sake Rachel, give it a rest,” snapped Talya, who I’d thought was asleep.
We were at my house about a few minutes after that because the old school is just down the hill. It’s not the way we normally go into town, but maybe that driver had found a shortcut. I don’t know. I paid him and off he went muttering because he didn’t get a tip.
My mum and dad were asleep as I let us in. “be quiet now,” I said.
To be fair, the girls were quiet. They left their heels at the door and padded upstairs in stockinged feet. Hector heard us though and began to bark. “Shut up Hector!” I hissed under my breath.
My mum put her head round the door and hissed, “Be quiet! Your dad’s not well. He went to bed early.”
“Okay, mum. Sorry,” I hoped he was okay. He has high blood pressure so sometimes he does feel unwell. He’s usually okay in the morning.
We got to my room and took turns in the bathroom. It was late, about 1 am and I just wanted to sleep. I was top-to-tailing with Nev, who was the tallest. Rachel and Talya had brought sleeping bags and were going to sleep on the floor.
With the effects of the alcohol and the lateness of the hour, I soon fell into a heavy sleep. I woke - I don’t know when - but it was still the middle of the night. I could hear Nev snoring gently from the bottom of the bed but I was suddenly aware of a light.
It was Talya. She was using the light on her phone to do something on the floor. I lifted my head up and saw that she was using the Ouija Board.
“Oh my God Talya, what are you doing?” I whispered.
“Go to sleep,” she said.
“No, I won’t. You shouldn’t be doing that now.”
“I’m asking my Nana if she will protect me.”
“Of course she will. But stop it.”
“I can’t get through to her. The board feels different.”
I watched as her hand with the planchette shot in a crazy movement across the board.
“It feels stronger,” she said. “It feels like a man’s hand moving it.”
“Don’t be silly. Just stop it.”
“It’s moving, look how fast it’s going.”
And it was true, her hand could hardly keep up with the planchette. I felt a horrible sense of evil fill the room. Nev muttered in her sleep as if she too were disturbed by the sinister atmosphere that was coming from the Ouija Board.
Suddenly Rachel woke up. “What you talking for?” she said sleepily. Then she saw Talya as she struggled to keep up with the ragged movements of the planchette. “What you doing that for Talya. Stop it.”
> And then the movements slowed, and it began deliberately to spell words.
“What’s it saying Tal?” I asked.
When it had finished the sentence, she looked up and said, “It says I’ve got to go to the Old School.”
“It’s just your subconscious,” I said. “It’s just because we drove past the Old School, that’s why you’re thinking of it.”
She shook her head.
Rachel agreed with me, but Talya looked terrified. “No,” she said. “It’s a message from my Nana. She wants me to go there to protect me. Something’s going to happen in this house if I don’t go. Something will come into this house for me.”
I got out of bed, waking Nev, who just turned over again.
I got down on the floor with Talya. At least she’d stopped playing with the Ouija Board. I put my arm round her. “Just try to get some sleep. It’ll all feel different in the morning.”
But I too could feel the atmosphere in the room. It was as if it had dropped in temperature. There was a sense of foreboding - the awful feeling you get before a funeral.
I stroked her back. “Honest.”
But she shook her head again. “No, my nana loved me. She wants to protect me. Can’t you feel that there’s something in this house? Something wicked? It wasn’t here before.”
“We’ve summoned it with the Ouija Board,” said Rachel suddenly.
“Rachel, you’re not being very helpful,” I said. I shook Nev awake. She could be counted on to be very down to earth and sensible at times. I hoped she’d back me up. She wasn’t happy at being woken up.
“What time is it?”
“About three.” I checked on my phone. “Yeah, it’s just after three.”
“I want to sleep,” said Nev.
Talya was shivering. “I need to go to the Old School,” she said.
“No,” I said. “It’s crazy. Certainly, not now. Maybe in the morning.” I hoped that when the morning came she’d have forgotten about all of this.
“I need to go now,” she said. “I’m going to die here if we don’t go.” She was shaking with fear.
