~
“Lisa! Breakfast is ready,” Josh called her. She awoke from her sleep. She went into the kitchen where Josh had set the table with fresh flowers. He had a jug of orange juice with ice, and two steaming plates of bacon and eggs on the table. Lisa sat down as Josh ran to the table carrying hot slices of nearly burned bread in his hands.
“Ouch! The toast is hot!” He said, dropping a slice on top of her buttery eggs.
“This looks so delicious…thank you,” Lisa said. She leaned up and gave him a kiss.
“That’s ok darling. We’ve had a rough time of it recently. It’s time for a new start.” He poured a glass of orange juice for them both into a couple of wine glasses. He raised his glass to a toast.
“To a new beginning,” he said. He looked down. Quinn was at the bottom of the table. He weaved in and out of the legs of the table.
“New beginnings,” Lisa said. She took a sip from her glass and was pleasantly surprised to detect alcohol. She looked down at Quinn who was happily sat on her foot. It appeared to have worked. Quinn was cured.
~
Lisa and Josh stood next to the lake. The sun was shining, and there were birds flying around. The first autumn leaves were starting to brown and fall off of the trees. Lisa held a bag of sunflower seeds in her hand. Josh put his hand in the bag and grabbed some. He threw them out onto the lake. They stood and watched as a group of ducks approached, flapping and quacking across the water.
“So, Quinn seems pretty normal doesn’t he?” Josh said.
“I think so, I mean he just appears to be like a cat,” Lisa said, she emptied the last of the seeds onto the water. They started walking hand in hand on a stone footpath around the river. Josh sneezed.
“My allergies are playing up,” he said.
“Hay fever?” Lisa said.
“Possibly,” he stopped and stood still. His breathing started to get more strained. He walked over to a park bench and sat down. He reached into his pocket for something that wasn’t there.
“I told you to make sure you always have your inhaler on you,” Lisa said as she reached into her handbag. “It’s a good thing that I’m here.” She looked inside her bag. She couldn’t see the inhaler. She tipped the bag upside down over the bench. The inhaler wasn’t in it. “It’s in here somewhere,” she said looking at her purse, her make-up, her phone. The inhaler wasn’t in there. Josh couldn’t reply, and he was holding his chest. “You need to control your breathing. I haven’t got an inhaler. You need to control it somehow,”. Lisa looked around the park, and there was no one around. She grabbed her phone and dialed 999. She looked at Josh who was still struggling to breathe. She pressed call and waited for someone at the other end.
~
“He’s ready to see you now,” Lisa turned around to see the nurse who had come out of the ward. Lisa grabbed her bag and breathed out a sigh of relief. She ran past the nurse and into the ward where she found Josh sitting up in a hospital bed. She wrapped her arms tight around him.
“Hey, it’s ok, I’ll be fine,” he said as she cried into his hair.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you, and over a stupid asthma attack.”
“I know, I really need to carry my inhaler with me. I shouldn’t rely on you. I’m sorry.”
“I just don’t know why it wasn’t in my handbag. I always have your spare with me.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll make more of an effort to carry it from now on.”
~
“Quinn, hello I’m so sorry we were out so late,” Lisa said, crouching down to greet him as they came back to the flat. Quinn came running up to her and nuzzled into her legs.
“At least the cat seems normal, that’s one less thing to worry about.” Josh walked past Lisa and Quinn and went to the kitchen where he put down the large pizza box and bottle of soda he was carrying. “Are you ok to feed him, Lisa? I want to have a shower.”
“Of course,” Lisa said. She went into the kitchen and turned the oven on low. She slipped the pizza onto a tray and put it in the oven to keep it warm. As she stood up, she noticed a breeze. She looked over and saw that the door to the balcony was ajar. Lisa went over to it and looked at it. She couldn’t remember leaving it open that morning. In fact, she was pretty sure that they had locked it behind them as they always had done. She turned and looked at Quinn who had returned to his new basket and was fast asleep. She turned back to the door and shut it, locking it as well.
“You alright Lisa?” Josh came in and saw her staring at the locked door.
“No, I mean yes. Did you undo the balcony door?” Lisa turned to face Josh who was drying his hair with a towel.
“Nope, haven’t touched it.” He went over to the fridge and pulled out a beer.
“Well I didn’t leave it unlocked,” Lisa said. She glanced down at the still sleeping Quinn. Lisa could have sworn that his ears twitched as she looked towards him, as if he was pretending to be asleep. “Maybe it was me.” Lisa walked over to the fridge and took out a beer for herself. Josh took the pizza out of the oven, and they sat down to eat their dinner in front of the television. They ate and drank and watched an action film. As it started to get dark, Quinn left his cat bed and joined them on the sofa, sitting between them. Josh put one arm around Lisa, and stroked Quinn with the other. Soon Lisa felt herself drop off to sleep.
“Lisa?” Josh said in a strained voice. Wake up. Lisa looked around. She was in the living room. It was late and dark outside. She realised she had fallen asleep on the sofa. Josh’s voice was coming from the bedroom. Lisa got up and yawned. She looked around for Quinn, but he wasn’t on the sofa or in his bed.
“What is it?” She said, walking into the bedroom. Josh shut the door behind her and pulled her onto the bed. He shoved his phone at her. It was on a local news page. Eleanor Clarke, actress found dead in home.
“Why are you showing me this?” Lisa said.
“Just carry on, please,” Josh said. He was sat on the end of the bed, his head in his arms.
Today police were called to a house on Recreation Road where the body of Eleanor Clarke, 45, was found. She appeared to have died from smoke inhalation caused by a small fire. The fire brigade believes the fire was started in her hallway, cause unknown. The fire brigade managed to put out the fire, and no other people have been hurt. The family of the deceased have been informed.
“I still don’t get it,” Lisa said.
Josh shushed her then leaned towards her. “Look at the pictures!”
Lisa held the phone closer and looked at the picture of the actress with long hair. In another, she was in a smiling headshot. Lisa felt her stomach turn. She recognised the woman’s face. It was the woman who had performed the séance in their house only the night before. Lisa carried on reading.
Clarke was an actress of stage and screen. She had travelled with many companies around the UK and Europe and had parts on many British shows including The Bill and EastEnders. In recent years Clarke had been working for an agency specializing in ghost tours and murder mystery dinner parties.
Lisa put the phone down and turned to Josh. “She was a fake? Is this what it means?”
“Yes, she was a bloody actress, not a séance person or whatever she was posing as being. I thought she had magical powers or was really religious or something. But she had no such powers, and she just ripped us off!” Josh picked up his phone then threw it onto the bed. “I wish we didn’t pay her in cash now.”
“That isn’t what is worrying me,” Lisa said.
“What is then?” Josh said.
“Quinn. If she was an actress, then how do we know that she actually did anything to Quinn?” Lisa got up and made sure the door was closed.
“But he’s been fine, hasn’t he?” Josh said. “Maybe she did know what she was doing.”
“The balcony door,” Lisa said.
“What about it?”
“It was unlocked when we got home. Quinn m
ust have done it somehow,” Lisa leaned against the door. “It could have been him. He killed her.”
“How would he have found her though?” Josh said.
“I don’t know, through smell? She didn’t live very far from here. If we believe that Quinn is dangerous and killed his previous owners, then I think we can believe that he could find Eleanor if he really wanted to.”
“So what do we do now then?” Josh said.
“We need to get rid of him,” Lisa said. “Hold on. I couldn’t see him when I got up a minute ago. What if he is doing something now?”
“Like what, sharpening knives?” Josh said. He looked to Lisa who didn’t smile at his joke. “Ok, let’s go see where he is together, check on him, and then come in here and go to sleep.”
Lisa opened the door, and they went out into the living room. It was dark except for the light from the television which was casting shadows around the room. Lisa held her hand out behind her and grabbed Josh’s hand.
“He’s not in his basket,” Lisa whispered. She looked towards the balcony. The door to it was open again, even though she knew she had locked it earlier. “He must be outside. I told you he had found a way of opening the door.” She went up to it and closed it, locking it shut. “That’s better, at least if he is outside then we know he isn’t here.” Josh went over to the wall and turned the light on.
“What do we do now?” He said.
“I don’t know, lock all the doors and not let him back in?” Lisa said, only partly joking.
“Hmm, I’m not sure if that would work. If he’s a psychotic cat like we think he is, he might just try and get us on the way to work.” Lisa didn’t listen to Josh. She was too busy staring at his cat basket. She could see a piece of blue plastic in it. She went up to it and moved his pillow. Underneath it was Josh’s inhaler. There was no way that they had put it in his basket. He must have stolen it.
“Oh my god,” Josh said, looking at the inhaler. “The cat took it. He tried to kill me.”
Lisa looked up at Josh. But when she looked up, she saw something. Quinn was hiding on top of the kitchen cupboard. He looked down at them both and started to snarl.
Desperate Times
Lisa sat in the bedroom, staring at a cold cup of tea. Her hand shook as she bought the cup to her face. She had the door to the living room closed. Quinn was in there, and she really didn’t want to be close to him right now. It was the day after they had discovered Quinn had stolen Josh’s inhaler. After the shock of finding Quinn watching them that night, they had run to the bedroom and locked themselves in. They slept in turns, worried that Quinn would find a way of hurting them if they were both off guard. That morning Josh had left the house, promising to come back with a solution to their problems once and for all. Lisa had spent the day mostly in the bedroom, only heading out to make the odd cup of tea.
“Hi Lisa, I’m home,” Josh said from the living room. Lisa put down her half-empty cup and ran out to see him. She flung her arms around his neck. “It’s all ready,” he whispered in her ear. Lisa smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek.
“Ok, now is as good as ever,” she said.
“No,” he said. “We’ll wait until tonight.”
~
Lisa’s phone said 2:03 pm. They were ready. Lisa picked up a flashlight and with Josh following they headed to the living room. Josh opened a large cupboard in the kitchen and pulled out a broom. Lisa shined the light onto the cat bed. It was empty.
“He isn’t asleep,” Lisa whispered. “Where is he?” Lisa shone her flashlight around the floor.
“He must be here somewhere,” Josh said. Lisa turned to him. She could see two red eyes high above him.
“He’s behind you,” Lisa shouted. As she did, the red eyes moved towards Josh. She shined the flashlight on him. He screamed out as Quinn jumped onto the back of his neck. Josh grabbed hold of Quinn and pulled him off, but in a second Quinn escaped and ran off. Lisa looked at Josh. There was blood running down the back of his neck.
“Are you ok?” She said.
“I’ll live…let’s finish the job.” He shoved the broom into Lisa’s hand. He walked over to the kitchen cupboard and pulled out a large knife. Lisa went over to the wall and pressed the light switch. But nothing happened.
“The lights aren’t working,” she said.
“That bastard cat must have turned them off,” Josh said. He started to walk around the apartment again. He passed Quinn’s cat bed and kicked it across the floor. Lisa followed. She saw under the sofa two red eyes staring out at Josh.
“Josh,” she hissed. He turned to look at her. She gestured to where Quinn was hiding. Josh looked over. He and Lisa crept over to the sofa. Josh bent down. Lisa knew what he was about to do. As Josh lifted up the side of the sofa, Lisa shoved the broom underneath and started to push Quinn towards the front door. It worked. Quinn was taken by surprise and ended up being pushed along the floor. Josh ran to the front door and opened it up. Behind the door was a large trap Josh had bought that day. It was the kind of trap a farmer would place to capture a badger, so it must be able to work to catch a cat, even an evil one like Quinn. Lisa pushed Quinn into the trap. The door fell down, trapping him in the cage. Quinn ran towards the trap door and pushed against it. But it could only be pushed from the outside. Quinn started to hiss. His hairs stood on end. He ran around in small circles and used his sharp claws to pull at the wire sides. But nothing would work.
“We did it,” Lisa said.
“This isn’t the end yet,” Josh said. He went over and picked up the cage. It shook as he did, with Quinn getting more and more enraged trying to get out. “We need to do the last part now,” Lisa nodded. They went into the hallway. Lisa grabbed her keys and shut the apartment door behind them. They walked down the steps.
“What if it doesn’t work?” Lisa said. She looked at the cage. Quinn was now still. He was using his claws to hold onto the cage as it wobbled as Josh carried it. Josh stopped and turned to face her.
“Of course this will work. This is all almost over. We are nearly there.” Lisa looked at Quinn. Quinn suddenly jumped up and stuck his front paw up against the top of the cage. His claws went through the holes in the cage and dug into Josh’s hand. Josh yelped and dropped the cage. It clattered down the stairs. Josh reached out to grab it but lost his footing. He slipped and fell down a few stairs. The cage fell down the whole flight of stairs to the bottom, where the front door opened. Quinn stepped out of it. He wobbled from side to side as he walked.
“Are you ok?” Lisa shouted to Josh. Josh sat on a step, rubbing his head. Lisa looked to her side. She saw a fire extinguisher hanging up on the wall. She took it off of the hook and held it in front of her. Quinn was still walking up the steps. He looked up and gazed into Lisa’s eyes. He bent his legs about to jump up at her. As he did Lisa swung the fire extinguisher. She hit him around the side of his body with it. Quinn made a short yelping sound then fell backward down the steps. He laid at the bottom, unconscious but still breathing. Lisa put the fire extinguisher down. She crept down the steps past Josh who still looked drowsy. She went over to Quinn’s body. She reached out to him and picked him up. Her arms shook, worried that he could wake up at any moment. She placed him in the cage. Just as she was pulling her arms out, Quinn’s eyes opened. He dug his claws into Lisa’s arms. Lisa screamed. She pulled her arms out of the cage and shut the door. Quinn was trapped again. She sat on the floor next to Josh and looked at the three red lines going down her arm.
~
They were silent on their journey. They headed out of Reading, along the country roads they had only been on a few days previously when they had left Quinn in a field. They knew this time they had to do something more permanent. Lisa put the radio on to try and break the silence. The radio played some dubstep. She tried the next channel, and it was trance music. Lisa turned it off, and they went back to silence.
“We’re here,” Josh said. He pulled up in
a layby at the side of the road. He headed to the boot and picked up the cage. It had a blanket over the top of it to cover Quinn up. Partly so he couldn’t scratch them through the cage, and partly so they wouldn’t be able to see him. They headed down a public footpath, Josh lighting their way with a torch. On the horizon, they could just see the sun starting to peak out from behind a tree. Soon it would be morning, and there could be people who would see them. They had to be quick. They followed the footpath until they got to a river. Josh stopped, and Lisa stood next to him.
“It isn’t deep enough here,” he said. Lisa nodded. They carried on walking up the river until it started to widen. Lisa looked at the water. It was still shallow enough to see the bottom. Lisa looked up. There were some stepping stones which took you deeper into the water. They looked old like they hadn’t been used for years. Josh looked towards them and guessed what Lisa was thinking. He stepped towards them.
“No, I’ll do it,” Lisa said. “I’m lighter than you.” She took the cage out of his hand. She stepped onto one of the stones. It wobbled underneath her. She took the next one, and the next one. She looked down, the water was deeper here, but she wasn’t sure it was deep enough. She took another step, and this one was even more wobbly.
“Just drop it,” Josh shouted. “You’re far enough out.” Lisa turned and looked ahead. If she could just take a few more then she would be in the center of the river. She took another step. This one was moss covered, and her foot slipped. The cage went flying out of her hands and hit the next step. It then landed in the water. Lisa held her arms out in front of her and grabbed hold of the next step. She regained her balance and stood up. Without the cage in her hands, the journey back to land was easy. She collapsed at the side of the river and watched as the cage sunk below the water and disappeared from view. Quinn was trapped at the bottom of the river where he could harm no one.
Haunted House Tales Page 100
