“Help!” She shouted out. But there was no one to hear her. Gavin wasn’t home. She gave up with the door. She would be fine. She had a torch, and Gavin would be home soon, and he could let her out. She controlled her breathing and tried to relax. Then she heard something move on the other side of the door. There was someone there. She bent down and looked through the hole where the door handle had once been. The other side of the door was bright and light. The sun was shining into the room. There was nothing there. She was about to stand up when she saw something move across the room. The shadow moved closer to her. It came closer to the hole. She could see a blue eye looking back at her. She screamed.
***
“There was no one there. I’ve checked all of the rooms.” Gavin said as he passed a cup of tea into Jo’s trembling hands. She sat on the front doorstep of the house, enjoying the feeling of the cool air against her face. She brushed a spider web off of her forehead.
“But I saw someone Gavin,” her voice sounded like a child’s, her fear was so real.
“You got locked in a cupboard, it was scary and dark, and you thought you saw something. There is a difference.”
“I know what I saw, Gavin. It was an eye. Someone shut the door on me.” He sat down beside her and put a hand on her knee. He squeezed her knee gently.
“Darling, I checked the house. There was no one there.” They sat in silence for a moment. Jo sipped her tea.
“I want to go and check the house for myself,” she announced, standing up. “But you have to come with me.” Gavin nodded and followed her into the house. She went into each downstairs room and looked in all of the cupboards. There was no one there. She went upstairs, Gavin following and looked in each of the bedrooms. Nothing. She then went upstairs to the attic. Her stomach lurched as she did so. She had only been locked in the attic room for less than an hour, but it had felt like an eternity. She had spent the time sat in a corner trying not to cry, and not daring to look through the hole in the door again. She went into the attic. The door to the secret room was wedged open again with the tool kit. Jo kicked the tool kit out of the way. The door stayed open.
“You see that,” she said to Gavin.
“What?” he said.
“The door. It doesn’t shut by itself. Someone must have pushed it.” She turned around and looked at him triumphantly.
“Or,” he said. “The wind came in through the window and blew it shut. Both windows up here were open, and the door to the staircase. A strong gust of wind could have done it.” He went up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Come on, let’s forget about decorating the attic for now.” Jo nodded. They shut the door to the secret room and shut the windows in the attic. They went downstairs and shut the door to the attic behind them. Jo vowed not to set foot up those stairs for a long time.
***
“Can you get that?” Jo shouted. She was in the back garden with Emily and Sean when she heard someone at the front door. She had rolled out a big roll of lining paper on the patio. The three of them were in boots and were standing in paint and using their feet to make pictures on the paper. Emily and Jo had made flowers by making multiple footprints with the heels meeting in the middle. Sean was stamping about making a mess, but at least he was happy. The doorbell rang again. “Gavin?” She shouted. He didn’t respond. She slipped off her boots and left them on the edge of the paper. “You two be good for a minute, and don’t get any paint on the paving.” She ran around to the front of the house where she saw a delivery man walking back to his van. “Hi, I’m here.” She called out. He turned around and headed back to her. Jo signed for the package. It was addressed to her, but her first name only.
“Mum! Sean knocked over the paint! It’s everywhere!” Emily called out. Jo sighed. He couldn’t be left alone for a minute. She shoved the letter through the letterbox and ran around to the back of the house.
“I didn’t, mum! It wasn’t me!” Sean said. He was covered in blue paint, the whole front of his body from his feet up to his head. He once again looked like a Smurf. Jo tried not to laugh. “I was pushed, mummy. I was pushed.” Jo grabbed a roll of kitchen paper she had prepared for this eventuality.
“No you weren’t pushed darling, you slipped. It’s ok.” She dabbed the blue off of his chin and carefully wiped his mouth.
“I was pushed mummy I was,” his bottom lip trembled.
“Did you push your brother Emily?” Jo looked at her. She had taken off her boots and had left them neatly on the paper.
“No, it wasn’t me,” Emily said glumly. Her thumb went into her mouth. Jo sighed. She thought that Emily had grown out of that habit by now. “It must have been Henry.”
“What did you say?” Jo went cold, and her head felt heavy. Sean wriggled, she realised she had gripped his arm tight. Emily shrugged.
“Nothing,” Emily said. “Sean says he has a friend called Henry, that’s all.” Jo turned to Sean.
“Is this true, Sean?” She looked at her dear little boy. He frowned.
“No,” he said.
“Did Henry do this to you?” Jo said louder, she grabbed him by both of his shoulders and turned him, so he was facing her. “Did he?” She raised his voice.
“Mummy you’re hurting me,” Sean said.
“Who’s Henry? Is he hurting you?” Jo shouted. She felt arms grabbing her. She let go of Sean and turned around. It was Gavin.
“What are you doing?” Gavin’s face was aghast. “Go inside and cool down, I’ll clean up.” He pushed Jo towards the direction of the house. Jo went inside. She could hear the sound of Sean crying, but she couldn’t bear to look at him. What had she done? She could sense she was being watched. She looked to the side and saw Emily. Her thumb was in her mouth. She looked even more solemn than usual.
Jo went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. She was heading into the hallway when she saw the envelope on the front doormat. She had forgotten all about it. She headed upstairs and sat on the bed. She opened the envelope up. Inside was a handwritten note which was written in biro on a sheet of lined paper torn from a notepad.
Dear Jo,
I hope you don’t mind, but after meeting you the other day, I was intrigued with your investigation into your house. I spent a bit of time doing some research myself (it’s a hobby of mine, and I like a challenge!) I have sent you all the information I could find. I hope this is of some use to you.
Stuart (Librarian)
The paper was paperclipped to a pile of photocopied newspaper articles behind it. Jo leafed through them. Boy missing from countryside Home. Expected Abduction. Boy’s disappearance still a mystery. Jo started reading the articles. A young boy called Henry had lived here with his mother, father, and younger brother. Then one day, the husband called the police to say that the child had disappeared. His wife was having a nap, and the nanny had been in the garden with the younger son. When the wife awoke, she had found an empty cot next to her. The police had searched the local area and had found nothing. The couple was wealthy, and they had thought that they may have been approached and asked for a ransom. But no one had come forward. The child had just disappeared. The wife had been diagnosed with hysteria, and the husband had employed a nurse to live with them.
Jo found some later articles. Mason Manor still empty. This article related to the fact that the house had stood empty for many years. A property developer had tried to buy it and had offered the owner a large sum of money. But they had refused it.
“Jo?” Gavin came into the room. “Why are the kids upset? What has got into you?” Jo pushed the papers under her pillow.
“Emily said she had seen someone push Sean. She said it was Henry.”
“Henry? As in the child’s name you saw in the attic?”
“Yes. I told you there was someone in the house. What if he wants to hurt Sean?”
“Are you crazy?” Gavin said. “Emily said that Sean had an imaginary friend called Henry. It’s a common name.
He could have got it from anywhere.”
“He didn’t get it from anywhere. He got it from this house. Don’t you see it, Gavin?”
“See what Jo? You were the one who pushed us to move to the countryside. You were the one who convinced me to borrow money from my mum. You wanted this place.”
“It isn’t like that.”
“You’re just coming up with this nonsense, so you have an excuse not to work, any excuse now. Come on you really need to start bringing some money in to pay for this place.” Gavin left, slamming the door behind him Jo sat in shock. She could hear him going downstairs and playing with the children.
Maybe you are the problem. A voice in her head said. Maybe you were never supposed to be a mum. If the kids weren’t here, then you would be happier.
Jo shook the thoughts out of her mind. She had no idea where they had come from, but it wasn’t her, she never felt like that.
You’d be Better Without Him
“Can I have a word with you, Jo?”
“Yes, of course,” Jo said. She was at her son’s preschool doing the school run. She looked at her watch. She really needed to head over to go and collect Emily, but she couldn’t really say no to the teacher.
“Sean, why don’t you sit and read in the library with Mrs. Finley for a minute whilst I speak to your mum, ok?” The teacher said to him. Mrs. Finley led Sean off. Jo realised that they must have been planning this talk if the librarian was ready and waiting. Jo followed the teacher into the room and sat down opposite her desk. Outside she could hear the other children laughing and chatting as they were collected by their parents.
“I need to talk to you about Sean. I’m a bit concerned about him.” The teacher must have seen the look of shock on Jo’s face. “Don’t worry. I should rephrase that. There is nothing major to be concerned about. But I think you need to be informed. It’s about Henry.”
Jo gasped inwards. Her hand flew up to her mouth. She had not heard anyone out of the house say his name. “The ghost?”
The teacher frowned when she said ghost. “If you mean his imaginary friend, then yes. It is common for children to have imaginary friends, especially at Sean’s age, but it isn’t common for them to be so obsessed with talking about them. He says he doesn’t like coming to preschool as Henry isn’t here.”
“I don’t understand. He seems so happy at home.”
“Maybe he needs to socialise more with other children outside of school. Does he have many friends?”
Jo was silent for a moment, to be honest, apart from spending time with his sister, he didn’t really socialise with anyone since they had moved house. “No, not really. I mean it has been a busy few months for us. I just thought once he started school, he would make friends easily.”
“Well, I suggest you try and help him become a bit more social now. It could really help him gain confidence, so when he starts school full time, he can socialise well with the other children. Then I’m sure he will soon forget about his imaginary friend.”
Jo stood up to go and shook the teacher's hand. She said her goodbyes and headed out. See, being a parent is such hard work. Wouldn’t it be easier without them? The voice in her head interrupted her thoughts again. Jo paused for a second and shook the evil thought out of her mind. She loved her children more than anything.
***
“So, Sean, what was your favourite thing about school today?” Jo looked at Sean in the rear-view mirror as they drove home. He was kicking the back of her seat, but for once she ignored it.
“Can’t remember,” he said as he wriggled.
“Sean, who’s Henry?” Jo asked. She decided to try the more direct route.
“My friend,” Sean said. He stopped kicking. Jo put on the windscreen wipers as the grey clouds in the sky started to unleash heavy rain.
“He’s your friend,” Jo repeated. “Where does Henry live Sean?” She asked.
“In our house in the attic,” he said. Jo swerved, she almost hit a car coming out of a side road, she was so distracted by his answer. The car beeped at her. She lifted her hand up in apology.
“But no one else lives in our house, do they? I’ve never seen him,” Jo said.
“Yes you have, he waved to you from the window once,” he said. Jo felt sick. Had Sean heard her and Gavin talk about Henry? It all seemed too much of a coincidence.
If you crashed the car right now, you would both go together. No more school runs, no more worry. The thoughts were in her head again. Killing both of them was the last thing she would want to do.
“Do you miss Henry when you go to school?” Jo somehow managed to ask him more questions whilst staying calm. Sean was quiet for a minute.
“No, Henry misses me. He says I should stay in the house with him. He says he doesn’t like me going out without him.” Jo didn’t know what else to ask him. She put the radio on for the rest of the journey home.
***
Jo was cooking dinner. It was pasta and hidden veg sauce, one of the few nutritious meals she could get Sean to eat and tasty enough that Gavin would eat as well. She poured herself a second glass of red wine. It was only just past four, but she felt she needed it. Without them, things would be so much easier. The voice was getting more and more regular now. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t tell Gavin. He already thought that her behaviour had been erratic. If she went to a doctor, they might tell social services and the children would be taken away from her. She couldn’t do that. And what would she tell anyone? The thoughts weren’t a symptom of a mental problem. They were supernatural. Apart from convincing Gavin to move to another house, there was nothing else she could do.
The children ate their dinner and headed up to their rooms to play. When Gavin was home, she opened a bottle of wine for the table. It was only as she opened it she realised that she had already finished a whole bottle of wine herself.
“So how was your day?” She asked Gavin.
“It was ok, Francis has just handed his notice in, I’m thinking of going for his role. We could do with the extra money.” Jo nodded. “That’s a good thing, don’t you think? You’re being really quiet, Jo.”
“Sorry darling, yes if you want the job then go for it. You’d be great.”
“It’s not like you are bringing any money in,” Gavin said. Jo bit her tongue. Normally a scathing comment like that would cause an argument, but she couldn’t start one tonight. She had a bigger issue to bring up.
“Well, I have thought of a way we could save some money. We could downsize. This house is a bit big. We bought it at a steal and have added a lot of value to it. If we sell now, we could buy somewhere smaller and have lots of money to-”
Jo was interrupted by Gavin slamming down his cutlery.
“Not this again, I can’t believe we are still on this. Why? Why do you want to move out of this house? It was your dream to have a big house in the countryside. This place is perfect! We could be here for years.” His voice had got louder and louder until he was shouting. Jo had expected him to be angry, but not this angry.
“I just don’t like it here, that’s all,” she said.
“Well, maybe it is you who needs to change, no the house. Look at you. You look like a total mess. Would it hurt you to make a bit of an effort?” He said.
“I’m sorry,” Jo said. She looked down at her hands. “It’s just getting very difficult, especially without a second nanny.” The words coming out of her mouth no longer felt like her own.
“A second nanny? Isn’t one enough? I can’t afford any more home help. You will just have to work harder to be a good housewife.” He stood up to leave. “And this food was not your best.” Gavin left. Jo sat at the table, questioning in her head how her and Gavin were talking yet what was coming out of their mouths was nothing like how they normally spoke. They were speaking the words of the family who used to live here.
It would be easier without the children. A voice in her head spoke. So muc
h easier.
***
The sound of a storm outside woke her. Jo sat up in bed. She leaned over to her bedside table and picked up her glass of water. She downed the whole glass, regretting last night’s wine. Her mouth was dry and furry. She went to the bathroom and filled her glass again. As she headed back to the bedroom, she saw the shadow of one of the children run out of the room and into the hallway. She placed her glass down next to the bed and headed out into the hallway, closing the bedroom door quietly behind her, so she didn’t wake Gavin, who was still in a mood with her.
“Emily? Was that you? Sean?” She whispered. She peeked into both of their bedrooms. They were both asleep in bed. Jo frowned, it must have been her imagination. She heard the noise of footsteps behind her. She turned around. She looked in the empty hallway. They were the sound of a child’s footsteps. They weren’t the sound of an adult. She went back into the hallway. She looked to the door leading to the attic stairs. They were ajar. She felt her stomach lurch. That door had been locked ever since the day Jo had got stuck in the attic. She went to the door and opened it. There was a light on in the attic. She crept up the stairs. She was frightened but needed to see what was up there. She opened the door. The bare light bulb was on. Gavin had added lighting up there when they moved in. But there was something else going on. There was a light on in the secret room. She went up to the door and opened it. Jo looked inside. It was no longer a dusty, abandoned room. It was bright and airy. The walls were in floral wallpaper. The floorboards were clean and polished with a rug in the middle of the floor. There were shelves of children’s toys and a wardrobe with its door ajar, containing handmade children’s clothes. She stepped inside. She noticed that there was a boy in the corner watching her. He was very small and dressed in a white nightie. Then he disappeared. Jo looked around the room. There was no one there. She didn’t feel scared. This room was too beautiful to feel scared in. This seemed like a happy home.
Haunted House Tales Page 131
