“Since when have you ever beat me at poker,” Will inquired, his tone doubtful.
“Only every time we’ve ever played.” Sophia started opening drawers to look for cards. She had learned early on in life that every house owned a deck of cards; it was just a matter of finding where it was kept.
“Bullocks. I’ve won a few times. I’m almost positive I have.” Will got up to help her search. He had a point to prove. He was certain that he wasn’t rubbish at cards.
“Okay, maybe once. But I think I was drunk off my ass so I didn’t really count.”
“You’re drunk off your ass now, so if he wins will it also not count?” Miriam inquired as she joined the hunt.
“Precisely.” Sophia grinned.
“That’s such girl logic,” Adam added.
“Well then it’s a good thing I’m a girl.” Sophia tossed her long hair over her shoulder for emphasis.
As they searched for a deck of cards the only one who heard the scratching at the windowpanes was Jeremy. He glanced towards the clear windows, far from tree branches that could touch them and make such a sound. Still the scratching noise came clearly to him as if something was trying to claw it’s way in or out of the cabin.
He ran a hand over the back of his neck, feeling the tension and the small hairs that had risen there. Even as the scratching continued he told himself it was nothing to worry about. He told himself it was the wind. Because he didn’t want to consider what else it might be.
Chapter 5
Dreams
* * *
Will ended up losing at cards, terribly. Sober or not, he’d never been exceptionally good at poker. He would never admit it, but everyone else in the group knew. They let him believe he wasn’t terrible at it. They let him boast about winning on dumb luck from time to time. But when it came down to it, no one would put money on him winning a match.
They spent hours playing cards. They cooked dinner, drank more, ate junk food, and kept playing. They kept the music loud and their voices loud. Jeremy had to wonder if they were all, subconsciously, trying to drown out any unwanted noises. Or perhaps it was only him. Perhaps everyone else had already forgotten about the strange happenings in the house.
He couldn’t help himself. He kept glancing at the door, anticipating the sound of knocking to reappear. He would look at the window and wait for the scratching to return. And he would look down the hall and wonder if there was truly someone waiting to walk down towards them, someone who had been hiding there the whole time.
The others seemed less concerned. Whether it was the liquor of the fact that there hadn’t been anything strange happen in hours he wasn’t certain. Every now and then he would catch Will’s eye and he would know that Will still worried.
Despite the wit and humour, Will was still on edge about the whole matter. He sat a little straighter than usual. The tension was clear in his shoulders. He was drinking less than the others. Jeremy wasn’t drinking at all. The two of them were on alert, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Nothing happened though. Evening fell into night without a disturbance. And one by one they all dropped off into sleep, once again in the living room.
Despite not voicing any concerns over the strange happenings, none of them were willing to venture into the bedrooms. It was an unspoken agreement that sleeping in the living room, in a group, was the safest option for them.
Jeremy couldn’t argue that. He just still wondered why they were staying there at all. It didn’t seem logical. There was clearly a sense of unease among all of them about the cabin. Otherwise they would have moved from the living room by now. If none of them felt safe then why stay?
It took him longer than the others to fall asleep. His sober mind circled around the events of the last twenty-four hours. What kind of place had they ended up in? What other strange things would happen to them if they stayed? He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to stick around and find out, but he was going to have a hell of a time convincing them to leave.
When he eventually drifted into a light sleep it was a restless one. The unease that had become a permanent feature of his stay at the cabin had him tossing and turning on the hard living room floor. Strange images flitted through his mind as he fought for deeper sleep.
His mind fixated on a single image: a woman lying on the ground, breathtakingly beautiful in the evening light, bleeding to death. No matter how much he fought against it, he could not discard the image. He could not shift his train of though. It kept coming back to her and only her. The painful tragedy that was her demise and the fact that he was left to stand there watching her die, unable to do anything but watch her bleed. This unknown woman that he wished he could help, this unknown woman that was smiling even as she was bleeding to death.
And that smile. There was something unnerving about that smile. It was not the look of someone in pain, someone dying. It was the look of someone who wanted to hurt you was much as they were hurting. The smile was menacing, evil.
He jolted awake. The room was still illuminated from the light over the stove that someone had forgotten to turn off. He was grateful for that momentary lapse of memory at this moment. He blinked from the change, the transition from dark to light.
As his eyes adjusted to the room his eyes met Will’s across the living room. He too had jolted awake, pulled out of sleep by some force that neither of them could identify.
The three boys had been sleeping on the floor, giving each of the girls one of the couches. It had been the right thing to do, even if none of them were pleased with the notion of sleeping on the floor. They’d been raised a certain way and they would adhere to those rules even without their parents breathing over their shoulders.
Jeremy glanced over at the couch beside him and his eyes widened. It was floating two feet above the ground. Sophia was still fast asleep a top it, completely unaware that the couch was moving.
He was frozen in his place. Any words of warning were caught in his throat. The couch hovered for a moment, moved a few feet away from him, and slammed into the ground.
The impact of it and the sound of it slamming into the hardwood floor jolted Sophia awake. She sat up straight, head swiveling back and forth in search of the source of the noise. Her eyes met Jeremy’s and Will’s in the dim light. She saw their wide-eyed gaze; she saw the fear in their faces.
“W-what?” Sophia’s voice shook as she asked.
Will shook his head, his voice freezing in his throat. He extended a shaky arm finger pointed this time not towards her couch but the one Miriam was lying on, still fast asleep.
It was hovering several feet above the ground, just like the other couch had just seconds before. Sophia bit back the cry that rose in her throat. She didn’t know what making a noise would do. She bit hard down on her bottom lip, tasted the blood in her mouth, and watch in horror as the couch continued to hover.
There was a collective gasp as the couch was flung across the room and slammed into the wall before dropping to the floor. Miriam screamed as she came awake, falling from the couch, and hitting the hardwood with a thump.
Sophia’s hands flew to her mouth as if she could hold in her own scream as Miriam floated from the floor.
“What the hell?” Adam, awoken by the scream, took in the room around him. “Christ on a cracker.”
Miriam whimpered, as she was pulled higher into the air. She couldn’t move any part of her body. It was as though she’d been frozen in place.
They watched as she floated closer and closer to the ceiling. They were helpless to do anything. Jeremy fought the urge to get up and pull her back down to the floor. He didn’t know what interfering would do. He had a sinking feeling that it would cause more harm than good.
He’d just decided to interfere when the light flicked out, plunging them into complete darkness.
Will cursed. Sophia cried out. Miriam screamed. And the lights came back on just as Miriam hit the wall. She fell onto the couch, hard, and sunk into the cus
hions. They rushed to her side to assess the damage.
“Are you okay?” Sophia ran her hands quickly over Miriam, checking for injuries.
“What the hell happened?” Adam searched their faces for an answer but saw the same wide-eyed fear that he knew was present on his face. None of them knew. None of them had the answers.
“I don’t know.” Jeremy looked from one couch to the next. “I just woke up and the couch was floating in the air. I don’t really know what else to say.”
“There is something wrong with this place,” Will muttered looking at the couch that was against the wall.
“I’ve been trying to tell you this,” Jeremy looked at Will but he had the attention of the others now as well.
“What do you mean you’ve been trying to tell us?” Adam turned his attention to Jeremy who was hanging towards the back of the group, hands in the pockets of his pajama bottoms. “What have you been keeping from us?”
“Ease off, Adam.” Sophia looked over from her place on the couch with Miriam. She was holding the other girl close as she sobbed into Sophia’s shirt. “We’ve all been through hell these last few minutes.”
“And by the sounds of it, Jeremy here isn’t the least bit surprised.” Adam took a step closer, bringing him nose to nose with Jeremy. “Why don’t you enlighten us, Jeremy? What is going on here?”
“I don’t know!” Jeremy threw his arms up and took a step back. He didn’t like the way Adam was up in his face. “Mysterious knocking, screams, smells – none of that adds up to anything good. Haven’t you ever seen a scary movie?”
“I don’t believe in that nonsense,” Adam scoffed but his eyes still shifted uncertainly to look to the couch that had been floating moments ago.
“Well, you better start believing.”
Chapter 6
Believing
* * *
“Ghosts aren’t real.” Adam crossed his arms a defiant set to his jaw.
“And how the hell do you explain all of this?” Jeremy tossed his arms wide to encompass the entire room. He didn’t like being the centre of attention but there wasn’t anything he could do about it at the moment. He was getting his chance to speak and he had to take it. “Floating couches? That normal to you, Adam? Or perhaps it’s just the liquor.”
“Will you two knock it off,” Will glared from one face to another. “This really isn’t getting us anywhere.” He looked over towards Sophia and Miriam, concern filling his eyes. “Is she alright?”
“She can still speak,” Miriam sassed from her place on the couch, her voice weak. “And I’ll live.”
“So what’s going on here, Jeremy?” Sophia asked with none of the anger that Adam had displayed. “Do you have any idea?”
“All I know is that perhaps there was a reason Egerton kept this place closed for so long.” He looked around the living room. “There is clearly something going on here.”
Just as he said it the light above the stove began to flicker again. The main lights flashed on and off. They looked at each other, the fear clear in their eyes, but none of them moved from their places. They didn’t know where they would go. Did they run away? Did they stay?
Fear may have consumed them, but they were also curious. They wanted to know what would happen next. None of them believed it ghosts, but the chance to witness it was too appealing. The chance to believe in something that was so far beyond anything they had ever thought of before.
The lights continued to flicker, the frequency increasing. The scratching at the window returned. The pounding on the door returned. The longer they stayed the louder it got. The noise seemed to represent the displeasure over their presence there.
The three of them sat frozen on the floor. Flinching as the noise increased. They didn’t know what else to do. They didn’t know what moving would do.
Miriam and Sophia screamed as they jumped off the couch, which had begun to hover above the ground again. They scrambled to join the others in the middle of the living room floor. They huddled together, arms linked and shaking. And then they just sat and watched.
Dishes joined the couches, hovering in the air, floating across the room. Bottles of liquor left the coffee table and flew towards the wall. They shattered as they hit the wall, glass flying everywhere. The dishes followed them.
They ducked to avoid dishes hitting their heads as they flew by on their journey towards the wall. Glass shards flew through the air. The odd stray piece catching one of them before they could avoid it.
The pounding on the door increased. It sounded like someone was trying to break it down.
The sobbing returned, this time for everyone to hear. It was a heart wrenching noise.
A scream rang out through the room.
The five of them scrambled to their feet, unsure of whether they wanted to flee the house or huddle together to avoid danger. And danger was everywhere in the form of glass shards on the floor and flying objects in the air.
The two couches hovered four feet above the ground and stayed there. The air was heavy with dishes waiting to attach. There were several bottles of liquor that had not yet been smashed.
“What the hell is going on here?” Adam glanced from one face to the other, ducking a plate that flew at his head.
“Do you believe in ghosts yet?” Jeremy asked as he dodged a bottle of whiskey.
“I think we’re all past the point of disbelief,” Will admitted as they moved towards the kitchen.
They huddled next to the stove beneath the flickering light. Dishes and bottles flew around the living room. Items smashed every few moments. The sobbing increased. The pounding increased.
Are you having fun yet?
They jolted as the voice surrounded them. It was a high-pitched, female voice that sassed them in their fear. It seemed to be everywhere but nowhere at all. The laughter followed it, drifting through the room and sending all of the floating object careening towards the walls.
The couches hit with a loud bang, crashing to the floor and falling to pieces.
Sophia yelped in surprise as they shattered.
The living room was a disaster zone. Glass and broken furniture littered the ground. Liquor soaked the hardwood floor. And still the pounding continued. And still the sobbing drifted through the cabin, persistent. The scratching at the windows was leaving furrows in the glass; as though something was trying to claw it’s way into the cabin. Or maybe it was something trying to leave.
As they stood in the kitchen, taking in the carnage of the cabin they didn’t know what else to do.
Are you having fun?
Jeremy shivered as the voice filled the room. The kitchen drawers flung open and the contents floated out.
Because I am.
The knives floated into the air, circling ominously around the group. They took a step to the right, the knives followed. They moved towards the doorway. The knives followed.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Adam look up at the knives, the worry clear in his voice. He was still half convinced that this was a dream, that he would wake up on the floor of the living room with a sore back, a hangover, and several questions about why he’d drank so much. But if this was a dream it was the weirdest one he’d ever had.
“If we have any hopes of getting out of here we have to get those knives out of the air.” Will glanced up at the floating knives that were mirroring their movements. “We need to trick them.”
“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?” Miriam threw her hands up in frustration, and yanked them quickly back down as a butcher knife dived towards her palm. She’d barely missed losing a finger to it.
“Run to the bedroom.” Sophia’s eyes widened as the idea began to formulate in her mind. “If we close the door quickly enough behind us then the knives will hit the door instead.”
“Brilliant!” Jeremy glanced cautiously at the knives. “On the count of three. One… Two… Three…”
And they ran.
The minute they turned
the knives took motion. The five of them turned on heel and ran towards the bedroom, one of the rooms they had been avoiding.
Jeremy wasn’t certain that they were going to make it. Whatever force was propelling the knives was sending them rapidly towards them. He could hear them whizzing overhead.
The door was so close now. A few more steps and they would be safe inside. Safe behind a closed door, in a room they had been evading their entire stay.
It seemed completely contradictory. They were seeking solace in a place that they had feared. But the living room was much more terrifying at the moment. One lit match or loose spark and the whole cabin would be up in smoke.
He didn’t want to put them in that kind of danger. He didn’t want to be in the living room where clearly all the evil had gathered at the moment. It was bad enough they were running away from flying knives. What had become of their week away?
Jeremy grabbed the door handle and flung it open.
“Come on, come on, come on!” He urged the others into the room before slamming the door closed. He turned the lock for good measure.
Then they stepped back and waited. It didn’t take long.
Chapter 7
Anger and Pain
* * *
Jeremy turned the door handle. He waited until he’d heard the last thump of the knife embedding itself into the door. They all stood back from the door as the knives drove themselves into the wood surface, some with so much force that the tips pushed through to the other side.
They panted from the exertion of running to the bedroom, but they knew that they couldn’t stay there. It wasn’t safe to stay in the cabin. It wasn’t safe to stay in that room.
Jeremy turned the handle slowly and pulled the door open. He heard the collective gasp from the rest of the group at the sight of the knives. There was close to a hundred of them in the door, knives and various utensils buried in the wood.
Haunted Happenings Page 8
