“Can you believe we’ve made it this far?” Andrea mocked in the back seat, keeping her voice down.
“Yeah,” Kate joined in. “Who’d have thought we’d make it this far with Father Bolton driving us?”
“You mean, “Who’d have thought we’d make it here alive?” Chris said, not bothering to keep his voice down.
Emily heard them burst into a chorus of barking laughter behind her, but didn’t join in. It wasn’t very funny to make fun of people. It wasn’t even remotely funny to make fun of people.
Yet, here they all were.
She took a quick glance over her shoulder and was glad to see Joshua shaking his head instead of joining in. At least some people had a modicum of basic respect.
“What is so funny back there?” Mrs. Galpin snapped again, giving them all a steel-eyed glare. When nobody answered her, she took her seat again and ignored them until they saw the house coming into view before them.
“Welcome to your home sweet home for the next few days,” Father Bolton said as they pulled into the driveway.
Immediately after they had stopped, Ms. Dodge and Mrs. Galpin chased them off the bus and set them to work. Chris and Joshua were offloading the bags out of the bus, moving like a well-oiled machine, while the girls took the bags to the front door.
When Emily reached the door, carrying a large brown bag, the door swung open and a short and plump old man, probably in his late sixties, walked out to greet them.
He was short, even shorter than Emily, and as tall as he was wide. He wore blue denim shorts and a light brown button-up shirt. His bald head and yellow-toothed grin seemed intent on blinding everyone as he passed them, waving and offering them all a toothy grin, as he walked to the bus. He greeted Father Bolton, giving him a firm handshake and moved towards Joshua and Chris.
They eyeballed the old man as he came closer, looking like they were ready to make a run for it if he tried anything funny. He extended his hand to them, an open gesture, but Chris did not move. Joshua, on the other hand, stopped working and took the old man’s hand to shake it. The old man might seem strange, but clearly, he couldn’t do much harm.
“Students,” Father Bolton called. “This is Mr. Jackson. He is the caretaker of the estate and our host while we’re staying here. He’ll take your bags up to your rooms while we’re away. If you have any problems, just come to me or Mr. Jackson and we’ll take care of it.”
Everyone continued with their tasks. Mr. Jackson helped Joshua and Chris unload the bus and the girls started hauling the bags inside. Emily kept fetching bags from the bus and setting them in front of the door for the others to move inside, which no one had a problem with, luckily.
When all the bags were unloaded, Joshua, Chris and Mr. Jackson helped Emily take the last few bags to the door. Emily turned to the bus to fetch the last bag and carried it back to the house. She was about to set it down as she had with all the others, when Kate said that she might as well carry that bag in herself since she was already carrying it.
The moment Emily walked through the door, she felt the sudden undeniable signs. She stopped in the doorway, unable to move another inch. She felt a cold, dark chill run down the length of her spine, like long thin fingers of ice had been dragged down her back. The room itself seemed to have grown dark and quiet for a moment. Kate and the others were moving around inside, talking and lugging bags around, but Emily couldn’t hear a thing.
It was also very cold all of a sudden. Emily felt a presence in the cold, dark, noiseless room. Not the presence of her class mates or the caretakers, but the presence of someone who did not belong among them in this place. Not someone who didn’t belong in the house, since this was its house. It was the presence of something that shouldn’t be in the earthly realm, walking among the living.
“Fine,” Kate said and snatched the bag from Emily’s hand. “If you are going to be like that. I’ll just do it my self. I’m not wasting my time with a useless bitch like you. I’ve got better things to do.”
With that she took the bag to the pile of bags in the next room and walked back outside, shoving Emily out of her way and headed to Andrea and Carol. Emily backed slowly out of the house and walked straight into Mr. Jackson, hitting her shoulder on his forehead as she moved away from the house.
She barely realized what had happened before they were all back on the bus and heading towards town to join the rest of their classmates. The experience with the house had shocked her. Sure, she had felt the same signs before, but never before had they been that potent.
She had felt the same signs before in hotels and shops, pretty much anywhere. But they were never like this. And this time she was going to spend a week in that house. Suddenly she knew that, what she had expected to be a bad week would become a horrible week.
Emily sat in her seat staring out of the window and into the distance, but never saw a thing. Her mind was churning and churning with the sensation the house had given her. She hated being able to sense it. There was a time when she would have called it a gift, but that time had long since passed. It was in the past and now she saw it for what it truly was. A curse.
Chapter 3
Hanging Dream
* * *
They were on their way back from the restaurant and the whole bus was busy. Kate, Carol, and Andrea were gossiping like there was no tomorrow, while Joshua and Chris were chatting about what they planned to be doing after school. Even Mrs. Galpin, Ms. Dodge, and Father Bolton were talking at the front of the bus.
That is, almost everyone. Emily had been silent ever since they boarded the bus after leaving the house. She just stared out the window, with her eyes focused on the space between her and the horizon. The feeling never left her body. She could still feel the cold fingers against her spine.
She had had the curse in her ever since she could remember.
Emily’s earliest memory of her curse, her first clairvoyant recollection, was at the age of seven, though her mother said she had been born with it. The curse to see those who have long since passed. Or at the very least, feel their presence. No two ghosts looked the same. Some did not even look as they had when they were alive.
She had seen the ghost of a man who had died in his sleep on the night of his seventieth birthday, but he looked no older than twenty. They would talk to her or try to communicate in some manner, but she could never force herself to stay long enough to listen.
She had been playing with her friend. The little boy looked about her age, always wearing his WWII uniform and big glasses. Emily remembered her cousin laughing at her when she tried to introduce him to her, calling the boy her imaginary boyfriend.
One day the boy suggested they play hide-and-go-seek, he always loved that game. They were playing in the yard and it was Emily turn to seek. She found the boy lying face down in the dirt behind a bush in the backyard. When he realised that he was caught, he jumped up, yelled that she couldn’t catch him and ran through the gate to the front yard.
Emily laughed and ran after him, but he seemed to be hiding from her again. She started searching again, looking behind bushes and trees, but couldn’t find him anywhere. Her father saw her playing in the yard from the living room window, and sat outside on their porch to watch her.
He asked her what she was looking for; looking around himself for any clue as to what she might be searching for.
“My friend,” was all she said as she kept searching.
“Which friend?” her father chuckled.
“The one that’s hiding, daddy.”
Then she heard him laughing. He was laughing at her from behind a tall tree in their neighbour’s yard. The boy had run across the road and was hiding from her there.
“Hey!” she yelled as she ran towards him. “That’s cheating.”
“Emily! Watch out!”
She barely heard the car brakes over her father’s voice and the stomp of his shoes as he ran across the yard and road to her. He never stopped. She remembers him
lifting her centimetres from the ground and throwing her to the curb, before hearing a loud crash and the crunching sound she would never forget.
The boy looked at her from behind the tree. She was crying on the pavement; her left knee and hands were bleeding from her fall. The pain was almost unbearable on her soft hands and she was angry at her father for doing that to her.
But when she looked back, her father wasn’t there. There was a car further down the road, with people crowding around it. A woman, Emily’s mother, was screaming and crying, asking someone to call an ambulance.
By that time, the little boy was gone and Emily was curious about what was happening down the street. Before she could get close to the car, a man, one of their neighbours, picked her up and took her to her house. He called his wife, who took care of Emily’s knee and hands.
Emily kept asking her what was happening once the sirens started wailing in the distance, but the lady couldn’t tell her. There were tears in her eyes and all she could say was that everything was going to be okay.
Now, ten long years later, Emily knew it would never again be okay. She and her so called gift had caused her father to be killed. Those who knew about her clairvoyant ability, always referred to it a gift. How can anything that killed her father be called a gift?
It was a curse. Something like that should be ignored. It should be shut down. If only she could find a way to do it.
A hand on her shoulder made her jump.
Joshua was leaning on the back of her seat, with his hand on her shoulder and the other folded beneath his chest. Apparently, Chris had joined in on the gossip with the girls on the back seat and left Joshua on his own.
“Why are you so quiet?” he asked tilting his head slightly to the side.
“I’m always quiet,” she said, trying not to sound worried.
“Not this quiet,” he asked in a tone which Emily couldn’t place. “Is something bothering you?” he actually sounded concerned, Emily realized.
“No,” she lied. “It’s nothing. I’m just tired of being on the road.”
“Welcome to the life of a teenager,” Joshua joked. “The only place where you can go from mildly tired to exhausted by doing nothing all day.”
Emily let out a soft laugh.
“See,” he continued moving around the seat to sit next to her. “Isn’t it better to smile a bit more? It is healthier, too.”
Emily suddenly became very aware of herself and felt her face flush. Joshua had come to her to talk. She was struggling to respond, but never got a chance.
Kate had seen Joshua joining Emily and was instantaneously enraged. “Look at the lovebirds over there,” she mocked and pointed her finger at them.
“If you’re going to make a move,” Chris joined in, talking to Joshua, “at least let me be your wingman.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered and went back to his own seat.
Emily shut out the voices of her classmates in the backseat. She turned back to the window and didn’t turn away until they stopped at the house. Father Bolton opened the doors and waited until everyone was on the lawn before closing it again.
“Attention, please,” he said, his voice calm. “You now have three hours to do whatever you want to do, within limits of course. Lights-out is at ten. Anyone still walking around or making any noise at all, will be severely punished. Do we have an understanding?”
“Yes, Father Bolton,” they all said in unison.
Kate led the way inside and up the stairs, with Chris following close behind. Emily walked at the back, not very eager to go into the house. She paused at the door and took a deep breath before entering.
The same feeling came over her again. Even though she had prepared for the feeling, it still came as a shock. It was definitely stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. There no doubt in her that there was something in the house, but she saw no proof to back that up as she walked into the house.
Emily turned to where their bags had been left but saw that they were now all gone. For a fraction of a second, she suspected a supernatural reason for their disappearance. Then she remembered Father Bolton telling them that Mr. Jackson would move their bags to their rooms.
That was another pet peeve she had. She envied those who had no idea whether ghosts and spirits actually existed. The thought that it might all just be a mystery seemed so much better than actually knowing. Whenever anything happened which had no obvious or apparent logical cause or reason, her instinct was to blame a spirit or a ghost – particularly in places like this, where she knew without a doubt that a ghost was in attendance.
No one would believe her. How could they? Most didn’t believe in ghosts.
She walked up the stairs and turned into a long hallway lined by rooms on each side. Portraits and other giant paintings were hanging there, mostly of gardens and fields with flowers. There was a window at each end of the hall and Emily could see a small building in the backyard through the window at the far end.
She walked down the hall, looking in each room for her bags. The first few rooms were empty, but she didn’t have to search long. Her room was the fourth room down the hall on the right. It was also the first room in the hallway to contain a bag.
It was a big room, bigger than any room she ever had to herself in the past, with more than enough space. A long line of built-in closets ran along the wall closest to the door, and a big bookshelf was along the wall next to the bed. An old fashion rocking chair and a small circular table stood beside the bookshelf. A big window looked out over a section of the gardens outside.
If you could call it that, Emily thought.
Every plant in the garden was either dead or overrun by weeds. Even the trees were all dead or dying. A few green patches scattered sparsely across the ground, but nothing significant.
At least the inside of the house was well looked after. Her room was basically spotless, free of dust or anything else that could bother her, although the sense of the spirit lurking remained, clinging to her back.
She ignored the yells and laughs of her classmates, mostly Kate and her girls, and closed the door as she entered the room. She unpacked her clothes, placing them in the closet and moved her bag to the foot of her bed.
She got her book out of the bag, slumped across the bed and started reading. Once again, she was pulled from one reality to another, a second reality just for her. This was her escape from everything her real reality was not.
It was after sundown when Emily heard someone knocking at her door and she became aware of the sensation of a ghost in the house. She didn’t answer and the knock came again, this time a bit louder.
She placed her book on the bed next to her and got up. She walked slowly towards the door, careful not to make a sound. The knocking came again, almost deafening now that she was standing by the door. She took the handle gently and opened the door just enough to see through the crack.
Joshua was standing outside her room with two cups of coffee in his right hand. Emily opened the door completely as he moved one of the cups to his open hand.
“Hey, neighbour,” he joked. “Pick one.”
Emily looked at the cups and slowly took one from Joshua.
“What’s this for?” she asked, trying not to sound unappreciative of the gesture.
“It is a welcome-to-the-retreat gift. Chris and I were making coffee in the kitchen and thought you might like a cup. Chris took a couple of cups to the others and said that they would be in the living room downstairs.” He paused for a moment, then added, “Would you like to join us?”
She would have loved to join him for coffee, but was not keen on Chris inviting the others. And Kate would have a field day if she showed up there with Joshua. But how can she say no?
“I’ll follow you,” she said simply.
She trailed him down the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the living room. Chris, Kate, Carol, and Andrea were already waiting for Joshua to join them and were visibly shocked when Emily e
ntered behind him.
Chris was seated between Andrea and Carol on a large couch by the door, while Kate sat on a separate couch across from them. A seat was open next to her as well as the single chair against the wall to Emily’s right.
Kate patted the seat next to her. “I saved you a seat, Joshua.”
Kate had known all along that Joshua would invite Emily along. She figured if he didn’t sit next to her Emily would have to, which he knew would only cause more problems than they could afford.
Joshua joined Kate on the sofa but seemed out of place next to her. Emily took the chair and sat to one side in an attempt to stay out of the conversation.
“I have an idea,” Andrea said after a short silence. “Who’s in the mood for ghost stories?”
“Ghost stories?” Kate said with a clear note of judgment in her voice.
“Why not,” Andrea asked as if it was the obvious thing to do. “We’re five-“
“Six,” Joshua corrected.
“Six teenagers in a giant mansion. Far from home in the middle of the night. Could you ask for a better setting for the telling of ghost stories?”
A soft murmur of agreement went up from everyone.
“Who’s first?” Chris asked, looking ready to comfort the two girls beside him.
“Why don’t we let Emily go first?” Kate said with a sly smile.
Emily shrugged.
“Everyone knows that on-“
“Wait!” Chris yelled and rushed to the light switch.
With a click, the lights died. He took his place between Andrea and Carol.
“Everyone knows that on Halloween night the gates of Hell open and the damned and tormented are allowed to roam the land. With them come the very things that Hell was made to lock away. Ghosts. Demons. You name it. They all come out to join us in the world of the living.
Haunted Happenings Page 11
