‘Okay? Since when have you been in the habit of fainting?’
Danni shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Everything must have just gotten to me.’
She looked down, then picked up the notebook. She ran a finger across its cover.
‘What’s that?’ Jon asked.
‘Something I found,’ Danni said. ‘It was my father’s.’
‘And what’s in it?’
Danni shrugged. ‘Just stuff.’
She was being evasive, and it didn’t sit well with Jon. He felt a small pang of agitation pierce his concern. He didn’t want another argument, though. He just wanted to get through the night.
‘Let’s get you downstairs,’ Jon said. He hooked an arm around her waist and helped her to her feet, giving her a moment to get her balance before releasing her. ‘You sure you’re okay?’ he asked.
She nodded, still holding the book. ‘Yeah.’
Something still hung in the air between them, a sense of unfinished business. Jon still remembered the sting of that slap she’d given him earlier.
And she owed him an apology for that.
Then, as if on cue, ‘I’m sorry for hitting you earlier,’ she said without making eye contact.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to argue, and we shouldn’t have done it with the kids around. I know this is tough for you, and I shouldn’t have pushed you so hard.’
He stopped short of actually saying sorry, thinking it was probably implicit in his words. Besides, did he really have anything to apologise for? He was only speaking the truth.
Danni frowned at him, apparently unsatisfied with what he’d offered. But it was all she was getting.
‘Come on,’ he said and rubbed her arm. ‘Let's go downstairs. We need to figure out what we are doing for food.’
He knew she was going to say something, and he also knew it was to press things again, which would probably lead to another fight. To be frank, he didn’t have the patience for it, so he walked from the room and headed back downstairs, drawing the exchange to a close.
DANNI WAS LEFT DUMBFOUNDED.
Was that his attempt at an apology? She’d swallowed her pride in an effort to make amends, but all he’d managed was to outline what had gone wrong, as if that was lost on her. Then he had decided that food was more important and marched off like they were done.
What the hell had come over him?
It wasn’t the Jon she knew.
She looked again at the diary, still haunted by what she had read. It was a struggle, but she realised she was fast coming to terms with the fact that something was, indeed, very wrong with this place.
And she needed to get her family away from it.
Now.
That would invariably lead to another fight with Jon, especially considering the late hour. It was almost fully dark outside now, which meant travelling at night, and that wouldn’t help her case.
It was only after she’d taken her first step towards the door that Danni remembered the last thing she’d seen before blacking out.
Her father, peeking from the shadows with dark eyes and a black smile.
Being upstairs on her own suddenly made her feel very vulnerable. Goosebumps formed on her forearms. She hugged the diary close to her chest and strode from the room, flicking off the light as she went. She walked quickly to the top of the stairs… and stopped.
Her body tensed.
Danni was certain she had heard a whisper.
She slowly turned around, but saw no one behind her. Then she flicked her eyes up towards the attic hatch.
It was open, revealing the attic above.
And standing just on the edge of the hatch, looking down at her, was a man.
He was tall and bare chested, with horrible marks and scratches on his grey body. Small chunks of skin were missing in places, revealing blackened flesh beneath.
His mouth hung open at a disjointed angle, and a long tongue writhed and moved, snakelike, with a life of its own.
The corners of his mouth pulled up a little, giving the hint of a smile.
Danni screamed and ran down the stairs, taking them as quickly as she could. She worried she was going too fast, that her momentum would make her lose her footing and send her sprawling uncontrollably to the bottom. And, a little over halfway down the descent, that is exactly what happened.
She missed her footing on one stair, twisted her ankle, and her body toppled forward. Her hip crashed into the edge of a step, and she yelped at the sharp explosion of pain. The only thing she could think to do as she fell was to make her body go limp while she tumbled the rest of the way down.
‘Mom!’ she heard a voice yell from the living room. Danni was on her side, dazed and in pain. She saw her daughter looking through from the other room with a shocked and worried expression on her face.
Danni wanted to tell her not to worry, that she was fine, but she didn’t know if that was true or not. Her body was wracked with pain, and she was barely able to get her bearings. She managed to roll onto her back, now aware that Jon had come into the hallway.
Whilst on her back, she looked up the length of the stairs to the attic hatch. It was still open, but the man she had seen was no longer there.
‘Jesus,’ Jon said, kneeling by her side. ‘Are you okay?’
He sounded genuinely worried, which slightly surprised Danni, given how he’d been acting.
‘I think so,’ she eventually said. Her ankle screamed in disagreement, as did her hip, but she knew things could have been much worse.
‘What happened?’
She was about to tell him what she had seen, what had caused her to run down the stairs and fall, but stopped herself. She knew he wouldn’t believe it.
‘I fell,’ she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Leah emerged from the living room, followed by Alex.
‘What about the scream?’ he asked.
Danni paused. ‘I lost my footing at the top,’ she lied, trying to repress the ever-growing fear building up in her.
There was something in this house.
‘Jesus,’ Jon said, helping her up as he had in her father’s bedroom only minutes ago. Danni made sure to grab the notebook as she got to her feet. ‘Sounds like you took a hell of a tumble. You sure you’re okay?’
‘I’m sure,’ she said again, holding her side. Without thinking, she tried to put weight on her right ankle and cried out as a jolt of pain spread from the injured joint.
‘You’re hurt,’ he said, ducking under the arm she was resting on the bannister, letting her rest her weight on him.
‘I think I’ve twisted my ankle.’
‘Come on, let’s get you to the sofa. We need to get you off your feet.’
She wanted to protest, but he was already leading her through to the living room. Jon carefully lowered her down into the seat and helped her swing her legs up.
I don’t want to get off my feet. I want to get the hell out of here.
‘Stay there,’ Jon said, ‘I’ll go and fix you a drink. Do you want something hot or something to help with the pain? I’m sure we packed wine.’
‘Shouldn’t we take her to an emergency room?’ Leah asked. ‘We need to get her ankle checked out. She’s hurt.’
The idea was a welcome one, a perfect excuse to get them all out of here, at least for a few hours.
‘That might not be a bad idea,’ Danni said.
‘Nonsense,’ Jon said, getting to his feet. ‘I took a fall, too, and I’m fine. I’ll get you a nice, big glass of red and some pain killers. Just keep your leg elevated, and by morning you’ll be as good as new.’
He then left the room.
Something was wrong with this.
Very wrong.
‘Dad really doesn’t want to leave this place, huh?’ Leah asked her.
‘I guess not,’ Danni said, trying not to convey the concern she was feeling.
‘What’s that?’ Alex asked, pointing to the book.
&nb
sp; ‘Just something I found upstairs,’ Danni said.
‘What’s in it?’
‘Nothing too interesting, I’m sure.’ She tucked the book beside her, between her thigh and the back of the sofa.
‘Should we phone an ambulance?’ Leah asked.
‘But Dad said—’
Leah cut Alex off, apparently not interested in hearing what her father had said. ‘I don’t care. Mom’s hurt.’
‘I’m fine,’ Danni said, not fully convinced herself. The physical injuries appeared to be minor, but she could still picture that man looking down at her from the attic. She wondered if it was the same person Leah had seen up in the bathroom the previous night. Part of her wanted to ask the question, to help confirm her suspicions, but she was more focused on protecting her daughter, not scaring her any further.
Jon soon returned with a large glass of red wine. He handed it to Danni, along with a small pack of pain killers.
‘Should she be mixing those?’ Leah asked.
Jon gave a dismissive wave of the hand. ‘She’ll be fine. It’s only Paracetamol.’ He then clapped his hands together. ‘Okay, I’m going to order us some pizza.’
‘Again?’ Alex asked. ‘I didn’t think you were a fan of pizza, Dad.’
‘Well, I don’t think there’s much to choose from around here, so I figure we should make the best of it. Or does anyone want to try something different?’
‘Same for me,’ Danni said, taking a tentative sip of her wine. That small sip turned into a larger, self-indulgent gulp. It tasted good and was warm as it hit her stomach. Her mind was still working overtime on how to get through to Jon, and how to get them out of here. Perhaps the wine wasn’t really a good choice to help with that.
‘And me,’ Leah said in a low voice.
‘Alex?’ Jon asked, turning to his son.
‘Yeah, same again for me, I guess.’
‘Boring choices. I’m going to try something different,’ he said and walked from the room. He reappeared shortly after with the menu they’d used the previous night. ‘I’m just going to nip outside to order, hopefully get a signal out there. Anyone changed their minds and want to order something a bit more adventurous?’
From Danni’s perspective on the sofa, she could see a tiny sliver of his body through the crack of the door-jamb. She saw movement and was certain he was tucking something into his pocket. She couldn’t be sure, but it looked to be the keys to the SUV.
His question was met with silence from everyone. ‘Suit yourselves,’ he said and went outside.
To say Danni was confused at Jon’s behaviour was an understatement. He seemed oddly upbeat, in a way that was almost forced. It made Danni uneasy. How could he be so chipper after seeing his wife take such a fall only moments earlier? Throw in the fight they’d been through with each other earlier as well, and his demeanour was downright odd.
‘What’s up with him?’ Leah asked, obviously in tune with Danni’s concern.
‘I have no idea,’ Danni said.
They could hear him outside through the thin windows placing the order. Once finished, Danni saw him walk by the front window to the side of the house.
‘Where’s he going?’ Danni asked. Leah walked to the window and looked out. ‘Not sure, he’s out of view. Around the back, I think. Should I go check?’
Danni thought about it. ‘Go to the dining room and look out there, see if you can see him. Alex, you go too.’
The two children obeyed, and Danni could hear the click, click, click of Alex’s crutches as he went. She waited, keen to see what he was up to. ‘What’s he doing?’ she called to the pair.
‘It looks like he’s going over to the mill,’ Alex yelled back.
‘The door’s open,’ Leah added. ‘Was it open before?’
A tight, anxious feeling squeezed Danni’s chest. Then she heard Leah scream.
‘What the fuck is that?’ the girl cried.
17
ALEX WAS STRUGGLING to make sense of what he was seeing.
At first he was confused as to why his father was heading towards that old mill. The door to the building was open, so perhaps he had gone over to close it?
But then, Alex saw something reveal itself from the darkness. Something he couldn’t understand.
An impossibility.
He wanted to yell for his mother as Leah started to scream again.
Whatever the thing was, it was tall—stooping down to be seen through the doorway—and spindly, with elongated features. Even at this distance, however, he could see that it simply wasn’t human. Its face was… terrifying, with a mass of eyes over its large, brain-like cranium, and a vertical mouth that slowly opened and closed, as if tasting the air.
And yet, Alex’s father continued walking. There was no way he could have missed the abomination in the doorway, but he simply strode onward towards the mill. He stepped inside, and the door slowly closed.
Alex continued to focus on the mill, unable to look away as he heard movement from the hallway behind. And his focus changed, drawn to something he noticed in the reflection of the glass of the window. Directly behind him, Alex saw a figure. At first, he assumed it to be his mother.
But it was wearing black, and it was too close. He saw the blurred reflection pull into a blackened smile.
Alex spun around with a gasp, but there was no one there. He heard someone approaching from the hallway, saw his mother limp into view. His heart hammered in his chest.
What was going on?
‘What is it?’ his mother asked, her eyes wide.
‘Over there,’ Leah answered, her voice shaking as she pointed out of the window to the dark mill outside. ‘Something was in there.’
‘And Dad’s gone in,’ Alex added.
He realised that his breathing was becoming quicker and quicker. The reflection had been of the same old woman he’d seen upstairs yesterday, he was sure of it. And that had been the same woman he’d seen on the website earlier today: Margaret Hobbes.
It couldn’t be real. On some level, he knew that. And he knew how disappointed his father would be to find out he had been entertaining thoughts to the contrary.
But he couldn’t help it.
Alex had never heard of Margaret Hobbes before today, let alone seen a picture of her. And yet, he had seen her. Yesterday, up in the bedroom—it was her, of that there was no question. The old woman looked exactly like she had in the picture he saw a day later, if a little more twisted.
On top of that, there was Leah’s experience in the shower.
This wasn’t just a case of them scaring themselves. They had both witnessed inhuman things.
That couldn’t be explained away, could it?
‘What do you mean?’ his mother asked, hopping closer to them, careful to avoid putting too much weight on her bad ankle. She looked out. ‘What was in the mill? What did you see?’ Her words came out fast and panicked.
‘I… I don’t know,’ Alex said. ‘I can’t describe it.’
‘It was a monster,’ Leah said. ‘And Dad just walked inside with it, like it wasn’t even there.’
‘Mom,’ Alex said. ‘Dad’s in danger. He’s in there with that thing.’
His mother looked to him, and he could see the fear in her eyes. He hadn’t expected her to believe what they had told her, so outlandish was the story, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
‘What’s going on, Mom?’ Leah asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ she replied. ‘But we need to get out of here.’
‘What about Dad?’ Alex asked. ‘We can’t just leave him.’
‘I know,’ his mother said, ‘and we won’t, but right now we need to move. I need to get you two out of here. Everyone head to the car.’
‘Mom?’ Alex wanted to argue further. He was concerned she was thinking of leaving his father behind.
‘Now!’ she snapped. She grabbed them both and ushered them into the hallway, limping along behind.
Alex’s mother
pushed him along quickly, but he was struggling to maintain the speed she wanted him to achieve. He worked his crutches as quickly as he could, but was worried he would lose his footing.
Once in the hallway, they stopped in their tracks as all the lights blinked out.
The waning light of dusk seeped in from the single glazed panel in the front door, and it allowed them to see the figure standing directly in front of them, blocking their exit.
Not the old woman this time.
This was a man. An old man with broad shoulders and a rotund stomach. He stood stock still, arms by his side, eyes lost in pools of black shadows.
His thin mouth spread open into a menacing smile, revealing stained teeth and dark, purple gums.
Alex shrieked in fear.
Then his mother uttered something in a shocked voice that scared him further.
‘Dad?’
The old man’s smile did not change at all. He was motionless, like a twisted, grinning painting, and yet they all heard a malevolent laugh ring out around them.
‘What do we do?’ Leah asked in a quivering voice.
Before Leah could get an answer, they heard another laugh echo around them, this one higher in pitch. More feminine.
But no less insidious.
All three instinctively pressed themselves together, huddling tight, and turned around to see the same old woman Alex had seen before. She was standing right behind them in the doorway to the kitchen, blocking the way back.
Margaret Hobbes.
Leah screamed, and Alex felt like crying. He didn’t know what to do.
His mother grabbed their hands and pulled them towards the living room door, but they soon found that route was cut off as well.
A tall man, with pale skin and horrible wounds on his body, ducked through the doorway. His jaw was loose, swinging as he moved.
Thomas Kerr.
He clung to his mother as tightly as he could, unable to process what was happening. The fear was debilitating.
He felt a warmth spread from his crotch as his bladder emptied.
‘What do we do?’ Leah asked, sobbing.
‘Stay away from us,’ he heard his mother say through gritted teeth. ‘Just stay the fuck away.’
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