Her heart jumped as she heard a siren away up the street. Maybe, she thought in hope, the police were on their way to attend to some other incident. Maybe, she hoped, she would have to abort the robbery because of a sudden and unexpected police presence.
The siren sounded and faded as it went off in some other direction. Hope faded with it. The young boy across the street grinned with black and yellow teeth. He gestured for Bria to go inside the store. The older guy looked on with a stony expression.
Bria knew this was her one and only chance. If she didn’t bring out all the money from that cash register, along with a big bottle and some smokes, she would be cast aside. She would be on her own again and that warm bed would be given to someone else who would complete this initiation. She would be left in the dark and cold. She had no choice but to go through with this.
A bus came slowly along the street and caught Bria’s attention. Bria knew she was no thief. She knew there was one thing she could do. She could run.
A moment before the bus came past she showed the handle of the knife to the gang across the street and walked towards the liquor store doorway with her head held high. And then, just as the bus drove slowly past blocking her from sight of the gang members watching her progress, she took her opportunity and she ran.
She ran alongside the bus willing it to stop. As soon as the bus stopped just a few yards along she waited at the middle door hoping someone would get off. She was in luck. She squeezed in past the old woman who struggled to leave the bus. Bria saw the driver spot her, a dishevelled and scruffy girl. She relaxed as she realized he was not going to challenge her for her fare.
And out the back window of the bus she saw the three men standing across the street waiting for their new thief to run out of the store with cash, and booze and smokes. They were going to be disappointed. And angry.
~~~~~
This big city was no place for Bria. She’d had a narrow escape. She’d heard horrible things about young girls getting caught up in street gangs. It had only taken a few dark and lonely nights for her to take the risk on the gang shelter. She recognized her mistake.
Bria cleaned herself up as best she could in a public rest room. She was still able to make herself presentable. Her clothes hadn’t completely worn out yet. They were still fairly new, although they needed a turn through the laundry.
She washed her hands and face. She used a brush she’d found discarded in the trash to make her hair a little more presentable and she used a deodorant spray swiped from a store to take away the smell she was sure had developed around her.
Having done the best she could with her appearance, she waited at the bus station. She asked around politely for help with bus fare. She had no money but to ask for the missing extra few dollars was more fruitful than asking for a stranger to buy her a full bus fare out of the city. Who knew what that would cost her in the long run anyway?
“Sure, young lady,” an old gentleman had said with a smile and a friendly lilt to his voice. “Where are you heading?”
“Home,” she lied. “I over spent my allowance and now I need to get home.”
“And where do you call home?” the old man asked as he dug out his wallet from deep inside his big coat.
Bria looked at the bus departure board. A bus was leaving in twenty minutes. “Waynesboro,” she said without hesitating.
“And how much are you short?” The old man thumbed a ten dollar note.
“Ten dollars?”
The old man fixed her with an immediate disbelieving look. “You need more than ten bucks, don’t you?”
Bria nodded. The old man fished out the ten, then another twenty and a business card. He handed the cash and the card over.
“You give my card to your folks and tell them they can send me the money.”
“Thank you so much, sir.” Bria looked down at the card. “Um, I mean Mr. Henderson. I appreciate it.”
Bria bought a ticket to Waynesboro. She hoped it was good long ride. She needed a sleep. A good long sleep in a warm, safe bus would do nicely.
She sat in her window seat looking out into the city streets around the bus station. Until the bus was on the road and headed out of Baltimore, she wouldn’t feel safe. She was worried that the gang would find her and drag her from the bus.
If they found her, she’d have to go back to them. She’d have no choice. They’d force her into robbery… or worse.
Her eyes darted back and forth nervously. Her heart jumped as the bus engine started. Her pulse raced as the bus door closed. She looked around the streets one last time feeling safe for the first time in weeks. The moment the bus left the city station she fell into a deep and restful sleep.
Chapter 2
Waynesboro, Virginia; Present Day
The town of Waynesboro was a world away from the dark, sinister city streets. Bria stepped off the bus into a world of relative calm. She felt a rumble in her tummy. Her hand felt the few coins in change in her pocket. She looked along the quiet street for a general store. She needed any place where she could buy a bite to eat, and steal a bite more. She spotted just the place along the street and headed towards it.
Once inside the shop Bria could feel the eyes of the store assistant following her. She saw him looking at her in the large mirror set up to give the assistant a view of the far end of the store. Bria found the simple security measure laughable, and a little cute. She had evaded store detectives and store wide cameras. She knew that this small town store assistant with his retro security was no match for her. She waited for her moment and pocketed a few candy bars and walked back to the front.
At the sales desk she presented a small bottle of water and began counting out the change. The assistant looked at her suspiciously. Bria returned the look with a look of pure innocence and charm.
“Just the water for me today,” she said.
And as the assistant dropped the few coins into the cash drawer Bria thought how easy it was to rob these small town folks. She should have left the city weeks ago and worked her way along the trail of small towns. She wouldn’t have gone hungry. She was sure of that much. If all small town shops were as easy to steal from as this one she’d work her way from one coast to the other and never miss a meal again.
Outside the store Bria noticed the evening had grown dark. Clouds rolling in over the distant mountains and the setting sun left the main street feeling cold, dark and lonely. She walked a few steps away from the store and pulled a candy bar out from her pocket. She glanced back as she bit into the sweet treat. The store assistant was standing outside the store watching her as she walked away.
Bria felt a chill in the air as the sun set. She would need a place to hide away for the night. She needed to start looking now. She guessed that in a small town such as this the houses would have large gardens. Many of those gardens would have store houses, garages, even playhouses. Any of these would do for one night. The trick was to keep moving. She would find a shelter and hide away.
The breeze grew to a cold wind that brought a few spots of fine rain with it. Bria looked to the mountains towering up into the darkening sky. The black clouds over head promised rain. From the looks of the clouds, it would be a cold and hard rain.
She turned off a street and found her way in a back alley where she was sure she would find a suitable spot to hide away for the night.
A tall garden wall was no obstacle for Bria. She picked one along the alley she’d been following. With one leap she caught hold of the top and hauled herself up. Looked into the garden she spotted a child’s playhouse. It had a pink roof and small windows. It would probably be the most comfortable spot she had slept in since deciding to leave home.
The small play house looked so beautiful. Bria felt a twinge of sadness that her family home had not been half as sweet. Then she felt a strong surge of bitterness. Why should some dumb hick town kid have a playhouse that was nicer than her house—the one she’d run away from?
Bria swallowed ha
rd. Rain flecked her cheeks and she wiped away the water from around her eyes. Then a rumble of an engine drew her attention. She looked along the alley to the road and saw a police cruiser drive slowly past the top of the alley. A search light was sweeping across the shadow filled alley. Bria dropped back down from the wall and hid herself behind a few trashcans.
The car stopped and the officer climbed out. He flicked on his flash light and held it at head height. Bria watched through a small gap between the trash cans as the officer walked slowly forwards, looking left and right into each shadowy corner.
Bria felt a surge of fear. She felt sure the officer was looking for her. Maybe that store assistant had not been as dumb as she had thought. He must have called the cops, she thought.
They were searching for her, but she’d be damned if she was going to get caught by some small town cop. She began backing away. She kept herself as close to the ground as possible and tucked into the dark corners, moving only when the cop’s flashlight was pointing away from her.
After a few minutes of cat and mouse Bria found an open garden gate. She scurried quietly through and was out of sight. The moment the garden gate closed Bria did what she knew best. She ran.
She ran through one garden to the next, leaping boundary fences as she went. After a few minutes of frantic running she found a path alongside one of the houses that led her back onto the main street. And there propped up against the side of the house she saw a bicycle. Sometimes, she thought, luck is on your side.
She grabbed the bike and set off. She needed to head away from town, away from the cops, away from people. She would find a place to hide away on the edge of town and tomorrow she would ride this bike to the next town, and then the next, running forever from this town, from the city and from her past, forever running from herself.
The road out of town climbed up to the mountains. It was a gentle slope at first but soon it became steeper. The dark sky and the dark of the trees that stood tall and thick on either side of the road made it difficult to see the road ahead, but the effort required to peddle the small bike made it clear that the road was climbing away from the town.
After an hour or more Bria felt she was safe from the small town cop who must be, she thought, still hunting for her in the town’s alleyways. She turned and looked back the way she had come. The lights of the small town sparkled below her a good five miles away. Bria caught her breath and bit into another candy bar. She wasn’t hungry but wanted the comfort of something sweet.
An owl hooted away to Bria’s left. She turned towards the noise, nervous and afraid. The city was full of danger but she knew them. The hooting of an owl was a new sound to her. It was more worrying than any city noise she had come to know.
The wind rustled the tops of the trees. The loud rustling sent a shiver down her spine. She pulled her thin jacket close to her and pulled up the zipper. She had escaped the town cop, now she needed to escape the night. She needed somewhere to sit and wait out the coming rain. She jumped on to the pedals of the bike and pressed onwards.
“There must be something up ahead,” she said to herself. “There must be somewhere I can make a cozy bed for the night.”
An owl hooted again and somewhere in the trees she heard a rustling as if something low to the ground was scurrying away. She peddled harder and hoped as hard as she could that somewhere up ahead there was a sanctuary.
Chapter 3
“Well, Bria,” she muttered to herself. “Looks like you’ve found the middle of nowhere. Smart move, girl.”
Bria struggled onwards, sweat running down her back and her hands stiff with cold. The road took a slight downwards slope and Bria stood up on the bike and enjoyed the effort free ride for a moment as she considered turning back and finding somewhere in town. And then she spotted a large and heavy gate at the beginning of what had to be a driveway.
Bria stepped off the bike and let it fall in the road. She walked towards the double door gate and peered along the wide driveway.
“A house,” she said to herself. “A big house.” She noticed how the driveway was unkempt and had clearly not been used in some time. “It looks like a big empty house, but it won’t be empty for long.”
Bria went back to get the bike and hid it in the brush by the gate at the side of the road. Then she turned her attention to the gate. It had to be twenty feet tall in the middle where the two sides of the double gate met. And atop the gate written in twisted metal was the word Barbar.
Bria guessed it was the name of the family that had once lived there. Why they had left Bria didn’t know but she was happy to move in and claim the place for herself. She looked at the gate. It was clearly designed to keep people out but to Bria it looked like a hugely ornate climbing frame. She rubbed her hands together and began her climb.
Bria made her way over the top of the gate and down the other side in a moment. Once safely on the ground on the other side, she started walking along the driveway. It was a wide and winding drive that twisted away into the trees.
She wished she had her bike but there was no way she was going to drag that thing over the gate. It was easy enough for her to climb but she wasn’t going to attempt it with a bike under her arm. She would simply have to walk. She didn’t know how far but there had to be a house at the end of this path. Why else, she reasoned, would the gate have been kept locked.
As she walked she dreamed of the house that would greet her up ahead. She imagined stone stairs up to a wide entrance and rooms filled with furniture all covered with heavy sheets. She would throw off the dust covers and reveal the classiest furniture. She would find a candelabra and a box of candles. She would light them up and walk through the timber clad hallways, portraits of wealthy family members hanging on the walls of the stairway. And she would walk into a bedroom, lit by a shining silver moon. There she would find a comfortable bed with thick warm blankets and plump silk lined pillows.
“Take it easy,” she said to herself, letting herself down from her fantasy gently. “As long as it has a roof, I’ll be happy.” She continued her walk as she tried to temper her expectations.
The drive way twisted this way and that. She walked for a few minutes on a right bend before it turned back to the left, and then up ahead she caught a glimpse of what looked to be a large stately home. She had been right about the stone steps and the wide doorway.
But she had not imagined how tall it would be. It was four or five stories high, with chimneys that reached up into the dark sky. And the building was wide. It had to be over a hundred feet wide at the front. All along the front of the building and marking every floor were dozens of tall windows.
The driveway brought Bria to the front of the house and its wide entrance. It was bigger than Bria had thought a single house could be. It was vastly different to the pink roofed playhouse she had hoped to spend the night in. It was bigger than the entire block she had run away from.
“I bet there are fireplaces inside.” She summoned the courage to step up the stone steps to the doorway and approached the doors. “I’ll make a big fire.”
The heavy doors were covered in peeling paint, but the many small glass panels in the door were intact. Bria tried the handle on the door. A large round handle. She turned it one way and then another. It didn’t move. She gripped tighter and twisted again. It finally moved with a creak and squeal. Dust fell away from the door as she pressed at it.
She stepped back away and sneezed. Bria peered through one of the small glass panels into the wide hallway inside. All was hidden in darkness. Bria felt the sweat on her back chill and a shiver went down her spine. She looked closer, and closer. She peered deep into the shadows. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see there. She hoped to see nothing there but empty space.
“Well, it’s not quite the plush mansion I’d hoped for. Damn.” Talking to herself had become a regular thing. She felt silly speaking out loud when nobody was with her to talk back, but she didn’t stop doing it. She chuckled at herse
lf. “And so much for being grateful for a dry roof over my head.”
She stepped forward and kicked forward at the door, hitting it hard with the bottom of her foot, slamming into the heavy door with all her might. She hoped it would fling open. It did not and frustration caused her the bash it again and even harder. More dust fell from the door and she heard the kick she had given the door echo around inside.
Bria took hold of the handle again and twisted it, sweat breaking out on her forehead with the effort. The handle turned little by little and eventually Bria heard the mechanism clicking and squeaking until the handle turned fully and the door popped open a crack.
The sound of the door opening echoed around the vast entrance hall. The space seemed filled with the noise and the emptiness inside seemed to answer with its own deep bellowing call.
Bria stepped back from the doorway. She felt uneasy with this vast place. She had never been inside a building so big and so empty. She had never felt quite so alone. She took another step back and stumbled backwards down the stone steps.
As she fell backwards her hands reached out in a vain effort to save herself. She stumbled and fell flat on her back. The gravel driveway hurt as her head hit the ground. She thought she saw a flash of light somewhere inside the huge building. She thought she heard voices shouting out to her as she felt nausea from the impact of the fall in her candy filled belly.
She wasn’t sure why she’d stumbled. Her feet hadn’t been tangled up. She hadn’t lost her balance. It actually felt like she’d been pushed. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her.
Bria sat up and looked at the partially opened door. She had no intention of pushing it open any further. She decided she was not going to spend the night in this empty shell of a house. She would rather tear down those old doors and light a fire here on the stone steps.
Bria heard the wind raging over the treetops, the trees rustling growing louder and louder with every gust. And every gust was stronger than the last and eventually came the tiny splashes of rain.
Haunting and Scares Collection Page 2
