Haunting and Scares Collection

by Rosemary Cullen

  “Do you have a key?” he asked, looking back at her with raised eyebrows.

  “No, Mark keeps it locked and didn’t leave a key.”

  “Then how did you get down there?” Robert looked confused and waited for her to answer.

  “I don’t know. I was sleeping and then I woke up in the basement. I was trapped down there and someone, no something, came at me with a knife. I think it was Richard Holloway.”

  “A knife? Um, Richard who?”

  “The mad doctor.” Jennifer looked away when she answered, feeling silly but not knowing how to give him all the information in a way that wouldn’t make him think she was a nut case.

  “Who is that?” Robert’s voice showed irritation as he was clearly getting frustrated with the short answers and lack of details in Jennifer’s responses.

  “Look, it doesn’t matter, really. He used to live here, years ago. He and his wife died here. I think his ghost still lives here. In the basement.”

  Robert gave her another funny look. “So a ghost in the basement had a knife?”

  “Yes. I know it sounds like I’m crazy, but I’m not making it up. I thought I was going to die down there when I saw he had a knife. I think his wife saved me. I’m pretty sure she’s the one who opened the door so I could get out.”

  “Are you sure?” Robert looked even more skeptical than before.

  “Yes, I’m very sure. Why are you looking at me like that? You think that I’m off my rocker, don’t you? I didn’t imagine it. I was in the basement and the ghost had a knife.”

  “The basement door is locked. You said it yourself, Mark keeps it locked and there’s no key here. Right? So how did you get in and how is it now locked again. Take a second and breathe. Um, and what’s your name?”

  “Jennifer.”

  “Okay Jennifer, just calm down a little bit. How could you have gotten down into the basement?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where were you sleeping?”

  “I was upstairs in one of the bedrooms.”

  “Well, you probably got out of bed, half asleep still. You must have been dreaming. You had a waking nightmare. You were still in the dream when you got up.”

  “No. No, you don’t understand.”

  “Jennifer, it was a nightmare. It had to be that. And everything is okay now. You’re safe. Look at me, Jennifer. You’re safe now. It was all a dream.”

  “Yeah, I guess it was just a dream. It seemed so real, but I’m being silly. Thank you for helping me, I appreciate it. I’ll be okay. I’ll go see if my sister is awake.”

  “I’m just across the fence, if you need anything.”

  “Thank you.” Jennifer nodded and smiled weakly.

  She watched Robert as he left the house and then watched from the window as he walked back to his house and went inside.

  When she was sure he wouldn’t see her, Jennifer ran outside and started circling the house, looking for the basement windows. She found them and could see the boards on the inside. She bent down and tried to peer through the cracks, but couldn’t see anything.

  Feeling defeated, she went back inside. At least she was sure that what she’d seen from inside the basement was true. The windows were boarded up.

  “Jennifer?” Sarah’s call took her out of her thoughts and brought her back to the present.

  “Down here!”

  Sarah made her way down and looked at her sister.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You’re white as a sheet. Where did you go? I thought that we were sticking together.”

  Jennifer took a deep breath, trying to decide if she should tell Sarah what happened or keep it to herself. It had seemed very real and she was almost certain it wasn’t a dream. She didn’t want to alarm her sister when it really was nothing, but she felt like she should be honest.

  “We are. I mean, we were.” Taking another deep breath, she continued. “Something happened, though. I woke up in the basement. I saw the ghost and he had a knife. I think it was that mad doctor who lived here back in the 1800s.”

  “What? I don’t understand.” Sarah was shaking her head in disbelief.

  “I didn’t either. Not sure I do even now. But, I did wake up and I was in the basement and the door was locked. I couldn’t get out. Then the ghost came at me with a knife.”

  “Oh, my gosh, Jen.”

  “I heard a voice and saw a light at the top of the stairs. I think it was the ghost of his wife. She told me to run, so I did.”

  “Unbelievable.”

  “I know it was real. It wasn’t a dream. There is something down there, Sarah. It’s got to be a ghost.”

  Chapter 9

  “I’m going down into the basement,” said Jennifer.

  “How? It’s locked.” Sarah shrugged and almost looked relieved that something would keep her sister out of there.

  “There must be some tools around here somewhere. I’ll force open the lock and take a look around down there. I really need to figure out what happened to me.”

  “Can we not do this? Please?”

  “I’m going down there. You can come or you can let me go down there by myself. Either way, I’m going to figure this out.”

  “I hate you, Jennifer.” The look on Sarah’s face said she was very close to meaning what she said.

  “I’m going to look for a crowbar or something.”

  Jennifer went to the back yard and wandered around thinking there must be a shed somewhere. She didn’t see anything promising. Hopefully, Sarah was looking for something they could use to break in, too. Jennifer came back empty handed, but Sarah had found a tool stash in the coat closet and was holding a screwdriver.

  “Will this do?” she asked. She was also holding a flashlight.

  “You’re a genius.”

  Jennifer took the screwdriver from Sarah and walked over to the door. Sarah stood behind her and held the flashlight. Jennifer wedged the screwdriver between the door and the surround, right by the door knob. She applied some pressure and could hear some cracking, but the door wouldn’t give.

  “You need to help me,” said Jennifer. “Help me force it.”

  Jennifer stabbed the screwdriver in once more and began to push. Sarah held on to the screwdriver, too, and pushed with her. The door creaked and they could hear wood splintering. Still the door held on.

  “Keep pushing,” said Jennifer. She let go of the screwdriver and began to ram her shoulder at the door. Thump. The whole door shook and Jennifer stepped back. Thump. The door shook again and they could hear splintering.

  “I can feel it going,” said Sarah.

  Thump. Jennifer almost lost her balance as the door swung out over the basement stairs. It smacked against the wall on the other side and shook on it’s hinges. Sarah and Jennifer stood looking down into the black abyss. A sliver of light shone on the stone floor where the board didn’t completely cover the window.

  “Give me the flashlight. I’ll go down first.” Jennifer held out her hand and waited for Sarah to put it in her hand.

  They swapped the flashlight for the screwdriver and Jennifer shone the light down into the dark basement. She could see that the floor was exactly as she remembered from her time there only a few moments earlier. Slowly, she started down the steps, Sarah right behind her. She got to the bottom of the stairs and shone the torch around, finding the familiar walls and the two boarded up windows.

  “It’s just like I saw it earlier.” Jennifer stood still taking it all in.

  Sarah didn’t say a word. It was only when Jennifer looked around that she realized Sarah wasn’t in the basement with her. She shone the torch around to all four corners of the room and then up the stairs. That was when she saw the back of the door. It was firmly closed.

  She could see a shadow moving in the thin line of light at the bottom of the wooden door. She tried to run for the door, but she tripped and dropped the flashlight. It bounced across the floor and slid into the wall. Dropping the flashli
ght was a costly misfortune. She was in total darkness again. Feeling around on the floor where she thought the light had gone, she finally found it but it wouldn’t turn on.

  Panic started rising in her chest again. She hated the feeling, but it was familiar. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm down so she could figure out her next move. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. Then she kept going to twenty.

  Jennifer knew the spirits of the children were here before she even opened her eyes. She didn’t want to see the scene, but her mind forced her to. She opened them and saw what was in front of her. Dim candlelight was coming from somewhere and she was just able to make out six beds, each one with a child in it. The six children looked dead, but Jennifer could see their chests slowly rising and falling. They were all so pale and thin. The children had on loose shackles, which allowed them move their limbs, but kept them chained to their beds. The child closest to the stairs was moaning in his sleep.

  Slowly she made her way towards the child. She was walking between the first two beds when a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. She jumped in terror as the icy grip fell away. She looked down and saw the boy with his eyes slightly open. He was mouthing something, but she couldn’t hear what it was. He tried to say it again, but gave up. Instead he raised his hand and extended one of his fingers, pointing it in the opposite direction. Jennifer looked behind her.

  Gasping at what she saw in the faint light of the shadowy basement, she brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle the instinctive cry. Her eyes opened wide and she couldn’t look away. Cages that held disfigured children were stacked against the far wall. Children were hunched in cages with rashes and boils covering their entire bodies. Some were whimpering as they crouched hugging their knees.

  Jennifer could feel the children watching her. They seemed to be waiting to see what she would do. She turned from the madness of the cages, looking back to the child who had pointed. His eyes were closed and his arm hung limp over the side of his bed. He seemed at peace, but for how long?

  The child at the far end of the room was still moaning, sweat was dripping from his brow. She ignored what was behind her and walked forward. She got to the bed and watched the child as he was tossing restlessly in his sleep. She reached down to place a hand on his head when a voice rang out.

  “Do not touch him!”

  Jennifer spun around and saw nothing. Everything was gone. The beds, the children, the cages. All of it was gone.

  She could see the stone floor and walls just barely in the dimness. The temperature had dropped suddenly. Now the room was cold and the hairs on her neck were standing on end, goosebumps on her skin. Another shiver ran down her spine.

  She turned around to check the door again but before she could take a step, the figure was there. The sinister black figure from before. This time he was wearing a nearly transparent white coat.

  Jennifer realized she was holding the flashlight and she quickly hurled it at the figure. It passed straight through him and clattered against the wall behind him.

  “What do you want!” shouted Jennifer.

  The words came out in spurts. Tears were filling her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. She could feel her heart beating in her chest. She tried to breathe evenly, but all she could do was gulp air. She tried to move, but she was pinned to the wall. The figure slowly came towards her, there was no knife this time, but it’s arms were extended, reaching out. She could see the hands, the long black fingers extending out, searching.

  As they came closer, Jennifer tried to push the hands back, but her own hands passed straight though them, bringing icy stabs of pain up into her shoulders. She sank down and brought her knees up to her chest, tilting her head down and closing her eyes tight. She screamed as the figure grabbed her hair and dragged her upwards.

  She opened her eyes and looked into the madness of the figure’s eyes, the eyes of the mad doctor. She tried to escape from his grip, but nothing she did mattered anymore. The tears dried up and she looked straight at him, determined to survive. He pushed her back against the wall and her head hit the solid wall behind her. She didn’t feel the pain.

  His hands shot to her throat and wrapped around it. She could feel the life slipping away from her as she gasped for breath. Anger filled her that she was unable to fight him off even though she had vowed to herself not to give up.

  Her eyes were closing and opening, the scene unfolded in slow motion through moments of consciousness. She was lifted to a table, which hadn’t been there before. She looked from side to side to see shackles on her wrists and ankles. She tried to move her limbs, but they were too heavy.

  She moved her head to the other side and could see the back of the white coat. The murky figure was hunched over a table. He stood up straight and turned around holding a scalpel. She closed her eyes tight, but felt them being forced open by his chilling fingers. He held her eyes open as he stared into them. Jennifer watched as the mad doctor brought the scalpel down towards her chest.

  Then there was nothing but darkness.

  Chapter 10

  Jennifer screamed as her heart froze. She yanked her arms violently against the shackles on her arms and legs. She thrashed from side to side, her blood running cold. Something was hurting, but her brain was unfocused and she wasn’t sure where the dull pain was. Her shoulder? Maybe her chest. Everything around her was blurry.

  She heard banging coming from somewhere, but it sounded far away. Then she heard her name. Someone was calling her. Who?

  She opened her eyes to slits and could see the snarling face of the mad doctor above her. His wicked smile hovered above her as he thrust the scalpel into her chest again. She opened her mouth to scream again, but something stopped her.

  The light in the room changed. The darkness was gone and a lightness took over. The mad doctor began to fade right before her eyes. Someone was behind him. She watched as her neighbor, Robert, came into focus. His face replaced the doctor’s.

  He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. She screamed and screamed as her vision narrowed.

  “Stay with me,” he said intently.

  Jennifer could hear the voice of her sister and was pulled from the darkness of her terror. Light began to enter her world and she regained her wits and her consciousness. She let her head rest back onto the cool stone floor and looked up at the ceiling. She could see Sarah’s face join Robert’s above her. Sarah was mouthing words and it took as second for her brain to register them.

  “Are you okay?” Sarah reached out stroking her forehead and pushing her hair back from her face.

  “What happened?” Jennifer croaked out the question with a parched throat from all the screaming.

  “Let’s sit you up. That will help you get your bearings.” Robert helped her up into a sitting position and pulled her to the wall so she could lean against it.

  Jennifer concentrated in breathing and calming herself. Remembering the pain in her chest and the vision of the man stabbing her, she brought her hands up to her chest. When she took them away, there was no blood. She looked down at her chest and saw clearly that there was no wound. Her heart still felt like ice.

  “What happened to me? How did all this happen?”

  “It looks like you had a panic attack.” Robert’s voice sounded calm and comforting. He also sounded confident in his assessment of what happened.

  “What happened?” Jennifer looked at Sarah, her eyes begging for an opinion that didn’t make it seem like she was losing her mind.

  “I don’t know.” Sarah was trembling when her hand reached down and took Jennifer’s. “When you walked down the stairs, the door slammed shut. I tried to open it, but I couldn’t, I wasn't strong enough. I could hear you talking to someone. I shouted your name and banged on the door, but you didn’t answer. Nobody answered.”

  “I didn’t hear any of that,” said Jennifer.

  “I could hear you walking around down there. I waited for you to come back, I tried to force the door aga
in, but it was stuck shut. Then I heard you scream. Oh Jen, what happened?”

  “I saw him.” Jennifer whispered and Sarah leaned in to hear. “And all the experiments. The children were pitiful. It was awful. Terrible.”

  Jennifer brought her hand up to her mouth, she thought she was going to throw up. The scene was playing again in her head and she bowed her head and closed her eyes. She was weary. She had no energy at all. The incident had sucked her life away—at least for the moment.

  “Jen, are you all right? Can I get some water for you?” Sarah’s grip on Jennifer’s hand tightened, then loosened again. The comfort wouldn’t come. Not yet. She squeezed Sarah’s hand back and shook her head.

  “He did awful things to those children. They were there, too. Then he came for me. I could feel him, his hands around my neck. He tried to kill me, he had me on a table, tied down, then he stabbed me, straight through the heart. I swear, it was so real. That was when Robert burst in.”

  “I had to do something. I had to get in there. When I couldn’t get the door open, I ran next door and got Robert. He came back with me and we forced the door together. We found you convulsing on the floor.” She looked up at Robert with wide, concerned eyes.

  Robert just nodded, confirming that Sarah had asked him to help.

  “You don’t believe me.” Jennifer narrowed her eyes at Robert. “You don’t know what’s going on here and you don’t seem to have an open mind to figure it out. I think you should just go. Thanks for coming over, but—”

  “Stop.” Robert raised his hand. “As much as I don’t want to, I believe you. I absolutely cannot believe I’m saying this, but I believe you saw the ghost of Richard Holloway.”

  “You do?”

  Jennifer’s mouth dropped open and she gaped at him. Robert nodded his head. She looked over at Sarah.

  “How else would the door lock itself, especially after it had been forced open? I was there Jen, I believe you.” Sarah’s eyes were wild, frightened, but she was sincere.