The Ghosts of Hexley Airport
Page 22
***
“You don't actually believe in all that ghost rubbish, do you?” the first guard asked as he took another drag on his cigarette. He and his colleague were sheltering just outside one of the terminal's main doors, trying to keep out of the gale-force winds as much as possible. “Don't tell me I'm on a shift with a nutter.”
“Of course I don't believe in them,” the second guard replied. “But you've got to admit, all that stuff that happened last year was pretty weird. I mean, they never found out who was the voice on the radio, warning them about the trouble with the plane.”
“It was just someone who wanted to remain anonymous.”
“I heard she used the name of an old guard who used to work here. Casey something. One who died in the big disaster eleven years ago.”
“Exactly. Proves my point.” Stubbing his cigarette out against the wall, the first guard grabbed his gun and slung it over his shoulder. “You work on the night-shift long enough, mate, and you'll get used to a few bumps you can't explain. Doesn't mean it's caused by ghosts, though. Do you know how many guards there are on duty at Hexley Airport each night, even when it's closed?”
“Just us two?” the second guard laughed.
“Eighteen. And if you ask me, that's not even enough. The point is, here are plenty of other people here, so if you hear footsteps in the distance or anything like that, don't go wetting your knickers about ghosts. Alright?”
“Alright.”
“Now let's get going. I wanna get back inside for at least five minutes before we have to set out again. Last night's curry wants out.”
They wandered away into the cold, windy night, and their bantering voices could be heard for several minutes until finally the area around gate 30A fell still. Howling wind was racing across the tarmac and whistling through gaps in the jet bridges, screeching almost. Nearby, another automated light cycled regularly from green to red and back again, while black-domed security cameras were dotted about on every wall, column and ceiling. When a particularly strong gust of wind suddenly hit, one of the gantry cranes creaked loudly, silhouetted high above the terminal building.
A couple of old cans, having broken free from a bin somewhere, rolled loudly across the tarmac before butting against a wall.
“Are you okay there?” Casey asked, turning to the frightened-looking man who had finally dared emerge from his hiding place in the forest. “You know you can go back to the trees if you want, right?”
“So you just spend every night out here, walking around without anyone seeing you?” he replied.
“What else is there to do?” she said with a faint smile, sitting on a generator casing. “They've got plenty of guards here, but it doesn't hurt to have a few more. Anyway, you never know, I might spot something that they miss.”
“And you were a guard on the night of the disaster?”
She nodded.
“And I...”
“You were on the plane,” she continued, and now her smile faded slightly. “It's okay. It just took you a while to realize what had happened to you.” She paused. “An old friend once told me that it's amazing what the human brain can make you think you've seen, when you've seen nothing at all. I think it's also amazing what the human brain can make you think you didn't see, even when it was right in front of your face.”
He turned to her. “An old friend? You mean... Another one like you? I mean, like us?”
She nodded.
“Is he here now?” the man continued.
“No. He's gone. I think he moved on to... Well, to somewhere. I hope -”
Before she could finish, a set of footsteps suddenly rang out nearby.
The man spun around, startled, and Casey slowly turned just in time to see two more security guards making their way past the end of the building, heading out toward the main hangar.
“I thought they were...”
The man paused, before turning to Casey.
“Ghosts?” she asked with a smile, before jumping down from the generator casing, joining him on the tarmac. “I used to think that too. I remember a time when I didn't realize there were other, living guards here at all. Tom and I thought we were the only ones. Again, it's amazing how the brain... Well, you get the idea. Now how about we get out on patrol ourselves, huh? If you want to, I mean. It can be kind of fun.”
“But are there other ghosts here?”
“One or two.”
He turned and looked around, clearly nervous.
“What's wrong?” Casey asked. “Scared?”
“I don't want to see a ghost.”
“Don't look in the mirror, then.”
“What about Old Eve?” he asked, turning back to her. “Have you seen her?”
“Old Eve's a little different,” she replied. “No, I haven't seen her. They say she was here even before the disaster, but I don't really... Well, I only know about the ghosts who came after the plane crash. Before that, I'm really not sure.”
“But you think she's really here?”
“If she is, she keeps herself to herself.”
“But you think she exists?”
“It's hard to believe that a -”
Casey caught herself just in time.
“You know what?” she continued. “After everything I've seen, I don't feel like I can be too sure either way. Maybe Old Eve's the oldest ghost at Hexley. Maybe she's watching over us right now. Maybe she even hears our thoughts and knows what we're all thinking and feeling. Maybe. And if that's the case, then I guess it's great. But we can't rely on that, so let's get on with our patrol, okay?”
“But the ghost -”
“I said maybe,” she continued, taking him by the arm and leading him away through the snow. “Maybe there's a ghost watching over us. But come on, don't turn into a scaredy-cat. A ghost that's afraid of other ghosts is just sad. Let me show you around the place a little. We've got people to keep an eye on, to make sure they get to where they're going. If you ask me, that's reward enough.”
As they walked, the man continued to pepper Casey with more questions about the idea that a ghost was watching the airport. A ghost who saw everything, who heard everything, who felt everything and who tried to help wherever she could. A ghost who kept herself to herself and merely did whatever she could to keep Hexley safe. A ghost who haunted other ghosts.
And a moment later, as the pair of them trudged away through the snow, I set off to follow them on their patrol.
Also by Amy Cross
PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS
AND OTHER STORIES
A husband waits until his wife and children are in bed, before inviting a dangerous man into their home...
A girl keeps hold of her mother's necklace, as bloodied hands try to tear it from her grasp...
A gun jams, even as its intended victim begs the universe to let her die...
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Amy Cross. Some of the stories take place in seemingly ordinary towns, whose inhabitants soon discover something truly shocking lurking beneath the veneer of peace and calm. Others show glimpses of vast, barbaric worlds where deadly forces gather to toy with humanity. All the stories in this collection peel back the face of a nightmare, revealing the horror that awaits. And in every one of the stories, some kind of monster lurks...
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories contains the new stories Perfect Little Monsters, I Hate You, Meat, Fifty Fifty and Stay Up Late, as well as a revised version of the previously-released story The Scream. This book contains scenes of violence, as well as strong language.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BRIDE OF ASHBYRN HOUSE
“I have waited so long for your return.”
In the English countryside, miles from the nearest town, there stands an old stone house. Nobody has set foot in the house for years. Nobody has dared. For it is said that even though the lady of the house is long dead, a face can sometimes be seen at one of the windows. A pale
, dead face that waits patiently behind a silk wedding veil.
Seeking an escape from his life in London, Owen Stone purchases Ashbyrn House without waiting to find out about its history. As far as Owen is concerned, ghosts aren't real and his only company in the house will be the thin-legged spiders that lurk on the walls. Even after he moves in, and after he starts hearing strange noises in the night, Owen insists that Ashbyrn House can't possibly be haunted.
But Owen knows nothing about the ghostly figure that is said to haunt the house. Or about the mysterious church bells that ring out across the lawn at night. Or about the terrible fate that befell the house's previous inhabitants when they dared defy the bride. Even as Owen starts to understand the horrific truth about Ashbyrn House's past, he might be too late to escape the clutches of the presence that watches his every move.
The Bride of Ashbyrn House is a ghost story about a man who believes the past can't hurt him, and about a woman whose search for a husband has survived even her own tragic death.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF
“We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”
When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.
A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.
The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.
Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?
The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.
Also by Amy Cross
THE GHOST OF SHAPLEY HALL
“Georgette Shapley died outside this house. Her ghost has spent the past century trying to get back inside so she can be reunited with her child.”
James Spence doesn't believe in ghosts, so he has no worries about going with his girlfriend Rachel to visit an old, abandoned country home.
Rachel, meanwhile, is convinced that a weekend at Shapley Hall will make James change his mind. After all, she knows from bitter experience that the the house is haunted by a woman who once died in the most horrific manner possible, and who now waits to be reunited with her long-lost child.
As the weekend continues, however, James starts to realize that maybe ghosts are the least of his problems. Rachel's behavior is becoming increasingly erratic, and it soon becomes clear that she'll stop at nothing to fulfill a promise she once made to a dead woman. Did Rachel imagine a terrifying experience during her childhood, or are the hallways of Shapley Hall really haunted by a terrifying, vengeful creature?
The Ghost of Shapley Hall is a horror story about two people who venture into a dark, abandoned house, and about the echo of a terrible crime that still haunts the Shapley family to this day.
OTHER BOOKS
BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE
Horror
The Bride of Ashbyrn House
The Body at Auercliff
B&B
Laura
Asylum
Meds (Asylum 2)
Annie's Room
The Farm
The Haunting of Blackwych Grange
The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)
The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories
Twisted Little Things and Other Stories
The Disappearance of Katie Wren
The Horror of Devil's Root Lake
The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel
The Curse of Wetherley House
The Printer From Hell
The Nurse
American Coven
Eli's Town
The Night Girl
Devil's Briar
The Cabin
After the Cabin
Last Wrong Turn
At the Edge of the Forest
The Devil's Hand
The Ghost of Shapley Hall
The Death of Addie Gray
A House in London
The Blood House
The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)
Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)
The Border
The Lighthouse
3AM
Tenderling
The Girl Clay
The Prison
Ward Z
The Devil's Photographer
Thriller
The Girl Who Never Came Back
The Murder at Skellin Cottage
Other People's Bodies
Dystopia / Science Fiction
The Dog
The Island (The Island book 1)
Persona (The Island book 2)