Dreamscape

by Philip R Benge

  Chapter Four

  More Deaths at the Haunted House

  Moira now decided to move things along, she was not only harassing the ghost seekers for a little light entertainment; she also wanted to force Rob to help her free her father from the hell dimension of Tartarus.

  The person she had chosen as her next target of the day was Mr Hillmore`s assistant, Jean Carson, a young woman of twenty years who had enjoyed her job up until today, now she was seriously thinking of quitting. She was lying on her bed with her head resting on her pillow, which she had propped up against the wall in an effort to get comfortable. She had a blanket pulled up around her, both for warmth and a feeling of security, which she knew was ridiculous for a woman of her age, but hell her situation was hardly normal. Ms Carson had closed her eyes in the hope of getting some sleep, but she knew that she would not get a wink of sleep that night, for she was so absolutely terrified. She was on the upper storey of this real nightmare of a haunted house, and; she wanted nothing more than to be able to go home to her mother. Yes it had been quiet for a long time, but the way out was still barred to everyone, and the ghosts had not departed, that much was obvious to her. She told herself repeatedly that this was just a nightmare; this could not be really happening to her, not in England, she would soon wake up in her own comfy bed. As she lay there shaking with fear, she heard every creak uttered by the old house, scrutinized every shadow, pushing the wooden cross given to her by Father Pritchard, and held tightly in her left hand, towards each shadow or creak in turn. Her eyes opened wide in terror at each new event before they returned to their normal state of plain utter fear, she wondered if her hair had changed colour, probably she thought it had, to white. Occasionally she touched her string of garlic, but she was relying on the bottle of holy water that she held in her right hand to keep her safe, she had already unscrewed its top, just in case, fearful of what the night had in store for her, wanting to be ready for whatever came her way. It was already cold within the house, as the fire that she had lit in her bedroom, using the small amount of coal that she found in the coal scuttle, which she lit with the firelighter and matches also provided, was almost done. Even the roaring fire in the sitting room was now dying down for lack of fuel, fuel that no one dared to get as it was down in the cellar. Of course it was nearly Christmas, so one expected it to be chilly, but now the temperature fell sharply and she saw a light dusting of frost appear on the floor, she shivered pulling the blanket tighter around her and began to pray, for something told her that her time had come. It is so unfair she wailed to herself, I am still young. Just then another creak of a floorboard made her pulse rate leap, for this time it had come from right outside her bedroom door! Her fear factor rose as her eyes flew to the solid wooden door, surely it would protect her, slowly she watched as the door knob began to slowly turn, a scream building within her throat as her mouth opened to give it utterance. Ms Carson remembered that she had locked the door and her pulse rate began to fall, that was until the chair that she had set against the door went flying across the room, then her pulse rate rocketed sky high as she looked at the chair, smashed to pieces against the wall beside her bed. She got up from the bed, holding the cross before her, ready to throw the holy water at whatever monster from hell appeared, she was a woman of the twenty first century, not a Victorian maiden in need of a man to save her. Then her worst fear was realised, the door flew open, she cannot have locked it she thought, and then four ghostly figures rushed towards her, two adults and two children. Unknown to her Moira had unlocked the door, not that the door would have prevented the Shades from entering the room, Moira just used the opening of the door for effect. In a moment they were all around her, already tasting her in their weak minds, the scream that had been building up burst forth from her mouth and carried to every corner of the house. She threw the holy water towards them and her panic subsided when she saw one of the creatures stop and cry out in pain, its screams so loud it almost deafened her. She then jabbed her cross at another of them and saw it stop, fearing to proceed any nearer to the mortal.

  A pillar of smoke formed in the corner of his room, and within the smoke the outline of a beautiful woman began to take shape, accompanied by the vile stench of Hell and another drop in temperature. Moira Bourbon appeared before the terrified woman, her green eyes boring into those of Ms Carson, whose hands were forced down to her sides, Ms Carson screamed again when she realised that she no longer controlled her own body.

  “Surely you do not begrudge my minions a tasty little snack, do you?” Moira asked and then she burst into laughter when she saw her victim give a weak nod of her head by way of an answer.

  “Well hard cheese Jean. Go on boys; tuck into the tasty young lady.” Moira said and laughed yet again at the pleading eyes of her victim.

  The four Shades, hungry beyond description, rushed towards her, and then they began to feed, they intended to steal every bit of her life-force. The two smaller creatures who looked more like gargoyles than children reached her first, their fingers mysteriously sinking into her body without breaking the skin, then she felt her energy draining away, and then the two adult ghosts joined in the feast. She cried out for god to save her, but to no avail, her life-force was quickly being drained away, she could do nothing to stop them, nothing, and then thankfully she lost consciousness. After they were finished, the Shades returned to Moira Bourbon`s side, what they had stolen had not been enough to return them to their old normal selves, but they did take on more of a human look.

  Downstairs in the sitting room, Rob and Father Pritchard had first heard the chair striking against the wall, and had risen from their own chairs, and then they heard the first of Ms Carson`s piercing screams. As one they rushed from the sitting room and towards the first of the two staircases, it was now that an icy gale force wind hit them. They had to use every ounce of energy just to pull themselves up the staircase, frozen to the bone they reached the first floor where they were met by a fearful Professor Inglis.

  “I believe the screams came from up there.” He gasped out as the wind tried to stop his words from reaching Rob`s ears, Inglis was holding on to the banister rail with one hand to stop from being blown away and he was pointing up to the upper floor with the other hand.

  Anxious heads had appeared at the other bedroom doors on the first floor, fear beset each of them as the icy wind whipped around them, none of them daring to leave the perceived safety of their rooms. Inglis slowly followed Rob and Father Pritchard up the staircase to the upper floor as another terrifying scream filled the house, and then the wind stopped, as suddenly as it had begun. On the top floor they were met by the terrified figure of Mr Hillmore whose head was also peeking out from his partially open door.

  “I think it was Ms Carson who screamed.” He said meekly and pointed to the door next to his one. “My God, what is happening in there?”

  As they approached her room the grey head of a Shade pushed through the closed door. “Go away, I am busy in here.” It screamed at them.

  Hillmore almost fainted with the shock of seeing the terrifying creature, luckily Inglis hurriedly moved to his side to give him some support. Father Pritchard reply was swift, he pulled from his pocket a glass bottle, and after opening it he threw its contents over the head of the phantasm. The results were spectacular, the ghostly head screamed in pain as the holy water burnt it and a terrible smelling smoke rose up from the phantasm, the head hastily pulled back into the bedroom, and once there it disappeared through the floorboards, although its ghostly cries of pain could be heard all over the house.

  On finding that the door was locked, for Moira had relocked the door to make for a greater mystery, Rob looked over to Hillmore who only now offered him a master key. Unlocking the door the four men entered, with Hillmore bringing up the rear, only creeping across the threshold rather than fully entering the room to tend to his employee. Everything within the room was either overturned or destroyed, a gleaming white frost covered every su
rface, but of Ms Carson there was no sign. Rob righted the bed to see if she was beneath it, but there was still no sign of the body. Father Pritchard looked out through the window, which he was amazed to find open and it was then that he saw a body lying on the ground outside of the house.

  “The force field must have been turned off for the time it took for the woman to jump, if indeed she did jump.” Father Pritchard surmised.

  “Hillmore.” Rob said to the media man. “Didn`t you say that the first person to die was found on the ground beneath her bedroom window?”

  “Yes Sir.” Hillmore replied very respectfully.” Mildred Stewart, the youngest of the family.”

  “Ms Carson fits the bill quite well Rob.” Father Pritchard said. “She might well have been the youngest female amongst us; it could be that Moira Bourbon has decided to replicate the earlier deaths.”

  “Hillmore, you said that the second Stewart to die was a boy, drowned in his bath.” Rob asked.

  “Yes, the Stewarts` son, Mark.” Hillmore replied, grateful that he was not the youngest male there.

  Rob turned to Inglis. “Professor, which of your team is the youngest male?”

  “Donald Lewis, I think, he is in the room next to me, on the floor below.” Inglis replied anxiously.