The Clockwork House

by Wendy Saunders

‘I noticed,’ he sucked in a breath as he tried to adjust his jeans.

  ‘Just so you know,’ Ava glanced at him, ‘you’re only staying until the rain lets up and if you try anything Bailey will maul you, starting with your dick.’

  ‘Understood,’ he breathed through the throbbing ache in his balls.

  Bailey crawled between them forming a huge barrier which smelled of wet fur. She glanced down at Kelley, growling low in her throat in warning before her long pink tongue lolled out of her mouth and for a second, he could’ve sworn she was laughing at him.

  They lay there all three of them, staring up at the roof of the tent, watching as it lit up with each bolt of lightning streaking across the tempestuous sky. They talked in hushed tones, of little things, silly things, they laughed and little by little Ava found herself beginning to relax.

  The man lying on the other side of her dog was entirely too tempting for her own good. He appealed to her on every level, from his gorgeous face and crooked smile to his self-deprecating sense of humor.

  They waited for the storm to blow itself out or move on, but as they lay there together, warmed by the heat of Bailey’s huge furry body and lulled by the rhythmic patter of the rain against the canvas, they both drifted into a deep comfortable sleep.

  6

  Kelley was suffocating, trapped in a dream wasteland somewhere between waking and a total lack of anything resembling consciousness. In this strange dream world, he was being pursued by a huge flying rug of gold and black fur. There were steaks attached to his clothes and as he tried to run, the ground kept turning into a strange gooey red curry. He turned as the rug swooped down and suddenly, he was falling. The rug blanketed him, covering his nose and mouth as he gasped for air.

  He woke with a jolt, struggling to breathe under the huge hairy mountain of fur laying on top of him. He pushed and shoved, until finally he managed to move the dead weight a fraction and suck in a loud breath.

  ‘Bailey,’ he wheezed as he shoved the heavy lump again.

  She whined and rolled over onto her back, crushing his stomach and burying the side of his head with her face.

  ‘Would you two like some privacy?’ an amused female voice spoke.

  Kelley shuffled and struggled underneath the weight of the huge dog, managing to get her off his face as he looked up and saw Ava peering into the tent.

  ‘Help please,’ Kelley grimaced as Bailey shifted.

  ‘I think she’s changed her mind about you,’ Ava’s mouth twitched.

  ‘Please get her off me; she weighs a ton.’

  Deciding to take pity on the poor guy, Ava straightened up, holding the tent flap open as she let out a loud whistle.

  ‘Bailey, breakfast.’

  He’d never seen a dog move so fast. He doubled over and groaned as her claws dug in and she scrambled ecstatically in an attempt to get out of the tent, trampling him like a wet rag in the process.

  After a few moments Kelley crawled out of the tent and climbed to his feet, gingerly stretching out the kinks in his spine and rubbing his sore belly.

  ‘Here,’ Ava handed him a coffee in a tin cup.

  ‘God bless you,’ Kelley inhaled the fumes of the dark bitter brew, almost reverently.

  ‘I don’t have any milk.’

  ‘Black’s fine,’ he took a long, satisfying gulp, not caring that it was still slightly too hot, burning his palate. He let out a deep breath and yawned, his fingers tangling in his hair as he pushed it back from his face. ‘Sorry,’ he yawned, ‘I didn’t mean to fall asleep last night, I swear.’

  She studied him slowly. It was the first time she’d actually seen him in daylight and, while he did look almost identical to his twin, she could see the subtle differences. Kelley’s hair was leaning toward the shaggy, needing a haircut. His warm chestnut hair, naturally lightened on the ends by the sun, hung in his eyes and grazed his collar. His skin was lightly and unevenly tanned, highlighting intensely green eyes, which at the moment were filled with sleep but were no less potent as he watched her over the rim of his cup.

  For a moment they stared at each other until Bailey wandered over, having cleaned her bowl, and butted Ava in the legs. Ava looked down as her dog brushed past her, rubbing her full body against her affectionately.

  ‘I honestly don’t know how you haven’t suffocated sharing a tent with her,’ Kelley shook his head.

  ‘She doesn’t sleep on me like that,’ Ava laughed lightly. ‘Sometimes she’ll lie across my legs, but she’s never actually rolled all over me.’

  Kelley looked down at Bailey who was watching him with dark liquid eyes.

  ‘Decided I’m alright, have you?’ he asked her.

  She responded by jamming her nose in his crotch.

  ‘Jesus Christ Bailey,’ he swore as he doubled over and moved back sharply, trying not to spill the rest of his coffee. ‘Boundaries… you didn’t even take me out to dinner first.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Ava tried to cover her laugh with her hand. ‘I guess somewhere between last night and this morning she’s decided she likes you.’

  ‘What about you?’

  ‘What about me?’ her eyes glittered in amusement.

  ‘Have you decided you like me too?’

  Ava laughed again. In fact, she hadn’t laughed this much in a while and it felt good.

  ‘I guess you’re okay,’ she replied.

  ‘Ava really, all these compliments will just go to my head.’

  ‘I’m sure you get enough compliments,’ Ava leaned back against her truck.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she shook her head as she gazed up at the house.

  Kelley followed her gaze and took another sip of coffee.

  ‘I guess it’s not so scary in the daylight,’ he mused.

  ‘What? The house?’ Ava asked.

  ‘Yeah, half the island’s population have come out here as teenagers and kids, scaring themselves stupid and trying to catch a glimpse of the ghost.’

  ‘What ghost?’

  ‘You seriously telling me you’ve been on the island what, two days, and you haven’t heard about the ghost of Luella Lynch?’

  ‘No,’ she climbed up onto the hood of her truck and once again glanced up at the house. ‘Everyone gets all cagey and tight-lipped about the house, like it’s some big secret. It’s just a house, a big sad old house that’s been neglected for far too long.’

  ‘Ava…Ava, Ava,’ he tutted as he propped himself casually against the side of the truck. ‘I can see I’m going to have to educate you.’

  ‘Go on then,’ her mouth curved, ‘educate me.’

  ‘The story begins back at the turn of the century. The Lynch family had already owned the house for nearly fifty years, though most of the family had passed away. All that was left was Eleanor Lynch, her daughter Luella and her young son Edward. Luella, it seemed, was a very disturbed child, and even worse as a teenager. Legend says she murdered her younger brother when he was only eight years old, by drowning him in the bath. The mother, Eleanor, had Luella locked away in an asylum in Maine where she stayed for several years, until the doctors decided she was not considered a danger. She’d managed to convince them her brother’s death had been a tragic accident although Eleanor never fully believed it. Lonely in her old age, she relented and allowed Luella to return home.’

  ‘Still not really scared yet,’ Ava shook her head.

  ‘That’s because I haven’t got to the good stuff yet,’ he replied. ‘Now, where was I?’

  ‘Luella returns home after a stint in rehab.’

  ‘Very funny,’ he glanced up at the house. ‘Anyway, Luella returns home, furious with her mother for having her locked away for so long. She locked her mother, who was now old and frail, in the attic room, keeping her prisoner as she once had been. Trying to put her past behind her and present a respectable face to the world, Luella married a young teacher, from Boston I think, and together they opened the house as a school.’

  ‘Ye
ah,’ Ava murmured absently as she stared back at the house. ‘I saw all the children’s desks when I was in the house yesterday. Your brother said it had once been used as a school.’

  ‘You were inside the house?’ Kelley blinked slowly, ‘actually inside it yesterday?’

  Ava nodded.

  ‘Good God Ava, you’ve got a set of brass balls.’

  ‘Like I said, it’s just a sad, old, neglected house,’ she told him pointedly, ‘and I’ll thank you to leave my balls out of it,’ she added impishly. ‘So, go on, tell me how this tale of terror ends, cause I gotta tell you, right now? I’m just not feeling it.’

  Kelley shook his head in disbelief as the corner of his mouth curved.

  ‘One night in 1919, Oct 31st to be exact...’

  ‘Halloween?’ Ava’s brows rose mockingly, ‘not very original.’

  ‘The 31st Oct 1919,’ Kelley continued, ‘was the worst storm on record. Houses were destroyed, part of the island was flooded, and lightning struck this very cliff causing part of the cliff edge to break away and crash into the sea below. The storm raged all night and when it finally calmed with the dawn, all the parents of the children at the Lynch school, knowing that the cliff had been struck by lightning, rushed to the house to find their children.’

  ‘And?’ Ava asked expectantly.

  ‘And nothing, they were all gone,’ Kelley replied.

  ‘Define all gone?’

  ‘Disappeared without a trace, meals were left untouched, beds unslept in. Toys left scattered on the floor. Luella, her husband and all the children had vanished. There were no bodies, no blood, nothing.’

  ‘Is that it?’ Ava frowned, a bit disappointed, ‘they all just vanished? Where does the supposed ghost come into it then?’

  ‘There was talk of hidden passageways and rooms beneath the house. They say Luella snapped during the storm and dragged the children down into the hidden rooms, murdering them all as she had her brother. Unable to face what she’d done, she locked the concealed doorways and died down there amongst the corpses of the children she’d killed.’

  ‘Okay,’ Ava shook her head, raising her hand. ‘First, there is not a shred of evidence that anyone was murdered,’ she began to tick off her fingers. ‘Second there were no bodies; third I’m guessing the distraught parents searched the house from top to bottom?’

  Kelley nodded as he conceded the point.

  ‘Did they ever find these so-called hidden rooms?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Exactly,’ she replied. ‘I’ll admit it’s a bit weird, but you said yourself the island flooded, and part of the cliff collapsed. It’s just as plausible that they were trying to reach somewhere safer and were swept out to sea and drowned.’

  ‘There are other things,’ he continued, ‘over the years.’

  ‘Such as?’ her brows lifted in challenge.

  ‘Strange things in the house; flickering lights in the high windows.’

  ‘The reflection of the moon on the windowpanes,’ Ava countered.

  ‘Weird noises.’

  ‘All old houses have weird noises,’ Ava laughed. ‘Seriously Kelley, the house is not haunted, I guarantee it.’

  ‘Okay then, back in the eighties, three kids broke into the house on a dare. Todd Hinton, Declan Tilman and Julia Mays, but only Julia walked back out again. Todd was found at the bottom of the staircase, just below the second-floor balcony and Declan threw himself from the Clifftop.’

  ‘That’s sad,’ Ava shook her head. ‘How old were they?’

  ‘Eighteen.’

  ‘An accident and a suicide, so young,’ she shook her head. ‘Such a waste of life.’

  ‘That isn’t what really happened. Julia was nearly incomprehensible by the time they found her the next morning. She’d spent all night in the house alone and whatever it was she saw drove her mad. She was never the same again; she’s been in and out of mental institutions ever since.’

  ‘I still think it’s all urban myths and rumors,’ Ava shook her head. ‘You grew up on the island so it’s different for you, but I don’t believe in ghosts.’

  ‘Think what you like,’ Kelley shook his head, ‘but everyone on the island knows. Luella Lynch still walks those rooms, as the ghosts of the children she murdered hide from her.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Ava stared at him, ‘that’s not even a good story. There are so many holes in it I could use it to strain soup.’

  ‘Why would you strain soup?’

  ‘Never mind,’ she sighed.

  ‘All I’m saying is there’s no way you’d get me in that house,’ he held up his hands. ‘Now,’ he pushed away from the truck, ‘that coffee has gone straight through me. Where’s the restroom?’

  ‘In the house.’

  Kelley stared at her blankly.

  ‘There won’t be any temporary restrooms on the site until the building crews arrive, so I’m afraid you’ll have to rough it and pee behind a tree.’

  ‘Are you serious?’ he blinked.

  ‘Welcome to the joys of outdoor living,’ she grinned.

  He walked away muttering something Ava didn’t quite catch. Smiling to herself she rinsed out the cup she’d handed Kelley and made herself a coffee. She turned to gaze out across the sparkling ocean, breathing a sign of contentment. She had just raised the little tin cup to her lips and taken a slow contemplative sip when she heard Bailey barking loudly.

  Turning around sharply, her gaze swept over the little makeshift campsite and then over to the house. Unable to see her dog, she placed the cup down by the firepit and followed the barking. She jogged to the edge of the large house and rounded the corner. Toward the back of the property, some distance away, she could see Bailey as she pranced excitedly on the spot, tail wagging as she leapt in the air and caught a ball which had been tossed to her.

  Ava shook her head in amusement; for all his protests Kelley had obviously fallen for her soppy dog. She headed toward them. Every time Bailey caught the ball she would trot forward, disappear out of sight for a few seconds, presumably to drop it at his feet, then back up again, tail wagging, as she waited for it to be thrown again.

  ‘I knew you couldn’t resist her,’ Ava laughed as she approached. ‘I thought you were going to pee not play catch with my dog.’

  She stopped by Bailey who was sitting on her haunches, ball in her mouth as she grinned, tail thumping against the dry, browning grass. Turning her head, she frowned in confusion. There was no one there, just an empty brick alcove in the wall.

  ‘Kelley?’ Ava looked around but there was no one and no way he could’ve disappeared without her seeing him. ‘Kelley?’

  Kneeling down beside Bailey she reached out and took the ball from her dog’s mouth, turning it over in her hands as she studied it.

  ‘Where did you get this girl, huh?’ she rubbed Bailey’s coat.

  The ball was small and hard, like a baseball, and made from a dark tanned leather which was partially cracked in places from age. The stitching was worn almost smooth and across the middle, branded untidily like it had been done with a heated penknife were the initials P. L. M.

  Ava turned and glanced thoughtfully at the concealed alcove. She could’ve sworn someone was throwing the ball to her; she’d watched Bailey jump up and catch it in her mouth. Perhaps she’d managed to bounce it against the wall somehow and caught the rebound.

  A sudden, terrifying scream pierced the air and had Ava standing abruptly. Dropping the ball thoughtlessly from her suddenly lax fingers, she left it lying in the tall brown patch of grass and ran back toward the front of the house.

  The screaming seemed to be coming from just inside the tree line. Heading straight for it, with Bailey loping alongside her, she came to a skidding halt just in time to see Kelley zipping up his jeans and looking absolutely mortified. In front of him stood a group of well-dressed elderly ladies, one of which she recognized.

  ‘Mrs McCarthy?’ Ava frowned as she stared at a slightly shorter woman, she didn’t
recognize, swooning in Bunty’s arms.

  ‘Bunty dear, call me Bunty,’ she corrected fanning her friend casually as if she caught her fainting every other day. ‘Sorry about Betty, she has a nervous disposition. We were on our way to visit with you, but it seems one of the trees came down in the road last night, so we left the car and walked the rest of the way. Although it’s a pleasant morning for a stroll through the woods, we weren’t expecting to see quite so much of Mr Ryan here.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ another lady, wearing candy floss pink, ruffled chiffon, smiled slowly as she winked a heavily mascara clad eye at Kelley who seemed to flush an even deeper shade of red. ‘It’s always a pleasure to run into one of the Ryan boys.’

  Kelley took an involuntary step behind Ava as if he could somehow use her as a human shield.

  ‘Uh,’ Ava replied awkwardly, ‘um okay, well welcome… I guess.’

  ‘Hey,’ a deeper male voice intruded and as they all turned to look, Killian appeared through the trees. ‘Have I interrupted something?’ he glanced around, noting all the older ladies before landing on his brother. ‘Kelley?’ he greeted curiously, ‘I thought that was your car further down the hill.’

  ‘Crapped out on me last night,’ he replied. ‘Sorry, beg your pardon, broke down last night,’ he amended when one of the other ladies, this one with a carefully sculped perm, wearing a peach twin set and a small golden cross, glared at him.

  ‘Last night?’ his eyes glittered in amusement as they dipped to Ava for the barest fraction of a second. ‘I kept telling you the sparkplugs needed cleaning.’

  ‘Yeah yeah,’ Kelley scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably, ‘I’ve been meaning to get it serviced.’

  Killian shook his head as he turned to Ava.

  ‘What are you doing here? Ava asked. ‘I thought we’d agreed to meet at your office later today?’

  ‘Welcome to island living,’ Kelley muttered in her ear, ‘where your business is everyone’s business, and everyone drops by unannounced.’

  ‘We did,’ Killian ignored his brother, ‘but I managed to get an RV for you to use temporarily.’

  ‘You did?’ her eyes widened a fraction. ‘Wow, that’s really good of you.’