“Julian! Wake up!” Amanda looked over at her sister. “Paige! What’s wrong with him? We’ve got to get him to the hospital! He won’t wake up! What the hell is going on?”
She held him firmly with one arm curled over his body, gripping the banister with the other, descending the stairs quickly. Paige was right behind her.
“Mommy?”
Paige gasped at the sound of the boy’s voice. It was so weak!
“Oh my God! Julian! My baby! You’re all right?” Amanda paused and slumped down onto the stair, holding her son in her lap, looking at him with teary eyes.
“It touched me. It went right through me. It was cold, like ice inside my tummy.” Julian’s voice was soft and tears flowed down his cheek looking up at his mother. He turned to Paige. “It was her—Cora.”
The hair on Paige’s neck tingled and her chest felt like iron bands circled it, getting tighter and tighter. She held Avril close and glanced behind her. Where was this Cora now? She wasn’t still in Avril’s room; Julian had felt her leave it.
“Paige? What just happened here?” Amanda’s voice trailed off and she shook her head slowly. “I don’t understand.”
Paige looked down at her sister and her jaw tightened. “Neither do I, believe me. Come on. We can’t stay here on the stairs. Let’s go into the kitchen.” There was something about salt that she’d read earlier.
She followed Amanda down and darted into the living room to grab her laptop. As she passed by the front door, she fought the urge to race out, get in her car and drive, leave all the scary shit behind. But this was Amanda’s home now. It wasn’t just as simple as driving away. The kids needed her.
When she entered the kitchen, Julian was sitting at the island, drinking a glass of water. He turned his big blue eyes up at her when she set Avril on the chair next to him. “What did you do with the music box, Aunt Paige? Cora is mad that you took it. She wants it back.”
Avril nodded as well. Paige froze
“What’s he talking about Paige? What music box?” Amanda gave Avril a glass of water and scowled. She sunk down into the other chair and her face was tight gazing at Paige.
Paige huffed a sigh setting the laptop on the island. This whole dramatic show—the banging doors, Cora’s ‘visitation’ next to Avril, messing with Avril’s coloring, and the picture hanging askew...it was all done to make a point.
Cora was pissed.
She gritted her teeth and tapped her fingers on the granite top. "There was an old music box in my closet that I found. It is seriously creepy, Amanda. When I played it yesterday I blanked out for a couple hours. Twice, I tucked it away in the corner of the closet and twice, something moved it back into my room.”
“What? That’s crazy. Are you sure?”
Paige rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “Amanda! You need to ask after what just happened upstairs?”
“Okay, okay. But still… I don’t get it.” Amanda closed her eyes and shook her head from side to side, “If she’s a ghost, which I’m still not one hundred percent convinced of...okay, maybe eighty percent convinced...why would she want it and where is it now?”
“In my car.” Paige pulled herself higher in the chair, chin tilted high. She opened the laptop to boot it up.”
“Just give it to her, Aunt Paige.” Julian’s voice was followed by Avril’s. “Yeah.”
“I’ve got to agree with the kids. Get the bloody thing and put it back where you found it. We can’t go through this again, if this is in fact, her way of letting us know she wants it returned. Which of course, I’m—”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re not convinced, I get it.” Paige clicked on the sites she’d visited earlier. “I’ll put it back but I’m not sleeping in that room. Not with that box in there.” She looked over at the other three. “Actually, I think we should stay together until we figure this out. I hate that Avril ran upstairs away from us.”
“Can I have some brownies?” Julian looked at his mother and then turned to Paige. “It was weird when she passed through me. It felt really cold and I was...I was so mad.” He looked down at the table and his voice was soft. “I hated you.”
Paige could only stare at him, torn between relief that he had woke and anger at this Cora character.
Her finger tapped the computer screen and spun it so that Amanda could read it. She reached across the table and her hand rested on Julian’s head. “It wasn’t you who hated me. It was her. We’re going to find a way of keeping her away from us.” She rose to her feet and got the brownies from the fridge, setting the plate in the centre of the island.
Amanda was busy reading the site that Paige had earmarked. After a minute or two, she spoke, “We’ve got sea salt.” She blew out a gush of air through pursed lips. “Not sure about any of this...but I can’t ignore what just happened in Avril’s room.”
Paige’s cell phone rang and she scooped it out of her pocket. ‘Unknown Name’ Her eyebrows popped high and she answered quickly. “Matt?” His timing couldn’t be better.
Chapter 19
Paige saw Amanda go to the pantry and take a blue canister of sea salt from the shelf.
She held the phone to her ear, watching her sister pour a line of the coarse granules across the window sill and the doorway.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come over there? I can go through the house to check it.” Matt’s tone of voice was now worried as opposed to the skepticism he’d first displayed when she told him what had just happened.
“I think we’ll be fine. I’ll put the music box back in the closet, and tonight we’re all going to sleep in the same room. And don’t forget we’ve got the sea salt.”
She glanced over at the kids who were busy watching a cartoon on her laptop. They sat quietly, totally immersed in the story, the ghost already a thing of the past.
“What about your sister’s husband? Is he coming back early to be with you guys?” Matt sounded irritated now.
She took a deep breath. “He needs to be in Montreal for work this week. There’s some kind of thing going on and...” Her voice trailed off.
Josh was going to be the next person she and Amanda had to talk to. That was going to be a hard call, especially since Amanda was still having a difficult time processing all of this.
“Well, call me if you need me, okay? Other than that, I’ll meet up with you tomorrow at five. You think you can find the library?”
Paige couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips. It actually felt good to laugh. “You mean in the village that consists of four buildings? I think I’ll manage.”
“Yeah. Okay. Sure.”
“I’m really looking forward to meeting your aunt. Thanks Matt, for your offer to help here this evening. See you tomorrow.”
“You take care. Bye.”
She heard the click of his phone signing off and held hers close to her cheek for a moment. It really was nice of him to offer to help. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His aunt would have the story on the house. Maybe there had been some foul play way back when and the spirit was still in the house, angry or confused about leaving. Wasn’t that the way these haunted houses were supposed to go? The ghost needed guidance, a nudge to get them up to heaven or some other plane of existence.
Amanda walked over and placed her hand on Paige’s shoulder. “Can you dish out the salad and casserole for the kids? I’m going to call Josh.”
Paige rose to her feet and looked up at her sister. “Do you want me to talk to him? What are you going to tell him?”
“Darned if I know. But he’ll understand my concern when I tell him Julian fainted.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “He’ll probably have some sort of explanation for the doors banging. Actually, I’d like that. It’d be a whole lot better than accepting the haunted house theory.”
***
A half hour later, Amanda turned from looking out the window at the yard. She’d been speaking quietly with Josh and now she held the phone in her hand. “He’s upset
about Julian. He thinks we should have taken him to the doctor to have him checked out.”
“He’s fine, Amanda. Look at him.”
Julian sat on the floor tossing a yellow rubber ball for Barney to fetch, while his sister laughed and chased after the dog, trying to get it before he did.
You’d never know that anything weird had happened at all. If only it had been some sort of crazy dream. But it wasn’t. And the music box was still in the suitcase in the trunk of her car. She sighed and looked over at Amanda again. “Do you think he believed you, Amanda? You did tell him about the door banging on its own and the picture on the wall?”
Amanda slumped down into a chair and her face was tight staring at the floor. “Of course.” She sighed, looking over at Paige. “He kind of brushed it off, like it hadn’t happened. That’s not like Josh. Even if he doesn’t believe in any of this paranormal stuff...usually he would still listen to me. He sounded angry.”
“Angry? What the hell?” Paige popped up out of her seat and began stacking the dishes in the dishwasher.
“Yeah. I know.” Paige rose to help her, standing at the sink. “Maybe he’s run out of patience with me. A depression for over a year and then uprooting everyone to move to a place where we don’t know a soul. And then I tell him the house we bought is haunted?” Amanda’s voice became low and monotone. “It’s a wonder he didn’t ask for a divorce.”
Paige’s gut twisted as she listened to her sister. She knew that tone of voice. She’d lived with it for a year. There was no way she’d let Amanda backslide into depression again. Not now. Not ever. She turned and her hands gripped Amanda’s arms. “Josh would never do that, Amanda! He adores you and the kids. He’s busy with work. Besides which, he’s an engineer— Science is his God. This is way beyond his frame of reference.”
Amanda took a deep breath but her shoulders still were slumped low when she nodded at Paige.
Paige’s teeth ground together. Dammit Amanda! You can’t do this! “We can handle it, Sis! Josh can do his thing, but this house...we’ve got this covered! Whatever ghost or ghoul thinks they’ve got a lock on this farm, trying to scare us away...well, they’ve never dealt with the Bradford sisters. I need you to be strong, Amanda. Julian and Avril need you to be strong.”
The intensity of the exchange must have infected the kids as well. Julian and Avril joined Paige and Amanda, putting their arms around the two women’s thighs, creating a group hug.
There were tears in Amanda’s eyes when she looked down at the two children, nodding and brushing her hand over their heads. She looked over at Paige. “You’re right. We will do this. No ghost is going to run us out of town.”
Paige laughed. “It’s a showdown at the O.K. Corral.”
“What’s an O.K. Corral?” Julian looked up and smiled at her.
“A bad western movie, that’s what.” She looked over at the window. The light was fading and she still needed to get the music box out of her car and back upstairs. It really was a showdown at the O.K. Corral.
Chapter 20
“It’s time.” Paige took a deep breath and looked at the others. “We all have to stay together. Got that, Avril?” She looked down and smiled when Avril nodded.
“What about the salt? Should we take it with us?” Amanda’s gaze was intent staring at her sister.
“Can’t hurt, right?” Paige grabbed her set of car keys from her purse. “C’mon Barney.” She led the way out of the kitchen and paused at the doorway. “Careful to step over the line of salt. Try not to disturb it.” They had only the one canister of salt and who knew how much would be needed later? They would go into the city and buy whatever other items they needed to cleanse the house and protect themselves...but that wouldn’t be until tomorrow.
Everything looked normal in the dining room and foyer when she walked through and stood at the front door. Amanda, holding Avril in her arms and clutching Julian’s hand was right at her heels. Paige grimaced before opening the door and stepping out onto the veranda. The air was a bit cooler and the whirring chirp of cicadas filled the night. It was surreal, how everything could be so normal and calm outside, an outright denial of what had happened earlier.
“You stay here and I’ll be right back.” The car was parked in the driveway about twenty feet away. Her feet crunched the gravel when she walked over, gingerly finding her way in the dim light. She fumbled trying to get the key into the lock at the back of the small car.
The dog started barking and Paige felt her knees turn to water. All of a sudden it felt like eyes were watching her. The key slid into the lock and she shuddered, lifting the lid of the trunk. It was a hole as black as tar that her hand felt around in until her fingers closed on the handle of the overnight bag. Just touching it, knowing that the spooky music box was inside made her skin crawl.
She lifted it out and slammed the lid of the trunk down, breaking the stillness of the night. She raced across the driveway and up and over the veranda. A sigh of relief blew from her lips when she stood inside with the door shut and locked behind her.
“Can I see it?” Amanda’s leaned forward, peering at the bag.
Julian tugged at the hem of Amanda’s shirt. “No Mommy. Let’s just put it back. It’s Cora’s and she wants it.”
The fine hair on Paige’s neck rose high, when she saw the fear in Julian’s eyes. “He’s right. Let’s get rid of it. She wants it back? She can have it. Just leave us alone.”
THUD! THUD!
Paige jumped. She looked to the top of the stairs where the loud banging noise had come from. Her stomach roiled at the thought of going up there...going down the hall to her room. She knew that the thuds had been her bedroom door opening and then slamming shut.
Barney’s feet were planted on the wooden floor, and his growls filled the air around them.
“Mommy!” Avril buried her face in the curve of Amanda’s shoulder. Her hands were white knuckled grasping her mother’s shirt.
“Oh my God, Paige! What the hell was that? We can’t take the kids up there! Let’s get out of here.” Amanda gripped Julian’s arm, turning to the door.
Julian squirmed out of his mother’s grasp. “No Mommy! She’ll follow us. We need to put it back where Aunt Paige found it. Cora will leave us alone then.” His eyes welled up with tears. “She told me.”
Paige’s heart ached seeing how scared Julian was. He was only a little boy! This shouldn’t be happening to him. Her fist clenched on the handle of the bag and she strode towards the stairs. She turned and looked over at Amanda. “Stay here with the kids. I’ll deal with this.”
When she stomped up the stairs, a picture of the fortune teller’s card, the one showing the future with the burning tower and guy falling from it, flashed in her mind. Climbing higher, it was like that. She was walking into danger, the ghost’s lair. The fact that Cora had wanted her to claim that bedroom filled her with cold dread.
Her knees felt like they’d turned to rubber, about to give out but she willed herself on. Maybe Julian was right. She’d put the music box back and that would be the end of it. Her door was at the end of the hall, shut tight. Just ten feet away. When she took a few more steps, the door creaked slowly open. The breath froze in her chest and her hand shook, hearing the high pitched wail of the hinge, an unseen hand moving the door.
The lamp on her bedside table cast an eerie glow over the floor and her chaise lounge. She crept in softly, looking around the room, barely daring to breathe. At movement to her right, her head jerked to the side, her breath frozen in her throat. The closet door swung open.
Paige’s heart pounded so hard and fast that she feared it would explode. Still she continued, her feet whispering softly on the wood, moving steadily towards the closet. She paused and her fingers trembled undoing the belts and then the zippered opening of the bag.
A note of music almost sent her screaming from the room when she picked the box out of the canvas bag. The swirls of inlaid wood that she’d thought were beautiful at fir
st, now looked evil and dark. Carrying the box at chest level, like it was a stick of dynamite instead of the antique it was, she walked into the dark closet. Her feet brushed by her sandals and a pair of leather boots under the rack of clothes.
When her foot bumped into something solid, she let out a breath of air. This was it. She bent and lowered the box, setting it in the corner where she’d found it. Slowly, she backed out, unable to see the box but feeling its malevolence. Her fingers glided along the frame of the door and she turned. The bedroom door was just a few feet away.
She ran across the room and pulled the door shut behind her.
“Paige? Are you okay?”
She sprinted down the hall, unable to answer her sister right away. She took deep breaths as she came down the stairs. “I’m fine...I think.”
Amanda looked up at the ceiling, cocking her head to the side. “It's quiet now. Maybe that did the trick.”
Paige looked to Julian for confirmation. He wiped the tears from his eyes and a small smile shone on his face. Now she could breathe easier. Still...when they all crowded into Amanda and Josh’s bedroom later, she’d make sure the light stayed lit all night!
Chapter 21
Sitting in the overstuffed chair in the master bedroom, Paige looked over to her sister on the bed with the children. Julian and Avril were snuggled together like sleeping Cherubs, next to their mother. The bedside light cast a dim glow, creating dark shadows in the four corners of Amanda’s bedroom. At Barney’s soft sigh, stretching in front of the door, Paige turned and smiled down at the dog.
“It seems surreal...what happened earlier in Avril’s room. If anyone had ever told me I’d be camped out, the four of us sharing a bed room in a house this big, too frightened to be alone, I’d have said they were on cheap drugs. This is crazy.” Amanda whispered before rolling her eyes.
The Haunting Of Larkspur Farm (Ghosts and Haunted Houses): A Haunting In Kingston (The Hauntings of Kingston Book 4) Page 9
