As she watched, Jesse picked up the equipment and reset it around the house. Then he walked over to the door and slammed it shut. Pulling the key from his pocket, he locked the door, dropped the key back in his pocket and walked into the room where they were to spend the night, all without saying another word.
Gail didn't know what to do. Though she wanted to leave, something told her it was the wrong thing to do. Somehow, she knew that she shouldn't leave Jesse alone and that she would be needed to help him. Apart from which they needed this time together, they needed this memory for what was to come. How would he cope when she told him? A shiver ran through her, only it was just the cold air, nothing felt wrong, and maybe she had just let her imagination run away with her. Maybe!
A beep from her watch told her it was time she could take some more painkillers, so she walked into the room and found her rucksack. In it were a bottle of water and the tablets. Quickly, she swallowed two of them and then went and sat next to Jesse.
"I'm sorry," she said. "This is all new to me, and it’s a little bit scary... But I will do whatever you need. So what do we do next?"
Jesse looked up and smiled. “Why don’t you make a drink while I read a little of this and then we will look upstairs.”
Gail nodded, somehow she had expected an apology. Jesse never swore at her, never raised his voice and for a moment she felt angry. He should be more understanding, and then she realized. The last few weeks she had been secretive. How many times had she lied to him? It was a lot more than she liked and now she was keeping the biggest lie of all. Maybe he thought she was cheating, maybe he knew something was wrong and was just waiting for her to tell him.
Suddenly, that was exactly what she wanted to do, and yet she knew it was not the right time. So, she smiled and, getting out the camping stove, she started to make them some coffee.
In the corner, she could see the laptop, it rotated through views from all the cameras downstairs. It was just an empty house, there was nothing there.
Chapter 7
Jesse read the book as Gail prepared the drinks. The more he read, the more excited he got. It was as if he was coming alive again, coming back to the man she knew and leaving behind the surly guy who had so recently shouted at her. The color came back to his cheeks, and his eyes were focused, his expression determined. Suddenly, all her fears seemed so silly. Gail had never believed in ghosts even though she knew Jesse did. It all seemed so foolish to her, but she had kept her peace throughout their years together. Now, her first time in a cold and drafty basement, her first time left alone in the dark and she had panicked. For a moment she thought about laughing. Only, she knew that would annoy him. So, she sipped her coffee, pulled on a thicker fleece and warmed her hands on her coffee.
Jesse was still reading, mouthing out the words which also made her want to laugh. She stifled the urge and shuffled on the floor, trying to get comfortable. It wasn’t easy. Jesse seemed oblivious to her presence and totally at ease, his back against the wall, his legs out in front of him.
It was lighter in this room. They had three lamps, and just the brightness made her feel a little better. Yet it was so quiet. Gail liked to talk or to have on music, the silence was deafening.
“Don’t forget your coffee,” she said. “It will go cold.”
Jesse grunted but did not take his eyes from the book.
“Does it help at all?” Gail asked.
Jesse looked up, and there was a hint of anger in his eyes. It caused her to gasp and then it was gone. It was as if her audible release of air had reminded him who she was.
“It’s the diary, journal if you will, of Jenny Thornton. It’s strange and confusing, but I think she had a daughter and either the child was killed by her husband or kept a prisoner. Maybe even both.”
“That’s awful,” Gail said, and she could not help but shiver.
“The other possibility is that Jenny was deranged... but either way, it leads me to believe that the haunting will be upstairs. From what I can gather, it should be strongest in the front left bedroom.”
Gail clung onto her coffee as a shudder ran through her. That was the room she had seen the girl in, and yet she was sure that was just a shadow.
Jesse put down the book and picked up his coffee. He drank it in one go and put the cup back down. “Are you ready?”
Gail nodded and took a last sip of her own drink before reluctantly letting go of the hot liquid and getting to her feet. To be honest, the last thing she wanted to do was leave that room, but she was here, and she would see this through.
“Do you know the girl’s name?” she asked.
Jesse shook his head. “Not yet, though I’m sure it will be in here. To be honest, it is written in old English and is very faded, so it is hard to decipher.”
Gail suddenly laughed. “So that’s why you were mouthing the words, and here I was thinking they were just longer than one syllable.”
Jesse laughed as he picked up his head torch and camera. It was a reference to him reading for his friend’s child. The little boy, Jake, was always amused if he moved his lips and so Jesse made sure that he exaggerated it quite comically, only Mark, his friend, had always made fun of him.
Fixing the torch/camera unit onto his head, Jesse gave her a hurt expression which changed into a big grin. “Are you ready?” he asked.
Gail wanted to say no, she wanted to stay in the light room, instead, she nodded and said, “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”
“Really!” Jesse laughed and took her hand before leading her out of the room. That simple contact made her feel so much better. Suddenly, all her worries and fears were gone. Even if there was a spirit in this house, she was safe. After all, Jesse was the expert.
They crossed the hallway, where the equipment all stood silent. Lights flashed, the blue beam dissected the dark, but there was nothing to see. They turned towards the stairs, and it seemed so much darker there.
Letting go of her hand, Jesse went first. The stairs were bare, and the paint on the walls was peeling and flaking off. As he made his way to the first step, he shone the headlamp up the stairs, and to Gail, it looked as if the shadows drew back to escape the light. She really was letting her imagination run wild.
“Are they safe?” Gail asked as she looked at the old wood. It had crumbled in places, and she feared that it would not hold them.
“I will go first and test each step. To be honest, they don’t look bad, and I have climbed much worse. Just stay close and be careful.”
Without any hesitation, he started to climb the stairs. They creaked beneath his weight but held, and he did not stop and wait. Gail put her foot on one step and tested it with her weight. It creaked and gave a little but held firm. By this time Jesse was already half way up the stairs, and she had no choice but to follow more quickly. Each step gave a little, and she inched her way from one to the other expecting that they would snap at any moment. Only, they held her weight and soon she was on the landing and following Jesse as his torch splayed light across the walls.
At the top of the stairs, Jesse turned to the left, and Gail felt her heart sink. The thought of going to that left-hand room filled her with dread, even though she tried to tell herself she had not seen a girl, it was just a trick of the light. As they walked along the corridor Jesse was waving the EMF meter back-and-forth, just like he had been all the time, and yet she could tell that he was stressed. The wooden floor was carpeted, and it felt spongy beneath her feet. Not in a good way, not in a way that denoted expensive carpet and thick underlay... there was something slick and wrong about the feeling. It was as if she was walking on something rotten. Once again it seemed her imagination was getting the better of her. Of course, the carpet was old and had probably got damp and was maybe growing some form of moss or lichen, that was all it would be.
"Is something wrong? she asked.
Jesse just sighed and kept on walking. "I expected some readings up here, and yet there is nothing," he said after a
few steps.
Behind her, the darkness seemed to wait with eager anticipation, in front was the shadow of his back. The small light of the head torch could barely cut through the darkness, Gail hurried to keep up. There were two doors up ahead of them, both on the left-hand side. Jesse tried the handle of the first, the door was locked. He sighed in frustration and moved on down the corridor. There was a window at the far end of the hallway, and yet no light shone through. Occasionally, the torch would hit it at just the right angle and would show their bleak and wavery reflection. Gail knew there were no streetlights, the house was too remote and yet she imagined there would be some ambient light from the moon, but there was none. They came to the second door, and this time Jesse turned around and traced the meter around the frame. Another sigh and he carried on down the corridor.
As he got to the end again, he swept the meter around the window and the walls, but there was nothing. It made no sound, and as he turned, she could see that the needle was sat at the bottom of the gauge. Surely that was a good thing. She did not want there to be a spirit here, and yet the hair on the back of her neck was standing on end, and the place felt wrong. She could not shake the feeling that she was being watched, judged, but that had to be silly. After all, if there was anything here, Jesse would know about it.
"I really expected… something," Jesse said. He was staring at the gauge. As she watched he twiddled the dials, turned it off and then back on again and then shook it, but still, nothing happened. Slowly, not looking where he was going he retraced their route.
"Maybe if we tried the bedrooms," Gail said, and yet that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Jesse nodded and reached for the handle. Gail held her breath and bit her lip as she waited. Time seemed to slow down, and once more she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise, goosebumps traced down her arms, and she pulled the fleece tighter around her shoulders. It must just be cold.
The handle turned, and yet the door would not open. Jesse walked on to the next door, and Gail let out a sigh of relief. Somehow she knew that they had passed the worst of the danger.
Jesse tried the handle on the first door, and it was the same. The handle turned, but nothing happened. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the key for the front door. Tilting his head, he gave her an it's worth a try look and pushed the key into the lock. To both their surprise it went in, and they heard the mechanism move as he turned the key.
Giving her a smile he tried to open the door but nothing happened. It was wedged tight. Jesse rattled the handle and pushed harder and then grunted with the effort.
All Gail could think was thank you. For some reason, she did not want to go into that room. Jesse gave her another look, with a grin and then he leaned his shoulder on the door and pushed hard. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the door swung open, and he was sent tumbling inward. A blast of ice cold air shot from the room and Gail was shoved backward until she hit the wall. The shock knocked the air from her lungs, and she slumped to the floor gasping for breath.
Jesse had not noticed. As she lay on the floor, she could hear him walking away across a wooden floor.
Afraid for him, Gail took a deep breath and struggled to her feet. She was expecting the move to cause a wave of pain through her head and was relieved and surprised when it didn’t happen.
Quickly, she followed him into the room. Something had pushed her. Maybe now he would understand, and they could leave. Eager to tell him what happened she went through the door to see Jesse walking along the far wall. There was a red dot from a camera just near the door. He had fixed the little camera to the wall, and it would be recording what happened on the laptop below.
Jesse looked very disappointed. Once more, the EMF detector was eerily silent.
"I can't understand it, there's nothing here," Jesse said without even looking up.
"Are you sure?" Gail asked. How could she explain what had just happened, when it hardly made sense, even to her. "Did you feel the force when you opened the door?" she asked weakly.
Jesse looked up, his eyebrows drawn together in question.
"I felt nothing. The door had swollen and jammed shut... when it opened, I fell through. I imagine you just felt the displacement of air."
"Jesse, I was slammed against the wall so hard that it knocked the breath from me."
Jesse came to her and put an arm on her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
Gail could not help but laugh. "It's not the sort of thing you get mixed up about. I feel something, I feel a presence here…" What she wanted to say was that she wanted to leave. That she felt unsafe, felt something dangerous and yet the look in his eye was not fear but excitement, and so she kept quiet. After all, it could just be her tumor, it was possible she was simply seeing things.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
Gail nodded. "I'll survive." As soon as she had said the word, she felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes. For the problem was she wouldn't survive. The tumor that was eating away at her head was terminal. The doctor had said she had no more than six months. Blinking back the tears she walked over to the window, to put some space between them. As she looked out the window, she felt a chill. It was not just cold but a dark presence, almost a weight pushing her toward that silvered pane. As a breath caught in her throat, she turned to say something but the words were cut off by the sound of a child crying. It was eerily clear in the stillness of the night, and she looked at Jesse to see if he heard it too.
"Did you hear that?" Jesse asked.
Gail nodded, at least that was not a figment of her imagination. Before she could say any more, Jesse was walking across the room leaving her in darkness. The shadows seemed to wrap around her like a cold cloak. It chilled her to the bone and made her feel lethargic and weak. And yet her heart was pounding so fast that she felt like she had just run a hundred yard sprint, only now, her legs refused to move. They felt weak, stiff, and as if her knees would buckle at any moment.
Jesse was on the stairs now, and the room was totally dark. Her feeling of dread intensified and suddenly she was able to move. Quickly, she crossed the room and stepped onto the stairs. Jesse was almost at the bottom, there was little light and what there was, was bouncing so much that she felt dizzy as she put her feet on the steps. She reached out for a handrail, but she couldn't find one. Instead, her fingers touched the wall. She expected flaking paint, and yet it felt slick, almost wet, and pulling her hand back a feeling of revulsion passed over her. Despite the danger of the stairs and the fact that she could not see, she rushed downwards towards the sound of the crying child.
It was a pitiful sound. One of pain and loss and sorrow and it made her stomach churn that someone could be in such pain. At last, she was down the stairs. Her mouth fell open to see a young girl, sitting in the middle of all the equipment.
Chapter 8
Who was she? What was she and how had she got here?
Strangely, Gail felt afraid of the young girl. She looked about eight, with long brown hair that reached well past her shoulders and a long pale face. Dark eyes were wide and startled, and yet to Gail, there was a knowing in them. The child's clothes were also strange. She wore a rough brown dress that came down to her ankles, and it was covered with a white and yet stained pinafore. Who dressed like this? All she could do was stare, as a feeling of deep unease came over her.
"Hey, little girl," Jesse said as he walked towards her.
The girl backed away a few steps out of the circle of light and into the shadows at the edge of the room. For some reason, Gail felt better because she could no longer see her as well.
"You don't have to worry," Jesse said, his voice was calm, slow and low. It was comforting and encouraging. "My name is Jesse, what's yours?"
The girl shook her head but did not talk. Jesse dropped down to his knees and pulled a bar of chocolate from out of his pocket.
"Are you hungry?" he asked.
She nodded.
"This is rea
lly good." Jesse peeled the wrapper back off the bar and offered it to her.
Quick as lightning, her hand flew out and snatched the bar from him. Just as she did so the EMF meter that was on the floor and several of the other machines started to buzz. Gail could see the needle on the meter as it hit the red line and then bounced again and again and again. Other equipment was also vibrating and flashing to warn them of something, Gail wished she knew of what.
The child took a bite of the chocolate bar but did not seem to chew it and just stood there staring at them while the equipment went crazy.
Jesse picked up the EMF and then walked across to some of the machinery. He flicked buttons, turned dials and checked on displays. The smile on his face was real and spoke of pure excitement. What did it mean?
As quickly as it started all of the equipment stopped, and Jesse seemed to crumple in front of them.
Gail was still afraid of the child. Who was she? What was she? What was she doing here? All of these questions were buzzing around her mind, and she could not find a decent answer to any of them.
Now the house was silent again, Jesse turned back to the girl. "It is very late, what are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for my parents," she said.
"Why would your parents be here?" Jesse asked.
"It was all a mistake," she said.
"Hey, honey, what was a mistake?" Jesse said as he inched slowly towards her.
The closer he got the more uncomfortable Gail felt, she wanted this girl out of here and she wanted her... no, it, gone now.
"Tell us where you live," she said and drew a sharp look from Jesse. Maybe it had come out a little harsh, but somehow she knew their life depended on getting this girl out of the house.
Gail did just what Jesse had and lowered herself to the floor sitting in front of the child.
"I'm Gail, and this is Jesse. We don't want to hurt you but it’s late and dark, and we need to get you home. Tell us your name, and we will take you home to your parents."
The Haunting of Seafield House (The Spirit Guide Book 1) Page 5
