by Stuart
Microsoft Word - All Hallows Haunting.doc
All Hallow’s Haunting © 2008 by Desiree Lee All rights reserved First Edition October 2008 DCL Publications 36 Monash Street Melton South Victoria Australia 3338 www.thedarkcastlelords.com ISBN 978-1-921347-67-2 No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental. PUBLISHED IN AUSTRALIA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Lee, Desiree. Title: All hallows haunting / Desiree Lee. Edition: 1st ed. ISBN: 9781921347672 Dewey Number: 813.6
Prologue October 30 – Ten years ago “Come on, Kit, let’s do it.” “No, Dane.” “It will be fun, I promise. You love me, don’t you?” “We’ve only been going steady for two months now. How do I know if I am in love? I don’t know if this is love love. Like real love.” “But you at least love me enough to do this with me then, right?” “I don’t know, Dane. I’m scared.” Kit looked down, unable to meet his gaze any longer. “You don’t have to be scared. It will be just you and me together.” “What if we get caught?” “Nobody is going to catch us.” “But what if they do?” “It will be Halloween night. Everybody will be too busy with trick-or-treating to notice that we’re not there. We’ll just tell your parents and my parents that we’re going trick-or-treating too.” “Aren’t we a little old for trick-or-treating?” Kit laughed. “We’re both 13 now. Do you think they’ll really believe that? Your dad will probably think we’re out stealing candy from the little kids.” “They’ll believe us. If they say they don’t then we’ll just tell them that this is our last year for trick-or-treating and we really, really want to go.” “You have this all planned out, don’t you?” “I told you before I have been thinking about it a lot. I really want it to be a special night for us.” “And you’re not scared of this at all? Not even a little bit?” “Well, maybe a little bit, but that’s what makes it so exciting. So will you do it with me? Please, Kit?”
Kit sighed. Her mind reeled with what seemed like a million thoughts, a million reasons why they should not do this. Dane was right, though. Deep down, she was excited about it. She did want to do it with him. “OK Dane, I’ll do it. I will go to the Coulbourne Castle with you and have a séance.” “It’s not a real castle, you know.” “It looks like a castle.” “I know, but real castles are in England. They’re for people like King Henry VIII. The Coulbourne place is just a big house built to look like a castle.” “Well, no matter what it is, it’s creepy. Didn’t he kill his wife and his son in that house?” “That’s what everybody says,” Dane nodded. “Don’t you think it will be cool to talk to the ghosts of his wife and son?” “I think it would be spooky. They’re probably very sad. They were murdered, after all.” “Well, maybe if we talked to them, they wouldn’t be sad anymore.” “That’s kinda weird, Dane. How are we going to get in the house, anyway? We aren’t going to break in, are we?” “No. Old Man Weatherby says there is a graveyard out behind the house. That is where they are buried. We will just do the séance there.” “Why do you want to do this, anyway? Why do you want to go there?” “My dad always says stay away from the place. I think he’s afraid that it’s haunted. I am sure that it is. I just want to talk to some ghosts. We’re teenagers now. We’re old enough to talk to a couple of ghosts without running away, crying like babies. It’s not like they’re going to scare us into peeing our pants or anything, because we’ll be expecting them.” “Dane Grissinger, I can’t believe I’m letting you talk me in to going into a creepy old graveyard on Halloween night.” “It’s because you love me.” Dane grinned broadly, flashing his crooked teeth. He had an appointment to get braces put on the next week. “You’re a goofball, Dane. You don’t know what love is.” “You love your parents, don’t you?” “That’s different.” “Well, I love you, Kit-Kat.” Dane gave her a peck on the lips. “Even if you don’t believe me.”
Kit felt butterflies flutter in her tummy. She always did when Dane kissed her, especially when he mouth-kissed her. She wondered if she would work up the nerve to French kiss him sometime. Her friend Jody had French kissed Todd Nixon and told her all about it. * * * * * October 31 Together, Kit and Dane hurried to the Coulbourne Manor. They had done some trick-or- treating earlier so that they’d have candy in their sacks and could prove to their parents that they weren’t fibbing about their Halloween activities. Dark clouds loomed overhead, blocking out most of the stars and casting an eerie haze over the moon. The chilly October air bit right through their makeshift costumes. Kit shivered but kept pace with Dane. The running was helping to keep her warm. They slowed as they approached the ominous structure. Kit didn’t care what Dane said about castles only being in England. This place was huge and made of stone. It looked like a real castle to her. Too bad it didn’t have a moat. “Be careful. Don’t trip,” Dane warned as he led her along the side of the structure. The grass was thick and weedy. “I hope there aren’t any snakes in here. That would freak me out.” Kit didn’t want to admit she was pretty freaked out already. She clutched her treat sack as if it were her only connection to something rational and sane. Following Dane into the graveyard on Halloween certainly was not the brightest thing she’d ever done. Dane let go of her hand so he could open the gate leading in to the graveyard. An agonizing creak came from the gate’s rusty hinges. It only budged a few inches. “Here, hold this.” Dane handed his treat sack to Kit, then pushed harder on the gate with both hands. With a snap, it gave way, hanging askance. “You broke it!” Kit’s jaw dropped in horror. “Someone is going to know we messed with it now!” “Nobody comes back here, Kit. Look at the place. The weeds are all grown up here. This place is deserted. We’ll be safe.” “Safe is the last thing I feel right now.”
Dane stopped and hugged her. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.” “Dane, this better not be a prank. I swear, if one of your friends is hiding here and jumps out from behind a gravestone to scare me, I’m going to kick your butt so hard…” “It’s not a prank, Kit. It’s a séance.” “Don’t you need stuff for a séance, like candles or something? What about a book with the magic words in it?” “I already have it memorized. Candles are just for show. The ghosts like to make them flicker and it is just for atmosphere. We can’t burn candles out here. I don’t want to set anything on fire.” “What about a Ouija board?” “Dang it, I should have brought one! Oh, well, I know words to call the ghosts. We don’t need it.” “Where should we do it?” “Over there by that big gravestone.” Kit looked around at the tiny cemetery. There were only three stone markers. One of them towered over the others. That was the stone Dane was pointing at. She still held both treat sacks as she followed him toward the gigantic monument. They hadn’t brought a flashlight and there weren’t enough stars in the sky to illuminate the stones well enough for her to make out the names. She knew who was buried here, but not which grave belonged to which Coulbourne family member. Dane stamped his foot in the grass to flatten it down, then sat. “Sit down here and face me.” Kit complied, sitting across from him. She put the treat sacks down beside her. “Now what do we do?” “Take my hands.” He extended both hands to her. Kit grasped his hands. “OK, now what?” “Only the person in charge of the séance needs to talk. You don’t have to say anything. Just watch and listen.” Kit nodded her understanding. “Spirits of the Coulbournes, we seek you. We ask you to sho
w yourselves. Mrs. Coulbourne and son, we want to talk to you. Come to us.”
An icy shiver ran up Kit’s spine. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. The wind blew harder, scattering fallen leaves around the duo. She wanted to get up and bolt out of the graveyard, but Dane’s grip kept her riveted. “Spirits of the Coulbournes, we seek you,” Dane repeated. “Grant us this wish so that we may bridge the gap between death and life.” Kit thought that was a careless and irresponsible remark for Dane to make, but she was too scared to reprimand him. Besides, she had agreed to just watch and listen. The wind circled harder. A cloud of dust choked both teens. Suddenly Dane’s hand jerked from hers. “Kit!” Dane shouted. His tone showed pure terror. Kit blinked against the maelstrom of dust and twigs to see Dane’s body being pulled backward. His arms and legs were splayed out in front of him. His fingers flexed, reaching for her. “Dane!” Kit stood up and tried to follow him. Suddenly, he disappeared. “Dane, where are you?!” Kit looked around but there was no sign of her compadre. She heard a hideous laugh and ran from the graveyard, screaming all the way home. “Mom! Dad! Help! Help!” “Calm down, Kit! What is it?” Both parents were on their feet immediately. “Dane! Dane got kidnapped!” “Oh, my goodness! Thelma, call the sheriff,” her father instructed. “Kit, tell me exactly what you saw. Who did it? Did you get a look at the person who took him? Where was it? Did anybody else see this?” Tears flowed down Kit’s grimy cheeks, creating muddy rivers of sorrow. “We were at the Coulbourne Castle.” “What in the hell were you doing there?” “Dane wanted to do a séance. He said it would be creepy and fun to do on Halloween. I think we got a real ghost, though, because something picked him up into the air and then he was just gone! He disappeared!” “Kitrina Eisley, this is no time to be telling ghost stories. Tell me now exactly what happened or I’ll tan your hide.” Her father’s tone deepened severely.
“I’m not lying, Dad! You can beat me if I’m lying, but that’s what happened! A ghost kidnapped Dane! He’s gone!” “Thelma, tell the sheriff we’re going over to the Coulbourne Manor to look for Dane.” Kit sobbed silently as her father drove. The spooky old manor loomed in the distance like a tangible nightmare. She shuddered and closed her eyes tightly, hoping it was just a prank, even though Dane told her it wasn’t. That must be it. Dane was just kidding. He was hiding there and they’d find him. She’d smack him hard for scaring her like that, but he had to be safe, right? Kit and her father trudged up to the manor, flashlights in hand. “Dane!” she called. “Dane, this isn’t funny! If this is a joke, so help me I’m going to kick your butt!” “Kit, don’t be talking like that,” her father admonished. “Dane! Come out, boy! If this is a joke, it’s gone far past being funny! Dane!” Several minutes later, flashing lights cut the darkness. A sheriff’s deputy approached the duo. Kit and her father walked toward the deputy. “Hello, Sheriff. We’re looking for Dane.” “Did you find him?” Deputy Joe Kaminski towered over the slight teenager. He was even taller than her father and much stockier. Nobody thought of messing with Deputy Kaminski. Nobody in their right mind, that is. “Not yet,” Mr. Eisley shook his head no. “What happened?” The large deputy looked pointedly at Kit. “Dane wanted to do a séance, so we came here and had one in the graveyard. Then the wind was blowing, leaves and sticks started to swirl. I think we summoned a real ghost. Something grabbed Dane from behind and dragged him up into the air. I’m not lying. You have to believe me!” “Something dragged him into the air, then what?” “He disappeared. One second he was there, then he was just gone.” “If this is another Halloween prank, young lady, I have a good mind to take you down to my office and arrest you for making a false report.” “I swear I am not making this up! Dane is gone and I don’t know where he is or who took him!” Kit cried harder. Nobody believed her. She should have known. It sounded stupid, she had to admit. Who would really believe that a ghost kidnapped Dane?
Deputy Kaminski walked back to his car and opened the back door. A dog leaped out and moved to his side. “Come on, Sport. Let’s go find Dane.” The dog sniffed around the graveyard and whined. Mr. Eisley and Kit started looking around the manor to help. “Dane! Where are you?” Kit felt in her heart they would not find him. Worse yet, she feared he was dead. How could she have been stupid enough to go along with this idea? She should have tried harder to talk Dane out of this harebrained scheme. She should have told him she wasn’t going along with it. Why did Dane have to be so cute and persuasive? Damn him! There, she thought it! She wouldn’t dare say that aloud in front of her parents, but she could think it! Damn you, Dane Grissinger! She forgot that she had been excited about it too. Dane’s parents arrived soon afterward. Kit repeated the same explanation for Dane’s disappearance to them. Dane’s father turned and walked away from her without a word. The search lasted for hours. Word had gotten around about Dane’s kidnapping and parents were cautioned to take their children home early, or to walk with them at all times if they continued trick-or-treating. In a town as small as this one, trick-or-treating did not take long. Many townspeople also joined in the search. A county-wide manhunt ensued, lasting through the night and the next day. The sheriff finally was forced to call off the search due to lack of evidence and leads. Dane Grissinger had indeed vanished without a trace.
Chapter One Modern Day Kit walked to the stove, turning the burner off and removing the tea kettle in an effort to silence the annoying whistle. October brought a chill in the air that nothing could warm, but a cup of hot chamomile tea certainly helped. She wondered if she should steep some valerian root into the tea. It would help her sleep. Sleep was a commodity that Kit had been lacking as of late. October was always difficult for her. Halloween night was the worst. She dreaded the holiday, the date, everything about it. She didn’t care that she was known to kids as the mean lady who didn’t give out candy. Kit despised everything about the day. This year was the worst yet. This year would signify ten years passed since Dane’s disappearance. He had never been found. The incident had left a black, festering canker on Kit’s heart that refused to die, even after the story faded from the front page news. That night changed everything. The kids at school fell silent when Kit walked by or entered the classroom. Teachers would cast doleful expressions her way when they thought she wasn’t looking. Townspeople would whisper wherever she went. Nobody believed her. Some of the school kids were rude enough to say to her face that she was crazy. Some even accused her of killing Dane herself. It was ludicrous. What motive would she have for killing him? They were going steady. Kit’s parents did not have an easy time, either, after the incident. Their routines suddenly had to accommodate visits from the police, the FBI and social services. They took Kit in to the nearest big city to a psychiatrist. Women stopped inviting her mother over for social gatherings. Her father stopped his weekly routine of stopping at the tavern for a drink and a round of darts on Friday evening. Kit overheard him one night telling her mother that the other men in the bar would not let rumors drop about his crazy daughter, so he stopped going. Ten years of stigma and shame buried Kit beneath a mound of emotion. Guilt was the worst. Not a single day passed that she didn’t think of Dane and wonder what she could have done to save him. Her last vision of her boyfriend was his terrified expression and his hands reaching out to her in vain.
The talk amongst the townspeople had eventually waned. The other kids all grew up and matured as she had. Most of them had, at least. Some people moved away from town. Some people moved into town having no knowledge of the incident or of Kit’s involvement in it. Kit curled up in her overstuffed wing chair, tea in one hand and a book in the other. She couldn’t wait for November to arrive. Then she could put another October behind her. Thank goodness. Kit had stopped seeing the psychiatrist a few years back. She knew in her heart that the woman never truly believed her story, either. There was some medical term for making up stories to cover up dealing with a traumatic event. Kit didn’t care what the doctor thought of her anymore. It was painfully obvious since the
night it happened that she was going to be branded a liar until her dying day. It still hurt. She lost herself for several hours in the pages of the book. Oh, if she only had the talent to write like this, she knew she could turn her own dire tale into a best seller. Would she dare write about that fateful night? Probably not. That night Kit drew the drapes as usual, shutting out the black autumn night. Curling up under her quilts, she hoped that the dark mood of the season would not pervade her dreams. Kit was awakened by the sound of rapping against her window pane. She sat bolt upright in bed, looking around. No light was showing around the edges of the drapes. It was still night. She lay back down. “Stupid kids are probably egging my house.” She yawned and closed her eyes again, hoping to fall directly back to slumber. She was on the verge of sleep again when the noises returned. “I swear I’m going to find those little jerks and have the sheriff arrest them all. Idiotic vandals.” Kit was almost to slumber once more when the noise changed. “Kit-Kat.” The voice was faint but the words were distinct. “What the hell?” She got up and went to the window. “Who’s there?” Drawing back the drape, she looked outside. The night was as still as death. Nobody had ever called her Kit-Kat except Dane. She had not heard that nickname since the night he disappeared. “I’m too stressed. That has to be it.” She took a sleeping pill and returned to bed, shutting out the noises until dawn.
Chapter Two Kit’s curiosity had gotten the better of her. She went to the library and asked to see the microfiche archives of the newspaper from ten years ago. The library clerk told her that she’d be right back. Kit waited patiently at the desk until the clerk returned with a box and instructions on how to load the machine. “Thank you, I’ll be fine.” Kit took the stack from the woman and made a beeline to the machine. Microfiche is a dying art but handy right now, she thought as she loaded the film into the machine. She flipped through the articles until she found one mentioning Dane’s disappearance. She momentarily questioned herself as to why she hadn’t done this before, but immediately knew the answer. I couldn’t have handled it before. She read through the article once very quickly, then slowed down to read it a second time more in-depth. It stated that Dane and a 13-year-old friend were in the graveyard as part of a Halloween prank. Kit’s ire rose. “That’s not true,” she murmured. Nothing about the article mentioned a séance or ghosts. The only quotes given were those from the deputy and from Dane’s parents, extolling their son’s virtues. Kit flipped through more films, viewing articles from subsequent days. One reported that the search had been called off. None of the articles gave an accurate representation, in Kit’s opinion, of what really happened that night. “Why would they lie? They could have chalked it up to one kid’s crazy interpretation.” She paused. She did not feel crazy, though she knew the adults who heard her account of the incident would beg to differ. “Why hide what really happened there?” The deception baffled her. She made some notes and returned the films to the front counter. After leaving the library, Kit drove to her mother’s house. Her father had passed away two years back. Kit felt that he never believed her since that incident. It had made for many tense confrontations between father and daughter over the years. She walked into her mother’s house, not meeting the elder woman’s gaze. “Kit, what a surprise.” Her mother put down her magazine and walked over to give her daughter a hug. “What brings you here today?” Kit hugged her Mom tightly, holding on longer than she normally would. “Mom, something is going on.”
