by Cat Knight
It wouldn’t be so bad, but tonight the ‘eyes’ seemed to be glowing bright against the heavy darkness that was common this far from the city. The O’Doherty residence looked ready to swallow anyone that might dare get near it, but the outward appearance was likely more frightening than anything within the home itself.
Turning the engine off and listening to it die, Keira readied herself for the onslaught of cold rain. Grabbing her overnight bag from the back seat she climbed out of the car, placed the bag uncomfortably on top of her head, and held it there while she raced to the house.
With neither a hat or umbrella to shield her from the chilling rainfall she jumped up and down on the spot to keep warm, at the same time, knocking furiously on the wooden door. A few moments passed without a response, or any sign of life. Keira peered expectantly at the windows. Curtains hung still and the house remained silent.
Keira knocked again. “Aileen! It's Keira. Let me in!” No response. She could see her own reflection in the window closest to the door. Her makeup had started to run, and her mascara was causing dark stains around her eyes and down her cheeks. The rain had flattened her hair drenching it and leaving it flat and stringy, clinging to her forehead. Somehow its red hue was now an orangish brassy colour.
The blue of her eyes reflected the light radiating from inside the house, causing them to nearly glow, reminding her of her grandmother's tales of floating spectres.
Keira thought her reflection seemed like a tormented, weeping version of herself. Enough to scare Aileen. She giggled a tiny bit, but ultimately she was cranky and in severe need of dry clothes.
“C'mon, woman! I'm freezing my knobs off!” No response. Keira quickly went from knocking to pounding it with the side of her fist. The window of the door rattled as she did.
Aileen ran towards the door, her footsteps unheard by Keira, unlocked it, and swung it wide open. “Relax, I was coming!” Aileen stood in front of her, blocking her entry. Keira frowned harder at the reprimand.
Are you gonna let me in?”
Aileen had narrow grey eyes with a curtain of wavy blonde hair, cut in a new ‘do’ that framed her round face nicely. If Keira had been in a better mood she would have commented but as it was, she pushed her way past, into the warmth of the house.
The inside of the house was cluttered with furniture, which instead of being used to sit in, served Aileen and her mother as storage surfaces.
Armchairs held piles of trinkets and clothes that occasionally spilled onto the floor. The gaudy floral wallpaper was peeling in several places.
A myriad of photos and small paintings that hung on the wall attempted to cover some of the damage, with limited success.
The sofa was in desperate need of reupholstering. Keira was far from surprised by the messiness of the interior. Their house had always looked like this and it only got worse as the years went on.
“It's bucketing out there and I can't feel my face, it's so cold.” Keira ran her fingers through her wet hair.
“You're always cold,” Aileen giggled. “It's because you've no meat on you!” Keira scowled.
“Here, let me borrow some of yours.” Keira spread her arms wide and approached Aileen for a hug.
“Hands off!” Aileen jumped back. “You're drenched! Get away!”
Without making any time for small talk, Keira immediately headed to the bathroom to change into the dry clothes that she had brought with her; a baggy t-shirt and plaid pyjama pants with tears in the upper thighs.
When she had finished changing and dried her hair with a towel that had been left haphazardly folded on the counter, she left the bathroom to find Aileen waiting outside like a puppy pining for its owner. Keira stifled a sigh and smiled at her.
Aileen looked down at the torn pyjamas, “Those threads mean something special to you?”
Keira nodded, “Yes, they mean comfort, thank you very much.”
“Look like they mean rubbish day.” Aileen smirked. She had an odd smile with tightly pursed lips.
“Yeah, whatever.” Keira frowned. “Is my nose still red?” Her freckled nose always reddened in cold weather.
“What was that, Rudolph?”
“Alright, enough.” She padded around the kitchen, her empty stomach guiding her towards food. “You moved the fridge.”
Keira rummaged through the O’Doherty’s fridge, where nothing of substantial fattiness or grease could be found. “You people eat like hamsters. You got anything but grass in your kitchen?” She asked as she sorted through various vegetables packed in separate bags.
“Sorry, we can't all eat like boars and look like twigs.” Aileen folded her arms as she leaned against the kitchen counter.
Frustrated at the lack of meat, Keira shut the refrigerator door.
“It's getting late anyway. Where do I sleep? I'm knackered.” The very statement caused her to yawn.
“You can sleep in my bed. I'll take the floor.” There was a bit of reluctance in her voice, but it wasn't anything that would deter Keira. She was due for a good night's rest after her frightful drive here.
“Sounds grand.”
The two made their way upstairs into Aileen's room. Her bedding was white with a good amount of food stains. She was clearly no stranger to eating in bed. “I changed the sheets,” she said, obviously noting Keira’s grim face.
The walls were painted a washed-out magenta, the sort of colour you'd pick as a child and regret as you got older. Aileen was likely not to have regretted it at all, however.
With stuffed animals strewn about the bedroom, and the brightly coloured clothes she wore, she was very much like a child who hadn't grown up properly. Her overbearing mother had made sure of that.
Keira sunk under the covers and pulled them up, relishing the comfort. “So what's got you all hot and bothered over the phone?” Aileen looked to the ground, her face turning red from the neck up.
“I've told you! Every time ma leaves for anything at all, things start getting weird around here. The longer she's away, the weirder things get.”
“What sort of things?” Keira turned on her side, supporting her head with her arm.
“The haunted sort.” Aileen spoke with a mellow and quiet voice, as if the ghosts might hear her. Her grey eyes were wide as she leaned in slightly.
Keira smirked. Aileen could be such a baby.
“It's really not funny thanks. Things rattle, doors open and close, the cat freaks out over nothing. Why would she freak out – just sometimes, for no reason I can find - when she usually never does. And today.... today I heard a voice. Like low rumblings.” Aileen sat on the sleeping bag she laid on the floor while clutching her knees.
“A car passing by?” Keira began brushing her hair and looking out the window. The rain had calmed a bit but not completely.
“I'm not mad! It was right in my ear!”
“Alright, so what did it say?” Aileen shook her head.
“Couldn't tell.” Keira’s patience grew thin with the admission.
“Must have been speaking Ghostanese.”
Aileen sighed through her nostrils with closed eyes. “I'm so close to kicking you, I swear.”
“Alright, alright. And what's your mother have to say about all this?”
“She doesn't believe me! She doesn't believe in ghosts! I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t hear it, wouldn’t even listen.”
“I'm kinda surprised. Doesn't she go to church and all that? Thought she'd be more superstitious.”
“Nope. Says there's no such thing as ghosts. There's no ghosts in the Bible don’t you know.” Aileen looked to the heavens and shook her head in frustration. “But, there's no rabbits in the Bible either, and that doesn't make them fake!”
“Right.” Keira put her hairbrush down. The image of the squashed rabbit came back to her. If Aileen noticed Keira’s sadness she didn’t comment.
“The first time I mentioned a ghost to ma was when I was around twelve. I was home alone and I heard something
break in the kitchen. It was a flower pot, but it was halfway across the room. When I told ma, she thought I was just coming up with excuses, you know… blaming a ghost for something I did. I know I'm clumsy but I don't go chucking flower pots!”
Aileen furrowed her brow, “It's been that way ever since. I don't even bother anymore.”
“You never told me about that?”
“No. I didn’t want you to think I was batty, but I’ve always told you a ghost lives here.”
“Yeah, I never believed you about that either.” Keira reached over and tousled Aileen’s hair. “Poor ghost. Nobody but you to acknowledge its existence.”
“Yeah, nobody but me to be afraid.” Aileen rolled her eyes.
“I'm only teasing.” Keira's eyelids were heavy. “I believe in ghosts, kinda. But you've always been the overly worrisome type.”
Aileen frowned and looked away. “Well, I’m glad you came anyway. Maybe it won’t bother me tonight.”
Keira threw herself back with her head landing on a pillow, she didn't have the energy to argue any more on.
Keira didn’t believe in the existence of ghosts. Besides the pillow was among the softest she'd ever felt, and her head sank into it as though she was being cradled by a lover. She sighed deeply at the comfort. Her eyes shut and the sound of Aileen rustling into her sleeping bag was the last thing she could hear before falling asleep. It must have been about 2 AM when Aileen's door creaked like a wailing child, and loud enough to wake Keira up.
Chapter Two
“Aileen? Is that you?” No answer was returned. Keira rolled over to see that Aileen wasn't in her sleeping bag. Must be using the bathroom. Her eyes were pulled towards the strongest light source in the room: a digital alarm clock that displayed 2:04. AM Why am I awake? She turned onto her back and closed her eyes. Her mind wandered unhappily gravitating towards the red saturated image of the rabbit’s broken body on the road. That was the first time she had ever killed anything and it bothered her. Keira was the kind of person to catch a bug in the home and free it outside to live its life in peace; and now she had to live with the fact that she had taken the life of something innocent. A big sorrowful breath escaped, she turned over and breathed deeply and consciously until sleep found her again.
Unbidden images of dream snippets flashed into her mind and she was vaguely aware that Aileen must have returned to bed. The floorboards were creaking close by. But something about the air felt heavier. It must be the dampness of the rain getting in. She could feel each breath getting shorter than the last and a strange sick feeling was developing inside her.
Through the haze of her semi wakefulness Aileen’s crying began to echo through the hallway. Adrenaline began to surge through Keira’s body and her eyes popped open. Cold, rough fingers wrapped around her neck with an iron grip, and then tightened. She clawed at her neck and attempted to scream, but the hands completely blocked her airway. An immense weight pressed against her chest, like someone sitting on top of her, but she only saw dark walls and a water-stained ceiling. The pressure kept her from getting up or moving at all, but she still struggled in vain to free the invisible grip that was slowly suffocating her. Her legs kicked about, but they only moved through empty air.
Thrashing about as best she could Keira tried vainly to free herself from the weight but could not. It seemed as if the force itself would sink into her heart. Dark spots danced across her vision and her thoughts became increasingly muddled as her brain started to slow down from a lack of oxygen.
Panic struck her adding to her befuddlement. A banging pain roared through her head, and the sobbing from the hallway was muted by the ringing in her ears. Keira was going to die tonight, killed by something she could not see.
The light turned on. The dark presence lifted from her and was gone. Keira immediately sat up, gasping for air as she pressed fingertips to the sides of her neck. She coughed intermittently through each laboured breath and her body trembled uncontrollably, sticky and cold from terror-induced sweat that coated her body. Aileen stood in the doorway with reddened eyes. Tears streaming down her cheeks. Keira regained some of her composure to look again with more scrutiny.
Aileen’s hand was cupped around her chin; deep scratches ran along her face. Her eyes were wide and her expression was one of horror.
“What is this?” Aileen was shuddering in fear, her voice squeaked as fat tears ran down her cheeks. “What the hell is this?” One hand stayed firmly underneath the gashes, while the fingertips of her other hand fluttered around her cheek before pressing lightly against the wounds. The blood on her face mingled with her tears.
Keira tried to speak, but to no avail. Her lips trembled while her voice was caught in her throat. Stammered sounds came out instead of words and her heart thumped through her body. It seemed that Aileen had no idea about what just happened to Keira or herself.
“I woke up and my face stung,” Aileen’s speech was slurred with crying, “I went to the bathroom to see why...” Aileen began to sob uncontrollably with her knees shaking and hair falling into her face.
“Aileen,” Keira finally spoke, her breathing still heavy. She couldn’t believe the words she was about to utter. “Aileen, something tried to choke me.”
Aileen’s face blanched and she moved closer to her friend. “What are you talking about?”
“I felt something on my chest. It tried to throttle me, I swear it!” Keira's words were pouring out faster than her tongue could fully form them. “There's something wrong with this bloody place. We need to get out of here.” Keira stood up quickly, a wave of vertigo nearly knocking her off balance.
“I don't know, I don’t know, I don’t know.” Aileen clutched her head, “No one believes me, I don't know what to do anymore. It's always like this and I just want this to stop!”
Keira took a deep breath, “Look, try to stop panicking. Since when? I mean - how long has this been going on?”
“I told you! Since I was a kid.” Aileen wiped her nose on her sleeve. “I can't take it anymore.”
“You’ve got a bloody demon in your house.”
Sniffling, Aileen said, “I don't know what it is!”
“You've got to have some idea as to why this is happening.” Keira’s hands rested heavily on her neck. The skin was hot and sore.
Aileen sat on the bed with her eyes staring into nothing in particular. There was a sort of deadness about them, and something in the expressionlessness greatly unnerved Keira.
Keira took a deep breath. “If you want me to help, you have to tell me what's going on. You must know something.”
“The only thing I know about it is this. Do you remember when I was a kid, I had a dog, a beagle. Do you remember his name was Toby? Ma got him for me when I was five, shortly after my da left us.” Sadness was present in her eyes and in her voice. “I don't even remember what happened exactly but he got sick but you must remember that he died? We were eleven.”
Keira thought a moment.
“Yeah, I do remember something about that. He was cremated and put in the animal cemetery.”
“Yeah, but that wasn’t the plan. I was so grieved that I went into the yard behind our house and started to dig him a grave. Right by the oak tree. Didn't tell ma - you know - because she wanted him cremated, but I wasn't about to do that to Toby. So, I dug and I dug...” Aileen paused for a moment. “I dug and I found something. Bones.”
Keira’s forehead formed a puzzle. “Human bones?” Surely they couldn't be a human's?”
“How the bloody hell am I supposed to know?” Aileen’s voice moved up a notch in pitch. “I'm twice as old now and I still don't know shite about anatomy.” She rubbed her eyes from the dampness that still lingered from her tears. “I mean, whatever was in there was bigger than a beagle, I know that much.”
“You didn’t tell me that?” Keira’s voice had an incredulous, unbelieving edge to it. She thought she knew everything about Aileen. Everything important anyway.
“
Look, I was so damn scared I just covered it up. Like I said, I didn’t know what it was.” Aileen clung to the blanket she sat on. “Toby was cremated after all.”
Keira moved over and put an arm around Aileen, and eventually Aileen continued.
“I Didn't tell my ma about what I found, or anyone. But it was after that the weirdness started happening.”
“Why are you such a bleedin' eejit? Why didn't you tell her?”
“I was afraid of getting in trouble! I don't know. If you remember, I got in trouble for everything as a kid. Ma's mellowed over the years, but she was so temperamental back then and had a really short fuse all the time.”
Aileen’s sounded sad as she continued. “She went through a lot after da left us. I don’t think she was ever the same.”
Aileen’s voice remained agitated and Keira grit her teeth biting back her comments. She had never really warmed to Mrs O’Doherty but they needed to act now and not talk about old times.
“Look Aileen, we need to get out of this house. Come on. Let’s go.”
Every moment they lingered, it felt like more of the oppressing darkness seeped under her skin. The warm press of her hands on her throbbing neck didn’t remove the memory of the phantom icy fingers.
“I promised ma I'd watch the house, I gotta take care of the cat, the plants, make sure everything is safe.”
“It's not safe here!” Keira yelled, having since moved the palms of her hands to the sides of her head. “I nearly died and you want to stay here? You're mad!” Her face heated up as her frustration grew, and it began to turn red.
“I have nightmares and anxiety whenever I leave the house. Stuff happens, I don’t know. I have panic attacks and other weird stuff. Even in Rathcoole, I can’t feel safe. How do I know I'll be safe anywhere at all?”
Keira took an incredulous breath, “Aileen – something is really wrong in this house. I can’t believe I’m hearing you right.” She put her hands over Aileen's shoulder and looked her in the eye, “Where did you find those bones?”
