Shadows At Starlight

by Alice J Black

“So all those people were sleeping over a dead body?” Olivia grimaced.

  “It looks that way.” I nodded, clicking back in the browser. “This was written two years ago, though, when the body was first found. I wonder if there was anything else written about it.”

  “Check the links,” Olivia suggested.

  I scanned the page, scrolling slowly, and read snippets of information meant to entice but it wasn’t until the bottom of the page that I found something different.

  Couple Dies Filming at Hillside.

  A couple identified as Karen and Rick Mortimer was found dead at Hilltop House in the early hours of this morning. Police were alerted to the found footage, which somehow made it to the infamous Starlight Cinema of Fallbury. The owner, Roman Spearman, when questioned about its existence, stated he was handed the footage by a known local films dealer.

  Police are currently investigating the couple’s death, and it is being treated as suspicious.

  “They died, Peyton.” Olivia shuddered. “They died in that house.”

  “The footage didn’t hint at a happy ending.”

  “Keep searching. See if there’s anything else.”

  I did as she asked, but there was nothing more regarding the recent deaths. Instead, I found an article about the death of the young man.

  “Here we go.” I clicked the link.

  Body at Hilltop House.

  This year, 2016, officials have now dated the body found in Hilltop House. There is no indication as to who the boy may have been, and nobody has come forward but officials state that the body had lain in a shut-off part of the basement for close to fifty years. The coroner’s report stated that his death was not an accident.

  “Fifty years?” Olivia’s eyes bulged. “He was in there for fifty years and nobody noticed? How is that even possible?”

  “I don’t know. Although I have to admit, if it was me, I probably wouldn’t notice because I’m so used to the smell of dead bodies.”

  “Peyton, that is fucked up.”

  It was a harsh reality but a true one. Living above a funeral parlour meant I was used to the lingering smell of death.

  “The real questions is, who was the man and why was he killed?” I stared at the screen.

  “How will we find that out?”

  “The library might have some records that can tell us something. Death registers, that sort of thing. But if he was never reported missing and he’s been gone all this time, with no mention, it seems to be a long shot.”

  Olivia switched her stance, arms crossed. “So does that mean we’re at a dead end?”

  “Not exactly.” I met her eyes.

  “Why don’t I like the way you said that?”

  “We do have one other option.”

  “I’m not sure I want to hear it.”

  “We go to the house.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not too far to travel. Roman said just thirty miles away, and it’ll give us an indication of what we might be looking for. If his spirit is lingering there—and since his death wasn’t an accident, it probably will be—I might be able to get some answers.”

  “Peyton, after what I’ve just seen on screen,” she pointed back, down the foyer, “there’s no way I want to go there.”

  “You don’t have to come. I’ll go alone.”

  “Are you crazy?” she shrieked. “There’s no way you can go alone.”

  “Then come with me. Either way, I’m going to Hilltop House. It’s the only way we’ll figure this out.”

  “Sylvia.” I smiled as I entered her shop.

  The room was dim, as it always was, and she was in her seat. Tilting her head to the side, she regarded me.

  “Peyton, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

  I shrugged, automatically taking the seat opposite. “Just a visit. And to return some of the things you lent me. I’ve started buying my own, and I don’t want to hang on to them too much longer.”

  “Thank you.” She took the offered bag. “Tea?”

  I grinned. “Please.”

  She stood, glided between the curtain beads, and disappeared from view. Upon return, she was carrying a tray with a pot and two cups. I often wondered what was hidden behind that beaded curtain, but I knew it was off limits.

  After pouring the tea, Sylvia settled back into her chair.

  “Have you been busy?” I asked, picking up my cup and took a sip, feeling the calmness wash over me.

  “Steady.” She nodded. “I have my regulars and then others just seeking something they’re never going to find here.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A joke.”

  I shook my head. Not so long ago, when Olivia first suggested coming to see Sylvia, I was unsure. I didn’t know what she could offer or if it would be worth my while but like Adele, she had become a trusted, dear friend.

  “How is the ghost hunting business?”

  “Good. I’m working on my second case, officially. I’m going to Hilltop House to—”

  “Hilltop?” she interrupted, eyes wide.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Be careful, Peyton. Hilltop House is a place I’ve never ventured, and unless I was compelled to go, I would avoid it altogether.”

  “What do you know about it?” I set my cup down as the hackles on my neck stood to attention.

  “Much of what I know is hearsay, so I don’t want to divulge too much, but I’m friends with a woman who knew a couple, Rick and Karen.”

  My jaw dropped. “Mortimer?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  I swallowed hard. “This is getting weird. I just watched a found-footage documentary that they shot at the house.”

  “Peyton, they died there.” Sylvia’s eyes were full of sadness and fear.

  “I know.” I dropped my head. “I saw it in a news article.”

  “A spirit as strong as that, one that can kill two people—”

  “And possess them, apparently,” I muttered.

  “Is a dangerous one. Maybe this is a case you should turn down.”

  I bit my lip. It wasn’t like Sylvia to worry so much. She knew as well as I did what lurked on the periphery of what people could normally see, and she had never, in all the months I’d known her, shirked from that. Until now.

  “I can’t. We need the money.”

  “Money is important, but so is your life.”

  “Maybe down the line I’ll be able to decline a case like this, but right now, I have no option.” I set my cup down.

  “You’re going now?”

  “Yeah.” I brushed my hands on my jeans. “Hoping to head out there and do some recon before it gets too dark.”

  “Can’t it wait until tomorrow at least?”

  I shook my head. “The quicker I do this case, the quicker we get paid.”

  “Be careful, Peyton.”

  I stood up, and after a glance back that showed me Sylvia’s downcast expression, I left.

  I made it to Hilltop House just as dusk was beginning to fall. After the night spent at the Starlight, with the shadows emerging from the screen and Roman’s blasé attitude afterward, Olivia and I needed time away from the whole thing. But Roman had employed us officially, and there was a case to be dealt with, so rather than waste a whole day doing nothing, I decided to go to the house.

  I waded into the waist-high tangle of weeds as the sun began to set. The house loomed in front of me, bigger and darker than it had looked on-screen when Karen and Rick approached it. It was isolated. Nothing stood within miles, and I think that was worse than knowing I was going into the house right now. Almost.

  “I can’t believe I’m here.” Olivia stepped out of Thumper and slammed the door.

  From somewhere inside the weeds that had rooted around the house’s perimeter, a flock of crows emerged, flapping and cawing, angered at the disruption.

  I threw my hand to my chest as I took a step backwards and watched them swirl
into the sky, flocking to a new destination.

  “Jesus.”

  “I don’t like this, Peyton,” Olivia’s voice came from beside the car, and when I turned to look, I saw that she was still standing right next to it.

  Sylvia’s warning rattled through my mind. She was scared of this place and had warned me not to come, yet here I was, with Olivia in tow, putting her in as much danger as myself.

  “Wait in the car,” I suggested, knowing it was exactly what she wanted to hear, and maybe it was something I needed to do for peace of mind.

  “No way am I waiting out here alone.” She hurried to catch up to me in the thicket and tried to pick her way through the grass.

  She finally gave up as the weeds slapped her legs, refusing to move when she moved.

  “Stay close and keep your eyes peeled.”

  After turning back towards the house, I moved through the grass like I was wading through water. I met resistance at every step, the long weeds hitting my hips, slapping me in the side, but I didn’t let it stop me. I was pricked and stung, but if I couldn’t withstand a little overgrown garden, what did that say about my strength of character?

  Against the backdrop of the sun, Hilltop House looked like a blackened silhouette of some monstrous house that I’d find in the deepest reaches of Hell. I swallowed and kept closing in. Even from this distance, I could feel the darkness that settled across the building, thick and cloying. It was in there, without a doubt.

  Closer and closer I stepped, weeds snagging on my clothes, nicking the fabric. I concentrated on walking, trying to keep an eye on the dirt beneath the tangle of weeds. Olivia kept close, steps quick and light as she stepped in time with me.

  I already knew this would be a nightmare for her, and this was just the beginning.

  The backpack I’d slung over my shoulder was a welcomed weight, and I knew it contained everything I’d need if I came across anything in the old house. Or should I say, when.

  Eventually, I advanced past the garden’s boundary, pushing through the last of the weeds and feeling a sense of relief. I paused and found myself in a small clearing leading to the doorway. Nothing grew in the space. A tree to the right was dead and blackened, the branches twisted like spindly fingers reaching out to snag anyone unsuspecting.

  “Why is it so clear here?” Olivia came up behind me, panting hard. She stopped to my left, hands on her hips, surveying the scene.

  I shook my head. I had no answers. Or at least, no logical answers. The weeds would’ve grown right up to the doorway in lieu of someone pruning the garden. But here, there was nothing. The paved pathway to Hilltop House was a barren wasteland.

  The door was crossed with yellow police tape and had been pulled shut to prevent anyone from wandering in. I figured the tape was new and would’ve been left by the police as they investigated the deaths of Karen and Rick.

  As I stood there, taking in the façade, the doorway opened. Slowly, it swept inwards, silent and inviting, and as it did, I felt a wave of darkness rush over me. I gasped as it shook my brain, and I felt Olivia’s hand, warm and grounding as she gripped my arm.

  “Peyton? Peyton?”

  I turned to look at her.

  “Peyton, what’s wrong with you? You zoned out.”

  “I . . . I felt something.”

  “Did you see that door open? I’m not sure we should go in there.”

  I wasn’t either. The power of the darkness that had rushed over me was enough to make me want to turn around and get back in the car, but for us to have any hope of finding out what or who had emerged from the cinema screen at the Starlight, I had to go inside.

  I took a deep breath. “Maybe you should go back to the car, Olive. I’ll just take a quick look.”

  She shook her head. “There’s no way you’re going in alone. I’m coming with you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She planted her hands on her hips and stared me down, the last rays of the sun glinting on her glasses. “Let’s go, Peyton.”

  I steeled myself, glad for the company, and proceeded. The dirt crunched under my feet, and each step closer to the house blotted out the sun a little bit more. I moved past the dead tree with its snagging branches and up onto the porch, which creaked precariously beneath me, then reached forward and yanked the plastic tape. It came away with no effort, and beside me I heard Olivia take a sharp breath. The plastic fluttered to the floor as I let it go, the yellow tape, a warning.

  I took another step and pushed the door further inwards. It creaked as it opened wide. Inside, it was darker than I could’ve imagined. A grey blanket fell across everything, covering the furniture, the walls. The house was smothered and left a bitterness that lingered.

  “I don’t like this,” Olivia whispered, creeping up behind me.

  She reached for me, and I felt her fingers curled into claws as they grasped my jumper.

  Any other time, I might’ve shooed her away, but right now the comfort her closeness gave me was what kept me going.

  “Let’s just stick together, and we’ll be fine.” I hoped I sounded more sure of myself than I felt.

  As I stepped over the threshold, my stomach was in kinks, legs trembled, adrenaline on full speed. Something told me I would need it.

  Olivia followed close as we moved into the huge foyer. The house was just like I remembered from the film, and as I stood there for a moment, allowing my eyes to adjust to the gloom, I knew exactly where I needed to go. I made for the stairs.

  “Upstairs? Are you kidding?” she hissed. “Do you know what happens in horror movies when people go upstairs?”

  I continued walking, trying not to let her words sink into my mind, for fear that my legs would betray me. “I need to see where they were.”

  Karen and Rick’s film footage had ended in the master bedroom, and that’s where we had to go.

  For a moment, there was silence, and then the sound of steps as she hurried to catch up. She made it to the third step at the same time as me, gave me a sidelong glance, and then started walking. Side by side, we travelled up the stairs. Only the sound of our breaths could be heard in the dense tension. Up and up, we trekked a never-ending trail leading to something I wasn’t sure I wanted to see.

  Finally, we made it to the top and rounded the corner, just like Rick and Karen had done. I looked left and right, searching both sides of the corridor. Everything was still and quiet.

  “That’s it, isn’t it?”

  I looked in the direction Olivia was pointing. The door to the master bedroom, where their film had been found, stood ajar. More police tape covered the doorway.

  I swallowed hard and nodded. That was the place. That was where the laughter had come from.

  “There’s police tape,” Olivia whispered.

  I stared, unable to voice the facts that we both knew. Rick and Karen had died in that room. The room we were about the enter.

  I crept to the door. Beneath me, floor boards creaked, and I passed a window so coated in grime I couldn’t see the outside world. The doorway was soon within my range, and I finally came upon the yellow police tape. I ripped it from the doorframe and found myself face-to-face with the room.

  The old bed was as I remembered in the film, except now there were splinters of wood poking out at jagged angles where it had been lifted and dropped back to the floor. There were patches on the ground where several pairs of feet had walked, lifting the dust and moving it. Then I spotted a stain, something that had lain in the same place for a while before being half-cleaned by a crew. Blood.

  “Shit, Peyton. We have to get out of here,” Olivia whimpered. “That’s blood.”

  I nodded absently. I saw the blood. I knew what it meant, but I felt detached from it. I could sense that someone else had been here. Someone who wouldn’t leave a footprint.

  “Someone’s been in here, Olive.”

  “Plenty of people have been in here.”

  “No, this is different. I can feel the footprin
ts, light and invisible, but they’re all the same. This was made by someone who was dead.”

  Olivia stared at me with wide eyes and flared nostrils. “Really? You’re going to say that to me now when I’m pretty much standing in the room where—”

  I stepped forward, crossing the threshold. The imprint felt thicker now. “Someone moved up behind Rick while he was filming.”

  “Peyton,” she warned.

  “Do you remember the laughter, the way he changed?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “Rick was possessed.”

  “What? Why?” Her brow wrinkled.

  “I don’t know why.” I shrugged.

  As we stood there in the quiet of the room, staring down at the blood stain that had marred the floor, I wondered if they’d provoked the spirit of the young man. When angered, the spirit had enough energy to do damage, and in this case, it cost the couple their lives.

  “The news article said they found the young man’s body in the basement.” Olivia whispered, and I knew she’d brought it up so we could get out of this room and keep moving.

  “You’re right.” I nodded as I stared at the prints. “We need to go down there.”

  “Oh, God.” She shook her head. “Why did I say anything?”

  “Come on.”

  I passed her at the doorway as she clung to the frame like it was a life support.

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Deadly.”

  “Don’t use that word.”

  I heard her steps behind me as I trotted down the stairs. Perhaps she was as eager to leave that room as I’d been.

  We hadn’t seen the basement in the film. Either Karen and Rick hadn’t ventured down there, or it had been cut out, but I figured it wouldn’t take a lot of searching.

  After reaching the ground floor, I paused and glanced at the door. It still stood open. The sky was getting darker, the early evening dusk replaced with midnight blue. I resisted the urge to bolt through the door and instead turned right and moved along the back of the old staircase.

  Surely, the basement in a home like this would be hidden. I tapped the wood panelling and found that it was just a solid wall.

  “Well, I guess that’s that.” Olivia threw her hands up and turned towards the door.