Jay, Lizzie and the Tale of the Stairs

by G J Lee

  Chapter 26

  The Séance

  Lizzie came to collect me at midnight exactly on a windy Sunday night/Monday morning. She smiled her reassuring grey smile and held out her hand. Inside five minutes I was sat amongst the family in the now familiar kitchen in 1946.

  The Raynors had dressed smartly for the occasion. Maureen had a green dress on, wide at the bottom, with a pair of brown shoes and heels. Pauline looked gorgeous in a cream jumper and black trousers. Albert wore a brown suit that had seen better days. All the girls wore a necklace and I noticed Maureen’s cross for the first time.

  Inside all was still and quiet.

  But I knew the nets moved at the front room window, hiding the shadows moved beyond them.

  Listening.

  Albert was in a serious mood. His pipe had been stored away and he sat quietly looking at us, but not really at us. if that makes sense. His green eyes would peer into the kitchen towards the back door as if he expected someone else to arrive. It seems that my life was just getting freakier and freakier. It was getting all too much. I was just a kid, after all.

  But I sat and waited, and Maureen, Pauline and Lizzie did the same. And if Albert was expecting someone, they never came. Eventually his green eyes rolled back in our direction.

  “I don’t like what we’re about to do,” he said slowly, “I don’t fully understand the forces at work in the ether and it’s dangerous.” Albert paused and looked at us. One by one. “But I don’t think we’ve got a choice. If Ernie’s alive, I want him home where he belongs”.

  “So do I,” said Lizzie.

  Then he turned to me. “Jay, you must do as you are asked. Whatever you see or hear do not be alarmed. Just follow what I do. Do you understand?”

  I nodded that I understood.

  “Good”. He looked at his wife. “Maureen dear, lead the way”.

  Maureen led the four of us through the sliding door and into what was once the front room as the front room as I knew it had undergone a strange transformation.

  It was dark, that was for sure, and it reminded me of a haunted house Mum and Dad used to take me to at the local fairground. The fairground used to set up twice a year in a park not so far away from where we live. The haunted house was gloomy and full of luminous skeletons (or ‘skelingtons’, as Dad would say) and the odd severed head. There was insane laughing and a brushing against the face which could only have been a spider’s web. This is what the Raynors’ front room reminded me of now. The room smelt musty and as we moved inside I realised that there was a small lamp on in one corner, its glare smothered by a tea towel. Furniture had been moved and a table placed in the centre of the room, draped in a crisp white tablecloth.

  As we took our places around the table I couldn’t help glancing at the darker corners of the room. The places where things might be hiding. Waiting. Watching. I’m not sure if it was just nerves but I already had a sense of being watched and I wondered if this was down to my ‘special powers’. I looked towards the window where things moved beyond but the nets at the window had been covered with a dark red blanket. This shut out any light and the sash windows were closed.

  I suddenly felt very, very frightened.

  I looked around for reassurance but it seemed that everyone felt the same as they avoided looking directly at me. All except Lizzie who gave me a limp smile. Even King Edward V looked sinister.

  Albert tucked his chair in close to the table and we all copied him. A moment’s silence then Albert coughed to clear his throat. He nodded then addressed us all quietly, softly, like folding tissue.

  “We all know what we’re here for, to find out where Ernie is, and to bring him home. But I’ve got to tell you all that this séance is the last resort. It’s dangerous and who knows where it will lead. But we all know that our friend from the future here (Albert nodded towards me) seems to have been in some sort of contact with Ernie. We’re not certain – nothing’s certain in this life – but it would be an obvious assumption to make. The assumption is that Ernie is trying to tell us where he is.” Again Albert looked around the table at us all, his head moving slowly and his green eyes shining like the beam from a lighthouse. “And believe me when I say that we will find him!”

  Silence again after that. Pauline moved herself still closer to the table. She ran a hand down the back of her skirt to make sure it was flat against the chair. Maureen had closed her eyes in concentration or preparation or whatever. Lizzie looked straight at her Father.

  And then it hit me. Seeing Lizzie looking at her Father with such a look of trust I suddenly realised just how much Lizzie believed her Dad. She believed him without question. Believed him when he said Ernie was still alive; believed that he, with my help, really would find her Brother; believed him when he said he would bring her Brother back home. This was another important difference between us all. I thought my Dad was a bit of a joke and I know most of my friends thought the same of their Dad’s too. Somehow I couldn’t picture Lizzie making fun of her Dad in the same way we did ours. Lizzie respected her parents and I respected her because she did. This bothered me. My Dad tried hard, he was funny and I’m sure he loved me and Mum. But life had chipped away at his edges and he wasn’t the man he once was. When I was little. Then he was a smiling giant. Always right. Always there. Mum too.

  But life was chipping away at that as well. Well, not life as such.

  It was the D Word that was doing the chipping away.

  “Righto,” said Albert placing his hands on the table, “in for a penny…”

  “…in for a pound,” I said shakily.

  Albert shot me a surprised ‘do you still use that saying in your time’ look before returning his focus to the table.

  Pauline, straight-backed beside me, closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “Annie? Are you there?”

  Her voice cut through the gloom and the whispering silence like sharp scissors through paper and I glanced around the room to see the reaction of the others.

  “Annie, darlin',"she asked the room again, “if you are present please make a knock or a noise or use your energy to let us all know that you have come through the ether.”

  “Who’s Annie?” I whispered to Albert.

  He leant towards me to keep his voice low. “It’s Pauline’s spirit guide. We’ve all got one. You should have one too.”

  This was news to me and I found this idea hard to get my head around.

  But, in a strange sort of way, I liked it. It meant that you’d never be alone.

  Pauline seemed to be finding it difficult to contact Annie. She huffed and puffed and became impatient but there was no sign of this so-called spirit guide.

  “If there are any spirits in this room, anybody who would like to contact us, please do so now. Please answer yes or no.”

  Albert had closed his eyes and was deep in concentration. Maureen had her chin on her chest. Lizzie was looking at me and she nodded for me to do the same, to close my eyes and concentrate. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t close my eyes all the way. I was too scared something would leap out at me from the dark corners. So I pretended, leaving my eyes half-open so I could still see what was going on. Through the blur of squinted eyes I saw that Lizzie was satisfied. She closed her own eyes and began to concentrate on whatever the others were concentrating on.

  We all waited but nothing happened.

  “If anybody from the other side would like to get in touch with any of us here," asked Pauline, "please let us know."

  No answer. No yes’s or no’s and, as the seconds stretched on, I was convinced there wasn’t going to be. So I closed my eyes.

  All the way.

  It was then that I felt the table move.

  My eyes snapped open again and I looked suspiciously from Raynor to Raynor, all the time thinking ‘c’mon you lot, stop messing about.’ I realised there was no way anybody was moving, or wanted to move, that table. It was impossible that anybody was pushing it. I watched as the table wobbled
and shook. I was completely fascinated. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It shook for a full minute but then the shaking stopped and I felt rather than heard Pauline take a deep breath of disappointment.

  “Who is there?” she asked the space in front of her. “Who are you?”

  The table didn’t move.

  “C’mon darlin’, come through. Use our energy if you like. You can touch me. I don’t mind. In fact, use any one of us”.

  I was startled at the thought of being touched by a spirit. But I didn’t say anything.

  There was no reply. Nothing.

  I was kind of glad.

  After a few more requests by Pauline the family began to stir and open their eyes. ‘That’s it,’ I thought, ’game over.’ Everybody looked frustrated and disappointed. Pauline thought for a moment then held up a hand for me to take.

  “Don’t worry”, she said to me, “it doesn’t mean anything”.

  And it didn’t as Maureen had taken her other hand and Lizzie held onto Maureen's hand. Albert held out his hand for me to take (I felt a bit weird and uncomfortable holding Albert’s hand and I thought I saw Lizzie smirk) and Lizzie took his other hand. So we were a circle and all holding hands.

  “Somebody does want to get through,” said Pauline to her Father, “I’m certain. I think they want to communicate through me”.

  Albert was stern. “Pauline, that’s dangerous. You know it is.”

  Pauline shrugged and I felt her warm, smooth hand move in mine. “It’ll be fine. I won’t let any trouble makers in. Besides, we don’t have a choice, Daddy, do we?”

  “But we’ll stop if it becomes too dangerous,” said Albert sternly. "I'll make sure we do."

  Pauline nodded.

  Communicate through Pauline? Too dangerous? Trouble-makers? Somebody, something, wants to contact us? This was eerie territory. But I held onto Albert’s hand and soon I forgot my embarrassment as Pauline gently spoke again.

  “Who are you? Who is it? Who wants to speak?”

  Three thumps. Feint. From one corner of the room. My heart scrambled up into my throat and I let go both hands to swing round to look towards the sound.

  “Jay!” hissed Albert, “give us your hands”.

  With my heart banging in my chest like a trapped cannonball I slowly turned back around to hold hands again, always spying out of the corner of my eye.

  “Who are you? Who is it? What do you want? Have you a message for us? I know you find it difficult darlin’, but use our energy to come through the ether. That’s it. Annie, if you’re there, show them how if you can. That’s it! That’s it darlin’.”

  A pause for a moment but then my attention was caught by Albert. Like the others he had had his eyes closed and his chin had sagged to his chest. Suddenly his eyes opened and he looked towards his daughter. I could feel Pauline’s grip tightening as if she was scared to let go.

  Pauline eyes were still closed although now she didn’t have a choice.

  Something was keeping them closed for her.

  Her pretty features seemed to have sagged as whatever had taken control of her eyes had taken control of her body. It was her mouth that showed us all that something had taken control. Her mouth was moving almost like she was whispering, but whispering at a hundred miles an hour. And in the darkness we could hear the soft whispers come from her and it reminded me of the voices I used to hear at night, in the darkness of my bedroom, back in my own time. The whispers became louder. Pauline’s mouth worked harder and harder and I looked around at everybody looking wide-eyed at Pauline. It seemed to go on for a long time but then suddenly stopped and Pauline’s head slumped forward onto her chest.

  Then more strange sounds came from her. A grunt. Then a small laugh. A whine. I was about to say something to Albert when Pauline’s head slowly came up again. Although her eyelids were still closed she stared blankly at the opposite wall.

  “Hello?” she said.

  The voice sounded so unlike Pauline that I looked to the corner where the thumps had come from just in case a stranger had got in and was now talking. My heart was set off again. I was fidgety and nervous.

  “Hello?”

  The voice coming from Pauline was deep and old and cracked. An old man’s voice. A voice of authority.

  “Well, answer me,” it growled. “What do you want?”

  We all looked to Albert to respond.

  “We’re looking for information.” said Albert weakly. “We need to find…”

  “Find, find, find”, the voice boomed, cutting Albert off. “Who do you want to find?”

  I’ve got to admit, I was petrified. The voice wasn’t Pauline’s and there was no way she could be putting it on and no way that it was coming from something recorded. The voice was a nasty voice. A cruel voice. And I didn’t like it coming from Pauline.

  Albert hesitated. He was uncertain.

  “Well?” the voice insisted.

  “My son. I’m looking for my son.”

  A cackling, gargling laugh in response and Pauline’s head sagged forward again, her chin resting somewhere near her necklace.

  Silence. The man inside Pauline had gone.

  I was relieved. I held on tightly to Pauline’s hand wondering what would happen next.

  I didn’t have to wait long. When Pauline’s head came up this time it was sudden, making us all jump. I felt her shaking slightly and her hand became cooler, almost cold.

  “Jim? Jim? Is thaat you Jim?” This time a woman’s voice. Gentle. Concerned. A farmer’s accent. A bit like Lizzie’s. “Can ‘e tell me if Jim’s with ‘e?”

  Albert answered straight away this time as the voice did seem like she was genuinely looking for someone. “No, there’s no Jim here. I’m sorry.”

  “Oh”, the voice replied, disappointed, and I felt sorry for whoever it was. “On’y I’ve lost ‘im see.”

  “Yes, I’ve lost my son. A man called Ernie Raynor.”

  “Oh!”

  Then the voice faded away to wherever it came from and Pauline’s head flopped forward again.

  Then immediately came back up.

  We heard from a twelve year old boy looking for his brother and a soldier wondering why it was suddenly dark and from someone who just cried. Boy or girl, we couldn’t tell. I looked at the way Albert dealt with all this human misery and found a new kind of warmth for him. He didn’t grow impatient or irritated. Didn’t get angry or cross. He just answered the questions with kind understanding. I felt upset at all these people – D’d or alive I couldn’t be sure – all searching for people they had lost or loved. Looking for answers. Explanations. Old friends. Relatives. Briefly we heard from a woman who had lived in our house not so long ago. I say ‘lived’ as she said she had taken a tumble down the stairs and laid on the hallway carpet for hours before she ‘passed over’. That was sad and I looked towards Lizzie. ‘Why had nobody come?’ I thought. ‘Where were her friends and relatives?’ We never found out. Like the others the voice trailed away, disappearing back to wherever it came from like smoke on a windy day.

  We would never look at that hall and the stairs in the same way again.

  Suddenly, a flash. It passed in front of my eyes like a tree seen from a window of a car travelling at 100mph. I knew instantly what it was.

  It was Ernie’s little prison.

  I must have looked shocked as Albert’s hand tightened in mine. He leant towards me.

  “Jay? What is it?”

  “I felt…I mean…I saw something.”

  “Who? What?” Albert was hopeful.

  “It was Ernie. I saw Ernie in his room.”

  Albert nodded. “Try again.” Then he talked to everybody. “We must try again.”

  Another flash and I jumped. Then another. And another and another until my own eyes were closed and I was in Ernie’s room. High up and in one corner. I was floating and Ernie sensed me. He was sat on his small bed. I saw him glance up towards the window with its bars and the tree outside before
looking up at me. When he did his eyes opened. In surprise? In horror? I couldn’t be sure. Both probably. I mean, I wasn’t sure how I looked to him but I know how I would have reacted after suddenly seeing a boy, dressed from the 21st century, floating in one corner of my room.

  I would have freaked.

  But Ernie stayed calm. I guess he was used to the unusual. He was a Raynor after all

  The conversation was weird and the sensation was dreamlike. Unreal. It reminded me of when I had been ill once, struggling up through the felt of a dream to where things were concrete and real, then sinking again, sinking, sinking, and becoming used to existing in floating soft focus.

  Me and Ernie talked and our voices echoed as if we were talking through traffic cones. This is what we said.

  Ernie – Who the hell are you?

  Me – A friend. Quick we haven’t got time.

  Ernie – Have you come to get me out?

  Me – Sort of. Ernie, you’ve got to tell me where you are.

  Ernie – Righto! (he looked confused) I’ve got to tell you where I am?

  Me – Yes.

  Ernie – But what if I don’t know.

  Me – That might be problem.

  Ernie – Well, I am a prisoner.

  Me – Yes, I know…

  Then suddenly I was back in the room in 1946 and Albert was staring right at me. He opened his mouth to speak but just as suddenly I was floating in Ernie’s cell again.

  Me – I’m not sure what’s happening. We’ve gotta be quick. Have you any idea where you are?

  Ernie – (thinking hard) The Germans handed us over to the Russians, I can’t be sure… Is the war over?

  Me – C’mon, Ernie, I’m fading.

  Ernie – Well, we were moved east into Poland, I think. And I do remember passing a small town miles and miles away when they brought me here…

  Albert. Looking at me. Holding a pencil. The pencil hovering over a bit of scrap paper…

  Me – Quickly!

  Ernie – It’s hard to pronounce. Gro…gro…

  …and that was it. I was back for good, slumped tiredly in my chair, watching Albert still holding the pencil over the little scrap of paper.