The Haunting Within (3 page)

6

As the car raced down the busy motor-way passing vehicles of all colours and sizes, a thought came to Debbie. She was thinking that maybe she could “accidentally” lose control of the wheel just as an HGV came up behind them. The car would swerve and hopefully - with a little help from Debbie, it would skid directly under the wheels of the lorry, killing them all instantly without her children feeling any fear or pain. She knew it was an extreme measure but it was the only way she could think of to protect her children from
him
and his poison. At least they would all be together and the children would be none the wiser. Her head felt clearer than it had since she got the call that had brought them here and she herself felt energized by the idea. But the more she thought about the “great plan”, the more she went off the idea. How could she possibly kill her own children for goodness sake? She wouldn’t; she
couldn’t
. They would just go to the house and get the visit over and done with.

With that decided she cleared her mind of the morbid thought and concentrated on the road ahead. As she did so she glanced out of the rear view mirror and saw a large sixteen wheel lorry closing in behind them. She knew this was her chance to save them all and as she waited for the lorry to indicate it was going into the next lane she wrestled with her conscience. Glancing in the mirror she saw her children happily looking out of the window in awe of their surroundings. They were having a wonderful time playing eye spy with the new sights. She knew they wouldn’t feel a thing so she tightly gripped the stirring wheel and slowly began to turn it. The car was gently pulling out in front of the lorry when she heard an almighty beep from its horn. The driver had seen what she was trying to do! There was no way it would work now, he was already beginning to slow down and drop back a little. Shook up and disturbed by her stupidity she changed lanes and swerved onto the hard shoulder on the side of the motor-way. The driver of the lorry shouted something inaudible to her as he passed and finished off with a rude gesture using his middle finger. She couldn’t blame him though. She leaned her pounding head on the steering wheel and felt a single warm tear roll down her cheek and travel to her lips. How could one visit to an old man make her so dangerously irrational? The children undid their seat-belts and moved forwards so they were nearer to their mum. Their concern for her was plain to see and she wiped the salty tear away before she looked at them.

“Don’t worry. Mummy’s alright, I just felt a bit poorly, that’s all” she lied.             

After a couple of minutes Debbie had gained enough composure to carry on their journey. With her emotions under as much of a control as she could manage, she turned the key and taking a deep sigh, continued the long drive knowing with fearful certainty that it was all about to begin again.

7

The journey was a long one filled with apprehension for her. She had a lot of time to think about her childhood whilst driving the long distance to her former home. Or should that be former hell? The only distraction for her was the children who were becoming restless and bored in the back of the car. She tried to amuse them by singing songs with them and playing games like “I spy”, but her heart wasn’t in it and they sensed that. A number of times Lisa had asked her if she was alright and every time Debbie lied to her daughter by replying that she was fine. She hated lying to them but consoled herself on the fact that the truth would harm them much more than a little white lie. She was immensely relieved that she didn’t go through with the stupid idea on the motor-way. What the hell was happening to her? She would never put her children’s lives in danger! But did it constitute as harming your children if it was to protect them? Why did it matter? She wasn’t going to do it. She didn’t have the nerve to. 

As the car pulled off the motor-way after a few hours the whole view changed. It was as though they had driven into another world. The traffic had almost instantly disappeared and the farm land was replaced by dense forest on either side of the road. There was hardly any noise apart from the occasional tweet of a bird or scampering of deer. It was so peaceful. Debbie always thought that a horse and cart wouldn’t look out of place on the long stretch of road. It was full of views that could be on postcards, or in the winter when the snow had settled lush and crisp on the ground (and that didn’t take long here with the infrequency of traffic and pedestrians) and when the branches of the trees were bare apart from the icicles that hung daintily from them, it would be a lovely sight to put on a Christmas card. Lisa and Aiden were clamouring to look out of the back window at all the forest wild-life. They would inform Debbie every time they saw an animal and she would humour them with surprise. The children were amazed at all the different types of trees they saw and how the wild-life seemed so unfazed by the noise of their old car as it chugged down the road, the deer and wild rabbits stopping their grazing or their journey to stare at the car and its occupants as if they were as interesting to them as the animals were to the children. She allowed herself a small smile as she watched them in the back seat. Hearing their delighted cries she thought it would be nice to slow down and let them have a proper look at the animals but she dared not be late for her father; she knew better than that so she carried on at the same speed not wanting to be late, but terrified at the thought of arriving.

8

The car turned at the only corner on the long stretch of lonely road, so narrow only one car could fit down it at a time (luckily for her there were no other cars on the road - there hardly ever was) and was almost immediately confronted by large wrought iron gates that were painted black and had once been shiny and proud but over the years had been left to rust and now had paint peeling from them showing the cold unforgiving metal underneath dotted with brown roughness. The rust did little to soften the appearance of the gates that were at least ten feet high. Her father certainly liked his privacy. As the car approached the gates Debbie got out of the car and walked over to them on shaking legs. With a lift of the rusty handle and a hard push they swung open with a shrill groan, coming to an unsmooth stop just before they hit the walls. Loudly announcing their arrival.

Aiden leaned as far forward as he possibly could to get a better view. He was expecting the driveway to be pleasant-looking like the road that had led them here, but it wasn’t. Enormously tall spindly trees lined the edge of the drive on both sides, but the trees were not covered with thick green foliage like the ones in the forest, they were bare; their long, spiny branches poking out in all directions, sharp and menacing, like blackened bones. They almost joined branches overhead, appearing to form an eerie kind of arch-way. Debbie had always been reminded of a frighteningly black tunnel that led straight to hell whenever she saw the arched branches of the drive. They looked evil, like a cat ready to pounce, unnatural as though someone had teased them into that shape. There were no birds singing, nor any animals in sight. The only sound they could hear was the gravel on the surface of the driveway crunching beneath the cars tyres as they slowly rolled forward and occasionally, bouncing off the frame-work as it plodded along towards the house. The faint sound of the wind rustling through the bare branches of the trees making them crack and move about like they were alive could be heard from inside the car. Although muffled, the sound was still harsh as the wood snapped and creaked. It sounded like the branches would snap and fall on the car, maybe impale them or trap them so they had no escape. The air under the archway of trees was a lot cooler than the air that had, just a few seconds earlier been sweeping in through the open windows. It felt very dry too, not like the cool refreshing air that normally comes with shade. This air seemed to move around them like dry ice, touching every uncovered body part and bringing them out in goose bumps. The tunnel continued all the way down the lane to the drive-way, which took another couple of minutes’ drive. Debbie had always wondered since she had been old enough to really understand, why whoever had built the house in God knows what century, would want it to look so uninviting. Why had they set it so far back from the road? It was secluded enough as it was without the long lane leading on to the huge rectangular driveway. From the back window of the little car it looked as though the branches of the trees were turning inwards towards the house so it seemed like they were watching the journey of the car menacingly, almost as though they were standing guard, making sure they didn’t turn back and try to escape. Irrational though she knew it was, Debbie had the uneasy feeling that the trees' would stop their progress by swooping their long, gnarled branches to the floor if they decided to turn around and go back.

Finally the car emerged from the shadows and into the warmth of the sun’s rays. The warm air circulated freely through the cars open windows once again and swamped the passengers with its heat, erasing all traces of the goose bumps that had covered their arms and legs only seconds ago. Straight ahead of them standing huge and proud in the middle of the vast drive was a large water fountain that had long since dried up. Moss and algae was growing on the face of the cherub that would have one time spurted fresh, clear water into the fountain where birds used to drink from. There were chunks of concrete missing from the once serene and angelic-looking cherubs face so it now looked diseased and the urn that the cherub held in its chubby child-like arms was now spouting yellow weeds instead of the water that should have gushed from it. There were topiary hedges around the main part of the drive and although these let in more daylight than the trees, they still seemed threatening somehow. Beyond the hedges were rows and rows of bare branched trees, tall and ominous, looking like guards that surrounded the house so no-one could escape from its cold walls.

As the car pulled up in front of the house there were gasps of awe from the backseat.               “Wow mummy! Did you live here when you was little?” asked Aiden with amazement in his voice.

“Yes, I did” replied Debbie, already beginning to feel the old panic rising inside. She tried to push it away but it wouldn’t let go of the hold it had her in. It was like a cold fist wrapped around her spine, slowly uncurling its tendrils up towards her neck and lathering her insides with iciness.

Stepping out of the car Debbie heard a small voice. “Are you alright mummy?” She looked down to see the wide questioning eyes of her little boy.

She managed a smile and in the most normal voice she could muster, said “Yes sweetheart, I’m fine. It’s just been such a long time since I’ve been here, I forgot what it looked like, that’s all.”

Lisa came to her mother’s side and took her hand. Her little eyes were looking up at the intimidating old house which towered before them, almost as if it were daring them to enter. Lisa thought it was such a strange shape. There was a square bit that jutted out where the front doors were and two large windows either side, then it was set back a little on both sides and there were another two windows there, and then, once more there was another part either side that were again set back and that also had two enormous windows. Like a three tiered cake lying on its side. It was a very ugly and unwelcoming sight to behold indeed. With all of its sharp angles that jutted out imposingly it seemed threatening and the symmetry was almost over the top. The two huge double doors had four stone steps leading to them that were cracked and worn smooth in the centre of each one, making them dip slightly in the middle. Around the edges of the steps grew moss that had, over the years, slowly wound itself up the stone and into its cracks and crevices making it appear like mouldy old grouting. That part of the house actually looked quite nice, rather quaint and cottage-like. The mullioned windows were made up of many squares of glass, which had ivy that had long since died clinging on to the frames of most of the downstairs ones. The glass reflected the sunlight in each separate square bouncing it in all different directions, yet it did little, if anything to soften the image.             

“I don’t like it” Lisa stated indignantly. “It scares me!”

I hope you never have to find out how terrifying it is darling
thought Debbie with a fear in her that only two things in this world could provoke: this house and her Father.             

9

“What did the solicitor say it was about mum?” asked Lisa.             

“He didn’t, love. He said he couldn’t discuss it over the phone and asked us to come down as soon as we could.” Debbie answered her beautiful daughter. She was so proud of how both of her children had turned out. It could have been so different if they had let that first and, until now, last visit to their grandfathers house destroy them, but they were strong kids and they did their best to put it behind them and carry on with their lives. Debbie was pleased they had come with her today. She hadn’t even needed to ask, they told her they wouldn’t let her come on her own and for that she was enormously thankful. They were no longer children, he didn’t have the right to treat them the way he had that day. They couldn’t help but be scared of their grandfather and the terrifying secrets the house had to offer, but they were adamant they wouldn’t let him see their fear.

As they entered through the large iron gates that led onto the grounds of the manor, taking the same path as they had all those years ago, they all felt like helpless children again. It had been years since they had last made the journey but to them all it seemed like only yesterday for they had all suffered many, many nightmares about the house and all it held since their last visit. The trees were still leafless skeletons, bare of the lush greenery that they should hold and Lisa found it odd that it was the height of summer and there was no greenery to be seen on them. It was like summer couldn’t reach the trees to give them the green fullness that all the other trees had, like its rays couldn’t quite penetrate the drabness of the grounds. Or maybe there was some kind of force that refused to allow any light and goodness through. But that was not the sort of thinking she wanted to entertain.

They got out of the car and stood in front of the house not wanting to go any further near it, wanting to get back in the car and drive away.

“Do you think it’s too late to just go home?” asked Lisa hopefully.

“No, it’s definitely too late for that now” sighed Debbie.

Lisa followed her mother’s gaze and saw a figure standing in one of the many upstairs windows peering down at them. It was only a split second, but in that second a shudder of pure fear coursed through her veins at the sight. Even though she wasn’t nearly close enough to see his face, she sensed that he was glaring hatefully at them.

“What’s up? What are you both looking at?” asked Aiden perplexed by the looks on their faces.             

Just at that moment one of the huge solid oak doors swung open with a loud groan that grated on their very nerves, and in the doorway stood a very tall and very slim man in an expensive, yet tacky tweed suit. He was staring at the family for what seemed like an eternity to them, scrutinizing them carefully.

Eventually he approached them and introduced himself. “Hello, my name is Mr. Leeson and I am your father’s lawyer. I’m sorry to have called you all up here so urgently, but I have some very important business to discuss with you and your family. Please, come inside.”

They reluctantly followed Mr. Leeson into the house.