All the way home I couldn't stop thinking about Katie and Jade, their names were so familiar.
Wait... why didn't it click before? Their names were the same as dad's friend's kids.
Liam's too!
Nah! It had to be just a coincidence nothing more. I peddled faster. I had to check dad's diary.
I was freaking now; if their surnames were the same then Jade's mother was a descendant of James Braden, the man who'd begun the 'Secret Society of Crines'. Was that why this new girl, Riley, had befriended Jade?
Chills ran down my spine. Who knows, I thought as I peddled up my driveway...that orphanage could be a breeding ground for aliens. The thought scared me shitless.
I jumped off my bike and wheeled it up the side of my house; relieved to see that mum's car wasn't in the driveway. Now I could check dad's diary and finish reading his novel without her knowing. I knew where mum had hidden them in her room so it was no drama.
Sensing that someone was watching me I instinctively looked up at the attic. I thought of the footsteps I'd heard again last night. I didn't know what to make of them and had begun to think that maybe my grandparents were haunting the old manor.
Unnerved I grabbed my school bag from my bike and fumbled in my pocket for the side door key,
"Darn it! I cursed. I've left the key on the hall table." I stood there wondering how I was going to get inside when suddenly the side door swung open. Puska greeted me, meowing insistently as she rubbed against the doorjamb.
"How'd you do that you old flea bag? Maybe I should call you wizard instead of Puska." I laughed nervously, seriously spooked.
I hurried past Puska and threw my schoolbag under the coat rack in the hallway. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, seagulls were squawking in the kitchen.
Shit! The window must be open!
Sure enough seagulls were sitting on the windowsill. They looked at me curiously then cocking their heads to one side spread their wings and flew away through the open window.
I slammed the window shut and locked it. I looked around nervously. It wasn't like mum to go out and leave the window open and the side door unlocked.
The kitchen was a mess; cupboard doors were open and their contents strewn across the floor. It was obvious that someone had been searching for something and I was sure it hadn't been mum.
I grabbed my baseball bat lying on the floor and warily walked down the hallway afraid that at any moment I'd have to whack someone.
I reached the foyer door and took my shoes off so that no one would hear me on the marble floor. My heart pounded as I felt the creepy eyes of those weird people in the paintings lining the foyer following my every move.
Relieved I saw my key was still by the vase on the foyer table. Hastily I put it in my pocket and checked the front door. It was locked.
I quickly checked the downstairs rooms everything seemed in place except... cold beads of sweat began to pour down my face. The painting of those three mysterious children that I'd hung upstairs was leaning against the wall beside me.
Shit...someone might still be here.
I swung around my baseball bat at the ready when I heard 'meow'
Puska rubbed frantically against my leg she was seriously disturbed.
"This is weird!" I muttered to Puska. "What's been going on old girl, who's been here? You know don't you?"
Cautiously I placed the baseball bat aside and picked up the painting.
"If that's what they'd been after, it must be valuable hey Puska?"
It took a moment to grasp what I was seeing. The three young children that had been depicted there had been replaced by images of Liam, Katie and me! I gulped; it had to be a different painting. Yet the background and the frame were identical.
If it was the same painting then why had someone changed it? Was this someone's idea of a joke?
Throwing all caution aside I ran upstairs to check if the original painting was still hanging in the hallway, however only a lonely hook filled the space. Now I was seriously spooked.
Nervously, I checked the bedrooms... nothing had been disturbed. .
Anxiously I walked back downstairs to get the painting. I pinched myself, the painting had returned to the original images of three young children.
"No way! Tell me I'm not nuts Puska!" However Puska just sat beside me licking herself frivolously.
I stood there waiting to see if the painting would change again. However nothing happened. Totally bewildered I picked it up and went upstairs and re-hung it on the wall.
"Jamie."
Startled I spun around; there was no one there. The creaking of the manor contracting from the warmth of the day as evening approached gave little reassurance to my fearful mind.
I looked across at the attic stairs where I'd heard my name called and noticed shadows flickering over them. That meant only one thing, the attic door was open. Trembling I climbed the attic stairs. I had to know if anyone was up there.
The door was ajar. I hesitated, afraid that someone lurked behind it, waiting for me.
"Well here goes nothing!" I muttered as I reached inside and switched the light on. I pushed the door open and stood there ready to tackle anything or anyone.
"Okay if anyone's here, now's the time to show yourself!" I demanded threateningly.
I was met by silence.
Nervously I looked around. Everything appeared the same except the dust cover that had covered a huge crate was on the floor. I walked toward it noting the fresh track marks in the dusty floorboards where it had been dragged. Somebody had definitely been up here.
Anxiously I looked for footprints. There were none, it didn't make sense.
The sound of a creaking door from behind the crate sent me into a tailspin. I wanted to run but instead my legs kept moving me forward.
I gasped; behind the crate was an opened door.
Tentatively I peaked into the shadowy darkness terrified that whoever had tried to rob our house was hiding there.
I stood there shaking, listening for sounds of movement. Slowly my eyes adjusted to the gloom and gathering my courage I forced myself to venture further. I tried not to make any noise but the bare wooden floorboards grudgingly acknowledged my presence as vermin infested there scrambled from my unwanted intrusion.
The creaking floorboards elevated my fears and sweat poured down my face as I crept along the narrow corridor guided only by minute shafts of light penetrating the fractured ceiling above.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Doors lined the corridor stretching endlessly before me. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that the manor had such a secret. What was this space...had dad known of its existence?
I tried one of the doorknobs. it turned.
Slowly the door creaked open. Inside only a lonely bed squashed against a windowless wall filled the airless space. Rats squealed in the infested walls and I quickly shut the door.
My stomach churned and I walked on compelled to open each door as I went. The rooms were identical, a lonely bed the only companion to the rats living there.
Suddenly I sensed a malevolent presence hovering, waiting. I spun around.
There in the shadows was a spiral staircase; its ancient metal treads daring those either brave or foolish enough to climb. Conflicted by fear and curiosity I accepted the challenge aware that the swaying staircase meant someone had been on it just moments before.
My eyes darted back and forth as I began to climb but there was no sign of anyone. I didn't know whether to be relieved or afraid.
I stepped off the last step into the shadowy darkness poised ready to run. The cooing of seagulls nestled somewhere above me strangely soothed my fears as I realized I was in one of the manors roof turrets.
Rat droppings crunched under my feet as I walked gingerly over the creaking floorboards. The rancid smell of decay made me want to puke as I bru
shed cobwebs from my face.
Long tattered curtains moved gently over the broken windowpanes no longer keeping the secrets hidden within those blackened walls. My eyes roamed over this forsaken place aware that at any moment someone could lunge out of the darkness.
Suddenly I sensed a presence behind me.
Turning I was met with a pair of piercing yellow eyes, a sleek body revealing itself from the shadows.
"Meow"
"Puska! You've got to stop creeping up on me like that you little shit!" I croaked, however her questioning meow was music to my ears.
As I listened to the wind whistling through the broken window, I whispered fearfully "Come here Puska, stay with me"
Comforted by her presence I ventured further oblivious to the meaning of the strange drawings I saw filling the blackened walls. All around me were relics of the past, the strangest of all, the many infant cradles standing forlornly in the center of the room.
I wandered over to them and taken back found that they were standing within a satanic circle. I stared at the charred symbols burnt into the floorboards. I'd seen them before...drawn in my father's diary!
Trembling I stepped backwards tripping over something at my feet, it was a small black book. I quickly picked it up and shoved it in my shirt pocket
Suddenly the cradles began to rock back and forth and for an indescribable moment, the ghosts of those innocents that had lain there spoke to me of their suffering.
Visions of vampiric creatures invaded my senses. Demonic night birds with deep green eyes burned into mine making my skin crawl. Terrified I watched their bones contract as their heads elongated into a reptilian form. Blood and saliva dripped from their pointed teeth and slid down their scaly bodies as they moved toward me.
I felt the air leave my lungs as the apparitions walked through me and vanished, leaving me shivering from the cold left behind in their wake. The sound of screams echoed in my head as the unmistakable scent of death filled the room. Terrified I wanted to escape this abhorrent place but found myself compelled to languish in its wretchedness
The patter of little feet surrounded me and tiny invisible hands pulled me to where a tall covered mirror stood imprisoned with cobwebs. Inexplicably its covering fell persuasively to the floor as if inviting me to discover the mystery within.
Obediently I gazed into its hypnotic depths mystified by the lack of my reflection. Infantile sighs of disappointment echoed around me as I forced myself from the mirrors spellbinding grasp.
Sadly I didn't understand what those ghostly sighs had meant and fled, momentarily hesitating as I reached the spiral staircase, questioning the need to return to those lost little souls.
What was it they had been trying to tell me? Had the mirror been the key to saving them from an eternity of sorrow?
Shaken I grabbed Puska and sped down the stairs and ran back through the corridor fearful that someone now lurked behind one of those doors.
Without a backward glance I slammed the door shut to that abhorrent place. Quickly I released Puska and pushed an old chest of drawers against it. Grabbing every heavy object I could find I stacked them on top determined to later return and nail the door permanently shut so that whatever evil lingered there couldn't escape.
Panting from the effort I called out to Puska who'd disappeared among the stuff filling the attic. There was no sign of her. I looked fearfully once more at that door and bolted.
My heart pounded as I flew down the attic stairs heading for mum's bedroom.
I had to know if the answer to what I'd just discovered was in dad's novel.
Quickly I grabbed dad's metal box from under her bed and bolted to my room.
Flopping down on dad's squeaky old four-poster bed I shivered from the sudden cold. I looked around nervously; I had the same feeling that I was not alone.
The old manor was no longer my friend, its sinister past was now invading my senses and I felt afraid of what it could do.
The existence of those witchcraft books I'd found now made sense. A coven of witches must have lived here long ago...or worse...!
Visions of those horrific creatures I'd seen invaded my mind. Those thirteen men who'd lived here centuries ago...could they be...?
I shivered...all those rooms. Had they been simply servant quarters, or had they held victims to be sacrificed in that satanic circle?
I shook my head furiously trying to rid myself of the thoughts invading my mind. The small leather bound book I'd found burned against my chest and terrified I threw it across the room.
I sat there shaking; what devilment had I uncovered ...was it lingering in that book?
Suddenly the metal box crashed to the floor spilling its contents at my feet. I watched with bated breath as the pages of dad's novel floated eerily into my lap.
"Who,,,Who did that?"
Spooked I watched the pages begin to gyrate. One by one they slowly turned as if some unseen entity was searching through them. I watched as the pages flicked back to the first chapter and paused as if inviting me to begin.