My husbands secrets and lies

Episode Six: House of horrors

The sun began to set as we walked back to the house. We just found a dead body and my husband is still ignoring me.

“That girl was inside the house yesterday”, I said to him.

“What? No, she wasn’t, she came out of the ocean. What are you talking about?” he asked.

“She’s wearing the same earring as the one I found last night in the children’s room. She is only wearing one. I can show you; I placed the earring in my pocket yesterday. She must have been in the house when I heard someone upstairs,” I answered.

“You need your head examined. You probably dreamt it. What would she be doing in the house and how did she end up in the ocean? Nothing you say makes sense anymore. Just let the cops handle it, Amanda. Or are you a detective now? Stop interfering in things that don’t concern you.” He says as usual in disagreement with everything I have to say.

“You’re always saying that things don’t concern me. This woman was inside the house where my kids are staying, looking for god knows what and ending up dead. I doubt that she ran into the ocean and drowned herself. This could be a murder.” I said.

“Exactly, then leave it to the police to find out what happened. We don’t know who she is or why the ocean washed her out. Leave it to the professionals then.” He says sarcastically and then walks away from me at a fast pace.

I went to the room to look for the earring to show him that I wasn’t lying and to hand it over to the police as evidence when they arrived. But I cannot find the sweatpants I was wearing yesterday.

“Maria!”, I shout. But it was after six and Maria had left for the day.

“Why are you yelling again? Where is the earring you said you found yesterday?”, Phillip suddenly said behind me and appeared from the balcony. It seemed he had calmed down.

“I'm looking for my pants from yesterday, Maria must have washed them,” I said, and I started to walk towards the door.

“Leave it. You can ask her tomorrow. The police said they would send someone out in the morning. They first need to charter a plane to get here. It’s almost dark and I think everyone has enough to deal with. There is no need to bother people at this hour,” he says.

“I’m not going to bother anyone. I was just going to the washroom to see if I could find it. She usually leaves everything she finds in our pockets in the washroom. It might be important to solve the case.” I said.

“You watch too many crime documentaries. Why do you care?” he says, almost laughing at me.

“If she was in the house, the police need to know about it. Why do you not care that a girl that was alive yesterday, and in this house is now dead? How did she get here? Why was she here?”, I asked him.

“Just go and do your thing then. I would rather we talk about your behaviour on the boat today, than some girl we don’t know. I’m just wondering who is the one running away.” He says, and I know that he is trying to start another fight. So, I react;

“I don’t have time for your need to be constantly begged for forgiveness. I told you I was sorry. Why are you still throwing it in my face? This is hardly the time for this discussion.”

“You haven’t even checked on your kids yet. You care more about a stranger than your own children. But go Amanda, because everything always has to fall into your schedule”, he says, totally irrelevant to the conversation, but he is right. The poor girls must be traumatised by it all. Me freaking out on the boat, finding a body and now we’re fighting again, at hearing distance from them. Phillip walks into the bathroom and slams the door shut. I walked out into the hallway to check on the girls.

“Hi girls, are you OK?” I said as I peeked into their room. The three of them are all huddled together in one bed and only their noses and eyes are poking out from under the blanket. Courtney is sitting in the chair next to their beds with a story book in her hands’

“You can retire for the night”, I say to Courtney and she nods her head and says

“Good night, you three, I’ll see you in the morning.” She smiles at them and then leaves.

“Mommy, can we go back home now? I don’t want to stay here anymore.” Alice speaks

“We will leave soon, honey. It won’t be long.”

“Mommy, why is that lady sleeping in the sand?” Becky asks. She does not understand about death yet. Before I can answer her, Megan interferes.

“She’s not sleeping, Becky, she is dead! Mom, I don’t want to stay here. We will also be killed if we stay here!” she says loudly, and I can see she is upset and frightened.

“Megan! Don’t scare them like that. We don’t know what happened to the woman. It could have been an accident,” I said.

“Will you stay here with us tonight? Please? “Alice said quietly. Megan also looks at me, begging me with her wide eyes.

“Sure, I will. I will never let anything happen to you”, I said, and I sat on the chair next to them. It’s not like I’m in the mood to return to our room anyway, with Phillip mad at me and picking a fight every time I try to talk to him.

I wake up in pain. My neck is stiff from falling asleep in the chair. At least I slept for a night. I looked at my watch, it was 05:00 am. Everyone is still sleeping. I got up while rubbing my neck and made my way downstairs. I turned on the coffee machine and looked for pills to relieve my neck pain.

Then I headed to the laundry room, which is outside the main house. As I walk out, the mist starts to come in from the ocean and I can barely see where I’m going but manage to reach it. There are clothes on the floor, ready to be washed. I look through them and find my pants, but the earrings are not inside. Then I looked around the room and saw a small container next to the washing machine. Inside are lost coins, some seashells that the kids must have placed in their pockets and as I look through the items, I finally find the earring, hidden inside one of the shells. Now I can prove to Phillip that I was not imagining things, that the girl really was in the house. As I started to walk back to the house, I jumped as someone suddenly appeared behind me.

“Good Morning. You are up early,” Nick said.

“I was just looking for this earring I found yesterday. It matches the one the girl has on. You know, the one we found on the beach. I think it was her inside the house the other day.” I explained.

“Yes, I heard about the dead girl. May I have a look?” he asks and holds out his hand. I give him the earring and he continues;

“I heard that you had some problems on the boat yesterday. Is everything alright now?” he asks with a concerned look on his face.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. It feels like I’m losing my mind. Everything is fine though. I’ll be fine. We are leaving soon, anyways.” I told him.

“It sure will be quiet around here when everyone leaves again,” he says.

“Do you live alone? I think this island is absolutely breath-taking, but I cannot imagine having to stay here alone?” I asked him.

“It’s not all bad, but it does get lonely sometimes. After my wife died, I never wanted to re-marry and the city became too busy for me. Out here, time stands still, so I keep busy with the things I like.” He says

“Mommy! “I heard Becky calling from the house. She must have woken up and is now looking for me.

"I have to go; we’ll talk again later. Becky will wake the whole house if I don’t hurry”. I excused myself and started running towards the house.

“Becky be quiet. You are waking everyone up with your shouting”, I said as I approached her, and then remember. s**t Nick still has the earring. I need to give it to the police when they arrive.

“Mommy, I’m hungry.” Becky complains.

“Fine, I’ll make you some cereal”, I said and quickly assisted her first.

“Stay here and eat your breakfast, mommy will be right back”, I told her, and then made my way to the caretaker’s house.

The door is open. I peek my head inside and call;

“Nick! Hello! It’s me, Amanda!” I yelled out, but everything was quiet. I take one more step forward and suddenly feel a push from behind, like someone is forcing me inside. But there is no one around me. I slowly walked through the hall.

“Nick!” I said again. The house is messy and smells. The rooms are dark, with thick closed curtains covering every window. I go to one of the windows to open it to let some light in, but when I remove the curtain, the windows are boarded up. Why would anybody board up their windows? Maybe the windows broke? I continue walking and come upon a small study room. I notice a box in the corner with Natasha’s case files written on it. I opened and saw that Nick was the detective working on the case and on top of the file is written; open case. Why, if the case is still open, would he have the evidence and case files? And how did a detective that worked on Phillip's girlfriend's missing case end up being his caretaker? Inside the room is also an old TV box set and videos stacked on a small bookshelf. They are labelled with names. Girl names. What is this?

I look around and listen to hear if anyone is around before placing one of the cassettes in the player. It begins with Nick positioning the camera and pointing it to an old disgusting bed. Lying on the bed is a girl, tied up by her hands to the bed post. She had a terrified look in her eyes. Nick approaches her and starts touching her.

“That’s a good girl.” He says while stroking her hair. He is completely naked as he starts to get on top of her. Her body was bruised, and her clothes had some blood on them. I get chills and shudder as I can see the fear in her eyes, and I know exactly what he is doing to her. I turned off the TV because I cannot watch any further and turned around, ready to get the hell out of there, as I started to panic.

I make my way down the hallway, when I find a door that leads to the basement, I assume. It’s locked. I look back towards the study room as I replay the image of the fear in the girl’s eyes. She is someone’s daughter. She is still too young. I estimate maybe in her early twenties, she has her whole life ahead of her. What if she is in the basement? I need to find the key.

I hear something in the study room, like something has fallen and broken. I returned to see what it was. A bowl with some keys had fallen to the floor from a high shelf. How did that just fall? I’m starting to think that I am being used to uncovering something evil. This island is haunted and from the content of the tapes, it is all starting to become clear as to what I am meant to find. I picked up the keys and returned to the door. One by one, I try each one until one finally fits and unlocks the door.