Spine Chillers

1. The Weeping Woman-3

After a few moments, Edith released her hold, and moved back slightly. Darren felt her loss, and his facial expression must have exposed his disappointment.

Smiling, Edith lifted herself up on tiptoes and planted a gentle kiss directly on his lips.

Even though his stomach was churning inside with anticipation, Darren knew that women preferred men who were cool, and always in control. He could not let her know how nervous and anxious he was at the prospect of spending the night with her.

Taking a breath to calm himself, Darren asked. “Are you sure your husband isn’t coming back just yet?”

Edith nodded.

“I can’t believe he’d leave you alone in a big house like this.” It sounded like a ridiculous thing to say, and Darren realised it the second the words left his lips, but it was too late now.

To his relief, Edith laughed. “Well,” she purred, “I’m not alone anymore, am I?”

Darren leaned back in for another kiss, but Edith placed the palm of her hand gently on his chest to hold him back. “I think we need to throw a little light on the subject,” she suggested. “Don’t you?”

Darren looked up at the darkened bulbs above their heads. “I tried several of the switches on the way down here,” he explained, “but none of them seemed to work.”

Edith sighed. “It’s just the fuse box, again,” she said. “The electrics in this place are a complete joke. There’s a switch in the basement which will bring them all back to life again, would you mind?”

She tilted her head to indicate towards the other end of the hallway.

The thought of venturing down into a creepy basement in the dark was hardly an enticing prospect. However, Darren felt he was in no position to start acting like a scaredy-cat now that he was so sure that he and Edith were going to spend the night together.

“No problem,” he assured her.

Edith led him by the hand towards the wooden door at the far end of the hallway.

Once there, she opened it and holding onto him for balance, she reached inside along a shelf until her fingers found what she was looking for. She pulled herself back out, using Darren’s arm as a safe hold.

“Here you are,” she said, offering him a torch.

Darren took it gratefully and tried the knob. To his relief, it worked first time.

He shone the torch into the basement and saw a rough-hewn wooden staircase leading down into darkness. The beam from his torch was not able to penetrate the gloom further down, but he was satisfied it was strong enough for him to see where to put his feet.

“Would you like me to come down with you?” Edith asked, cheerfully.

Darren shook his head. “No, don’t worry, those steps look like they might have splinters, and you’re in your bare feet.”

Edith reached up and kissed him again. “My hero,” she said, smiling.

Darren felt his cheeks blush but hoped in the dim light that Edith had not noticed.

As he began to descend the staircase, Edith called after him. “The fuse box is just at the bottom of the stairs to the left of that old freezer, all you have to do is flick the big switch back down, and we’re sorted.”

“Okay,” Darren called back, concentrating on where he was putting his feet.

When he reached the bottom step, Darren shone the torch around the room. The basement had a much higher ceiling than he had anticipated, as the only other cellar he had ever been in belonged to his Auntie Joan, and that was so low he had to crouch down inside it whenever he ventured in to fetch something for her.

He scanned the walls with the beam. It looked to him as thought Edith and her husband used the cellar as a convenient place to dump items which they either did not want or did not need on a regular basis.

There were several crates piled up on one side, many with shipping marks etched into them. There were several suitcases lined up, and what appeared to be an old-fashioned trunk like the ones you saw people using in old films, when they went abroad.

There were a couple of ladders, much smaller than the one Darren had used to gain entry, stacked against each other in the corner, and to one side a small utility area with shelving, on which there were several rolls of green disposal bags for garden waste, some gardening tools, gloves, and a medium-sized chainsaw.

“Have you found it yet?” Edith’s voice drifted down from above.

Darren swung the torch around to his other side. There he saw the large chest freezer Edith had mentioned, and directly above it, attached to the wall, was the fuse box.

“Got it,” he assured her.

Darren made his way over and pulled down the front cover of the box.

Seeing the switch, he carefully pulled it down, and immediately he could see light shining through the open doorway above him.

“Brilliant,” called Edith. “Now if you could do me one more small favour, can you fetch up the joint of meat from the freezer? I need to let it thaw overnight.”

“Will do.” Darren tucked the torch under his arm so that the beam shone ahead and lifted the lid of the chest freezer up.

It took a moment for his brain to register what he was seeing.

Inside the deep freezer was Edith’s dead body. Lying on her back, frozen solid, with her eyes open and staring straight up at him.

Darren could not move.

His breathing came in huge gasps as his mind desperately tried to make sense of what he was staring at.

“He killed me before he left on his trip.” The voice echoed down the flight of stairs. It was still Edith’s voice, but now it sounded somewhat distant and ethereal.

Darren managed to tear his eyes away from Edith’s corpse, long enough to glance up the wooden staircase.

To his horror, he saw the figure of Edith, floating down the stairs towards him, her arms outstretched as if she wanted to embrace him. Her head tilted slightly to one side, and on her face, a look of wistful longing.

“He plans to cut me up and bury me in the graveyard, when he gets back.” The voice filtered through, but Edith’s lips no longer moved as she spoke. “You won’t let him do that to me, will you?”