Chapter 3
1633 Words
Chapter Three
The sound of a child screaming pierced the night.
Before William Jefferson had a chance to move, his wife slapped him hard on his shoulder. “Will, that’s one of the girls, oh my God!”
William fell out of bed in his haste to react to his child’s distress. He picked himself up off the floor, and, not bothering to stop for his slippers or dressing gown, ran from the room and along the corridor, towards his daughter’s room.
As he reached the door, Mitzi appeared from within, rubbing her eyes.
“Are you all right, darling?” he asked compassionately, placing his hands on her narrow shoulders.
The girl nodded. “I think Jennifer is having a nightmare – her screaming woke me up.”
William ruffled her hair, then made for the end of the corridor, towards the staircase that led to the attic rooms.
He took the stairs two at a time, mistiming his step in the darkness and almost falling backwards. Reaching out, he just managed to grab hold of the banister rail to stop himself.
Once on the upper landing, William grabbed the handle of his younger daughter’s room and, twisting it, rammed his shoulder against the wood.
The door refused to budge.
Confused, he checked the lock for a key, but there was none there.
He was positive that he had checked earlier in the evening to see if there were working locks on the insides of the girls’ rooms, and there were none there. So, what was preventing him from getting in?
He banged on the door. “Jennifer, it’s Daddy, open this door at once!”
Placing his ear against the wood, he could hear the sound of someone approaching the door from the other side. He pulled back a little, waiting for the sound of a lock being released, or a chair being removed from up against the handle.
But the only sound he heard was his younger daughter turning the handle, and opening the door.
Without waiting for an explanation, William rushed past her and barged into the room, half-expecting to see someone else waiting inside.
He switched on the overhead light. The room was empty. He searched through the wardrobes and under the bed, but there were no signs of an intruder. William checked the latch on the window and found it was still secured.
He turned back to the door, to see his wife comforting their little girl, with their elder daughter just behind her.
William went back to the door and crouched down in front of Jennifer.
Although he had calmed down a little since discovering that no one had broken into his child’s room, his heart was still racing.
He looked into his daughter’s eyes. “Darling, why was your door locked? Daddy was trying to get in, didn’t you hear me?”
The girl nodded.
“So why was the door locked?” he pressed.
The little girl shrugged her shoulders.
“What are you talking about?” demanded Celia from behind. “How could the door be locked?” She came into the room and checked the inside of the door. “There’s no lock or key.” She announced, pointing towards the handle.
“I know,” replied William, desperate to keep the anger from his tone. “But when I first arrived, I could not get the door to open, and I had my full weight against it.”
Celia checked the handle, moving it back and forth as if to demonstrate that it functioned properly.
She looked back at her husband. “Well, I hope you’re not suggesting that your eight-year-old daughter was preventing you from opening it with her superior strength?”
“Of course not,” William replied, no longer able to contain his annoyance. “But something was on this side, there must have been. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the stupid thing open?”
Celia moved back around the door.
Mitzi was cuddling her little sister and gently rocking her back and forth.
Celia crouched down beside her husband. “Jennifer darling,” she began, “what made you scream out like that? Did you see someone in your room?”
The little girl gazed from one parent to the other, then nodded.
“Oh my God,” cried Celia, rising to her feet and bringing her husband with her. “There was someone in her room. We need to call the police at once.”
“Hang on a minute,” insisted William. “If there was someone else in here, where are they now?”
Celia scanned the room, and pointed to the large wardrobe at the far end.
“I’ve checked that,” William assured her. “I looked under the bed, in all the cupboards, and the window is locked and bolted. No one else was in here with her – she must have had a bad dream.”
Celia thought for a moment. “So why couldn’t you open the door when you arrived? There are no locks – someone must have been pushing from the other side.”
William placed a hand on her shoulder, and looked into her eyes. “That’s what I thought, which is why I was asking her why the door wouldn’t open, because if someone had been in here, where did they disappear to?”
Celia waited a moment longer. “You definitely checked all the hiding places?”
William heaved a sigh. “I’ll do it all again, you watch me.”
While he set about his task, Celia turned her attention back to her younger daughter.
The girl did not appear to be afraid. At least, there were no outward signs of it. Her eyes appeared clear and alive, with no red rims or tear streaks down her cheeks.
Celia decided to try another approach. “Jennifer, why did you scream so loudly? What upset you?”
The girl leaned against her big sister for support. “When I woke up, the old lady was standing over my bed and I got scared.”
William heard his daughter’s explanation and, having finished his latest search of the room, came over to join them. “What’s that she said?” he asked his wife.
Celia turned to him, deep lines of concern etched across her face. “She said she saw an old woman standing over her bed,” she repeated.
William shuddered. “What?”
Celia ignored him, and went back to Jennifer. “What old lady, darling?” she asked gently. “Where did she go to after you woke up?”
The little girl moved forward, closer to Celia. Comforted by her mother’s tone that showed she was not in any trouble, she replied: “She said that she used to live here, a long time ago, and that I had nothing to worry about – she was going to keep me safe.”
Celia’s hand shot to her chest.
She took several deep breaths before responding. “And where did she go to when Daddy arrived?”
Jennifer looked across the room and pointed towards the window.
William shook his head. “You mean she climbed out of the window?”
Jennifer giggled. “No, Daddy, she went over to the window, then I heard you outside, and next time I looked, she was gone.”
Celia and William exchanged glances. Neither was comfortable with the eight-year-old’s explanation, but, as there was no evidence of an intruder, they both surmised that their daughter had been the victim of a nightmare, nothing more.
Finally, Celia suggested: “I know, why don’t you spend the rest of the night with Mitzi, eh?” She looked at her eldest daughter for confirmation, and the elder girl smiled and nodded. Celia relaxed. “Good, now you two run along, and I’ll be up in a moment with some hot chocolate, help you both get back to sleep.”
The two girls hugged each other excitedly and Mitzi grabbed her little sister’s hand and led her back towards the staircase, heading down to her room.
Once they were out of earshot, Celia turned to her husband. “This does not bode well, does it? First night in the new house, and already the girls are having nightmares.”
William gave her a reassuring smile. “We should have expected it, now I come to think of it.”
Celia frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, first night in a big old house such as this. Not to mention, this is the first time the girls have spent the night apart. I wasn’t too sure myself that Jennifer was ready.”
“Well, neither was I,” Celia replied defensively. “But you saw how excited they both were when we arrived, adamant that they wanted their own rooms. What should we have said?”
“It’ll be better once we’ve let them choose their own decorations. They are both a tad dreary, especially Jennifer’s room.”
Celia nodded. “I suspect you’re right. We’d better get on to that first thing – I don’t want any more nights like this, if I can help it.”
“Once the girls start school and make some new friends, we can arrange some sleepovers. It’ll be fine,” he assured her.
On the way back down the stairs, William caught himself biting his lip. It was an annoying habit he had indulged in since childhood whenever he was nervous or upset.
Things had not gone as he had hoped.
The appearance of the ghostly spirit so soon after moving in had put him in a very awkward position. Knowing his wife as he did, he was sure she would not rest now until she figured out what was going on.
He considered confessing everything to Celia, just to have it done with. But then he knew that she would demand to know why he had dragged them all to live in this place without at least divulging what he knew about it.
The truth was the business was not nearly as stable as he had been making out, and the mortgage on their new house was far less than the rent they were paying in London. Not to mention the fees for their daughters’ new school were a fraction of those they had paid up until now.
But how could he explain to Celia that they needed to tighten their belts?
She had not exactly married him for his money but she expected a certain standard of living, which he had promised to provide.
William heard the sound of his wife’s footsteps on the landing outside their room.
He closed his eyes when he heard their door open and pretended to be asleep.
- Writer
