FEAR

Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

                Time was passing slowly. I held onto Abigail as the gunshot fired, which was followed by another cold essence of silence that haunted the room. It felt like I had been stuck inside this wardrobe for hours, but it had only been a couple of minutes.

Why was this house showing me all of this? Why was it taking me back in time to events that happened long ago? Perhaps Samantha was trying to show me what happened to her. But why would she show us this, if she’s trying to hurt us? The longer I spent in this house, the more I could feel myself beginning to lose myself.  I didn’t understand why this was happening to us.

“Come on Abigail,” I whisper to her, looking through the flaps of the wardrobe.

I push open the wardrobe slowly, looking around at the room that is empty. Samantha’s body is no-where to be seen, and the blood that was splattered on all four sides of the room had gone. Abigail holds onto my hand and we quickly walk through the hallway and down the stairs towards the door.

I try to open the door but it’s locked. Anger was coming over me, an anger that I never thought I had. It’s like something had snapped in my brain. No matter how much force I used to try and open the door, and how many attempts I tried to kick down the door, it had no effect. I was becoming increasingly frustrated.

“I’m not staying in this any fucking longer!” I roar, with my voice echoing throughout the house. Abigail looks on in shock at my outburst. “You hear me? I’m not staying in this house any longer!”

I grab one of the rose vases that are on one of the tables and throw it with force towards the window, as the vase makes impacts with the glass and shatters.

“Come on Abigail, let’s go!” I shout, grabbing her hand and dragging her with me before she even had a chance to respond.

I carefully help Abigail out of the broken window, making sure she didn’t hurt herself on any of the glass that was sticking out.  I follow her after and quickly approach the car, chucking Abigail in the back and putting on her seatbelt.

“Daddy, where are we going?” she says scared.

I don’t reply, but quickly hurry myself over to the driver’s seat and turn on the ignition of the car. The part of ‘Where am I going’ never seemed to cross my mind. All I knew is that I wanted far away from where I was, and that I never wanted to go back to that house again.

“Daddy...?” Abigail says quietly to me as I drive through the local town.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” I ask, looking at Abigail in the car-mirror, who has a concerned expression on her face.

“Where are we going daddy?”

“We’re going far from here Abigail,” I say to her. “We’re going to go see Uncle Jamie. Would you like that? You get along well with him don’t you?”

Abigail nods her head in agreement and stares outside the car window.

I made my mind up of where I was heading. If there was anyone I could rely on now, it would be my younger brother.  It was a long drive ahead, with the Sat-nav estimating six to seven hours, and that I would not be arriving to Jamie’s until early evening. But I just needed to go as far from that house as I possibly could.

***

Darkness was approaching rapidly, with every minute that went by, the more light that was fading. We were closely approaching the house down the long road, and for the most of the journey, Abigail had been asleep. It was nice to see her sleeping peacefully for once. It had felt like a long time since I had put a smile on my face, and meant it.

“Abigail, we’re here now.” I say to her as I pull the car up outside the house and turn off the ignition.

Abigail rubs her eyes and unleashes a massive yawn.

We exit the car and approach the door. Abigail is like a walking zombie at the moment. I knock lightly at the door and wait for an answer. I had not seen Jamie in a long while, so my appearance would probably come across as quite shocking and unexpected.  

The door opens, and Jamie appears at the door with an uplifting smile, showing his perfectly white straight teeth which I had always envied. They reminded me of something you would see from a Hollywood actor. He fits the part, with his perfectly toned physique, short-black hair with a great hairline (well great compared to mine) and his prominent jaw line with his dark five’ o clock shadow. Basically he looked everything that I wasn’t.

“Christian!” Jamie said in enthusiasm. “What are you doing here?” he asks with a confused expression, before I could respond. He looks down at Abigail and smiles. “You’re getting bigger every-time I see you Abigail. Please come in?”

“Go on in Abigail,” I say to her as she walks into the warmth of the house. “Jamie, I need to speak to you in private.” I say to him.

Jamie nods and turns to Abigail. “I heard Spaghetti Bolognese is your favourite isn’t it Abigail?”

“Yes Uncle Jamie!” she responds in enthusiasm.

“Well Julie is making some Spaghetti in the kitchen Abigail. How about you go and help her prepare it? She will be very happy to see you.”

Abigail nods and runs towards the kitchen.

“What’s wrong Christian? Is everything okay?” he says looking back at me.

I walk into the house and rub my hands through my hair. I could feel the hair ripping from my scalp. “Something’s happening to me and Abigail,” I say to him. I originally was not going to blurt it out like this, but my mouth just seemed to say those words out of no-where.

“What do you mean?” he asks confused. “Are you in trouble with someone?”

“No, I am not in trouble with anyone. There are things that have been happening at the new house. I’ve been seeing things. Things that are real and unexplainable,”

Jamie continues to look at me confused. “What like ghosts?” he chuckles.

I shake my head. “I don’t know.  All I know is that I needed to leave that house and need a place to stay for a couple of days. I promise we won’t stay long.”

“Of course Christian, you can stay here for as long as you like,” He says to me sympathetically. I could tell by his face that he thought I was insane. “Why don’t you go upstairs and have yourself a shower and freshen up.”

I nod my head. “Thank you Jamie, I really appreciate it.”

***

I exit the warmth of the shower, into the shivering coldness that surrounds the bathroom.  Not the type of usual coldness you would expect, but a bitter feeling with shivers that began to run up my spine.  The exact same feeling I felt back at the house.

“Kill...” the voice whispers around me.

I look around the bathroom agitated, looking to see where the voice was coming from, but there was no-one. I wipe the steam from the bathroom mirror, and look on in dismay at my reflection, my hair which was receding from the front, dark circles which were prominent under my eyes, and my face which looked gaunt. I look like I man who had aged twenty years.

“You can’t escape us...” the voice whispers again from somewhere.

“Leave me alone!” I shout.

I close my eyes and shake my head, trying to block out the voices which were surrounding me. I open my eyes and look at my reflection, watching myself as the reflection smiles sinisterly back at me.