Mirror of Graves

Chapter Twenty-Two

Anna:

I parked the blue Toyota by the sidewalk since the house didn't have a drive in or even a spot for cars. It was an old French farmhouse but big enough to house three parties without the guests getting into each other. A family house passed down from one generation to the other and currently it was in my mother's hands, it was our family home. Mother got out and made for the front door, obliviously she had a key.

No one lived in it. It was a hunted place that creeped the living shit out of me. Every month mother would pay a house help about two hundred dollars per hour, just to have the basic cleaning done, and not the whole house cleaned. And well, none of the helps came back after a spell of five minutes among the four walls. Most of them had claimed to seeing things move, doors open and voices in the wall. I couldn't agree more.

James got out of the car and looked at the large house, this was his first and hopefully last time of him being here.

"Everything okay Hun?" I walked to the boot and pulled out the bags, he nodded but didn't take a step towards the house. "Are you sure?" He nodded then looked down at his Ted.

"I haven't seen Owen or Eli." He looked at the large house again. "I am sure he is here somewhere." He shook his head.

"They are not here, not after they saw her. She came Anna, she was in the house." I knelt beside him. "I know James, mother told me." He looked at the house again and whispered. "I do not want to go in, I am scared." I pulled him in for a hug and he buried his face on my body. "Neither do I- but mother insists, and she needs you, you saved her." He nodded.

"You saw her, and she didn't hurt you, how did you know what to say to her?" He shrugged and got out of my grip, he picked up his school bag that had some of his clothes and started walking towards the house. "Owen told me, he said she was all in my head and not real. Dead people are not real."

"But Owen is real, and so is Eli, and father." I said back. He stopped at the door; a single tear slipped down his cheek. "They are real to us, in our heads and when we make them seem real, but they are dead in both flesh and blood and one day when the time is right, we would see them again."

The door closed behind him.

I slammed the boot shut and looked around, we were in the country and the next house was a good distance from us, so much for civilization and friendly neighbours.

I didn't walk in the house, as a matter of fact I walked to the back of it. "Owen?" I called out. "Eli?" No one answered. "Owen, I need to speak to you, Eli?"

The back was deserted with long and untrimmed bushes and untended flowers. A bit of wood filled the space here and there and all the curtains of the back windows were down. Sighing I walked to the side, still no one was in sight. Right next to my foot stood the door to the basement, a rusted padlock in place. I walked over to the shade and pulled out a sledgehammer, with all my might I lifted the heavy tool up and hit the padlock. It didn't budge but after the fourth try its counterparts fell apart.

I lifted up the heavy lid and waited a few minutes for the dust to settle. I got to my knees and felt around the walls of the basement for the string. I pulled at it and the light came on, it was dull orange, but it would have to do.

I made my way down the moth-eaten wooden steps and came to face a room filled to the brim with mirrors. One by one I pulled them all out, taking absolute care to hit them as hard as possible on the hard ground. They were all of different shapes and were astonishingly heavy. Once the last piece of looking glass was out, I lit a match on the already dump wood. The flames consumed the last pieces of history. I emptied the bottle of petrol in the fire and watched it burn for some time, black ashes and smoke drifted up to the sky.

"I am going to send you back McCurrie, really very soon, even though I do not know how."

I walked into the darkened room, full of soot and smelling like smoke, the lights of a few rooms were lit while the others were off, even with the few burning candles the room still felt dark. "Mom I am here."

I made my way to the kitchen and turned on the tap, it made some kind of noise, but nothing came out. Frustrated I got a paper towel and cleaned what I could of the soot that stained my arms. "Mom." My footsteps echoed on the floors and around the room.

"Mom" I was getting tired of this game, calling and they did not answer. I ascended the stairs. "Mom I do not have time for this where are you?" She didn't answer. I climbed four more steps then I heard the sound of someone crying, it came from downstairs just some rooms away from me.

"Hello? is anyone there?" I walked down the eight steps I had climbed and grabbed a candle holder, it held three burning candles on it. I lit each candle along the hallway. "Hello."

The first candle went out, I turned back immediately. With wide eyes I moved forward again. The pitter pater of feet ran along the wall and the second candle went out. "Hello, is anyone there?" I walked along the floor till I felt the cold wood underneath my feet, the pouch carpet long at the back, the sole of my shoes made soft noises on the floor. I reached the door where the crying had come from and pushed open it open. It was dark inside, but I could still hear it.

"Hello who is in here?"

The crying stopped and feet ran in the opposite direction, then it contained crying. I took a look at the hallway and the remaining two candles that burned. "Hello." I stepped in and I felt the cold breeze, all three candles went off.

"Do not hurt me." The voice said, then continued crying. "Where are you? Who are you?" The voice stopped crying and everything was still.

"Anna come here my child, come and die!" The woman came towards me, and I jumped out of her way. I ran towards the open door, but she grabbed my legs and pulled me back.

"Let me go, you thing, whatever you are you are dead! Let me go." She grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed tightly, I felt a crawling thing on my left foot, and I froze, I hated snakes. I was dragged to the end of the room and the sound of a falling cupboard filled the cold air, on instinct I rolled to my right and it fell where I once was.

I got to my feet and ran for the open door, even though it felt like a hundred feet were after me. I got to the front door and swung it open.