Entrapped

15 - The Ghosts

The moon casts a spooky light over the blue gums while Chloe slowly drives along the narrow path to her island in the woods. The eucalypti surround her like giant zombies waiting sombrely for her to stop and climb out. Eventually, she arrives at the open island in the middle of the forest and stops in front of her dark wooden house now only illumed by her headlights.

She switches the headlights off and darkness totally engulfs her. She remains in the Cooper and first gets her smartphone's flashlight on and reaches for the bag that contains her takeaway she bought along the way. She then exits the car and sneaks step by step towards her place with only the scant light of the phone right in front of her to show the way. The moonlight is only enough for her to identify the dark shape of her place. It feels as if she is engulfed in darkness. It is symbolic: first her mother and then her father and now Zoey's flame is flickering very low. Lyle was luckier.

She climbs the stairs and with difficulty unlocks the front door with one hand and the phone and bag in the other. She shivers when the beam glides over the dark inside of the sitting room and over the staring portraits but then she finds the chain and pulls it. The veranda light comes on. Damn, what a backward place! She remembers that the chain for the light of the sitting room hangs over the coffee table. She braves the dark inside the room and finds the chain and gives a sigh of relief.

At last, she has light in her darkness!

The two hosts stare at her as if she is an intruder. The strange, green eyes of the woman look challenging and then Chloe gets a fright. The photo of the two children with the bloodied hands is again lying face down just as before when she was awoken by secret invaders. She did put it back on its place! A shiver runs down her spine when she realizes that her rat theory seems to be falling flat.

She locks the front door and put the latch in place while she tries to get rid of the creepiness with an explanation. The rats are coming through another entrance. They don't need the windows above to enter the house. She'll have to look for a hole big enough for the rats to get inside and she must get rat poison and put it out regularly. She puts the photo on its place and turns towards the woman. Cheekily she puts her tongue out: "Let's see if it will fall again, madam."

Chloe again searches every room but finds no ghosts. She puts off all the lights and visits the kitchen, the toilet and then her room. She remembers the blinds. She hasn't had time to get curtains. In the guest room's cupboard she finds sheets and hangs it over the blinds of the three rooms. She warms her curry and rice in the microwave and enjoys it at the dinner table. She drinks the sleeping pills that Isaac prescribed.

She is startled when her smartphone suddenly rings and anxiously she grabs it. It could be bad news from the hospital. She left her number with Rene. Tony put them on a good medical aid with a hospital plan. She is the administrator and could handle everything swiftly at reception. From there she went upstairs where she bounced into Rene.

Chloe is relieved when she sees Leo's name. It is already past eleven.

"Hello, Leo."

"Chloe, Hayley phoned me and told me. Where are you? Are you okay?"

A paralyzing drowsiness slowly comes over her. "Leo, I'm here in my new little place and the doctor gave me sleeping pills to let me sleep through until late tomorrow. It is starting to kick in and I just want to go to bed and forget about everything. Tomorrow is another day. Zoey and Lyle are both lying unconscious in hospital and I want to be strong tomorrow. The doctor will keep me up to date and I must just get the rest I need to be strong for them."

"Hayley phoned the hospital and for the time being no one is allowed to visit them. They don't want to divulge any information about their well-being. We are sick with worry, Chloe. We only know Zoey is in ICU and Lyle is in a separate room. How are they?"

"Zoey's life is in danger. Teams of specialists worked on her and now they keep her in a coma and we don't know whether there will be permanent damage. Lyle is badly bruised and sore but he is mostly treated for shock. He's not badly injured."

"Chloe, why do you stay there alone? Come back to the farm. You need someone who can support you in these difficult times, lovey."

"Leo, I am precisely at the right spot. I'm near the hospital and as soon as they regain consciousness, I can visit them regularly. Goodbye now, I can't keep my eyes open. Please phone Hayley and ask her to tell Ronnie because you two don't talk to each other, halfwits! I'm going to disengage now and go to bed, you silly twerp ..."

While Leo is still protesting, Chloe ends the call. She showers and only half dried goes to her room, puts the light out and plunges down on her bed. It feels as if she is sinking into the mattress. How wonderful to enjoy this privacy here in this desolation! She allows the tiredness and drowsiness to take over and let her forget everything.

***

Chloe awakes with a confused thick head. She still feels exhausted and far from having slept enough and it is pitch dark. Her back and buttocks feel cold because she went to bed naked and without covering herself. What night is this and where was she yesterday?

Yesterday's ordeal suddenly takes over her mind but she wonders why she has awoken. The sleeping pills should have worked till late tomorrow or did she sleep through the day till the following evening. No, she still feels very tired.

Then she hears it. The barefoot steps like small children on the attic. Oh no, not again! The attic's windows are closed! How can those giant rats open the windows from outside? Impossible! She will have to look for the hole. It must be quite big. With bated breath, she listens to the sounds above and promises herself: "Tonight I'm going to shoot a rat to hell!"

Her heart suddenly beats faster when she hears the bead curtain sounds when something goes through it and the footsteps now run along the corridor. She takes out her pistol and disengages the safety catch to make the pistol ready for action. The bedspring makes a noise when she sits up and she feels the cold night breeze over her naked body. She aims blindly in the dark in the direction of the corridor. The spring warned the intruders like a snitch even before she reaches the chain to put on the light.

The steps hurry back to the curtain and she hears the bare feet running up the stairs and then over the attic and then they vanish. Damn! The bright light blinds her when she pulls the chain.

She once again searches the whole house and finds nothing. She knew she had secured both the front and back doors with latches. She creeps up to the attic but freezes shocked when she pulls the chain. The windows are open! Rats can't do that! The evening breeze now tickles her skin and with goosebumps all over she closes the windows. Who or what are these strange visitors that can open the windows from outside? She'll have to ask Robert or even do it herself to get latches to secure the windows. It is clear that they enter here. The windows won't open by themselves.

She puts the attic light off and descends the stairs. She gets another surprise! The photo of the children is again lying face down. She remembers her challenge to the lady: "Let's see if it will fall again, madam."

She walks up to the photo and puts it back. Then she turns around and walks to the life-sized portrait and looks the woman defiantly straight in the eyes. "You are just a damn painting; just a simple picture!"