Blind house, p.19
Blind House, page 19
‘Excellent,’ Marc said.
‘It looks like everyone’s drunk enough,’ Megan laughed.
‘Excellent,’ Marc said again, ‘That’s the plan.’
Megan looked at him puzzled.
‘I need Ross so drunk that he blabs. He always does. He’s a shit drunk. He’s going to tell me what he really did with Sarah. Kerry too for that matter. They didn’t just disappear; I just know they didn’t.’
A shiver shot straight up Megan’s spine. She looked at Ross now slamming shots and laughing. He couldn’t be capable of harming anyone, could he? She wanted to tell Marc just to inform the police about Sarah’s last known movements but bit her tongue. They had been through it already and Marc was determined to be sure of his facts first. If he was wrong then Ross’s career would be ruined for nothing if it made the press and that also put Marc’s own job on the line and not to mention Deborah’s reputation too. Megan drained her remaining wine, unaware that there was a black dog lying at her feet under the table.
Chapter Forty-Seven
It got to eleven-thirty P.M and Megan was itching to get her ghost hunting equipment out and to make a start. The sooner she could get it over with then the sooner she could go to bed and sleep. She longed to be asleep, to wake up then to leave this place. But everyone was drunk- drunk and having fun. She feared that if they partied all night that they would just talk her into staying yet another night to try and make contact with the dead to ensure they’d gone. She said she’d be leaving in the morning and that was that. She decided to carry on without waiting to be instructed.
Everyone was so busy laughing at something that they didn’t notice Megan slip out of the kitchen. She made her way up to her room and hesitantly opened the door. She didn’t know why she should still be feeling a bit scared. Nothing was going to go bump in here- not anymore. First things first, she threw herself on the bed, hanging herself over the edge. Her head was feeling a little fuzzy from the alcohol but she wouldn’t have described herself as being drunk. The fuzziness felt extra soothing as the blood rushed to her head. She breathed in for five and out for three.
‘What are you doing,’ Marc’s voice boomed out from nowhere.
Megan jumped up with a start, ‘I just needed five minutes.’
‘Upside down?’
‘Yes,’ Megan said flatly. ‘It’s time we finished cleaning up your mess. I want to get the Ouija board out and prove there are no ghosts here. You do promise there will be no more tricks?’
‘Yes. I haven’t done anything else yet have I? Look, I wanted to scare Ross because he pinched Sarah off me. It was a stupid practical joke. But now Sarah is missing, so I have bigger fish to fry. This is more serious now don’t you think?’
Megan nodded. She just hoped that she and Sammie wouldn’t be getting caught up in this feud tonight. She wouldn’t want her sister’s night spoiled. She gathered her equipment up and asked Marc to help carry the Ouija board table down to the second lounge. Megan decided that’s where they’d start. Once in the room, Megan set about laying out her equipment whilst Marc gathered the others.
Deborah, Ross, Sammie and Ian all but staggered into the second lounge.
‘Well isn’t Megan the life of the party,’ Ian jeered.
Deborah laughed but then on a serious note said, ‘No Megan is quite right. We are paying her to do this, let’s get on with it.’
‘I’ve not done any of this before,’ Sammie said looking wide-eyed at the pieces of equipment Megan had laid out.
‘Stuff happened the other night when we did this...weird stuff, but nothing to worry about now.’ Deborah clapped her hands together, ‘I can already feel a difference.’
‘That’ll be the Sambuca,’ Ian laughed.
Ross linked his arm with Sammie’s and said, ‘Yes, don’t be scared. We are sure Megan has moved any ghosts on. This is just to make sure.’
‘That’s rich, you telling someone not to be scared,’ Marc scoffed.
‘Piss off Marc, you didn’t have a knife thrown at you! Anyway,’ Ross addressed Sammie, ‘It was all full on when you arrived earlier, there’s some paperwork I need you to sign, just some confidentiality stuff... as you’re staying the night. Can we do that now before my drunken brain forgets? We won’t be a mo guys,’ he said as he led Sammie away.
The spirit voice box that Megan had just turned on crackled to life. It sounded like a radio station with zero signal.
‘We’ll start without them,’ Megan said. She pointed out the various things that she’d laid out around the room. The small torches which turn on when a spirit’s energy is present and the K2 Meters and flashing balls that will light up if there’s a presence in the room. ‘Let’s form a circle.’
Ian flicked the lights off first before they circled round holding hands. The spirit voice box remained softly crackling in the background.
‘Hello, it’s me Megan. If you are here with us tonight spirits, please make yourselves known.’
Silence.
‘There are some gadgets around the room that can light up. Can you make them light up for us please?’
Silence.
‘Or you could talk to us. Use the white noise. Tell us if you are here.’
Ian burped. The belch caused the group to jump and then erupt into laughter- except for Megan. She knew doing this with a bunch of pissed up adults was going to be difficult.
‘She’s watching.’
The laughter quickly stopped. The spirit box had spoken. It was distant, almost robotic.
‘Did you say, "She’s watching?" Who is? Could you repeat that please?’ Megan spoke up hushing the others.
A few moments passed, ‘The Woman.’ The voice came again.
‘What woman?’ Marc butted in, ‘Where is she?’
‘You lose.’
‘Lose what?’ Megan replied.
There was no answer. All four of them looked around the room. Marc went over to the window, picking up one of the torches. It was the first time Megan had known the spirit box to say something coherent and to answer a question with a response that almost made sense. But she wasn’t buying it. The group seemed tense all of a sudden and were sobering up fast. Marc slowly pulled the curtain back. There was some lighting outside from the lamps surrounding the house. Ian joined Marc and pulled back the other half of the curtain further. Huddled together, the group looked out into the darkness. Nothing.
‘There,’ Deborah squealed, ‘look over there by the trees, is someone there? A figure which looks like it’s wearing something reflective?’
‘Oh yeah,’ they all said in quick unison.
But what they thought they saw had quickly vanished.
Deborah ran for the lights. ‘Didn’t Ross say he saw an old woman in that very spot just the other night?’
‘Yeah,’ Marc said, ‘actually we saw someone there too earlier today, didn’t we Megan? I ran but the person vanished by the time I got there. When all the reporters were outside. Thought one had got in.’
Deborah slapped Marc’s shoulder, ‘Security Marc, what the fuck do we pay you for.’
‘Woah, I checked the boundaries and all was secure.’
‘Would you say that person we saw just was a woman?’ Ian asked.
‘Hard to tell,’ Deborah said and the others agreed.
The lights were switched back off and Megan called out to ask who this woman was. The spirit box crackled and buzzed, it then said the word toast and then bicycle.
‘Ah it’s just talking nonsense now,’ Ian said.
‘Yes, but someone is on our property,’ Deborah snapped.
‘I’m not convinced someone is really out there,’ Marc rationalised, ‘Look I’ll grab Ross and Ian can come too and we’ll go out there and search the grounds?’
‘Where the fuck is Ross? How long does it take for Sammie to write her bloody signature?’ Deborah sniped through gritted teeth.
She stormed for the light switch again but halted in her tracks. Each item that Megan had placed around the room lit up in unison. The torches shone, the balls flashed away and the K2 meters lights flashed. Megan looked to Marc who had his hands up in protest as if to say he didn’t touch anything. Deborah smacked the lights back on and nearly had a heart attack as the door opened simultaneously. Ross and Sammie entered the room.
‘What have we missed?’ Ross said.
Megan clocked straightaway that Sammie looked different. She looked flushed and less relaxed, like she’d just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Megan guessed that she had more than the guilt of cookies on her mind. Deborah filled them both in but Megan was quick to rationalise it all. The group were moving around and the lights would set off with vibrations. The K2 meters would go off if there were mobile phones nearby. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think that the odd member of the press was lurking around outside either. Megan needed to make sure that the Huston’s believed the ghosts were gone without dropping Marc in it and none of what was happening so far was helping.
Chapter Forty-Eight
‘Do you know what we all need?’ Marc piped up, ‘Another drink.’
Megan knew that Marc was on a mission to get Ross blind drunk but this really wasn’t helping either. There was no way she was going to be talked into staying another night, she needed everyone to take this seriously tonight and let her finish her investigations.
‘Okay take a break but then let’s use the Ouija board, all of us,’ Megan said almost pleadingly as the group departed for the kitchen. ‘Sammie hold on. Stay and help me?’
Sammie looked reluctant but quickly seized the opportunity to be alone with her sister, ‘Oh God, you never guess what happened,’ Sammie clasped her hands around her mouth.
Megan raised her brows but had a feeling she already knew. Sammie looked like she might burst.
‘So, I sat down with Ross and signed some document, promising to strictest confidentiality...’ Sammie let out a squeal and took a couple of rapid deep breaths.
‘Well, spill?’
‘I signed it, then he threw it to one side... oh my god... then he stroked my face-’ Sammie paused, biting into her thumb, ‘he said, "Good, now I can do this," and kissed me, like really kissed me. He put his hands on my waist, he stroked my neck, his hand slipped inside the back of my dress-’
‘Sammie, you didn’t-’
‘No, no, that was it, I pulled away because it was a bit intense...he took me by surprise and oh my god he’s married, and I’m married.’
Megan didn’t know how to think because she knew that Deborah was okay with Ross being with other women. Well at least that’s what she said. Sammie did look a picture, she was biting her lip, then grinning madly, then scrunching her face up.
‘Ross Huston kissed me,’ she squealed again.
‘I’m not surprised, look at you. You’re beautiful. But be careful, okay? Everyone’s had too much to drink-’
‘I know, I know,’ Sammie kept her hand firmly across her mouth.
Megan got Sammie to help put the gadgets away. She didn’t want them lighting up anymore and getting everyone thinking that ghosts were doing it. She decided to stick with the Ouija board.
‘Look at me,’ Sammie laughed as she switched off the lights and flashed a torch in front of her face. She made a ghostly cackle.
Megan laughed, enjoying the light relief and grabbed another torch to join in. They knelt on the sofa to look into the mirror hanging above it, pulling faces and laughing at the spooky shadows cast around their features. Sammie felt her head spin from the booze and collapsed into the corner of the sofa giggling. Megan looked down at her and smiled, shaking her head at her drunk sister. She turned back to the mirror and held the torch under her chin, until her face in the reflection was no longer her own. It was no longer a shadowy likeness of herself, but a different face completely. It was a woman with blonde hair, and she was grey and black tears rolled down her cheeks and then another face appeared behind her with a head of black curly hair. They both suddenly screamed and were sucked backwards, they were smaller and smaller, distant, then nothing. The mirror cracked.
Megan dropped the torch and shot backwards, stumbling off the sofa. It was Sarah. The blonde woman was Sarah. She recognised her from her previous dream and the missing person photos and the other woman was Kerry. It was Sarah and it was Kerry without question. The lights came back on, Marc had entered the room.
‘Did you ask him yet? What happened to Kerry and Sarah?’ Megan rushed at Marc, breathless.
‘Hush,’ Marc put his finger to his lips, ‘Not yet,’ he said quietly, ‘I’m thinking that I shouldn’t doubt my mate. He wouldn’t have deliberately meant for any harm to come to them.’
‘So you think they’ve been harmed?’
‘No, no, that’s not what I meant-’
‘So you’re just going to leave it now?’
‘I’m being too harsh. I’ve known him like forever. He wouldn’t have meant for anything to happen to Sarah. If he was coming on strong with her, then I should’ve stepped in, not left them alone. I’m to blame too. Can’t put it all at my mate’s door.’
‘But it pissed you off enough to get revenge on him at the time,’ Megan felt her rage burn as her hushed tone began to crescendo.
Marc put his finger to his lips again, ‘What is this about? Why are you so-’
The conversation was cut dead as the others came back in laughing and singing the Ghost-busters theme tune. Sammie remained curled up on the sofa.
‘Hey Sammie,’ Deborah called over to her and waited for her to raise her head and murmur something back. ‘Ross and I were talking; I’m going to get you on the make-up team for Ross’s new film. ‘What do you reckon? Do you want to?’
Sammie shot up back to life, unsteady and unaware that her dress had ridden dangerously high as she lunged at Deborah for a hug, ‘Yes, yes and yes,’ she slurred. ‘Oh but it’s Ireland isn’t it? I have kids.’
‘We can talk logistics tomorrow,’ Deborah slurred back.
Megan gently pulled her sister away and pulled the skirt of her dress back into place and straightened her straps which had come off her shoulders.
‘I’ve drank too much haven’t I?’ Sammie giggled into Megan’s ear.
Megan wished that she hadn’t. If only she’d kept looking into the mirror with her. Would she have seen the women too? Was it just her? She looked again and the crack was still there. No one else had noticed it yet. She didn’t want to point it out, not yet. How could she explain that one, that she was having visions of the two women that were last seen at this house? It would sound accusing, wouldn’t it? That wasn’t one of Marc’s tricks. He couldn’t control what she saw in the mirror and he couldn’t control her dreams. Something strange was going on in this house and she was sure that it was not what everyone was thinking.
Ross stepped over and brushed Sammie’s hair away from her neck, ‘Can I get you another drink?’
Something about Ross touching her sister like that suddenly made her skin crawl, ‘She’s had enough,’ Megan said firmly. It was not long ago that Ross had tried to be a bit over affectionate with her- before he had kissed Sammie. Who did he think he was? She was glad she’d pushed him away.
‘I’m fine,’ Sammie grinned, ‘Look at my sister looking out for me,’ she continued in a patronising slur.
Marc jumped in, ‘So Ouija board?’
Ian jeered and started singing the Ghost-busters theme tune again into his beer bottle and danced over to the Ouija board. Apart from Marc, the others laughed and followed suit, forming a conga line, “Let’s all do a Ouija, let’s all do a Ouija la, la, la,” they sang out. This is hopeless, Megan thought. She turned back to Marc and said that this was never going to work with everyone so drunk. She felt her heart hammering against her rib cage. She felt uneasy and it felt like the walls were closing in on her. She didn’t know what to think, she was confused. Deborah thought one thing, Nancy thought another and Marc had his own agenda. Two women were missing and in no way connected to nineteenth century tortured patients. She felt like she was in a mirror maze, crashing into herself at each turn. But she was more convinced than ever that she was connected to Sarah and Kerry and they were trying to tell her something. She had been too busy looking for ghosts from long ago that she was overlooking the ones here and now. Because that’s what she now believed. She had a sick feeling in her stomach that both women would not be found alive.
Chapter Forty-Nine
‘Right,’ Megan said, ‘I’m going to go elsewhere and do a lone vigil. I need the quiet, I need to meditate, I need to think.’
Marc looked at her concerned, ‘You know you don’t have to worry. Listen, a lone vigil won’t prove anything. Ross and Deb need to see for themselves that there’s no spooky goings on to believe it’s all stopped.’
‘But look at them,’ Megan said exasperated, ‘Ross was determined to make sure this house was safe and now look at him, at all of them. They’re too pissed. They’re not bothered. I’m not staying here another night.’
‘You can leave any time Megan, no one is forcing you to-’
‘I know. There’s something I have to do. I’m not convinced there isn’t something…’ Megan tried to choose her words carefully, ‘well, I experienced things each time I was alone so I just need to be sure it’s all in my head. I need some space and time on my own to be sure… so I can rule stuff out.’
‘You know what you’re doing ghost detective, you’re the expert,’ Marc stepped aside, allowing her a free run.
She took a last look at her sister belly laughing and everyone singing and she bolted from the room. Halting in the hallway, she spun around trying to think where best to go. She just needed to think. She should call the police, but say what? Was she brave enough to break the Huston’s confidence? She knew that Sarah was last seen here, that made her some sort of accomplice, didn’t it? No, she’d be perverting the course of justice. Either way it didn’t sit well with her. She needed to think. She needed to try and make contact with Sarah and Kerry. She was scared though. If they appeared to her again, it would make her fears all too real. She needed to think away from everyone, but where to go? She jogged into the kitchen and into the pantry. The last place she wanted to go was the cellar, but it was the best place, she knew she’d be alone, away from the others to think, no one would look for her in there.
