The Ghost of Shapley Hall Read online

  “Lizzie...” I shudder as soon as that name leaves my lips. “Lizzie was... Lizzie...”

  “It's okay, James.”

  “Lizzie,” I stammer, feeling a rush of panic as I look toward the door. “Lizzie was with me, Lizzie was -”

  “It's okay,” Rachel says again, putting a hand on my knee.

  “Lizzie's dead,” I whisper.

  “Yes,” she replies, with tears in her eyes, “I know. I went to her funeral.”

  Looking down at her hand for a moment, I suddenly feel calm again, although I can feel the panic still simmering below the surface. I know that if I think about Lizzie or the faces at Shapley Hall, I won't be able to control myself.

  “So,” Rachel continues. “Heart attack, huh? Jesus, I had no idea you had problems in that area. Why didn't you tell me you had a weak heart, James?”

  I shake my head. “I didn't know. It just...”

  Blinking, I briefly see Edward Shapley's face again. A moment later I feel another beetle on the back of my neck. I brush it away, before turning and seeing an expression of pure pity in Rachel's tear-filled eyes.

  “Bug,” I mutter. “Nothing. It's nothing.”

  “I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything,” she replies. “About when I was in the loony bin, I mean. I figured any guy would run a mile if they found out I'd only been back in circulation for a little while. I was going to tell you eventually, but I just...” She sighs. “I'm so, so sorry. I just wanted to have someone with me when I went back to Shapley Hall. Please don't think that I used you, 'cause it wasn't like that, not exactly. I just needed to finish what I'd started all those years ago, I needed to keep my promise to Georgette. Or...” She smiles again, and this time she seems a little embarrassed. “I was just a kid when the bad stuff happened. You know what kids are like.”

  “You were right,” I reply, feeling a cold shiver run through my chest. “I saw them, Rachel. I... I saw Georgette, and then I went back into the house and I saw... I saw Edward.”

  She stares at me for a moment, as a tear trickles down her cheek.

  “You were right,” I say again, starting to sob. “I'm so sorry I didn't believe you...”

  She puts her arms around me again. “Don't worry about any of that now, James. Just focus on getting better, and then the police... Well, I think...”

  “They think I killed Lizzie,” I whimper.

  She pats my shoulder. “Let's not talk about that now.”

  “It wasn't me,” I continue, pulling back and looking into her eyes. “At first I thought it was you, but then I saw Edward Shapley and I realized he must have done it!”

  “James...”

  “It was him!” I hiss, my whole body trembling. “I saw him, Rachel! It was just like you described! The ghosts, the... the... He killed her in the basement! I don't know how he got her down there, but he killed her in the basement! He's still there!”

  She sighs. “James...”

  “You've told them what you saw, haven't you?” I ask. “They know that you saw Georgette and Edward too?”

  I wait for her to reply, but she seems too upset to speak and finally another tear rolls down her cheek.

  “I'm sorry,” she says after a moment, getting to her feet and taking a step back. “Maybe I shouldn't have come today. I'm so sorry, James.”

  “You've told them, haven't you?” I continue, feeling another rush of panic. “You've told them about the ghosts?”

  “James...

  “Tell me you've told them! They have to know, so they realize I didn't kill Lizzie!”

  She stares at me for a moment. “Here's the thing, James,” she says finally. “When I went back to Shapley Hall with you, I was finishing something that had begun when I was eleven years old...”

  “You have to tell them,” I stammer. “Not me! Them! The police and the doctors! They think I'm crazy! They're the ones you need to convince, not me. Not anymore...”

  “My head was filled with all these childish beliefs,” she continues, “and with thoughts that had really damaged me. But here's the thing, 'cause when I got there with you, I felt that the house was...” She sighs again. “At first I was overwhelmed, I slipped back into old fears, but then once you'd left and I was there alone, I began to see the truth. My mind cleared and I just got on with the task of reuniting the bodies of Georgette and her child. They were real, James. The stories about what happened at Shapley Hall were true, but...”

  “But what?”

  “I finally came to realize,” she continues, “that I was wrong all those years ago when I thought the house was haunted. I was a kid, I let old stories get twisted in my mind, I let my imagination run away with me...”

  “Rachel, no...”

  “There are no ghosts at Shapley Hall,” she says with tears in her eyes. “I see that now, and I'm finally ready to move on with my life.”

  “Rachel, please...”

  “Do you remember when I thought I saw Edward Shapley's face in the window?” she asks. “I was so scared, and then we started looking in that room for the baby. Remember?” She pauses. “That was when I saw the truth. I realized there were no ghosts, that I was just trapped in some kind of childhood trauma. And then you left the room for a few minutes, and I forced myself to stay, to prove to myself that there was nothing. And I was right.”

  Staring at her, I realize with a growing sense of horror that she means every word she's saying.

  “I feel I've really grown up over the past week,” she adds. “Our trip to Shapley Hall was just what I needed. I thought it'd confirm all my fears, but in fact it made them go away.”

  “Rachel...”

  “So the whole trip was really good for me! I mean here's the thing, I feel so much healthier now!"

  “No!”

  Lunging at her, I manage to grab her arm just as she opens the door.

  “Rachel, no!” I stammer, trying to pull her back into the room as she steps out into the corridor. “Rachel, you have to tell them! You have to make them understand that you were right all along!”

  “James, please...”

  Suddenly hands grab me from behind, as two attendants start pulling me away from Rachel.

  “It's all true!” I shout, filled with panic as I try to reach her again. “You have to tell them! You have to make them understand!”

  “I'm so sorry,” she replies as she steps back. “You'll get better soon, James. I'm sure of it. You'll realize there were no ghosts there. I've been right where you are, and I have absolute faith that you'll pull through and realize the truth. I'll try to visit you again soon.”

  “Stop!” I scream, but more attendants have reached us now and Rachel takes another step back as I'm forced to the ground.

  “I think he needs a shot,” someone mutters.

  “No!” I shout, as Rachel starts to walk away. “Come back! You have to tell them! They're real! Rachel, it was all true! Everything you thought happened when you were a girl, it was real! Edward Shapley killed Lizzie! Rachel! Come back!”

  “It's okay, James,” one of the attendants says firmly. “Let's get you back in your room and give you something that'll calm you down.”

  “No!” I scream, but I'm helpless to stop them as they start dragging me back along the corridor. Rachel, meanwhile, is still walking away.

  For the first twenty-four years of my life, I didn't believe in ghosts.

  When people talked about ghosts, I smiled politely and listened to their stories. Sometimes I even joined in a little. I mean, I appreciate a good scare as much as the next guy. Deep down, though, it never occurred to me that ghosts might actually be real, not for a moment. Ghosts seemed about as believable as Dracula and Santa Claus, and I'd stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was a kid. So for the first twenty-four years, I didn't believe in ghosts at all. Not until Rachel and I got together, and I accepted her invitation to visit Shapley Hall.

  Now I believe.

  Now I've seen them.

  As seve
ral attendants hold me down, Rachel stands in the doorway and watches with tears in her eyes, as if she pities me. One of the attendants is preparing an injection that'll calm me down, but I try desperately to pull away. No matter how often they tell me that everything will be okay, all I know is that I have to get to Rachel and make her tell the others what really happened at Shapley Hall, and who really killed Lizzie.

  Even as the needle slides into my neck, I can't stop screaming. I reach out to Rachel, but my body feels heavy and I'm starting to lose consciousness as the sedative kicks in. The last thing I see is her teary face, and the last thing I hear is her voice.

  “I really hope he pulls through soon,” she's telling one of the attendants. “It's so sad to see him like this.”

  Also by Amy Cross

  PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS

  AND OTHER STORIES

  A husband waits until his wife and children are in bed, before inviting a dangerous man into their home...

  A girl keeps hold of her mother's necklace, as bloodied hands try to tear it from her grasp...

  A gun jams, even as its intended victim begs the universe to let her die...

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Amy Cross. Some of the stories take place in seemingly ordinary towns, whose inhabitants soon discover something truly shocking lurking beneath the veneer of peace and calm. Others show glimpses of vast, barbaric worlds where deadly forces gather to toy with humanity. All the stories in this collection peel back the face of a nightmare, revealing the horror that awaits. And in every one of the stories, some kind of monster lurks...

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories contains the new stories Perfect Little Monsters, I Hate You, Meat, Fifty Fifty and Stay Up Late, as well as a revised version of the previously-released story The Scream. This book contains scenes of violence, as well as strong language.

  Also by Amy Cross

  ANNIE'S ROOM

  1945 and 2015. Seventy years apart, two girls named Annie move into the same room of the same remote house. Their stories are very different, but tragedy is about to bring them crashing together.

  Annie Riley has just broken both her legs. Unable to leave bed, she's holed up in her new room and completely reliant upon her family for company. She's also the first to notice a series of strange noises in the house, but her parents and brother think she's just letting her imagination run overtime. And then, one night, dark forces start to make their presence more keenly felt, leading to a horrific discovery...

  Seventy years ago, Annie Garrett lived in the same house with her parents. This Annie, however, was very different. Bitter and vindictive and hopelessly devoted to her father, she developed a passionate hatred for her mother. History records that Annie eventually disappeared while her parents were executed for her murder, but what really happened to Annie Garrett, and is her ghost still haunting the house to this day?

  Annie's Room is the story of two girls whose lives just happened to be thrown together by an unlikely set of circumstances, and of a potent evil that blossomed in one soul and then threatened to consume another.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE FARM

  No-one ever remembers what happens to them when they go into the barn at Bondalen farm. Some never come out again, and the rest... Something about them is different.

  In 1979, the farm is home to three young girls. As winter fades to spring, Elizabeth, Kari and Sara each come to face the secrets of the barn, and they each emerge with their own injuries. But someone else is lurking nearby, a man who claims to be Death incarnate, and for these three girls the spring of 1979 is set to end in tragedy.

  In the modern day, meanwhile, Bondalen farm has finally been sold to a new family. Dragged from London by her widowed father, Paula Ridley hates the idea of rural life. Soon, however, she starts to realize that her new home retains hints of its horrific past, while the darkness of the barn still awaits anyone who dares venture inside.

  Set over the course of several decades, The Farm is a horror novel about people who live with no idea of the terror in their midst, and about a girl who finally has a chance to confront a source of great evil that has been feeding on the farm for generations.

  Also by Amy Cross

  ELI'S TOWN

  “Someone really should go check on Eli...”

  Every year, someone from the Denton family travels to the town of Tulepa, to check on weird old uncle Eli. This time around it's Holly's turn to make the journey, but when she arrives she discovers that not only is Eli missing, but the locals appear to be hiding something.

  Meanwhile, a strange curse seems to have struck the town. Every day, at exactly noon, one resident drops dead. Is the string of sudden fatalities just a coincidence? If it's something more sinister, why does no-one seem to be trying to uncover the truth? And what do these deaths have to do with the disappearance of Eli Denton, a strange old man who has barely even left his house in more than a decade?

  Eli's Town is a horror novel about an eccentric but seemingly harmless man who discovers a new way to live, and about his niece's desperate attempt to uncover the truth before she too succumbs to the town's mysteries.

  OTHER BOOKS

  BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE

  Horror

  A House in London

  Annie's Room

  The Farm

  Eli's Town

  American Coven

  At the Edge of the Forest

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories

  The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)

  Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)

  Asylum

  Meds (Asylum 2)

  The Border

  The Devil's Hand

  The Cabin

  After the Cabin

  The Lighthouse

  3AM

  Tenderling

  The Girl Clay

  The Prison

  The Night Girl

  Devil's Briar

  Ward Z

  The Devil's Photographer

  Fantasy / Horror

  Dark Season series 1, 2 & 3

  Ascension (Demon's Grail book 1)

  Evolution (Demon's Grail book 2)

  The 13th Demon (Demon's Grail book 3)

  Dead Souls Volumes 1 to 4

  Lupine Howl series 1 to 4

  Grave Girl

  Graver Girl (Grave Girl 2)

  Ghosts

  The Library

  Journey to the Library (The Library Saga 2)

  Thriller

  Ophelia

  The Dead City (Ophelia 2)

  Fallen Heroes (Ophelia 3)

  The Girl Who Never Came Back

  Other People's Bodies

  Dystopia / Science Fiction

  The Island (The Island book 1)

  Persona (The Island book 2)

  The Shades

  Mass Extinction Event series 1 to 4