The Haunting of Caldgrave House Read online

  “Maybe they'll dig her up,” she says, getting to her feet and then using a shovel to start filling the hole in, “and that's fine. But at least she'll have dignity for now, and then if they bring her up we'll just have to make sure she's buried again.”

  I walk over to the edge of the hole and watch as the bone are covered.

  “There,” Maisie says, sounding a little breathless as she sets the shovel aside. “All done. Let's go, Hugo.”

  Turning, she heads back toward the car. I follow quickly, keen to get away from here as soon as we can. As we get closer to the car, however, Maisie veers toward the house and finally stops to stare once again at the open door. I let out a faint whimper as I stop next to the car, and then I wait for her to come and join me.

  “Should I go in one more time?” she asks. “There's still this lingering fear. The girl said something about a witch, which has to be nonsense, but should I go inside and prove that it's nonsense? Prove to myself, I mean. Somehow this all feels a little anti-climactic after I built it up for so many years. I don't want to live with the knowledge that I was a coward when I came back.”

  She pauses, before turning to me.

  “You know what?” she says, with a faint smile. “Screw it. Let someone else come and look at the place. Ghost-hunters, or whatever. I'm done. The past is the past.”

  She jangles the keys as she comes toward me.

  “I'm sick of looking back all the time,” she continues, as I wag my tail. “Hugo, from now on it's all about the future. You and I are gonna -”

  Suddenly she's ripped off the ground and thrown through the air, sending slamming first into one of the porch's support beams and then against the moss-covered wall next to the front door. She lets out a pained gasp as she crumples down against the ground, but immediately she's slammed into the wall again before her body is dragged toward the open doorway. At the last moment, she manages to grab the nearest wooden post on the porch.

  “Hugo!” she gasps, with blood running from a cut on her forehead. One of her eyes is bloodied too, with all the white replaced by red. “Hugo, I'm -”

  There's a loud bang behind her as the door to the basement slams open, hitting the wall.

  “Hugo!” Maisie screams, wrapping her arms tighter around the post. “Help me!”

  I rush toward her, racing up the steps as fast as I can. I'll get Maisie and drag her to safety, but as I reach the top of the steps I see that she's straining to hold onto the wooden post. Above us, the porch's roof creaks and groans, but all I can do is run to Maisie and grab her shirt sleeve between my teeth.

  “No, Hugo!” she screams. “Run and get help! Hugo, run and -”

  Before she can finish, the wooden post shatters and the fabric tears in my mouth as she's pulled into the house. She screams again, but then she slams into a wall in the hallway before her body spins around and gets send clattering down the steps that lead into the basement.

  I rush forward, but suddenly I hear a loud splitting sound above. Stopping for a moment, I look up just as the entire porch roof comes crashing down. I try to jump out of the way, but wood and metal slams to the ground all around me and I feel something heavy hit my shoulders. I fall down as the entire porch collapses on top of me, and the last thing I hear is Maisie's scream down in the basement before everything goes black.

  Chapter ThirtyThree

  “Hugo! Come on! Let's play!”

  I'm running faster than I've ever run before.

  We're out in a field, on a bright summer day, and I'm trying to catch up to Maisie. She's young again, how I remember her from when I was a puppy, and somehow she's managing to keep ahead of me. Usually I can easily outpace her, but today she's just as fast as me and we're running through endless patches of sunlight. I can feel the wind ruffling against my fur and I'm not going to stop.

  Never.

  Ever.

  Maisie and I are going to run and run and run and we'll never drop. We're too strong, and too fast, to ever get tired. I've even started yelping with delight, barking in a happy way, and Maisie's giggling. For the first time I feel as if I know exactly what it means to be alive. I'm becoming one with the wind and the air. My mouth is wide open, my tongue is flapping out from one corner, and all that matters is that I keep running forever and ever. Maisie and I are going to be together forever, running and running and -

  Suddenly I see that she's stopped ahead. I stop too, a few paces behind, and I look up at the back of her head. Wagging my tail, I wait for her to turn around, but she's staring out across the endless field.

  “Do you think we've forgotten something, Hugo?” she asks.

  I tilt my head.

  I don't know what she's saying.

  “I think we have,” she continues, half turning but not quite. I can't see her face. “Or you have. Hugo, where's Maisie?”

  Maisie.

  That's her name.

  I wag my tail even more.

  “Fetch Maisie, Hugo,” she says after a moment. “You have to fetch Maisie.”

  Fetch Maisie?

  I know those words, but they don't make sense together. Maisie's right here, she's already with me. How can I fetch her?

  “Hugo,” she says firmly. “Fetch Maisie.”

  I let out a faint whimper. She's confusing me.

  “Hugo,” she gasps, her voice suddenly sounding garbled and scratchy. “Hugo, please...”

  She turns to look at me, and I'm horrified to see that there's blood all over her face, and that one of her eyes is colored bright red. She stumbles toward me and reaches down, and when she opens her mouth more blood comes dribbling out and splattering down onto the grass.

  “Fetch Maisie!” she gurgles. “Hugo! Fetch Maisie!”

  Wait.

  Where am I?

  ***

  My eyes flicker open, and for a moment all I see is darkness. And then, after maybe half a second, I start to take a breath and my nose is immediately filled with a foul-smelling dust.

  Coughing, I try to get to my feet, but my front left paw won't move. I look around, frantically trying to work out what happened, but I can't see anything until I look up and spot a patch of the sky. That's when I remember racing toward the front door, and then I remember the porch collapsing, and I turn to see that all around me there's rubble and broken wood and plaster.

  I try again to get up, but still my front left paw won't move, and now my eyes are adjusting to the darkness. Looking down, I see that my paw is trapped between two large chunks of wood that have fallen down. I start trying to pull my paw free, trying to ignore the pain, but the wood is firmly in place. I can see blood matted in the fur just around the spot where my paw disappears into the thin gap between the two chunks, and I instinctively try again to pull free.

  I'm trapped.

  Whimpering, I try to twist away, but the pain is intense and after a moment I slump back down. I know I can't give up, I can't surrender, but I think my paw is crushed and the wood is far too heavy for me to move. I let out a low, pained growl as I twist the other way, trying everything I can think of to break free. Nothing's working, so I have to -

  Suddenly Maisie screams.

  Her voice rings out from within the pitch-black house, from the basement down below.

  Filled with panic, I try yet again to pull away from the debris, but my front left paw remains absolutely wedged between the two pieces of broken wood. I bark, to let Maisie know that I'm here, but her scream continues for a few more seconds before coming to a stuttering, agonized end.

  I bark again.

  I have to get to her.

  I pull as hard as I can, desperate to get away from the rubble, but still my paw remains trapped. I'm starting to really panic now, but all the dust is filling my nose and making it harder for me to even think properly.

  “No!” Maisie screams suddenly, still down in the basement. “Stop! Get away from me! Don't touch me!”

  I bark again, but as I do so I know that barking isn't enough
. I need to actually get to her, I need to help her, but I can't even drag myself off the porch.

  So I do the only thing I can.

  Leaning down, I open my jaws and bite my front left paw hard, just above where it's crushed between the pieces of wood. I feel fur and blood in my mouth, and a shot of pain jolts through my body, but at the same time I know I have no choice. I have to get to Maisie, which means getting off the porch, which means getting free no matter the cost.

  “No!” Maisie screams again, sounding even more terrified. “Leave me alone! Help! Help me!”

  I start gnawing frantically on my own paw, grinding my teeth as deep and as hard as I can manage through the flesh. More and more blood is filling my mouth and dribbling from the sides of my jaws, but I'm already down to the bone and I can feel my fangs grinding down into the gaps. I start gnawing a little further along, at a spot where two bones meet, and finally I can tell that I'm starting to get loose. I pull and chew at the same time, ignoring the blood and the pain, driven by the knowledge that I have to get down into the basement.

  And then, suddenly, I feel my paw almost coming loose. There's another burst of pain, accompanied by a juddering and tearing sensation. I bite down even harder, and something snaps inside my paw, and then I pull again and finally I fall back against another patch of rubble.

  I'm free!

  I can see my paw still trapped between the pieces of wood, and my front left leg now ends in a bloodied stump, but I immediately start scrambling out through gaps between chunks of debris. I have to drag myself through some of the gaps, and a couple of times I catch my flank on nails that have been left poking out, but finally somehow I scramble free and fall down until I land in the open doorway.

  Getting to my feet, I immediately fall back down as I try to lean on my missing front left paw. I start limping forward, barely able to go at any speed at all, and I can hear and smell my own blood splattering down against the floor as I hobble across the hallway, heading toward the open door that leads down into the basement.

  “Don't touch me!” Maisie screams, lost somewhere down there in the darkness. “Help me! Somebody help me!”

  Chapter ThirtyFour

  Slipping in my own blood, I fall against one of the bottom wooden steps and I'm powerless to stop myself tumbling down until I land hard against the freezing cold concrete floor. I immediately try to get to my feet, only to press the stump of my front left leg against the ground and feel another jolt of pain. I've lost a lot of blood and I feel weak, but at the same time I can sense Maisie nearby.

  She needs me.

  There's a small, dirty window at the top of the far wall, allowing just the faintest hint of moonlight through into the basement. The room remains almost completely dark, but there's just enough light for me to be able to make out the shapes of shelves all around as I limp forward. I don't know whether Maisie will be able to see anything down here, because I think sometimes humans can't see as well as I can, but I can hear her breathlessly scrambling on the floor somewhere nearby.

  And then I see her.

  She's in the crack at the center of the room, submerged to her waist in the thick, foul-smelling mud. She's reaching out and digging her fingertips into another part of the crack, but a moment later something seems to jerk her body and she lets out a pained cry.

  “Help me!” she sobs, and I can see the terror in her eyes as she tries desperately to keep from being dragged down into the crack. “Somebody help me!”

  I hurry toward her, limping as fast as I can, until finally I reach her and take hold of her shirt sleeve in my jaws.

  “Hugo?” she gasps, turning to me but not quite looking at my eyes. “Is that you?”

  I start pulling on her sleeve, as hard as I can, but the fabric simply starts tearing between my teeth.

  “Hugo, there's something here,” Maisie stammers, shivering and sobbing as she still doesn't quite manage to see me in the dark. “Hugo, I can feel something touching me! Something's got my legs and -”

  Suddenly she screams again as her body jerks, and this time her fingertips slip from the crack. She cries out as she's yanked back down into the hole, and this time she barely manages to hold on to the edge as she sinks up to her armpits.

  “Hugo, I can't fight it!” she whimpers. “I can feel it holding my legs! It won't let go! It's in the mud!”

  She struggles again, and slowly she manages to drag herself out from the crack until she's only submerged to the waist again. Thick cold mud is caked all over her body, and she's shivering violently as she tries once again to drag her body away from the hole in the ground.

  “Help me,” she sobs, grabbing another part of the crack and pulling herself a little more free. “Hugo, you have to get help! There's something here, that little girl was right. There's something buried under the house and -”

  She screams again, while reaching for another section of the crack.

  “I can feel her!” she yells. “She's got my legs again! I can feel her! Hugo! Help! I don't want to die! I'll do anything, but I don't want to -”

  Suddenly she screams again, and her body jerks as she's once more pulled down into the mud.

  Panicking, I lunge at her and try to bite down on her sleeve. In the madness, however, I accidentally bite her arm just below the shoulder, sinking my teeth into her flesh until I feel one of my fangs scrape against the bone. She cries out, but I dig my remaining feet into the ground and hold firm, and at least I manage to keep her from being sucked any further into the mud. I know I should let go, and I hate tasting her blood in my mouth, but if I let go she might get dragged completely under the surface.

  “Help me,” she gasps, sounding much weaker now than ever before. “Hugo... help me...”

  I hesitate for a moment, and then I realize I can feel something pulling on Maisie's other end, trying to force her into the crack.

  Letting out a faint growl, I start pulling her the other way. I can feel my fangs hitting the bones in her arm, but I'm too scared to let go so I pull as hard as I can manage. My paws start slipping against the concrete, so I adjust my stance slightly, and then I pull yet again and this time I manage to start dragging Maisie a little further out of the crack. I keep pulling, and the force on the other end seems to lessen slightly and finally I manage to drag Maisie so far out that only her lower legs are still in the mud.

  Just as I'm about to get her all the way out, however, my teeth tear slightly through her flesh. I loosen my grip and then I immediately bite down again, before starting to pull her all the way out. The stench is foul and rotten, but all that matters right now is getting Maisie to safety. She's barely conscious and – as I try to drag her toward the wooden stairs – I slip slightly on my own bloodied stump of a front left paw.

  In the dark, I can just about make out Maisie's torn face and her closed eyes. I just -

  Suddenly I feel something grab her leg, and I look along her body just in time to see a withered, rotten hand reaching out from the pool of mud. I almost bark, but then I realize that doing that would mean letting go of Maisie so instead I focus on trying to drag her away. The rotten hand is holding her ankle tight, however, and after a moment I see the side of a face starting to rise up from the depths of the mud.

  A woman's face.

  Thick pools of mud are already dribbling from one empty eye socket, while her other eye is rotten and shredded vertically down the middle. As her chin emerges from the mud, the woman opens her mouth and lets a deluge of blood-red mud slough out into the crack, accompanied by the foulest smell of decay. She reaches out with her other hand, grabbing hold of Maisie's leg a little higher up, and then she rises slightly further until I see mud dribbling down her exposed rib-cage.

  “What is that?” Maisie murmurs, stirring from unconsciousness and turning to look back toward the crack. “Who's there?”

  The mud-witch growls as she reaches up for Maisie's waist, and then she starts pulling her closer even as Maisie screams for help.

&nb
sp; “Who are you?” Maisie shouts, reaching down until her fingers brush against the mud-witch's face. “What the hell is that? Who are you? What do you want from me?”

  Opening her mouth wider, the witch lets out a hissing snarl as she starts dragging Maisie closer. I dig my feet into the ground but this time I find myself sliding along, unable to get a firm grip. I struggle desperately, still biting Maisie's arm hard, but now the woman is pulling her with too much strength and Maisie herself can only scream as she's dragged waist-deep back into the crack. I'm losing her, and there's only one option left.

  Letting go of Maisie's arm, I turn and lunge at the witch, landing against her and sinking my teeth straight down into her neck. The taste is awful, filling my mouth with death and decay, but I hear her snarl and then a moment later she grabs my sides and tries to pull me away. That's good, it means I'm slowing her down, and hopefully Maisie will have time to get away. I can already feel the witch dipping back down into the mud, taking me with her, but I start biting her neck again and again as we sink. Then, a few seconds later, I bite down hard against as she drags me beneath the surface.

  Thick, cold mud is rushing into my mouth and nose and ears, and all I can hear is the bubbling mud over the sound of my own heartbeat as I keep my jaws locked on the witch. We're still sinking, deeper and deeper into the crack, and all I can do is hope that Maisie uses this opportunity to run. She was just about conscious before I began to sank, and by now she might even be out of the basement.

  I feel my back pressing against one side of the concrete crack, and then I realize there are tree roots curling against my legs. We must be sinking beneath the house now, and I'm running out of breath, but I refuse to let go of this witch even as she flails and tries to push me away. My teeth are slowly crunching through her rotten bones, but I have to give Maisie all that time that's possible. It's so cold down here in the mud, and I'm starting to shiver, but all I can think about is Maisie. And then, as I start losing consciousness, I realize I can hear her too.

  “Hugo! Come on! Let's play!”