The Body at Auercliff Read online

  I wait for him to reply, but he seems very cautious. Almost scared, even.

  “Becky,” he says finally, as if it's taken time for him to work out how to answer, “we were all in the house. Your mother and I, your aunt, your brother...”

  “Someone was in there with me!” I say firmly, close to tears. “Why won't you listen to me?”

  He shakes his head. “There can't have been.”

  “There -” Gasping as I feel a ripple of pain in the side of my head, I lean back. “There was!” I gasp. “I swear!”

  “If there'd been someone else,” he says after a moment, taking my hand in his as if he thinks that'll somehow make me feel better, “I'd have seen them when I came and got you, wouldn't I? Believe me, Becky, there's simply no way there could have been anyone, so you just need to -”

  “But I felt it!” I say firmly.

  He shakes his head.

  “I'm not some stupid little girl,” I continue, “I'm -”

  I let out a sudden gasp of pain as I shift my weight slightly. My right arm feels like there are razor-blades under the skin, and a moment later I feel the same pain again.

  “What's wrong with me?” I ask, trying not to panic. “Am I hurt?”

  “Only a little bit,” Dad replies, leaning closer and taking a look at my forehead. After a moment, he frowns. “You'll be fine, but I don't like the look of that bump. I think maybe we'll take you to the local hospital after all, just to get you checked over. You can't mess around with a concussion.”

  “I'm fine,” I tell him, although I feel another rush of pain when I try to sit up. This time I keep pushing, determined to at least move slightly, but finally I slump back again as tears run down my face. “What's wrong with me?” I stammer. “Why can't I move?”

  “You'll be alright,” he replies. “It looks like you just threw yourself against the door a little too hard.”

  “Come on,” Mum says suddenly, storming into the room, “we're getting the fuck out of this place. Daniel, you'll have to carry Rebecca to the car if she can't walk under her own steam.”

  “We need to take her to hospital,” he tells her.

  “Bullshit,” she continues, “she just needs to rest, and she can do that anywhere.”

  “I think she has a concussion!” he says firmly, and for a moment he actually seems willing to stand up to her for once. “She's going to get checked out by a doctor! We don't have time to wait for an ambulance, though. We'll have to drive her.”

  “Fine,” she mutters, glancing down at me as if she's annoyed that I'm causing problems, “but let's just get moving. I want to get the hell away from Auercliff, and I'll tell you something else. We're never, ever coming back!”

  “And then -”

  “Just move!” she yells, turning and heading out of the room. “Both of you! Move! I want to get the fuck out of this house before I lose my mind!”

  Dad and I sit in silence for a moment, but Mum can still be heard shouting at Aunt Emily in the distance.

  “There was someone else in the mausoleum with me,” I whisper finally. “You'll never make me believe there wasn't.”

  Dad hesitates, and for a few seconds he seems to be on the verge of telling me I'm right. I swear, from the look in his eyes, I can tell he knows something.

  “Come on,” he mutters, getting to his feet, “let's get you out of here.”

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, after Dad has carried me to the car, I sit slumped in the back seat, staring out the window as we pull away along the gravel drive. Aunt Emily is standing on the steps at the front of the house, watching us with tears streaming down her face, and I can't help feeling sorry for her.

  No-one should have to live all alone in such a big, gloomy house. And Mum was so mean just now, screaming at her like that.

  “The hospital's only about half an hour away,” Dad says, “so just hang on in there, Becky. Okay? Whatever you do, don't fall asleep.”

  “Okay,” I whisper, even though I feel nauseous and the pain in my arm is getting worse. I turn and look over at Nathan, and I can immediately see that he seems worried as he meets my gaze. “I'm going to be fine,” I tell him, forcing a smile. “There's nothing wrong with me. Don't look so upset.”

  “I'm really sorry,” he replies, with tears in his eyes.

  “It's not your fault,” I tell him.

  “It is,” he continues, sniffing back more tears. “I dared you to be brave, and now you're having to go to hospital.”

  “It's not your...” I try to say again, but my mouth feels funny, and the words come out all slurred. “Are you sure it wasn't you?” I add, focusing on speaking more clearly. “Nathan, are you sure you weren't just playing a prank?”

  “It wasn't me,” he replies. “I promise.”

  “Don't let her lose consciousness,” Dad says firmly, sounding worried. “If she's got a concussion, the last thing we can do is let her sleep! Whatever you do, Nathan, keep your sister awake!”

  “Becky!” Mum shouts, with panic in her voice. “Wake up! Nathan, poke your sister! Kick her in the effing ribs if that's what it takes!”

  I feel someone nudging my arm, but all I can think about is how much I want to slip into nothingness, to sleep for a really long time until everything feels better again. I hadn't noticed before, but I've got a headache that's slowly getting worse and worse, and I feel as if the best thing would be to just sleep it off. Everything'll be fine, but first I just have to sleep.

  Suddenly I let out a scream as Mum grabs my injured right arm. Jolted awake, I try to push her away, but she's holding me too tight.

  “I'm sorry,” she tells me, “but it's the only way to make sure you don't go to sleep. We'll be at the hospital soon, I promise, and then the doctors can look at you! You can thank me later.”

  “We should never have come back to Auercliff,” Dad mutters, and I can tell he's speeding up, as if he's panicking about getting me to the hospital in time.

  “I didn't realize Emily was so crazy!” Mum hisses, still holding my arm tight. “Don't worry, though. That was the last time. Fuck Emily and fuck Auercliff, and fuck...” She pauses. “Fuck that whole place, and everyone in it.”

  “Let go!” I shout, trying to pull free as the pain gets worse and worse. “You're hurting me!”

  “It's for your own good!” she replies.

  Screaming and crying, still trying to get out of her grip, I twist around on the seat. I see Nathan's horrified face for a moment, and then I look out the car's back window and see Auercliff in the distance, getting further and further away.

  “Rebecca!” Mum shouts, as I close my eyes again. “For God's sake, you can't fall asleep! Rebecca!”

  I can feel her trying to keep me awake, but still I drift deeper and deeper into darkness. All I can think about is the hand on my shoulder in the mausoleum. I don't care what anyone says. I wasn't alone in there. And as I start falling asleep more, my thoughts drift back to the darkness, and to the sensation of the hand on my shoulder, and to...

  Someone giggled.

  “I'll come back,” I whisper, keeping my eyes shut even though I can feel Mum and Nathan trying to wake me. “I'll come back to Auercliff one day and find out who was in there with me.”

  Part Nine

  Rebecca - Today

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Sitting up suddenly with a jerk, I realize I must have briefly dozed off. I'm in the front-seat of my car, with the lights off, and when I look out through the windshield I see the huge dark shape of Auercliff towering above me.

  Checking my phone, I see that it's 1:15am, which means I must have napped for about twenty minutes.

  “Great,” I mutter, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a drink. I can already feel myself starting to nod off again, so once I've finished with the water I open the car door and step out into the cool night air.

  At least if I'm on my feet, I can't fall asleep. I need to stay awake, so I can check to make sure that my aunt do
esn't start wandering about at night.

  I have to admit, the forest around Auercliff is a little creepy at the best of times. Right now it seems positively menacing, and moonlight doesn't make things any better. After a moment I realize that I've been deliberately avoiding looking directly toward the mausoleum, so I force myself to turn. Sure enough, I can just about make out those creepy white stone walls a couple of hundred meters away, and I feel a shudder pass through my chest as I remember that awful afternoon many years ago when I ended up trapped inside.

  Of course, I still don't remember everything that happened. I woke up in the hospital, having suffered a pretty serious concussion, and the memories were gone. I know I was trapped in the dark, and I know I panicked, but apart from that all the memories seem just out of reach.

  Maybe I should go closer and take another look, just to prove to myself that I'm no longer the same scared little girl. The idea unsettles me, and I can't deny a feeling of tense anticipation, but I guess that's all the more reason why I should go over and face the mausoleum again. After all, the only thing to fear is -

  Suddenly I turn and look toward the house as I realize I can hear a voice crying out. I freeze for a moment, looking at the dark windows, but there's definitely someone shouting somewhere inside Auercliff.

  “Aunt Emily?” I whisper, hurrying around the car and making my way toward the front door.

  “Get away from me!” she's shouting, her voice sounding so old and frail. “What do you want? Why can't you just leave me alone?”

  “Aunt Emily!” I call out, making my way up the steps and opening the front door. “Aunt Emily, are you -”

  I stop in the hallway as I hear a loud crashing sound coming from upstairs, followed by a series of bumps.

  Figuring that something must be terribly wrong, I race up the stairs and then along the corridor, and now I can hear my aunt calling out again, as if there's someone tormenting her in one of the rooms. Reaching her bedroom door, I push it open and hurry inside, only to find that there's no sign of her at all.

  “I don't know what you want!” she shouts suddenly, from somewhere else in the house. “I'm an old woman! I'm begging you, have some pity and leave me alone!”

  “Aunt Emily!” I yell, racing along the corridor until I find that the door at the far end has been left wide open.

  Making my way through into the colder, abandoned part of the house, I realize I can hear someone shuffling about up ahead, and a moment later I hurry around another corner and see my frail, elderly aunt crawling along the floor. Her whole body is trembling, and she's wearing only her thin night-dress as she tries to drag herself back this way.

  “Aunt Emily!” I shout, hurrying over and kneeling next to her. “What the hell are you doing?”

  She grabs my arms and looks up at me with pure fear in her eyes, and it seems to take a moment before she recognizes me.

  “What are you doing here?” she stammers, before turning and looking along the empty corridor. “I told you not to stay here at night. I expressly made you -”

  “And why did you do that?” I ask, interrupting her. “Aunt Emily, who were you talking to just now? What's going on?”

  “You have to get out of here,” she continues, turning back to me and trying in vain to push me away. “Go to the village. Better yet, go home. But whatever you do and wherever you go, you absolutely mustn't be here at night!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because -”

  Before she can finish, there's another loud bump from one of the rooms up ahead, followed by what seems like footsteps pacing quickly across the floorboards.

  “Who's that?” I ask, my heart racing as I realize that I came running into this situation without any means to defend myself. I guess it never occurred to me that I'd come across anything more than my aunt's fevered imagination. “Aunt Emily, is it a burglar?”

  “It's the same every night,” she sobs, gripping my arms tighter and tighter. “Please, Esmerelda, you just have to get out of here!”

  “Esmerelda? Who's -”

  I flinch as I hear another bump from one of the rooms.

  “Are there other people living here?” I ask, as I try to make sense of the madness. “Is that what's happening? Do you have other people here, and one of them died and that's the body I found? Aunt Emily, please, you have to tell me the truth!”

  “What are you talking about?” she stammers. “What body?”

  “I'm going to get you out of here,” I tell her. “You're freezing, I have to get you into the other part of the house, and then you can tell me everything. Do you think you can walk?”

  “Leave me here,” she sobs. “I deserve this. I deserve everything it does to me.”

  I try to haul her up, but she pushes me away. When I try again, I find that she's already slumping down against the floor, and she seems to be muttering something under her breath. My only option is to carry her back through to the other side of the house, but after a moment I hear another bump from the far end of the corridor. Looking toward one of the doors, I realize that there definitely seems to be someone else here in the house with us. Whoever it is, they must have heard me, but for some reason they're not coming out of the room.

  My heart is pounding, but I have to see.

  “Wait here,” I tell Emily. “I'll be right back.”

  “You must leave,” she gasps, as I step around her and make my way along the corridor. “Please don't make it angry. Don't you understand? It's me it wants. If you interfere, you'll only make it angry.”

  Stepping closer to the door at the corridor's far end, I tell myself that I can deal with an intruder if that's what I find. After all, I took a few self-defense classes a while back. Well, two classes, but that's better than nothing. At the same time, I'm starting to think that whatever's in the house with us, it's something that has been here every night for quite some time, constantly tormenting and harassing my aunt. Finally I reach the door, which has been left ajar, and I push it open to reveal the room on the other side.

  It's empty.

  And the sound of footsteps has stopped.

  Stepping into the room, I look around, but there's absolutely nothing in here. I'm certain this is where the banging sound was coming from, and there's no way anyone could have left without coming right past me. This was one of the old rooms used by the house's staff, back in the days when Emily's family still employed servants and maids, but now there's definitely no-one in here.

  Heading over to the window, I peer out and see the forest, with the mausoleum picked out in a patch of moonlight. Suddenly I remember a hand touching my shoulder in the dark, all those years ago. And then I turned around, and I heard someone giggling.

  I turn and look back across the empty room.

  “Is somebody here?” I ask out loud.

  Silence.

  “It's okay,” I continue. “If you're here, I just...”

  I take a deep breath. This is ridiculous, but I still need to know for sure.

  “If you're here, just give me a sign. Just let me know.”

  I wait, but now the entire house seems absolutely quiet. Figuring that I need to ask my aunt some more questions, I head back out of the room and along the corridor, before stopping suddenly as I see that Emily is nowhere to be seen.

  “Aunt Emily?” I call out, trying not to panic. “Aunt Emily, it's me! It's Rebecca! Where are you?”

  Hearing no response, I hurry along the corridor and through to the main part of the house, but the entire place seems deserted now. I stop on the landing, listening for even the slightest noise that might give me a clue as to where I might find her, but a moment later I spot a flash of movement outside. Hurrying to the window, I'm horrified to see my frail aunt scrambling across the moonlit lawn, making her way toward the trees.

  I rush down the stairs and grab a coat from the rack in the hallway, before racing outside and around to the lawn. Aunt Emily is almost at the tree-line now, but she's already dropped do
wn onto her hands and knees. I hurry over and kneel next to her, quickly placing the coat around her shivering shoulders, but suddenly she rolls onto her side and lets out a faint, pained gasp as she stares up at me.

  “I have to get you inside,” I tell her. “Aunt Emily, what's going on here, what -”

  “Do you see her?” she stammers, her eyes widening with shock. “Barbara saw her once, a long time ago. That's how I know it's real, how I know I'm not losing my mind.”

  “Saw who?” I ask.

  “She's...” She stares at me for a moment, but slowly I start to realize that her milky eyes are actually looking past me, as if there's someone standing over my shoulder. “She's right there,” she whispers.

  “Who?”

  I wait for her to answer, before slowly turning. I half expect to find some kind of spectral figure staring down at me, but to my immense relief I see no-one at all.

  “I heard her every night,” my aunt continues. “Just the two of us left in the house.”

  “Who?” I ask again, looking across the lawn just in case there's any sign of someone watching us. “Who are you -”

  Suddenly Aunt Emily lets out another, louder gasp, and I turn to see that she's clutching her left arm.

  “Aunt Emily?” I stammer, placing a hand on her forehead and realizing that she's sweating profusely. “Aunt Emily, tell me what you feel,” I continue, trying not to panic even though I think she might be going into cardiac arrest. “Aunt Emily, does you arm hurt? What about your chest and your jaw?”

  “I see her,” she groans, still looking past me. “She's always been here, since long before I came. She's waiting for something.”

  Checking her pulse, I try to work out what to do next. My phone is still in my car, and I need to call an ambulance, but I'm not sure Emily will last that long. I can't leave her.

  “Aunt Emily,” I say firmly, “I'm a doctor, remember? I think you're having a heart attack, so I'm going to need to -”