The House of Wood (13 page)

At that moment, Justin took a
step closer to me, never once taking his eyes off of mine. My heart
thundered. My legs felt like jelly. He took my hands and I was
acutely aware of my soaking palms, which were unlike his bone dry
ones. He pulled me close.

“You’ll be safe. I’ll be with
you,” he whispered.

I didn’t know what to say. This
was it. My moment. It was as if he had read my mind. His head bent
towards mine. I closed my eyes.

The door slammed shut with an
almighty bang.

I near jumped out of my skin
letting out a high pitched yelp at the same time. The wind outside
was howling a gale. Justin took me by the shoulders.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he
said, trying to hide his amusement.

“It’s not funny,” My whole body
was shaking. I wanted out. “What the hell was that bang?” My eyes
were frantically darting around, trying to find the source of the
commotion.

“Look it was just the wind
blowing the front door shut.” His eyes burned deep inside me, but
his ever present smile was reassuring. “There’s nothing to be
afraid of.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I had
stopped shaking. The uneasy feeling still hadn’t left. It was
probably nothing. I had to calm down. I wiped my hands across my
face. “I feel so stupid!”

Justin laughed. “Well it could
happen to anyone. This place is weird. Even I’m a bit scared. But
do you know what’s good for fear?” He turned to the table with his
back to me then jumped back around. “Wine!” He held out his arm and
raised his eyebrows, thrusting the wine bottle under his other arm.
“Would madam like to accompany me to the parlour?”

I picked up two glasses and
returned with a mock curtsey. “Why certainly, sir.”

The two of us made our way back
to the living room, avoiding cobwebs as we stepped through the
archway. The room had become even darker now, but it wasn’t quite
night yet.

Tim and Chelsea came bouncing
in to the room, Tim with a grin the width of the Hudson and Chelsea
wiping the sides of her mouth with a hand.

“Hey don’t start without us,”
Tim said in his deep voice, as he spotted the wine bottle under
Justin’s arm.

“What was that bang we heard?”
Chelsea asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice.

“I told you babe, it was the
bogey man come to get you. Mwahaha!”

Tim tickled her until they both
collapsed on the ancient sofa, a cloud of dust dispersing in to the
air on impact.

“Okay guys, I don’t need a live
porn show,” I said, grabbing Chelsea by the shoulder and pulling
her up. “It was just the front door. You and I are going to go
freshen up.” I gave Chelsea a stern look, which was returned with a
look of disappointment in her hazel eyes. A few minutes ago I had
been a shaking mess, ready to bolt out the door like a
thoroughbred. Now here I was, taking charge of the group.

I wasn’t sure what had caused
the change in me. I was astonished. I had always been one to sit
back and let others take charge. My whole life, I had been pampered
and privileged. I’d never needed to take charge of anything. I felt
like an adult for the first time in my existence. I guess it was
because I wanted to enjoy my last days as a kid and not be afraid
anymore. I turned to Justin.

“We won’t be long. You can poor
me a glass ready for when we get back if you want?” I shot him the
most seductive look I could muster.

“Okay, will do,” he returned
with a wink.

I took one last look at the
forlorn portrait hanging above the fireplace. The young girl’s eyes
stared back at me. There was something, but my mind couldn’t grasp
it. I pushed it from my thoughts and followed Chelsea deeper in to
the bowls of the house.

Chapter
Thirteen

Chelsea led the way up the long
narrow staircase with me close behind. Even though my fear of the
house had abated, I still didn’t want to find myself alone anytime
soon. I was walking so close, that Chelsea’s feathery red hair kept
tickling my face. Not that she had noticed how close I was. She was
too busy nattering away about how cool Tim was and how he was such
a good kisser, at which point I switched off and began to think
about my own love life.

I had never really had a proper
boyfriend. I’d had boyfriends, but none of the relationships had
lasted long. I thought I had loved them, but there was one
fundamental problem; I couldn’t bring myself to sleep with them. It
wasn’t that I was shy. I had done other stuff. I was afraid the
guys would hurt me. Physically and emotionally. So many times
Chelsea had come to me in floods of tears after a guy had dumped
her, and each time it was the sex that had made it more
complicated. The first time, I even had to help her get the morning
after pill. Chelsea’s attitude towards sex had become very cavalier
and I secretly envied her for that, as I’d finally met a decent guy
and I didn’t want to lose him.

The upstairs of the house was
the same dank and dreary as below. In places, the wallpaper had
rotted away revealing termite infested walls. There was very little
light coming through the dirt encrusted windows, but what little
that did manage to fight its way through the stains, cast sinister
shadows across the floorboards. When the last rays of light dipped
behind the horizon, I realised we would need torches to see.
Chelsea led me in to the first bedroom. There were three in all,
two on this floor and one on the top floor, with one bathroom and
what would have been a study downstairs with the living room and
kitchen.

Chelsea suddenly spun around,
making me jump. “Did you bring condoms?” Her face was serious.

“No I did not,” I replied,
taken aback by the suddenness of the question. “And if I did, who’s
to say I wouldn’t want to use them myself?” That was my way of
broaching the subject.

“You?” Chelsea returned,
raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms.

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t do sex. You
never have.”

“Well…Maybe things have
changed.” They had, but I wanted to ease in to the subject.

“You’re serious aren’t you?
Ooo, you have to tell me more.”

“I like Justin. A lot. I
haven’t told you, but we’ve been spending time together, just the
two of us. And now…I think I love him.”

“You love him?”

It wasn’t the reaction I was
expecting. No fire balls flew from her eyes. No rivers of blood.
The apocalypse I had envisioned at my secret revelation never
came.

“He’s a nice guy,” she
continued. “But you barely know him, Rach. Even I don’t know him
that well.”

“I know, but there’s something
about him. I know he likes me. We almost kissed downstairs, but
that damn door stopped us. I felt so stupid.”

Chelsea laughed and poked me.
“You dumb ass. Well, I’m not going to say don’t do it. But think
about it first. You don’t want to go rushing in to something you’ll
regret.”

“I haven’t rushed in to it.
Tonight’s the night.”

And it would be, I thought.
With all the alcohol we would be consuming, something was bound to
happen. I would wait until Chelsea and Tim disappeared, and they
evidently would, then I would make my move. It wasn’t the greatest
place to be for my first time, but with a few candles it could’ve
even turned out quite romantic.

Chelsea took me by the hands
and looked me straight in the eyes. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
There was genuine concern in her voice.

“I promise. And you too,” I
replied, giving her a wry smile.

“You know me, baby girl,” she
said, winking back at me. “Right, I need the toilet. I’ll be right
back.” And with that she left me all alone in the gloom.

It wasn’t a huge room, I
realised, as I stepped further in to the darkness. From the looks
of what was left of the decoration and furniture, it would once
have been a child’s bedroom. In one corner sat a dolls house, all
decked out with dust riddled furniture. The only inhabitants left
were the spiders that seemed to infest every room of the house.
Along another wall stood a small bed. At the bottom of it lay an
old wooden chest which, at some point, would have held the
occupant’s belongings. I remember wondering what secrets the box
used to contain, as I moved around the room. On the wall next to
the bed was a single shelf, displaying a collection of four china
dolls. Each one had been disfigured in some way. Two had missing
eyes, their blank sockets highlighted by their bright smiles. One
had no hair making its smooth skull look oddly cue ball shaped. The
final doll had half of its face smashed in, giving it a menacing
look. This particular dolls arm was extended out, reaching in to
the blackness of the room, as if it was pointing to something. Its
single eye bored in to me, imploring that I take a look. The sight
caused me to give an involuntary shudder. The room was giving me
the creeps, but something was compelling me to follow the arm.
Curiosity killed the cat, I thought, as I walked over to the grime
encrusted window.

Outside it had finally gone
black, as the night set in. I looked out over the countryside,
unable to see anything. The woods, the road, the blank fields. All
of it was out there somewhere, under the darkness. I realised how
far away we were from any form of civilisation.

In space, no
one can hear you scream
.

The tagline popped in to my
head, as I looked for signs of life. We weren’t in space, but I
certainly doubted anyone would hear us if we were to scream.
Chelsea seemed to be taking ages. The thought made the uneasiness I
had felt earlier creep back in. To calm my nerves, I stared at my
reflection in the window pane.

I had always considered myself
to be a plain looking girl. Green eyes, a short, sharp nose, a few
freckles and thin lips with perfect straight teeth. My hair was in
a ponytail, pencil black in colour. When I was younger, the kids at
school used to make fun of me, until Chelsea hit one, knocking out
two teeth. They never did it again, but I still hadn’t been that
popular. I guess that was the real reason why I was still a
virgin.

“What the hell?” I said, more
to myself than anyone in particular.

Outside, staring straight at
me, was the young girl from the portrait. She was standing by the
swing. Her white dress had a red circular stain in the middle. I
blinked and rubbed my eyes, thinking that I was seeing things. As I
looked closer the girl was half smiling and half snarling. I shot
from the room.

“Guys, guys, come quick,” I
hollered down the corridor.

Chelsea came out the bathroom.
“What is it, hun? What’s wrong?”

“The girl. The girl from the
portrait is outside.”

“What portrait?”

“The one in the living room. We
have to get out of here.”

“Calm down Rach and stop being
ridiculous. There are no such things as ghosts. You’re just seeing
things.”

The guys came bounding up the
stairs, Justin in the lead. He looked at us. “What’s going on? We
heard shouting.”

“Rach thinks she saw something
outside. A girl, or something.”

I noticed the hint of annoyance
in Chelsea’s voice.

“I saw her!”

“Saw who?” Justin asked gently,
looking straight at me.

“I saw the young girl from the
portrait in the living room. She was standing right by the swing.
Go take a look for yourselves.”

Justin, Chelsea and Tim moved
to the window. A few moments passed before Justin turned back.
“There’s nothing there, Rach.”

“Told you,” added Chelsea,
raising her eyebrows.

“But I saw her.”

Justin came over to me and took
my hand. He led me over to the window and pointed out. “See, just
the tree and the swing.”

“But…”

“For the love of God Rach,
there’s nothing there. Come on Tim. Let’s get this party
started.”

And with that, Chelsea led a
cheering Tim out the room and back down the stairs. For the second
time that day, I was left alone with Justin. Whatever I had seen
was gone now. But the face of the girl was still vivid in my
memory. Justin continued to hold my hand. He had such a calming
influence.

“Don’t worry. Your imagination
is bound to play tricks on you in a creepy old house like
this.”

“I saw something Justin, I know
I did.”

“It was probably kids. We’re
not the only people around here. Mr and Mrs Clarke live just around
the next hill. Their grandkids are always playing pranks up
here.”

The explanation seemed to sound
genuine. I didn’t have anything else better to explain what I’d
seen out in the darkness. It was reasonable to agree with his
suggestion. I could feel my pulse slowing and my mind becoming more
rational.

“You must think I’m an idiot,”
I said, looking at the floor.

He lifted my head and looked in
to my eyes. “Not at all. In fact I think you’re cute.”

I was lost in the overwhelming
sense of strength that his gaze gave me. A minute passed, then
another. Or that’s what it felt like. In reality, it was seconds.
But I had gone further than that. I could see a bright future with
just me and him. Nothing else mattered. I’ve never wanted anything
more than I wanted him in those passing moments.

“While we’re alone,” he said,
reaching in to his back pocket. “I want to give you something.”

My heart had picked up speed
again.

“It was my Grandmothers.”

Dangling in front of my face
was a beautiful silver locket. I felt hypnotised, as it spun on its
chain, every now and then winking like a star every time the faint
light caught the smooth surface.

“I can’t accept this.”

“Don’t you like it?”

“Oh no, it’s beautiful,” I
replied. “But it’s too much.”

Justin smiled. “Let me put it
on. I want you to have it.”

He gently placed it around my
neck. My senses were filled with him. It was intoxicating to the
point where it was making my head spin.