Escape From the Country Read online

  “Chris?” She called out, but no one answered. Cautiously, she put down the tablet and slowly moved into the hallway and over to the bottom of the stairs. She stood there still, not wanting to move or even breathe so she could hear whatever had caused the sound. Her whole body shook and tensed as she heard something fall over, something from a height by the sound of it. Not knowing what to do she stood there wondering if she should call the police when a flash of black passed quickly across the top stair. Something was in the house with her and she was sure it wasn’t human. With the threat reducing, she started to climb the stairs, trying hard to avoid the noisier floor boards. As she climbed each step, her imagination got the better of her, thinking about the shape that flashed by her. At first it was only a few inches tall, but by the time she’d reached the landing, she’d convinced herself it was at least several feet in height. Carefully she rounded the hall, looking right towards the third bedroom, then across to the second. That only left the two remaining bedrooms and the bathroom. A few steps down the hall and she was at the door of the smallest room. It was L shaped, not giving the full view from the door. She took a deep, but silent breath, taking one step into the room, followed by another after a slight pause. From the corner of her eye, she caught something approaching her from behind. She spun round, jumping back into the bedroom gasping for air. To her utter shock but total relief, a cat had found its way in. Standing there it looked most content with itself scaring her half to death.

  “A bloody cat. Seriously?” Julie said out loud, heaving a sigh of relief. “What’s your name then?” She asked, bending down to stroke the little intruder. The cat took a small step back and arched its back, hackles immediately visible with an audible hiss and teeth baring. Julie’s hand flinched as she slowly backed away. “Ok, calm down.” The cat regained its composure and ambled away. Seeing the back of it, Julie mustered up a small amount of courage, and rushed at the feline shouting. “Go on, get out of it!” She barked as the cat jumped up to the open window and onto a nearby tree. As she pulled the window shut, cursing under her breath, she noticed the latch was broken. It didn’t look too serious but something she wouldn’t want to have a go at herself for fear of making it worse. These things were best left for Chris. He always protested against being seen as the stereotypical man, expected to know exactly how every DIY problem should be solved, but she knew he relished the feeling of proving his manliness.

  Around mid-afternoon Chris returned from his meeting.

  “How’d it go?” Julie called to him as he walked through the door.

  “Not well.”

  “Oh no, what happened?” Julie put down the tablet and headed towards the hall to meet him.

  “The guy’s an arse. Too much money, not enough sense and now the investments I told him would be high risk, shockingly, didn’t pan out as well as he’d hoped! The worst part is they’ve actually made him some money which I find truly amazing, just not enough for that greedy bastard.”

  “Hopefully, now we’re here you’ll get some better clients and you won’t have to deal with morons like him anymore. I’m sorry you had to go through that though.”

  “Yeah, hopefully.” He succumbed. “I’m gonna grab a beer.”

  “Oh, before I forget, the window upstairs has a latch broken.” She said, instantly regretting it.

  “Seriously?” He snapped. “Where?”

  “Don’t worry, it can wait.” Julie said, playing it down as much as she could, knowing this wouldn’t be the end of it.

  “No, it can’t. We can’t have windows broken Julie. It’d be just my luck we get robbed and then the bloody insurance company say the house insurance is void and then we’re really screwed.”

  As dramatic and unlikely as it sounded, Julie had to agree by keeping quiet and saying nothing. She waited in the kitchen on pins hoping it would be an easy fix and they could salvage something from the day.

  “Which window?” He shouted down to her.

  “The little one in the hall, overlooking the front garden.”

  “What’s wrong with it?” She could feel the tension building from all the way downstairs.

  “I thought the latch was broken? Looks like there should be another screw holding it in or something?”

  “What the hell are you talking about? It’s fine.”

  Confused, Julie quickly scaled the stairs, her trepidation falling away, only to find Chris opening and shutting the window without fault.

  “What the? It was broken, I swear, it was hanging off, I even wobbled it about and didn’t touch it anymore in case I made it worse.”

  “Right, where’s that beer, I’ve had enough drama for one day.” Chris brushed past her and went downstairs. It wasn’t like him to get so upset over an awkward client. Julie stayed for a minute thinking about how he’d changed since getting here, ironically for the worse considering this was their fresh start. As she looked around the room, she saw the window that made her look so foolish. She handled the latch forcefully, knowing full well it wasn’t like that a few hours ago.

  Chapter Twelve

  By the end of the evening Chris had mellowed, several bottles of beer helping his efforts. Julie decided to write off the day. Between no luck on the job front and walking on egg shells around her husband, going to bed and trying again tomorrow was a safe bet.

  A familiar sound came from downstairs. Julie rolled over to check the time on her phone. As her eyes squinted at the brightly lit screen she made out it was 3am. She paused a moment trying to work out what it was. She shook her head, shaking the sleep from her mind and soon realised it was the sound of a party. Confused but not alarmed, she crept from her bed, careful not to wake Chris. The hallway was lit clearly with the bright light cast from the moon. Shadows from the railing were lined out across the floor from the bright illumination. Just as she paused to take in how beautiful the house looked in the pale moonlight, the walls shuddered for an instant, turning them brown and worn. The clean-cut aspect the room once had was gone and replaced with a tired looking decor. Undeterred though, Julie stepped towards the top of the stairs, trying to work out where the voices were coming from. Now certain they were in the house, muffled as they were, she went downstairs and into the living room. As she reached for the door handle, now old and tarnished, the door opened carrying her through the room. She immediately relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief as she recognised the people inside. Friends and family were everywhere, drinking and talking, all pleased to see their host appear, praising her with comments on how lovely she looked and how happy she must be in her new life. Overwhelmed as she felt, she couldn’t reconcile in her mind the state of the house. When she arrived everything was so clean, now it appeared to be in disrepair. A hand cupped the small of her back. Turning gently into it expecting to see the face of her loving husband, she was greeted by a man with long, greasy hair, baggy torn clothes and tattooed arms. She backed away, but slower than she’d expected.

  “It’s ok.” The man said in a surprisingly smooth voice. “I just wanted to come say hi.”

  An odd feeling ran through her, as if she knew the man, but couldn’t place him, his familiarity both excited her and filled her with dread.

  “That’s nice, but I don’t think we should be doing this.” The words fell from her mouth as if it were the natural thing to say.

  “Calm down, he’s never going to know. Chill babe.”

  A cold flash ran down her back, knowing it would only be a matter of time before being caught in a terrible situation.

  “Not here, everyone can see.”

  “No one even notices or even realises, it’s cool, just take a drag ay?” He held up a fatly rolled cigarette. Filled with confusion but not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to herself, she took it and put it to her mouth as the man set it alight. She took a drag but instantly recognised the taste, realising this was no ordinary cigarette. As she blew the sweet-smelling smoke from her mouth she was met by the man’s lips pressed against
hers. Her hands moved to his chest and shoved him as hard as she could.

  “Calm down Sadie, it’s all good.” He approached again, now with Julie’s back against the wall, fearing she had no escape. His hand pressed against the wall to the side of her face, his other around her waist. As he leant in, emotions ran wild through her head. She had no attraction to this man but somehow knew him and her heart raced at the thought of being with him.

  “Hey!” An angry voice came from across the room. Another heavily tattooed man strode over to meet the guilty pair. “What the fuck James?” James, that was it, the root of everything that had caused Julie so much pain and guilt over the last year. But she couldn’t understand why he looked the way he did. She knew it was him but couldn’t understand what was going on. She put a hand against the wall, trying to hold her balance and make sense of it all.

  “Alright Ed, back off, she’s the one giving me the come on, control your bird, man.” Ed turned to her accusingly.

  “How could you do this? Is this all I mean to you?” The voice now became all too familiar. She turned and stared into the eyes she knew so well. She could never mistake her husband’s eyes for anyone else’s. Just like the walls, a shudder went through him and there was Chris standing there with the same look he had the day he’d caught her with James. The same feeling of dread, fear and self-hate running through her.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” She repeated, begging his forgiveness. She knew she would never forget the look of utmost disappointment and rejection he had on his face that day, it would haunt her forever no matter how their relationship continued. His eyes couldn’t meet hers, they stared at the ground for a time, lifeless. As she approached him, his hand moved, reaching for something. A gun appeared as if from thin air. He raised it and pointed towards James, or maybe it was Mark, she couldn’t tell.

  “Chris no, what are you doing.” She said, moving towards him. He held out his arm, trying to hold her back, a blank look across his face as he stared across the room at James. “No!” She shouted, as she struggled to take the gun from him. His face turned and stared straight at her as if directly into her soul, tears building and cascading down his face. She felt an almighty blow to her stomach that pushed her back several feet. She never heard the sound the gun made as it went off and was surprised by the lack of pain it caused. As she looked down, blood began to soak into her t-shirt she’d worn to bed, slowly at first but quickly spreading across her, spilling to the floor.

  Her eyes snapped open to see the ceiling of her bedroom. She quickly touched her stomach and pulled up her top to check. No sign of any wound. She spun her head round to check on Chris who was sleeping soundly and oblivious of her terrified state. She lay there for hours, thoughts whirling through her head, understanding how some of the dream had formed but baffled by the rest.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The pair were going about their normal daily routine when Julie, guilt stricken from her dream, suggested they go for that date night she’d already mentioned. Having been in the new house a few weeks, they’d spotted a couple of places they thought might be worth trying. They settled on Italian, as they both agreed you can’t go far wrong with Italian food and they wanted to be sure their first night out in their new home town was a success. As the restaurant was on the high street, they decided to walk and take advantage of the endless summer evenings. They were both in good spirits and found the fresh air made them feel much better about themselves. Even the anxiety Julie felt after her vivid nightmare seemed like a distant memory, or at least one she could ignore. The restaurant was a quaint, family run business lacking that franchise gloss you’d expect from most other high street Italian restaurants. They were met by a short Italian man, dressed in a smart black suit and tie who led them to a beautiful candle lit table by the window. The food was authentically Italian and they both enjoyed the meal, but more importantly each other’s company. Several times they remarked how much better they felt from being out of the house and away from the stress of domestic life. They finally felt like they were really living their lives. With very little else to do in the village, they took a long walk back, via a park and a stretch of river. Neither one feeling tired when they arrived home, Chris opened a bottle of red wine and poured each of them a large glass. As he twisted the cork from the corkscrew, he thought he heard something, voices. He paused a moment, listening but heard nothing, putting the noise down to the squeak of the cork turning. He turned and threw the cork into the bin but there it was again. It sounded like a woman’s laugh, but more like a naughty giggle. He’d opened the windows once they’d returned from dinner to let some of air pass through the muggy house. Although he quickly concluded the voice must be coming from outside, it seemed closer than from a neighbouring house or perhaps the road. Still holding the corkscrew, he walked through the already open bi-folding doors and stood there listening.

  “What are you doing?” Julie half shouted from the living room.

  “Nothing, just thought I heard someone.”

  “Someone?”

  “Something. I don’t know.”

  “Ok, captain creepy, I’m gonna get changed into something a little less comfortable! Back in a minute.” A bit disappointed with his lack of reaction, Julie went upstairs to look through what she’d unpacked that might suit the mood.

  “Stop worrying, what’s your problem?” he heard from across the garden. Chris looked but couldn’t see anyone. He walked towards the drive and waited. There it was again, the same giggle but from behind him in the shed. The noise didn’t unsettle him too much, but with his corkscrew in hand, he slowly turned the silvery handle and began to open the door. His imagination began to run, wondering if he would just catch a teenage couple, fooling around with nowhere else to go. He couldn’t shake the feeling he got from when he saw the man hanging from the tree. The same man that guided him to the faulty wiring, potentially saving his house from burning down with them both inside. The recently installed door opened without a sound. As he peered into the dark recess, he struggled to make out what he was looking at. Everything was still tightly packed besides the lawnmower he’d managed to dig out. He cast his eyes back and forth but nothing seemed to be out of place. Then from the corner a shape caught his eye. The harder he stared, the darker the shape became. It didn’t resemble anything in particular, but the longer he stared the darker it got. Transfixed, as if under its spell, it seemed to grow before him. Chris found himself caught, not able to move away. He soon realised he’d lost control of his body and felt himself being enveloped by the ever-darkening mass that approached him. Starting to panic he struggled against his unwilling body, but nothing would move. A hand rested on his shoulder as he heard a man’s voice.

  “You need to go.”

  As if nothing had happened, he found himself standing in the doorway of the shed, staring at the boxes, now looking around for the dark mass that tried to consume him. Left utterly confused and corkscrew still in hand, Julie called to him.

  “What are you up to, come on, you need to go upstairs.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Casting the sheets from him, Chris laid awake, struggling to sleep in the heat. The generous helping of wine had helped Julie off to a deep slumber, but Chris wasn’t so fortunate. Thoughts meandered through his mind, all of which causing a substantial level of anxiety. He started to worry about generating more business in the area. When he’d first looked at the location, he was confident there was enough development to keep him gainfully employed. Sadly, this wasn’t the reaction he’d received from the local market. He settled himself to the fact that he still had regular investment clients and the use of the internet meant that a lot of the work could be done without seeing people face to face. Trying to exercise some positivity, he tried to imagine how their new lives would turn out in this new village but couldn’t get past his experiences he’d had so far. Sure, the meal last night was great, but between the accidents around the house and then the ghostly visit
s, he began to doubt his choice in moving there. As he dozed, he listened to the sounds of the night. The silence itself was hypnotic and although it wasn’t sending him to sleep, it was soothing his worry. The silence was broken by laughter. The same woman’s voice from the shed, but this time it seemed to come from downstairs. He jumped out of bed, expecting to wake Julie but she slept on with ease, the wine keeping her in a restful state. Carefully, he crept down the stairs and into the kitchen where he could see two bodies, walking across the garden towards the shed. A woman with long brown hair with an old-fashioned dress seductively clinging to her. The other, a man, white chequered shirt, linen trousers and muddy boots, the man from the tree. Frozen in shock, he stood still, staring after the couple. As they crossed the garden it became harder to see them until they’d vanished completely into the night. He hesitated for a moment but composed himself, opened the bi-folding doors and slowly crossed the garden. The chilled air soon reminded him all he had on were boxer shorts, not helped by the grass feeling colder than expected, coming up between his toes. As he reached the shed he noticed the door was shut. A quick twist this time and it was open. He stepped inside and was met by utter darkness. His eyes soon adjusted and he noticed the same dark shape from before, but this time it expanded faster towards him. Without a chance to escape, the darkness covered him only to find himself a moment later in a dusty barn. Trying to work out where he was and what had happened, the first thing he noticed was the dimensions of the barn were the same as the shed, but all looking so different. He always wondered why the garage and shed were as big as they were. It appeared he was seeing them as they once were, not two adjoining buildings, but one big barn. Tools hung on the walls from single nails, hammered part way into the wooden beams. They were simple, hammers, saws and scissor like things with large sharpened blades, like hand held sheers. It was dusty with hay strewn about the floor, creating piles in one of the corners, acting as a resting place for the strange couple to sit on. They seemed oblivious to his presence but he assumed they were too wrapped up in themselves to notice him. Overwhelmed by what he was seeing, he called out to them.