Duncan moved along the side of the high wall. Many of the bricks were crumbling leaving gaps in the mortar where small ferns and various weeds filled the cavities. The sound of crying came from somewhere further along where the uneven pathway led into the courtyard of an old isolated thatched barn. He stopped where the dark red bricks ended, peering cautiously at the old building. A crow startled him as it swooped to land in a copse of various shaped deciduous trees, the tops of which showed above the roof of the barn. He looked again around the corner still hearing the crying fainter now and definitely of a young woman or an older child. He moved into the open, aware of the dark clouds now moving towards the east leaving a clear and blue expanse overhead. Rays of sunlight pierced downwards with shards of bright beams catching the broken windows in front, forcing him to blink as the rays caught his eyes intermittently in their cracked reflections. The distressed noises previously heard had stopped, causing him to wait where he stood. He gauged the position of the last sounds as coming from the inside of the barn. He started towards the large double doors, one of which was slightly ajar. He waited briefly before entering. The thought “quiet as the grave” sprung to mind and caused the hairs on the back of his neck to quiver.
“Stop it. It’s nonsense” he chastised himself softly and quickly realised that it was easy to fall into the same trap as the ignorant others in believing these ghost stories so easily entrenched in the beliefs of the local villagers.
Duncan had travelled to many places in the country to investigate claims by all types of people about hauntings, sightings and general spooky goings on. It was easy to dismiss most with an hour on the internet but some were not obviously explainable. These he considered interesting enough to go into his series of books. Many were enticing enough to hold the attention and morbid curiosity of the sort of readers desperate for the genre. Of all the occasions investigated, none were real but with a little tweaking of the facts and including vague unanswered questions an interesting and slightly manufactured story could be sensationalised. There were many charlatans and con artists he had exposed over the years and from his letters and email correspondence his guillible followers thought his creepy “real” stories held more truth because of his exposures. He tried hard to understand this reasoning, but couldn’t. His literary agent, Maggie, had said to him when she handed him his latest commission cheque.
“People lap up this rubbish, why not give them what they want and we can all make some money”.
She didn’t actually use those words but he understood what she meant. That seemed quite reasonable to Duncan.
The large door would not open further so he slid into the barn. Particles of dust were suspended in the still air and a mustiness of hay and animal droppings combined with a faint metallic tinge wafted around him. Duncan heard brief movements where small rodents dashed to hide in the dark shadows, leaving complete stillness in the cavernous building. The story here was a typical superstitious misinterpretation of simple facts. They concerned the death of a young maiden cast out by her family for infidelity and throwing herself into a deep well. The further disappearance of several young men over the centuries to keep her company enriched the fable. “ If I had a pound” thought Duncan. He’d searched the area before hearing the crying and being eventually led to the barn finding no trace of a well or any other water structure.
The interior of the building again was typical with indistinguishable piles of old metal, probably part of a smithy, rusting items of farm equipment, odd bales of straw and broken open sacks. Just as he thought the trip would be a waste of time he heard the crying echoing around him again. The sound appeared to emanate from the mezzanine floor at the end of the structure. It was difficult to see into the high dark space as several piles of hay were stacked along the front opening. An upright wooden ladder was fixed onto the wall with several rungs broken. Duncan knew he would have to see what was making the noise, not for once considering it might be a who. It took time to climb the ladder as each rung had to be tested before his full weight could be trusted on it. All during the climb the crying continued until the top was reached and he stepped onto the suspended platform. Now all was still and quiet again so he moved further along the floor. He was suddenly aware of the movement of white in his peripheral vision to his left but on turning his head sharply, could see nothing. Duncan’s heart skipped a beat and a fine patina of perspiration formed on his brow making him feel uneasy. Another brief flash of movement, this time to his right, and yet again no solid entity. He had never before experienced anything like this and although in his logical thoughts an obvious explanation was there, his mind was swirling around. Duncan moved his eyes quickly into each part of the raised area, hoping to see a concrete vision in his brief glances. Edging towards the darkest corner, he stopped still, feeling the sensation of a presence standing behind him which froze him to the spot. Slowly he turned to see a beautiful young woman clothed in a white ankle length chemise smiling at him. He was petrified with fear as the apparition lifted her hand and stroked his left cheek.
This movement and touch caused Duncan to jump back catching the side of his lower legs on a straw bale and in one awkward movement he fell over the object, landed on his backside and tipped over the edge. The fall backwards onto the hard packed earth floor was bad and resulted with him lying flat on his back and unable to move. Duncan knew instinctively that his injury was serious.
He opened his eyes, briefly seeing the creature looking down at him from her raised position and hold out both her hands towards him. Then she was suddenly gone from his view. Duncan tried to move but the pain in his back caused him to cry out and his body started shaking with shock. His mobile phone was in his pocket and with a huge effort he managed to pull it free only to find there was no signal. He was panicking and found himself getting short of breath. With a glance behind his head he spotted the woman moving past him to stand at his feet and look down on him. Whereas before her face seemed serene and beautiful, now there was a malevolent mask that made him cry out in pain and fear. The apparition leaned forward and with one of her hands gripped his ankle. She lifted his leg and started to pull him along the ground, causing screams of pain from the injured man. He was being dragged to a spot underneath the mezzanine area and towards her unknown destination in the corner of the old barn. Still being dragged, Duncan was now feeling numb and the pain in his back had ceased so he was caught unawares as he was tipped into a large hole. This fall was deeper than the last with his landing just a continuation of pain to other parts of his body. There was a glimpse of the white form looking down at him again and slowly fading away. Duncan slipped into unconsciousness.
He awoke not knowing how long he had been down there and found he was only able to move his head. His eyes slowly adjusted to the limited light and to his horror he saw various bones and several skulls littered around him. His fear was complete as he opened his mouth and screamed and screamed but no sound passed his lips.
Leave a Reply