Bellman Tower

Chapter 6

RECAP FROM CHAPTER FIVE-

I sigh and limp into my bedroom. There's a message on the wall.

                                             STAY AWAY FROM THE ATTIC

Chapter 6

I gulp, my heart racing. A strangled whimper bubbles from my throat and I step forward, touching the paint. Something knocks into my side and I am thrown to the floor, the breath knocked out of me. I look back. There's a shimmer in the air. I can see through it, but everything is translucent behind it. I try to drag myself away from it, too terrified to get up. The thing lurches towards me and suddenly it has me by my ankle and is dragging me to the staircase. I scream and desperately rake my fingernails down the floorboard, trying to get ahold of something. I kick my legs, "Let me go! Let me go!"

I get a grip on the door post and hold on with all of my strength, closing my eyes against the efforts.

The thing pulls on my ankle harder and I feel as if my ankle is going to be pulled out of it's socket. "Ow!" I squeal and my hands begin to slip. "No!" I try to regain my grip  on the door post but it's too late. The thing drags me to the staircase and begins dragging me down.

"Aargh!" I try to hold on to the steps, my fingertips aching. My chin bangs against the stairs and then I'm whirled around, the breath knocked out of me as my side hits the table at the bottom of the staircase. It falls on me and I scream, kicking my legs out to free myself from the grasp of The Thing. With a jolt, I realise I have succeeded and I haul myself up on all fours and begin to crawl to the main room.

I am just getting up to open the door, exhausted. It gets a hold of my foot and I lash out again. I push the door open and slam it shut behind me, creating a barricade with a chair and a sofa. I look around wildly, fear smothering my every thought. I rush over to the phone and pick it up, jamming the buttons down, holding the phone to my ear.

"Nine-one-one. How may I help you?"

"There's something in the house... It's after me."

"Okay, ma'am. What's your address?"

"My address? Bellman Tower!" As I speak, the phone goes dead, "Hello? Hello? Are you there?" The door flings open, throwing the sofa and chair to the other side of the room and I press myself against the wall, sliding to the floor, drawing my knees up to my chest. Tears of fright roll down my cheeks, my hands are slick with sweat. I watch as the table with the vase on it is suddenly knocked to the ground. One by one, everything in the room is flipped over or knocked down. I look on, my heart pumping, my vision blurred from the tears running down my cheeks. The thing grabs my leg and drags me out into the centre of the room. I cry out and grab hold of a vase. I knock it in the general direction of that shimmery thing. I stumble to my feet and then scramble out of the house. I hear sirens and then I'm being held up by a paramedic and a police officer.

I point back to the house, "It's in there."

"Do you want to show us?" The officer asks.

I nod and let go of the paramedic and slowly walk into the house. We walk into the main room. My jaw drops as I look around. The room is spotless. There is no sign of damage. The vase and table is in it's place, the phone is on the hook, everything is perfect. Aunt and Uncle burst into the room, "Are you okay?"

Aunt squishes me into a hug.

"Ow!" I say as a sudden pain shoots through my ankle. I lift up my jeans.

Around my ankle is a hand print, sore and swollen.

It's silent on the way back from the hospital.

"I can't live there any more." I tell Aunt, "This is proof of that. Something is in the house and it attacked me!"

"Where's the evidence of that, Nikki?" Aunt demands, "You told the police there was a lot of... damage to the house. The house was untouched! The doctor is saying that the marks on your leg don't look like somebody else did this to you."

"What are you saying?" I snap, "That I put on a show, that I hurt myself on purpose? Why don't you believe me?"

"If there was evidence that there was somebody in the house, there would be no reason for us not to believe you." Aunt says, "But there is no evidence to support what you're saying."

"Why do you need evidence?" I screech, "Why can't you just believe me?"

Uncle sighs, but remains mute.

Aunt looks at me and grinds her teeth, "Because the house is fine when it should be upturned, according to you. You were terrified, I could see that much. It was your first night alone in the house. You were scared, I can understand that. I told you to call Shaun up.

The car rolls to a stop. I get out of the car and then bend down to say, "If Mom were here, she would believe me the minute the words left my mouth."

I turn and flee into the house, racing up the stairs and slamming the door shut behind me. I sit down on the bed, not allowing myself the luxury of tears. Something is in this house. Then I remember. I look towards the wall, hopeful that now Aunt will believe me.

Then my heart plummets down into my stomach. The message is gone. There's not even a shrapnel of hope left in my gut. I sigh and put my head in my hands.

"Your Uncle and I have an appointment with the officer." Aunt looks down on me, "Shaun is coming. I want you to stay with him." It's the next day and I have spent it holed up in my room, but now Aunt has called me down.

"Whatever." I say and slump into a sofa.

Aunt sighs, "When we come back, I hope you'll have gotten over your sulk. We're worried about you. Well, you have a crazy way of showing it. I roll my eyes. The door clicks shut and I look up to see Shaun. He smiles at me. I look away. Aunt and Uncle retreat without so much of a goodbye and leave me here. With him.

"You caused quite an uproar last night, Nikki."

"Go ahead." I spit, "Tell me I was lying. Tell me that you think I hurt myself! I don't really care!"

"Whoa!" Shaun holds his hands up, "I wasn't going to say anything like that. I know that your Aunt and Uncle aren't the best people to talk to. Are you okay, Nikki?"

"Do I look okay?" I snap and then sigh, "Look, there's no point. I don't want to talk about it. Can you please just... Leave it alone?"

Shaun shrugs, "Whatever you say. Gossip is rife down there. Everyone's got their own version of what happened. I just wanted to know the truth."

"I can't blame you for that." I admit, "I don't want to talk about it but I can show you something." I lift the bottom of my jeans leg up just high enough to let him see the sore hand print.

"It dragged me down the stairs, down the hallway and into the main room. I don't even know what it was. I could only see it because wherever it was, the air was warped. Almost liquefied."

"Oh." Shaun says and he steps forward, his eyes glued to the hand print, "Can I touch it?"

I look down at the hand print silently, not replying. Taking it as a yes, he leans forward and brushes his fingertips against the hand print. Static shoots through me and I wince, recoiling.

Shaun looks up at me, "Did you feel that?" I nod silently. "Static electricity." Shaun says and then gets up, "Weird."

"This whole place is weird. Do you know, when I came here, my Aunt had technically forbidden me from going into the attic. So, obviously..."

"You went up there." Shaun finishes. I nod.

"That's when things got weird. Shaun, do you believe in spirits? In a presence that got left behind... after death?"

"It's not impossible."

"This house isn't right." I shake my head, "Something happened to someone here and I have to figure out what it was."