Inside Evil

Chapter 3 - Part III

*Inside Evil and its sequels are available on Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Smashwords and iBooks*

“Sue, are you alright?” Sam asked, lifting his head and surveying the scene.

“I’m fine.” Susan replied angrily, partly annoyed that a good bottle of whisky had gone to waste, and partly frustrated by the fact that Sam had seen her in this state. The flames had only momentarily glared up, before returning to the fireplace from where they’d come.

“C’mon, why don’t we put that fire out and get you home,” Sam started, but Susan didn’t pay any attention. She sat, quite still, peering into the fireplace. She wasn’t quite sure why her gaze was held at first, but something was different. Her eyes looked beyond the fiery embers to the brick behind, searching for an answer.

“Look.”

“Look at what?” Sam got to his feet and went and kneeled by the fireplace. “What the…?”

Behind the fire, where the left side of the chimney breast was, there were now several loose bricks. Susan wasn’t sure whether it was the popping bottle of whisky or that her attention had simply been drawn to the area, but whilst the mortar around the rest of the fireplace was intact, there were definitely signs of damage to the structure. In fact, even as the pair looked at the brickwork, a hairline crack ran up through one of the bricks causing it to fall in half. Part of it fell away, exposing a small dark hole.

“Let me see that,” Susan muttered and crawling forward, she lifted one of the fire pokers and gingerly prodded at the bricks around the hole. Without much effort, the surrounding bricks seemed to disintegrate like dust, falling into the hole and widening the area so that it was large enough for them to peer through.

“That’s not possible. This is the last building in the block.”

Susan was quite correct. The thin lane on which Best Books was located consisted of several rows of ancient buildings. Each had been split into several small retail spaces over the years, of which her beloved reading retreat was one. It was several feet away from the next row of terraced shops, and the air curling through the fireplace gap was dry and musty, not the bitter freezing temperature that it should be if the tendrils of winter were winding their way through.

 “Oh, it’s behind the false wall,” Susan said with realisation to herself.  When she and Bernard had bought the property, they’d been told how the fireplace used to jut out into the room and how the previous owner had created a new wall so that the fireplace was flush against it, hiding the previous alcoves which had been visible. Susan had never had any reason to question such a structure, but now she could see what looked to be the top steps of a staircase. They dropped into the dark, as if descending to a cellar of some kind. There also seemed to be a slight glimmer from below, a very faint but visible light.

“Sam, get me a bucket of water from the back, we need to put this fire out, I can’t see through this hole properly” Susan said. All thoughts of drink had vanished and though her head was still slightly fuzzy, her limbs had regained their usual state. She hunched over and peered into the darkness, trying to get as close as possible to the gap that she was constantly enlarging whilst not being burnt by the still flickering fire.

“Hell no,” Sam said. “I know exactly what you’re thinking and we’re not doing it.”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Susan retorted, glancing around just the once to see that Sam’s face was appalled. “I’m not just gonna sit here. I can get through that gap easy. I’ve been sitting here for days in a drunken stupor, this…,” she looked back to the gap and continued prodding, “this is something I need to do.”