Haunted in the Night

Chapter Five- Part One

Chapter Five.

Even though it had been many years since she had lived here she still remembered the way, the town had mostly stayed the same, the only difference really was the buildings were aging and greying.
However, even with the familiar surroundings Claire still felt nervous as she walked down the quiet, empty streets, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she started to fiddle with her fingers, her nervous tick and she began to walk faster.
She knew she was being irrational, that the likelihood that someone was watching her was slim but being back in this town sent her nervous system to the max.
It was only after she got to another street that she managed to stop and catch her breath which had quickened from her speed walking, it was the main street so it was bustling with people, kids heading back to school from their lunch break, parents doing shopping, so the fact that she was in a crowded street gave her comfort, but not much, for everyone was noticing her, and they all knew who she was.
She didn’t stick around, she couldn’t stand the pitiful looks and she scurried off towards her desired destination, to the place where it had begun for her.
Her old family home loomed over her, as did the memories of what had followed that dreadful night, she had refused to go back inside, Helena had to go in for her and pack Claire’s things that she was taking with her to her grandparents house.
It was a country house, just on the outskirts of town, the forest was right in the backyard, and just as she had aged so had it.
Helena had done very well in taking care of it for all these years, however the white paint was chipping off, the wooden posts of the patio were cracking and creaked in the wind, and if she hadn’t known for a fact that Helena had been taking care of it she would have thought it was abandoned.
It gave off that sensation, that creepy, abandoned, something bad happened here vibe, and something bad had truly happened, something evil had walked the very halls of the one place that Claire had once, many years ago, felt the safest.
It was one step at a time, slow, calm breathing as she made her way up the stairs one by one to the front door, her shoulders tense, the hairs on her arms sticking straight up as she slowly pulled the key out of her handbag, it was her father’s old master key, it opened every door in the house, Helena had given it to her in case she ever decided to come back, Helena just had a spare key.
Carefully she put the key inside the lock and begun to turn it, turning it to unlock the door had almost seemed like an eternity, all the emotions that swarmed her, fear, adrenaline, panic, anxiety, terror but yet at the same time it was all over too fast, a split second and as soon as she heard it click unlocked she gulped.
This was it.
Claire’s sense's were on high alert as she firmly gripped the door handle, she was super sensitive to everything around her, the cool wind that brushed against her, the warm sun that bared down on her back, the sound of the leaves rustling but yet everything else was silent, she could hear no traffic, no people talking or walking by, she was all alone.
Slowly she turned the door handle, painstakingly slow, and she took a deep breath before she pushed it open.
She stood there, the door wide open, her feet planted at the entrance, looking in at what had once been a happy and inviting home to her.
It was dark, it was empty and she felt a gust of cool air breeze out beside her, all signs of it being void of life and she gulped once more before taking a slow step over the threshold.
One step, then another, and one more, was all Claire could think about as she slowly crept down the hallway, the walls were still covered with photo frames, Helena hadn’t removed anything, hadn’t put any of it into storage, it was still exactly what it had been when Claire had left it, and it hadn’t been a happy departure.
She had a nightmare, she would never forget it, even though it had been a very silly childish dream it still haunts her to this day because of what she’d found when she had woken from it, it had been tree goblins, tree goblins had been after her, they hid up in the trees and used magic to make the tree reach out to snatch her, she had woken drenched in sweet, her breathing raspy and she had gotten up to go find her mum, Alice was always wonderful after Claire had had a nightmare, she would get her a glass of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and then read her another bedtime story until Claire couldn’t stay awake any longer but that was not what Claire had received that night.
She had found the house cold, very cold as her bare feet had taken slow steps on the wooden floor boards, it wasn’t normal for her house to be cold, her father would always have a fire going in the lounge room and his office on the second floor, each one keeping each floor warm, or over the night once the fires were out he would leave heaters on to keep it warm all through out the night.
It had also had a pungent smell, like something was rotting, which was also not normal, her mum kept great care of the kitchen, she loved to cook and bake but this smell had been horrible, it had made her stomach curdle and she had nearly doubled over to be sick.
However it was when she reached her parents room that she had found the worst thing to have happened, she’d knocked, nothing, she’d knocked again, still nothing, it would always wake her parents, not that they would have been asleep at that hour, after Claire would go to bed they would stay up together in their armchairs reading and talking for a bit, Claire remembered sometimes she could hear the pages turning in her bedroom if it was quiet enough, or the soft laugh of her mother if her father had made a joke.
Slowly Claire had opened the door and peeked inside, the light was still on, the bed was empty, so she slowly crept inside looking around, the armchairs was empty, books left on the small tables beside them, a cup of tea and coffee left to go cold on the coffee table in front of them and that was when Claire spotted it.
A note, even though they had been to the police and reported it, not that Claire knew that, or of the letter they hadn’t handed it in for evidence, they had wanted to keep it on them to try and figure out if they knew who it was from the speech pattern.
And slowly Claire had walked over, picked it up and read the blood written words.