The Haunting Within by Michelle Burley Read Free Book Online

The window that over looked the stairs was very long and very wide. It let in dusky light that seemed to get swallowed up in the deep green velvet drapes that hung around it. The dreary sunlight that fell through the window picked out the particles of dust swimming in the air above her and it seemed that the dust was dancing; parading in a strange but peaceful sort of performance that was just for her. She felt relieved that she saw nothing, although, what she was expecting to see she wasn’t entirely sure, and she felt silly about thinking the dust was dancing for her, but she couldn’t help gazing at it for a little longer. She had to pull her gaze away, so relaxed was she just looking at the dust. It captivated her so much so that she could hardly bear to take her eyes from it; she wished she could just stand and watch the dust all day. The particles were like tiny creatures, maybe fairies, and the more she thought about them being like fairies the more she believed they were fairies. Minute but perfectly formed. Weaving around and about each other as though in a parody of courtship. It felt to her like she was an intruder, some sort of trespasser, spying on a sensual act between the fairy-folk. So lazy was the dust that she found her eyes starting to feel heavy as she observed their private dance. Slowly she picked up the phone and turned her back to the stairs, fretful of losing her concentration whilst she was on the phone because of the dancing dust.
    While Debbie was on the phone to the agent, Lisa and Aiden were still in the kitchen sat at the table making small talk, attempting to take their minds off the fact they were in the house which had caused most of their nightmares when they were children. It seemed to be working as they chatted away about nothing in particular, nothing that was of great importance, yet that seemed so vital to them now to keep their minds from returning to their fears. After a half-hearted conversation about how the weather been recently and how Lisa needed some new summer shoes, their chat was abruptly cut short by an ear shattering scream from the front of the house. Their chairs scratched along the tiled floor and Aiden’s tipped back and landed with a crash as they both ran into the hall. They rounded the staircase and came to a halt, their hearts beating a violent rhythm in their chests, beside their mother who was crouching on the floor at the foot of the stairs crying and trembling. Taking an arm each they helped to get her to her feet and guided her into the lounge and led her towards a large hard backed chair upholstered in crimson velvet. As they tried to get her to sit down she twisted and jerked until she broke free of them and darted away from the chair.
    “Neither of you must sit in that chair!” she screamed hysterically, oblivious to the mucus that ran from her nose over her lips.
    “It’s alright mum; we won’t” said Lisa gently.
    Debbie looked up at her with wide red-rimmed eyes that contained a terror which Lisa had never seen in them before and never wanted to again. “You really mustn’t. It’s his chair and he will go mad if he sees you sat in it.” She let out a heart wrenching sob and put her head against her daughter’s chest. Lisa and Aiden’s eyes locked as they silently feared for their mum.
    To them she looked like a sad, defenseless child not their strong mum who had raised them all by herself and dealt with the usual trouble teenagers put their parents through. To him, the unseen spectator to Lisa and Aiden, yet who Debbie knew was there, in the room with them, trying to sit in his chair, she looked like the stupid, pathetic, horrid little mummy’s girl he knew her as and she knew he was loving every minute of her fear.

15
    Once her sobs had subsided and she had calmed down a bit - with a little help from the large whisky Lisa had poured her - she was able to tell them what had happened.             
    “I was on the phone to the