without the flicker. Outside, the sky had another mood swing and the heavy rain tapped mercilessly on the frail windows and the piercing whistle of the strong wind seeped through.
As they got to the top of the stairs they were met with a long and narrow corridor – same wall lights, same chandelier.
‘You’re looking a little pale. Is everything ok?’ Jim asked.
Carol smiled faintly, ‘I’m fine, honestly. So, which one’s our room?’
‘I thought you’d never ask... this one,’ Jim opened the second door on the right side. The room was triple the size of their old one and much better in design. It was a perfect square, with patterned coving and spotless cream coloured walls.
‘I can’t believe it; it has an on suite and a walk in wardrobe!’ Carol remarked in excitement.
‘Yup, all the rooms do!’ Jim moved the nets on the balcony doors, wondering where the lorry had got to. ‘This is weird; they couldn’t have been that far behind us.’
‘I’m sure they’ll be here soon.’
‘Yeah, I didn’t pay them a small fortune to be here soon... and I really need a shower.’
‘Well, look... I got a towel and body wash in my bag downstairs, why don’t you use that and I’ll go check on Aaron.’
Jim grabbed Carol’s hands and bought her closer to him, ‘what would I do without you?’
But suddenly, they both jumped in shock – there was a loud banging on the door downstairs. ‘See, they’re here.’ Carol smiled, her heartbeat still racing.
‘Yeah, about bloody time!’ Jim dashed down the stairs.
‘Aaron...’ Carol said as she approached his room, but paused outside. She could hear strange mumbling coming from the room. That’s funny, it sounded like Aaron was talking to someone, but there was no one else here and he doesn’t have a phone. Carol put her ears to the door and listened carefully, it was definitely Aaron’s voice but she couldn’t make out a word he was saying. Carol knocked on the door twice, ‘Hey Aaron, can I come in?’ There was no reply. She reached for the handle and turned it gently. The muttering sounds suddenly stopped and a cold silence surrounded the corridor. When she opened the door, she saw Aaron lying on his bed with his eyes closed. She slowly crept into the room and looked around, wondering where the sounds were coming from, but there was no one else in the room and Aaron was snoring lightly. She treaded softly into the room and approached the cupboard; she braced herself and quickly swung the door open. She stepped back and sighed when she saw nothing inside.
She stepped carefully inside the on suite and looked around. Her reflection in the large mirror made her jump, ‘get a grip Carol!’ She said to herself, shaking her head. She ran the cold tap for a few seconds then splashed water on her face. Her reflection looked like an exhausted insomniac and her dark eye circles were more noticeable ever since she stopped taking her sleeping pills. She hated the faint wrinkles that started appearing on the outer corners of her eyes and still couldn’t get used to being on the wrong side of thirty.
Carol strolled up to Aaron and pulled the headphones out of his ears and removed the iPod that was tightly clenched in his hand. She knew he hated it when she wrapped the headphones around the iPod so left it as it was and placed it on the bedside table. Carol began wondering why it was so quiet; surely Jim and the moving men would be making a racket by now. She looked out of Aaron’s bedroom window, that’s weird: no lorry.
The lights in house began to flicker as she cautiously walked through the corridor and down the stairs – everything about this place began to give her the creeps.
‘Jim... are you there?’ She called before reaching the bottom of the stairs. But there was no reply. She took a few more steps and bent down to take a look at the front door. It was open but no one was around. She began to shiver uncontrollably, but didn’t know whether it was due to the breeze or her nerves; she definitely knew the reason why she had the sudden urge to visit the toilet. Daylight was fading and the rain was flooding into the house and soaking the door mat.
‘Jim! Where are you?’ She walked towards the door. As she got closer, she was hit by a sudden gush of wind and the door slammed shut. She screamed and ran back towards the stairs – the lights began to flicker again. She tripped on the second step and hit her head – everything went white for a few seconds. She could hear footsteps approaching from behind but when she looked back there was no one behind her. She was now suffering from double vision, dizziness and an excruciating headache.
‘Jim!’ She screamed, loudly. She struggled to her feet and walked to the front of the house, her legs were jelly and she felt nauseous. She looked out of the window but couldn’t see anyone outside. She reached for the handle, desperately trying to stop her hands from trembling, she quickly opened the door, not knowing what to expect. She looked around but couldn’t see anyone.
‘Jim?’ She called out. Her attention was drawn to the open door of their jeep.
‘Jim!’ She grabbed her coat and wellingtons stepped outside. She walked towards the jeep, looking around nervously. The shadows of the trees made hideous shapes and they shook aggressively. She screamed as the front door of the house slammed shut behind her. What the hell is going on? She continued to the jeep and looked inside, it was empty. She began to find it difficult to breathe – there were blood stains on the leather seats and a bloody hand print on the windscreen. She put her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. There was a thin trail of blood leading to the entrance of the barn. She quickly reached into the glove compartment and removed a small flashlight, she pressed the ‘on’ switch and then smacked it a couple of times to get it going. Pointing it towards the barn, she braced herself; her ankles sunk into the sludge as she walked closer. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed a light turn on from upstairs, ‘that’s Aaron’s room!’ She ran into the house, ‘Aaron!’ She screamed as she sprinted up the stairs, when she barged into his room, the lights were off and he was still fast asleep. She looked out of the window and noticed the car door was now shut. And she jumped when she heard a crashing noise coming from downstairs – it sounded like glass shattering.
‘Mum...’ Aaron sat up and rubbed his eyes. Carol sat on the bed and hugged on to him, ‘what’s going on? Where’s dad?’
‘I... I don’t know.’ The crashing sound occurred again but this time it was louder.
‘What was that?’ Aaron whispered.
‘I don’t know.’ Carol looked over at the phone on the bedside table; she lifted the handset and began dialling.
‘999 emergency, what is your emergency?’
‘My husband is missing and I think there is someone downstairs...’
‘Now, please try to remain calm... where are you?’
‘We are on Crinckle Farm...’
‘Ok, we know that farm, and when was the last time you saw Jim?’
Carol froze and her heartbeat began to race even faster, ‘how do you know my husband’s name? I... I didn’t mention his name.’ There was a cold silence and the line cut off.
‘Wait here!’ Carol crept downstairs.
There was a shuffling sound coming from the kitchen, 'Jim, is that you?' The shuffling started to get louder. Carol walked slowly into the kitchen and instantly noticed that the door for the store was open, and she remembered shutting it tight. The shuffling was coming from inside. She began opening the kitchen units until she found a large knife. She held it tightly in front of her and stepped inside the large store. The door inside was also open.
'Jim, are you in there.' When she looked inside, she couldn't see a light switch so she bashed the torch again and pointed it inside. She stepped inside and was at the foot of a long staircase but she could not see anything below. She took a deep breath and began walking down, but after taking a few steps, the light from the torch began fade, 'shoot!' She tripped and nearly fell when the door slammed shut behind her. She ran back up and tried to open the door but it was stuck – she instantly r
egretted being so adventurous. She hated the dark and had suffered from claustrophobia since she was a child. She knew that there was no point in shouting, it hadn't helped her so far and there was no way that Aaron would able to hear her from here. She crept down the never ending stairs.
At the bottom, the walls had torches of fire that began lighting up one after the other and within seconds lit up the entire room. The gloomy room was spotless, no cobwebs and completely free from dust. It had a strange resemblance to old Victorian house – large brown shelves with armaments and posh china. A large portrait of a family; a tall man in a brown suit, a younger lady by his side wearing a strawberry red dress and a little boy with rosy cheeks and slick-back brown hair. There was a desk at the end of the room, cluttered with bits of paper and a few books.
Carol cautiously approached the desk, noticing that the candles were burning ferociously but peculiarly there was no sign of wax. She rummaged through the stack and lifted out a few bits of newspaper. All the cut outs were stories about Crinkle Farm. She read that this was once a flamboyant farm that a wealthy man owned. The rest of the papers had stories of how, one day, many years ago, Mr. Crinkle, his wife and their son were all brutally murdered on the farm. Many of the family's friends said that Mr. And Mrs. Crinkle often complained that they thought