Page 58 of The Silence of Hell

Chatter’s eyes flew open.

Those were footsteps.

Before he had gone to bed, he’d had Jinx show him the room above Lavenders. There was no way anyone could walk about in it. Yet there were now footsteps above him. Lavender stirred in his arms, and Chatter soothed her as he kissed her brow.

His eyes narrowed in the moonlight as the footsteps got louder, like someone was stomping, and Lavender muttered something. It had taken little effort for Chatter to get her to agree to him staying. What had taken a lot of reassurance was the fact he was not looking to stay to get laid. Of course, if she had offered sex, Chatter wouldn’t say no, but he sensed she wasn’t quite ready yet. He’d finally managed to convince her he just wanted to make sure she was safe.

At first, she’d been tense with him in bed, but Lavender was so tired she fell to sleep in his arms.

“It’s starting,” Lavender murmured as she yawned.

“Shh, go back to sleep.”

“No point, it is going to start ramping up,” Lavender muttered as she turned and laid her head on his chest.

Chatter’s hand sank into her hair, and he massaged her neck. He jumped as doors began banging, but Lavender sat up.

“That’s new, that is down here,” she exclaimed.

“Are you sure?” Chatter said as someone knocked on her door, and Jinx stuck his head around.

“Are you hearing this?” he asked.

Chatter scowled at Jinx, being so comfortable about entering Lavender’s bedroom.

“Yeah,” Chatter growled out.

“Well, you better come see this,” Jinx demanded.

They climbed out of bed, and Chatter instinctively shoved Lavender behind him. In retaliation, Lavender thumped his back and stepped in front of him. Once they left the room, the banging doors were much louder.

A low moan came from a hallway, and Lavender snapped her head towards it. Without a word, she took off, and they gave chase, Chatter cursing under his breath. It was the corridor that led to the kitchen and downstairs room.

“Aunt Aggie?” Lavender gasped, skidding to a stop. Chatter and Jinx barely avoided crashing into her as they gazed over her shoulder. The hallway was pitch black, but they all could see something!

In front of them stood an elderly woman. She smiled before disappearing.

“Tell me you saw that!” Lavender squealed.

“Yeah, and I see that too!” Jinx shouted, pointing at a window. A distorted male face peered through it at them.

“Nearest exit?” Chatter demanded.

Lavender spat it out as Chatter rushed off. “Stay with Lavender!” he ordered Jinx.

Lavender

Jinx nodded and winced as Chatter skidded on nothing and careened into a wall.

“Jinx!” Chatter yelled but kept going.

“That’s gonna leave bruises,” Jinx muttered.

I was a little miffed. I didn’t need someone to watch over me. The face in the window had gone, but the corridor bothered me. There was something about it. Some memory niggled at me, but I couldn’t grasp it and pushing it would only make it harder to remember.

“Come on,” I said as we headed to my room. It astounded me that everyone remained asleep with all this noise going on. Despite trying to corral my thoughts elsewhere, I kept flashing back to Aunt Aggie. Thathadbeen her. No doubt in my mind whatsoever. Why was Aunt Aggie haunting the Manor? Did she have unfinished business? And then I remember her death. I still didn’t know how she died.

That nice detective might be able to tell me that. I had his card, so would call him in the morning.

---