Haunting at Remington House. Laura V. Keegan

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СКАЧАТЬ room, I saw the open door and the light on in the study. I was making sure everything was okay. That’s when you saw me. You scared me, too,” Mary added.

      “I bet I did. Well, tell me, Mary, what can I do to make amends?”

      Mary laughed nervously. “Nothing. It’s okay. I need to call my dad to come get me, though. My car’s in for service, so my dad dropped me off here this afternoon. Then of course, my cell phone died, and your landline’s not working. Do you have a cell phone I could use?”

      Tom handed Mary his phone. “Sorry I yelled at you. It’s been a long day.”

      “That’s okay. I completely get it.” She smiled at Tom as she punched in the numbers. “Hey, Dad, you can come and get me now. Yeah, I know, but my phone battery died.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, I’m finished. Mr. Gardner’s here now. Hey, Dad, you know where the breaker box is? Some of the power’s off.” She nodded to Tom. “Okay. We’ll find it. See you in a while. Bye.” She handed Tom his phone.

      “Okay. Show me the way to the basement,” Tom said. “Let’s get the lights back on.” He followed Mary through the living and dining rooms and into the kitchen. Candles burned illuminating the room in a dull, shadowy glow.

      Mary picked up the flashlight from the counter and handed it to Tom. “The basement stairs are here.” She unlocked the door. They’d just started down the wooden stairs when the kitchen and basement lights came on.

      “Well, I guess that takes care of that,” Tom said. “Still, I better go down and make sure everything’s okay. I don’t want the lights going out again tonight. Your dad told you where the fuse box is?”

      “He says it’s in the furnace room. I never found the furnace room! I got kind of lost down there in the dark, though.”

      They descended the steep, wooden stairs, Tom in the lead. “I think the furnace room is down that hall,” Mary said, pointing to her right.

      But it wasn’t. They wandered around and around, through room after room, some empty, some filled with boxes, some stuffed with antique furniture. Wispy cobwebs grabbed at their bare arms, clung to their eyelashes.

      Tom scratched his head. “This makes no sense. We’re going in circles. I can’t figure out where we are. I thought we came in from the hallway over there, but where are the stairs?” The lights flickered off and on.

      Mary motioned to her left. “Let’s try that way. That looks like the door at the bottom of the stairs. It must have swung closed.” They walked in the direction of the door. There was a loud pop. The lights went out, leaving them in total darkness.

      “Damn! What did I do with the flashlight? Did I give it to you?” Tom asked.

      “No,” Mary said.

      Tom felt for Mary’s hand. In the darkness he grabbed it, surprised at how icy-cold it was, how bony and stiff her fingers were. He pulled her after him, moving cautiously toward where he thought the door should be. He crept down the long hallway, his shoes scuffling on the hard cement, at last coming to a door. The knob felt reassuringly solid in his hand. He turned it. The lights flickered on. Tom turned to Mary who was squeezing his hand painfully. There was no one there! He looked down. Red indentations were visible from the tight pressure to his hand. No one there registered in his mind, echoed again and again. He glanced around looking for Mary. The lights went out! He stood alone, his back pressed against the cold, cement wall that smelled faintly of mold. Motionless, Tom waited in the dark. Waited . . . for what?

      In the distance he heard Mary shouting, fear clearly discernible in her voice. “Mr. Gardner?” she yelled. “Where are you? I’m scared! Please! Answer me!”

      He had to get to her! Tom felt in his pockets. What the hell had he done with the flashlight? He hurried down the hall, heard Mary’s breath coming in short gasps. “Don’t be afraid, Mary, I’m here. Walk toward my voice.” He inched forward, trying to forget what had just happened, his hand still throbbing. At last, he felt her warm, outstretched hand.

      Suddenly there was the whirring of an electric motor, a flash of lights. The power came on. Tom and Mary were standing in the center of the furnace room. Directly in front of them was the fuse box—open, all switches in the on position. Lying on the floor in front of them was the flashlight. Tom reached down and grabbed it, not wanting to risk darkness again.

      Mary was pale and obviously shaken. “I swear, someone ran by me—right after the lights went out. Why did you leave me?” She didn’t wait for his answer. “Mr. Gardner, how did we get in here?”

      Tom hurriedly looked around. “We must have walked though that doorway in the dark without knowing it.” Tom pointed at a doorway to their right.

      “I haven’t moved since you left me. I know I haven’t. What’s going on?” Mary cried.

      “It’s okay; it’s an odd floor plan, that’s all. Especially in the dark,” Tom said.

      “I want to get out of here! Let’s go upstairs.” Mary twisted her ponytail nervously in her fingers.

      “Let me check the fuses first.” Tom found nothing wrong—not that he knew a lot about wiring. But it looked okay to him. He closed the metal box. “Come on. Everything seems fine.” Again they wandered through hallway after hallway, room after room. When at last they found the stairs, they didn’t hesitate but ran up and into the kitchen. Tom slammed the door.

      For reasons better left for each of them to understand, Tom and Mary dismissed their experience in the basement, neither one wanting to admit to the other, or more importantly to themselves, what had occurred. Better to let it be. Better to forget that it made no sense.

      “I’ll tell you one thing. Before I go down there again, I’ll find the floor plans for the basement!” Tom laughed, trying to make light of the situation.

      “Hello?” a deep voice called. “Mary, where are you? Hello?”

      “We’re here, Dad. In the kitchen.”

      Her dad looked from Mary to Tom. “Mary, are you all right? You’re pale as a ghost!”

      “I’m okay. The power was out, and we got lost in the basement trying to find the fuse box and then . . . well, I got scared in the dark—that’s all. Never mind.” Mary took her dad’s hand. “Dad, this is Tom Gardner. Tom, this is my dad, Mick Stevens.”

      “Glad to meet you.” Mick pulled his daughter to him, hugging her with one arm. He extended his free hand to Tom. “So, you’re the lucky owner of this house? This is a fine place. They don’t build them better than this. No sirree! My grandfather helped build Remington House back in the twenties. Meant to stand a lifetime. Solid—that’s what this house is.”

      “Dad, I’m tired, please don’t get started talking about how things used to be,” Mary chided her dad. “Mr. Gardner is tired. Let’s go home. Oh, almost forgot— I left a few groceries in the kitchen to get you by.”

      “Thanks, Mary. Much appreciated. It was nice to meet you, Mick. You have a lovely daughter. Mary thanks for your help.” Tom handed her a fifty.

      “Wow, that’s too much. I was only here a few hours.”

      “Well deserved, I’m sure. Will you СКАЧАТЬ