J Raynor - Blind Fright

I normally had no problem in sleeping quite naked, but with an uneasy feeling of being observed, I, probably quite irrationally, kept my shorts and tee-shirt on when I climbed into my bed, that night. Feeling that it was a bit chilly for a summer evening, I pulled the covers up high, leaving only my head showing. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a terrific bang, almost like an an explosion, which appeared to be coming from the roof space above my room. After that, the house returned to it’s normal quietness, but, it still took me quite a while to fall into a normal sleep as I listened to every creak and movement of the old house, wondering just what horrors lay in store for me, but, eventually, I succumbed to tiredness.

Thankfully, it was hot and very sunny when I opened the curtains on that Wednesday morning. Yawning through lack of settled sleep, I started to get ready for another day’s work. It was strange how the week seemed to be passing quite slowly, perhaps because I did not have the distractions of my family around me, or was it, perhaps, because of my disturbed nights? I had to admit that I felt quite fragile and anxious.

Suzanne did comment on my appearance, that morning. “Your eyes look quite heavy, Tonie. I’m guessing that you did not sleep well, last night?”

I smiled, weakly, realising just how observant she was. “You could say that.”

Not wanting to go into detail, at that time, I began to start another day’s coding.

It was after lunch before we were able to have a proper conversation, again. Walking through the streets of Manchester, towards Piccadilly gardens, Kelly seemed to be enjoying her daily walk in the brilliant sunshine.

“Are you going to tell me what stopped you from sleeping well, last night?” Suzanne persisted.

I was aware that she would not be satisfied with a change of subject to avoid her direct question. “I did have some strange things happen again”, I admitted.

I think she sensed my concern. “What happened, Tonie?”

I decided not to go into the full details of Monday night’s terrifying events, but instead, told her about the strange, foreign voice on the radio and the chilly atmosphere I had experienced, followed by the explosive sound from the roof space.

“That is so spooky, Tonie! Do you think the house is haunted?”

I did, now, after the events over the past few days, believe in supernatural happenings, yet did not wish to admit this, even to Suzanne. Laughing, I replied, “I don’t believe in ghosts. I think a vivid imagination is the source of most haunting stories.”

“But, dogs are supposed to be very perceptive to the presence of spirits, which could explain her reluctance to go upstairs.”

“Really? I didn’t know that!” I had to accept that something was definitely spooking Kelly and was beginning to feel that my very-ordinary, semi-detached house in Sale, was really haunted by some malelavent spirits. What other possible explanation could there be?

“What do you know of the people who lived in your house, before you, Tonie?”

“Nothing at all!” I had to admit. “It was all done through the solicitor as the house has been empty for two or three months.”

“Perhaps you should speak to your neighbours to find out a bit more information about the previous occupants.”

Although I still had difficulty getting my head around ghostly hauntings, Suzanne’s idea of finding some information about the previous occupants made very good sense and had appealed to me. “I do think that’s a good idea, Suzanne, but do you think you could go with me, when I visit my neighbours?”

“No problem, Tonie! When do you think you will visit them?”

“Probably this weekend, if that’s okay with you?”

Thankfully, Suzanne agreed and said she would arrive around ten on Saturday morning.

I still had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights to get through and wondered what may happen over the next three days. On the Wednesday and Thursday nights, I did experience another disturbing occurrence. While lying in bed, I awoke with a weird feeling as I felt a sudden depression to the side of me, as though someone was sitting heavily, on the side of the bed. Plucking up courage, I did try to move my arm to discover if it touched something solid, yet found nothing. If I had actually touched anything, I would really have freaked out. This disturbing feeling did disrupt my sleep, making me feel even more tired over the next day. Who was this person or thing which had decided to disturb my sleep so much?

I still failed to coax Kelly to ascend the stairs over the rest of that week. I avoided the weird voice on my radio by not switching it on or even plugging it in at night, though I found the silence really disturbing and troubling. I hated silence and the nights still, somehow, felt really creepy. I wondered if the problem was in my own vivid imagination and I was determined that it must not get the better of me.

I did listen to “The Bourne Supremacy”, an action thriller in the Jason Bourne series by Robert Ludlum, on my talking book player to make me feel more comfortable and relaxed, before falling asleep, each night.

On the Friday night, I was awakened after midnight and found the room to be really chilly. I did get out of bed to check if the window was open, but it was firmly closed. When I opened it, the air outside was, strangely, warmer than in my bedroom. I put some extra bedding on my bed and, somehow, managed to get back to sleep, but it was, again, a restless night.

What I could not understand was the fact that, at ground floor level, everything felt so normal, while going upstairs, particularly at night, made me feel really uneasy and uncomfortable. To add to my discomfort, I was awakened several times by a loud, persistent noise which appeared to originate somewhere within my bedroom.

It was a relief when Suzanne arrived on Saturday morning, the sweet, familiar scent of her perfume improving my deep, gloomy feelings. After I told her of my experience during the night, she insisted on going into the bedrooms to check if she could feel or sense anything odd, but, of course, everything felt fine, as I knew it would during the daytime.

Satisfied, she suggested that we visit the people next door. Suzanne looked through the front window and could see that the neighbour’s car was parked in their drive. “Well, we might as well go now and just hope that they are friendly”, she said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

As the three of us walked up the drive at number fourteen, I was trying to decide what to say. This was going to be very difficult. It took quite a while for the door to be opened, after pressing the bell-push.

There was a pause as the person must have been looking at their visitors. “Hello, don’t you live next door, at number sixteen?” The voice was that of a woman, who, I guessed, was in her mid fifties. Her accent was typically North western, where the accent on the vowels was quite distinctive and typical of many northern dialects.

I imagined her to be quite short and a little on the plump side, but I could have been completely wrong, my imagination sometimes conjuring up a very different image to that of the real person.

“Yes, my name is Tonie Buckingham and this is my friend, Suzanne. I thought I should introduce myself to my neighbours.”

”Would you like to come in?”, she asked. She sounded quite friendly and I felt relief that she was interested in meeting us.

“I take it that you don’t have a dog?” I had to avoid situations where Kelly would be confronted by an aggressive, territorial dog.

She laughed. “No, we only have a budgie called Joey. My name’s Diane and my husband is Barry. Come on in, please.”