The Haunting of Emily Stone (17 page)

“Whatever.”

As Robert climbed out of the car and slammed the door shut, Douglas grabbed the microphone and switched it on.

“Just checking in,” he said. “How are things going in there, Emily?”

“I'm fine,” she replied. “Nothing's happened. How are you guys doing?”

“We're having a whale of a time,” he told her, watching as Robert made his way along the dark street. “Doctor Slocombe's just stepped out for some fresh air, so I'm sitting here alone.”

“So he can't hear me right now?”

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing, it's just...” She paused, as the line buzzed for a moment. “I feel like I need to tell you something, but you can't tell him. He'd probably get really angry and call the whole thing off.” Another pause. “I lied to Doctor Slocombe earlier today.”

“About what?”

“It's stupid, but he showed me this photo of some woman named Mary. He said he thought she was the woman who's haunting this house, and I told him I recognized her. I told him she was the woman I saw when I was a kid, I really laid it on thick.”

Douglas waited for her to continue. “And... what was the lie?”

“She wasn't the woman,” she continued. “I've never seen the woman in that photo in my life, and she definitely wasn't the woman I saw when I was younger. I just panicked. I figured that if I told him I hadn't seen her, he'd think the whole thing was another hoax. I know I shouldn't have lied, but...” She paused again. “Do you think I should tell him the truth?”

“I think...” Staring at the house for a moment, he tried to imagine how Robert would react. “Keep it to yourself for now. It's good that you told
me
, though. It might be relevant at some point. There's probably -”

He stopped as he saw a shadow moving across one of the dark upstairs windows in the house.

“Are you upstairs?” he asked, as a shiver passed up his spine.

“I'm in the front room,” she replied. “I know I should go to bed, but I'm just sitting here, reading. I'll go soon.”

“Uh-huh,” he muttered, opening one of the laptops and bringing up the feed from the cameras. Sure enough, they showed Emily sitting on the sofa with a book on her lap. Glancing at the house again, he saw that there was no longer a shadow in the upstairs window, but he was certain he'd seen something a moment ago and he knew there was no way Emily could have got down to the sofa so quickly.

“Do you think he'd be mad if he found out I lied again?” Emily asked.

“He might well be,” Douglas replied, bringing up the feeds from the upstairs cameras. He flicked from one to the next, but there was no sign of movement. “Have you heard anything in the last few minutes?”

“No. Why?”

He checked the readouts from the heart-monitor and saw that everything seemed stable.

“
Should
I have heard something?” she asked.

“I'm not -” He turned as Robert opened the car door and climbed back in with a Spar bag. “I'm not sure,” he added. “Just let us know if anything pops up.”

“You sound worried,” Emily replied. “What's wrong?”

“Yeah, Doug, what's wrong?” Robert asked with a faint smile. “Did something spook her? I swear I swept for cats -”

“It's nothing,” Douglas said firmly. “I'll be in touch in an hour, Emily, unless you need anything in the meantime.”

“What?” Robert continued, as he watched Douglas setting the microphone down. “Come on, I know you. I know when you've got a bug in your ass.”

“I'm just being jumpy,” he replied, keeping his eyes fixed on the house. “It's probably nothing.”

***

Sitting alone on the sofa, Emily tried to focus on the book she was reading. After a moment, however, she looked up at the ceiling, as if she expected to hear a noise.

Nothing.

***

“I've changed my mind,” Robert muttered a few minutes later. “I don't think she's lying, not anymore. I think she genuinely believes this stuff. That's how tragically messed-up she is. You should have heard her earlier, she swore that the photo I showed her was the same face she saw when she was younger.”

Douglas opened his mouth to argue with him, before holding back at the last minute.

“I think...” Robert paused for a moment, before reaching into the plastic bag and pulling out some sandwiches. “I think we shouldn't put too much faith in anything she says. Hell, the other night she and her daughter even got into my head.”

“In what way?”

“I just thought I saw...” He paused for a moment. “The human brain is a remarkable thing,” he continued finally. “Whenever there are gaps in our sensory perception, we're able to smooth over those gaps. Sometimes, however, the brain goes wrong and adds assumptions that turn out to be wrong. They might seem real at the time, but there's absolutely nothing in them, even though they feel so real, it's almost as if you can reach out and touch them.”

“What happened when you spoke to Lizzie Stone?” Douglas asked. “I can tell something unnerved you.”

“It was nothing.”

“Clearly it was something.”

“No, it was just...” For a moment, he thought back to the sight of the little girl's empty eyes, and the other face peering through from what had seemed to be another world. “It was a brief moment of crossed wires in my head,” he continued finally. “No-one's immune to that sort of thing.”

“I sense a softening of your stance.”

“No, I just -” Stopping suddenly, he stared at the house.

“What?” Douglas asked, following his glance but seeing nothing, not even in the upstairs windows.

“I thought -” He paused, before forcing a smile. “It was nothing. Trick of the light. I seriously doubt ghosts hang around by windows for the benefit of anyone who might be watching.” Grabbing his phone, he checked the screen yet again. “Have you heard from Jenna? She hasn't replied to my last couple of messages.”

“Isn't she on holiday?”

Robert paused, before sighing. “I guess I forgot about -”

“Did you hear that?” Emily's voice asked suddenly, coming over loud and clear via the main laptop.

“Hear what?” Douglas asked, immediately checking all the camera views.

“There's something up there,” she replied, with obvious fear in her voice. “Are you going to come back inside?”

“No,” Robert whispered. “She has to be alone.”

“Negative,” Douglas told her, watching as one of the cameras showed Emily cautiously making her way to the foot of the stairs. “We can see you, though. The cameras in the bedrooms show nothing out of the ordinary, and the infra-red equipment is the same. There are no -”

He stopped as a faint thud could be heard from the speaker.

“Did you hear
that
?” Emily asked.

“We heard something,” Douglas told her. “Are you okay to go up and take a look?”

“Are you sure you can't see anything?”

Robert took a moment to check each of the upstairs cameras. “There's nothing showing,” he muttered. “It's as quiet as a mouse as far as the equipment is concerned.” He brought up one of the downstairs cameras and saw Lizzie standing in the hallway, with an expression of pure fear on her face. “Just be brave,” he added.

“Should I go up?” she asked.

“Please,” Douglas replied. “If this thing is localized around you and Lizzie, we need to see if we can draw it out.”

“Assuming it hasn't noticed all the cameras,” Robert muttered, “and that it hasn't been listening in the whole time.”

They sat in silence for a moment and watched as Emily slowly made her way up to the landing. She looked around, as if she was expecting something to leap out at her at any moment.

“Go to the child's room,” Douglas told her. “That's where everything has been focused so far.”

“I don't hear any more sounds,” she replied, heading along to the door at the far end of the landing. Reaching out, she turned the handle and started to push the door open.

“Her heart-rate's up,” Robert muttered, checking the monitor. “Are we sure she didn't slip more thumb-tacks into her shoes?”

“There's still nothing on any of the feeds,” Douglas replied, switching to the camera in Lizzie's bedroom as it showed Emily stepping inside. “Everything looks normal.”

“I'm sure the noise came from in here,” she said, sounding tense. “This is how it always starts.”

“And what usually happens next?” Robert asked.

“Lizzie's usually here,” she pointed out.

“The child's absence might affect things,” Douglas said, turning to Robert. “We don't know what acts as the catalyst for this thing, but children do seem to be -”

“Jesus!” Robert replied, leaning closer to the screen.

Turning, Douglas saw that a dark figure was standing in the doorway, right behind Emily and watching as she stepped further into the room.

“What the hell is -”

Before he could finish, the camera cut to black, as did all the other views.

“Emily?” Robert asked, grabbing the microphone. “What do you see?” He waited, before turning to Douglas. “It's dead. None of the equipment inside the damn place is working.”

“Should we go in?” Douglas asked, turning to look out at the dark house.

“Maybe we should wait and see what she's got planned,” Robert replied. “She's probably counting on us going in there.”

“You still think she's staging the whole thing?”

“I think we shouldn't underestimate how complicated things are in her head right now. She genuinely believed she saw that woman in that photo and -”

“She was lying about that,” Douglas replied, still watching the house. “She admitted it earlier, when you weren't listening. She only said she recognized the woman because she was worried you'd lose interest and leave.”

“Are you serious?” Robert asked.

“It's what she told me. Or do you think she's trying to play us off against each other?”

“Well, then -” Robert paused for a moment, before opening the door and climbing out of the car.

“Are we going in?” Douglas called after him, as he watched Robert hurrying toward the house. “Okay,” he muttered, opening the door on his side, “I guess we're going in.”

***

“Emily!” Robert shouted as he hurried into the hallway and looked up the stairs. “Emily, are you -”

Before he could finish, he heard voices shouting in the distance. Racing upstairs, he looked along toward the far end of the landing and realized that flickering blue light was blasting out from beneath one of the closed doors.

“Rob!” Douglas shouted from down in the hallway. “Where are you?”

“She's up here!” he called out, before hurrying to the door and trying to open it, only to feel searing pain as soon as he touched the handle. Struggling for a moment to pull his hand away, he finally ripped an entire layer of skin from his palm and fingers, and as he held his bloodied hand up to take a look, he realized that the handle had been ice cold. Looking down, he saw patches of his skin stuck fast to the metal.

“What the hell is that light?” Douglas asked as he reached him, before spotting the damage to his hand. “What happened to you?” He reached toward the handle.

“No!” Robert shouted, pulling him back just in time. “Don't touch it!”

“Emily!” Douglas called out, banging on the door but immediately pulling back. “The damn thing's almost frozen!” he said, his eyes filled with shock.

From inside the child's bedroom, a voice could be heard shouting, and there was the sound of something slowly cracking.

“We have to get in there,” Robert muttered, taking a step back and sizing up the door, ready to try knocking it down.

“Emily!” Douglas shouted. “Can you hear me?”

“I'm going for it,” Robert told him, before slamming against the door with his shoulder, hard enough to make the wood buckle but not quite hard enough to force the whole thing open. Taking a step back, he steadied himself and then tried again, this time knocking one of the panels away. A blast of bright blue light burst through, forcing him back, and this time the sound of howling wind could be heard.

“What's going on in there?” Douglas asked, too shocked to move.

“Emily?” Robert called out, holding up a hand to shield his face as he stepped toward the broken door. “Emily, are you -”

“Help me!” Lizzie suddenly screamed, appearing at the door's broken panel and trying to reach through.

“What the hell?” Robert shouted, grabbing the little girl's hand and holding on tight, even though her skin was almost too cold to touch. “Lizzie, what are you doing in there?”

“It's got her!” she told him, with frozen tears in her eyes. “Help!”

Ignoring the pain in his bloodied right hand, Robert grabbed another of the door's panels and forced it away, finally creating a hole that was big enough for him to haul Lizzie through. As she dropped down onto the carpet, he knelt for a moment and rolled her over, finding that although she was almost frozen, he could feel her heart pounding as soon as he put two fingers against the side of her neck.