A woman. A ghost
“We need to go.” The words left me as a rasp. “There’s… there’s
something here. We need to go to another section of this mansion where all our friends are there.”
Ruby glanced over her shoulder. She examined the place where the
woman had stood, but when she turned back, her face only held confusion.
“What did you see?”
“A woman. A ghost. I think.” My throat was tight. I swallowed and held
my hand towards Ruby. “Come on. We need to go. I don’t think it’s safe
here.”
She hesitated a second but then took my hand and let me lead her through
the door and down the rotting, peeling porch. I was grateful. I couldn’t spend
another moment in that mansion, and I didn’t want my friend there, either.
Sandeep sauntered out of the shrubs lining the front of my property as we
neared. He yawned and stretched then matched our pace as we hurried to
home. I sent him a warning look: Stay away from that house.
But I didn’t need to tell him. He’d known that all along.
Ruby SLEPT CURLED, a blanket tucked tightly around her and her
hands balled under her chin. I stayed awake and alert in the seat opposite. If I
looked to my right, I could watch the side of her house through the window.
At first, I’d closed the curtains to block the view, but that was somehow
worse, like having a gigantic spider on the bedroom wall… and then looking
away for a second and not being able to find it again.
I’d ended up pulling open the curtains and turning on the small desk lamp
beside my chair. The light was enough to stop the darkness from swallowing
me but not so bright that it woke Ruby. Dusty leapt into my lap around four
in the morning and curled up there. I buried my hands in her fur as we
watched the Marwick house together .
One of Marwick’s upstairs lights turned on shortly before four thirty. I
glared at the golden glow, searching for movement inside, but the room
seemed empty.
The car didn’t return. I hoped I’d startled enough by bursting out of
the house to chase him off. I was different enough from Ruby that he
wouldn’t have confused me for her, even in the dark. If we were lucky, he
would think he’d been wrong that Ruby lived there and not come back. It was
wishful thinking, but I needed something good to cling to.
Dawn eventually broke and shattered the hold fear had claimed over me
during the night. I dozed off watching the sunrise and didn’t wake for hours.
When I did, I was alone: Dusty had left me, and Ruby was no longer sleeping
on the couch. She’d folded the blanket into a tidy square.
“Ruby?” I jolted out of my chair, and a stiff muscle in my neck made meflinch. “Ruby, are you here?”
I jogged through house, checking the kitchen, the bathrooms, and
finally the upstairs rooms. Ruby wasn’t there, but when I looked through my
bedroom window, I saw the upstairs light in Marwick House had been turned
off. I muttered furiously as I ran back down the stairs and burst outside.
Ruby must have heard my door slam, because she came out of Marwick
House as I neared the fence. We came to a halt with the grey pickets dividing
us, me breathing heavily, she wearing a sheepish smile.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you,” she said.
I waved at Marwick House. “Why’d you go back? I saw stuff in there last
night—”
“I know.” She rubbed at the back of her neck. “And I believe you. I
promise. But… it’s my house; there’s no point in hiding from it. I don’t have
anywhere else to stay.”
“You can stay with us.” I was talking too quickly, but the words
wouldn’t stop. “We’ve got room. You don’t have to go back there.”
“Jo, thank you. I appreciate it. I really do.” She sighed and squeezed my
forearm. “But I want to be independent. I want my own place,
one that I own, one that I can look after. And even if this house is… is…”
Haunted, I thought.
Instead, she said, “Peculiar , even so, it’s mine . And I don’t think it
wants to hurt me. Is there anything wrong with a peculiar house if it’s
friendly?”
I opened my mouth. The image of Ruby’s skull smashed open appeared
behind my eyes, but it didn’t seem right to tell her about it. The image had
been a dream brought on by stress; imposing my own nightmares on Ruby
would be unhelpful at best and manipulative at worst. “I just don’t want to
see you get hurt. ”