Page 38 of Spooked
If this is a dream, it’s so damn vivid I must be going crazy.
Like a voyeur, I watch the scenes play out, men, who I’ve not met before are stunned into silence by the apparitions, the appearance of Siobhan, then Hound leading me away. I felt the apprehension when he wanted to take me into the heart of the house, my gramma’s bedroom.
What followed struck me mute. Finding the emeralds, then the will, then being faced with a gun, which Hound took to bea real threat. And though Hound had tried his best to shield me from the horror, I’d seen my aunt burned to cinders by a supernatural flame. I should have been distraught. She was the only family I had left. But if I’m honest, I have to admit that I never liked her. Maybe deep in my brain, I hated her. Perhaps it had been my thoughts that had summoned up such a nasty end. Especially if she had robbed me of my inheritance.
If what transpired is actually real, I wouldn’t have had to leave, to strike out on my own when I was just eighteen. While owning a place like this would probably have been too much for my young head, I wouldn’t have been thrust out in the world without anything. Those jewels themselves would have set me up for life.
Maybe it’s that I’m in shock having seen what’s just happened to Siobhan, but my own life flashes before my eyes. Me, a Greyhound bus, an unknown town. No money, begging, and, a secret I’m barely able to admit to myself, letting my body be used by strangers just to be able to get by, numb while grieving the loss of all the family I’d ever had. Then, a hundred to one chance, finding a shelter that really wanted to help girls like me. The one benefit I’d had was that I’d graduated high school with a GPA of 4.0, which meant I was an oddity among the other girls the place was trying to help. They took me on as a sort of protégée. With their support, I enrolled in trainee courses and eventually secured a job that sponsored me to apply to business school.
I was one of the lucky ones. For a long time, I focused only on work, didn’t socialise much, and certainly didn’t want a relationship. My only forays into having sex had been those with a monetary reward. Once I could afford it, it took a ton of therapy for me to even step foot into the dating world, and a lot of time passed before I realised there was pleasure in sexual intimacy.
My caution, though, ensures I’m still single at the age of thirty-three. It wasn’t my physical experiences that stopped me from getting in deep with anyone. It was the knowledge that, in the end, everyone leaves me. What’s the point of giving my heart to someone if it was only to be broken?
This must be the worst fucking nightmare of my life, getting what-could-have-beens taunted in front of me. It must be a dream. It can’t be anything more. I expect at any moment to get the sudden urge to pee, only to find there’s no bathroom available to me. But the seconds tick by, and I don’t feel the frantic need to find somewhere to relieve myself. Instead, I feel anger burn inside me.
My life would have been so different if Siobhan hadn’t lied.Her death shouldn’t have been as quick as it had been.
An urgent beeping sound fills my ears. I feel a tug as if a force is trying to take me somewhere I should be.Thank God I’m waking up.But the sound and feeling fade, and Hound’s hand is on my arm, grounding me.
I suddenly realise, while I’d been lost in my head, the dream resumes in front of me. The scene in front of me has changed. The ghosts have disappeared, the room now missing all the elaborate furnishings. It’s grown dark. Lightning flashes outside the window, the odour of sulphur is in the air, and the house groans ominously. In front of us, a beam crashes down, making Hound pull me back.
“What the fuck’s happening?”
“Place is fuckin’ falling down, Drummer,” Hound yells back. “Get yourselves out of there.”
“Not without you, Brother.”
“Prez. Get out of here now!” Hound sounds angrier than I’ve ever heard him. “I’m ordering you as your sergeant-at-arms.”
There’s more clattering as plaster falls around us. Ignoring the roar of protest coming from just down the corridor, Houndtakes the emeralds from me, places them in his pocket, then secures the will in his jacket. He takes my hand. “We’ve got to get to the stairs.”
I’m in no disagreement. Dream or nightmare, I’m unable to wake up, and I’m driven to make some effort to save myself. I follow his lead and go out into the hall as he places his crutch on a floorboard, which cracks and shatters, luckily before he puts his weight on it. In one smooth action, he’s anchored himself, turned, pulled me up, and swung me over the gap. While I’m still recovering, he uses his crutch much like a pole vaulter and gets himself over as well. His barely smothered grunt suggests he’d put more weight on his injured leg than he’s supposed to.
But with more banging, creaks and groans, I’m worried the house is going to implode around us, so it’s me who now takes the impetus, pulling him forward toward the stairs. The men who had accompanied Hound have already reached them, and Hound shoos them away.
“Get the fuck out of here, Brothers.”
Checking behind them as if to ensure we’re following them closely, they descend fast, their boots sounding like a herd of buffalo as they race down the steps. It’s our turn. We reach the top… then the whole staircase disintegrates in front of our eyes. Hound’s momentum almost sends us both crashing down, but he drops his crutch, grabs hold of the newel that still stands with one hand, and wraps the other around my waist, pulling me back tight against him. My heart rate’s beating as fast as I can feel his thumping against my back.
Below us, I see Hound’s companions who’d waited. “Stay there,” one demands.
“Just save yourselves,” Hound roars.
As the men below disappear, I’m worried they’ve obeyed him at last. My only hope is that this is a nightmare, and that I willbe able to wake up. Then realise, if I do, what will happen to Hound?Unless he’s just a figment of my imagination as well.
Hound must realise the hopelessness of our situation as he turns me to face him. “Maeve, I’m so sorry.” There’s a hitch in his voice, and a flash of lightning shows the sadness in his eyes.
Placing my finger against his lips, I reassure him, “I wanted to come to this house.” I even manage a strained chuckle. “Siobhan warned me how dangerous it was, but I disregarded what she said.”
Hound puts both his arms around me when we stumble in unison as the house rocks. His intense eyes stare into mine. “I had an ol’ lady once.” When my brow furrows, he explains, “A woman, a partner. Thought she meant everything to me, but it didn’t work out. Kind of spoiled me on the thought of relationships, until I met you.” He pauses and throws his head back. His eyes close briefly, then he opens them again and looks back down. “I’m not even sure you’re real, or if my injured brain has conjured you up. Though that seems too much of a stretch. If I drew a picture of my ideal woman, I couldn’t have come close to what you actually are. You’re everything I want, Maeve.”
There’s another crash, making us both jump.
It’s time for me to be honest, too. “This can’t be real, as you’re the man I’d always dreamed of meeting. Too out of my league for me to do anything else but admire from afar in real life.”
For a beat of time, we’re still as statues, neither daring to breathe, then his mouth crashes down on mine and I experience the sort of kiss I’ve only read about in fiction. The last time our lips met, it was amazing. This time unbelievably tops that.
His hand cups the back of my neck, pulling me close as his lips devour mine, his tongue invades, and I damn near lose my mind. Everything about him assaults my senses—his natural perfume, his taste, the sound of his muffled groan as I return his kiss, and the feel of his warmth surrounding me.
