Colton Manor (9 page)

As she stood at the window looking out at another g
rey, rainy day she thought about the noise outside her door. Both times she’d been awoken in the dead of night it had been by the voice of a very angry sounding man. It seemed like a huge coincidence that she was having these experiences in a house that was rumoured to be haunted by a murderer. Was it really the house, and not a fever which had caused Damien to act so strangely after all?

The only other explanation was that
the strain of the last few days had gotten to her, causing her to have the same dream again. There was also the possibility she was coming down with a fever too. The doctor had said the bug was going around, and she’d been into town when she first arrived and eaten at a local café where she could have picked it up. He said it could take up to five days to incubate, and Damien began sleep walking before he knew he was sick, so it was possible the same thing was happening to her.

With a sigh
she turned from the window and went to check on Damien. Despite the late hour she expected he would still be in bed, and she was surprised when she looked into his room and saw that it was empty. It was with some apprehension that she made her way downstairs. She found him in the kitchen, looking every bit like his old self as he tended to a frying pan of bacon and eggs sizzling on the stove.

“Hey there, lazy bones.
I was wondering when you were going to get up. I thought I might have to bring you breakfast in bed.” He gave her a wink.

“I can’t believe you, Damien.
The doctor said you needed to rest for at least a day or two. You shouldn’t be down here fixing breakfast. Here, let me do that.” She tried to take over the cooking, but he gently pushed her towards the table and pulled out a chair.

“When I woke up this morning I felt as fit as a fiddle. It was obviously just a minor bug, and now I’
m fine. Actually I’m better than fine. I wanted to make you breakfast to say thanks for letting me stay here. Most people wouldn’t have done that for someone they hardly know.”

Ursula
blushed and she couldn’t help feeling a little guilty that he thought she’d let him stay purely out of the goodness of her heart. She wasn’t sure she would have been quite as prepared to nurse him through his sickness if he wasn’t so darn attractive.

“Well you might be feeling better
, but you still need to take it easy for a while. Your temperature was very high, and you could have a relapse or something.”

“Don’t
worry about me. Just sit down, relax and enjoy this delicious breakfast I’m making for you and forget all about yesterday.”

“Since you’ve gone to all this trouble I guess I should a
t least taste it,” she said reluctantly, “but I’m warning you, I don’t have much of an appetite this morning.”

Damien was right, the breakfast was delicious, and within ten minutes Ursula had cleaned up her plate.

“If that’s you without an appetite, I’d hate to see what you can do when you’re really hungry.” Ursula gave him a playful swat and stood up to make another pot of coffee. As she refilled their mugs she told him about the events of the previous day.

“I remember
you and Bonnie and Doctor Matthews looking down on me in bed, but the entire day before that is a blank. That’s some bug, I’ve never had anything like it before.” Ursula decided not to tell him about her own strange experiences during the night because there was no point worrying him, and he’d probably just tell her she was imagining things anyway. By the time she’d finished her third cup of coffee she was feeling alive again and she decided to tackle some work in her studio.  At her insistence Damien retired to his room to get some rest before the doctor arrived to check on him.

Ursula
was idly flipping through the drawings and half-finished paintings in her sketchbook when she came across a picture that caused her to stop suddenly. There were three hands painted in yellow on the page surrounded by red splashes of paint that looked a little like blood. Inside each hand was the number six. She recognised her own style of painting instantly but she had absolutely no memory of doing it.

As she continued to
stare at it, it suddenly occurred to her that six written three times was 666, the number of the beast. It was the number used in occult rituals to invoke Satan. She struggled to keep a lid on her growing panic as she came up with possible reasons why she couldn’t remember doing the painting. Had she been walking in her sleep and painted the strange images as a result of what she’d dug up at the library concerning Edward Stanton and the occult? If she was also walking in her sleep maybe she really was coming down with a fever like Damien.

After she’d recovered a little from her shock Ursula decided that it would be a good idea for her to have a lie down too, and when the doctor arrived to check on Damien she’d ask him to have
a look at her. Still in a daze she walked into her bedroom, but then recoiled when she saw what was on the bed. It was a board with the letters of the alphabet carved into two lines. On the left and right were the words Yes and No, while on the bottom were numbers from one to ten, and underneath this line was the word goodbye. There was no doubt it was an Ouija board.

Damien
heard her scream and he came into the room. To her amazement he began to laugh.

‘I’m sorry,
Ursula. When I found that this morning I just couldn’t resist playing a joke on you. I didn’t expect you to get such a scare.”

“How could you do that,
Damien? It was really mean, especially after the fright you’ve given me over the last couple of days.” She sat down on the bed and pushed the board onto the floor.

“Hey, are you okay?” He sat down next to her on the bed, his laughter turning into concern
. “I really didn’t think you would care, but you’re right, it was stupid of me.”

“Where did you find it?”

“It was in the old fireplace in the kitchen. I found it when I was making breakfast. I’ve heard stories about kids breaking in here to conduct séances and other nonsense. People really are stupid about these things.” Ursula had been on the verge of telling him about her painting and what she’d discovered at the library, but his last words turned her off. She didn’t need any more ridicule from him right now when she was still trying to come to make sense of it all. She decided to wait till Bonnie arrived because she would take her concerns seriously.

“I’m not feeling that well myself right now, so I think I’ll have a lie d
own too,” she said, hoping Damien would leave her alone for a while. He put his hand to her forehead.

“Hmmm.
You could be a bit warm. It would be a good idea for the doctor to have a look at you when he arrives. The last thing we need is for you to come down with the bug.” The feel of his skin against hers was very nice but it wasn’t enough to distract her from her worries.

“I was thinking that myself, but right now I just want some rest.”

She’d only just closed her eyes when she heard a car approaching up the drive. She listened as Damien went downstairs to greet their visitor, and a few minutes later there was a knock at her door.

“Come in,” she said
, sitting up and running her hand through her hair. To her disappointment it was Doctor Matthews and not Bonnie who pushed open the door. Damien was right behind him.

“I hear you’re not feeling too well today, young lady, unlike you’re friend here whose recovery is nothing short of miraculous.” Ursula just smiled in response. “I guess I’ll start by taking yo
ur temperature and then we’ll decide what to do from there.” Damien left the room while the doctor fished around in his leather bag and then took out a thermometer which he placed in her ear. She studied his face as he pulled it out and examined it.

“Well, you definitely don’t have a fever. It’
s perfectly normal.” She felt a stab of disappointment. At least if she was sick there would be an excuse for the strange events, but now she had to consider the other possibility that it was something in the house affecting her. “I’d say it’s just the stress of the past day that’s making you feel unwell. My suggestion is for you to take it nice and easy today, and tomorrow you should be right as rain.”

“Thanks, doctor
,” said Ursula, smiling weakly as he closed his bag and said goodbye. He spent a short time in Damien’s room before Ursula heard Damien show him to the door. Bonnie had said she’d be there early, and as the doctor drove away Ursula picked up her phone to call her. She found her number and was just about to press the call button when Damien knocked and stuck his head around the door.

“I’m very glad to hear you’re not sick. I don’t
think I could have forgiven myself if I ruined your holiday.”

“It wouldn’t have been your fault. I was just about to ring
Bonnie. She said she was coming over this morning, and she should be here by now.”

“
Oh, Bonnie’s not coming.”

“Why not?”

“I texted her before you got up and told her there was no need. I’m all better now and she’s got more important things to do than look after me.”

“Oh.” Ursula tried to hide her disappointment. She really needed someone to talk to and
Bonnie was the only one who would understand. Her intuition was telling her to just pack her bags and get the hell out of there, but she wanted to talk it over with her friend first. Having nowhere to go and no money didn’t help either, but she also couldn’t deny that one of the reasons she was hesitating to follow her instincts was Damien. If she left they’d probably never see each other again, and she didn’t want to lose the only chance she had of getting to know him better.

“
Don’t look so despondent. I’m not that boring, am I? I’m sure I can entertain you just as well as Bonnie.”

“
I just wanted to talk to her about something.”

“
How about we go for a walk on the beach? It’s stopped raining and it will do you good to get some fresh air.”

“Didn’t the doctor tell you to rest?”

“Not really, he said he could find nothing wrong with me and I could do whatever I felt up to.”

“Alright,”
said Ursula, without much enthusiasm. It might do her good to get outside for a while and forget about the house, and she still hadn’t been down onto the beach. “I’ll just get changed.”

“Okay, see you in ten
minutes.”  She saw the Ouija board still on the floor as she sat down to put on her running shoes.

“Damien,” she called.
“Can you please throw this thing away? I don’t want it in the house.” When he appeared in the doorway she kicked the Ouija board across the room to him.

“No problem, but don’t you want to ask
it a few questions first?” He ducked as she threw the rolled up pair of sock she’d been about to put on straight at his head.

****

As soon as she felt the breeze in hair and the fresh air in her lungs, Ursula felt better. It was overcast, but not as cold as it had been, and she was glad she’d dressed lightly. The view was lovely, and they paused at the top of the cliff to admire it when Ursula noticed a plaque hidden beneath some weeds and grass. She knelt down to brush them away so she could read it.

In Memory of Anna Stanton (nee Williams)

1829 - 1852

“This must be where she fell from.” Ursula had a sudden clear mental picture of the woman she had sketched flying through the air, her mouth open in a silent scream. “You’d think they would have put a fence or something up here by now.” There was nothing to mark the edge of the cliff, the ground just suddenly gave way to a steep drop, and it would be easy to accidentally plunge over the edge.

“Ye
s, it is dangerous. Let’s go before the rain sets in again.”

The path do
wn to the beach was overgrown and very steep in places. It was clear no one had used it for a while, and Ursula was glad she hadn’t attempted it on her own. Damien offered her his hand a couple of times, and she was thrilled to have a chance to touch him again. She noticed that his eyes were the same blue-grey colour as the sky, and she liked the way they crinkled up at the corners when he smiled. The lines gave him an air of wisdom and experience which she found very sexy. Just being with him outside the house was helping her to relax, and with the ocean stretching in front of them, and Colton Manor behind them, it seemed ridiculous to believe in ghosts and curses from the past.

When they finally emerged onto the beach
Ursula saw that it was sheltered by cliffs on one side and high, jagged rocks on the other. It was completely private, and if the sun ever came out from behind the clouds it would be a wonderful place to sketch and swim. Although a bit bleak at the moment it was at least it was sheltered. For the next hour she and Damien amused themselves by exploring the rock pools and taking their shoes off to wade in the surf. By the time they sank down on the sand to rest Ursula was feeling much more clear-headed. The house was almost invisible from where they were, and the shadow it cast over her didn’t reach this far.

“Are you ready to go back now?” asked
Damien, after they had sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts while seabirds wheeled around them.