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| Ghost Stories Competition |
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| Title
A Night Of Wonder |
Form
Ghost Story |
Author
Richard Adamski |
A car approached a winding, lonely, overshadowed country lane. Soon the car
was where the driver wanted to be and that was parked alongside the tall
iron fence of the rectory that stood a little way beyond. The building was
just a black shape in the moonlight, as if it had been carved out of night
and pulled forward to give it form.
Tom Peatfield got out of his car then stood before the tall iron fence. They
were the old fashioned type: thick railings shaped like spears. Behind the
fence stood long uncut rose trees, their thick finger-branches twisted and
gnarled with great age. In the centre of the fence there were two tall
pillars and in between stood a huge iron gate, blackened-rusted with age.
There were no other houses nearby and Tom was pleased about that because
tonight he wanted to investigate the rectory in quiet. He wanted to be alone
because this place was reputed to be haunted and tonight he wanted to see a
ghost. Tonight was just right, and what a night it was: the moon was full
and blazing light out everywhere. It was an August night and the last chirps
and tired sounds of birds came from the treetops.
Tom quickly stepped to the back of the car and opened the trunk. An inside
light lit up a zipped-up leather bag. He lifted up the bag out of the back
and rest it on the ground, then picked up a torch and pushed it into his
open-jacket pocket. He shut the bonnet, locked it then picked up the bag
then stepped to the gate.
A harsh grating sound disturbed the still as Tom pushed the gate open and
only when it was open did the sound cease. A path led through the overgrown
garden of wild roses and Tom stepped carefully forward trying to avoid
getting entangled in the wild growths. Soon the door of the rectory stood
before him. The weather had stained it terribly over the years but it was
made of solid oak and had long ago outpaced the test of time.
The rectory was large and had stood for over a hundred years. It had served
the derelict church standing a long way back opposite on the other side of
the road. For eight years the rectory had stood empty and all Tom expected
to find inside was the result of time's free reign upon the place, and
hopefully the ghostly nun that supposedly walks the place.
For a long time Tom had been a ghost hunter on and off. He was not a ghost
hunter by profession, he was a painter and decorator by trade and ghost
hunting was a hobby he had taken up, but a hobby he took seriously. Over the
years he had investigated other haunted houses and he had not seen anything,
not a murmur of a ghost. He had worked with other psychic investigators who
claimed they had seen a ghost, or even more than one, and he had not and
that had been that. So tonight he thought he would give it a go. He had
heard about the rectory and did some checking up on the old place.
Over the years various members of the clergy and their families had occupied
the rectory. Strange things that happened in the rectory when it was
occupied: banging doors and footsteps being heard and a strange presence
felt. A ghostly nun had reputedly been seen on numerous occasions over the
years and she was supposed to walk in the rectory the night of Aug 28th, and
this was tonight.
The rectory had acquired a haunted house reputation almost as soon as it had
become occupied in 1883. According to legend a monastery had once occupied
the site where the rectory stood. A monk, attempting to elope with a nun
from a nearby nunnery, had been hanged and the nun bricked up alive. On this
night of the year her ghost was supposed to appear in the rectory. In the
past, psychic investigators had done their work and an author had written a
little about the rectory but it was as if the ghost hunters had exorcised
the house of spirits, for since that time no ghostly nun had popped up to
attract the ghost hunter into her realm, except Tom now.
Tom gripped a large metal doorknob and it failed to turn but when he pushed
on the door it opened swiftly and he stood there looking into the blackness
of the place. He took out his torch and switched it on. The light shone up a
stairway and a passage entered deep into the place and it was there Tom
stepped to. With the torch beam cutting into the darkness, like a laser
beam, he stepped down the passage. On his left was a closed door and he
opened it, the hinges creaking like tired bones amplified, and he stepped
through.
Moonlight shone through a large window and lit up the room. Tom lay his bag
down and switched off the torch. The ceiling was very high and
cobwebbed-dusty bookshelves stood empty. The room had obviously once been
the library and Tom decided there and then he would unpack his bag and begin
his night vigil here.
Tom had brought all his 'tools of the trade' as he liked to call them.
Sensor switches, infrared film, camera etc. He didn’t really need them
tonight because all he wanted was to see a ghost for himself to look at. He
was not bothered about getting 'it' on film or on tape or that the
temperature had dropped etc, all he wanted was to see a ghost.
Tom sat himself down on the floor and picked up a flask and soon was filling
a plastic cup with hot coffee. The moonlight was streaming down through the
window and night was almost day. Tom looked all around the room and thought
how peaceful everything was. There was nothing but stillness and it was so
relaxing that he just sat there supping his coffee and taking it all in. He
had been sat there for about twenty minutes when he decided he would try
upstairs. The only chance he had of seeing a ghost was to just wait and see
what happens.
"Is there anybody there?" he asked himself softly and with a faint smile on
his lips.
He listened and heard nothing and silence said that.
Tom stepped out of the room and in the passage he switched on the torch. He
slowly stepped up the stairs, expecting a creak from underfoot to come to
his ears, but they were solidly built and withheld sound from him. When he
was at the top of the stairs moonlight entered within through a high
windows, enabling him to see clearly without the aid of the torch. Tom did a
search of the upstairs room and discovered nothing out of the ordinary. He
selected one room and waited to see if something would happen.
Tom heard the cry of a tawny owl somewhere near then silence fell, and the
more he stood there in the room of the house, the more oppressive the
silence felt. What had obviously once been a bedroom was an open dust-filled
space swamped in moonlight and Tom's shadow stretched long across the floor
as if it was a ghostly shadow itself.
After thirty minutes nothing had happened at all, only that Tom got a bad
case of cramp in his left leg. As he stepped out of the room he felt like
giving up the ghost. He knew that encounters with the supernatural occurred
when the least you expect it and to go looking for a ghost was like looking
for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Tom looked at his watch and the luminous dial showed it was 12.32am. He
decided to have a bite to eat and when he stepped downstairs he kept
glancing here and there, just in case he missed something.
Tom was aged 56, had been married, no children, then divorced. Life was
alright for him. He still kept in touch with Mary, who he had been married
to for twenty-two years. It was simply living better apart and yet remaining
friends and divorce was just a legal word.
Tom had always believed in life after death, the spirit world. There was too
much proof to doubt otherwise, except that he hadn’t been given any. Great
people and ordinary folk had seen a ghost and 'There is something definitely
there' often sprang to mind.
"I'd just like to see a ghost," Tom said a little loud as if to let the
invisible occupants in the rectory hear him say it. "Just one little look
will do me fine," he said softly and with a little smile on his face added,
"so come on down you guys or lassie as the case may be."
Tom listened expecting the response he got:
Which was?
Nothing.
Tom put his plastic lunch box back in the bag and screwed the cup onto the
top of the flask then stood up, straightening himself stiffly. He rubbed his
stomach which was a little on the large side then stretched out a slight
stiffness in his back. It was then he decided he would have a quick look
outside the back and get some fresh air.
He stepped out of the room, down the passage then to the back door that was
open and hanging on rusted hinges. The whole garden was overgrown and what
had once been a lawn was now almost a jungle. The garden was lit up by
moonlight and in the distance an orchard looked like a painting of wild
silhouetted forms.
It was there and then Tom decided he would call it a night and after all the
years he had been a ghost hunter he realized it was time to call it a day.
He had other interests and hobbies, gardening being one of them that
occupied a lot of his free time and gave him a lot of pleasure. Even so, he
had to admit to himself he felt disappointed that he had not seen a ghost
after all these years.
He was just stepping back into the rectory when he caught sight of a ghostly
nun-like figure gliding slowly across the lawn to the orchard. When she was
before the orchard she stopped, then turned and looked at Tom and from a
lovely face came an equally lovely smile, then she vanished.
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