He Returns

HE RETURNED

CHAPTER 1



The room was small with white walls, a few posters of were stuck here and there on them, some were newones and some looked like they had been there for a while There was a table and three wooden chairs on the far side of the room up against the wall , on the table was a recording device.

Susan’s eye’s drifted slowly ,like a gentle wave that glides slowly over a calm sea, around the room as she sat at the table rocking herself to and fro ,not understanding why she was there. She just waited. Susan could hear people outside the room talking to each other but couldn’t hear what they were saying , it just
sounded like a mumbling, but this didn’t seem to matter to Susan as she was in a world of her own.

She just sat there silently waiting!

Finally the door opened slowly with a slight squeak , in walked two plain clothed policemen not saying a word. The door squeaked again as it shut ,slowly. One of the policemen stood with his back lent against the wall ,. his arms crossed, he said nothing, just stared at Susan.. He was middle aged, about six feet tall, medium build and had very neatly combed back light brown hair. He seemed to be the kind of person who would listen to you and not shout or even raise his voice. He dressed quite neatly in black trousers with a white open neck shirt and a dark blue v neck jumper The other seemed about the same age but was a lot smaller in height and of a much bigger build with a shaven head and a very deep voice. He was also nicely

dressed but not as tidy as the other, you could tell he was a single man! They had played good cop bad cop to most of the people that had been taken in for questioning , and it usually worked.

The other policeman walked over to the table where Susan was and placed a small pad of paper with writing in it on the table as he began to sit down on the chair opposite Susan “Right, you know what you’re here for don’t you?” He read Susan her rites, she just nodded, and the tape was placed into the machine to record this meeting. The tape was switched on. “It is Monday 23rd October 1998.” he looked at his watch, “It’s now 10.15 am. People present are D.I Reeves and myself D.I Steele.

For the tape please state your full name and date of birth.”

There was a few seconds silence then she began to talk quietly. “Susan Mathews, 19 t h December 1966. . . . . . . I didn’t kill them. . . . . . He did!”

She was pointing to the wall the other side of the room.

“Can you repeat yourself as you were not load enough for the tape”

Again she stated her name and date of birth but a bit loader, and again she said it wasn’t her.

Both men looked at one another puzzled then turned back to Susan.

“You do realise you are being recorded don’t you ?”

Susan nodded slowly, looking D.I .Steele straight in the eye. . .

“For the tape, Susan nodded in reply to the question I asked”

“ Are you the wife of Thomas Mathews who was found dead with several stab wounds, on the floor of your kitchen on the 20th October 1998? He asked

Susan nodded , not taking her eyes off him.

“I would like you to speak for the tape please , not nod your head because no-one will know what you said or they might think we are making things ” asked D.I. Steele

“Were you the one sitting on the floor by your husband Thomas ,holding the knife when the police came in?” He was beginning to get a bit annoyed and his voice was getting louder.

Susan’s eyes moved slowly over to the corner of the room where she said he was ,stared for a couple of seconds, then returned back to D.I. Steele. Her eyes were starting to look evil.

. .”You needn’t look at me like that Susan, it doesn‘t work with me” He said as he raised his eyebrows .

“ I’m not asking for much. all we want is a statement from you saying why you had the knife in your hand on the day of your husbands killing,…. now that‘s not asking much is it Susan?” said D.I Steele looking straight in the eyes. “And you needn’t look at D.I. Reeves like that either because it don’t work in here, so look at me and just answer the question please.”

He was waiting for her reply. It went quiet, she never said anything for a while ,all she did was look around the room slowly, then her eyes drifted back to him while still rocking to and fro gently in the chair.

“I just told you who did it. . . . He did,…..why don’t you belive me?.” Susan said in a calm voice ,pointing at what seemed to be a blank wall in the corner of the room, behind D.I .Steele.

D.I. Steele slouched back in his chair, ran his fingers though his hair and let out a big sigh, then brought his hand down and banged it on the table, but Susan didn’t move at all, just stared and remained still.

“LOOK” They stared at each other hard. “Myself and my college are here to ask you questions about the deaths of your husband, Mrs Jean Price and The Reverend Mark Simms, not to just sit here and see you point at a blank bloody wall. I’m not in a very good mood today as it is, SO DON’T BLOODY WELL PISS ME OFF…….. RIGHT !”

The temper was starting to build up inside of him, and began to raise his voice. He wasn’t a very patient person at the best of times . Most people at the police station tried to stay out of his way if they weren’t needed especially if they could hear him walking very heavy footed anywhere in the building.

“NOW, I’ll ask again, WHY did you kill your husband and the others?”

Susan denied killing him, again. . and again. D.I. Steele kept trying different ways to see if he could get her to say anything that made sense, but no, Susan just kept repeating herself again and again and again that it was him who killed Tom not her.

After a while D.I. Steele slammed his hands on the table, got up and pushed his seat of his way, making it scrape across the floor , then walked up and down the room slowly, rubbing his hands together, trying not let his temper get the better of him, but watching her all the time, like an animal watching his prey, thinking of the next move to take before pouncing on the victim.

D.I. Reeves came over ,rested his hands on the table and placed a clear bag on in front of her ,and spoke to Susan in a much calmer voice than his colleague had, hoping that this way might get her talking .

“I am placing on the table in front of Susan item number 2183, the carving knife used to kill Tom Mathews on the night in question, do you recognize it? Look please Susan help us then we can help you .”

They were trying to play good and bad cop.

He leaned over to her and spoke to Susan with a quieter voice hoping that this might get some sense out of her, but no, it didn’t, she just kept repeating the same thing , like a needle on a record payer stuck in the grooves of a record and not intending to budge. So he just walked away from her, slowly shaking his head. They could see that trying to get some sense out of her was going to be hard, very hard, but they had to think of something or they won’t be getting anywhere. It was like getting blood from a stone.

For a short while the room was quiet, nobody said a thing, all you could hear was the clock ticking Susan was looking around like she had never been in the room before, she had a vacant look on her face. Both men had run out of ideas of how to even understand Susan, or how even to get some sense out of her.

They both slowly walked about the room slowly thinking .When D.I Steele had calmed down slightly he returned to table and sat in the chair opposite Susan, and tried to play along with her.

“Ok,. . . . . . you say it was . . HIM. So tell us about HIM cause we can’t see him” He looked back at D.I. Steele and shrugged his shoulders and turned back to Susan and waited for her to say something .

Susan just stared at him ,.not being able to understand why they don’t belive her.

Again Susan denied killing Tom.

D.I. Steele walked away from the table again trying to think of another way to understand her ,then after a few seconds, turned towards her again, placed one hand on the back of the chair she was sitting on and the other flat out on the table and faced her and spoke into her ear.

“I don’t know why your denying it, it was you, wasn’t it ? Let’s look at the facts. You were in the house that night with your husband and the others. You were the one by the body when the police came.”

His voice now was starting to get stronger and louder. He could feel his temper starting to build up inside of him like a bomb ready to explode.

She turned to him and their eyes met, they stared at each other for a few seconds.

. “ You were the one with the bloody knife in your hand when the police came weren‘t you Susan,? SO HOW THE BLOODY HELL CAN YOU JUST SIT THERE and say that you never killed him or the others, CAUSE YOUR PISSING ME OFF NOW SUSAN.. . ?”

Susan looked at him.

“DON‘T YOU SHOUT AT ME!.” She said as she stared at him with no guilt on her face at all.

All went quiet. Susan kept on looking at the wall as though some one was there watching her, but there wasn’t anybody there . . . . .. WAS THERE?. . . . .

“D.I Steele and D.I Reeves are now leaving the room” they turned the tape off and left the room for a while to get a drink and hoping that it would give her time to think and how to explain herself , and to give D.I. Steele time to cool down .

They left the room and shut the door, they looked in the small window on the door to see what she would do , if anything. She did. . . They could see her talking to the wall and getting upset. They gave her a few moments on her own to see what would happen, and then returned to the room. She suddenly stopped talking .The policemen entered the room and placed a drink on the table for Susan and switched the tape back on.

“D.I Steele and D.I Reeves have entered the room. Right Susan, lets try again. . . . . tell us what happened that day. . . . and WHY you killed your husband, Mrs Jean Price and Reverend Mark Simms on the night in question?.”

Susan seemed to look different than before they left the room. She now looks frightened for some reason, as though she had been warned by someone that if she told the truth something bad will happen to her, and she kept looking at the wall, but finally Susan tried to explain how it wasn’t her that killed Tom, or the others . . . . . . . . . . . it was HIM.!

As the time ticked by D.I Reeves and D.I Steele were beginning to put the bits and pieces of the killings together like a jigsaw, that terrible night was finally beginning to uncover itself.

CHAPTER 2


Susan and Tom were both in their early thirties and had only been married about three years . They couldn’t have any children, but they were very happy together.

They recently bought a house on the outskirts of a village, that seemed to be miles from anywhere, but that’s what they wanted. The house hadn’t been lived in for a long time by the way it looked.

It was a two bedroom Victorian cottage most of the original features were still there ,it was like time had stood still, it was big enough for them two, and that’s what they had been looking for. Inside the house the old fashioned wallpaper dated back a while, the house needed some work doing to it, but not to much, anyway it didn’t matter much to them as Tom had his own building business and Susan worked with him managing the office side of it, by taking his phone calls and arranging days for new customers.

The business was going well.

They both loved decorating which was good because the house needed some work doing to it.

The garden at the front of the house was quite small but that didn’t matter, it was big enough for them.

The back garden was a nice size . The lawn was surrounded by a mass of beautiful coloured flowers of

different kinds around it and a beautiful perfume that filled the air. They knew that this would be the home for them.

The day came when they could move in. they had already done the major work in the house so now they could start a new life in this beautiful village. Or so they thought!

They spent that morning transferring as much of their household items from their old house to their new one in the car so they could get started decorating before the bigger things were being delivered by the removal van the following day.

The front door opened up to a narrow hallway which lead to a average size kitchen at the end , the stairs were on the left opposite the door to the front room The front room was a nice size, it had an old fashioned fireplace with a hearth and mantle piece, above that you could see where pictures had been
hung on the wall by the colour of the wallpaper, the room also had sash windows, with wooden frames, they were so dirty that you could write your name on them but they won’t take much time to clean. The house smelt a bit musty when you walked in, but it hadn’t been lived in for a while. There wasn’t much in the kitchen just a stone sink and draining board with a cupboard underneath and two wall cupboards by a wooden back door, the floor was stone tiles. The stairs were a bit creaky but they didn’t mind ,Tom said it gave the house a bit of character . The bedrooms were an average size, the rose wallpaper looked like it was starting to peel off the wall, and the bathroom was alright but it needed some work doing to it.

They arrived early so they could spend the morning moving some the things that they could get in the car into the house and putting them in their appropriate rooms and begin to get the place a bit tidier . Tomorrow they can start decorating.

The next day Susan and Tom were up early, eager to start. After they had had their breakfast they made their way in the car to what was going to be their new house. When they arrived there and entered the house Tom said he was going to start on the front room, so he got his things ready for the job.

“Right” said Tom looking at the wall, holding the wallpaper scraper in his hand. He stood facing the wall and looked as though he was ready to go to battle.

“I’ll be in here if you want me love.” he said to Susan as she passed the front room door to go upstairs and unpack some more things.

“Ok . . . .good luck !” she replied.

“Well here goes” said Tom to himself as he started to peel off a piece of the wallpaper that was hanging off.

Some of the wallpaper seemed to come off very easy, until he got round to the fire place, then he started to attack the wall as some of the wallpaper felt like it had been stuck on with a very good glue!. After a while it came off but behind a piece of the paper there seemed to be a lump, like something was behind it, so Tom gently eased that piece of wallpaper off , wondering what he would find, then something dropped to the floor and landed amongst the strips of paper on the floor.

Tom looked down and saw an old photograph laying on top of the ripped pieces of wallpaper. He bent down and picked it up, looking at it and wondering why it was there.

“Susan.” he shouted “Come and look at this”

Susan came to the top of the stairs .

“What’s up love?.” she replied.

“Just come here a minute and look what if found behind the wallpaper?.”

Susan came down the stairs and walked into the front room , and saw Tom standing there with a photograph in his hand. Tom handed it to her. “ Look at this. . . . . I peeled a bit of paper off and this seemed to have come from behind the wallpaper.. . . . I don’t know what the heck it was doing there in the first place……. but it seems a bit odd doesn’t it ?.”

Susan just stared at it for a while and gently nodded. It was an old black and white picture of a man in his sixties wearing tramp-like clothing , he seemed to have piercing eyes, the sort that seemed to follow you around.

Where ever you were in the room those eyes were staring at you. Susan put the photo on the window sill still looking at it. It gave her such an eerie feeling .After a while of talking about the photo she changed the subject and offered to make a cup of tea. Tom looked at her and stopped working.

“I thought you’d never make one.” Tom said as he looked and gently tapped his watch with his finger and gave her with one of his cheeky smiles.



. Susan smiled back and she left the room and went into the kitchen to make the tea.

Tom continued with the scrapper, sometimes getting large strips of it off, but all the time he was still thinking about the picture. Who was that man? Why was the picture put there ? When was it put there and
by who? These questions kept going through his mind, but there didn’t seem to be any logical explanation for them !

Susan returned with two cups of tea and handed one to Tom.

“Thanks love, nearly finished, just got that other wall to do then start clearing up before that removal van gets here. My god, is that the time !” He looked at his watch. It was now twelve fifteen and the van was coming at one o’clock He took a couple of sips of his tea then placed his cup on the window sill by the picture and continued to strip the last wall, but taking sips of his tea now and again.

Susan returned to the kitchen and continued empting the boxes and putting the crockery in the cupboard.

“WHAT THE!. . . . .?”

“What’s the matter ? Susan shouted from the kitchen

“QUICK, COME AND LOOK AT THIS?

She put the plates down on the work surface and walked into the front room muttering to herself that she will never be finished if Tom keeps calling her in.

She entered the front room to see Tom pointing at the wall, then he turned to her .

“There you are ,look at that?

“ Look at what love? What are you pointing at ? Susan said inquisitively. There’s nothing there?”

Tom turned to look at the wall. The wall was blank. Tom scratched his head and frowned. “Well, that’s flipping odd. When I got the wallpaper of that bit there was blood on the wall. . . just there.” He pointed to the spot where he saw it.

“You must be seeing things, you’ve probably got that picture on your mind , and it’s just making you think of these things. Either that or a boggy man is coming to get you” Susan said as she returned to the kitchen smiling to herself.

“Ha ha very funny!” replied Tom. Tom shrugged his shoulders .

He turned around and put the scrapper on the sill, and went to reach for his cup to take another sip. He noticed that tea was seeping from the bottom of the cup,. . . And dripping off the sill. . . .but the cup had no crack in it for the tea to leek from?.

. . . . He saw that the picture he had put on the sill had moved further across the window sill than where he put it and it had turned over. Something wasn’t right. . . .


CHAPTER 3

. .
One o’ clock came and the removal van came on time, and the furniture was taken into the house. It was havoc, what with Tom trying to tidy up as much as he could and the removal men asking which room they want certain things in, but after a while it began to look more like a house . It a very busy afternoon, moving the things into the appropriate rooms Their thought’s about the photo had gone. . . . . . So had the photo?. . . . ……….

Day’s past. They were getting on well with the decorating and everything seemed ok, but it was just now and again when things didn’t seem right, items would go missing and turn up another day in the most oddest place, and they were always in a place where if the person wasn’t careful they could hurt there selves, kitchen knives which could not be found in the kitchen have been found in the bathroom
underneath the bath towel which was draped over the bath. Tom cut his finger quite bad when he reached for the towel after having a wash.

They got used to some things being moved and just thought it was because some of the things were still in boxes in different rooms, but finding knives about the place was one thing that was beginning to worry them!

One evening after doing more decorating they sat down in the front room They sat in front of a coal fire , the flames seamed to sway about from side to side like it was dancing on the coal. The television was on and they were watching their favourite programme, it had been a very busy day. It was quarter to six, Tom sat on the settee and Susan was out in the kitchen cooking them some dinner.

“Here you are Tom.” Susan said as she came into the front room carrying two plates of food. Susan handed Tom his plate of egg, chips and peas. “Thanks love, I’m starving.”

He began to eat his dinner. She placed her dinner on the coffee table in front of the settee while she went over to the window to close the curtains.

The night was drawing in and the stars were shinning like lights through the small holes in the old moth eaten black blanket that had been draped over the sky. Just as Susan had almost closed the curtains she thought she saw someone outside the front of the house looking towards her , it looked like the man in the picture, she closed the curtains fast and just stood there , not moving. After a few seconds she opened the curtains slightly, just enough to see out, wondering if that man is still there? Tom turned around while still eating his dinner.

“What’s up love .?” Susan turned to him.

“I was just drawing the curtains and I could have swore I saw that man in the photo standing out there. .

. Well I think so. . I could see someone. . I think .?” She had a puzzled look on her face.

“It was probably just a shadow of the trees or something . The dark makes you think you can see things.

It’s just your eyes seeing things.” Tom said.

“Yeah I suppose it was.” replied Susan .

“Come and sit down and eat your dinner .” Tom patted the seat on the settee beside him. Susan sat down and started to eat her dinner but she didn’t finish it , she had the image of that person she thought she had seen on her mind. After a while of watching the television the image of that man had drifted from her mind. The warm feeling of Tom’s arms around her, and the sound of Tom’s heartbeat was making was making her feel safe.

The film on the television eventually finished, it was now two a.m. The time seemed to have gone so fast.

“Come on, its late, let’s get some sleep.” Tom said as he gently gave her nudge as she had fallen asleep in his arms.

“What’s the time.?” Susan said as she tried to wake up.

“It’s two o’clock, the film has just finish, come on lets get some rest as we have more work to do in the morning”

They both stood up , Tom switched the television off and walked over to the light switch as Susan picked up the cups and started to make her way towards the kitchen. He switched the light off and closed the front room door and they both made their way upstairs to bed. Susan was still thinking about the man at
the window. In bed Tom gave Susan a reassuring cuddle and a kiss on her cheek.

“Goodnight love. Love you.”

“Love you too” replied Susan and they both snuggled underneath the duvet and drifted off to sleep.


CHAPTER 4


Susan woke up first, it was seven thirty am. Tom was tucked under the duvet, snoring , as he usually does.

As she laid there her eyes started to drift around the room thinking of what colour they could paint it and how it will look when every thing is put in its right place. Then, her eyes came to her dressing table.

Standing up on it against the mirror was the picture of the old man staring at her, she sat up quickly, her eyes were still fixed on him. Susan couldn’t understand why it was here because it was in the front room on the window sill last night. She could remember herself putting it there, and nobody had moved it since then, or did Tom put it there ? If he did, why? Surely not!.

She turned round tried to wake Tom, but as she turned to face him she felt her hands drifting over towards Tom’s throat. .Susan was trying to stop her hands but it was no good, they just kept going towards Tom.

Susan could feel anger and hatred building up inside her . Her hands were getting nearer and nearer Tom’s throat. Susan’s hands were shaking as she was trying to pull her hands away but it was no good. It felt like some kind of force was inside her and taken over . When her hands were just about to grip his throat she came around and realised what she was doing. Susan pulled her hands away from him fast and looked at her shaking hands, wondering why she did it. After she had calmed down a bit she tried to wake Tom up, but he was fast asleep. She tried a few times but nothing .When she turned back to the dressing table the picture had disappeared. Something wasn’t right? Susan was beginning to get scared.

She got out of bed and went to the bathroom to have a wash, hoping that it might calm her down. As soon as she got in, closed the door ,and had her hand on the tap ready to turn it on, she heard the door being locked or so it sounded. She turned around and slowly tried to open the door but she couldn’t, it felt
although somebody was stopping her from doing it, but she knew that the door doesn’t have a lock on it,

so why doesn’t it open?

“Open the door. . . …TOM”

She shouted him several times, each time getting louder than the one before, as she tried to rattle the door handle hoping it would open so she could get out

“TOM HELP ME”. then the door started to open . . .it was Tom.

Susan went to him and put her arms around him, feeling safe now.

“What’s up love, why are you shouting, you sounded scared?” Tom asked looking very concerned although still not fully awake.!

“The bathroom door locked on me and I couldn’t get out. I heard a mans voice as well, laughing, he was in the bathroom with me. It wasn’t loud but I heard it, I know I did, I heard it.”

“Ok just calm down, everything is alright.”

Tom couldn’t understand why she had heard someone and he hadn’t? Or was she just thinking that she heard things and there was a simple explanation . And why did she say the door felt as though it was looked as there is no lock on it?

He reassured her that there was nobody else in the house, just them ,and that no-one could get in without him or her noticing , but Susan kept saying that she heard someone laughing at her. Tom went into the bathroom and listened.

Nothing.. . . . . . . . . .

“See,. . . . . I can’t hear anything, and you know the door doesn‘t have a lock on it so I cant see why you couldn‘t open it” Tom said

“Why don’t you belive me ? I’m telling you the truth Tom ,that door was locked”

“Of cause I belive you love but. . . ……look, see” He closed the door and opened it again just to set her mind at rest.

“Come on, love lets get ready and get some more work done. It will take your mind off it” Tom said as he reached for her hand and took her away from the bathroom trying to calm her down. Susan nodded and went with Tom, but still shaking a bit from her experience she has just had of trying to get out the bathroom , and also of trying to strangle Tom earlier , which she was too scared to tell him of, ……..and the voice she heard or thought she heard in the bathroom.

When they came back on to the landing he noticed deep finger nail scratches down the back of her neck.

He didn’t tell her as he thought it would frighten her even more. Things now were starting to worry him.

Over the next couple of months odd things began to happened in the house, they were unexplainable, like items being moved to unusual places, plates smashed, the television being turned on during the night when they are both in bed, and Susan’s ways and sometimes the way she spoke to Tom . She sometimes didn’t seem herself. The most weird thing that happened was of the picture, It didn’t matter where you put it always looking at you. . . . With that evil look……….

It began to effect Susan‘s health. She didn’t seem herself anymore, sometimes she looked vacant and would just walk about the house from room to room for no reason at all ,not talking or doing anything, just walking, and other days everything would be as normal. Tom never knew what to expect next. He hated seeing her like this. He loved her so much and it upset him as she meant everything to him. She where it was coming from, like a whispering. Tom was starting to worry about her as he knew there was nothing he could do. It made him feel helpless. He tried by taking her to the doctors , but all the doctor said was that either she was very tired because they had just moved house and that they were probably trying to get things done to fast , and another time he was told that for some reason she was depressed, but depressed with what as they have always been happy together and have had nothing to worry about? She was perscribed pills and was told to rest. On her good days she would be herself, laugh and joke about with Tom and they would have a good day, at work and at home, on a bad day things went missing in the house, Susan would wondering around the house in a world of her own . Sometimes it would seem as though she would talk to someone, but there would be no-one around. Other times she would try to hurt Tom, and other strange things would
happen . . . But why?.. . . . .

Months passed by. Nothing changed. Sue was still being violent towards Tom, sometimes it would leave scratch marks and bruises on him, but Tom was so devoted to her that it didn’t matter to him how ill she was, or how much she hurt him, just as long as he is with her, helping her. He would give her all the love
she ever wanted and more.

Every day that passed things seemed to be getting worse . . . . and more odd. The picture of the old man would seem to be near Susan when she begins to hear or see him

One morning, on one of Susan’s good days, they decided to go out for a walk around the village and to get a few things from the local shop, it was a lovely sunny day.

The village seemed to be in a time lock. It just seemed as though nothing had changed. There were cottages with thatched roofs and window frames that are not straight, some seem to slant The cottages were made with local stone and some with timber frames Some dating back to the late 1500’s. There were
baskets hanging outside there doors that looked like they were overflowing with different colours, like a rainbow. In front of these cottages was the village green, guarded by four old oak trees , each nearly one hundred years old , with there huge branches reaching out like arms, protecting everything around them. The local pub, The Oak, stood on the opposite side of the green , a small building made with local
stone, with black timber framed windows and the original thick oak door. The local shop and post office stood a few doors away. It was very picturesque. The rest of the cottages were scattered over the village. A 17th century church was standing on a small hill at the end of a lane with the vicarage next to it, and behind the graveyard lay the few remains that was left of an earlier church that stood there a few hundred years before the present one.

Tom and Susan walked hand in hand slowly along the lane from their house into the village, to go to the shop to get a few things they needed.

“When we get into the village how do you fancy popping in the pub for a drink when we’ve been to the shop love?” Tom asked as he looked at Susan with that cheeky smile on his face .“Ok, why not” she replied when she turned at looked at him.

They went into the shop just to get a few things for their dinner later on and ended up with a few extra things. They were there for a while as they were talking to Jean, the owner of the shop, about every day things. Jean was sixty one years old and a widow, she was only small, about five foot tall but had a very slim body and had that look of a teacher. She could be quite nosey sometimes, not meaning to be ,but that was just the way she was. She was the sort of woman that if you stayed to have a conversation with her you would be there for a long while and so you just had to be careful sometimes how you say things .

Her husband Fred died a few years ago of a heart attack, she was lonely at times , so people coming in to her small village shop and post office gave her people to talk to, and find out the local gossip .

The bell on the shop door rang as Tom opened the door and held it for Susan to enter.“Hello,…….. how are you feeling now Susan ?,Tom said you’ve been poorly when he came down the other day?”

Jean asked with that look on her face, as though she was waiting for a running commentary from Susan to give her all the details.

“I feel a lot better . …..Thank you for asking.” replied Susan as she started to look around the shop to find a few items.Jean was waiting for her to say a bit more, being the sort of person she was, but no , Susan just wondered around looking for the things they needed.

Tom waited by the counter for Susan.
“Yeah she’s ok“ said Tom.. Thought we’d come out for a walk as it nice, and to have a proper look around the village.”

Susan came back to the counter with some groceries and was getting her money ready as Jean was cashing them up on the till. “That’s four pounds fifty please.” Jean asked

Susan rustled about in her purse to find the right amount and handed them to Jean, but when Susan put the money in her hand and their eyes met Jean looked frightened and quickly turned away and put the money in the till and closed the drawer. Tom couldn’t understand why she looked like that but just said thank you and turned to leave the shop. Tom picked up the bag with the shopping in it. He always helped to carry the bags for her. He opened the door for Susan and she walked our the shop, as Tom was beginning to leave Jean came up behind him and laid her hand gently upon his shoulder. As Tom began to turn Jean whispered in his ear.

“Please…. just be careful Tom.”

“Pardon . What do you mean?” Tom asked

“You know what I mean……… I can see it in her eyes……… HE is with her….. Please be careful” Jean sounded very concerned.

Tom just nodded.

“How do you know?.”

“I know……. I can see things like that, and I don’t like this one. . . . . . Your in danger.”

Susan looked back to see where Tom was.

“Aren’t you coming Tom. I thought you said women talked a lot. . . Not men?” Susan called jokingly and with a smile on her face.

“Ha ha ha. I’m coming. I was just saying bye to Jean love” He said as he turned to Jean and gave her the look that meant that he knew what she was talking about. Although he still was puzzled.

Tom and Susan walked up the narrow path, hand in hand, having a gentle stroll towards the pub. The sun felt lovely and warm on their skin but the very gentle breeze just stopped them from getting to hot.

“Tom, that woman in the shop gave us such a funny look didn’t she, I wonder why?” Susan said as she turned to Tom with a puzzled look on her face.

Tom was in a world of his own thinking about what the woman said in the shop to him. It seemed to just keep echoing in his mind……be careful . . . He is with her. He wasn‘t quite sure what she meant by that !,. Tom came out of it when he felt a nudge on his arm.

“Tom,…… Tom….. You were miles away. I said that that woman in the shop gave us a odd look didn’t she?”

“Err yes love” He replied slowly and still thinking about it….. But Tom knew why she said it although he couldn‘t understand how she knew…… He wasn’t going to say anything to Susan though because he thought it might frighten her more that what she is now.

They approached the ‘The Oak’, the local pub. It was made of local stone and the date 1610 was just

below the beautifully thatched roof, some of the small windows looked as though they were not straight, just gently leaning to one side. Tom and Susan walked up to the old , black, solid oak door and entered. It was small and very old looking inside. Black beams seemed to bow from the ceiling in some places and the posts looked as if they were holding them up. There was a big fireplace with a high black wooden
mantle piece. Standing on the mantle piece and hanging on the walls beside it were old tankards of different shapes and sizes. The floor was stone, you could see in some places how uneven it was, where it had been walked upon over the hundreds of years the pub had been standing.

Tom approached the bar and bought Susan and himself a drink ,they found themselves a small table by the window and sat down . They spent the afternoon in there and got to know some of the local people who told them everything they needed to know about the village, and sometimes a bit of local gossip added in as well.! . . But they seemed lovely people to know.

After an hour or so Susan stated to feel a bit uneasy in there, she didn’t know why, but something didn’t feel right at all, she told Tom and he could see she wasn’t herself so they finished their drinks and took the glasses to the bar.

“Thanks” Tom said to the barman as he placed the glasses on the bar then turned to walk to the door, saying goodbye to some of the people they had been talking to as well. The barman said bye to them both and told them to come back soon, they said they would, and they left the pub and began to walk back to their house which wasn’t far away, Tom didn’t mind walking, he did say once that he has got to get some exercise as he used to go everywhere in the car, but he was hoping
that Susan never heard him……but !

The time now was quarter past three. The time had seemed to have gone quite fast.

“Back home now” Tom said with a relaxing sigh as they approached their front door, but as soon as Tom had unlocked it, opened the door and they stepped in, and closed it, then they both stopped dead in their tracks .

“WHAT THE………” he said as he looked around . The wallpaper in the hall had been ripped, it looked as if a claw had dragged from the ceiling to half way down the walls. They both walked slowly down the hall to the front room. In the front room the picture of the man, who somehow seemed to have a nasty smile on his face, had been stuck on the wall opposite to the door. It stared at you as you walked in.

As soon as Susan saw it she let out one almighty scream.

Tom put his arms around her and held her to his chest to try his best to calm her down as he had never seen her like this before. The look on her face was like sheer terror.

“Ok, ok, calm down , im here” He was gently stroking her face and kissed her on her forehead.

He took her out into the kitchen, luckily nothing had been touched there.

“Right stay here and I will go and finally get rid of that picture” Tom said to her calmly as he looked at her and gently rested his hands upon her shoulders

“No don’t go , don’t’ leave me”

Susan was reluctant to let him go but eventually did after Tom reassured her that everything was going to be alright. He hoped ?

Tom went into the front room and walked over to the wall where the picture was. . . talking to himself.

“Right, that’s it im getting fed up with this. This time I will burn that damm picture”

He tried to take the picture off the wall but for some reason it wouldn’t move. Tom was starting to get a bit angry.

“You will come off the wall.. . . .” He muttered to himself as he gritted his teeth.

Finally it did come off in one piece. None of the paper around it had ripped…………

Tom let out a yell, he looked at the back of his hand and saw the same claw marks on it that were on the hall wall. He dropped the picture on the floor as he put his other hand over it ,to try and stop it bleeding, he approached the shelf by the television to get some tissues to place over it. When he looked back the
picture had gone. His hand was still bleeding though and he needed more tissues.

He went back into the kitchen to see if Susan was still ok while he was still holding the tissues over his hand.

“Are you alright love?.”

Susan was just standing there looking straight at him with an evil look in her eye, even her voice somehow didn’t sound like Susan. On the work surface by her……. was the picture!

“SUSAN SNAP OUT OF IT. . .COME ON….NOW!.” he said as he placed his hands on her shoulders, forgetting about the pain, and shook her.

She blinked slowly and seemed to be back to herself again.

“Right that’s it, I’ve had enough of this, we’re going to see the vicar and see if he knows where we can find someone to exorcise this house. We cant keep going like this, and its making you very ill.



CHAPTER 5
Tom grabbed Susan’s hand.

“Right , come on , that’s it, we are going”

Susan was still not quite herself and refused to move, she just stood motionless staring at Tom.

“Come on love, now” Tom pulled her arm hard but still she just stared at what seemed to be nothing. Or was it?

“SUSAN……COME ON”

Susan passed out and fell into Tom’s arms. Tom carried her into the front room and layed her on the settee gently. He kneeled on the floor beside her ,stroked her forehead while trying to think of what to do now. Should he go to find the help or stay by her in case anything else happens.? He got up and went to the phone, just before he picked up the phone there was a knock on the door. Tom went to the door and opened it, it was Jean from the shop.

“Are you ok? You are in danger”

“Thank God you came, come in” Tom pulled her into the hall and closed the door.

“Oh my God” Jean said as she looked around the hall walls . “And your hand.! Where is Susan, is she alright?

(IFYOU WANT TO READ THE REST MESSAGE ME)