A darkness falls over me as I get to the gateway. Heavy black clouds cover the last remnants of a sinking sun as I lock the iron gates. I walk back up to the mansion, a cold brown building with black eyes and wonder what has called me here? The building is foreboding, a place children would find haunting. Yet I have come here, settled here, and made a home here. This place is too big for just one person. And yet…
It doesn’t feel like only I live here. I always get the feeling that there’s another presence there. Something…else. At times it feels frightening, at other times comforting, making me feel like I’m not alone. The big heavy oak door creaks behind me as I close up for the night and I go to bed.
All the rooms are big. Spacious with high ceilings and wide windows. My bedroom is in the upper east side of the house, looking out into the estate. But the darkness gives me no view tonight. Just jet black squares of dead space. The sheets I wrap myself in as I sink into bed sting of the cold, but that soon passes. Silence descends upon my home.
I am a light sleeper, but there was no escaping being woken up by the crashing sound of my front door bursting open and the sound of feet rushing up the stairway. There is an aggressiveness in those sounds that make me sit bolt upright and rush towards my bedroom door to bolt it. But I am too late. The door swings in and a man, early twenties, masked, stands there, a gun in hand. I stand rooted to the spot. I want to ask what he wants but I'm not sure.
He barks at me, raving about treasures in the house and that he wants them. Now. Or I'm a dead man. I must confess, I have no idea what he’s talking about. So I tell him. I am rewarded with the handle of the gun across my head. But that painful sensation doesn't make me change my tune. I do not know what he wants. He grabs me and pulls me out into the hallway and marches me towards the staircase. A place this big, he says, must have valuables. In all fairness, I could understand why he would assume that, but that’s all it was. An assumption with no bearing on my financial circumstances. If he wanted money, I told him, he’d have to wait til Monday morning when I could get to the bank and write him a check. I'm sorry to say he did not find that the least bit amusing and I got another act of violence for my poor attempt at humour. I fell to my knees, finding the taste of blood on my lips.
He stood over me and pointed the pistol directly between my eyes, and fear made my body grow cold. I could not give this man what he wanted, but I did not want to die either. I thought I had only mere seconds left to live.
That’s when I felt that presence again. That sense that someone else was there. Something with weight and form, but invisible to the eye. There was a sudden rush of movement from my right, and the next thing I knew my assailant was hoisted into the air by an invisible hand. He yelled in disbelief and fear. I watched as his head was slowly twisted to the right and then it kept going, making a full 360 turn before returning eyes front. With a pop his head left his body and was flung across the hallway. His body fell to floor and toppled down my stairway. There was a moment of pure silence. I dared not breath.
Then this form, this presence moved in my direction. I raised a hand in my defence and was greeted with a gentle caress against my skin. It felt feminine. Then something started to come into focus. A female face, full of life and vigour, with ruby lips and fire in her eyes, before it faded again. Then the presence was gone. As was my assailants remains.
I went to bed that night shocked and breathless. Locking my bedroom door, I crawled into bed and waited for the sun to rise. Somewhere in the house, I heard the sound of gnawing and eating. Looks like I won’t need to get a guard dog after all.
