8.

Emilio and Zara Collins went house hunting in Castletown. Zara had been offered a job in the hospital the next town over, an offer she was only too happy to accept. They arrived at an address to meet their broker for a viewing.

Early morning June 21st, 1996, it had been raining lightly prior to the couple's arrival. A cool gentle breeze felt good against the appearance of the sun. The broker had arrived seconds after Emilio and Zara did and as they got out of their car, a bag lady approached placing her hand on Zara's shoulder. Emilio quickly moved over to his wife's side and took her away from the intruder.

'Do not go inside. Evil lives right in there. There is evil in this house' spoke the bag lady.

'Kindly leave us be' said Emilio as he and Zara went into the garden.

'I told you before, you cannot be here. Please leave' spoke the broker addressing the bag lady then following her clients into the garden.

'Death lives here' says that bag lady having a final say.

'I apologize for that. I can promise that if you take this premises that this lady will not harass you again'.

'Thank you, Miss Benson' spoke Emilio, while handshake greetings were shared.

'Oh, call me Deirdre. Shall we go inside?'

'Sure'.

Deirdre explained that the house had only recently come on the market and assured both Emilio and Zara that there most certainly is evil, or ever was any evil attached to the place, though both the husband and wife were already sure that the lady outside was not working at one hundred percent capacity.

In the hallway Zara almost lost her balance.

'Everything alright?' asked Emilio, taking hold of his wife.

'Yeah, I am fine. I just felt a little dizzy for a second.'

Deirdre began to properly show the house, leading her clients into the more than spacious living room. The large open fireplace would be something they both would be very happy with. The tour continued upstairs. Three bedrooms, one bathroom and an en suite in the largest bedroom were all very impressive despite the fact that Emilio and Zara would be the only ones to live there if they were to take it.

When they moved into the kitchen, Zara felt dizzy once more, only this time was much worse than the previous feeling. If anything, she felt more nauseous than anything else. Noticing what was happening, Emilio reached and grabbed his wife by the arm. From this moment on, he wouldn't want to leave her side.

'Hey maybe you should sit down for a bit' he suggested.

'I would get you a glass of water but there is nothing here right now to put it into.'

'That is alright Deirdre, I am sure I will be ok in a moment or so.'

A door close to where they all had entered the kitchen slowly drifts open.

'What is out there?' asked Zara.

'Oh, beyond that door is the basement.'

Emilio liked the sound of that.

'Go have a look, I will be fine here.'

'I can't do that ...'

'Go, ... I'm fine ...'

Deirdre explained that there is a problem with the light switch but there was enough day light shining at this point in time that Emilio could see where he was going. The sound he made walking down the wooden steps made him seem like a child at Christmas. Emilio almost fell as he came off the steps, being a bit eager to get to walk around the basement.

'The floor down here is a little uneven' he called out.

The door to the basement closed over before he could hear any sort of a response. Emilio walked calmly back up the steps. He met some resistance attempting to open that door and he almost knocked himself over as he did manage to get it open. As soon as the door opened, Zara once again had to catch herself. She felt sick to her stomach, so bad this time she had to move quickly and make her way outside to the garden where she could not do anything other than vomit.

Emilio held Zara's left shoulder and rubbed her back. When Deirdre came outside Emilio looked over towards her.

'I am not so good at this kind of thing. With Zara being a nurse, you would think I would have learned a few things from her.'

Zara stood straight and apologized.

'No need to apologize whatsoever. As long as you are alright, that is the main thing. What is it that you do Mister Collins, may I ask?'

'I work in management; however, I am sort of in between jobs at the moment.'

'Well, if you are interested there is a casino not so far away. New owners have recently taken it over and are looking to shake up the place a bit. They are actually looking for managers at the moment as far as I am aware.'

'Great' responded Emilio not quite being sure how to react.

'Right, I will leave you both too it', Deirdre reached to Shake Emilio's hand.

'I hope you feel well soon Misses Collins.

'We will be in touch one way or another' said Emilio.

Despite how things went, the asking price of the house seemed too good to turn down. Emilio and Zara would go ahead and take the house.

9.

Six weeks after having moved into their new home, things were going really well for both Emilio and Zara. Zara had settled in quickly and easily at the hospital, and Emilio did take a managerial position at the casino. The sick feeling she had felt the first time visiting this place had long passed and had been put down to her having a bad day, and possibly the large amount of travel they recently had put in.

Zara had yet to visit the casino though casinos were not places where she would normally feel comfortable going to or being in, and with Emilio taking up a managerial position there, Zara felt all the more uncomfortable about having any sort of leisurely experience in this specific one. She would be sure too that if she were to go there and have a bit of a gamble, and with a possible gamble ... go on and manage to win anything of significance then that win could easily become questionable because of her husband's position.

Another place Zara was having trouble feeling comfortable with was the basement of her new home. In those few short weeks, she only ventured down there a hand full of times, though each time she did go down there, she would become dizzy and feel weak as if there were more to that place than what appeared to the eye. Not only that, but it was always so cold down there. It did not matter how warm it was outside or how warm it would be within the house, the basement always felt cold.

Whatever was occurring, it always seemed to hit like a wave, like something washing over her. Suh an odd sensation, one of which she'd be at a loss to describe.

Subconsciously, Zara may have already begun to doubt having made a move to this town. She loved her job and Emilio seemed to be happy, being content with his job and this new life they both were building but a trip to the local supermarket would ruffle Zara further, and really make her feel uneasy. Having gone about her shopping, Zara made her way to the check out. The young lady working at the checkout seemed to recognize Zara as she approached.

'Hi, how are you today?'

'Fine thank you' responded Zara placing her groceries up on to the conveyor belt.

'I would be right in saying you are new in town, and you have taken that abysmal house not far from the casino?'

'Abysmal? Not a word I'd use but I do live not all so far away from that casino.'

'I hope I am not being too intrusive, but can I ask is everything alright there? With the house I mean.'

Zara paused for a moment and looked directly at the checkout lady.

'What do you mean by that?'

'I guess you do not know of the history of that house. A local woman who used to live there with her father went missing a number of years ago. It is thought that she was killed and now her spirit haunts the place seeking revenge.'

'That is some story. All is fine, though thank you for your concern' came the response almost pleasant and sarcastic at the same time.

Zara paid for her groceries and left, ensuring the conversation would not continue any further.

The rest of the day passed quickly without incident. Zara would wake during the night to the sound of light rain tapping against the bedroom window. The past day had been a warm, dry one and the evening had been quite warm too, but the bedroom now felt really cold, a coldness which, in a strange way somehow seemed to match the coldness that Zara was used to feeling whenever she was in the basement. Zara got up and made her way downstairs. Movement seemingly coming from the living room attracted Zara's attention.

There was most definitely a dark shadow of a figure behind the tinted glass panel in the wood framed door, as if there were someone on the other side of it. It can't be Emilio for he was sound asleep in bed. Zara stood in the hallway and watched as that shadow figure move. The outdoor light had provided enough illumination for Zara to see such a thing. An intruder?

Zara slowly opened the door to the living room not quite knowing what to expect. There was no one in there, no one with whom she could see. However, the figurines and the wooden clock on the fireplace mantel were not in their normal positions. Rosary beads that had been sitting on the mantel fell onto the fireplace heart. Zara watched it fall, then moved to pick them up.

As she moved back to a standing position, a flash of white light from outside provided additional illumination. For a split second, reflecte4d in the mirror over the fireplace, she was sure that she could see the figure of a young woman standing behind her. Zara gasped and turned quickly but could see no one. When she looked downwards, she noticed that she had a tight grip on the rosary beads. Her next thought was that of her husband being upstairs in the bedroom.

Moving quickly up the stairs and into the bedroom panic would set in when Zara discovered that her husband was not there. Relief soon followed when Zara could hear the on-suite toilet flush.

'Where did you get yourself too?' asked Emilio exiting the en suite.

'We can't stay here.'

'What? Why not? It is two thirty in the morning. Where would you want to go at this hour of the night?'

'Emilio, we cannot stay here, we have to go. This place is not ... right.'

'What do you mean? Go where? C'mon honey, everything is fine, let's just go back to bed.'

There was a sound of movement from outside the room as if someone was coming up the stairs. Emilio could hear it just as well as Zara could.

'What the hell was that?' asks Emilio.

'The reason why we can't stay here.'

The sound of someone climbing the stairs came to a stop. Zara stood by the side of the bed closest to the bedroom door. Looking out that door, she could not see anyone or anything which could make such a movement up the stairs. Emilio stood by the far side of the bed which was also the side closest to the window.

Outside a flash of lightning was closely followed by the crash of thunder. The dark grey spirit of Lydia appeared a couple of feet away from and slightly behind Emilio. Zara turned to see the image of the spirit stand so close to her husband. It had only been there ever so briefly, but it had been there.

'Emilio, c'mon ... move, now' spoke Zara moving her eyes quickly back and forth between Emilio and the spirit while using her right hand to signal him to move towards her and away from the spirit.

Emilio turned his head and out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the spirit, and not only that but she was smiling too. Like before, she had only appeared alongside a flash of lightning and was gone when it had passed. Though he was gripped with fear, Emilio did manage to move away and very slowly at that. Both himself and Zara grabbed jackets and shoes before leaving the house.