❝ I won't hold my finger in the air
and tell you which way the wind blows
for I have tried so many times. ❞

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TEN | PAVOR NOCTURNUS

"Hey," I briefly said to Josh when I opened the door to our flat, throwing all my stuff by the couch and shrugging out of my coat, "Where is it?" I asked.

"The box? I left it in your room. Are you okay? You look terrible."

"Oh, I'm okay, it was a long trip. I'll be better when I get some sleep tonight and finish with all this," I rushed into the kitchen to open the fridge in search of anything to eat, "Macaroni . . ." I said when I saw the small bowl with it, I was starving. I shoved the macaroni into the microwave, then turned around and found Josh leaning on the doorframe, observing me, "you had dinner, didn't you?" I saw his clothes, "Where are you going?"

"Out," he grinned.

"Out? With your friends?" He shook his head, "Oh, that . . ." He nodded. It hurt a little if I'm honest.

"I asked Susan out today."

"Oh?" I uttered grabbing one of those silly pretzels from a jar on the counter top, "She's pretty," I smiled, "she is the girl from the photography department, isn't she?"

"She is, we're going out for dinner," he walked closer, with a big smile on his lips. His warm hands cupped my face and I couldn't help thinking of Sir Thomas cold touch, "You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay!" I said, smiling, "Uhm, I'll leave early tomorrow, I'll go back to Allerdale Hall."

"Again? I thought this was the last time, thought you wouldn't go back." The macaroni was ready.

"I have a book to finish dear Josh," he simpered and took a deep breath, "alright, bugger off," he chuckled as I pushed him out of the kitchen to the living room, "you have a date, don't make Susan wait or you will fuck this up from the beginning."

"Just let me grab my keys then," he went to the couch to get them, "I'll be back in a few hours, you go to bed, you look awful!" I slapped him on his chest.

"Shut up, just leave already," he laughed, "you don't want to be late."

"See you later." He said before walking through the door and sharing another smile before closing it behind him. I returned to the kitchen and put the kettle on. I ate too fast only to get started with what I wanted to do. With a mug of tea in a hand and the book in the other, I made my way to my bedroom and put the mug on the night stand. I stared at the book for a moment, "Okay . . . let's see . . ." I crawled into bed, opening the book.

"Ghosts are real,
that much I know . . ."

That was the first line of the book. I took a deep breath, a part of me wanted to know the story and there was this other part that didn't because I was scared, however I read three chapters in thirty minutes and didn't stop there.

"The wind howled and the cold filtered through the walls. Every floor board creaked with the voice of a hundred tortured souls and the shadows devoured even the brightest light and they were starting to devour her light. She grew weaker every second that passed by, alone, in that bed, dying. . ."

Read a paragraph in chapter seven, by this time I was crying. They way they used her, the way they poisoned her, the way she was going to die and how no one would know. I wanted to know more but I felt I wasn't ready to read the part where Edith finds out about them I just couldn't, it all was so heartless, so inhuman, so sick.

I saw the time on the night stand, it read fifteen past ten and I was feeling like I'd pass out at any moment. I felt so tired. I decided to get some sleep and continue the next morning, so I got up to brush my teeth. Yawning, I returned to bed and got under the covers, I closed the book and hid it under a pillow before finally getting comfortable under the covers and lying on my side, I don't even remember when I fell asleep.

I wasn't sure what time it was when I opened my eyes, I just know it was pitch black outside, the only light that came through the window was the moon, but I was sure I had heard my door creaking open. Maybe I had just fallen asleep and it felt like ages and Josh had just arrived and was checking on me. I was I'm the same position after all, facing the wall. Normally, Josh would take a quick look and then he'd leave and I'd hear him closing the door, this time the door remained open.

"Go away . . ." I groaned into my pillow, the door creaked yet again, "For God's sake, Josh, we'll talk in the morning," I said sleepy.

"Adeline . . ." I felt something twisting in the pit of my stomach when I heard the throaty voice calling my name in the poorly illuminated room. I sat up straight in bed and untangled myself from the covers.

"No . . ." I frantically shook my head and swallowed hard, ". . . you can't be here, you can't be in my house," I whispered with tears in my eyes. The hallway crossing the door looked even darker ofI was afraid of what could be there. Every second increased the fear in me, I hadn't noticed I was hugging a pillow so tight. A whimper escaped from my lips when I saw a dark figure in a large dress walking through the door, walking towards me, "Josh!" I cried out, "Josh, please come here! Josh!" The ghost stopped in the middle of the room and I yelled Josh's name until my throat hurt. I only stopped when the ghost spoke.

"Beware . . ." she said and I closed my eyes and covered my ears, making myself a ball in bed, frightened, this was another ghost, I hadn't seen it either in Allerdale Hall or in any other place. I felt my body going weak when the two skeletal hands grabbed me by the shoulders, making me scream at the top of my lungs as I stared right a her empty eye sockets behind the black veil, "Beware of Crimson Peak!" With yet another scream I woke and I sat up in bed, Josh was there and I didn't hesitate to wrap my arms around him.

"Hey, you're okay now!" He said, my whole body was shaking, "It's okay it's okay! You're here now . . ." He hugged me tight, "you're awake now, it'll be okay." I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath and feeling how my heart returned to normal. I felt Josh inhaling deeply and slowly exhaling, "God, you scared me . . . what was that?"

I kept quiet for a moment, I had to tell him sooner or later. I broke the hug and looked for the book under the pillow and handed it to him.

"This," I whispered, "I read this last night," I saw him scanning the cover of the book for a couple of seconds and then opening it, "Crimson Peak, the place in this book, is Allerdale Hall, Josh," I saw him stopping himself from rolling his eyes after he read the first line of the book.

"Adeline-" He began.

"No, Josh," I cut him off, "everything, every single word in this book is real, it all is true," I said almost in a whisper.

"Don't you think this is a bit silly? You're talking about ghosts!"

"There are things we don't understand!" He closed the book, "I've seen them . . . I've seen them since I went to that place, Josh," I grabbed the book, "This is as real as you and me are as real as those people on the streets, you have to believe me. People in Cumbria believe in this too, because it is fucking real! This really happened," he stared at me and grabbed the book again, he paged thought it. I told him everything about the Sharpes, about Edith and about how I wanted to get rid of that house.

"Thomas gave me this when I was little," I put the rocking horse in his hands, "it was the first time I saw a ghost, the very first time I saw him, I didn't know he was a ghost," Josh caressed the piece of wood, "he's not bad like Lucille and he wouldn't let her hurt me, he promised it."

"You, you're telling me that a ghost waited for you so you could help him to know what happened to his wife?" I nodded, "Adeline, you've told me all this story, but . . . this is too weird . . . even if we're talking about ghosts. Why you? And why the hell do you look like his dead wife?!"

"For starters, his sister killed them. And how on earth will I know the reason I look like a woman from the nineteenth century, Josh?" He sighed.

"What I'm trying to say is that why you? If they've killed every single person who has gone there, why not to kill you? Why is he protecting you from his psychotic sister and why didn't he protect the others?" I frowned, "What makes you different?"

"What do you mean? He's not bad like his sister, he only needs to know about his wife, he only wants to leave and wants me to help him."

"You have to realise, Adeline, how weird this is," he said, looking really worried. At least he believed me now, otherwise he wouldn't have been that worried. But no, I knew he was wrong.

"He's not bad, Josh," my eyes filled with tears as I felt the lump growing in my throat and how it hurt when I spoke, "he's broken . . . everything he had was taken from him, his life, the possibility of being with the woman he loved it all was taken by his sister! The person who protected him all the time!" I got up from bed, feeling angry because he was wrong about Thomas, "Wouldn't you want to know what happened if it was your wife? Wouldn't you ask for help too?!" He remained quiet and I made my way to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door. I was feeling pretty bad for Thomas, "He's not bad." I muttered under my breath.

After a moment, I heard Josh leaving and closing the door. I took a bath and quickly got dressed. I could hear the television in the living room. A few minutes later, Josh knocked on my door, saying he had to leave for work and the he probably wouldn't return in a couple of days, he had to go to Cornwall. I was still angry so I didn't answer and continued with my stuff. I sat on the floor next to the box and began to rummage into my father's stuff.

"Sorry, dad. But I need to do this," I said softly as I grabbed a bunch of papers. Dad never let me go into his studio, not even when I was older. Bills, bills, letters from friends, more bills, that's all I could find. Perhaps I was giving up too fast, I was hoping to find what I needed in matter of a few minutes which was not going to happen. I found myself paging through one of my dad's journals, there were some pictures of me and mum. I pulled out another journal which I threw to the floor when my eyes met the manila envelope at the bottom of the box. I opened it and threw its contents on the floor. A noticeable old paper was the first to touch the floor and I froze.

My fingers slowly unfolded the old yellowish parchment sheet, "I found it . . ." I said in a gasp and with my eyes glued to the paper. I couldn't help but smile, not believing my eyes. I saw the open letters scattered on the floor and my jaw dropped, "Jeremy W. Sharpe," from London, I got my hopes really high, I knew where he lived, it was probably forty minutes from Hyde Park. But then I found new letters with new addresses, the last one had been sent two years ago and he made clear in the letter that he was no longer living in England, "Laxe, Spain . . . seriously? This can't get any better?"

This meant I had to travel to Spain only to return a house that probably no one would want. The last thing I wanted was to travel. I closed my eyes, thinking about it for a second.

I didn't want that place, I didn't want to be haunted by the red ghosts let alone by Lucille. I had to go, but first, I had to go to Allerdale Hall, so I grabbed a backpack and put the book and then the title deeds.

"It'll take longer if I go by train . . ." I said, ". . . I'll have to take a plane, at least I'll be there in two hours or so . . ." I grabbed the money I had been saving from the drawer in the vanity and rushed to the living room. Even though I was angry, I left Josh a note, telling him I had gone to Allerdale Hall again, but didn't tell him anything about my trip to Spain.

Six hours later, I was opening the doors of the cursed house. This time the piano remained quiet and the fireplace cheerless, without the flames dancing in it. No one welcomed me, not even Thomas.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE :

hi there! She's got no idea of what she's getting into! Sorry if this chapter feels like a frigging clifhanger, but the chapter itself was so song that I had to make two parts. I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading, voting and commenting, have a lovely day/night!