Epilogue
Blackwood- A 17th century theatre that stood atop a hill overlooking a bustling commuter town in Surrey, England. The name itself enough to send a shiver over many a locals body, one sighting was enough to lay out the foundations of ones nightmares. A historic building known for its rich history has been frequented by many living in the surrounding area. Some come to see the impressive productions, most just children dragged through the grounds on a school trip. Then there's the others. Those filled with intrigue and an appreciation of the gothic architecture that clashes so strongly with the quintessential town below. Evelina Caldwell was one of those said people.
Ever since her first visit when she was just a child she's been fascinated by the place. She would beg her Gran for another visit, requesting the same itinerary every weekend as she failed to lose interest.
Whilst most children felt frightened by the eerie atmosphere, she loved the constant draft that sent goosebumps up her arms just as the villain on stage made their debut. Unlike the other kids her age that gradually lost interest, she set about exploring every passageway loving losing herself in the bizarre twists and turns that made up Blackwell. Most children hated being left alone finding every lurking shadow too much to bear. However Eva never felt this fear. Kept company by the little boy rooted deep in her imagination, he never failed to dispel her deepest loneliest thoughts.
Many of the patrons visiting Blackwood visited for the well known plays, yet Evelina returned more so for the setting which was so atmospheric that she got swept up in the storyline like she was to part of it. She was well and truly hooked, which is why it was no surprise to anyone that as soon as she turned 16 years of age she marched up the front steps and demanded to be employed for a job that surprisingly came up when she needed it the most.
'Are you sure you'll be ok finishing up here Eva?'
Liam my manager fiddled with the keys in his hands as he finished locking up the stage doors leading to the dressing rooms behind the stage.
I'd been working at the Blackwood for a couple of weeks now but tonight was my first late evening. Unlike the majority of kids my age I was more than happy to spend my Saturday nights in a cold musty theatre. It being the weekend there had been rehearsals here all day and up until an hour ago, this now welcomed silent and echoey room was chaos. A chorus of sticky children had been running a muck and the director's shrill commands was enough to give us all headaches. An hour on peace had returned and it was just Liam and I left to lock up for the night.
'I'm sure Liam. There's only a few things left to put away here, it won't take too long.'
I was determined to make a good impression. I had that annoying characteristic of having to prove myself to everyone. I was always in competition with myself to be good at what I was doing and working at Blackwood was no exception.
After reassuring Liam once again that I was capable of folding away a few seats by myself he left me in the dark auditorium, slamming the big oak doors shut in the process. Having spent all my life being home schooled and spending my time with only a handful of people growing up, I was generally comfortable with being by myself. Actually I encourage it.
I had spent the majority of my weekends here as a child and I knew every inch of this building like the skin on the back of my hand, yet I was acutely aware that something felt off to me in that moment.
After 5 or so minutes of walking up and down the remaining rows and folding up the chairs, a voice in the back of my head reminded me of how little I was in the expanse of space surrounding me. When a faint pitter patter reached my ear drums, I suddenly felt uncomfortably alone. Taking into consideration the age of the building, it didn't take me long to pass the noise off as some form of rodent (preferably a cute little mouse). It's not like I'd never seen some silhouette of a creature dart across my peripheral vision whilst at work before and so I went back to clearing up, only a slightly faster pace then previously.
Yet when the same scratching noise only a few decibels louder reached me again my head not only snapped up but was also able to locate which direction the noise had come from. I couldn't put my finger on what I had heard but I knew for a fact rats didn't make sounds that frequency. It almost sounded like whispers being carried in the wind, a high whirring noise transmitting pitches like they were syllables. Whatever the noise was it was coming from the stage, yet the stage was bare. Not even a single prop was left lying around from early in the day ready to take the blame.
Standing stock still, like a deer caught in the headlights and my heart hammering in my chest I tried to muster up all the courage my inner voice could give me.
'Don't be a wuss Evelina.' I whispered to myself.
With only my shadow to keep me company I silently made my way up the aisle to the stage ahead of me, wincing when the floorboards groaned underneath my heavy feet. Once I reached the stairs to the stage I took a deep breath a made my way over to the area where my ears had convinced me the noise had come from. You could say I was a little horrified when my eyes rested on the square shaped door carved out of the floor. The door didn't look especially inviting, even the woodworm had left this section of floor alone. I waited my body rigid as I held my breath, ears pricked in anticipation of another noise yet all was silent.
With my heart pounding against my ribcage I slowly descended to a crouching position, my arm outstretched ready to wrap my fingers around the cold iron ring handle. 50% of me was already running down the stairs, down the isle and out the door but the other half didn't think I had the strength to move. Letting out a shaky breath ready to meet my fate, I clasped my clammy hand around the handle and pulled the trap door up letting it slam onto the wooded planks beside it. In doing so a cloud of dusk swept me up making me hack and splutter as the racket I was making echoed around the mass of stalls.
Nothing, not even a mouse filled the empty space. I bravely or stupidly poked my head in further still to find it empty other than a load of black dust. I sighed pushing myself up from where I was knelt whilst trying to clear dusty tears out of my eyes. I pulled my hands away from my now red watery eyes and gasped in shock when I met a pair of frightened eyes staring back at me.
I fell backwards onto the floor whilst having visions of some hybrid rodent monster about to attack me, when i realised the eyes were attached to a little boy's face. The boy pale and just as scared as I was, looked to be no older than 8 years of age. Dressed in what looked to be a dirtied white shirt and school boy grey trousers, I guessed he had to be one of the child actors from earlier on in the day. I reached out a hand to comfort the boy but he flinched, cowering at the sight of me. As far as I could tell he was just as unsuspecting of my presence as I was of his. It dawned on me the boy had probably been the butt of a cruel prank from one of the older children.
'Don't be frightened, I only wanted to help you up.' My voice croaked making my attempt of being comforting coming out like the child snatcher in chatty chatty bang bang.
'How on earth did you get trapped down there?' I questioned, yet my reply came only from the remaining dust falling to the floor. The boy still not moving was eyeing me, either unsure whether to trust me or convinced I was crazy.
I lifted my shaky self up off the floor and dusted myself off sending another wave of grey soot into the surrounding area.
Once I had done so I untangled the long gold chain of my necklace around my neck, I bend down and smiled at the boy.
'My names Evelina, I'm sorry I've only been working here a couple of weeks so I'm still trying to remember everyones faces but I'm guessing you're one of the chorus?'
Still I was met with silence.
'Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you.'
Suddenly the boys facial expression changed, moving from afraid to confused. Well, least that was something. For a child actor he really was a quiet boy. Having spent the evening with multiple terrors acting like divas that this boy was a breath of fresh air.
Smiling I reached out my hand again, willing it to look as least threatening as possible.
'Come on let's go find your parents shall we, they must be worried about you.'
After a few moments of what looked to be deliberating, the boys cold ice white hand slipped into mine. He stared at our hands for a moment before allowing me to initiate walking. I pulled him out of the hole before closing the door again with an agonising creak. As we started walking down the stairs in silence it was now my eyes had cleared themselves of blurry tears I was able to take in his appearance more. I realised his ensemble looked more like a school uniform than anything else. Wearing dull grey flecked trousers and a stained too big for him white shirt he looked a little out of place from the cast of Cinderella. His black leather shoes had scuff marks all over them but hey, who I was I to judge the costume departments decisions, I was more books than fashion.
The floor boards continued groaning as we carried on up the isle to the main doors. The cold air was giving me shivers and after the fright I had earlier, I couldn't wait to get my coat and go home. I was mid thought when a voice called out to me. It took me more than a few seconds the realise where the voice had come from. I looked down at the boy staring up at me, he still had far away look in his eyes but it seemed as if his features were softening. He repeated himself after reading my confused expression.
'I like your necklace.' The boy said softly. His voice was higher than I had expected but it carried across the timid ness I got from his character.
I looked down at the gold pendent that I had forgotten had untucked itself from the safety of my T-shirt during my previous collision with the floor. I smiled taking the long chain in my free hand.
'Thank you, it was a gift from my grandma. It belonged to her before it was mine.' I replied putting it back into its hiding place, the cold chain shocked my warm skin.
'It's pretty. I like your name too.' the boy smiled at up at me this time taking me back slightly. Now he was facing me I noticed just how bright his eyes were, a green so bright they looked like emeralds.
'Thank you again, now what is your name?'
Common sense finally came back to me as I realised this boy had been stuck under the stage for over an hour before I even heard he was there. Taking into consideration how bad it sounded I should probably try to find out his name so Liam could call his parents. We'd reached the doors just as he replied.
'I'm Timothy.'
'Timothy.' I copied, rolling the name off my tongue. 'Do you know, I like that name too.' Timothy obviously satisfied with my answer gave me a toothy grin.
'Come on let's get you home.'
I opened one side of the heavy doors and gently pushing Timothy forward, me following closely behind him and then linking hands again as the door slammed shut behind us. It was as our skin made contact again that I became aware just how ice cold his hands still were. I panicked slightly wondering how cold it had to get for a child to get hypothermia.
We were walking into the main reception where the lights were still dimly on when Timothy spoke again.
'I'm glad I could meet Evelina.'
I glanced around the room trying to think where would be my best bet to find Liam.
'I'm glad I met you too Timothy.' I replied catching eye contact with him quickly before concentrating on what to do next. Before I could take another step forward the managers office opened and Liam strolled in smiling at me when we caught eye contact.
'Ah Eva are you all done?' He asked beaming at me.
'Liam we have a problem, I found this little boy stuck under the trap door on stage. What do we do? The parents are going to go crazy?' I whispered screamed clenching my teeth as I spoke.
'Calm down Eva, what boy? What's his name?' He said putting an arm around my shoulders but looking at me urgently.
'What do you mean what boy he's-'
My hand was empty, as was the space around me. I spun around frantically wide eyed, convinced that my eyes were playing tricks and there was in fact three of us in the room. Except there wasn't, and Liam was looking at me like I'd gone insane.
'I swear Liam there was a little boy, I was literally just talking to him!' I felt all the colour drain from my face and my hands began to shake.
'OK calm down, I believe you. How about we go back and look for him ok?'
As much as I could tell he was trying to sound concerned I heard the slight hesitation in his voice. He didn't believe me and as we searched the building, checking in cupboards, under stairs I myself did begin to question my sanity.
Maybe I'd hit my head when I'd fallen on the floor or possibly all that dust had some weird impact on my brain. A building this old might have some weird hallucinogenic fungus in the walls. It was even probable that I was part of some sick joke instead but no sane answer satisfied my questions.
It felt all too real.
😊💖