Chapter Two.
The fog had lifted and Liza was shaken by the experience and was now back in her home, in all of her working life she had faced crazed killers, child molesters, wife beaters and so much more, but never had she faced what she saw some hours earlier and it played upon her mind, it was evil and she could still feel the cold chill that had crept along her spine when the figure had turned and faced her, even then she could not fully see the face, yet the child was limp in his arms and blood was dripping, even now the picture of the scared helpless child kept returning, and Liza truly had no idea as to what to do.
Liza felt in part humiliated and helpless knowing if someone had come to the police and reported what she saw, they would record it and think she was suffering with mental issues, yet she knew what she had seen, heck Kissy her dog had even reacted and she nor her dog were not prone to hallucinations. Her friend Jenny from Kirtland House call in for a chat and a cup of tea, Kissy the German Shepard greeted her with her usual enthusiasm. As Jenny and Liza talked, Liza explained what happened and assuring her she was not going mad.
Jenny amazingly grinned, “You are not the first to see the girl running along the road, although only a few have reported the strange house and one other who has stated he saw the man, the only problem was he was blind and people treated him as if he was going mad,” she said. Liza put down her mug of coffee and gave Kissy a biscuit, and then responded. “Are you truly saying this or just trying to comfort me, I’m not so old as to lose the plot,” she answered.
Jenny laughed, “No honestly hand upon my heart the sightings have been seen for over two hundred years, and your own mother used to record such in her diary, find it and read for yourself, the locals say the hill is haunted, as at times other children are seen and some of the locals hear their screams during the early hours of the mornings, if there’s a fog some of the locals even now refuse to walk or even drive along the hill at night and never in the early hours of the morning, also Roman soldiers have been seen, well their ghosts that is.”
Liza listened in utter amazement, “Has no one investigated into this,” she asked. Jenny responded, “How…, how can you investigate a ghost or bring it to rest, Priests have tried and failed, locals have like your mother kept notes but none could find a way of bringing the children to rest, not least while this demon of a monster haunts them, some think the children tried escaping and it was here upon the hill they were killed, others are unsure as it was reported the house seen was from Langport and was never upon a hill, it is just too confusing and some locals who braved the hill at night, reported an icy cold hand touching the base of their necks, two even died from reportedly fright, and most refuse now to use the hill when its dark and especially if foggy”
Liza sat back and laughed more from embarrassed fright than for fun, “Dear Lord what in heaven’s name is happening those poor children trapped for an eternity and never able to rest,” said Liza. “Many locals have thought the same in your mother’s time the church said it was the devils work and they prayed, even fasted and tried an exorcism but to no avail, it only angered the spirit and that year seven further children vanished,” said Jenny. Just then there was a knock on the door, a hard rap-at-tat-tat and Kissy hunch her hackles raised and she started with a deep low frequency growl.
Both Jenny and Liza could feel a cold air circulating the old farm house, and the knock came again only this time louder. “Dear father God what can that be,” cried out Liza and Jenny was too scared to answer. Just then a book fell to the floor and both women screamed in fright with the thud of it hitting the ground. The cold air vanished and both women could feel the warm central heating once again, Lisa looked over and picked up the book while jenny looked from the window. “There is no one there nor can I see anyone on the road”, she said.
As she turned to face her friend, Liza was stooping to pick up the book off the floor. As she held it in her hand Jenny could see the fear upon her face. “What is it Lisa you look scared”. Lisa turned to face her friend, “This is my mother’s diary I…, I locked it in my mother’s old trunk with her belongings in the loft”, she replied. As both women looked at the book and then around them they both realised there were no bookshelves or anywhere from which the diary could have fallen.
As Lisa looked at the open page she read the entry her mother had made for that day. ’It is a cold Autumn morning Liza my daughter is twelve tomorrow, and we are planning a surprise party for her, I have asked Chris if his daughter could bring over a cake his wife had baked, only she arrived screaming and in utter fear. Liza opened the door to let her in and the poor child ran past Liza and hid in the kitchen, she was shaking and ice cold. It was early and foggy outside, and Liza said she saw who she thought was a priest, but not one she recognised, but when she looked again he had vanished, thinking it was just the fog Liza closed the door, I comforted poor Clarrest Wilson but all she kept saying was He tried to snatch me and take me with him.
Liza’s expression turned pale, as the thought and memory dawned upon her from all those years ago. “Clarrest Wilson…, yes I remember…, she brought my mother a package which turned out to contain a broken up birthday cake. She claimed a stranger looking like a priest gripped her shoulder and his hands were like ice, but she shed her shawl and ran, when she banged upon the front door, I was nearest and opened it, she was screaming and ran straight past me, and entered the kitchen, she then fell and dropped the box…, but then scrambled up and hid in the old pantry, mother comforted her, and I saw who I thought was a priest just before I closed the door, and yes there was a strange unexpected fog that morning,” she said. Jenny looked and listened with total interest.
Then breathing in holding her breath and then exhaling, Jenny spoke. “Was it this do you think the child in whom this creature was referring towards when it spoke to you,” she asked. Liza looked her directly in her eyes…, “it has to be she is the only Clarrest Wilson who I knew, and mother deemed it important enough to record it in her diary.”
Jenny took the diary and read the entry, it was then she noticed a serious of side marking and reference marks. “What are these,” she said as she pointed to the marks and giving the diary back to Liza. She accepted the diary and studied the marks, “if I remember correctly mum has over seventy old diaries and these refer to separate diaries so she could cross reference them,” she replied. They looked at each other, but it was jenny who spoke first. “Do you think she linked all recorded incidence about the sightings so she could reference them over the years.”
Liza felt a sensation of excitement whelm up within her, it was the detective within her side of nature wanting to collate and cross reference material, like a huge jigsaw, so she could piece the various evidence together and form an unseen picture. This sparked another thought. “Jenny could you do something for me” she asked. Jenny smiled realising where her friend was going with this thought. “Are you wanting me to track down locals who still have old snippets of recoded information into these sightings?”
Liza laughed, “if you could that would truly help, I have a feeling after that incident with the banging on my front door, that I am been drawn into this even if I did not want to be,” he replied. They both shuddered at the thought but parted company agreeing to look into this further and see what each other could come up with.
