"Why were you standing outside?" She asks once I hand a steaming cup of tea to her and take seat at the table. With my hands wrapped around the cup, it's heat warming up my icy skin, I smile brightly and say. "I was just admiring our new paint job, although I'm sure we chose a colour that's about two shades darker than the rest."
She looks at me with disbelieving eyes, and in a stern voice she tells me. "Right, and I go to gym every day! Don't you lie to an old woman, Dearie! I have two sons and a daughter, I know exactly when youngsters aren't being truthful.
Now I came here to give you a little insight as to why people will run a mile when they find out where you live, the least you could do is answer me truthfully"
Feeling like I've just been scolded by my gran, I avert my eyes from her intimidating glare. "Jillian, I think I'm going crazy." I say in a soft voice, she reaches across the table and holds her palm open, I give her my hand and she squeezes it gently as she speaks.
"Whatever you've seen, whatever you've experienced in this house, it's real. I believe you, but more than that, I want to help you. I offered my help to one of the previous owners but they refused to believe anything was wrong with their house, they actually called me crazy!" She let out a hearty laugh. "They lasted around three months before they booked it out of here."
"That's terrible! But wasn't the last owner a woman?" "Yes, after that lot left town, a sweet old lady named Camilla bought the place and moved in with her husband. They became very involved in the community, always catering for the school's events, volunteering at the local SPCA and so on.
One day we heard that her husband fell ill and passed away, she never left the house after that. Nobody saw her come or go. A few years later she passed away too. They had to bust the door open to get to her, they found her body in a heap at the bottom of the basement stairs. She must have tripped and hit her head.
Some people say her spirit still lingers here, others say it's poor Leah Winslow and her mom." The old woman looks down, sadness evident from the way her voice hitched as she said Leah's name.
I don't want to tell her about the diary yet, a part of me feels like this woman enjoys some gossip, no need to have the whole town reading about poor Leah's bad experiences.
"What happened to her?" Jillian looks up with a distant look on her face, like she's reliving a past experience as she says each word, "They lived here for only a couple years, little Leah's father left her mother.
Taking their little girl, Peggy, he left town and never came back. The mother became an even bigger alcoholic with a bad habit of enjoying more than one man's company. One night, there were ambulances and cops outside the house.
Half the town gathered around to find out what all the commotion was about. We were all shocked when we found out that the mother's boyfriend drowned them both before shooting himself in the face with a shotgun, right here in the house.
The neighbours heard the shot and called the police, the whole family got buried in the cemetery just behind this house except for Leah, there was a mix up with the grave sites, so her aunty had her buried here, in the back yard.
Since then, the house has been empty, nobody but silly kids came in, everyone here believes that bad luck follows those who live here. Now, I've told you the truth about all I've heard and seen regarding this house and I expect an honest answer when I ask, what did you see?"
"I saw her, Leah. Or at least I think it was her, she was sitting in the nursery, crying and sopping wet. There was such an aura of sadness radiating from her, she pointed to something behind me and as I turned around, there was nothing there, but suddenly my back started burning. I ran to the bathroom and saw that someone or something scratched me."
I take out my cell phone and show the woman the photo I sent to Mark, who still hasn't replied to any text or call. The colour drains from her face as she looks from the photo, to me, then back to the photo again.
"I'm so sorry, Dearie. I'm going to get a priest in here first thing tomorrow morning, I've already spoken to him and he agreed to come around and meet you. I hope you don't mind?"
" no! No, not at all. Jillian, to tell you the truth, I'm terrified. We can't afford to buy another house and I doubt we'd be able to sell it again. I'm just so scared I'll see another creature, demon thing again or Leah's ghost,
and what's worse is that my boyfriend is just completely ignoring me! It's so unlike him. He's supposed to come home the day after tomorrow, but I've asked a friend to go check on him a little later anyway."
When she hears that I hadn't heard from Mark, her forehead creases with worry, I swear her eyes suddenly got even sadder than before, but why? She stands up and gives me a big hug, wrapping her arms around my waist, she squeezes tightly for around 45 seconds.
Eventually she lets go and I walk her to the door. "Here's my card, call me if anything happens and I'll be right over! I hope your boyfriend is okay." I smile at her and look down at the card, Karoo BnB and Restaurant.
"I will, about that job though..." she slaps her forehead with her hand and giggles. "Oh yes! I completely forgot! Come in on Monday, we'll sign the contract and I'll show you around. It'll do you well to get out of the house for a few hours a day.
Oh, you're just going to love it! " "I'm sure I will. Thank you again. Drive safe." She waves as she reverses out of the driveway. I watch her car travel down the road and out of sight before turning to go back in.
The moment I set foot in the house I feel a sudden rush of sadness. I slowly climb the stairs to my room, my thoughts are filled with what Jillian told me, the elderly couple and Leah's family. Why didn't the police find her diary when it was just under the chair?
I sit on the bed and decide to read a little bit more of Leah's diary. Opening up the book, I skip the first page. A cold breeze drifts through the room and brushes against my neck, giving me goosebumps, I climb under the covers, pulling it up to my chin in an attempt to block the cold air, and begin to read.
9 July 1977
Dear Diary,
I'm scared. Joey came over after school with his cousin's ouija board. He told me to place a single finger on the wooden thing in the middle and no matter what, never let go!
Well, things got scary and I let go. It slowly answered yes when we asked if there was anyone with us. It didn't give us a name but instead spelled out mine! The wooden thing started moving from Z to A, stopping briefly for each letter.
When it reached A it shot up towards the numbers and started going down from 9. Just before it reached 0, the candles went out and a loud screeching noise exploded in the room.
I got a fright and let go. Joey screamed at me and the door flew open, my mother's new boyfriend walked in, he took one look at us and grabbed the ouija board off of the floor where we were sitting.
While he was shouting at us, I swear his eyes turned black, only for a second, then he stopped shouting and asked Joey to leave. I haven't seen him and Mom since. I know I'm going to be in so much trouble when he tells her though.
~Leah
I close the book and lay it on the table next to my bed. With a heavy heart, I lay down on the soft pillow and pull the covers up to my chin. As I drift off to sleep, my anger at Mark turns to worry.
Why hasn't he called me? If I don't hear anything by tomorrow, I'm going to go find him and ring his neck! Wait, Megan said she would check on him. Sitting up quickly, I look at the time. Well It's not the end of her shift just yet, still another three or so hours to wait. I lay my phone on the pillow next to me, waiting anxiously for her call.
