Beneath those Floorboards Part - 1

Part 1

I heard a strange noise in the attic again. The same creaking noise i have been hearing for a week. I was in my bedroom which was on the second floor of the house. This was a huge house, with old creaking floorboards, A dim-lit basement, a Fire chimney, 6 Huge rooms with king-size beds, a 3 storey house with stairs going up in circles from both the sides of the hall. Living room joined with the kitchen on the right side and a laundry room, which was quite big for a laundry room. The house swung with the air, it shrank in the cold and expanded in summers. This house was designed by my great great great grandfathers. Many generations of my family lived here.

I ignored the noise at first but then I heard the floorboards creak again. I knew the sound came from the attic. I have heard these sounds before. Once i was in my bedroom, reading my favourite book, when i heard the same noise, i went to investigate but could not find the reason for the noise. I heard those same noises again when I was doing my laundry once. We used to have a lot of maids in the past years, so the creaking of the floorboards was obvious before. But now when the house sits idle with only my family in it, slightest creak makes you wonder the reason for it. It was a lot of times when i heard those floorboards creak without any noticeable factors. I always thought to myself, this was an old house, and old houses do make noise, as the structure gets old, the noises increase.

 The creaking noises, now no longer seemed natural but very choreographed, and they were increasing every minute as to they were being done on purpose. I was scared as i was alone in the house. Mother and father had gone to a nearby village but they were soon to be returning. Although i thought of ignoring those noises, Curiosity got the best of me, also the noises were very bothering. Then came a time when I could no longer ignore the noise as it seemed like someone was walking up and down the stairs that lead to the attic. I thought of investigating the matter even though i wasn't really sure about it. I was sitting in my bedroom, going through the newspaper, i kept the newspaper on the table beside my bed, got up hesitantly, and went straight up to the attic.

I looked down to where the door was on the ground floor, to my relief it was closed with dim lights on both sides of the door, i could see there was really no one there. I thought of checking the first floor, even though i knew the noise came from the 3rd floor. Maybe i was just procrastinating, maybe i was just a little scared. So i walked to the stairs when i suddenly realised there was an increase in frequency and intensity in those creaking noises from the 3rd floor. With a heavy heart, scared, trying to calm my throbbing heart, i moved around and i walked towards the stairs that lead to the 3rd floor. It was dark with a few rays of moonlight coming through the window. The dust particles were visible and dancing in those moon rays. My heartbeat increased and I was thinking of every possible reason for those strange creaking noises as i climbed the stairs. The strong blowing wind? The over-grown trees at the back of the house scratching the wall? Or perhaps an animal, a squirrel or rats? I thought of every possible reason to stop my mind from panicking over the noises. 

 I reached on the 3rd floor of the house. It had been years since i last visited the 3rd floor, and i even got punished for it once. I was not allowed there. It was only my mother, who visited the 3rd floor occasionally. The attic was above the roof of the 3rd floor, there were wooden stairs that lead to the attic. The stairs for the attic were the kind you could pull out from the roof. They perfectly fell to the ground in a slightly tilted position for you to climb up the attic with ease. For my surprise when I went on the last floor of the house where there was the only entry for the attic room I found the stairs were already down. As far as I knew, no one was in the house except me at that moment in time. My mind raced with questions, Did mother visited and left the stairs down? But she rarely visits here, and mother was very organized, she would never leave the stairs down. An Animal? But no animal would ever pull the stairs down. Did the mechanism that holds the stairs break? But that would not be possible, as this house was well maintained and this possibility would have lead to an even louder banging noise. Did someone break-in? A burglar? Perhaps a psycho murderer? Was someone trying to steal something from the attic? Did anyone know i was alone and this was the best time to invade? My heart throbbed as I slowly climbed up the stairs to the attic. With each step i took, I could hear the wood creak.

I never liked these creaking sounds and there were a lot of them when I first came back home from the university. Mother was never happy with me coming back here in Trichester, a tiny village in outskirts of England, famous for its various types of brambles. She always told me it would be better if I find myself a job and stay out of this tiny village. I was a History Major. I was always fascinated with everything ancient, stuck between wanting to become a historian or an anthropologist. I decided to take a break and relax. Go back home and spend some time with my parents. And I loved Trichester, it sure was a tiny village, but it had huge castles and a few ancient monuments which were now in ruins. Also, I was born here. I had my roots here so i never thought of leaving Trichester. After a lot of persuading I was successful in convincing my mother to let me take a break and stay home for a couple of months

 First few weeks were difficult because I was not used to these floorboards creaking. Daytime was fine. I had other things to do. I would visit the village market. Visit Monuments, castles and churches, stroll around, sit by the lake. But when the night fell, and everything was dark and silent, i could hear the creaking noises that would pierce my ears. I would hardly sleep. But as time passed by, I got used to it.

I climbed up the attic stairs slowly, my heart throbbed louder with each step I took, and I could hear myself breathing. I stood on the stairs and I peeked with only my head above the attic floorboard. My eyes looked all over the 180° degree space I could look. I noticed the floorboards of the Attic were thicker built than usual. On the left corner, I could see my great grandmother's old vintage mirror covered with a dusty white sheet, the mirror used to be in her bedroom but when she died, it was shifted in the attic, and her bedroom was made into a guest room though we never have had visitors here. Then there were other junk items lying around, Some i instantly recognised, some i didn't. In front of me lied the old trunk. That trunk used to be in my Parent's bedroom under their bed, my mother never let me open that trunk as a kid, she said there were precious and some priceless items in it from my great-great-grandfathers and mothers and if i take them their spirits would be really angry. So to not upset my great grandparents i never dared open that trunk. On the right side was a tiny window from which a little light came into the room. That was the only light source for the attic. We used to have a bulb here but we never used the attic so mother took the bulb and put it in the laundry room. I saw a lot of junk, boxes, and vintage items lying in the attic in front of me with a thick sheet of dust on them. It was dark with little light from the tiny window falling on the items lying around, rest everything was covered in darkness. 

I couldn't see anyone who may be trying to invade. My breathing slowed down as I couldn't find anything in front of my eyes. But then a thought struck and my heart raced, and a lot of questions roused in my head as I realized, What if the unknown I'm looking for is right behind me, about to pounce on me?  Watching me, waiting for the right time to attack? Suddenly I heard the floorboards creak again. I felt a cold breeze and a pungent smell stung my nose. The darkness in front of me increased and my heart started racing like it just ran a marathon. I was sweating, my neck and spine felt a tingling sensation and i got goosebumps all over my body. The urge for looking back increased simultaneously with the urge for not looking back. My head felt dizzy with fear, I wanted to close my eyes, scream, and get away from there. I could hear my heart throbbing, clear and loud, my hands were sweaty and my legs were shaking as I stood on the stairs not knowing what to do next.

The fear of what might be lurking around just a few minutes before I came here, engulfed me. The thought of what may be behind me drowned me in fear. I couldn't think straight as I was standing on the stairs of the attic with my head above the floorboards. My heart was pounding loudly, eyes numb with tears, i was about to close my ears and eyes, and scream when I felt a strong grip on my legs. I screamed in fear nevertheless, closed my eyes, lost my balance and thud! I fell.

Ours was one of the oldest houses in trichester. It was a huge house with a history to remember. I only knew and learned about my grandparents and great grandparents on my Father's side. I remember my grandparents were always visited by the village folks. They were well respected. But as the years passed by, lesser and lesser people visited and one day they just stopped visiting. My grandmother died first and so did my grandfather soon after. Later, hardly anyone visited except Adger, an old man who delivered our groceries. He would visit every week on his cart pulled by his old horse. Somedays his nephew Richie would visit. He was my only friend left as rest of them eventually stopped talking with me. Didn't know if it was the house or we were too isolated ourselves and not enough warm like our grandparents. Our maids left too, giving various reasons and no new maid would agree on working in our house, we figured there may have being false rumours but decided to ignore. Eventually, all the house staff left as the years went by and only my Mother and Father remained. Even I was in boarding all year round and only visited during holidays.

As a kid, when i used to visit the village in holidays. I used to hear a lot of stories of our ancestral house being visited by ancient creatures, ghosts, and ghouls, burglars trying to steal the precious treasures hidden in this house in the yet unknown location as well as stories of murderers and murders taken place in this house. I never understood when these stories or rumours started circulating. I have read the history of this house, there never seem to be any of such sort of rumours before.

 This was a tiny village with population in only hundreds, surrounded by mountains with dark forests where no one dared to go, A calm deep river, which never really flooded but said to be soo deep that no one really dared swim in it, it had a few old boats, but they were rarely used for fishing, on the opposite side was a dense forest, where the villagers were prohibited from going so there were no boats to sail across. The river connected to the ocean at the left side with trees overlapping half of the horizon from where you could see the sunset, and then there was this last side where a small muddy road lead to the state highway which connected nearby cities. This muddy little road had huge ancient trees on both sides. Vehicles were very few. Only a few villagers had cars, Most of the villagers preferred walking or riding their horses. We had the privilege of using cars though.

I didn't have many friends here, cause a lot of the mothers were scared to send their children to play with me in this house. I never understood why. I remember walking down the village market as a kid with my mother and the strange glares we would get from the villagers. I still had one friend though, the grocer's nephew. he was my best friend growing up. He would sneak in our yard from the back entry and we would play. He would tell me stories he heard from the villagers of this house. He would tell me stories of ghouls, shadows, and murders taken place generations back in this very house I lived. I never took it seriously though. Even as a child I never believed in fairy tales. I only believed what I saw. Even as a grown-up I believed in, seeing is believing but when you are caught up in a situation and feel helpless and lonely, our mind tends to play games with us. I was very well aware of it.

My body must have been lying on the 3rd floor, unconscious for a while, when i felt a warm touch on my cheek. I opened my eyes to my panicked and worried mother. My eyes were still a little dizzy and I was covered with sweat from the fear. My head felt heavy and my breathing was faster than normal. I regained my consciousness and sat up in a fraction of a second. I started looking here and there when I felt a soft and warm touch on my cheek. My mother holding my cheeks, sitting in front of me, I heard her sweet sweet voice, "You okay? Are you alright my darling? What happened? Why are you on the 3rd floor? Did you faint? At that moment I felt as if mother came to me as my saviour. I hugged her and sobbed. She helped me get up. We went to my bedroom. I lied on the bed. She asked me if i was alright. I told her, that i was alright and that she need not worry. She asked me various questions with a worrisome face. I told her, i was still feeling dizzy, i may have hit my head. I was fine and just slipped. I apologized to her and told her i won't visit the 3rd floor again. My mother gave me a half-smile, told me she will bring me something to eat and left. 

I lied on the bed with my eyes wide open. I was soo scared to close my eyes. I tried to remember everything that had happen. Who grabbed my feet? Mother? But that didn't feel right. Was it just my hallucination? But i felt the grip on my legs, it was soo strong. I slowly slid the blanket aside from my legs to see if i had any marks, i could see nothing but a little bruise at the side of my right leg. This could have been anything, and it didn't even look like it was caused by a strong grip. I covered myself with a blanket. I held my pillow tight in my arms, rested my head on it and sat wondering and questioning everything that had taken place.

As i was lost in my thoughts, Mother came back with my favourite hazelnut and cream soup. It was my mother's speciality and I absolutely love my mother's hazelnut and cream soup. I gulped down all of it quickly. Mother who was sitting beside me politely asked me again as to what had happened earlier but I refused to tell her. she smiled, kissed my head. Tucked me in, picked the empty bowl of soup and went away. I lied down on my side with my hand below my head thinking if it was just my imagination, or if i had over thought about the things that were happening earlier. Lost in thoughts, confused, Soon I fell asleep.

I heard a strange noise in the attic again. I realized I was sleeping but not dreaming. The noise was loud and clear. I wanted to open my eyes and look for myself but I remembered what have had happen earlier. Now no longer thinking that it may have been my imagination, The fear of the unknown returned. I was lying in bed trying to avoid any sudden movements.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed from the moment I slept after that weird incident. I was on my bed, lying, scared, eyes closed tight, I could hear the floorboards creak, and I felt as if the noise was increasing with every creak. Soon I realized that the noise was coming from behind my back, beside the bed. The exact bed I was lying on, scared, eyes closed. I started shaking, I didn't want to make any noise, I didn't want to give away my presence but I knew whoever it was, whatever it was, already knew I was there, awake and scared. I pressed my teeth against each other as hard as I could. I closed my eyes shut. I knew I was shaking with fear. I had goosebumps up and down my legs and hands. My throat hurt with the scream that couldn't be passed and it was then I could feel a stench in the air. A very strong stench that choked me, and I felt a cold breath on my neck as if someone in the hot summer afternoon stuffed their mouth with crushed ice and kissed me on the neck.

As pleasant as the cold was, the stench was unbearable. I wanted to open my eyes now. I wanted to see it for myself but I was too scared to move a muscle. It felt as if it was forever that I was lying there experiencing the worst nightmare of my lifetime. The cold on my neck now no longer pleasant, it felt like a thousand cold needles were piercing my skin. It felt as if it was never going to end, an endless cold, filled with stench nightmare . I closed my eyes tight. Started thinking of the happy moments, beautiful things yet shaking with fear, trying to avoid sudden movements.

Thankfully! Soon it all ended, the stench was no longer there, the cold and eeriness disappeared. After a while, everything seemed normal, as scared as I was I couldn't feel any presence anymore though. I somehow knew whatever, whoever it was has gone. I gulped, took a long deep breathe, and slowly opened my eyes. My heart raced as I opened my eyes. In a swift movement, I looked back to find no one. The door of my bedroom was open. I got up and sat on the bed with my back stuck tight against the wall behind, scared, I somehow convinced myself that mother must've forgotten to close the door when she left. I somehow convinced myself that it was just a nightmare. I convinced myself to get up and check the corridor and close the door of my room.

I sat up holding my blanket and pillow tightly. I slowly switched on my bedside lamp. I hesitantly stood up. I took baby steps towards the door, i felt something wet against my feet, i thought to myself, it must be the dew from the cold weather and i kept walking. I was holding the flashlight which I always kept in my bedside drawer in one hand, in my other hand was a small knife for self-defence which i always kept under my bedsheet.

 I always kept this knife with me wherever i went. It was the last thing my grandmother gave me as a child. I didn't know it was a knife then, it was in a golden, bejewelled sheath, with a hidden button to open it and get the knife out. I was only able to remove the knife from its sheath when i was in my teens. Sadly Grandma passed away long before i could open it.

 I reached the door and peeked into the corridor, all I could see was a long path surrounded by darkness and very little light. I saw empty steps leading to the last floor of the house, where there was the entry door for the attic. My eyes slowly staring in the distance went straight to the attic door, My hands and legs started shaking and sweating, my heart stopped thumping, I lost my breath as I saw the stairs leading to the attic were down and there was a huge cloud of dust around it. My heart throbbed loudly and fear engulfed me as I heard the floorboards creak again.

My heart nearly stopped when i felt a cold gust of air kissed my skin and passed in a swift. I got goosebumps and I started regretting the fact that I was out of the bed, I regretted the fact that I was no longer tucked in. God! That felt soo safe. But I was defenceless and terrified. My feet got glued on the ground with fear. I could no longer move. I was petrified. I wanted to scream, but I was terrified of what may be lurking in the dark when suddenly I heard the floorboards creak again, only this time the sound wasn't coming from the attic. I tried to concentrate, I tried to focus on the voice, to figure where exactly it was coming from, when I heard it again, this time louder and clearer. It felt as if whatever, whoever was making the sound, was right behind me...

Maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me or maybe there was someone behind me. But there was no one in the house except for me and my parents. I looked up where the entry to the attic was, the cloud of dust was distorted in a formation as if someone ran through it. Fear engulfed me. My mind started racing my heart throbbing as if it was about to pop out of my rib cage. Is there an entity living in this house with us, without our knowledge? But I never believed in any of such supernatural forces. This didn't seem logical but the events that took place today made me believe otherwise. I thought of turning and seeing what was haunting me. I was too scared but perhaps this was the only way i could find out what exactly was going on. My face turned pale with fear, I was sweating. I felt a cold breeze on my neck. I shivered. I wanted to cry. My breath fastened. I couldn't handle this anymore. I let out a scream and looked back at once. My eyes widened with fear. My heart stopped. My perfectly arranged room was in shatters. The table beside my bed was knocked over. The lamp was broken and fallen over on the floor. The chairs were broken and tossed. Curtains were torn. Bed moved. My eyes glanced over the room to find no one. There was just me and my room which was perfectly fine a few minutes ago, but now looked shattered!

Mom and dad came running from their room as they heard me scream. They didn't have to open the door of my room as it was already open and I was standing speechless right there, staring into my room. Dad stood on the doorway looking at the mess that my room was. My mom concerned, came over to me, calling my name, asking me if I was okay. My mouth remained open, my eyes widened, I didn't know what to say... When suddenly I heard my dad say, "I know it wasn't you, and I know who it really was. It's happening again". My breathing fastened, I turned around at once. I looked in my dad's eyes with immense fear asking him, "Again? who..whoo did it? what do you mean dad?". My dad pointed at the ceiling with fear in his eyes, his face was white with fear and fingers shaking as he pointed. I slowly looked up with fear aching my heart, questions rising in my mind. when I heard my mom mutter under her breath, "Isabella!".