Whisper To Me

Chapter 1

March 2007

Rain lashed the windscreen as the black night sky unleashed its fury, and the windscreen wipers made a futile attempt to sweep it away. The trees on either side of the country lane were tossed around wildly on the strength of the wind.

Exciting isn’t it, the woman said with the thrill of a little girl defying her mother and standing out in a thunderstorm.

Yes. Nature’s awesome power. I’ll be glad to get home though, the man answered.

The woman shivered in her excitement. If one of these trees falls we could be killed.

Yes. He concentrated on his driving.

Theo?

Yes?

If I die you won’t marry again will you?

Why on earth would you say that?

You wouldn’t though would you?

I’ve never even thought about it and I don’t know why you should.

Tell me you won’t though.

How can I tell you that? None of us knows what the future holds.

A flash of lightening zig zagged earthwards and bounced across the bonnet of the car making them both jump and was followed almost immediately by an angry crack of thunder.

The gods are displeased, she mused and he hoped that she’d been distracted from her topic. She hadn’t.

You’re mine Theo. I don’t want anyone else having you.

Who says you’re going to die first anyway? It might be me.

I’d never marry again. There’d never be anyone but you for me.

Why this sudden talk of death? And what would it matter if I married again? It’s not like cheating on you is it, you wouldn’t be here.

I’d be waiting for you in the spirit world. I’d be watching over you, waiting for you to come to me.

What a morbid subject to end a lovely evening with. We’ve had a romantic meal to celebrate our fourteenth wedding anniversary and you start talking about death.

Promise me Theo.

OK, OK I promise, but you’re not going to die.

Chapter 2

April 2017

Oh Theo put me down, you’ll drop me! The brittle laughter held no bell like feminine tinkle but was a rather more harsh sound, like grit being thrown over a food grater.

Nonsense Mrs Stanyer! I said I’d carry you over the threshold and I will.

But I’m too heavy.

Hostile eyes watched from the empty house and a peevish thought rippled. ‘You’re dead right there, fat bitch. He’ll do his back in.’ The thought evolved. ‘But that will be good. He won’t be able to make love to you in my house.’

The thought didn’t communicate itself to the newlyweds, their happiness in each other obliterating any nuance pervading the house. If it was unwelcoming the new bride was too thick skinned to pick up on it, so secure was she in Theo’s love.

Before setting her on her feet he kissed her long and passionately and the entity bristled. ‘Theo you promised me.’

He ended the kiss and the entity was appeased. Theo went back outside to collect the suitcases but not before a seductive slap to his wife’s well rounded buttocks and the suggestion to put the kettle on for a drink after their long journey.

They’d honeymooned in Benidorm – her choice – he’d have preferred the culture of Athens but he’d conceded to her wishes. He wanted his wife to be happy, as his previous one had been. He knew that Letitia hadn’t wanted him to remarry, had said she’d be watching him, waiting for him but surely she hadn’t meant it; there were no such things as ghosts. At forty seven she couldn’t expect him to accept a life of celibacy could she? Surely she’d be happy for him…

The honeymoon had been an insouciant week of sun, sea and sex. He’d been celibate for nine years following Letitia’s death and it had felt like he was discovering its joys for the first time when he and Sheena first indulged. They’d met a year ago and the relationship had soon become sexual. Sheena was also widowed, only by a year but she was a passionate woman and had seduced Theo with her curves.

At first he’d found her a lot to handle – literally – after Letitia’s slenderness, but Letitia – or Tish as he always called her – had been ten years younger at the time of her death and Sheena admitted she’d gained weight since being widowed, comfort eating she’d said, added to middle aged spread. She was happy with herself though and it hadn’t taken him long to become accustomed to her. Her ample breasts were like feather pillows and her voluptuousness seemed to devour him, a not altogether unpleasant feeling. No wonder then that the honeymoon had been rampant.

He deposited the suitcases in the bedroom; they could be unpacked later. Right now he was desperate for a drink and afterwards? Well… they had a new marital bed to christen.

Lost in Sheena’s body Theo was oblivious to all but the desires of the flesh, but the entity was enraged. That might be a new bed but this was her room, her house. How dare he bring that fat tart to rule over it in her place! How dare that woman thrill to his touch, and how could he betray her wishes? She focussed every ounce of energy on the copulating couple, forcing her image between them, wanting to suffocate their cries of ecstasy. They ignored her but still she concentrated her presence.

When they fell apart spent and sweating, she lingered, manifesting her displeasure throughout the room like miasmic mist. She looked down and the woman looked up, focussing her eyes on the ceiling.

Look Theo. I don’t remember that damp patch before.

Theo followed her gaze. Maybe there was a storm while we were away and a tile’s come loose. I’ll go out and have a look later.

Sheena lay looking up like a child seeing rabbits in the clouds on a summer’s day. It looks like a woman’s face, don’t you think?

Theo studied it. Not especially.

It does, look, there’s the nose and the eyes. I feel as though they’re watching us. Creepy!

You’re being fanciful. It’s just an amorphous damp patch. I can’t see anything in it.

He traced a finger lightly over her languid body and she forgot about the patch and relished the delicious afterglow.

An hour later, after he’d showered, Theo got out the ladders to inspect the roof.

No slates loose, he reported as he stepped back down.

Perhaps a pipe has leaked in the loft.

I’ll check there next. I hope it’s not the water tank. I don’t want any trouble with that.

Theo shinned up into the loft, noticing not for the first time the loss of the suppleness of youth. He shone a torch round everywhere, cutting swathes of light through the blackness, felt the lagging beneath the beams, felt all round the water tank. No, nothing, no leaks anywhere. He looked up into the rafters at the felt on the roof. Maybe there was a tiny gap where driving rain could seep in, but no, not the merest sliver of light shone through. Weird. He must ask his daughter if there’d been rain whilst they’d been away. There must have been; there must be a chink somewhere, there was no other explanation.

He reported back to Sheena expecting her to be sorting the washing out as it was such a lovely day to get it dry, but she was sitting reading a magazine.

No leaks up there. Aren’t you putting the washing on?

I’ll do it later. She barely looked up from the magazine and Theo went to unpack the cases. He knew she didn’t mind wearing knickers two days running but he liked fresh boxers and socks each day. He didn’t object to taking his turn with the washing, he liked everywhere ordered, just as Tish had.

He went upstairs and lifted the suitcases onto the bed, then began sorting the clothes into piles: darks, lights, towels. He’d had plenty of practice at doing the laundry after Tish’s death with their children still young. Ross had been thirteen and Saskia ten, it was a task he didn’t mind as long as the weather was good to get it dry, he hated wet washing hanging round. Ironing was another matter, not a favourite job, a necessary evil.

Loading the first pile into the washing machine he turned at the sound of the cat flap in the back door to see Smokey the family tom cat, named after the colour of his lustrous coat come in, fixing him with an accusatory glare that said, ‘So you’re back.’ He always played the rejection card whenever anyone went away and kept his distance for a while when they returned to punish them for leaving him.

Hello Smokey. Saskia been looking after you has she? Theo bent to scratch the silver ears and the cat twisted his head into the caress for a second then remembered he was giving out the silent treatment and stalked off, tail ramrod straight, up in the air.

We’ll be going to fetch your antagonist back soon. I bet you’ve had a peaceful week without Shandy haven’t you.

If the cat could have spoken it would have replied, ‘Yes and don’t bother going to fetch it,’ but all he did was to rub his head along the door of the cupboard where his food was kept. Theo had got him for the children in an attempt to ease their grief after their mother had died, so ten years on Smokey’s territory was his own.

Shandy was Sheena’s chihuahua, a spoilt little beast that Saskia had refused point blank to look after whilst her father was on honeymoon.

It’s not even housetrained! she’d exploded. She lets it shit all over the place and pee on the carpet and never bothers to disinfect it. The house would stink to high heaven if you or I didn’t do it. Mum would turn in her grave.

It’ll be different once we’re married, Theo had pacified. I’ll make sure she does it.

I don’t know how, Saskia had humphed tossing her dark hair. If she doesn’t do it now when she’s on her best behaviour to win you over, she’s not going to bother once she knows she’s got you.

Come on Sas, don’t be like that.

Well she’s not is she. Anyway I’m not looking after it, I can’t stand the snappy little creature.

Shandy had been shipped off to Sheena’s daughter’s home for the week and Theo was left pondering the situation between his daughter and his fiancée.

Both Sheena’s daughter and son and their families had accepted him, but his own children hadn’t taken to her. Ross at twenty three was sharing a flat with his current girlfriend for however long it would last. The flat was in his name though so if the relationship ended he wouldn’t be coming home. Saskia was still living at home, working for the parks department, she loved the outdoors and anything that grew. Theo didn’t want to push his daughter out of the nest before she was ready to fly but he didn’t know how to deal with her hostility towards Sheena. He didn’t know if she resented her taking her mother’s place or if the two personalities clashed. Women were complex creatures and he decided they were best left to sort it out between themselves.

Saskia’s face when she greeted him on her return home from work was not filled with joy, rather more it was veiled and her response to his querying her week was cool.

What’s the weather been like here?

Great.

Any rain?

None.

Not even a shower?

Nothing. Beautiful blue skies. We’d have welcomed a downpour at work and here to give everywhere a drink.

No other problems?

No, I’d’ve told you. Why do you ask?

Oh nothing really. There’s a damp patch on the bedroom ceiling.

Which bedroom? Not mine.

Ours. Have you seen it?

No. Haven’t been in there but I’ve not noticed anything amiss. It must have been there before you went, after the last rain.

No it wasn’t.

I bet it was and you just didn’t notice.

Maybe his daughter was right. He wasn’t given to lying pondering the ceiling. He usually got into bed, turned over and went to sleep. Yes, that must be the explanation. There had been rain he recalled a couple of weeks ago. He’d keep an eye on it with the next shower."

Shandy arrived back yapping and snapping and Smokey sauntered past her with a look of disdain. Saskia had gone over to see her brother and his girlfriend. She and Ross had always been close – more so since being thrown together after their mother’s death whilst Theo was out at work – and the three of them got on well, at least Theo thought they did. Josie, Ross’s girlfriend didn’t seem to bear any resentment to the sibling relationship as far as he could see, but then he didn’t see a great deal of them. Ross didn’t visit often, he seemed happy with his own life.

Content to be home alone, Theo and Sheena nestled together on the sofa for an evening in front of the TV. He nuzzled a kiss beneath her ear.

Happy?

She smiled self indulgently. Blissfully.

Not everyone was blissfully happy. Like beads of venom seeping from the walls the entity watched and plotted.

Chapter 3

The house was an average three bedroomed semi on a modern estate skirting the town of Handwell. By no means a palace but neat and well maintained – and home. It was convenient for everywhere but with its own areas of countryside and a stretch of the Cauldon canal meandering through beneath stone bridges. A place called Brandon Head.

Theo and Letitia had moved in when they’d first married and the house had been new. It was theirs to put their own indelible mark on, to mould with their life, their children, their love, but some vindictive higher power had other plans and their castle in the air was smashed by a demolition ball. Such a tiny ball, an innocent insect, that was what had destroyed their idyll.

For Theo the world had turned black, black as that rainswept evening of their fourteenth wedding anniversary when Tish had sent a shiver of foreboding down his spine by talking about death. He hadn’t wanted to go on but he’d had to for the children, had to be both mother and father to them; then he’d met Sheena.

Big and blonde, the complete antithesis of Tish’s delicate dark looks, she’d bounced into his life and suddenly it had meaning again. He didn’t feel he’d betrayed Tish’s memory, he’d been alone for nine years, he thought he deserved a little happiness. He prided himself he’d made a good job of rearing Ross and Saskia, he thought that Tish would be pleased and now it was his time, before his brown hair turned grey and his fine features became too creased.

They’d met at the vet’s, Theo and Sheena. She’d bounced through the door like an exuberant boxer puppy, leading the feisty little chihuahua, whose personality made it