Braden ' Power of 3' Page 3

CHAPTER 2

  THE ARRIVAL

  FRIDAY 26/2

  JAMIE

  I looked back at mum standing there looking lost in the misty rain. I was too excited to wait for her to explore with me so I took off and headed for the old boatshed at the harbour's edge

  Remnants of dad lay scattered and spent all around me; a battered football lay half hidden in the long grass and a cricket pitch, its wickets scattered and lost, lay like a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be pieced together like my dad's past.

  I tried to imagine dad playing here and wondered if he'd had lots of friends or as an only child like me had kept to himself.

  I missed dad like crazy, it made me angry and sad all at the same time whenever I thought of him dying. I looked up at the old stone manor trying to picture him gazing over the harbour from one of its many windows.

  Instinctively my eyes turned to the attic window where for a fleeting moment I thought I saw a shadowy figure staring back at me through the opened shutters. Gasping I turned away and when I looked again the shutters were closed.

  I yelled out to mum asking her if the caretaker was meeting us here but she didn't hear. Curious I left the boatshed for another day and headed back along the narrow path that wound around the old manor.

  It was spooky listening to the hollow echo of my footsteps on the worn cobblestones and for a moment I thought someone was following me. Nervously I looked back over my shoulder and saw mum walking along the harbour's edge. She looked sad and I wanted to run and hug her but thought better of it. I guessed mum was thinking of dad and knew it was best to leave her alone.

  I brushed the misty rain from my face and kept walking hoping that the side door just ahead was unlocked. I ducked beneath the half collapsed awning hanging over it and did a double take. Beside it was a set of stone steps leading down beneath the manor.

  Eagerly I ran down the time worn trodden steps wondering what I would find. Long narrow windows at ground level afforded a glimmer of light revealing traces of the manors past still lingering there. Long iron meat hooks hung in abundance from the stone ceiling and rows of deep shelves were carved into the stone walls. Excited, I ran around the vast expansive space discovering more and more relics of the manors past. In a deep nook old wooden wine barrels stood side by side next to racks of empty wine bottles that had waited to be filled. Curious I turned the tap on one of the wine barrels and to my delight wine came pouring out.

  I couldn't wait to tell mum I'd found the manors cellar and ran back up the stairs however the lure of what lay behind the side door made me waver. I looked over at mum still walking by the harbour's edge and turned the doorknob and stepped inside.

  The stale musty air made me choke. The old manor smelt like my socks after playing football in them for a week. I tried not to puke and called out for the caretaker, however no one answered. The fading evening light cast a gloom over the interior making it creepy and unwelcoming. Hesitant I stood there listening to the cold wind now blowing off the harbour whistling down the hallway. I shivered and quickly slammed the door shut causing a breeze to ring the small-antiquated bells hanging on a wooden panel beside me. Fascinated I ran my fingers over the corresponding numbers imprinted beneath them.

  Thinking that I must be in the servant's entrance I pulled one of the old chains hanging beneath the bells. I heard a ring in the room next to me and poked my head in, it was the manors kitchen. The kitchen was a time warp! Nothing except for the light switch, which didn't work, indicated that I was in the 21st century

  Happy that I'd discovered the manors old communication system I wandered inside.

  My feet naturally followed the servant's daily path worn into the old flagstone floor leading me to where they had toiled fulfilling their master's needs. I could almost see the maids in their long uniforms with freshly starched aprons standing at the heavy wooden work bench opposite the enormous open stone fireplace preparing countless meals to be cooked in the blackened iron pots hanging there.

  Running my hand over the huge wooden table and chairs sitting squarely behind the workbench in the center of the kitchen I wondered if this had been where the servants congregated for their own humble meals.

  I stood there soaking in the history of the manor as my eyes wandered over the finely crafted wooden dressers lining the stone walls. The modern china platters and dishes filling their shelves seemed incongruous to the manor and I figured they must have belonged to my grandparents.

  I tried to picture them here with my dad sitting by the fire waiting for his meal to be cooked on the old wooden stove by the back door that at some time in the manors history had replaced the archaic manner of cooking done by the early servants.

  Laughing to myself I tried to picture mum cooking on that old wood stove, it was going to be hilarious! And mum without a dishwasher and just an old sink with antiquated plumbing to wash up in was way beyond cool.

  Impatient to see the rest of the manor I returned to the servant's entrance and ran along the flagstone hallway thinking of the fun dad must have had growing up here. All the nooks and crannies in the thick stone walls would have been great hiding places.

  Shadows at the end of the hallway stopped me in my tracks and momentarily I stood there listening to the sounds of the old manor. My heart pounding I called out, but no one answered.

  Cautiously I ventured through the doorway thinking all the while of the figure I'd seen in the attic window.

  I hesitated, feeling small and vulnerable under the towering gilded ceiling of the manors foyer, its vastness overwhelmed me. The images of crimson moons and other worlds painted there made me strangely uneasy.

  Nervously my eyes wandered over the dark timber paneled walls filled with paintings of weird people and as I walked on I could feel their eyes watching me.

  Wooden carvings of reptilian creatures adorned the many archways lining the foyer and as I reached the grand central stairway I noticed its wrought iron balustrades had been forged to replicate them.

  I tried to shake off the growing feeling that there was something strange about my dad's childhood home and as I stood there I swear the enormous crystal chandelier hanging above me moved.

  I gulped, it remained still.

  I tried not to feel scared this had been my dad's home and I told myself there was nothing to fear.

  The tall Gothic like windows flanking the impressive front door glistened with mystery as did the rooms beyond the many archways and I could no longer restrain myself from exploring.

  Determinedly I strode on through the main archway ignoring the scary beastlike marble statue standing beside it.

  All around me furniture sat hidden beneath yellowed dust covers undisturbed it seemed since the manor had been abandoned many years before. Sadness and despair overcame me as I stood there desperately trying to capture a sense of my father

  Immobilized by grief the excitement of moving here was deserting me and I fought the tears welling in my eyes.

  I so desperately wanted to belong and be part of the heritage my father had left me but was finding the reality overwhelming. Never could I have imagined that my father had lived in such grandeur. I couldn't reconcile the carefree loving father that I'd known with the one that had hidden from me his life here in this old creepy manor

  I reached for the light switch wanting to shed the gloom not only from the room but my mind.

  I flicked the switch, nothing, just like the one in the kitchen. Damn! I realized that the electricity hadn't been connected. I kicked the wall in frustration and walked on.

  Impatiently I peeped under the sheets hoping to find a TV. However all I found was an abundance of antique furniture. Geese, whatever did dad do here without TV? I wondered. The thought of no TV until our stuff arrived from Sydney was painful.

  Deflated I wandered over to the huge stone fireplace that dominated the room; curiously it was filled with ashes. I ran my fingers through them and found that they were still warm. Somebody had been here not long ago.
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  Paranoia hit me. Feeling eyes watching me, I looked up at the painting hanging above the fireplace.

  Shivers ran through me as I stared at the young man and woman depicted there. The man looked just like my dad! Could they be my grandparents I wondered? Funny until now I'd never thought how strange it was that dad had never shown me any photos of them.

  It made me sad to think that I'd never known my grandparents and I couldn't help but wonder why dad had never brought me here.

  Suddenly the room felt icy cold and the embers in the fireplace stirred. I gulped indentations were beginning to form in the dust cover protecting the huge wing chair by the fireplace as if someone had just sat down. Not waiting to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me I ran out of the room heading for the side door back to mum.

  The flickering light dancing around the foyer walls stopped me in my tracks. I could hardly believe my eyes. Standing on the glided table in the middle of the floor was a lit oil lamp

  Cautiously I looked around; there was no one in sight. My heart pounding I stood there in deathly silence as the chandelier began to gently sway...someone was walking around upstairs.

  "Mum, is that you up there?" I called my voice barely a whisper.

  I could have sworn I heard faint female laughter.

  Relieved I thought that mum was playing a joke on me so I picked up the lamp and climbed the winding wooden staircase to investigate.

  As I neared the top of the stairs I could see the ornate brass oil sconces' adorning the crimson wallpapered walls of the long imposing hallway had been lit.

  "Mum are you up here?" I yelled wondering how she'd worked out how to light those ancient oil sconces.

  There was no answer.

  Warily I walked upon the hallways dusty bare floorboards noting that the only footprints there were my own.

  There was no one up here but me.

  Nervously I looked inside the seven bedrooms with their antiquated furniture and poked my head inside the ancient bathroom. Beside it was a staircase and I wondered if it led up to the attic where I'd seen that shadowy figure at the window.

  Eerily the old oil lights filled the hallway with shadows giving me the creeps squashing my curiosity. Dubiously I waved the lamp into the dark stairwell. I wanted to turn back but couldn't, I had to know what was up there.

  Before I could think too much I began to climb those rickety stairs.

  My heart pounded as the lamp began to reveal the old paneled walls covered in thick cobwebs heavily laden with centuries of dust and other disgusting, unimaginable creatures. Repulsed I tried to avoid their sticky clutches as they swept undisturbed across the stairs in front of me. It was obvious that no one had passed this way for a long time.

  Nervously I laughed, the figure I'd seen in the attic window had been a product of my imagination.

  Relieved, I decided the attic could remain a mystery until tomorrow and quickly made my way back downstairs.

  I could hear mum falling over things in the old kitchen and knew by her voice that I'd better get there pronto.

  "Jamie, where are you, answer me!"

  I looked at her frazzled face and knew I better say nothing about what I had just experienced. She looked a sight, one of her high heels had snapped and she was hopping around like a maniac.

  I stifled a laugh.

  "Don't you laugh young man, it's not funny. Damn it! I can't find the light switch."

  "Wouldn't help, there's no power."

  "OH GREAT! Just what I need! How the heck are we going to find our way around this mausoleum?"

  "It's cool! Look, I found a lit lamp in the foyer."

  "What is there somebody here?"

  Mum's voice quivered with trepidation as her eyes darted over my shoulder. I swear I saw the hairs on her arms stand on end

  "Not that I can see. Its okay mum, don't get your knickers in a not. The caretaker must have left it for us. He lit the old oil lights in the hallway upstairs as well." I replied trying to convince myself more than her.

  "Right Jamie, you stay here and don't move okay? Give me the lamp, I'll explore upstairs."

  "I wouldn't bother I've already checked it out. Come on mum, everything is going to be okay.... we did the right thing moving here. We'll have lots of fun, you'll see!"

  As I spoke the words, I swear I could hear the house whispering...laughing at me.