Ware, Ruth - In a Dark Dark Wood by Ware Ruth

Author:Ware, Ruth [Ware, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9781473512344
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Published: 2015-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

19

NINA FELL ASLEEP almost instantly, and lay there, sprawled out like a tanned daddy-long-legs, snoring away.

I lay awake, trying to go to sleep, but instead I was thinking about the evening and the strange little group Clare had gathered around her this weekend. I wanted to leave so badly it hurt – to be back at home, in my own bed, with my own things, in the blissful peace and quiet. Now I was counting down the hours, and listening to Nina’s soft snores and behind that to the silence of the house and the forest.

Not quite silence though. As I was drifting off there came a quiet creak and then a bang, not a loud one, just as if a door was banging in the wind.

I was almost drowsing when it came again, a long slow ekkkkkkk, and then a staccato clack.

The strange thing was, it sounded like it was inside the house.

I sat up, holding my breath, trying to hear the noise above Nina’s snores.

Ekkkkkkkk … clack!

This time there was no doubt. The sound was certainly not coming from outside the window, but floating up the stairwell. I got up, grabbed my dressing gown, and tiptoed to the door.

When I opened it, I almost screamed: a ghost-like figure was standing on the landing, bending over the bannisters.

I didn’t scream. But I must have made some kind of choked gasp because the figure turned and put her finger to her lips. It was Flo, dressed in a white nightgown with pink flowers, bleached pale in the moonlight.

‘You heard it too?’ I whispered.

She nodded. ‘Yes, I thought it might be a gate in the garden, but it’s not, it’s inside the house.’

There was a creak behind us and we both turned to see Clare coming out of the bedroom, rubbing her eyes.

‘What is it?’

‘Shh,’ Flo whispered. ‘There’s something downstairs. Listen.’

We all paused.

Eeeeekkkkk … clack!

‘It’s just a door in the wind,’ Clare said, yawning. Flo shook her head, vehemently.

‘It’s inside the house. What wind could there be inside the house? Someone must have left a door open.’

‘Impossible,’ Clare said. ‘I checked them all.’

Flo put her hands over her throat looking suddenly frightened. ‘We’ve got to go down, haven’t we?’

‘Let’s wake Tom,’ Clare said. ‘He looks tall and menacing.’

She tiptoed into his room and I heard her whispering, ‘Tom! Tom! There’s a noise in the house.’

He came out, bleary-eyed and pale, and we all crept slowly down the stairs.

There was a door open, you could tell it as soon as we reached the ground floor. It was cold as ice and a breeze was blowing through the hallway, coming from the kitchen. Flo turned completely pale.

‘I’m getting the gun,’ she whispered, her voice so slight you could hardly hear.

‘I thought you said,’ Clare mouthed, ‘that it was loaded with blanks?’

‘It is,’ Flo whispered crossly, ‘but he won’t know that, will he?’ She jerked her head at the living-room door. ‘You first, Tom.’

‘Me?’ Tom said, in a horrified whisper, but he rolled his eyes and edged his head very quietly around the living-room door.

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