Just a Spook

Part 1

31st October 1922

Robert was snoring beside her for a while already. But Cora's eyes just snapped open repeatedly. She had been so tired when she had said goodnight to the others downstairs. All she had wanted was shrugging off her gown and feeling Baxter's fingertips on her scalp as she removed the pins from her hair. Robert had followed her upstairs soon. When she had slipped beneath the covers, a tender chill running up her calves and bare underarms, he had entered the bedroom through the adjoining door from his dressing room.

"And I thought you may have already warmed up the bed for me," he had teased. She had cuddled up in bed, clutching the blanket and shivering slightly. He had gotten rid of his dressing gown walking and had joined her quickly. Robert had fluffed up his pillow as he had mentioned, "We could return to asking the maids to warm up the sheets in winter."

"Oh, it's alright," Cora had waved off. She had shuffled closer to him. "After all, I've got you." A grin had graced her features.

"True."

Now, the room was dark – not pitch-dark, the light of the moon was rather bright this night and seeped into the room from behind the drawn curtains – and Cora was alone with her inability to find sleep. Every time she got to the brink of sleep, a sudden thought jolted through her mind and she was wide awake again. With open eyes, she laid on her back watching into the grey void. The wind howled outside. The weather was nasty. Robert and she had to pass their morning walk today. It had poured, leaving the paths in deep puddles. The strong wind had first swirled up the neatly piled-up dead leaves, just so the heavy rain could soak them. And at night, the wind had even increased. It rattled at the windows, swished around the high brick walls of the house, and wheezed through the ornamental carvings in the light sandstone.

Cora breathed deeply, hoping she would be able to calm down enough to fall into a light slumber.

Bang.

A sudden dull splash against the window ripped her from her relaxed state. Cora jerked unpleasantly and lay in bed rigidly, arms pressed to her sides. Her wide eyes transfixed the canopy intensely.

Cora always thought she wasn't easily scared, but her heart raced anxiously right now. In her mind, it could be anything that had knocked against her window. Right now, it didn't matter that she was up on the second floor. Her thoughts ran wild. A bird? A bat drifted away by the storm? Gosh, a stranger seeking entrance? Now, her panic really got the better of her. She shook herself and tried to roll around in bed. She snuggled up at Robert's side, burying her face at his shoulder to forget about the spooky night outside. But the image of a large print of a palm on her window became more detailed in her imagination. Cora sighed. She was behaving like a child. But maybe then she should do what she'd do with a child that was scared. She would get out of bed and uncover the spook. Facing the fear would take away the frightening unknown.

Her bare feet descended onto the carpeted floor cautiously. The wheezing sounds from outside didn't subside. The room was cold but the carpet felt soft under the sole of her feet. Cora crossed her arms in front of her chest and clutched her arms tightly. As she stood up, the cold air enveloped her. She decided to better hurry to the window. She hated being cold. But fast tiptoeing wasn't the easiest of tasks. Cora didn't dare make a sound. She wasn't quite sure if it was because she didn't want to wake Robert or because she thought whatever might be outside the window mustn't hear her. It was foolish, considering her plan was to open the curtains to see what was there. But she tiptoed nevertheless.

When she stood in front of the velvet curtain, she hesitated. Should she rip it open quickly? Should she pull it aside cautiously? Should she merely peek from behind one end of the curtain? She was undecided. Probably the mixture of fatigue, nervousness and her highly alerted state made her rational judgement null and void.

So, for a few seconds, Cora was rooted to the spot. Before she had made a conscious decision, her hand reached out slowly for the thick amber velvet. Her fingertips touched the outermost fibres of the fabric without disturbing the still drapes. The nearly non-existent touch made a tingly shiver run down Cora's spine. This sensation let her lose her countenance partly. She grabbed a pleat (deliberately avoiding letting her fingers slip on the other side though) and pulled the curtain to the side in a swift motion. A rush of cold air swished around her, and she heard herself taking a brisk and sharp breath.

At first, Cora saw nothing. Dark grey night. Traces of rain on the glass of the window. Swaying silhouettes of trees somewhere afar. It was quite unspectacular in comparison to her vivid imaginations. But then she noticed the foreign matter on the glass. She jerked backwards instinctively. Her heart dropped into the bottomless pit her insides were at that moment. It seemed she was a fragile explosive. The tiniest of triggers made her panic detonate. The fear burned in her chest as she pressed her fists against her first ribs. The long curtain fell back into place noiselessly.

Now Cora was right where she had been seconds before already. The question was maybe even more at the forefront of her mind. What was that? That thing at the window. She couldn't possibly go back to bed now. No. Knowing that there was something, but being left in the dark about what it was… She gathered all her remaining wits, breathed deeply, and pulled the curtain once more, with as much determination she thought called for.

The outline of the matter was instantly clear, even though, she squinted her eyes slightly. The moonlight was a bit brighter for a moment when the heavy clouds moved with a high pace over the night sky. They revealed the moon fully for some seconds, and Cora was able to make out the wet leaves that stuck to the window pane. She sighed. It were just leaves. As she looked outside, she could watch how the storm blew them around, throwing them against the nearest obstacle. Her gaze dropped to the windowsill outside. The rough stone was soaked wet and displayed the rest of the leaves that had flown against her bedroom window minutes ago and had fallen down afterwards.

Just the wind blowing wet leaves against the window. That was all. Time for bed now. Cora sighed again as she turned back to the bed. The spook was over and gone. She shook her head at herself. Her eyes were directed to the floor, fixating the light vision of her toes peeking from her nightgown. Cora tried focusing her thoughts merely on the calm sleep she would get this night in the safety of her bed. That was when she heard it shuffling from there. She looked up and saw Robert rolling in bed. His serene sleep was relieved by a restless slumber. He had turned to her side of the bed, his hand dropping to the turned down blanket on her side. He started feeling the emptiness there in his doze. He grunted sleepily.

"Cora?" His eyes were still closed. His voice was raspy from sleep.

Cora hurried back to bed, trying to slip beneath his searching arm quickly, but he sat up by then already.

"Cora?" he asked again but his tone was more awake now. He blinked at her how she still huddled on the edge of the bed.

"I'm here. Let's go back to sleep," she said softly.

"Where were you?" he asked instead.

"I just couldn't sleep," she explained. "And then there was this noise outside and I just had to look."

"On the hallway? What was there?" Robert was confused.

"No, no. Out the window," Cora clarified as she shook her head. She smoothed over the blanket covering her torso. "I thought it was haunted," she added.

"Haunted? What?"

"Well, I don't know." She felt foolish now for saying it out loud. "The night. It's kind of creepy, don't you think? Didn't you feel it?"

"I was asleep, Cora." His tone was insinuating this explanation was obvious.

"I know it was silly. And I looked, and it was just some wet leaves that had been blown against our window."

She turned around in bed, her back facing the upright sitting Robert.

"Do you think you can sleep now?" Cora heard his voice from the dark behind her.

"Course," she answered briskly, more wanting than believing it to be true.

"Good." The shuffling sound of him getting back under the covers filled the room. "Sleep tight, Cora."

"Goodnight, Robert." Cora closed her eyes deliberately. They would stay closed for the rest of the night. Robert's snoring returned more quickly than she had anticipated. And before it managed to lull her into sleep herself, she thought, was he never scared? Was it so odd that she had been scared tonight?