XX
Encounters in the Bellingham's house

Manchester
The Bellingham's house

The Bellingham's house is directly opposite Max's house and so April and Max guess that it will more or less have a very similar, if not, the same structure as his own home.

It is late at night and they wait until they are sure that Master Franklin and all the servants are definitely tucked in bed before they decide to leave. They meet downstairs in the hallway where Rose and the recovered Butler wait for them. The four stand just in the small light of the moon shining through the front windows.

"Are we all ready?" Max asks quietly as he adjusts the collar to his coat.

Rose nods.

While Max and April are going to break into the Bellingham's house, Rose and the Butler agreed that at the same time they will break into the house Horace and the children temporarily lived in to collect the metronome and the family portrait. At first Max declined the Butler's offer to go and would rather he stayed at home and rest, but the Butler looks perfectly well and healthy just like he always has been. He says that he has fully recovered from the shot. Both his lungs are miraculously working perfectly and he is back to normal. He insists that he will help Rose or none of them will be leaving the house tonight.

April catches the Butler's eye, both knowing that he is still alive because of Jack Gruntler.

Max sighs heavily and reluctantly agrees to the Butler helping them. Although despite how healthy he looks, Max is not entirely convinced. The Butler was shot in the lungs.

"So, we will meet back here no later than an hour, alright?" Max orders.

Everyone nods in agreement.

Max is the first to leave the house, unlocking the door slowly and trying his best not to make much sound that might wake up Master Franklin or any of the servants. But once they are out on the street, they are all suddenly a little hesitant to move. But they know that work has to be done.

The Bellingham's old house looms in front of them across the road.

Rose and the Butler start to head through the quiet night time streets towards the road where Horace and the children used to live. Max and April look at each other for a moment before they cross the road to the Bellingham's house.

Max pulls out the key the family leant him while he was treating them. "I decided to keep it after their death in case I had to do something like this," Max admits as he fumbles around for the door lock in the darkness. "Do you know exactly what we're trying to look for?"

"No," April replies. "Maybe a clue to show if Horace is possessed by the Devil, or if he has actually gone mad, I guess."

The door swings inwards quietly only to reveal darkness inside.

April lights an oil lamp she took from Max's house and walks inside first. The lamp lights only so much of the darkness inside. Max closes the door behind him and follows his sister who is slowly walking along the glossy floorboards.

They turn through the dark double doorway to their left which leads to a large, square hallway. The hallway is rather different to the one in Max's house. There are large arch windows looking out to the garden at the back and the stairs circle the perimeter of the hallway. The moon shines through the windows, bringing light to the room. Instead of the dark brown oak panelled walls in Max's hallway, the walls here are painted white.

April stops dead in her tracks as she suddenly sees the many different weeping angels standing in the hallway. The angels are all facing different directions and all their heads are bowed as they cover their faces with their hands.

"Well this makes our job a lot harder than I intended." April says as she and Max looks at the dozen weeping angels.


Rose crouches down on her knees by the front door to the house. Somewhere in the distance a dog is barking and the Butler waits patiently as Rose attempts to unlock the door using a paper clip. Only this time she is struggling.

The Butler glances down his nose at her as Rose curses under her breath. She takes out the paper clip and waits for a moment before trying again. The Butler takes out his pocket watch and glances at the time. The face is cracked and unreadable.

"If you think we're running out of time then find something useful to do. Or at least help me!" Rose hisses through gritted teeth.

The Butler lets out a little sigh before he takes hold of the door handle, twists and pushes the door open a little. Rose drops her hands onto her lap and looks at the open door with her mouth hanging open. Of course the door has been open all along. She then gets back to her feet and the Butler follows her inside.

The small house is filled with everyone snoring in their sleep, rather than the laughter Rose heard both times she visited. The snoring is rather prominent coming from the living room so Rose and the Butler take careful steps down the narrow hallway in order to not to disturb anything. All they have to do is walk into Horace's bedroom, pick up the portrait and the metronome and then leave without anything going wrong. Seems easy.

Everything seems deadly quiet without the man cheerfully guiding them through the house to Horace's room and Rose cannot help but glance up into the darkness at the top of the stairs, no matter how much it gives her the shivers.

They turn the corner and find that the door to Horace's bedroom has been left open ajar.

Rose pushes open the door only to reveal an empty room. The blankets that once lay in the corner of the room are no longer there. All his possessions have been taken. Not even the metronome is in sight.

Rose runs into the room in a burst of anger and frustration. "He must've taken it with him!" Rose snaps a little louder than intended.

The Butler seems rather calm about the situation as he eyes the family portrait that has been left hanging up on the wall. "Or someone else got here before us." He suggests.

Rose turns to look at the Butler before standing beside him to inspect the portrait.

The painting has changed from how it originally was. Horace is no longer standing there in the middle of the family. There is an empty gap between Beatrice and Mary. The family are left exactly where they were except that they all have their eyes closed. Horace's father, Thomas, has his head bowed, resting on his breast as if he were asleep.

But the Butler and Rose know that the portrait is not showing them asleep; the portrait is showing their death.

Penny and Phillip are still on the floor just like before, but Penny is holding onto her doll and looking out to Rose and the Butler with angry eyes. Phillip however has his back to them and is straining his neck to look over his mother's shoulder.

Rose covers her mouth in shock at the changed image of the portrait. "What do you think it's trying to say?"

The Butler points to the painted mirror that hangs up on the wall in the top left corner of the portrait. "That Horace Bellingham is the next Devil's victim."

Rose narrows her eyes as she looks at the painted mirror in the portrait but only then does she realise it.

Inside the mirror is the figure of the Devil in His black coat and wearing and veil covering His face. He holds onto a single red candlestick.

Rose tries to take a closer look at the Devil's face through the veil in the painting but it is hard to tell.

"We need to find Horace."


"Okay, just stay calm," April says as she looks from one weeping angel to the other, refusing to blink. "We can do this. We just need to split up so one of us can keep an eye on them."

"We're not splitting up." Max warns.

"Well we both can't just stand here and hope for the best. Trust me when I say this, Max, but these angles are out to kill us and they will once you take your eyes off them." April, now standing behind her brother, grips onto the sleeve of his coat and glances back through the doorway they entered the hallway from.

"So what shall we do?"

"If you stay here, I'll check the other rooms first to see if I can find anything. Then I'll come back and you can check upstairs. Is that alright?"

"I guess so. Can't I search first?" Max offers, shrugging his shoulders.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I am the eldest by at least five minutes."

"Says who?"

"Says mum and dad. Now whatever you do, don't blink!" April orders. "I don't care how much your eyes hurt, just don't blink. I won't be long." April then turns and runs into the kitchen on the other side of the hallway.

She frantically searches through the drawers and cupboards, rifling through their cutlery and crockery. She even open and closes the oven in case there is anything hiding inside. April pauses a moment as she scans the room, double checking to see if there is anything else lurking in any of the corners. April cannot help but notice that the house is spotless and dust free as if it has been cleaned regularly since the Bellingham's death. Before she was expecting to walk into a dusty house full of cobwebs and rats. But then she starts to wonder if their spirits have actually come back to continue living in the house.

April then runs back through the hallway and opens the cupboard that is back near the front door. The cupboard is stacked with shelves of clean clothes piled up high. There is a fresh scent coming from the clothes as if they have been recently cleaned.

"April, hurry up!" Max calls fearfully from the main hallway. "I don't think I can keep my eyes open for much longer."

April does not reply as she starts to rifle through the clothes, checking pockets and feeling the material. She doesn't trust the Bellingham family, dead or alive, and she is sure that they will do something as crazy as hide something within the material of the clothes. She rubs the soft material between her fingers just in case. But when she picks up one of Beatrice's (or Katherine's) dresses, she finds an envelope in one of the pockets. April hesitates for a moment before pulling it out just as Max calls out to her again.

She cannot stop her hands from trembling as she reads the address on the envelope: the address to her brother's house. There is a red line crossing out the address with the word DENIED written to the side. The letter has clearly been read as the envelope has been ripped open at the top but is evidently sent back to whoever wrote it.

April pulls out the letter and reads the curly writing on the page. A lot of it has been smudged and April can barely read many of the sentences but the ones she can read explains enough for her.

.It is unholy and not a customary thing for you to do such a despicable thing! After all you are the Master that has many followers…. I cannot….for you….despicable!

We are a religious city, as you know…..we worship God and thank Him daily for the life that He has given us. But I BEG of you to stop with this tomfoolery with the Devil. It is a creature we all fear and whom I cannot fathom into words but He will destroy all if you call for Him once more.

I will send you back this metronome you have given Horace. It is a lovely mechanical device but it is out of our service. I am refusing to get tangled up in this retched business of yours…..bringing the Devil back will call death upon us all…..I am begging you!

Beatrice Bellingham

April jumps when she hears something move swiftly across the top landing of the house and she suspects that there are probably more angels upstairs. She folds the letter and shoves it in her jean pocket before running to Max who is still complaining about not being able to keep his eyes open.

"We'll swap now." April says as she pushes Max to the side so she can stand in his spot.

"Find anything?" Max asks as he blinks his dry eyes rapidly.

April stares straight ahead at the angels. "I think you'd better rethink your trust for Master Franklin. Now go!"

Max doesn't think twice about April's words before he turns and runs up the stairs, holding onto the wooden banister for support. April remains where she is, looking at the weeping angels as she listens to the creaking floorboards above her.

Max slows his running pace to a stop when he reaches the top of the stairs, only annoyed to see more weeping angels standing there on the landing. There are only about five of the angels and they are scattered across the landing like the ones downstairs. Max grips onto the banister tightly as his eyes flick from the weeping angels to the oak wardrobe beside a door frame leading to the master bedroom.

The walls are painted a royal blue colour that adds to the dark gloom around the house. Max only waits for a couple more seconds, staring at the weeping angels before he can hear a ticking sound around him. Not the usual ticking sound of a clock, but of the beat of the metronome.

April's face turns pale as she too hears the beat.

"I think the Devil is here." Max calls before slowly making his way across the landing and into the bedroom, keeping his eyes fixed on the angels. He walks backwards into the room until he can only see one angel through the doorway. He has a theory that the angels might remain still seeing as April is watching over them downstairs and he hopes that he is correct. To test it, Max closes his eyes and turns around to look around the empty bedroom before turning back to the angel that is still standing in the exact same spot.

Max breathes a little sigh of relief as he walks over to the window beside the neatly made double bed. There is nothing to see through the glass but darkness, but he can just about make out the gloom of the street outside. He waits there, listening to the beat of the metronome as he looks at his house on the opposite side of the road.

His home has become his safe haven, but it seems as if hell is only across the road.

Max turns his head and looks over at the dressing table and the chest of drawers at the other end of the bedroom, but there is no sign of Horace's metronome anywhere in the room. The beating fills his ears wherever he goes and it echoes around the room. It is almost as if the metronome is beating away inside his head.

Max then pulls himself away from the window and turns to leave the room but instantly freezes in shock horror at the sight of a woman sitting on the edge of the other side of the bed, her back to him.

A woman that certainly was not there moments ago.

Her greying raven hair is in neat ringlets that are pulled back to the nape of her pale neck.

Max stares at this woman fearfully as she slowly stands up and turns to face him.

Her face is as ghostly pale as the back of her neck, but her lips stand out with a bright red colour. Max instantly recognises her as Beatrice Bellingham. The woman he watched die from tuberculosis along with her family. Horace's wife.

The spirit of Beatrice has come back but this time she looks human rather than ghostly.

Max wants to scream out to April but he cannot find the voice. He is too afraid. The woman he tried to save who had died from the disease he is currently suffering from, is now standing in the same room, looking more sinister than ever.

Beatrice slowly raises her hand and places a finger to her lips, silently shushing him before walking swiftly across the room and out into the hallway. Max watches the way she glides across carpet effortlessly, before snapping back into reality. He runs after her and stumbles into the landing but Beatrice has vanished.

Max then lets out a loud shaky sigh.

"There's more up here," He calls out to April as the beating continues. "Angels that is."

April shudders knowing that she is right in thinking that the shadows moving are more angels.

"What," Max pauses, realising how weak his voice is after seeing Beatrice's spirit, before clearing his throat. "What are we to do now?"

There is a long pause before April replies.

"Leave the house before we get killed," April tries to keep her voice light. "I have all the evidence I need. Just stay where you are and I'll find the door."

April slowly starts to walk backwards, feeling her way, making sure that she will not bash into any walls or trip over anything else. When she reaches the door, she grips onto the door handle and twists it.

But the handle will not move. It is locked in place.

April catches her breath just as she frantically pulls at the door, making a racket along with the beating metronome. But it does not open.

"They've locked us in!" April cries.

"Then break a window!" Max calls back but his voice is just as frantic as hers.

April's breathing is rapid and she feels as if she cannot control her fear. She knows that they have just walked into danger and got themselves stuck. She wrings her hands as she makes her way back into the main hallway.

April does not know if it is down to her paranoia but as she walks slowly and carefully, she can smell burning as if something is being over-cooked on the stove.

But she knows that she is not being paranoid when Max calls down to her.

"Why can I smell gas?"

"Because like you said: the Devil is here." April hates the words that come out of her mouth but she cannot hide from the truth. From what she knows, the Devil is summoned from the sound of time and you can feel his appearance from an overbearing heat sensation.

April then realises that still the weeping angels and the Devil have no link. The Devil wants to possess Horace and the weeping angels only set up camp in the Bellingham house just to keep an eye on her and Rose across the road.

"Max, if you find the metronome, stop it!" April almost screams but fear only overtakes her further when she hears a female's voice singing something in a crackly, almost deathlike voice. April holds onto her breath as she listens to the lyrics that are being sung and instantly she knows it as Oranges and Lemons.

April and Max know that they have to get out of the house as soon as possible but they are both frozen with fear as the female's voice singing Oranges and Lemons echoes around the large house along with the beating and the smell of burning gas.

Suddenly Beatrice Bellingham steps out from behind one of the weeping angels and looks directly at the horror struck April.

Beatrice points two fingers to April as if to imitate a pistol and gestures a firing motion while mouthing "Bang."

April does not get the chance to figure out what Beatrice is doing before she is knocked off her feet from the explosion.