*Overwhelmed by the response this fic has had,again to all my reviewers all your comments mean a lot,thank you. A wave to my new followers too :D *

Chapter 4

Back in the Village

"The house was cursed apparently. People who stay in that house have tragedy there, a young child died, drowned in the lake. A man was found hanged in the study. They say witchcraft had been practiced in a hidden area of the grounds." The man shifted and sat on a stool behind the counter.

The woman put her hand on his shoulder.
"Different generations, different stories and history" The woman agreed. "People have reported strange sightings up at the house, there is a lot of local rumours to be honest"

Brendan looked at the couple and raised his eyebrows.
"Hmm, but what about the last owner, all I know is she was estranged from our family. Did you know her? See her?" Brendan asked paying for the groceries.

"Well she took over the house after the suicide there, some sort of relation to the man. None of the other family would take the house on because of what happened. She used to come in for her shopping, quiet woman, kept herself to herself. The witchcraft stories meant she had little or no friends here, she spent her life in that house. We wondered why no one had seen her, she died you say?" The woman asked

Brendan's phone beeped. It was the text from Cheryl.
"Um, excuse me I have to go, but thank ye for your information; I will relay it back to my sister."
Brendan left the shop and called Cheryl.

"Hey Chez,I have been and got us some food and I have some information...What? Steven, he's gone missing? How do you mean Chez? Right, I am on my way." Brendan's heart sank into his stomach. He was worried about Ste and raced to get into his car.

His hands were shaking as he started up the engine and drove back to the house as quick as he could. All the while he kept trying Ste's phone on his hands free, praying he would eventually answer.

Ste made his way over to the boathouse; he walked around to a large door that looked like a barn door. There was a padlock on it. Ste was confused, if Brendan was inside how could it be locked on the outside.

He walked back to the window and looked in, there was various things placed about. An old wooden boat was in the middle it was damaged on the side. There were oars mounted on the wall and miscellaneous fishing tackle too. Ste wanted to get a better look, he searched around nearby, and found a metal bucket, he placed it under the window and stepped onto it.

His view inside was better now, although the window was very dirty clouding his vision a bit. He looked around and saw a little seating area inside, an old iron bench and table. Wilted flowers stood in an old vase. He turned to look the other way when a face suddenly pressed up to the window inside, he was looking right at Ste, eyes blank and darkening.

It was a man, he looked like Brendan with his moustache but Ste knew it wasn't him. He realized he'd seen someone else in the grounds earlier.
Ste let out a yelp and stumbled back aghast. Panicking, Ste misjudged his footing and slipped off the bucket and landed on his back, head hitting the concrete. Ste's vision blurred to nothing.

Nate wandered out into the grounds of the house he looked around and tried to decide which way to go. He kept shouting Ste's name as he wandered around to the back of the house. He looked at a grassed area with flowers of every colour dotted around

"Ste!? Come on mate please tell me where you are." Nate was walking through the vast grounds behind the house. There were old statues placed around. The flowers that grew around made a pleasant smell in the air.

After walking on some gravel paths he noticed some strange rocks lay under a huge tree. There was a bench nearby so he decided to walk over to it and take a closer look.

The nearer he got he noticed the rocks were actually gravestones.
One was shaped into an angel and the others were oval shaped.

There were 3 all side by side. Nate walked up to them. The writing had faded considerably, but he knew that the angel grave stone was a child. There was an inscription reading, 'Sleep well little one'.

He walked over to the others; they read
Lorena Elizabeth 1855-1927
Eldon Silas 1845-1926

A twig snapped behind him so he turned around suddenly. A breeze brushed against his cheek and the leaves rustled in the tree towering above him. Nate suddenly felt a rush of fear grip his entire body.

The black apparition that had appeared the night before has manifested ahead of him.
Nate's eyes widened so much he thought he'd actually lose them.

He slowly walked away from the graves trying not to walk over them. His stare darted from the ground beneath and back to the strange apparition which just floated, it swirled into itself over and over, and Nate realized Ste had described it perfectly as a black swirly thing, because it really was.

It began to move towards him and it was making terrifying noises, not speaking as such more screeching a low deep sound. Nate's heartbeat faster banging at his rib cage as if trying to escape his chest, he put his hand there, knowing it wouldn't help, just a knee jerk reaction.

He'd made it over to a low wall. He looked back and the black spirit rushed at him so Nate went to jump the wall but whacked his knee slumping on the ground in a heap. Nate was scared as he reached out his shaking hands to pull himself up onto the wall and in desperation launched his body over it.

Looking back as the apparition was quickening towards him Nate ran as fast as his legs would let him.

Saturday 11am.

Cheryl had made Father Des a cup of tea, and herself one as they sat together on the sofa.
They had got a big fire going, and the house was filled with warmth and the crackling noises of the fire burning.

Cheryl had started telling Father Des about what they had all seen during the time they'd spent their, and realized it sounded completely crazy, she had phoned him in desperation.

"Cheryl, what you are saying could've just been in your imagination, or from lack of sleep, you know your mind plays tricks on you your adrenaline would have been pumping through your body, making you believe you saw things."Father Des reasoned with Cheryl as he drank his tea.

"Father four of us saw these things, well not the one Brendan saw but we all saw or heard things. And Brendan wouldn't lie about this. The house needs to be blessed, I think it would make a huge difference, please Father will you bless this house?"

"Yes I will Cheryl, I will say a prayer in each of the rooms, especially the study, and shall we go there first? Seems a lot happens there, it could be the heart of the house?" Father Des suggested as he rose from the sofa.

Just then Cheryl's phone rang, it was Brendan.
"Excuse me a minute Father...Oh hey Bren love. Ah that's good, but It's Ste love, he's gone missing, we can't find him. Please can ye come back?"Cheryl asked

"I know Bren, but Nate is looking for him now, ye ok see ye soon" Cheryl ended the call and looked back at Father Des."Shall we?" Cheryl gestured upstairs.

Cheryl let Father Des walk in front as he made his way up the large stairs and onto the hallway. The study door was open wide again, which made Cheryl feel uneasy.
"Umm, I'd best warn ye, books fly around the study like birds, Nate had one land on his head once." Cheryl smirked slightly before putting on a serious expression as Father Des looked at her.

They entered the room, and were taken aback as the chair was up on top of the desk. Tied above from one of the beams that stretch across the ceiling was a rope dangling, it was swaying side to side.

"OH MY GOD!" Cheryl screamed as Father Des cleared his throat and looked at her.

"I mean, Oh Dear! Sorry Father, erm that wasn't there before! What shall we do? Shall I call Nate?" Cheryl was very scared.

Father Des began to say a prayer in the study, when a loud thump noise Cheryl recognized happened behind them. Only this time it kept happening, more books flew off the bookshelf and fell to the ground. Father Des kept praying despite this. The oil lamp that was on the desk suddenly started to shine brightly, getting more intense each minute that passed.

"Whaa, how is that happening? Its an oil lamp! Cheryl was getting worked up, and looked at Father Des who was unrelenting, until she saw it.
The black apparition had appeared in the room, and she screamed and hid behind Father Des grabbing hold of his jacket she pulled at it for dear life.

"Whaa,whats it doing now?I,It's gonna get us I just know it!" Cheryl moved her head to sneak a peak over Father Des' shoulders,but shrieked again diving back after it was still there.
He stopped praying and looked at the thing in front of him.

"You won't win" he said as he started praying again. The noises it made became louder and it turned and moved across the room and through the window, disappearing.

"I think you pissed it off Father" Cheryl didn't care, she was too scared to apologize for the profanity.

Ste woke up rocking gently. He winced at the pain from the back of his head and moved his hand there to rub it better. He felt strange with the rocking sensation around him, he tried to focus his eyes, the light blue sky stretched out above him, a couple of clouds were floating past.

He assumed he was at the boathouse, still lying on the ground where he'd fallen. Then he remembered the face at the window, it wasn't Brendan but looked very like him.

He stretched out his hand to the side and felt a pain push through his hand as it thumped against a hard surface. He looked to his hand and saw some wood; lots of wood in fact surrounded him.

He put his hands on either side of the wood and hoisted himself up. There he was in a wooden boat, floating on the lake.

"What the fuck?!" Ste spoke baffled to himself as he looked around. There on the embankment stood the man he'd seen in the boathouse earlier, stood staring right at Ste.

"OI! What the hell are you playing at?! Ste shouted at him as the man started to walk away. He disappeared into the air, making Ste tremble at the sight. He was stuck, in the middle of the lake, and no oars.

"EEELLLPPP! Screamed Ste. "Somebody elp meeee!" Ste tried using his hands to get back to land, but it just pushed him further out.

Just then he saw Nate who looked like he was running for his life.
"HEY! NATE! " Ste shouted as Nate stopped suddenly and slid down hard on his arse.

"Ste?! Oh my god where the fuck have you been? You know there's a bloody search party out for you?!" Nate shouted back at Ste.

"Ste? Why the hell are you sat in a boat on the lake?" Nate questioned as he was hunched over, hands on his knees fighting to breathe again.

"Why am I...oh you know, I fancied a spot of bloody fishin' didn't I? I don't know how I got here do I? I woke up like this!" Ste mumbled to himself.

"Right, well can you come back to land then, we need to get back to the house quickly"

"Let me see, now why didn't I think of that? Hmm..oh yeah, no oars" Ste shrugged his shoulders.

"Can you swim?" Nate asked

"Can you?!" Ste replied as he stood up, he closed his eyes took a deep breath and dived into the lake.

Ste kept sinking lower and lower into the lake, didn't mater how much he kicked his legs and moved his arms he couldn't get up to the surface. He started to panic thrashing about and then he saw something swimming towards him, all dressed in white.

Ste realized it was a young girl with blonde flowing hair and a white dress. She smiled to him as she took her arm and pointed above him, he saw a hand coming towards him so he reached out and took it.

He was being pulled to the water surface now, and when he got there Ste coughed and spluttered as he gasped for air. Nate had dived into the lake and swam out to him seeing he was in difficulty.

Nate pushed Ste ashore as he dragged himself up to the embankment, lying back flat on the ground catching his breath too.

"Why did you leave the house Ste?" Nate asked concerned. "Cheryl has been beside herself trying to contact you"

"I saw Brendan walking in the grounds, and went to meet him" Ste replied turning to his side.

" Only it was someone/something else, who looked like Bren, moustashe and everything. I fell banged my head after I saw him and I found myself on the lake, he was watching me float away on the lake and then himself just disappeared! In to thin air! This bloody place is creeping me out" Ste groaned as he stood up.

"Anyway, what happened to you, why was you running like a bat out of hell?"

"Bats fly not run" Nate smirked as Ste punched his arm

"Oh well you know the black swirly effigy? It's back and was chasing me earlier" Nate stood up and brushed himself down.

He looked over at Ste whose expression had changed, he knew, he knew what he'd seen.

"LEG IT!" Nate cried as both Ste and Nate saw the apparition was indeed back and terrifying in its pursuit.

Brendan had been driving fast on the way back his mind was clouded worried sick about Ste. He had stopped calling Ste now as his umpteen attempts earlier had failed he concentrated on returning to the house.

As he arrived at the wrought iron gates they were closed. So he pulled up and got out of the car. He opened the gates which were very heavy so took him a while to move them.

He got back into his car and drove up the forever driveway. He screeched on his brakes as Ste and Nate ran out in front of the car, he swerved and narrowly avoided them.

"Steven!" Brendan slammed his door shut "What are you doing running out like that, I could've ran you over! Can you look where..."

Steven had leapt up into Brendan's arms and wrapped his legs tight around his waist making them both fall back onto the car bonnet. Ste kissed Brendan like it was their last and Brendan melted into it, he'd forgotten to be mad at him.

"Erm, sorry to break up this beautiful moment, but we really need to get in the house in case we're still being followed". Nate said as he gestured towards the house.

Ste and Brendan were far to engrossed in their clinch kissing each other deeper and grinning. Ste pulled back first,"Missed you" He purred

"Missed you more" Brendan replied moving into a tight hug

"Just don't bloody go wandering off again; I don't think my heart could take it!" Brendan nuzzled into Ste's neck.

"I'll try not too, hey wait till you hear about my adventures, you have a doppelganger! I thought I saw you wandering the grounds so I went out to meet you, I even left you an msg, and did you get it?" Ste asked as he was still draped over Brendan on the car.

"No idea, but I will have a look when you get off me" Brendan begrudgingly asked.

So after a one last kiss turned into three, Ste agreed disappointingly, slid off Brendan and followed Nate back into the house.

Brendan grabbed the groceries from the car and followed behind.

The black apparition manifested again at the side of Brendan's car.

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