Chapter 6 - Back From The Dead

Back From The Dead

A Novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 6

 

The Ashes Of The Past

 

Barbara was a woman who worked a stall at the local markets and Danny was a bus driver for the city depot .They met at a local dance and took a chance on romance that went well . The first few dates were painless and they got well acquainted before the relationship started to get serious  . Danny had been looking to buy a small place that was on the market and made a downpayment then he started to do some renovations to it with the thought of making that a home for Barbara and himself .

Barbara gave up her stall at the markets and took a steady job as a bank teller not knowing that Danny was buying a property for the to live in . He decided not to tell Barbara anything about the their new house and was doing some renovations to the run down place that had deteriorated and needed work done to it .

Danny wanted to leave that as a surprise if she accepted his marriage proposal  

He had been steadily working away each day to the house and he had got it to a stage where he could  move in then one night as he was sleeping , a knock came to the front door .

Mumbling to himself ..

“Who the heck is that knocking on the door at this time of the night …. All right ,,. hold on to your horses . I’m coming . “

He opened up the door and there was no one there . He looked around and shook his head before closing the door and going back to bed , As he lay back down there was another knock on his front door .

Danny , went back downstairs and opened the door once again there was no one there , so he took a look and had a walk around outside saying aloud  ,

“Who ever you are , you better stop knocking my door . Stop messing about or there be trouble coming your way . “

Then he went back inside and went to bed .

The next morning Danny discovered that the front door of his home was left open .As he was closing the door a black cat walked inside and sat on the floor like it lived there . Danny chased the cat back out with a broom in his hand , Then he thought to himself .

“I’m sure I closed that door last night “

After breakfast he went straight to work plastering the lounge room walls . He was a little troubled about the knocking during the night and was thinking that maybe someone was trying to see if there was anyone living in the house with an intention to break in if there wasn’t . There still were a few vacant homes in the street where he was living . That day he decided to buy a new latch and lock for the front door .

When he returned from the hardware store he saw something or someone looking in the front window  of his house .  He rushed to her as fast as he could but suddenly she disappeared and he found himself standing there alone .

He shouted out a couple of times with a harsh edge to his tone .,

“Look I know you there so there’s  no use hiding , so show yourself now , come out before I have to drag you by the feet into the street “

But there no response , his words fell silent without a noise to be heard .

Danny shook his head and started to think that maybe he had been working too hard and not getting enough sleep . He thought that maybe he had just imagined it all and went to work putting the new lock and latch to the front door .

On the corner of the street he saw one of the local people there standing looking over at the new house so he decided to go over a say hello .

 “How are you doing ? I’m Danny , I own the place across the street . I’ve been busy doing some renovations to the old place . Nice to meet you “

The lady reached out her hand Danny gently shook her hand

“ Hello Danny , I’m Minnie , It’s good to see someone back in the old place trying to restore it . I’m happy to see someone back living there after what happened”

Danny sensed something wasn’t right and asked

“ That’s nice to know Minnie, so tell me what was it that  happened here if you don’t mind me asking and she replied

“ Oh you know Danny ,it’s not for me to say really but it was all over the newspapers however if you want my advice I think that you better put that place back on the markets and sell it before that black cat comes around the door ”

Danny was getting nervous and angry at the same time  .

“ Ok that’s enough of that . I think you better say no more , I’ll be on my way  now . I have too muck work to do ‘

Minnie replied

“ Well , I don’t mean to cause any harm , I’m just saying like , don’t let that  cat  get into the house and make sure you keep that door locked at night .“

Minnie turned  her back and made her way up the street with a strange and crazy heckle to her laughter   At the same time a  man came out of shop on the corner opposite Dannys house . He approached Danny and said ,

“So now you’ve met mad Minnie . Don’t mind her . I’m Malachy the owner of the little shop here . Don’t mind her , Minnie went daft after she lost her sister in the fire that destroyed the house you’re in  .“

Danny stood there speechless before he muttered the words  

“ No., don’t tell me someone died in the house .“

Malachy replied

“ Oh yes its sad but its true .  I thought most people around here would know all about the story of the woman who died after her house burnt down “

 

Danny replied

” No Malachy I’m not from around this area and the real estate mentioned nothing about the fire when I was looking at buying the place . I wasn’t told a thing about what happened ?”

Malachy replied .

“Well of course they wouldn’t tell you that in case they’d loose a sale . Poor Barbara  was a quiet lady who bothered no one but apparently they said that she had been  standing too close to the fire one night and tripped over that black cat who was lying in front of the open hearth fireplace and they said that she had struck her head on the mantelpiece as her nightdress caught alight . So she never screamed for help and was found by the fire brigade who came after the fire had destroyed her body in the ashes . Her sister Minnie wasn’t able to cope with the loss and hasn’t been the same ever since “

Danny asked ,

“So Barbara was her name . “

He felt a deep thud in his heart as he said that . After the men parted company Danny went back inside the house and muttered to himself ,

“ So come on Danny boy , stop the negative thinking , maybe there’s no connection lightening never strikes twice in the same place . There might be a sad history here in this house but you can change all that . Whas passed is in the past . Dead and buried never to return . There is always a reason why things happen. “

Later that evening he thought he saw someone standing there outside the window of the parlour, He immediately went outside to check but again there was no one there,

He went to make a cup of tea then went to have dinner with Barbara with the thought of maybe proposing to her over dinner . So that evening Danny and Barbara sat down in their favourite corner table of Belmontes  Italian Restaurant and ordered their favourite bolognaise and red wine  . They chatted away for a while about their day . Out of the blue Danny proposed to her and straight away Barbara accepted .

After dinner Danny and Barbara went home , He still never told Barbara about the house he had been renovating as his mind wasn’t settled yet about staying there .

When Danny returned to his house , there was a key in door and through the window he was surprised to see someone had lit the fire in the fireplace  .
When he went inside he saw there was a hole in the wall and on the floor was a black cat sitting there in front of the fire . He ran to get the yard brush to chase the cat out but when he came back inside the fire was extinguished and the black cat was gone . Feeling frightened and very tired and went to lie down on the bed and drifted off to sleep but was awoke by the sound of footsteps in the house . As Danny got up from bed he went to look in the living room and saw a woman who started screaming

“Get out of my house “

Danny was frozen in fear  as the woman started to burn up in front of his eyes

Danny left the hose and went to his Mothers house in an awful state of mind .He told his Mother little bits of what had happened and the next day he and his Mother went to the house and were shocked to discover it had been completely gutted by a fire during the night . Danny was paid out by the insurance company for the damage to the house and decided not to continue renovating it .

Danny and Barbara were married and  with the money he got from the insurance company he put a deposit on a brand new house for Barbara and himself to start a new life together a new housing estate . He never told Barbara about the house and what had happened and never again returned to  the boarded up place he had tried to renovate .

 

End of chapter 6

 

Link to chapter 7

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/chapter-7-back-dead

 

Back From The Dead

A Novel

By Paul McCann