The Rattler (Rattler Trilogy Book 1) (12 page)

1

Matthew
bumped into Steven on the stairs. “Nice trick mate.
A real
nice trick.
You almost had me convinced.”

“What
are you on about, mate? I’m just on my way for a waz,” replied Steven, somewhat
puzzled by Matthew’s attitude. “You can’t fool me,” muttered Matthew. Steven
shrugged his shoulders, not sure what his friend was talking about. “That’s the
whiskey talking,” he said, shaking his head. He walked into the bathroom,
noticed how cold it was in there, and started to relieve himself. “She’s
certainly a keeper,” he said, as he thought about Zoe. Was it love at first
sight? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he felt drawn to her – like a
magnetic pull.

“Who
are you talking about,
wedgie boy?
” whispered a man’s voice in his ear.
“What? Matthew? How on earth do you know about that?”

“My
name’s not Matthew,” replied the voice, menacingly.
Wedgie boy
brought
back sad memories of Steven’s school days when he was bullied. His parents had
moved him to a different school but, because of the small area, everyone knew
everyone else. The name-calling continued well into his teens, when,
eventually, he bulked-up and took up rowing. It was only then that he started
to fight back, hard; the bullying stopped and the memories faded away.
“Matthew, you’re actually funny, you really are.” As he turned round to wash
his hands he saw that the room was empty.

2

When
Steven returned to the lounge the movie had been paused. He found that the
others had set up a drinking game which involved a bottle of Bourbon and a pack
of playing cards. “Right,” said Matthew, “this is
Bourbon Chase Run
.
Have you all played it?”

“I
haven’t,” said Zoe, “what’s it all about?”

“It’s
really simple. You just have to predict whether a turn of the cards will be
higher or lower than the previous one. If you get five predictions right, you
get a point. If not, you have to take a shot of Bourbon. The winner is the
first player to reach a score of four.”

Steven
sat down on the floor next to Zoe. “It didn’t take you guys long to set this
up.”

“You’re
not backing out, are you?” asked Zoe with a smile.
“No way.
Not this fella,” he smiled back; “the champ
never
quits!”

A
few games later and Vana was in the lead with three points. The others were
getting more and
more tipsy
. As Vana was about to take
her turn again, Matthew whispered suggestively in her ear, and they both
laughed hysterically. They were soon stopped dead in their tracks by the sound
of footsteps thudding across the floor in the room above. The friends looked at
each other and giggled. There it was again, louder this time. “OK. What the
fuck was that?” exclaimed Matthew, looking up at the ceiling. “THAT’S what I’ve
been telling you about,” shouted Vana.

“Come
on, Steven, let’s check this out.”

“Check
what out, mate?”

“That
fucking thump!
Stop dickin’ around and show some balls.”

“Alright
Matt!”

The
lads stood up and moved towards the door. Vana and Zoe got up from the floor
and sat together on the sofa, anxiously looking at each other. “Guys, this
could be Ellwood. Please be careful!” said Vana. “Keep this door closed ‘til we
get back,” ordered Matthew, as he and Steven went out. Had the lads’ presence
in the house upset something?

3

“Nice
work in the bathroom, by the way,” said Steven, as they started towards the
stairs. “Where are you going with this?” responded Matthew.

“How
did you know about
wedgie boy?
”

“What
are you chatting about?”

“You, sneaking into the
bathroom and calling me
wedgie boy
.”

“What?
How could I? I was downstairs with the girls. Look, mate, there’s no point in
us arguing. But, if it wasn’t me, who the hell was it?”

“OK,
I think we both need to calm down,” said Steven. “Perhaps we’ve just had too
much to drink.”

“Get
away – there’s definitely something going on here; you heard the bangs just
like I did. So, come on, let’s get it over with.” The lads went upstairs, not
knowing what they were going to find. Just then, Matthew tripped and let out a
scream, which was heard downstairs by the girls.

“Shit!
What was that?” cried Vana, as the girls huddled together, their nerves at
breaking point. “We’re alright!” yelled Steven, “Matthew just tripped.”

“Fuckin’ lads!
They just enjoy fuckin’ us one
way or the other!” said Vana, as she reached for the bottle to refill her empty
glass. “Don’t have any more. Please,”
whispered
Zoe.
“Just stick to Coke from now on.”

“OK.
Probably best I suppose.”

4

The
lads reached the second floor landing. It was pitch-black and deathly quiet.
“What do you reckon? Lights on or off?” asked Steven. “Are you actually taking
the piss? On, of course, otherwise we’ll never see what’s causing the noise,”
retorted Matthew. Steven switched on the light, and they started to check the
rooms, one by one.
Nothing.
All of a sudden, tapping
could be heard coming from the attic.

“You
hear that, Matt?”

“Of
course I did. You think I’m deaf?”

“Matt,
mate, we need to keep calm.”

They
slowly made their way up the stairs to the attic. The drumming noise continued
– in tempo with their increased heartbeats. Steven slowly pushed open the attic
door. The room was empty, and cold. Then they saw written on the floor, in red
–

They
don’t belong to you... I’m the only man for them.

The
friends took a step back in disbelief. “What is going on?” said Matthew,
nervously. He pointed at the floor. “Dude, is that blood?”

“Don’t
know, but I’m not touching it!”

“Not
sure I like this. Let’s photograph it and get back to the girls.”

“I
don’t like it either. And, besides, God only knows what’s happening to them
while we’re up here.” Matthew took out his phone and took two photographs of
the message on the floor.

“Something
bad, real bad, is happening here,” said Steven, as he walked around the room.

“Why
are you still here, Ellwood?” asked Matthew. His eyes scanned the room as he
looked for any signs of a presence. No sooner had he spoken than he felt an
intense pain in his nose. Matthew doubled over and fell to his knees.

“What
the hell is up with you?” shouted Steven. He turned round to find his friend on
the floor, shaking and gasping for breath, with blood pouring from his nose and
lip. Matthew found a tissue and tried to stem the flow.

“Something
hit me.”

“How?
What did?
There’s
only us two in here!”

“All
I’m saying is that it felt like a fucking punch. Shit! Look at that!” he said,
pointing to a window. Written in the condensation was another message –

Why
do you keep calling me Ellwood?

“What
IS going on here?” Matthew struggled to his feet. He stumbled over to the
window and took a photograph of the message. “Let’s get back down to the
girls.”

1

The
girls were still on the sofa, huddled together. They hadn’t heard anything more
from lads. Suddenly a beep from Zoe’s iPhone made them both jump.
“Effin’ hell!
Who’s that?” said Vana. Zoe picked up her
phone and read the message – she laughed. “Jake, he’s so funny,” she replied,
texting her reply.

“He’s
so deffo gay.”

“Vana.
You can’t say that.”

“Yeah
I can.
Gorgeous, Adorable Yank!”
The girls laughed.
“Where on earth did you hear that?”

“It’s
new slang going around campus. It’s good fun!”

“Sounds
like it! Anyway, talk to me. I don’t like the quietness. Tell me, what
are you
reading now?” asked Zoe.

“
When I Find You
.
It’s written by a new
self-published indie author.”

“What’s
it about?”

“Well,
it’s about a first-time novelist, and her struggles writing, but it all really
kicks off when it’s finally published,” said Vana. She got a bit more
comfortable on the sofa. “Why, what happens?” asked Zoe, picking up her drink.
“She receives a one-star review, and is not a happy bunny. So, she decides to
track down the reviewer.”

“How
does she do that?”

“This
is in America, darling! Internet search engines and all that! And, don’t
forget, America is the home of the Bounty Hunter.”

“Bounty Hunter?”

“You
know! Those people who track down felons. Come on Zoe, your dad’s a huge Clint
Eastwood fan, surely you’ve watched,
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,
with him?”

“No,
but carry on.”

“Anyway,
she tracks him down and traces him to a small town called Balmorhea, in Texas.
She then kidnaps the guy – and butchers him to death.”

“Bloody hell, Vana!
That sounds horrible! The
things you read.” Just then, the lounge door opened, and the lads came in. “Oh
my God! What’s happened to you?” cried Vana, seeing Matthew’s injuries and
jumping up to give him a hug. “Your invisible mate did this,” replied Matthew,
bitterly. “What? Hold on; what are you talking about?” asked Vana.

“We
checked everywhere on the second floor.
Nothing.
Then
we went up into the attic because we heard strange noises from up there. The
only thing up there was a message, on the floor, written in blood.” Matthew
sounded exhausted.

The
girls could not comprehend any of this. “What on earth are you talking about?
Slow down. You’re not making any sense.” Steven poured two stiff drinks, and
handed one to Matthew, who gulped it down. “So, what did the message say?”
asked Zoe. “It said you don’t belong to us and that he’s the only guy for you.”

“Matthew,
just show them the pictures. They need to see the messages for themselves.”
Matthew took out his phone, and looked at the images. “I don’t believe it!” he
said, handing the phone over to Vana. There were certainly no messages to be
seen – just two wavy orange lines which covered the entire screen. Zoe and
Steven looked over Vana’s shoulder. “What do you think has happened to them?”
asked Vana. “Beats me,” said Steven. “What was the second picture of?” puzzled
Vana, as she rubbed the screen.
“Another message, this one
written on the window.
It asked why we kept calling him Ellwood,”
replied Matthew.

Many
questions were running through Zoe’s head. These last two incidents had
confused and scared her.

2

The
girls went into the kitchen to find a first aid box. Zoe checked the cupboards,
and Vana sat at the table. “What do you make of it, Zoe?”

“I
really don’t
know,
hun. It’s so bizarre.”

“Do
you think something wants to harm us? And why is he saying he’s not Ellwood?”

“No
idea, but I think we need to check this out. Once the guys have calmed down and
we’ve patched Matthew up, I think we should all go up to the attic. What do you
think?”

“Not
sure really, but I guess I would prefer to go with the guys than on our own
after they’ve gone.” Zoe picked up the medication, and the girls went back to
the lounge where the lads were starting to relax. Vana started to fuss around
Matthew with the witch-hazel and cotton wool; Matthew suffered in silence. Zoe
looked over to Steven.
“You alright, hun?”

“Yeah,
not to worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this.” Zoe smiled at him but was
thinking that, sometimes, things are actually out of one’s control, and being a
macho man doesn’t always work!

3

The
friends tentatively walked up the stairs; the girls held the lads’ hands
tightly. They got to the attic door and opened it slowly. Matthew was the first
to go in. “Right, let’s show you the messages. OH, FUCK OFF!” he shouted. The
others followed him in, not knowing what to expect. There were no messages –
neither on the floor nor on the window. “Are you sure you saw them?” asked Zoe
as she walked around the room. “Of course we did. Why would we make it up?”

“Well,
you had been drinking quite a lot,” added Vana.
“Vana!
The git punched me and knocked me to the floor. He almost broke my fucking
nose. We took pictures. We had proof. We’re telling the truth.” Matthew was
getting more and
more angry
as he paced around the
room.

“I
know, babe, but don’t lose your temper – we believe you. And anyway this is the
effect he wants to have on you.” Matthew sat down on the floor. The others
gathered round him. “This thing wants us to do something,” said Matthew.

“Well,
what more can we do? We’ve found the newspaper and the journal, and we know
about Ellwood – where do we go from here?” replied Vana.

“Well,
if this guy isn’t Ellwood, it must be another spirit. So we need to find out
who he is,” said Matthew. “We need to set up our mobiles and see if we can
catch anything.”

“I
don’t
know,
guys.” Zoe was unconvinced. “I have to
live here, remember. This thing attacked you – and I don’t think we should be
messing with it.”

“Well,
how about we sit here and wait to see what happens. He has already left us
messages. Perhaps he will give us another one. Once we’ve found out what he
wants, we can ask him to leave,” said Matthew, as he tried his best to persuade
them that this was the best way forward.

“Dude,
I’m not sure it works like that – and you’re no Ghost Buster!” smiled Steven,
trying to relieve the tension in the room.

“Come
on. We’ve got to at least try,” stressed Matthew. “Are you with me guys?”

“Well,”
said Steven, “I think it’s got to be Zoe’s decision – after all she lives here.
What do you
think,
hun?” Zoe thought for a minute,
then
slowly nodded in agreement. “OK, but if nothing happens
– we stop and get help from somewhere.”

“Right.
Agreed.
Let’s get ready!” said Matthew.