The Red Light Read online

  The Red Light

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  THE RED LIGHT

  by

  ROBERT KISKADEN

  Copyright © 2012 by Robert Kiskaden

  All rights reserved

  Published by Robert Kiskaden at Smashwords

  Cover Illustration Copyright © 2012 by Half Hill Books

  Cover design by Robert D. Kiskaden, Robert C. Kiskaden, Paula O’Cull-Kiskaden

  Book design and production by Half Hill Books

  Editing by Paula O’Cull-Kiskaden

  Cover photograph by Robert C. Kiskaden

  Chapter 1

  Teddy lay there in bed staring at the ceiling, there was a faint light coming in the window from the pole light at the corner of the house, the covers were pulled up to his nose. He heard a thump under his bed and then a sound like something crawling on the floor and he lay there in fear with eyes wide open looking around the room. Suddenly there was another thump and a few seconds later he felt his mattress move beneath him like a hand pushing under the bed and letting go making him bounce and coming back to a silent stand still.

  He held his breathe so he could hear every little noise in the room. There was a low sound that started, he couldn’t make it out at first, but it got louder and louder, it was breathing, a raspy, rough breathing coming from under his bed. Then with the breathing there came scratching noises from under the bed, nails digging into the hard wood floor, and as quickly as it started it suddenly stopped. Teddy was frozen with fear.

  A bright red light shined beneath his bed and lit up the room, the boy could see a shadow on the wall, it was low on the wall down at the base board, and it looked like someone was crawling from under his bed.

  The boy heard a rough, shaky voice saying, “I’ll be back boy and we can play, you like to play don’t you?” Teddy lay silent and still too scared to move. “Aw, come on, and talk to me, get to know me and we’ll have lots of fun, you’ll see. Now, don’t go telling your mom and dad about me or… The unseen figure paused and laughed loudly, so loud that it hurts the boys’ ears. “Or, I will kill them Ted. I will cut them open and eat them alive,” the voice said and laughed uncontrollably.

  The light suddenly went out and his room was dark again, there were no sounds and it seemed like hours passed before he was able to pull down the covers a little bit and check to see if he was alone.

  * * * * * * * * * * * *

  Teddy and his family had just moved from Illinois to a rural town in Kentucky on the Ohio River. His father, Mike Heathrow inherited the house from his Aunt Penny Dreary that had recently passed away. It is on a large farm and there isn’t a neighbor in sight, the closest one being over a mile away. The rock and mortar house was quite intimidating it had been built in the seventeen hundreds by Mike’s ancestors and made of the stone from the ground it stands on. It has three stories of rooms and an addition that was built on about twenty years ago. The house has been through major events in history; former owners had slaves and it has been said that many people had died on the property during the revolutionary and civil wars.

  Mike and Sarah have been married eleven years, he is tall and thin with short brown hair and Sarah is petite with long red hair. Teddy is nine and his younger sister Mary is seven. Mike was a lawyer in Chicago, and when he inherited the house in Kentucky he and Sarah decided that it was time to get out of the city and get some peace and quiet for once in their lives.

  * * * * * * * * * * * *

  The next morning Teddy woke to his mother calling his name. “Teddy, wake up, it’s time to get ready for school,” she said as she picked up his dirty clothes from the day before.

  “Mom,” Teddy said.

  “Yes dear,” she answered.

  “I don’t like this house, can’t we move somewhere else?”

  “No, we just spent our first night here; you’re not scared are you?”

  “Well, maybe a little.”

  “Give it a chance. It’s just a new room, in a new place and in time you’ll love it here; I know it,” she said while rubbing his hair away from his forehead.

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  The children sat at the table eating cereal while their father got ready for work, he is opening an office down town to practice law and has begun to do the paperwork necessary for him to work in Kentucky. Their mother was getting the school bags ready making sure they had everything they needed for the day when they heard a thump sound coming from the basement door in the hallway by the kitchen. Mary and Teddy looked at each other, frightened but never said a word; they hurried to finish their breakfast, got their school bags and waited by the front door.

  “Well, you two are anxious to get to your new schools, aren’t you?”

  Teddy and Mary looked down the hallway silently, and shook their heads yes to their mother.

  “Come on, I’ll walk with you two down to the bus.”

  The three of them walked down the gravel road to where it met the pavement, Mike went by slowly waving at them with a big smile on his face. It was fall in Kentucky, which means at 7:00 AM it is cold, dark, and usually foggy, they could hear the bus coming down the road long before they could see it, it pulled up and the doors opened, the children got on the bus and waved goodbye to their mother. As the bus pulled away Teddy looked toward the house, in one of the upstairs windows he thought he seen something, he looked closer and could see a figure standing and waving out at the window, cold chills went down his spine, he looked away quickly and stared down at his feet.

  Chapter 2

  Sarah slowly walked back to the house and looked around outside at the tall stone walls while admiring the craftsmanship and the hard work that went in to building such a house. Her eyes traveled to the third floor where she seen a small window that looked to be covered on the inside to block out the sun. She went in the house and up the stairs to try and locate the room; she found a small door that looked as though it were made for a child, she was impressed at how the door was hidden into the wall, there was no handle, just a small crack with barely enough room to get her fingers in to open it. The door popped open and she had to duck down to get inside.

  It was dark and musty smelling, she found a light switch and flipped it on and the room lit up. There were books everywhere, on shelve, in boxes, and a large pile on an old wooden desk on the opposite side of the room in front of the covered window. She walked over to examine the window to see if she could remove what was blocking the sun and found that it was a thick board that was nailed into the window frame.

  Sarah spent a long time going through the books, blowing the dust off of them and looking for any titles she recognized. On the center of the desk she found a journal and was excited to see that it was the diary of Mike’s Aunt Penny. She continued looking around the desk; Sarah found several other diaries that his aunt kept in this secret room; she opened one that was dated just two months before she died, as she began to read it the light bulb in the ceiling fixture exploded, the loud pop frightened her and she let out a little squeal. Now the only light in the room was what came in the small doorway from the hall. Suddenly she felt like someone was watching her and instantly there was a very cold breeze that blew throughout the room; at that moment Sarah thought of every ghost story she ever heard about how ghosts’ and cold breezes go together. She quickly grabbed a couple of the books and left the room as Sarah got into the hallwa
y suddenly the small door slammed shut. Oh my God, did something just close that door? she thought to herself as she hurried downstairs not looking back.

  She went back downstairs and laid the books on the kitchen table, as she walked past the sink she slid and caught herself on the counter, looking down she noticed a coffee cup was broken on the floor and coffee was everywhere. Sarah cleaned up the mess, still trying to figure out how it happened but couldn't explain it away, and she wondered why no matter where she went in the house she felt like she was being watched.

  All afternoon she unpacked and straightened things around the house. She had been putting off taking the basket of dirty clothes to the basement for when the washer and dryer get hooked up. Sarah had a fear of basements; ever since she was a child she was to afraid to go down into them, but she was older now and felt kind of silly to still be so scared. When she opened the basement door the cold, stale air came up to meet her. She stepped down slowly, looking side to side all the way down, she made it to the washer and put the basket down on the floor beside it in and stood there leaning against the machine looking around at the basement.

  It was huge and dark and cold, it was a mess from the move, boxes were stacked everywhere and a lot of clothes were hanging waiting to be moved to their proper rooms and closets. In the back corner there was a little room that looked to be sturdy and the door had a lock on it but she was too afraid to go back and check it out so she stayed by the washer and dryer near the steps. Sarah could hear a sound coming from the corner where the little room was, she stood still frozen in fear, the sound was like heavy breathing and she thought she seen something move that looked like a shadow. The breathing got faster and faster and began to sound like there were little growls mixed in, she ran to the steps going up as fast as she could and right before she closed the door she seen the light go out.

  She got a cup of coffee and went outside to sit on the deck. It was relaxing to look at the leaves that are changing color and listening to the water flowing in the nearby stream. Sarah began thinking about the events of the morning and trying to reason out what happened. It was just her fears getting the best of her, being in a new house and getting used to the quiet surroundings are going to take some adjustment. She wasn't a child and had to get past these irrational childish fears, but some part of it had to have happened, it couldn't had all been in her mind.

  Chapter 3

  Teddy was in his classroom, he wasn’t making many new friends yet, except for Jeff one of the boys in his homeroom. He asked to be excused and went to the restroom and sat in a stall with the door closed and locked. Teddy could feel his eyes getting heavy; he was so tired from barely sleeping the night before and was still hoping it was all a bad dream. He started dozing off when suddenly he heard a toilet lid fall down, slamming loudly and making him jump.

  He could hear a low and steady breathing then it got rougher and louder, he looked at the floor toward the next stall and seen a faint red light. He was trying to control his breathing and stay calm but it wasn’t working, and he had chills go down his spine when he heard a scratchy voice talk to him.

  “What’s wrong Ted, you don’t want to play here either? You just aren’t any fun at all!” The voice said as he started laughing harder and louder, it hurt Teddy’s ears and he had to hold his hands over them but the sound was too loud. Teddy looked at the floor and there was blood running under the other stall toward his feet, he closed his eyes and started screaming still holding his ears with his hands.

  The next thing he knew, he was being shaken by a teacher who was trying to calm him down, he was still holding his ears and kept his eyes closed.

  “Call his mother and I will try to calm him down,” his teacher said to another lady that came into the restroom after hearing the commotion through the wall into the classroom next door. She helped Teddy up and took him to see the school nurse. The nurse tried to offer him something to drink but Teddy just sat in a chair staring at the wall, he wouldn’t look at anyone.

  “We think he’s in shock, Mrs. Heathrow,” the office secretary told her on the phone, “we have no idea what has happened to him and we need you here immediately.”

  “Yes, of course, I will be right there,” she said while trying to find her keys.

  On her way to the school she kept thinking about the secret room and the books she had found, and how scared she was in the basement, Sarah explained it away as just her being afraid and she let her imagination get the best of her and her fears, but it seemed so real.

  Sarah pulled up to the school lot and parked; she walked to the office and was directed to the nurses’ station. She found Teddy sitting on a big cushioned chair holding an unopened bottle of water; she squatted down to be face level with him and asked what happened.

  “Mom,” he said and gave her a hug.

  “Ma’am, just sign here to take him out of school today,” the secretary said to Sarah while handing her a clipboard with a form attached.

  “Ok, I’ll get him home and calm him down and try find out what is wrong.”

  “Probably just the new school, new classmates and teachers, getting thrown in with all these strangers can be traumatic,” the school principal said.

  “I’d say you’re right, I’ll have a long talk with him today and try to work it out.”

  Teddy was silent the whole way home; he just sat and stared out the car window with his arms around his school back pack. Sarah looked over at him while driving and has such compassion for him; she was so worried for what he was going through.

  When they pulled up to the house he felt nervous, “Can we sit outside on the deck for a while mom?” He asked with a shaky voice and staring at the windows of the house.

  “Yes, we can sweetie, what’s wrong?” She asked with concern.

  “Nothing, I just wanna sit outside and get some air for a while.”

  “Of course, you go on and sit down and I’ll get us something to drink and take your stuff inside, OK?”

  “OK, mom,” he said smiling at her.

  Sarah took his back pack inside and got two glasses of lemonade for them and went out with Teddy, they sat there for a long time talking about nothing important and sipping lemonade.

  “So, honey, tell me what happened at school today, what got you so upset?”

  He sat there for a while looking down, he could see in his head how the blood was coming toward his feet, he also remembered the voice the night before telling him not to say anything or he would kill them.

  “Oh, it was nothing mom, it’s like you said, just a new school and new kids all around me, it’s a lot to get used to, a big change. You know?”

  “I know sweetie,” she said rubbing her fingers through his sandy blond hair.

  She knew exactly what he meant about a big change, it was totally different for all of them. After getting Teddy to go inside and get something to eat, she called Mike’s cell phone, she didn’t want to bother him at work, knowing that he was going to be so busy setting up his new office, but he should know what was going on with Teddy. Sarah talked to Mike, he was clearly concerned but was unable to leave the office; he was very busy today overseeing the remodeling and with the paperwork he needed to finish in order to open his office.

  Chapter 4

  Teddy was lying on the couch watching cartoons while his mother worked on getting the house in order; he eventually went to sleep.

  He awoke with Sarah and Mary walking in the front door, his mother had walked down to meet her when she got home from school.

  “Look, what I made,” she said excitedly to Teddy holding up a drawing she did in class; it was a roughly drawn picture of their new house.

  “That’s nice,” he said sleepily.

  “Come on, let’s hang it up on the regirator,” Mary said while dragging her mother into the kitchen.

  “It’s pronounced ‘refrigerator,’ sweetie,” Sarah told Mary while giggling to herself.

  “Regirator,” Mary said. Sarah just
agreed with her and hung the picture on the refrigerator door, Mary was very pleased with it; she then went down the hallway to the stairs and went up to her room.

  “Are you going to un-pack some of your room tonight, Teddy?” Sarah asked.

  “I… I will tomorrow mom,” he answered nervously.

  “Is something wrong, honey?” Sarah asked while sitting next to him on the couch.

  “No, I’m fine, really.”

  “Okay, why don’t you watch your cartoons and rest, you’ve had a rough day. I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”

  Teddy was lying on the couch watching cartoons and soon fell back asleep; meanwhile Mary was upstairs in her room playing. She was unpacking some of her toys and placing them on a shelf in her room; she had a large collection of dolls and barely had enough space for them. She was talking to her dolls while she was arranging them, like many little girls she would pretend that she was their mother and is taking care of their needs. Mary thought she was hearing a bump in the closet and would stop, too scared to move; she could only stare at the door hoping the noises would go away.

  Sarah was preparing dinner and kept hearing something down the hallway, she thought it was Mary playing when suddenly she heard what sounded like heavy work boots going up the stairs; she turned down the burner on the stove and went to stairway looking up.

  “Mary, are you okay?” She asked, but there was only silence. “Mary, what are you doing up there?” She said a little bit louder.