The room felt chilly and the weird atmosphere had returned again, as I began to walk slowly around the bed, while holding my arms out, searching for Suzanne. Incredibly, the room appeared to be much larger than I knew it to be. Slowly, I moved around the end of the bed, towards the window. There was a chest of drawers set against the outer part of the bay window, leaving a gap to walk along the other side of my bed.
It was in this gap that my hand touched the material of Suzanne’s top. It gave me a shock to make contact with her in this way. “Suzanne! What is wrong with you?” As I put my arms around her, there was no response. Slowly, I moved my hands up her body, feeling the curve of her breasts, then up to her shoulders. It was as though she was made of stone and her face felt cold to the touch. Locating her mouth, I put my own lips to hers and kissed her gently. All of a sudden, the tension completely disappeared, her body relaxed and I could hear her breathing gently, where, before, there had been nothing. “Thank God I found you! Are you alright, Suzanne?”
She shuddered, let out a deep breath and held me close. “Oh, Tonie. There is definitely something very weird and unnerving in this room. It frightens me.” Her usual calm voice was full of tension and fragility, sounding as though she was close to the point of tears.
I hugged and held her close. “What happened, Suzanne?”
She took in a deep breath and, still holding me close, said, “I was about to get changed, when the temperature in the room suddenly dropped. I thought I could hear a strange, whispering voice.”
“What did it say?”
“That’s the strange thing. I couldn’t make out what was being said, but the whispers continued. Before I knew what was happening, it was as though I was completely frozen, just like a statue. I found it impossible to move!” She began to cry. “I’m sorry, Tonie. Perhaps this was not a good idea, after all.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. You are safe, now and I won’t let anything happen to you.” Slowly, she returned to her usual buoyant character.
As she passed me on her way to the bathroom, the sweet scent of her perfume now filled the air, yet when I had entered the bedroom, there had been no hint of this, just an overwhelming atmosphere of gloom, fear and despondency. I stripped down to a tee-shirt and boxers and climbed into my bed. I did have a bedside light, which was of no practical use to me, yet I switched it on for Suzanne’s benefit, hoping to re-assure her that there was nothing to fear.
She was giggling as she entered my room. “I looked at myself in the mirror in your bathroom. My nightwear is hardly what you would call glamorous or seductive!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.” I smiled at the vision my brain had created. Pulling the covers back, I invited her into my bed.
She slipped under the sheets, suddenly appearing quite shy. I smiled to myself, as her reserve melted away. She put her arms around me and we pulled each other close. I felt certain that she could feel my pounding heart, just as I could feel hers. The situation had also aroused me sexually and, embarrassingly, I had an erection which was pressing against Suzanne’s stomach. She did not mention it, yet I felt quite self-conscious at the intimacy and of our closeness.
“Do you want to leave the bedside light on, Suzanne?”
“No, I have a feeling that nothing will happen if we leave the light on.” She leaned over and switched it off.
The temperature of the room now felt quite normal and I desperately hoped that whatever it was that had kept making its presence felt, had given up now that the two of us were ready to face it, together.
I was wrong. As we lay there, holding each other close, we suddenly realised there was a noticeable change in the air temperature, yet again. It was as if someone had suddenly opened the door to a large chiller room and the warmth in our bodies was being drained at quite an alarming rate.
Not content with chilling us, we both jumped when the radio suddenly switched itself on, which should have been impossible without a mains connection. There was the brief sound of music, but it was soon replaced with the deep voice I had heard before, emerging from the speaker.
Suzanne quickly switched the bedside light on, again. “What the hell is going on?” There was both anger and fear in her trembling voice.
The voice on the radio disappeared as soon as the light was on. “Can you see anything strange?”
There was still a tremble in her voice as she answered. “It’s very weird. There seem to be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of what looks to be something like butterflies flying around the room and everything is…” She was struggling to find the correct word. “Shimmering. Like the effect when you see something through a heat haze. I don’t understand. And, yet, it’s so damn cold!”
I had a sudden idea. “Suzanne! Do you have your mobile?”
“Yes, why?”
“Try taking a few photos. I don’t know how they will come out, but it’s worth trying. When you have taken a few, let me know and I’ll switch the main room light on, then you can take some more.”
I heard the typical noise when a mobile phone is being used as a camera. ”Okay, Tonie. You can switch the light on, now.”
I slipped out of bed and shivered as the cold air hit my body. I rushed over to the switch near the door and pressed it. Suzanne was making a strange, terrified, mewling noise. I clambered back into bed and held her close. “It’s okay, Suzanne. What can you see?”
Through her sobs, she answered, “Everything in the room is still shimmering. It’s like looking at everything through a heat haze. And the ceiling light is flashing on and off. And that awful stink! Can you smell it?”
I had to admit that there was a putrid, revolting, rotting smell in the room. This together with everything else was terrifying for both of us.
Coming to a sudden decision, I climbed out of bed and held my hands out towards Suzanne. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” She took my hands and climbed out of the bed without any argument. I grabbed hold of the quilt and hung it over my shoulder.
“Where shall we go?” Her voice seemed quiet and nervous, almost child-like.
“Downstairs. Hopefully, this weird situation is restricted to this room.” We shut the bedroom door firmly behind us as we reached the head of the stairs. I switched the landing light on, saying “You go first, Suzanne, and I’ll follow you.” We began to descend the stairs and nearly stumbled as I felt something pressing on my back. I gripped the handrail tightly, resisting whatever it was that was trying to force me to fall against Suzanne.
As we reached the hallway, Kelly stirred, presumably wondering why we had returned so soon. We entered the living room and I spread the quilt on the sofa. Fortunately, the sofa was fairly long and was big enough for the two of us to cuddle up close, wrapped in the quilt.
I had, purposely, left the room light on to provide some re-assurance for Suzanne and, as our bodies relaxed intimately close, I thought her fears would subside.
All of a sudden, a terrific crash sounded right above our heads, making both of us jump and tense with fear yet again. The living room was directly under the bedroom where we had been only a few minutes earlier. It seemed that the presence above wanted us to know that it was still around and, obviously angry enough to want to create more noises and disturbances for us.
Of one thing I was certain. There was no way that I was brave enough to return to my bedroom to confront whatever was causing sheer havoc. Suzanne and I clung even more tightly to each other and tried, with great difficulty, to fall asleep. Eventually, the noise subsided and, from sheer exhaustion, sleep gradually came to both of us.