rational state of mind at the moment. He’s been sleep walking, and last night he tried to come into my room.” When she’d finished recounting the strange events of the previous two nights Bonnie’s face was white.
“This is so completely out of character for Damien. I’ve never known him to lose his cool like that, and there’s absolutely no way he’d try to get into your room in the middle of the night, under any circumstances.”
“It has to be the house, then. It must be doing something to him, just like it’s done to everyone else who’s tried to stay there. Damien obviously doesn’t have a dark side or a reason to lose the plot like this, so there’s no other explanation.” She noticed Bonnie hesitation. “What is it?”
She shook her head as if to dismiss the thought. “It’s probably nothing, but when Damien and Tracey divorced just over a year ago some of our friends commented on how well he was dealing with it. He never showed any emotion at all, even when she got the house and a huge chunk of his money. Some said it wasn’t normal and eventually he’d have to snap.”
“ Wow, I didn’t even know he was divorced. Do you think this could be what’s happening to him now, that he’s having some sort of delayed breakdown?”
“I don’t know, but we really need to get back over there are see him. The only prob lem is I’ve got the kids and my husband, Tom, won’t be back till this afternoon. Do you mind waiting till then? If you heard him moving around downstairs then he must be okay.”
“ The thing is I don’t even know if it was him down there, I really don’t know what to believe right now.”
“The best thing we can do is just wai t a while. I’m certain there will be a rational explanation for all this.” Ursula didn’t bother to point out that Bonnie was the one had scared her half to death by telling her the house was haunted to begin with.
“What if his door is still lock ed when we get there?”
Bonnie thought for a moment. “Yvette has a spare set of keys at the agency to every room in the house. Why don’t you drive over there and pick them up. It will help to kill some time, and it will do you good to go for a drive into town and take your mind off things.”
“I tried ringing Yvette before I came here to get your number but the ca ll went straight to voice mail.”
“That’s because she’s always gossiping on the phone. She’ll definitely be there. While you’re gone I’ll ring around and find a sitter so Tom can come with us. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to go over there alone.”
“That’s for sure. I’ll head into town now and get the keys, I guess, and I’ll see you soon. ”
“Okay, and try not to worry too much, Ursula, everything will be fine.”
****
Although she knew it could be hours before they returned to the house, Ursula couldn’t shake the sense of urgency that overtook her as she drove towards Paradise. There was something very wrong at Colton Manor, and she wished they could go back there immediately and get to the bottom of it. Damien could be in real danger. Just because the ghost had not harmed anyone before did not mean it never would, there was a first time for everything. But was it something supernatural causing him to behave so weirdly, or did he have repressed anger from his divorce that was only coming out now? She was glad she hadn’t let things go too far with him the previous night because the last thing she needed was to become involved with a man carrying serious baggage.
Despite everything Ursula’s intuition told her that Damien was not a person she needed to fear, and she had learned to listen to her inner voice over the years. Every instinct told her that he could be trusted, and that was why she believed Bonnie when she said his strange behaviour was completely out of character. The only other explanation was that there was something sinister going on at the house, and this conclusion did
“This is so completely out of character for Damien. I’ve never known him to lose his cool like that, and there’s absolutely no way he’d try to get into your room in the middle of the night, under any circumstances.”
“It has to be the house, then. It must be doing something to him, just like it’s done to everyone else who’s tried to stay there. Damien obviously doesn’t have a dark side or a reason to lose the plot like this, so there’s no other explanation.” She noticed Bonnie hesitation. “What is it?”
She shook her head as if to dismiss the thought. “It’s probably nothing, but when Damien and Tracey divorced just over a year ago some of our friends commented on how well he was dealing with it. He never showed any emotion at all, even when she got the house and a huge chunk of his money. Some said it wasn’t normal and eventually he’d have to snap.”
“ Wow, I didn’t even know he was divorced. Do you think this could be what’s happening to him now, that he’s having some sort of delayed breakdown?”
“I don’t know, but we really need to get back over there are see him. The only prob lem is I’ve got the kids and my husband, Tom, won’t be back till this afternoon. Do you mind waiting till then? If you heard him moving around downstairs then he must be okay.”
“ The thing is I don’t even know if it was him down there, I really don’t know what to believe right now.”
“The best thing we can do is just wai t a while. I’m certain there will be a rational explanation for all this.” Ursula didn’t bother to point out that Bonnie was the one had scared her half to death by telling her the house was haunted to begin with.
“What if his door is still lock ed when we get there?”
Bonnie thought for a moment. “Yvette has a spare set of keys at the agency to every room in the house. Why don’t you drive over there and pick them up. It will help to kill some time, and it will do you good to go for a drive into town and take your mind off things.”
“I tried ringing Yvette before I came here to get your number but the ca ll went straight to voice mail.”
“That’s because she’s always gossiping on the phone. She’ll definitely be there. While you’re gone I’ll ring around and find a sitter so Tom can come with us. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to go over there alone.”
“That’s for sure. I’ll head into town now and get the keys, I guess, and I’ll see you soon. ”
“Okay, and try not to worry too much, Ursula, everything will be fine.”
****
Although she knew it could be hours before they returned to the house, Ursula couldn’t shake the sense of urgency that overtook her as she drove towards Paradise. There was something very wrong at Colton Manor, and she wished they could go back there immediately and get to the bottom of it. Damien could be in real danger. Just because the ghost had not harmed anyone before did not mean it never would, there was a first time for everything. But was it something supernatural causing him to behave so weirdly, or did he have repressed anger from his divorce that was only coming out now? She was glad she hadn’t let things go too far with him the previous night because the last thing she needed was to become involved with a man carrying serious baggage.
Despite everything Ursula’s intuition told her that Damien was not a person she needed to fear, and she had learned to listen to her inner voice over the years. Every instinct told her that he could be trusted, and that was why she believed Bonnie when she said his strange behaviour was completely out of character. The only other explanation was that there was something sinister going on at the house, and this conclusion did
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