Urban Myth by James Raven Page B

come on?
    I hurried around the house checking doors and windows. They were all closed. And locked. It seemed as though nothing had been disturbed. I even went outside. The night was black and still and there were myriad bright stars in the sky. A soft wind blew, chilling the air. I saw nothing unusual. No signs of life, no lights and no unnatural shapes in the dark. Back in the house I checked all the cupboards andwardrobes. Tina, bless her, was still fast asleep in her room, undisturbed by the events of the night. In the living room I checked the television to make sure that the sound hadn’t come on without the pictures, which might have accounted for the voices. But even the standby button was off. I then looked to see if there were any radios or CD recorders in the room, but there weren’t.
    I told Nicole that I was satisfied there was nobody else in the house.
    ‘Are you absolutely sure?’
    ‘I’m positive,’ I said. ‘The place is secure. And both the front and back doors were locked from the inside. I can’t see how anyone could have got in.’
    So who had those voices belonged to? And if intruders had indeed been in the house then where were they now? They couldn’t have just vanished into thin air.
    Not unless …
    No, I didn’t want to entertain the notion that what we had heard and experienced had something to do with the supernatural. I’d never believed in ghosts or poltergeists or any of that mumbo jumbo. It’s all bullshit. I’ve always been convinced of it. Which means there had to be an earthly explanation for everything that happened.
    So what had happened in this house on this night? Who the fuck had been having a conversation in the living room and why hadn’t I been able to see them?
    ‘It must have been Michael,’ Nicole said.
    I looked down at her and wondered if she was serious. Michael had opened his eyes and Nicole was stroking his forehead.
    ‘What do you mean?’ I said.
    ‘Well you know how restless he is at night. He often talks in his sleep and there was that time about a year ago when he went through that sleepwalking phase. Don’t you remember? He woke us up one night and said he was late for school.’
    ‘But there’s no way it was Michael. There was more than one voice and they belonged to adults.’
    ‘But you’ve said that nobody could have got in. We can’t even be sure what we heard. I mean, it was all a bit muffled and we couldn’t make out what was being said.’
    I stared at her, slack-jawed, unable to accept that the explanationwas that simple. Surely I would have known if it was Michael who’d been speaking.
    ‘We were both confused and disoriented, Jack,’ Nicole said. ‘Maybe we just thought we heard more than one voice.’
    I wasn’t sure if she really believed what she was suggesting or if it was her way of dealing with something she couldn’t explain. Like me, Nicole had never believed in the paranormal or the supernatural or whatever people chose to call it, so she’d be anxious to come up with a down-to-earth explanation, however unlikely it seemed.
    Michael groaned and suddenly seemed to become aware of his surroundings.
    ‘Hi, sweetheart,’ Nicole said. ‘Are you all right?’
    He looked around, licked his lips, scratched his nose.
    ‘I want to go to bed.’
    ‘You were in bed,’ Nicole said. ‘Why did you come downstairs?’
    He stared at her, perplexed. ‘I don’t know. I had a bad dream.’
    ‘What about?’ Nicole pressed him. ‘What did you dream about?’
    He sat up straighter, said he was thirsty, so I went into the kitchen and brought him back a glass of water.
    After he’d gulped some down Nicole repeated the question.
    Michael furrowed his brow, said, ‘I’m not sure. I remember being scared, though.’
    ‘What was there to be scared of?’ Nicole asked.
    ‘It was dark and there was a man leaning over me and I felt him lift me up. At least I think it was a man.’
    ‘What did this man look like?’
    He shook his