The Ben Chatham Halloween 2017 Special: "A GHOST FOR EMILY"

Ok people, here is the 2017 Ben Chatham Halloween story:

[B]"A Ghost For Emily" Part One[/B]

Ben laughed uncontrollably as the cool autumn air blew through his golden hair. He was driving at speed through the narrow country lanes with Julian by his side. The sky was blue, the sun was blazing down and Ben was happy.
"This will be our first proper break together Julian, away from Operation Delta and anyone associated with work. God I need it."
Julian smiled and stroked Ben's leg:
"You work too hard Ben. You have a team so let them deal with the hassle. "
Ben reached down to the stereo and turned up the music, which was David Bowie's 'The Next Day' CD. It was two months since he had belatedly found out about Bowie's death and he had been devastated by the news. However Julian had helped him through the pain by being close and making him nutri-bullets. Ben laughed again as the car sped on towards the isolated cottage that they had rented for the Halloween week:
"Hopefully we will see no one else for the whole week. I've had all of our food exclusively delivered by Feltham & Porter, the finest delicatessen I know, and the owner of the cottage has ensured me that we won't be disturbed. I need to be away from people", Ben stated emphatically. Julian smiled and replied:
"It is dreadful how the more people are around you the more lonely you can feel. They intrude on your life with their petty demands, their pointless concerns and their incessant talking about trivial things. And that is the relatively well educated ones."
Ben gave Julian a hug:
"We are saving each other from mediocrity Julian".
They laughed.
The car sped round a corner and into the driveway of a large six bedroom 17th century cottage called 'Courtsworth Cottage" Ben slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a halt on the gravel. knocking over several plant pots. Ben laughed:
"I've always wanted to do that. If anyone complains about the damaged pots I'll just toss them a wad of notes. I feel like being free and irresponsible for once."
They leapt of the car and up to the door, Ben opening it with the keys that he had been sent. The cottage was clean but cold, however there was a large fireplace with plenty of logs. Going into the kitchen they found it well stocked with food, six bottles of wine , exclusive Welsh gin and a bottle of imported Slovenian absinthe. 
Later when the fire was roaring and darkness had fallen outside, Ben and Julian lay on the soft rug by the fireplace feeding each other strawberries and sipping white wine.
"Do you think you will stay running Operation Delta forever Ben?" Julian asked.
"I don't think so. I'm tired of the same old routine and same old people. But they need me to function and......"
Ben was interrupted by the sound of movement upstairs.
"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed.
"Didn't the owner expressly state that we would be the only tenants in the cottage?" Julian replied.
"Yes. If they've let one of the rooms to someone else they have broken the agreement and I will raise hell".
Ben got up to go upstairs as the wind howled outside. They heard more creaking floorboards from upstairs.
"I don't like this Ben. I've gone cold suddenly" Julian exclaimed.
"It's okay Julian. We'll go up together."
Slowly they ascended the stairs until they came to the landing. As they did so a young girl of about 12 years old came out of one of the rooms:
"Did mummy send you? I'm frightened" the girl exclaimed, tears flowing down her face. Ben was bemused:
"No, your mother did not send us. Why are you staying in this cottage? Where are the adults, I want a word with them?"
"Mummy and Daddy have gone away. They said they'd send someone but it has been days. I'm frightened. Don't like it here. I've seen things."
Ben frowned:
"It is a damned disgrace that your parents have left you alone here. Are you from an estate? And didn't the owner of the cottage see you when he sorted out our food delivery? What it your name?"
The girl was sobbing now:
"I'm Emily ....don't understand.... frightened of this place. Not alone here......"
Julian went up to the girl:
"It will be all right we will sort this out. What do you mean though that we are not alone here?
"The ghosts. The ghosts come at night....."
Suddenly the lights went out and the house was in darkness...........
..............to be continued.

OK folks, here is part 2 of this spooky Halloween tale:

[B]"A Ghost For Emily" Part 2[/B]

The house was plunged into darkness and Ben could hear Emily screaming with fear. Suddenly there was another voice, a male voice, deep and animalistic:
"We will be avenged... we have come...."
Ben grabbed hold of Julian:
"It's ok Julian, lets get downstairs slowly, the front room should still have some light from the fire".
Julian was shaking:
"What was that voice?" he said in a panicked state.
"Try not to think about it. Come on, one step at a time."
They slowly descended the stairs in total darkness. Suddenly Ben thought he felt an icy hand sweep across his face and he lost his footing sending himself and Julian tumbling down the stairs. They both stumbled to their feet, bruised and in pain. However as they did so the lights flickered back on.
"Ahh, I think I've twisted my ankle. I can hardly walk", Julian shouted.
"Come on, I'll help you to the sofa and then we'll crack open a bottle of red wine. That will dull the pain a little. " Ben replied.
"I'd rather you just drove me home Ben. I'm not staying in this house. There is something from beyond the grave here" Julian shouted as Ben helped him to the sofa.
"Ok Julian, I'll get the car ready and we can leave if you want. However if this house really is haunted and we can evidence that fact by recording phenomena on our phones then at the very least there could be a bestselling book in this. There is a very large market for true life ghost stories".
Julian looked up and his expression changed into a grin:
"Oh well if you put it like that. Of course I'm filthy rich already but I wouldn't say no to more. You were saying something about cracking open the wine?"
Ben laughed, kissed Julian and then went to fetch the wine from the kitchen. As he returned with the bottle and two glasses, Julian flicked back his hair languidly:
"I was just thinking, shouldn't we check that the girl is all right?"
Ben frowned:
"Oh god, I'd forgotten her. You stay here, I'll go and bring her down. I'm really annoyed about this. Some irresponsible people have left their child here alone and unless they come back for her it could ruin out first night here."
Slowly Ben ascended the stairs again. He had taken the precaution of lighting a candle from one of the kitchen cupboards in case the lights went out again.
"Emily, come here. It's ok, it is only me, Ben. Come on, I need to find out about your parents so we can get rid of you and have the place to ourselves."
Ben searched the first few rooms however there was nothing. Then he heard the faint sound of a girl or woman whimpering.
"Emily, come on, it's ok. Don't cry, come out and we'll sort all of this out".
Emily didn't appear however the crying got louder and it was coming from the furthest room down the landing. Ben suddenly felt very cold, chilled to the bone and there was a strange smell, like that of rotten fish. He reached the furthest room then turned the door handle. As he looked into the room he was horrified to see a woman standing before him with empty eye sockets save for gouging wounds. Her skin was grey and putrefied and she lunged towards Ben  who ran down the corridor, clutching the candle. Ben bolted downstairs to find Julian sitting by the fire playing draughts with Emily:
"There was this thing... upstairs.. with no eyes."
Julian looked up and grinned:
"I suppose you've no eye-dea what it was".
They laughed and Ben slumped down on the sofa:
"You know we'll have to go up there with our phone cameras on the ready as soon as your foot it a bit better. *To Emily* All that hassle just looking for you and you were down her badgering Julian to play draughts with you."
Emily looked up:
"I'm winning. Julian is rubbish."
Ben stuck his tongue out at her:
"I don't care. What I want to know is why your parents left you here on your own. Then I'm going to phone the police. Unless you call your parents sharpish on your phone and tell them to come and get you immediately. "
Emily went on playing draughts:
"I don't know what you mean. I'm happy playing games with you. I have a chess set as well. I like Julian, he's nicer than you are."
Ben sighed:
"Yes well I like Julian as well and three's a crowd, especially if the third person happens to be a rude child."
As Ben spoke there was a strange tapping on the front window.
"What the hell was that?" Julian exclaimed. The tapping came again.
"Sounds like someone knocking. Why don't they use the door?" Ben angrily stated, getting up and going to the window.
"Don't go, it's them" Emily shouted.
"What do you mean...them?" Ben asked.
"Them. The ghosts" Emily replied.
Ben went to the window and pulled back the curtain. To his horror he saw a figure standing before him with half of its face eaten away by maggots leaving the skull showing........
.............. to be continued.

OK folks it's HALLOWEEN. As the witching hour approaches, here is the chilling final part of this classic Ben Chatham adventure:

[B]"A Ghost For Emily" Part 3[/B]

Ben pulled the curtain back over the window and turned to the others:
"Something is not right here. It is completely irrational to accept that ghosts and zombies could possibly exist. Yet this is what my senses are telling me. I do not like the fact that the irrational is encroaching on my empirical approach to these cases."
Julian gazed at Ben sympathetically:
"I understand Ben. Come and have a glass of wine."
Ben sat down next to Julian who hugged Ben and handed him the wine. Emily stared at them:
"Can I have a glass of wine too?"
Julian laughed:
"No. This is extremely expensive wine because I am an extremely rich Cambridge student and I have the best of taste. We do not have any bottles of cheap plonk suitable for letting children have a swig."
Emily pulled a face at him and he and Ben laughed. Ben sipped his wine:
"Look I really think we need to leave. Let's take Emily to the nearest police station and then go and book into a nice hotel."
As he spoke there was a scream from upstairs. Ben and Julian stared at each other.
"We'd better take a look I suppose", Ben stated.
He slowly ascended the stairs, followed by Julian, and as they got to the landing they saw a flickering light coming from one of the bedrooms. They nervously walked along the landing towards the bedroom door, which was ajar, and pushed it open. To their horror they saw a woman in 1920s clothes sprawled across the bed with her eyes gouged out. On the bed next to her was a blood-soaked screwdriver.
"Oh my God! "Julian exclaimed. They ran out of the room but as they ran back across the landing, Emily appeared at the top of the stairs and in her hands was a blood soaked axe. There was a strange, unnatural grin on her face.
"What the hell are you doing with that?" Ben shouted at her. Emily laughed:
"Ha, ha, fooled you. You two are so silly. You thought that they were the only ghosts in this house. Don't you see? This is my house. I hated my mummy and daddy. All they cared about was their stupid rows. So I killed them both. I gouged mummy's eyes out with a screwdriver, it was so funny the squelching noises that it made. They put me in a madhouse so I hanged myself so that I could come back here and haunt it forever. Please let me kill you now, it will be fun."
Ben and Julian gazed at her in horror:
"You vicious little tatar", Julian exclaimed.
"What a vile, nastly little girl you must have been" Ben shouted.
Emily raised the axe and took a swing, just missing Ben and Julian who ran up the landing and into the far bedroom. They ran to the window and pushed it open. It was a 20ft drop to the ground put they could hear the ghostly footsteps of Emily approaching:
"We'll have to jump. Better a broken ankle than being killed by that spectral abomination", Ben shouted. He and Julian stood on the window ledge and then they jumped.......................



Slowly Ben awoke. He was lying on the grass outside of the cottage. It was a cold, autumn morning and he felt cold and bruised. The sun was shining brightly in the clear, blue sky. Nearby Julian was also waking up, cold and moaning. Surrounding them on the grass were six empty wine bottles, an empty bottle of welsh gin and an empty bottle of Slovenian absinthe.........

THE END
HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL MY READERS!