Chapter 6: Meeting the Family

Kate's Version

The service was boring as always, I knew mum wanted me to go to communion classes, but I couldn't see the point, finally the hymns had finished and we could escape from the confines of the building, but the vicar was there at the front saying goodbye to his flock,

"Hello Kate," he said to me, "I understand that you'll be taking the classes this Thursday, I'll be happy to see you there." I turned to mum who was just smiling away nodding.

I pulled on her arm as we were down the path, "Mum! What did he mean?"

She just smiled, "Well we thought it would be good for you to get confirmed, I've got the ideal dress already sorted out."

I wailed, "Oh mum! How could you? I don't want to go! I've got soccer practice on Thursday anyway."

She shook her head, "Now Kate, the classes are after school, you're have plenty of time to play before they start, now you'll enjoy it, and it's all arranged anyway, so you'll have to go."

I walked away from her, I was annoyed! People are always doing 'the right thing' for me without asking me! Why couldn't they just let me do what I want? Life wasn't fair at all!

It was during this blue funk that I noticed where I was walking; I was by the Harding Plot I looked at the unkempt grave and its misleading headstone.

"Cassandra and Darcy were just like me, nobody asked them either!" I spoke into the air, not caring if anyone heard me, but then I heard a voice.

"Darcy should have known better, and he dragged Cassandra down with him, they had become little better than beasts, their punishment was well deserved." I turned round and saw a man standing just by the path. He was dressed in 'Sunday Best' - a dark suit, a black tie and he was wearing a hat, his face was full and he sported sideburns half way down the sides of his face, the hair was greying, but his eyes were staring, as if boring into my brain.

I went to run, but he put a hand out, "Please, listen to me, I'm not going to hurt you, just to talk, Please Kate, for the sake of our shared family please listen."

This made me stop, why 'our shared family'? And who was this man? His face was slightly familiar, but I didn't know him.

"Who are you?" I asked him, but deep down I thought I knew who he was.

He bowed to me, "Josiah Harding, at your service."

I just stared at him, "You are... " I looked at the grave where he was standing, and then I stood in front of him and yelled, "You killed your own children, just because they loved each other!"

He shook his head, "Not because they loved each other, it was because they fornicated, and committed the sin of incest, I couldn't allow them to continue this, and I knew if we split them up they would just find another way to continue their unholy union. And I couldn't allow them to do that"

He sounded so calm and straightforward as if discussing murder was the normal thing to do on a Sunday morning, it was so frustrating, he looked at me.

"I want you to have nothing more to do with my house; I don't want you to even think about entering it again, otherwise I will be forced to deal with you!" He made himself look taller and looked down on me, I just smiled.

"And what do you think you're going to do?" I said, "You have no substance here!" and to prove it I walked towards him, he just stood there as I approached, a sneer on his face, which started to crumble as I got nearer.

"Stay back girl, I warn you" Josiah said, holding his hand out - I ignored it and continued. Just as I was up to him he vanished, "Damn you child, have you no manners..." his voice wavered and went quiet.

"No Josiah," I said, "I think you are the one who is dammed, I hope you stay there forever, for what you did to your children, it was bad enough to kill them, but then to do that to their bodies was worse!" It was at this point I resolved to do whatever I could for both Cassandra and Darcy.

Billy's Story

I had just finished kissing Cassandra when she seemed to shrink in on herself, she appeared to be dragged back into the house, there was a wistful smile on her lips as she went, I think she was happy, I decided to talk to Kate in the morning and try to convince her to help Cassandra and Darcy. I stood in the garden waiting to wake up.

I noticed a man approaching me, he looked quite old, but was about sixty I suppose, he was tall and had whiskers down the side of his face, which looked quite angry.

"Oh foolish boy, you have tasted the serpent of Eden's apple and are doomed!" he said, "How could you allow yourself to be tainted by that Jezebel?"

From the way he was stalking up to me I started to feel afraid, but then I realised that here anything could happen, like a pool of mud in the man's path, I concentrated and was happy to see him start to sink into the muddy water, so I pictured a deep hole, about four feet deep, he walked straight into it, his shoulders and head being above the level of the water.

"What do you think you are doing?" The man demanded, "This is my property, you have no right to interfere in it!"

I just looked at him, "Your property!" I said, "I thought this was Harding House, how can it be your property!" I told him.

He struggled out of the pit and started to walk towards me again, "I am Josiah Harding, this house and lands belong to me! Now why did you let that misbegotten daughter of mine seduce you?"

He didn't look as I had pictured him, but I didn't like the way he was reacting, so I thought of another location for us - the graveyard, and as if by magic I was by his grave, I looked around, I didn't really want to see a ghost - Well I know that Cassandra and Darcy were ghosts - but they were, different, I suppose. I was more frightened of the classic white sheet version.

"Don't worry son," the voice came from everywhere, "We're not going to bother you, that Josiah needs sorting out, he's too big for his boots with his holier than thou attitude. You keep at him!"

Then the man, Josiah, appeared, "Why are you in this place?" He thundered.

I grabbed my courage in both hands, "Because this is where you belong, this is your grave, and you should stay in it."

He face redden in rage, "How dare you judge me boy. Do you know who I am?"

I nodded, "Yes, I also know what you are, MURDERER! You killed your own children because of your twisted sense of justice, you didn't have the right to do that to them."

"NO RIGHT! I HAD EVERY RIGHT!" He was shouting now. "I HAD TO STOP THEM FROM EVER DOING THAT AGAIN! IT WAS AN ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD!"

I shouted back, "WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD ASSUME WHAT GOD WOULD WANT? You decided that you could just kill them!"

He went down onto his knees. "But it's in the Bible, its wrong for brother and sister to lie together, and the punishment is death"

Somehow the answer was in my mind, "But, the country's laws take precedence over the laws in the Bible, don't they?"

He snorted, "What and have the good name of the family dragged through the courts, be held up to ridicule, no! Never!" I was starting to feel a tugging,

I had to end this, "Josiah Harding, return to your grave with your wife, you have forsaken your children, this cold grave is your reward!" The graveyard around me started to fade, but I could faintly hear his voice once more.

"Back to my lonely grave, why have I been banished to this alone!" and then I woke up, with the words still echoing in my head.

Then I was awake and sweating in my bed.

I had seen HIM, their father, and he didn't seem to be upset by what he'd done, he was more concerned about his family name! As if that meant more than his own family lives.

I went downstairs to where mum had prepared breakfast, but I was too engrossed in my thoughts to take any notice of what I was eating.

During the rest of the morning I had chores to do which included cleaning my room, I considered the matter, Parents can be so unfair to their children I though and then laughed - at least mine wouldn't kill me if my room was untidy.

I had a quick lunch and went out on my bike, I wasn't really thinking of anything in particular but was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't notice that I was outside the house once more, I then notice that Kate's bike was also laying on the ground, its rear wheel still spinning, so she had only just arrived.

I dashed around to the side window, just in time to see it closing; I lifted it up and heard a squeal from inside.

"It's only me!" I hissed to her, "Hold on, I'm coming in as well!" I climbed into the now familiar room; the light obligingly came on for us.

"Thanks Darcy!" Said Kate and then she turned to me, "Billy! What on earth are you doing here?" She asked, so I told her of my adventures after she left me, her reaction surprised me, "You too!" she said, and then recounted her meeting with Josiah, she looked at me and then asked, "But why would he try to stop us?"

I shrugged, "It seems that he thought more about his family reputation then his own children." I said

Then Darcy's voice spoke up, "Yes, well remember in our time the family name was the entry to many top places, if you had a poor or dishonourable name then you could be ostracised by your neighbours, family honour was everything."

I watched as his form shimmered into view, and then spoke, "But does that mean you have to turn into a murderer to preserve the family's name?"

He shook his head, not answering, Kate took my hand and started dragging me out of the room, I looked back to see Darcy sinking forlornly into the floor.

"There's something you need to see, and then I have to ask you a favour." She said cryptically, we arrived in the kitchen and Kate went to a brick wall, she started to feel around the wall as if trying to find something? I didn't know what.

"There's got to be a lever somewhere around here." She was muttering.

"What do you mean?" I asked her puzzled, "A lever for what?"

She turned to me with an exasperated expression on her face, "The lever for this doorway, how else are we going to get down there." I looked at her as if she was slightly mad, doorway? Down where? She could see I didn't understand, so she patiently explained.

"Last night Darcy brought me into this room, we walked through this wall," I opened my mouth to speak, but she carried on, "There was a metal stairway leading down to a locked door, I don't know how to open this door to get to the stairs."

Then I felt hands on my chest beneath my clothes, "Hello Cassandra." I said, I felt her breath on my ear as she spoke,

"Hello Billy, this is a surprise, I didn't expect you here until next weekend." She said.

"Cassandra?" Kate said, "You wouldn't mind just looking over here and seeing where the switch is, please?"

I felt her hands removing themselves from me, and then Cassandra materialised before us, "Certainly Kate," she said, "I thought this room was slightly different, but cook always kept us out of the kitchen," saying this she walked to the wall, and then pushed her head into the brickwork as if there was nothing there!

"Interesting," She said, "There are metal bolts behind here, but the access appears to be a button, which is." She removed her head from the bricks and pointed to a unobtrusive brick by the stove, "Here!" she concluded.

Kate quickly pushed the brick, which gave a 'click' and the wall before us opened. Disclosing a dark space behind, Kate reached into her backpack and pulled out a torch, "I knew I'd be needing this again." She said and entered the space.

I quickly looked around the kitchen and spotted two candles which I picked up, there were some matches, with them (not the safety kind) which I also picked up, and then quickly followed Kate into this new room.

As she had described, the only item in this room was a stairway leading down into the gloomy depths, I went up behind Kate, she looked back at me and held out her hand, I could see she was shaking, and so I took it her grip was hard and tight, she was scared, but didn't want to show it.

We started down the steps, the ironwork groaning with our weight, I suppose that after all this time without people using it, the stairs had got slightly rusty, and at times I felt that each step might be our last. Finally we arrived at the bottom and, as Kate had said, there was a large door in front of us, at the side of the door was a key on a hook, Kate reached for it.

"LEAVE THAT ALONE!" A voice came booming out from nowhere, Kate looked around, Josiah Harding appeared, he looked angry and seemed to be twice his height, I turned to face him.

"Why?" I asked him, "If you've nothing to fear why should we stop?"

His face, already darkened, tried to look stern, "This is their punishment, and you do not have the right to interfere with that!"

Kate then spoke up, "And how long was their punishment supposed to last? They've been trapped there for over a hundred years, is that fair?"

His voice was softer now, "A hundred, two hundred what does it matter, they went against the lords teaching, they should suffer for that, you must see I'm right!"

Kate shook her head, "No!" she said, "I don't. You're saying that you are the instrument of the lord's wrath, that's preposterous! If you were - then why are you still down here? Why haven't you moved on?"

He seemed to quail under her questioning, his size had shrunk to normal height, and he wasn't nearly so overwhelming in this guise, "I - I decided that I should watch over them, ensure that they never again were..."

"Liar!" said Kate, but this time her voice was different, I turned to look at her, her eyes were wide open but she wasn't seeing anything, "Josiah Harding, you broke the commandments when you killed your offspring, because they weren't completely dead when you mummified them their spirits were trapped, it is their spirits that have kept you here, neither in one world or the next, doomed forever to remain, until they are freed, this was the curse you engineered for yourself without knowing." And then her voice faltered and she started to collapse, I quickly grabbed hold of her, supporting her.

Kate looked around in a daze, "Where did she go?" she asked me.

I was puzzled again, "Who?" I said, but Kate didn't answer, then she looked at Josiah again, his eyes were lowered as he contemplated the words he had heard.