Beware the Dybbuk ~ Part Two

 

Beware the Dybbuk

By Robin Renee Ray

Part Two

        Mike took the lead as he always did, with Sam right on his heels. Cindy and Gabby walked side by side behind their brothers, hoping they knew where they were going. Mr. Gray had pretty much disappeared soon after he walked through the door and not one of the four siblings could see him now.

          “This is crazy. There’s no way that I’m staying in this place if it doesn’t have…” Cindy was interrupted when the foyer light came on.

“Electricity?” Sam whispered.      

“Just calm down. It’s an old house, and there isn’t anything to be afraid of. “Mike looked back and winked at his youngest sister. “The old man probably had to go down the hall to flip the switch.”

Mr. Gray appeared at the top of the curved staircase with his hands behind his back. He was staring down at the four young people with a distained demeanor gracing his face. Gabby touched Mike on the back and he nodded as he set his bag down on the extremely shiny tile floor.

“Excuse me.” Mike cleared his throat.

“I’ll show you to your rooms now, and then I will be departing the premises. It is getting late after all.” Then Mr. Gray turned and walked out of view.

“That dude gives me the creeps,” Sam whispered even lower than he had before.

“Let’s just go up and see our rooms and let him leave. I have a feeling that this place will feel a lot more comfortable with him ‘off the premises’…if you know what I mean,” Mike spoke as he picked up his bag and started walking toward the staircase.

“Did you see the way he was looking at us,” Cindy said, getting as close to Mike as she could as they made their way up the steps. “He looked pissed to me, Mike.”

“Keep your voice down,” he replied in a low tone.

“No shit, Cindy. If you think something like that, why on earth would you want to make it worse by talking out loud about the man’s looks? Maybe he can’t help that he looks like a dead animal hide,” Gabby whispered the last and Sam just about chocked trying to hold back the laughter.

Cindy shot back a hateful glare and then continued following Mike to the top of the second floor where they last saw the spooky old man who had opened the front door. The floor plan opened up to the left and the right creating two long, dark, curved halls that had several doors on both sides and what looked like another hall halfway down. Mr. Gray stepped out of the first door on the left and both girls screamed, causing the two brothers to start laughing.

“The females can stay in here.” Mr. Gray stepped back and held the door open, not looking at anything but the air in front of his own face.

“You heard the man,” Mike smiled, then opened his eyes a bit wider, slightly tilting his head toward the bedroom’s door.

“Fine, but you two better be very close,” Gabby said, pushing Cindy closer to the entrance of the door.

“Oh, hell no!” Cindy spun around and got behind her older sister. “Age before beauty and all.”

“Nineteen, really Cindy.” Sam rolled his eyes and walked over and looked back down over the banister.

“Kiss my…”

“Okay Cindy, we will see you two after we go see our room…and why do we have to share a room, Mr. Gray? This is a pretty big house,” Mike asked, breaking in before Cindy could complete her sentence.

Mr. Gray’s eyes moved down as he stepped out of the girl’s way and Cindy hurried in and out of his way. He was about to close the door when Gabby reached out and grabbed the inside knob.

“I think we are old enough to close our own doors, Mr. Gray.”

“And tuck ourselves in, so please don’t bother,” Cindy said, throwing her bag on the four poster bed.

Mr. Gray nodded once then turned. He looked Mike up and down and then he glanced over at Sam, quickly turning away and heading for the right side hall. He opened the first door on the right hand side, the very opposite from the door he had opened for the girls in the hall to the left. It was just the full mirror image effect of it. Mike and Sam walked in, half expecting Mr. Gray to close the door behind them. When he didn’t they both turned to see him standing there.

“Please advise your siblings to stay close to their rooms. It is not safe to roam these halls in the dark of night. I have made sure that the maids have left the things you will need for a few days in the kitchen, before they left. The bathrooms can be found across the hall from both of your rooms…there is no need to go further until you have begun your packing of the Lady’s items. Which I am sure you will do in the light of day. Now, if you need nothing more, I will be retiring from my position.”

“I think we can handle things from here on out, Mr. Gray. But I do have one question,” Mike said as he walked closer.

“Yes?”

“Where do you keep all the keys that the servants have, that have left? My father will want an account on everything. We couldn’t have anyone sneaking back in, now could we?”

Mr. Gray’s face contorted even worse than it already was, anger showing in every deep line. “You will find them in a key cabinet by the back door, sir. And I can assure you that none will willingly return to this place. Good night and best wishes.” With that said, Mr. Gray was gone.

“I’m giving him ten minutes and then I am hitting that kitchen and see what they left. I am starving,” Sam said as he opened his bag and took out his cell phone.

“Me too, little man. I bet the girls are hungry too. Come on, let’s go see how they like their room and tell them we’re going down and ransacking the goods.”

“Maybe this will work down there. I can’t get a signal.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t get a signal either. I tried out front and didn’t think the house would be any better. And I bet they shut the landline off here after the old lady died.”

“What the heck is a landline?”

“Sam, I worry about you.”

“What? I really don’t know. Hey…wait up.”

The four made their way back down into the foyer. They soon decided to take the hall that went down beside the right side of the staircase and soon found the kitchen at the far back of the house. All of the appliances were modern and stainless steel, but the rest of the kitchen was still the same as it was from the time the home was built back in the early eighteen hundreds. By all accounts, it was breathtaking. However, there was nothing in the way of food that the siblings would eat. But there were an abundant amount of cans of pea and vegetable soup.

“What the hell is this stuff?” Sam asked, holding up a small white plastic bottle.

“Are you serious? That’s the crap they left us to live off of for a week? That’s the crap that old people drink,” Cindy complained. “I don’t drink old people crap and no way in hell I am eating pea soup.”

“We have a car, Cindy,” Mike snapped. “You’re giving me a damn headache.”

Cindy was about to complain when the sound of a door slamming somewhere deep in the house changed her mind. Gabby looked at Mike, who in turn looked over at Sam. “Don’t look at me, I don’t know what it was.” After he spoke another sound rang out.

“What is that, Mike?” Cindy whimpered.

“Don’t freak out. It’s probably just the last of the help heading out.”

“I thought the old…you know what, was the last thing to leave,” Sam shrugged his shoulders.

“I never heard a car, did any of you?” Cindy asked in a panic.

“Come on, in this big old house? You’re working yourself up over nothing,” Gabby started laughing and opened the refrigerator. “Yeah baby, now we’re talking! We have wine.” Then she pulled out a bottle and waved it in the air.

“I will so not tell…as long as you share that with me,” Sam wiggled his brows.

“Do you know how good that will be for my nerves?” Cindy grabbed the bottle and hugged it to her chest.

“Tonight only guys, tomorrow we start working.” Mike was about to say something else when the lights flickered and went out.

Cindy screamed and dropped the bottle. It didn’t break but it spun across the floor and went into the darkness under the breakfast nook in the corner. Cindy then grabbed Gabby and both girls held each other, listening to the sounds of drawers opening and closing. Soon the glow of a candle came in to view.

“There’s a whole drawer full in the china hutch,” Mike said as he handed the girls a candle. “I’ll check the fuse box.”

“Aren’t most of those in the basement?” Sam asked, as his candle began to slightly shake.

“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

“I say we all go together,” Gabby stepped forward. “It would give you more light to work by.”

To be continued…..