The Retreat(31)

She didn’t respond. But at least she’d stopped pulling items out of the wardrobe.

‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you sit down?’

She allowed me to lead her over to the bed, where she sat, grabbing the quilt and pulling it over her. She hugged herself, her breathing harsh and ragged. I nodded at Julia and Suzi, indicating that I needed them to give us space, and they moved over towards the window.

‘She was in there,’ Karen said, barely audible.

‘In the wardrobe?’

She grabbed hold of my arm. Her pupils were dilated, wide and black, big enough to drown in. Her fingernails dug into my forearm.

‘Or the ceiling. Or maybe she’s under the bed.’ She jerked forward but I held her back.

‘Would you like me to check?’ I asked.

She nodded and I got down on my hands and knees, making a great show of peering beneath the bed.

‘There’s no one there.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely.’

I sat up and rubbed my bare arms. I couldn’t see anything sinister in the room, but I could feel it. Something. A presence, lurking out of sight. The sensation of being watched. Just like in my dream, I had the sense that the house was alive, breathing. Waiting.

‘I’m just going to have a chat with Julia, okay?’ I said to Karen, who stared at me as if I’d spoken a foreign language.

I gestured for Julia to follow me out of the room. Suzi came too. We stood in the hallway, talking in whispers.

‘It’s like she’s having a bad trip,’ I said.

‘From cannabis? Is that possible?’

‘I don’t know. I’ve heard about people lacing cannabis with all sorts of stuff,’ I said. ‘LSD, maybe. It’s not really my area of expertise.’

‘It could be a panic attack,’ Julia said.

‘She looks utterly terrified,’ said Suzi. ‘Like the other night, when she heard that voice.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Julia asked. ‘What voice?’

‘Maybe we should call an ambulance,’ I said, ignoring Julia’s exasperated look.

‘I’ll do it.’ Suzi went into her room to find her phone.

Karen made a groaning noise and Julia hurried in, leaving me on my own for a moment until Max came out of Suzi’s room, wearing a dressing gown. ‘What’s going on?’ he said. ‘Is Karen demonstrating why you shouldn’t do drugs again?’

‘Why do you have to be such a twat?’

‘Whatever. I’m going back to bed.’

‘Your own?’

‘We were working. Not that it’s any of your business.’

He was right. It wasn’t. But I was sick of the sight of Max, and was pleased when he wandered away, yawning and scratching his scalp.

‘Lucas. Can you come back in here?’ It was Julia.

In the bedroom, Karen was horizontal, pulling the quilt half over her face and peeking out. The terror seemed to have subsided a little but there was an emptiness to her gaze now, as if part of her mind had been torn away.

‘She’s been talking,’ Julia said in a quiet voice. ‘But none of it makes any sense.’

‘What did she say?’

‘She’s now saying she thinks there was someone in the ceiling. And they were whispering to her.’

‘In or on the ceiling?’ The latter, I thought, was a fairly common drug-induced hallucination. At least it was in the films I’d seen.

‘She definitely said in.’

I moved closer to Karen. ‘What did they say to you, Karen?’ I asked gently.

She pulled the quilt an inch higher, so it was level with the bridge of her nose. ‘You’re not welcome here.’

‘The same as last time.’

‘Last time?’ said Julia.

‘It happened before,’ I explained, ‘a couple of days ago.’

‘It was a girl,’ Karen whispered.

‘A girl?’ Julia had gone pale.

‘Did she say anything else?’ I was reluctant to quiz Karen too much in case it prompted another episode. How long would it be before the ambulance got here? There was no hospital in town so it was going to have come from – I guessed – Wrexham.

Karen shook her head, her wide eyes fixed on me.

‘Just you’re not welcome here?’

Karen nodded and I thought she was about to close her eyes. They flickered, and she said, ‘And she was singing.’

Julia leaned in closer. ‘Singing? Singing what?’

Now Karen did close her eyes. The room was silent for a minute, so quiet I thought I could hear all three of our hearts beating, Karen’s loudest of all.

‘I couldn’t understand it,’ Karen whispered.

‘Because it was in another language?’ I asked.

Julia spun round to stare at me. And then we heard a noise from above.

Bang. Bang.

Karen pulled the quilt fully over her head and Julia looked as if she were about to faint. We both stared at the ceiling.

The noise came again.

‘What’s up there?’ I asked.

Julia didn’t take her eyes off the ceiling. The plaster was cracked in places and cobwebs clung to the corners.