No Way To Escape | Novel

CHAPTER 38: THE REVELATION

He went on to the racks and pulled out some papers. After cleaning the dust over them, he went through the papers and then picked out a page. He handed over the piece of paper to me.  The title read – MAN COMMITS HOMICIDE BEFORE KILLING SELF. 11.09.1924 – the date was written in small scripts above it.

Before I could read anything further, Father Richard started, 'My ancestors had been living here for centuries, Liam. Reynburg had always been a place where every family would like to settle in  – big or nuclear. No big cars back then, not much industrialism, calm atmosphere, cheerful environment, etcetera. But then, this happened. I wasn't born at that time. Since my childhood I had been kept in dark about these hauntings until...'

'Until what?', I asked.

'Until my brother went in to the Warwick's'. I gasped.

'Yes. It was early in the summer of 1983. I was out of Reynburg at that time. It was my early time, you know... When I was practicing. Then one day my mother telephoned me and said that my elder brother, Donald was dead. He committed suicide. I was aghast at the very moment. I had always known him as a happy and exuberant person. Him committing a suicide – I could never imagine. 

'I returned back to Reynburg... I was very close to him. More than being brothers, we were like best friends. We never used to hide things from each other. This is what... perplexed me. His demise deeply saddened me. But above all of this there was one question which was eating me – Why did he take such an extreme step?

'To get the answer to this question, I started enquiring my parents and his friends about his last days. I got to know that he was seeming deeply depressed lately and didn't use to talk much with anyone. My mother said that voices would come from his room in night – mostly his but sometimes it sounded strange or... wierd.

'But that wasn't enough. I was still not convinced. There was this friend of his. His name was Steven. He was a very close friend of Donald. When I inquired him, he said that one night Donald had gone to the Warwick's – to show that he didn't care about its curse. He had a bet among his friends. Steven said further that he had also found a coin there – a silver one. So, I started searching over the house for the coin but eventually I didn't find any.

'By then I had been pretty much engrossed in the Warwick's. Although I didn't myself ever go there but I wanted to go to the root of the matter. I started researching about the Warwick's.

'There was an old man at that time who used to live around that mansion when the homicide had happened. I visited him. He told me that in 1924, the man living there – Edward Warwick, a man in his early-forties – killed his whole family, which comprised of his wife, a three-year-old daughter and an old mother in her early eighties, one night in rage.

'He further mentioned that Edward was a good man earlier. Things turned for him when he suddenly lost his job and started getting depressed. He didn't use to talk to anyone and was getting vexatious day by day. It was when he started drinking heavily and used to abuse his wife. Very bad days – he said. He also said that there were rumors that in desperation of a new life, he started indulging himself in acts of blasphemy. He secretly used to worship Satan. But these were never proved to be true.

'Oh my God!', I said. I was at the edge of my seat by now. 'You have any photograph of his?', I asked.

'No... So, he went on slipping deeper and deeper into depression before losing control over himself and killing all his family members with a revolver, infuriated and maddened. The locals and neighbors buried them at the back of the house. From that day on it was believed that the mansion became cursed and nobody dared to move in.

'But there had been instances when people used to get into it. And almost all of them were reported dead within some months – the most usual case being suicide; while some others went missing.

'Then I started getting more deeper into the matter. I started analyzing the suicide cases which were related to the Warwick's. And there was a common link'

'What was it?', I asked.

'The thing which is there in your hand. The silver coin'

'Shit!', I said and looked at the coin.

'Yes. This specific coin was reported to be found at the homes of almost all of its victims, before it suddenly gets missing some day soon after the death'

'Oh no. What should I do now then? I threw this coin away but this came back to me', I said.

'No matter how far you throw it, it will come back to you. It is the token of the curse'

'What can I do now?'

'You are the first man I am watching alive who hasn't died yet after going to that cursed mansion. In all the cases, before I can reach the victim, he or she dies. It's really difficult to know who has visited the Warwick's, you know. I can't vigil upon it all the time. Eventually, I had given up... Somehow. I had lost hope to undo the curse.'

'You know how to undo it?', I asked.

'Perhaps... I know a way. But I have never tried it'. He continued, 'But presently I want you to stay calm. Try to get through the nightmares. He is trying to pull you down, weaken your spirit until you yourself give up your life and he feeds on it to increase his strength'

'He means who?'

'Edward, perhaps'

'Jeez!'

'Just don't let your spirit down. He hasn't caused you any harm because you haven't lost the grasp over your spirit yet. Once you yield, he will get you, certainly. He has fed upon twenty-nine people till now, including your friend Larry. Don't let yourself become the thirtieth one'

'I won't. For sure!'

'Now you must get home and pacify your mind. I will call you once I finally get to some conclusion over the solution. Get it?'

'Yes. By the way how much time it would take you to fathom?'

'Can't say. I said right... I had lost hope. I hadn't even tried to confront it myself... ever. But now that you are here before me... I will definitely chalk out the required plans and inform you. But till then, you have to hold yourself against him, Liam. You shouldn't yield before him. You kneel down a little and he will knock your face down with a single, terrible kick. Having already taken twenty-nine, he has become much stronger than he initially was. So just stay calm and try to hold fast to your determination to live. Understand, Liam?'

I nodded in affirmation.

'Now you must go home'

'Thank you Father'. With this I rose up and getting downstairs, walked out of his house. As I opened the door of my car half-way –

It isn't going to be easy, Liam. Fighting the beast with bare hands and only with determination – heritage of the bravest. But this is the only way out. Fight the devil himself. Fight the nightmares.

Ha! It is easy on Father's part to tell me to stay calm but can one stay calm in such extremes?!

As I looked up with a sigh, I saw Father Richard looking down to me through the window. He nodded to me, pulling his lips closer. I nodded back and getting into the car, drove away, with a hideously grimacing look.