Callum

All of you have read 'Mandy's Home' will know Spike was a good friend of mine. This story starts after Spike moved out of my flat.

Spike and his girlfriend Abbie had been going out together for about a year when they had their first son Callum. I don't mind admitting I got very broody when I saw how happy they were and I would spend a lot of time with them helping out where ever I could.

Now Abbie and spike were not well off they got by but where Callum was concerned only the best would do and Abbie's mum had brought them a brand new wooden crib that could be unlocked and would rock now I must add the locking system was at both ends of the crib attached to the frame and had to be pushed up and out from the crib to allow it to rock.

For the first few weeks all was well and quiet, one day Abbie asked me to go into town with her as the baby monitors had broken and she needed a new set. As soon as we returned to the house Abbie noticed the living room door the door at the bottom of the stairs and the bedroom door were all open Abbie kept all doors shut as she had a fear of house fires. Thinking spike must have come home while we were out as he only worked a mile away and would pop home at dinner time some days. She brushed it off and got on with a few chores while I sat with Callum in the living room and set up the baby monitors.

An hour or so later Abbie had fed Callum and put him down for an afternoon nap in his crib giving her chance to check the monitors worked she set of the mobile and locked off the crib (I know she did this as I was there with her) we went down stairs and quietly chatted with the monitor on full incase Callum woke up.

About half an hour went but when we both heard Callum whimper a bit like he would if he lost his dummy, but then we heard a shhh sound twice and then the crib start to rock (it would squeak a bit needed a bit sanding off) we both rushed up to the bed room and saw the crib slightly moving as if it had just been pushed and left to slow down.

Abbie was freaking out but trying to stay quiet as Callum was still asleep she re locked the crib and refused to leave the room until spike came home from work.

When spike finally returned Abbie asked him why he left all the doors open when he had came back at dinner time, spike said he had not come home that day and had no idea what she was going on about then we told him about the crib rocking and the shhh sound we had heard.

Spike told Abbie to sit down as he had something to tell her it turned out that he had seen the same thing a few days before but did not want to frighten Abbie by telling her, she went mad at him for keeping it from her they had a huge argument and spike ended up staying with me for 2 days.

A few weeks later Abbie called me sounding very upset asking me to come over as soon as possible, when I got there Abbie was stood on the front door step with Callum in his pram. She said she would not go back in the house alone, I asked her why and she told me that things had gotten very strange over the last few weeks.

Whenever she would check on Callum the crib would be unlocked and slowing down again from being rocked, if the heating came on in the house she would find the blankets in the crib turned down, the soft toys that were at the bottom of the crib would be moved onto her bed and the musical mobile that would need winding up to play would start on its own.

"today has been the worst day" she said to me, she had put Callum down for a nap and was in the bathroom cleaning when she heard the crib start rocking she tried to ignore it but suddenly heard a loud crash and ran into the bedroom, the crib base had some how fallen out of the frame on one side hitting the floor, the mattress was turned over under the crib. Screaming with fear for Callum's safety she rushed over to the crib lifting the mattress up and found nothing, Callum was not there.

As she stood up she saw him lying asleep between the pillows on the bed, she picked him up ran down the stairs and out of the house.

They left the house that day and moved back to Abbie's mums house for a month but eventually moved back as the house was a private renting and could not get out of the 3 and a half years contract they had taken on without paying the outstanding rent for breaking the contract (almost 5 thousand pounds)

Talking to the neighbors they found out that a woman used to own the house that had lost 3 babies to cot death in 5 years and had taken her own life through depression.

After they moved back things would go missing only to be found in strange places days later, keys and money would be found in the bath tub, the TV remote control would be put into the fridge and cups would break in the kitchen sink if left unwashed.

As Callum got older and started talking he would stand in the living room looking through to the kitchen and chatter away to nobody we could see and laugh hysterically as though he was being tickled.

This went on for 2 years until Abbie's parents paid off the contract and Abbie, spike and Callum moved into her parent's house.

After they left they stayed in touch with there old neighbors and were told the house had had 3 families there that only stayed a short while 5 months the longest, and the owner could not get any renters in people would go to look around but refuse to take it on he had to give the bank ownership of the house as he could not keep up the mortgage payments, and the bank could not sell it on, same story people would view it but only once, never taking a second viewing.

The house is still empty to this day Callum is now 11 years old.