A NEW YEAR’S HAUNTING

N.T HOLDEN

 

1146 words

 

 

“She vanished just as the year ended” Dominic gasped.

The vision of the ghostly girl had shown herself to him whilst he had gone for a walk in the park to clear his head for New Year’s Eve.

The sound of fireworks and people celebrating were too much for him at this time of year, it was the same every year where the end of the old year heralding in the new one was supposedly filled with great expectations. This year however he decided to see it in quietly with a walk in the nearby park. A raucous sound of a group of revellers walking along the footpath had alerted him to what he was missing. Dominic hadn’t always been a party pooper; it was only after his girlfriend had been murdered on New Year’s Eve that had caused him to boycott the celebrations.

It had happened a couple of years ago after they had decided to go to the party, Tanya had been the love of his life, bubbly with a smile always on her face she would light up any room with her presence. Everything had been going well and they had walked to the party early, music greeted them on the way in and the room seemed to be filled with people. Dominic knew a couple of people at the party and leaving Tanya to talk to one of her friends began to chat away about various events during the year. What happened next seemed to be in slow motion as the body of a young woman could be seen falling from the balcony of the upstairs bedroom. People were shouting and rushing in every direction trying to work out what was going on. News filtered through slowly to Dominic that the body outside happened to be Tanya’s and she had somehow tumbled from the rail.

It had affected Dominic so much that he vowed to never celebrate the New Year again instead simply going for a walk in the local park to reflect on the past. Only after a full investigation was carried out did the truth come out that Tanya had been pushed. Monty Jobson who happened to be Dominic’s best friend had drunk too much and tried to come onto Tanya forcing her to back against the balcony balustrade. It had given way and she broke her neck after tumbling from the balcony.

A young couple sat down on the bench next to Dominic enjoying a cuddle, the girl looked blissfully into her lover’s eyes and smiled.

“Sophie would you do me the honour of being my wife?” the man asked as he opened up the box with the ring in.

The girl nervously laughed and took a minute to reply. “Of course Ben I would be happy too” she eventually gasped.

The fireworks seemed to be the perfect backdrop for the occasion and Dominic clapped, the couple seemed to be oblivious of his presence and continued to embrace each other. Eventually they left Dominic alone and wandered off into the night; he followed their movement until they disappeared out of sight. A late night jogger ran passed without giving the man a second glance; he could see his gasping breath in the cold night air as he tried to keep running. Time seemed to go slowly for Dominic and he wished that he could turn back the clock.

A strange looking man was the next occupant to sit on the bench next to Dominic, he shivered as a cold snap of air whistled passed him, turning his coat collar up he looked in Dominic’s direction.

“I know that you are here!” he said.

“Can you see me?” Dominic asked in astonishment.

“I have been a ghost hunter for a long time now and being able to communicate with the spirits has been my gift”

“You must be the first person to actually talk to me since I killed myself” Dominic replied.

Lou Fiddler had read about the ghost of a man who reportedly roamed the park every New Year’s Eve and decided to try and track him down. It was the feeling of relief at having one of the living wanting to talk to him made Dominic want to cry.

“I couldn’t stand losing the love of my life and had to end my own; can I ask you to do something for me?”

“Of course I will do whatever I can” Lou replied.

“Can you go to this address and you will find a man there called Monty Jobson?”

Lou wrote the address and the name down in a small notebook he kept in his pocket. “What do you want me to say to him?”

“Tell him that Dominic knows what happened to Tanya and he needs to give himself up, if he doesn’t then I will haunt him to death”

The ghost hunter wrote down word for word what Dominic had told him. “I promise you that I will do that Dominic on one condition”

“Name your price”

“You stop haunting this area of the park and rest in peace”

Dominic felt a flash of anger run through him but agreed with the terms; Lou smiled and left him alone sitting in silence.

Monty jobson was feeling in a particularly good mood when the doorbell rang, he wasn’t expecting anyone and decided to cautiously open the door. The man standing on his doorstep looked strange and was completely dressed in black.

“Can I help you?” Monty asked.

“Is your name Monty Jobson?”

Something about the look of this stranger put him on edge. “Yes I am Monty Jobson how can I help you?”

The man seemed to shuffle his feet and twitched at his moustache. “I have been sent here to give you a message from your old friend Dominic, he told me to say to you that he knows what you did to Tanya and if you don’t hand yourself in to the police he will haunt you to death”

The news seemed to shake Monty’s confidence to the core and he nervously closed the door in the stranger’s face.

 

The following New Year Dominic was wandering through the park; he hadn’t heard anything from Lou and assumed that the ghost hunter was a phoney. As he sat down on the bench where he always sat a ghostly figure wandered along the path, he sat down next to Dominic looking scared.

“Please forgive me for what I did” he begged.

“Hello Monty now you know what I have been going through ever since Tanya died, I can rest now but your ghost will roam this park for a long time trying to come to terms with what you did”

No sooner had he uttered these words Dominic disappeared into the night, the feeling of release was overwhelming and he knew that justice had been done.

 

THE END