A Spooky Halloween Tale about Jewellery and Cats
I was with a group of friends on holiday a few years back and we set ourselves a challenge to write a scary short story. Mine had to be about jewellery! (and cats) I hope you enjoy it…
Amber the cat was watching her owner, Ruby, who was sitting on the bed writing a letter to her Mother. Ruby preferred the craft of handwriting real letters and notes, and she and her mum kept all their written correspondence from each other.
It wasn't just the art of letter writing either; Ruby had always preferred old-fashioned things and ways. The little bedroom in the Victorian terrace house she had just rented in Galloway Street was sparsely furnished. But her bedroom was a crowded haven of Pre-war furniture that she had bid for on eBay; the wardrobe in particular was overstuffed with slightly musty vintage clothes. Ruby never bought new clothes, preferring the cut, craftsmanship and history of old fashioned jackets, skirts and blouses. She had even been trying vintage hairstyles, but found it tricky to perfect them on herself.
All this gave her the look of a girl lost in the wrong era.
Ruby was trying to think of some exciting and interesting news to put in her letter, but she hadn't made any friends yet, and she didn't feel confident enough to just walk into a pub or restaurant on her own, so she didn't have much to report.
As she reached over to give Amber a tickle, she caught a glimpse of something dark moving stealthily towards her on the wall behind her and jumped. Fucking spider! She reached for the empty glass on the bedside cabinet to catch the spider and as she lifted the glass, she spotted the small jewellery box.
"Now, there's something interesting to write about" she said.
Meandering down Stonegate that morning, Ruby had spotted an antiques shop, she wasn't in a rush and fancied a mooch about - and this store looked small and inviting! As she left the morning light of the street, it took her a few seconds to acclimatise to the darkness of the shop. She liked the familiar dusty, smell of old books and polish. The old gentleman behind the desk stood up in greeting (unsettling more dust into the air), he invited her to take her time browsing, and he settled back down to polish his glasses.
Ruby strolled around the shop for a few moments, picking up and replacing one or two ornaments that caught her eye. The shop was L- shaped, and as she made her way to the back of the room, the extra space became visible and she spotted a glass fronted cabinet on the back wall.
Ruby wanted a cabinet to display her growing collection of vintage glass ornaments. Amber had jumped onto the bookshelf in the lounge and had smashed a pretty Mercury glass bauble, so it was time to display them behind glass.
As she approached the cabinet, she saw that it was full of small trinkets and accessories. Several of the little treasures caught her eye, and, as she searched for any glass to add to her collection, she noticed a small necklace. The central stone was a beautiful teardrop shape faceted crystal, pale amber colour, on a delicate gold chain. It looked like it needed a good polish. It was in a small leather case with a burgundy velvet interior. She called around the corner to ask if she could open the cabinet for a closer look. The shop owner said "absolutely my dear" and asked her to call out if she needed further help.
Opening the cabinet, Ruby leant down to pick up the presentation case. Resting the stone in her hand she could see that it seemed to be almost clear at the top, graduating through yellow, amber and a tiny shade of rust red at the very bottom of the drop; a very unusual stone.
Lifting the whole necklace up and out of its case, she noticed that the clasp was like nothing she had seen before, two hands intertwined. She wiggled the hands to undo the chain, and eventually twisted them apart and held it up to her neck. It was slightly longer than choker length, and the stone sat neatly above her collarbone. It looked beautiful at the neck of her blouse.
She walked over to an antique mirror and tried to do up the clasp. It had been tricky to open, but she managed to secure it around her neck with ease.
A movement in the mirror behind her own reflection made Ruby jump! The shopkeeper had walked quietly from behind his desk to check on her. She turned around smiling - to cover her embarrassment at jumping - and asked him the price, but this part of the shop was empty. She stepped backwards a few paces to the main part of the shop and saw that he was still sitting behind his desk. He looked up and smiled, and she did a double take around the room again, then walked over to his desk.
"Ah, now that is a delightful necklace" said the man. "It's been here for a few years, part of a house clearance job I arranged in Galloway Street. Interesting that you are wearing it, as I've never been able to open the clasp myself".
Ruby tried to release the catch to show him the knack, but she couldn't twist it properly. She laughed! "Oh God, I can't undo it - I'm going to have to buy it now!"
Have you seen the inscription in the box? He asked? She walked back to the alcove, picked up the case, and brought it back to the desk. Under the velvet insert she found a fragile looking envelope, with a small folded note inside. Carefully slipping the note out of the envelope, she unfolded it and saw a beautifully calligraphed note in deep red ink.
She gasped when she read it "I will return to you, my beautiful Ruby"
...She didn't mean to swear in front of the old man, but when she explained that she was called Ruby, and lived in Galloway Street, he chuckled and said that the fates had aligned and that the necklace locked around her neck clearly wanted to be hers! With that in mind, he would do her the very special price of £650.
Ruby took a deep intake of breath - which caused the chain to tighten slightly around her neck- but given the circumstances, she was in no position to haggle, so she handed over her credit card...
Sitting on her bed, she wrote about this coincidence and told her mum what a beautiful find it was. She finished off the letter with a promise to visit soon, and put it by the bed, ready to post the next morning.
Amber wasn't allowed to sleep on the bed overnight, so Ruby picked her up and took her out to the landing, where she reluctantly meowed and headed downstairs. Ruby undressed and tried to remove the necklace, in the end, she gave up and went to bed.
In the early hours, Amber was curled up asleep on the chair in the hallway. The moon hung low on the horizon, and lit up the darkness of the hallway. A creeping sensation on her fur caused her to wake up and she was instantly highly alert.
Keeping dead still, but with her amber eyes wide, she peered into the darkness, at first she could only see the usual hall furniture, clearly visible through feline eyes in the moonlight.
Then, as if mist was gathering, a curious shadow gradually appeared at the bottom of the stairs, at first it blended in with the other shadows in the hallway, then, it started slowly rising from step to step.
Amber who had felt frozen to the spot suddenly hissed and arched her back to attack, but then flew towards the kitchen and out of the cat flap.
Unseen, the shadowy figure rose slowly up the stairs.
Ruby stirred, what had she just heard? - hopefully not Amber causing more trouble downstairs! She listened out for a moment more, but heard nothing. Sitting up, her eyes acclimatised to the darkness, and she noticed that the room was actually pretty clearly visible in the moonlight.
She was about to rest back down again when she noticed something odd. She couldn't put her finger on it, it wasn't quite a sound, more of a feeling; an atmosphere. And her room was cold! she pulled the blanket higher.
Her mouth was dry and she swallowed, becoming aware again of the necklace still locked around her neck, she tried again to unclasp it. Wow, it felt like it was subtly pulsing. The clasping hands locked together at the back of her neck felt hot. Perhaps she had a fever?
Subtly, a dark shadow - separate to the shadows she had become familiar to in the moonlight - appeared as if flowing through the bedroom door. Ruby blinked to try and clear it from her vision, but it actually began to grow in size, her pulse was resounding in her ears and chest, what kind of illness was this? She was panicked that she was alone, and might need help.
She turned to switch the bedside light on, and realised with relief that the shadow in her vision cleared, but to her horror, as she turned back towards the door, the shadow was not only still visible, but had grown taller in the lamp light.
The realisation loomed up on her with an icy chill that this was not an anomaly in her vision. But something in her room.
The swirling shadow figure moved towards her slowly. Ruby wanted to leap up and escape, but had no strength, she was fixed to the spot, pressed down with terror.
The necklace was pulsing now, like it was breathing in and out, tightening and loosening off, but not slackening as much as before. She was aware of it pressing down on her windpipe, and she wanted to calm her breath, so she closed her eyes.
A gentle pressure at the bottom of the bed caused her to cry out, but the necklace kept pulsing and tightening. The awful movement on the covers felt like someone climbing onto the bed. Now, what felt like handprints pressing up past her thighs and hips.
The cold shadow was laying on her, now and it felt so heavy it was difficult to breathe or move. The necklace was now uncomfortably tight against her neck so it hurt to swallow. Her hands tried to pull the chain away from her skin, but she couldn't push her fingers under to ease the pain.
A breath of stale air washed over her face and the she felt two icy invisible hands slowly engulf her neck, slowly tightening; crushing. The chain cutting into her skin.
Gradually, with no more breath in her lungs, her vision started to fade, and in the darkness, her last sight was of piercing red eyes in the shadowy face.
As the colour drained out of her lifeless face, the ruby around her neck shone blood red.
