Page 55 of The Haunting of William Thorn

“You’re right.” Edward swallowed hard. “I – I did know Archie before coming here, before meeting you. I was speaking with him regarding Hanbury Manor before I… he passed. I was trying to convince him to sell the property to me, explaining to him about my family ties here. At most I just wanted him to let me visit, to give me the time I needed to find out what happened to Teddy.”

Lies and truth had blended and mixed so seamlessly that William was almost surprised that Edward’s reasonings were the same.

“He never mentioned you to me,” William spat as if that could hurt Edward.

Something niggled at the back of his mind as if his words had just unlocked something that William couldn’t quite reach.

Archie was good at keeping secrets, too. He lied about his affair and his meetings with Edward…

The question came to William so thick and fast that the realisation alongside it was an aftershock. Suddenly, his anger dissipated, and he was left with the sickening realisation of his own truth slowly coming through. “When did you meet with him?”

Edward swallowed audibly, the prominent lump in his throat bobbing. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

No. No .

William’s jaw tightened as if every muscle, large and small, seized. “I need to hear you say it. Tell me.”

Tell him.

There they were again, those two words marked across Hanbury’s walls.

“When I do, I need you to know it’s not what you think.” Edward’s eyes widened, putting together the terrifying thoughts that split William’s skull in two. “To understand my story, you’re going to need to listen to it all.”

“Explain.”

A strange calmness flooded William’s spine, relaxing him enough to take in the next information.

“Archie and I…we went for dinner. The transaction was purely business. Archie was staying in Oxford for work, he contacted me through his solicitor and requested to meet for dinner that night. But I swear to you, Will, it’s not what you thought it was.”

Thought it was. Dinner. Oxford. That night that Archie was away. The night Archie cheated on him with another man.

“ You ,” William hissed, hand tightening around his phone so hard that it was a surprise the screen didn’t crack. “It was you .”

Edward failed his arms in panic. “I swear to you, nothing happened between us.”

Confirmation. So it was him. It had been Edward who went to dinner with Archie in Oxford. It had been texts from Edward’s unsaved number that William had found thanking Archie for a good night. It had been Edward who Archie had cheated on him with.

“You… disgust me.”

Ruined me.

Broken me.

Fixed me, just to break me again.

Edward dropped to his knees, grasping frantically at William’s trousers, trying to keep him in place.

“I know I have lied to you. I know you don’t trust me, but you must understand that nothing happened that night.

It was just a meeting over dinner about Hanbury, that was all.

I didn’t stay with Archie; the meal was brief, and then we parted ways.

We’d promised to meet again to continue the discussion because Archie had agreed that I could visit, although he refused to sell the property to me because he had other plans for it. ”

William leaned down, his tears now born from fury, his inner cheeks ruined from how hard he’d bitten into them. “Because it was supposed to be our home, our future together. And you took it away from us.”

Edward shook his head, fumbling with the words to say back. Because what could he say? William was right, after all.

He couldn’t stand to be in the same room as Edward, let alone the same fucking county. William needed to leave. Fuck his bag, fuck all his belongings and his hopes for a fresh start. Hanbury Manor was truly cursed from the start, and William simply ignored the signs.

Without another thought, William turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, phone in hand and the keys to his escape in another.

“Wait!” Edward shouted, scrambling to his feet, giving chase in William’s wake. “You deserve to know all of the truth. I’ll only ask this one thing of you, please let me finish.”

As if I owe you anything.

William refused to give him that power. He kept up his pace, straight out the front door and into the downpour. It was impossible to see more than a foot in front of him, the curtain of rain blinding the world around him.

He lifted a hand, unsure where to start looking for the car but knowing it was his only option for escape. Knowing that Edward was wading out behind him and still calling after him, William saw something as he surveyed the landscape.

There, just in the distance, stood in the rain as if it belonged there. At first, he couldn’t be sure what he saw until a fork of lightning brightened the gloom enough to make out the shape.

A figure of shadow stood amongst the storm, Archie’s red coat glistening so bright there was no pretending it was anything else.

William choked on Archie’s name, wanting to scream it out into oblivion.

Driven by madness, he stormed towards it, but the figure kept shifting back without physically moving.

He kept pushing back and back, as if there was no speed in which William could ever run to catch up.

“William, wait. Please ,” Edward shouted over the rain, the thunder.

William whipped his head around to see him clawing through the downpour, trying to close the space between them.

“Leave me alone!” More thunder swallowed William’s plea. He didn’t even know who it was for, Edward or Archie’s ghost. Either way, neither one listened to it. Archie kept teasing William no matter how hard he fought to get closer, and Edward didn’t give up his chase.

That was until Hanbury forced them all to stop.

Because in the mess of the game of chase, William found himself back at the front door of Hanbury Manor.

And there Archie stood, his features still blurred in shadow, the red coat glistening wet from the rain.

He’d guided William around in circles, forcing him back to where this all began.

“Why are you doing this!” William screamed, no longer discerning the rainwater from tears. “What did I do to you that made you think I deserve this!”

You killed me, my love.

“No, I didn’t.” Yes, I did. “I don’t know why you are here.”

“Archie is haunting me. And he will not leave until I tell you the truth,” Edward bellowed, deep voice breaking, answering a question that was never meant for him. “Tell him, that is what Archie wrote on the walls. This is the very moment he hungers for.”

William looked behind him to find Edward, always a few steps behind him.

“Can you see him?” William called back, pointing directly to the spectacle.

Edward looked to Archie then back to William. “I can. And I have. He’ll not rest until I speak, and you believe what I have to say.”

Relief came from knowing that William wasn’t the only mad one. If Edward could see Archie, they were both victims of this lack of sanity. Except it felt so real. And William wasn’t scared of Archie’s spirit before him. It was the truth Edward had just promised which frightened him.

“I already know the truth,” William shouted, spinning around to Edward. “I’ve worked it all out.”

“No, you haven’t.” Edward stepped in, panting and breathless but with an air of confidence that had been missing when they were in the manor. “There’s more to the story you need to understand.”

“Not. Another. Step,” William warned, his pointed finger at Edward meant in threat. “If you come any closer I’ll… I’ll…”

Break and crumble like a petal in an uncaring hand.

How could he want to run from a person, whilst also wanting to fall into the embrace of their arms, all in equal measure?

“I swear to you that nothing happened between me and Archie.” Edward’s eyes flickered to the figure behind William again.

Hanbury watched on, windows aglow, door open like a laughing jaw.

“But that isn’t what Archie wants me to tell you.

It’s not the truth you might think that haunts me and followed me here to manifest into this. ”

“Say it then,” William whispered, unsure of if he wanted to know anymore. “Spit it out so you can release your burden and then release me .”

Edward steeled his expression, rolling back his shoulders. His hair soaked through and draped heavily over his dark eyes. He took a deep breath just as a roll of thunder passed overhead, followed by more lightning not but a second later.

William held his breath. What came out was something he never thought he’d hear, let alone from the lips of a person like Edward.

“I killed Archie.”