Noises in the Night

By J.L.Hogben

Eleven-year-old Alice has a secret.

A secret she must live her whole life with, for the sake of her family.

On the outside, Alice seems to be a very lucky girl. She has a beautiful home nestled in a small town in the Adelaide Hills, which she shares with her loving parents and two older sisters. She loves going to school and sharing everything with her best friend, Tania.

But on the inside, Alice is in turmoil, haunted by emotions that she has pushed down deep within herself, emotions that any eleven-year-old should not have to deal with.

Until an unexpected friendship is found, giving Alice the strength she needs to find her voice.

Will it be enough?

If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews, I urge you to read Alices story.

You never know, it just might help someone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Aug 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503508194

Book preview

COPYRIGHT © 2015 BY J.L.HOGBEN.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER:   2015912564

ISBN:   HARDCOVER         978-1-5035-0821-7

SOFTCOVER         978-1-5035-0820-0

EBOOK                978-1-5035-0819-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/20/2015

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

712246

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

This book is dedicated to

Jeanette A Wilson

Although these words will go unread

And this book, you’ll never hold.

I know that you’ve been with me Mum,

Through this story I have told.

Acknowledgements

Firstly I would like to give recognition to the Xlibris team, who have been so very helpful and have shown their confidence in me throughout every step of publishing this book. Special thanks to Nina and Ann.

I feel very fortunate to have such special friends and family who have never given up on my writing dreams. Thank you for your belief in me. You know who you are.

My beautiful and precious daughters, Charley and Tayla, who have both been with me through the emotional rollercoaster of having a dream. Thank you Tayla for being my personal proof-reader and Thank you Charley for being my rock. Follow your heart girls.

My Dad…you are ‘the man in the arena’. Thank you for being you.

Tony…it is with great pride and love in my heart that I can call you my husband. You are by my side holding my hand through every step of this life that we share together, never questioning but always accepting, and for that reason, you are my hero.

Chapter One

The first time it happened I thought it was just a dream. It seemed like a distant memory with no clarity. So I shrugged it off and didn’t bother to mention it to my best friend at school, Tania Gibbs. We were too busy talking about the boys in our class and whether any of them liked us. That’s what girls our age did. Tania was a year older than me but we started Grade one at the same time.

Plus it didn’t happen the next night, or the night after that or even the one after that, so by that time I had almost forgotten about it anyway and convinced myself that it was indeed just a dream or my imagination working overtime, as it had a habit of doing. But something still lurked in the back of mind, it didn’t go away completely.

On the fourth night, it happened again and this time I definitely knew that it was not a dream. It was real.

After kissing mum and dad goodnight in the family room, I slipped into my summer nightie. The weather had turned warm earlier than usual this year so I had packed away all of my winter pyjamas with the thick jumpers that I owned. We even had to take the thick blankets off our beds and use our summer quilts. Normally I would read before going to sleep but I was unusually tired so I didn’t even attempt to pick my book up.

I knew I needed a good night’s sleep because we had Sport’s Day at school the next morning and I was in seven events. I needed a decent rest if I was to beat the school bully, Jessica Lumlin.

Tania and I were always being picked on by her gang in almost every class and although we had complained to the teachers a thousand times, they never really did anything about it because her mum was on the fund-raising committee and they didn’t want to insult her. The teachers hadn’t actually told us this but it was pretty obvious. They all thought Mrs. Lumlin was royalty or something! The whole town knew better than that.

She was just a bitch with a hat.

So Tania and I worked out between us that the only way to make a fool out of Jessica was to beat her in all of the sprint events, right in front of her mother and all of her so-called gang. She was already telling everyone that she was the fastest girl in school and bragging about winning the ribbons for her team.

I was pretty fast at running too, but had never attempted any of the events at school before just in case I got last, but this year, we were Year 7’s and it was my last chance to give it a go. Tania said that if it worked, Jessica would surely be so embarrassed that she would back off and leave us alone.

I’m not sure what time it was when I heard my bedroom door squeaking open. It was the tiniest sound, barely audible and yet I heard it. I couldn’t even say that I was awake at the time. I peered over to the door but didn’t say anything, waiting to see Mum or Dad there. They’re probably checking on me because I was unusually tired after dinner.

But what I saw definitely was not my Mum or my Dad.

The first thing I noticed was the height of the person standing in my doorway. A very tall person. Then I noticed the silhouette of hair and a lot of it. There was so much hair, and it was sticking out every which way. I squinted to focus on the hair but all I could make out were long spiky bits like the prickles of a cactus.

I felt my own hairs on my arms stand up straight, like soldiers standing to attention. Beginning to feel frightened, I slammed my eyes shut, then slowly opened just one to watch this stranger in my doorway, sinking myself slightly into my thin quilt.

Maybe they won’t notice me

I couldn’t understand what was going on. There was nothing in my room to steal. I had a nice collection of trinkets on my dressing table next to the window but they weren’t valuable in any way. They were just things that people had given me for birthday and Christmas presents over the years and looked pretty. I quietly tried to sink down even further under my quilt without making any noise. I didn’t want to alert the robber that there was someone in the bed. I shimmied my body deeper into the bed, wanting to disappear and realised that I was holding my breath. I parted my lips just enough to let some air through but found that I couldn’t get enough.

Still with just one eye open, I watched the robber take the first step into the room but instead of turning toward the dressing table, he was heading towards me!

Holy Shit! My mind screamed between my ears.

He wasn’t a robber or a cat burglar (why would someone want to steal cats?) at all! If he was he would be heading towards the drawers and cupboards, where money and jewellery were likely to be kept. But instead he, and I was sure it was a ‘he’, was sneaking through an eleven year olds bedroom and stalking towards her bed!

My whole body froze on the spot; I couldn’t even move my little finger. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying to myself that this will all go away once I open my eyes again.

Ready, one…two…three. My eyes sprung open, only to see this man looming closer to where I lay.

I slammed my eyelids shut once again, and held them shut as tight as I could, feeling a tear escape and slide down towards my ear. I knew I had to do something, scream or start thrashing about in my bed, but my brain was not connecting to the muscles I so desperately needed at that exact time. No matter how much I tried to tell them to do something, there was no response from any part of me.

As he inched closer towards me I could feel my heart beating with such force I was sure he would be able to hear it pounding against my chest. I silently told it to be quiet.

I had been to enough adult parties to recognise the stale stench of beer wafting through the air and with each step he took, the smell worsened. By the time he reached my bedside, the stink had taken over my nostrils and I fought with the bile rising up my throat. I swallowed it down, trying not to throw up and closed my eyes again. This time there was more than just one tear, but I kept them silent.

I felt the bottom of my pink quilt lifting up just enough to expose my right thigh. The cool air felt like ice on my bare skin.

I clenched both fists together so tightly that I could feel my fingernails breaking through the skin on my palms, leaking blood, yet I felt no pain.

My nightie had twisted around my body in my sleep and was now bunched up around my waist, so that my underwear was showing. I only realised this when the man leant down towards me, making me fully conscious of my body. I watched him, through half closed eyes, as he knelt down next to my bed.

My eyes slammed shut yet again, a fierce pain awakening behind them.

Please go away.

I wasn’t sure if I was talking to the searing pain behind my eyes, or the man next to my bed.

‘I won’t tell anyone! I won’t!’ I cried in my mind.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. I could just start screaming my lungs out, so loud that surely Mum and Dad would hear me from their bedroom at the other end of the house.

But my throat was closed over, there was no sound. There was no chance of it happening.

I had no voice, only silent tears.

I could hear him breathing, in and out, in and out. it was speeding up and getting deeper at the same time.

Time stood still as if the clocks in the whole world had all stopped working at exactly the same time which made everything freeze like in the movies. Apart from me.

Me and this monster in my room.

All of my senses were in overdrive, my nostrils still full of brewing beer. I had the most bitter horrible taste in my mouth like the one you have after vomiting. The only thing I could hear was the breath of this man, close to me. My one eye that was half open could almost see him in the darkness. The window was behind him so he was shadowed in the moonlight that tried to creep in. I could make out a beard and a moustache though.

That’s the hair that had stood out. His beard!

The only thing that I couldn’t manage to get working was my vocal chords. I had no feeling in my throat at all, it had frozen in time with the clocks.

I watched his hand rise slightly before I felt it touch the top of my leg gently, then a little firmer and firmer again. His breathing had stopped and after a few seconds I could hear it again.

Then his fingers dragged along the top of my thigh, up to the band of my underwear. They were being tugged down a little, and then stretched out enough for him to push his hand under the waist band. His fingers were rubbing the top part of my vagina now, in the small amount of pubic hair.

There was nothing I could do. I was frozen stiff with sheer terror, every cell in my body paralysed. I had to pretend that I was asleep, and focussed on my own breathing. I had to wait it through, it felt like that was my only choice. There was no other option.

I wished the bed would swallow me up.

After what seemed like forever in my head, the man removed his hand and placed the quilt back over my legs. Then he left the room.

Chapter Two

Alice…Alice. It’s time to get up. My mum’s voice drifted into my dreams.

I rolled over in one swift motion and pulled the light quilt up to cover my head.

Come on Sweetheart. You can’t be late today. The voice sounded like it was in the distance so I decided to ignore it, wanting to return to sleep. I felt a weight on my leg and instantly shot up into a sitting position. Vivid memories from the previous night came flooding back to me. I squeezed my eyes shut; they felt like they were full of dirt.

Alice? Are you alright honey? Mum’s voice cut through the memories. She placed her hand on my back which made me jump.

I opened my eyes to meet hers looking straight back at me. I wanted to tell her what had happened and ask her why it happened. Why didn’t she come when I needed her?

Why…why? There were so many questions I wanted answers to. Mum’s soft eyes were still looking at me with concern. Will she believe me? I decided that she probably wouldn’t.

I feel sick, Mum. I wasn’t lying.

Oh Alice. It’s Sports Day! You’ve been looking forward to it so much. You have to go today. She began pulling the covers off me but I snatched them out of her hands to cover myself again.

I’m not going Mum. I really do feel sick. I lay back down on the bed and closed my eyes. I could feel the sweat start to bead around my hairline, so I swiped it away with the back of