The Secret of the Double Rainbow
Prologue
She was a spirit. People knew her and her name was everywhere. She had appeared through many different countries over many different times, though not many knew that she was real. If they had known, they would have not believed for the story of this spirit was too fantastic to truly be believed
Yet, she had made her presence known. Stories, businesses, games all featured her name, and yet, they only hinted at who she was. Few understood the power she represented. Few knew about her special qualities that made her completely unique.
A curious little man was seated in the middle of a circle that was made out of green and red flowers. While they were bright and glowing, everything else around him was around him was dying. He looked up to a sky that should have been softly shimmering with life and saw that it was still grey in colour. He sighed.
He had just finished a summoning ritual. It had been a complicated one and in this energy depleted place, he felt drained, something he was not accustomed to. He stood up and noticed a cat looking at him. He had seen this cat before but had no idea where it had come from. Cats were not common and he knew little of them but he did know the name of this one.
“Well, Tiger Fawn,” said the man. “It is done. I have called to her. I wonder if she heard me?”
The cat just purred softly and stretched in the brown grass. The little man bowed to the cat and walked away.
The sky glowed a little brighter for a moment. The spirit had heard his call for help and though he did not know it yet, she was answering.
1.
It was an old neighbourhood. As soon as sixteen-year-old David Leaven entered it with his Aunt Mary and Uncle Ben York, he felt it. He looked out of the car window and watched the brick houses passing him by. An uncomfortable sensation had settled in the pit of his stomach. It was a sense of disquiet. As though he really didn’t wish to be here. They passed down a quiet side street and a distinct feeling of oldness came to him. He dismissed it as his imagination. Surely things couldn't feel old. They might look old, yes, but not feel it.
He had lived with his mother in a suburb where many young families lived. Now he was coming to live with his Aunt and Uncle. He really welcomed the change. He felt emotionally drained, as he had spent the best part of the previous year giving support to his mum. His father had died of liver cancer and she had been devastated. He had spent so much time supporting her that he had neglected himself. David had been there for her emotionally, but no one had been there for himself.. Now he welcomed the thought of living with someone else for a while. Someone he hoped would be supportive and sympathetic.
A bright ray of sunshine seemed to illuminate a tall, lanky teenager with long hair. David could have sworn that the teen looked up at him and smiled. He quickly passed out of sight and left him wondering if people were naturally friendly here. It should have been normal but he was left with a strange sensation. It left him feeling slightly giddy, as though he had just experienced something out of the ordinary. More mind tricks, he decided.
"We're here," said Uncle Ben, pulling up into a short drive with a twin garage that was attached to a large two-story house. "Your home for the next six or so months." He turned and smiled at him. "Let's go inside."
David slowly got out and looked around. The street looked quiet with the odd car parked along the curb. A fair sized front garden looked un-kept and neglected. The flowerbeds were filled with weeds and a sickly looking tall gum tree stood in the middle. It should have been an impressive tree, but it gave the distinct feeling of it being sick. In general, the garden looked as though it needed some looking after. The house also looked somewhat run down. As he stared, he noticed that it started to fade into grayness. Startled, he refocused and took another look. Everything looked normal. “I am tired, or perhaps just very stressed.”
“Coming David?” asked Ben.
He nodded. Time to be positive. He was sure that he was going to have a good time at his aunt and uncles house. Yes, it would be a welcome change. Things had not been good since the death.
His mother’s sister, Aunt Mary and husband, Uncle Ben lived in an old house that had been built earlier that century. He figured it must have been around eighty years old. It was a large place, that was hidden away in a quiet suburb that, at first glance, appeared to be a haven of the elderly. He could tell by the cars that the area was upper-middle class. A few Hondas and Mercedes Benz could be seen in other drive ways. He thought once more about the sense of oldness he had felt. It was an odd feeling, as though he could sense staleness in the air. He looked around for other teenagers. Maybe there were none here. No, that was a silly thought. Of course, there had to be others his age, he had not just seen them yet. His aunt and uncle never had children of their own. He generally didn’t mix very much with his peers, but he would have loved to have some company. He just felt he never really fitted in with them. In any case, he was used to being by himself.
The house itself had three small bedrooms on the second story plus a larger master bedroom, and the usual dining, bathroom and eating facilities. It felt old and gloomy and had a stale funny smell in the air that was noticeable when David entered. The walls were painted a brown colour that had darkened with dirt and age. The sheen had long ago worn off, leaving a drab veneer.
The furniture looked stylish enough, though: made out of solid wood, but he found the chairs to be uncomfortable. They had a hard feel to them under the fabric, as though the cushioning had worn down from years of use. Now their appearance was dull, discoloured and washed out, not unlike a pair of old jeans.
They took him upstairs to show him where he would be staying. David followed then down a hallway, passing one other door, which he later found was the bathroom, until the end of the corridor branched two directions.
The bedroom roomy and looked decent. A large window faced towards the west and caught the afternoon sun. Under it was a single bed. There was also a larger wardrobe, a wooden chair, and a dressing table. Opposite the window, a large golden-framed painting hung on the wall. It was of two young ladies who looked about David’s age. They were wearing pretty dresses, which made them look very feminine. David recognized the fashion from pictures his mother had shown him of herself when she was young. The girls were in a garden that had a washed out look. It was as though sunlight from the window had faded that part of the portrait, however. For a moment, David wondered why someone would paint such a garden, then immediately dismissed the thought, as it didn’t fit that someone would. He rarely spent time puzzling things that didn’t make sense to him. His mind would automatically edit them out. A part of him assumed that it was because there was something he didn’t understand. He stood back and looked again at the portrait and felt it was masterfully painted.
“Who’re they?” David said, pointing to the girls. Even as the words left his mouth, he felt his question sounded stupid. After all, it was a painting. Surely she wouldn’t know the people in it.
“The picture?” She grimaced, as though it was an eyesore. “That’s always been there. Was left by the previous owners. Too big for them to take, no doubt. This, here, being the spare room, I never had the inclination to get rid of it, nor would I have the space to store it elsewhere. Might be worth something if the artist is dead, but never got around to finding out. Does it bother you?”
“No,” he said, slowly. He looked a little more carefully at it. He was no art critic and rarely paid much attention to such things. This painting, though, he decided he liked. “It makes the room a little brighter.” His Aunt gave him a scrutinizing look. “Not that it isn’t bright already,” he hurriedly added. The last thing he wanted to do was offend his hosts by appearing rude.
Mary seemed to accept his comment. She gave him another look and said: “I’ve got dinner to attend to,” and left him alone to unpack. As he had brought only two suitcases with him, it didn’t take him very long to do. His possessions consisted of casual and school clothes. There were also some schoolbooks, a few science fiction novels and his personal accessories. David had brought only what he considered to be necessary. He hung his clothes in the wardrobe and put his socks and school supplies away in the drawers. After that, he lay back on the bed and found the mattress was lumpy. He shifted about, trying to get comfortable, and wondered if he was going to be able to sleep well on it. It would not hurt to mention it to Mary or Ben, he decided.
He missed his own bed, but thought that moving up to Brisbane, where the weather was humid, was not something he wanted to experience. He could barely get through the hot summers in Melbourne.
His father’s death from liver cancer had devastated his mother and she had become impossible to live with, as she had not dealt well with the trauma of the loss. Over the past year, her health had also started to fail, and she had decided that there were too many painful memories in their home. Everything reminded her of Dean.
When she tried to drag David along with her, he had protested fiercely. It was fine for her. She needed to get away. His father’s death seemed to have unhinged her and everyone had agreed it would be a good move for the both of them. Everyone but David, that was. He had argued strongly that his schooling would be interrupted, and as it was during a critical year, he should remain in Victoria so he could continue uninterrupted.
He had won. His mother said she would spend six months up there, and then decide what to do at the end of it. He secretly prayed that she would change her mind and return home to their small house in the suburb of Sunbury.
Though he had finished unpacking, he was not quite ready to go back downstairs yet. Instead, he decided to write a postcard to his mother.
“Dear Mum,
I hope you’re well. I’m now at the Yorks, and everything is fine. They live in a grand old house, which has more room than they really need, from the look of it. Isn’t it odd how that even though they have been here for some years, we’ve never gotten around to visiting them before? Uncle Ben and Aunt Mary will take very good care of me, I’m sure.
Please write and let me know how you are and if you’re feeling any better.
Love David.
After he had done this, he put the card on the table with the intention of posting it the next day. He looked at his watch and found that almost an hour had passed. He decided it was time he went down to the living area. As he walked down the hallway towards the stairs, when he thought he saw something. Whatever it was, was small as it flitted down to the end of the hallway. At least, that’s what he thought, but as he looked, there was clearly nothing there. He rubbed his eyes and took another look. Maybe he had rubbed them too hard because though the hallway wasn’t all that long, the far end looked blurred. First the greyness and now this. Walking down it, he saw the fuzzy outline of a door sharpen as he got closer. He wondered if he was overtired or worse, he might need glasses. The last thing he wanted to do was wear spectacles. “They will make me look like a nerd!” he muttered, to himself. He was paranoid about how he would appear to others, and having had little luck with girls, he was always trying to look as normal as possible. Turning around, he looked back up the other end of the hallway and with relief, he noted that everything was crisp and clear. Maybe he didn’t need them after all. He decided that his mind was playing tricks on him. He walked up to the door, paused for a moment, and then tried to open it. The handle wouldn’t even budge. He examined it closely. It was the simple lever kind. Once silver, it was now rusty and tarnished. Beneath the handle was a large keyhole. He put his eye to it, but there was nothing but darkness. Was there something stuck in keyhole? He tried the handle once again with no more luck than the first try. Nothing could have passed through here. He was now curious. Though it was just a locked door, probably to a closet, he couldn’t shake the feeling there was something more to it. Or was he just bored and in need of some adventure
“I just need a good nights sleep.” The door could wait till later. He headed back to the stairs and back down to the living room where he found them. Mary was holding a sheet of paper in her hand.
Both looked up at his approach and Mary’s face held an expression that said she was about to say something important. Ben had a long-suffering look on his face. David had the sense that he was biting his tongue. He caught his eye, just for a moment, and swore he saw a look of sympathy. David had only witnessed a little of the interaction between them but it was enough to know that Mary did most of the talking for the both of them.
“Now David, are you settled?” she asked him.
“Yes. I’m all unpacked now.”
“Good. I trust all is to your satisfaction?”
“Yes, it is, thanks. The only thing is…” Something in Mary’s look made him hesitate to continue.
“Go on,” she said. Ben shifted his stare down to the floor.
“The bed is very lumpy. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to sleep well on it.”
“Nonsense, boy,” she said, sounding slightly irritable. “You’re just too soft, that’s all. Had a bit too much of the good life you have, I’d wager.” Taken aback, David was about to say that since his father had died, it had been anything but! Before he could reply, she continued: “Well, that’s not how it is around here. We all pull our own weight. As long as you’re going to be under our roof with us supporting you, you’ll be expected to help around the house.”
David felt lost for words. He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He looked towards Ben for support but he was now studying the floor with avid interest.
He had taken it for granted that he would be helping around the house and had expected nothing less. In fact, he had been looking forwards to making a good impression by showing what he would do for them. Now Mary coming down on him in a manner that not only made him feel like a sponger, but it had also taken away his chance to offer his help. He felt robbed of the opportunity and more than a little cheated. He felt if he tried to explain this, though, it would now look like he was making up excuses.
Ben finally looked up and made a half-hearted attempt to interrupt, but she went blithely on. He shot David a look of sympathy.
“I know what it’s like these days, teens do nothing but hang around the street corners, smoking, getting drunk, you can be sure. This, my boy, will keep you too busy to get into trouble. You can be sure enough that you’ll be given a list of chores for you to do, daily. I’ll expect you to have them all finished before you go and do anything else,” she added.
“I don’t have a problem with that.” His voice was flat. He wasn’t happy. She had not even given him the chance to offer his help. He feared that the look on his face might betray the resentment within, so he forced a smile. He looked again to his uncle for support, but now he was engrossed in the newspaper. The tall pages of The Age covered his entire face. This clearly was his way of escaping from his wife’s sharp tongue. It was clear to David that he was used to keeping his silence whenever Mary got up on her soapbox. He felt that she had gone on about the youth of today many times before. She help up the sheet of paper in her hand. “These are your chores.”
Aunt Mary handed it to him. He looked at it and felt his heart sink as he saw some duties that looked hard and cumbersome. He read it softly out loud. “Cleaning the guttering, washing windows, cleaning dishes, scrubbing the walls.” He stopped as he saw the last item. “Gardening?” He looked at Mary. She looked back at him challengingly. “I don’t know the first thing about gardening!” He hoped she would relent on this one. He was disappointed.
“Then you will learn, boy. Indeed you will learn. It’ll be good for you to be out amongst the fresh air, plants and flowers learning which are weeds and which aren’t.” The look on her face stopped any further protests. Instead he just nodded and resigned himself to the inevitable task. Gardens, plants and nature were a mystery to him. There was no garden at home and he always thought them a waste of space. His father certainly had never any time for them.
Looks like you’re their little slave, David. The words just popped into his mind and he agreed.
“Okay, I’ll do the best I can. May I go now?”
“Be back down in an hour for dinner.
The meal was a bland mix of tough meat, boiled vegetables. Some persistence was needed to saw through the slices of meat on his plate. Apparently, his aunt had never heard of sauce or salt and pepper. Having been spoilt by the culinary skills of his mother, he wondered how he was going to face such tasteless food every night. Still, he quietly ate all on his plate, more out of courtesy than hunger.
After they had finished eating, he did the dishes, while Ben helped him by putting them away. When they had finished, David asked if he might be shown around the house. Mary nodded. “Ben, will show you around.” His uncle smiled. David got the impression that he was happy to have an excuse to escape from his wife for a bit.
As he followed him, Ben explained how the previous owners had died some years ago, and how their son had put the house on the market. “We knew them through some friends, so we managed to clinch a pretty good deal. We sold our old home and broke even.”
There were three bedrooms upstairs. A small room was immediately to the side of the stairs, while David’s room was the end of the hallway. The passage continued to Ben and Mary’s bedroom, which was quite large with a roomy walk in wardrobe at the far end.
The upstairs bathroom was located just up from the stairs and was comfortable and large. The shower was at one end and the toilet was at the other with the sink in the middle.
“It’s comfy enough, this home,” said his uncle. “Nothing else to show you so let’s head back down.”
David followed him and saw the door at the end of the hallway. It had not been mentioned. “I think you missed a room. What’s behind that door there?” He pointed to it.
“Could only be a closet,” said Ben, dismissively, but David had already walked on ahead.
“This door. What’s it to?”
“Don’t rightly know.”
“Really? What do you mean?”
“Lock’s broken. Can’t open it short of smashing it down. Previous owners told us the key had snapped off in the keyhole and now the innards are rusted, they are. That’s all there is to it.”
Normally he would have accepted this explanation, but David, for some reason he couldn’t understand, wanted to, no, needed to know more. He felt a strange sensation, as though something within that room was calling to him. “Don’t you want to know what’s behind that door?” he blurted out. Ben gave him an odd look.
“Previous owners reckoned it was a small room. Good for nothing but a storage closet, they reckons. It drove Mary crazy trying to fix that lock. She had locksmiths work on it, but for the oddest of reasons, it resisted all their attempts to open it. They all said that better to take a crowbar to the door. They confirmed that the key was rusted inside which made it all but impossible to fix. And then, getting someone to look at it was no picnic either. They would not turn up, or some emergency would occur or they’d call in sick. It was almost as though the door had a curse on it, if such a thing was possible.
“Mary, now, she was obsessed for a good while and at one point, she was on the verge of just having the entire door ripped from its hinges, but then, as suddenly as woman’s mind can change, she decided to leave it alone.”
Ben scratched his head and got his long-suffering look. “Mary, she says that we have enough rooms here without opening up another and letting loose whatever ‘creepy crawlies’ that are hidden in there. It was if she sensed something nasty or maybe just the run of bad luck had finally unnerved her.
“So I think, if that’s what she wants, then that’s the way it’s going to be. Between you and me, Davie, I think she’s a little scared of what might she might find.”
David looked more carefully at the handle. Even for its age, it seemed unusually rusted, as was the lock.. He took a look at the tarnished silver plate that covered the keyhole. Two large screws, one at the top and the other at the bottom were completely stripped. There was no way that the lock would be removed that easily, short of breaking down the door.
“It’s very rusted,” he said. Ben just nodded. Cautiously, as though Ben being there would make a difference, pulled on the handle. As before, it wouldn’t move at all. He turned his hand and looked at his palm. Little bits of rust had come off onto it, giving them an acrid scent of rust and iron
“Told you so,” said his uncle, a slight smile on his lips. “There’d be naught in there but cobwebs now, I’d reckon.”
David thought about the curse his uncle had suggested. Something was indeed very odd. Surely things didn’t rust this badly. He had never seen anything like it. “How come it’s so rusty, though?”
“Bad metal?” Ben just shrugged. “Salt in the air? Who knows. It ain’t stainless steel, in any case. And also ain’t no one going in to fix it.”
“ Don’t you wonder what’s in there, though?”
Ben looked thoughtful. “No. We certainly don’t need the extra space and I doubt there is anything of worth and I’m not about to find out by paying a fortune to fix the door if we ripped it from its frame,” he said, laughing. “No, my boy, I’ll let the next owner of this house worry about it. I’m certain there’s nothing of value in there.”
David wasn’t so sure. If they had never opened that room, then how would they know? “Well, it’s just that it would drive me crazy if I had a locked door back home and no one knew what was behind it,” he replied.
“Well, you can take it as gospel that it would not be nearly as exciting as you’d think. You’ve got a healthy imagination there, my boy. Some things were meant to be left alone and that might be one of them.” He smiled and ruffled David’s hair and suggested they go back downstairs where there was a fire and Mary’s prided hot chocolate waiting for them.
