Free Malevolent Hall 1666AD by Rosemary Lynch

was unable to place where.  He was a little older than she was, at a guess, around twenty-four.  He was at least six foot, broad, muscular, with short, dark hair, and a beautiful face.  The more she thought about him, the more she needed to find him.  Matilda glanced back at Mike, and gave a frown as the image of the stranger looked back her.
    “Are you okay, Matilda?” Mike asked, touching her arm.  Her body felt charged by his touch, and she took a breath.
    “What, yes fine, sorry, I was miles away.  I will leave you to your work,” Matilda muttered.  Feeling confused she spun around, leaving Mike staring at her as she walked away.
    Matilda watched the scaffolding continue to go up, looking at the men there, but he was not among them.  Where could he have gone?  He had to be here somewhere.  Some of the men were only here today to put up the scaffolding and set up ‘camp’ as it were, so if she was unable to find him today he may never come back.
    Matilda found herself wandering to the overgrown gardens.  Passing the fountain, she pulled out her note pad from her pocket, flipped it open to her, ‘to do list’, and added, repair fountain, under the garden section.
    She carried on with her meandering making her way to the walled, kitchen garden.  She stopped at the old oak door, the entrance to her mother’s garden, but found it locked.
    “Damn it,” she cursed, she needed the key.  Matilda checked over her shoulder, making sure there was no one around. Lifting her finger, and looking around once more to be doubly sure no one was observing her, she pointed it at the lock. 
    “Aperi,” she chanted in a whisper.  White magic left her finger, it fizzled in the keyhole, and the lock clunked and opened.  She looked around once more and opened the door.
    Inside was wild and overgrown, and the brambles kept tugging at the bottom of her dress as she walked.  The individual vegetable beds her mother had painstakingly kept meticulously were now just one big mass of brambles and weeds.  She opened her notepad and added, ‘clear out, and re-establish mummy’s vegetable garden.’
    Hitching her dress, and climbing over the brambles, she made her way to the old summer house tucked away in the far corner of the garden.  It was looking a little worse for wear, so Matilda added the summer house to her list.  Pulling back the ivy covering the door, she kicked away with her booted foot at the scrub preventing the door from opening.  Matilda heaved it open and looked inside.  It was a big summerhouse, with an old stove at one end, and seating and a table at the other.  She remembered a water tap fixed to a wall outside.  She smiled at the memory of filling the kettle for her mother so she could make tea while they gardened, and there were always little cakes to munch.
    It felt good in here, and sitting on the bench, she reached down to the side of the seat, picked up an old doll, and brushed her down.
    “Hello Lulu,” she said, stroking through her old doll’s hair.  “Long time no see.”  The doll appeared to blink, and she held it frozen in her hand.
    “No. You did not just do that,” she muttered, with a shake of her head.  “I did it when I tilted you.”  She theorised as the doll stared back at her.  A cold, shiver rippled down her spine, and Matilda hastily put her back down the side of the chair.  Looking up she glanced through the window and her heart jumped.  Wiping her hand across the dirty pane, she thought she saw someone out there.  She stood, staring out of the window, she could see a man.  Matilda picked up an old poker from beside the stove, and gripped it tight, as she was not sure if what she was seeing was real or something more sinister. 
    Matilda moved to the door and stepped outside.  She walked towards him as he walked towards her.
    “You,” she said as they stopped in front of each other.
    “Hello,” he said, with a smile that sent her heart racing.  He looked