Haunted: A Lockwood & Co Story

Chapter Seven: Suicide Pact

The train rattled over them as they came to a stop outside the Winkman's antique shop in Bermondsey. Charlotte had spent the entire trip to the store in silence.
"We'll never get in there Lockwood. We should come back first thing." Charlotte said to the boy. "You can pretend to be a customer and I'll-"
"Let's go down the side," Lockwood said, having not been listening to the girl. He then crossed the road to the alleyway down the side of the Winkman's building. Charlotte sighed before following the boy. She knew that even if she left, he would still go on and without her, he would have no clue where the mirror would be. Charlotte was also scared of the possibility of the Winkmans killing him, and that scared her more than she would admit. They walked down the side until Lockwood paused at a side door. He reached out for the door, but it rattled, signalling that it was locked. Lockwood walked down to the next door, which had a padlock on it.

"Ah, that's more like it." He muttered as he grabbed out his pocket knife. Charlotte looked around as he started to pick the padlock. There was a click as the lock unlocked and Lockwood slid it out and quietly opened the door. As they walked in, Charlotte was immediately hit with lots of different noises. She winced at the intensity of them all, but stuck close to Lockwood as he wandered down the aisle closest to them. She had quickly slid the door shut behind them. The room they were in looked to be as if it was a back room. A storage room. There were several shelves set up like aisles and upon each shelf sat several items which Charlotte assumed to be a mix of sources and normal objects.

"I don't like this Lockwood." Charlotte said quietly. The sounds were all overlapping each other. Horses neighing. Men yelling. Blades crashing. All coming from different sources.
"Can you hear the mirror?"
"There's too many sounds. It's like- like the airways are jammed with signals." Charlotte explained.

"From all this." Lockwood stated. Charlotte nodded. A child had started crying, which caused her to stop. She turned to the shelves and opened a box. She pulled out a teddy bear, very similar to her own that she had brought with her when she had left. As she touched it, the other sounds quieted but were still present. She closed her eyes and could see a little blonde girl running around with her teddy laughing while her dad chased the girl around their yard. Charlotte smiled, putting the bear back.

"They're relics." Charlotte said, as she looked at the item next to it. She reached out for this one and at the sound of yelling and gunshots, she quickly retracted her hand. "Still got psychic charge. Some still have bad history hanging about."

"Come on. Let's get further in." Lockwood whispered to her. Charlotte closed the lid to the box with the bear in it and started following Lockwood. "See if you can hear it."

As they walked down the shelving units, a ticking noise started. It didn't sound regular in rhythm, instead it would tick for a little and then stop before starting again. Lockwood put a hand out for Charlotte to stop.

"Wait a minute." He said quietly. The sound almost sounded like a machine. "Is that it?"

"No." Charlotte said, certain the noise wasn't the mirror. At the cemetery, Charlotte could only hear the sound of buzzing and flys but this sounded more mechanical. Real. "No, that's something living. Lockwood, we should go. Or hide."

"You're right." Charlotte felt herself feel lighter in relief. He was finally listening to her. "It sounds mechanical. There's no footsteps." Lockwood started walking forward slowly, one hand reaching to be closer to his rapier just in case. "If anyone comes, hide."
Lockwood inched closer to a door at the end of the aisle. Charlotte watched in panic as he got closer to the loudening mechanical noise. Charlotte reached down to her own rapier, preparing for the worst, hoping for the best. As Lockwood reached the door, a little boy came around the corner. Charlotte gasped quietly in fear, before remembering Lockwood's words to hide if someone came. She quickly turned and ducked underneath a calico cloth that was propped up between two rocking horses. Charlotte could see through a crack in between the cloth, Lockwood and the young boy standing by the door. The boy looked to be ten or eleven years old and was holding a mechanical robot toy which was making the noise they had been looking for.