The Unforgotten

1)

Yvonne was more manic than usual; her normally fiery red hair blanched back to its usual bland blonde for this auspicious occasion, and she was dressed almost in the same clothes as she wore that first broadcast. Her thick, black polo-neck sweater both hid the bruises round her throat as much as protected her from the cold ire of the weather and the many skeptics of the show: Ghost Haunters. 

She always liked the play on words, but Owen had always seen it as cheapening the brand –whatever that meant. But it was her money that had been used to kickstart the programme so she had the last word… back then, anyway. She also wore black leggings and a midi-skirt. She still wasn’t comfortable showing her legs off so much but Owen said that it appealed to a certain demographic -of which he was no longer part of. This was going to be the make or break; a last ditch attempt to make this programme, and their marriage work (although he wasn’t aware of that part of the arrangement). 

Once upon a time she actually believed in what she was doing; she actually thought that they would be able to uncover  proof of the veracity of life after death. Now she was reduced to the comic relief; the scream queen of the show… and now she had even been replaced in that role by Helen! 

Yvonne even remembered the exact moment when her dreams were shattered by Owen -it was during the second season just before Desmond had become the ‘medium’. In front of the camera’s Owen always appeared so supportive and upbeat; challenging the ghosts and apparitions to do their worst which would always freak Yvonne out; so much so that she confronted him at the end of one particularly traumatising show. She asked him why he taunted them so much, to which he simply laughed in her face, deriding the fact that she still believed in that kind of crap. Time had not been any kinder in the succeeding years and Yvonne was now wondering whether any of it had been real.

2)

Owen, on the other hand, was aware that this 10th Anniversary edition of Ghost Haunters (dear god, what a diabolical name!) was the end of an era. It was no coincidence that he’d brought Helen along for this ‘adventure’. She’d given him an ultimatum that she wanted him to end the flogged marriage. Owen was surprised that the marriage had lasted 9 years.

He first met Yvonne on the set of her previous television programme -a mix of children’s television, the board game Guess Who and the quiz show The Weakest Link. Ten kids had to guess the celebrity speaking by creating an identikit picture in the same vein as the board game. It was a crazy concept and wouldn’t have worked except for Yvonne; she was really beautiful in a neurotic, scatty way; flaunting a girlish sexuality she never knew she had. Owen knew he had to have her and spent ages worming his way closer to her.

His final break came when the quiz show finally fizzled and she was left without a project to go to. She was scatty enough to believe in ghosts and hauntings; all that kind of crap. Ghostwatch had just been on the BBC and caused an overnight sensation with so many people believing it was real. Owen had almost believed but he recognised the actress playing the mother and everything else fell into place: Throw enough money into it, make it seem as realistic as possible and ground it in emotional realism then people will believe anything. Just like the original stage magicians understood it was all done with smoke, mirrors and plenty of misdirection. At this stage the ‘found-footage’ horror hadn’t been thought of so Owen’s radical idea of having everything being shot as though by hand-held cameras was revolutionary and when he worked everything out he approached Yvonne with the idea. She fell for it.. And fell for him, which is what he ultimately was after.

Although he hated the name of Ghosthaunters it did add a bit of quirkyness to the proceedings, grounded the show in normality and was easy to remember. It was actually a genius name, though he’d never admit it to her face…. And for a while it really worked. It was all crap, of course, something that he never believed.. But then he didn’t need to. The main thing was that the audience did. In the first season they were able to coast on novelty.  They occupied small venues that were known to be haunted; camped out with the owners permission and set up enough jump scares to keep audiences happy. Obviously he’d kept Yvonne in the dark about what was going on -her reactions were always priceless. The queen of the scream. It was clear though that she no longer enjoyed it and he now had come to loathe her. 

The Desmond debacle had soured everything and he blamed Yvonne for finally getting rid of him; even though he had leaked the information to the press. Owen wanted a character arc though. He wanted Desmond to have some time off and come back spiritually refreshed and a ‘true’ psychic. The British public loved a sob-story, after all, and they would have been watching with bated breath to see if Desmond would be back to his old tricks again before being shocked by the technical brilliance of his predictions… but it never happened; and the show was never the same again.

It had limped along for years. Even the so-called demonologist, Bob Cowley, hadn’t left any lasting impression. They lacked the budget for demon-manifestations and many people asked what was the point of having him on the programme -truth be told, he was there to do the actual research and set up the more  elaborate set-pieces.. (and to be fair, he was very good at that, and knew exactly how to time it to maximise Yvonne’s reaction!).

It had been Yvonne’s idea to hire a professional skeptic in the form of Simon. Owen had been dead set against that, especially after the debacle and fallout from Desmond, but Yvonne explained that the key term would be ‘hired’. Simon wouldn’t really be a skeptic, he was an old contact from her previous job -an out of work actor who would just pretend to be a skeptic, just as they were ‘pretending’ to be ghost hunters. She deliberately emphasised the pretending.

He couldn’t pin down the time when his disappointment with Yvonne grew to actual loathing.  It was gradual really, in the years that followed Owen lost all respect for her as a presenter, an actress and finally a spouse. He was now trapped; where once he had plans to become something big in the television world, he was now the straight man in a farcical live-action Scooby-Do series. 

He couldn't believe he actually regretted the first time he hit Yvonne. He was drunk for the first time in years and she’d never seen him like it. It was just after Desmond's funeral and she couldn’t understand why Owen was crying when he came back from the pub. Owen reacted out of drunkenness he would tell her later, crying for forgiveness afterward but the truth was he had been bottling it up for ages. That she believed him was a testament to his acting skills and for a while the marriage just simmered before the next bust up.. And the next after that. Yvonne was too scared to make anything public and made a habit of wearing demure clothes that revealed none of her bruises.

Ten years and he'd finally had enough. Helen had convinced him to face Yvonne on camera and then just walk away. It sounded good to him.

3)

"Welcome to a very special program of Ghosthaunters. My name is Yvonne Hardacher and this is our tenth anniversary special, and to celebrate we're re-visiting the very first place we ever investigated: Crowley Hall. It was at one time a National Trust property but now just a derelict with a whole history of ghosts, apparitions and spooky occurrences. As usual we've got the whole team with both Bob Crowley, our resident demonologist and our newest recruit, skeptic Steve Buschell."

The afternoon had barely struck four and it had taken them the first few hours setting up the camera's and mixing desks. Bob had worked with Steve, who was responsible for miking the place up, to ensure that all the rooms were wired and 'boobied' in Owens terminology. Everything had been set up so doors banged on command and both Bob and Steve either carried objects to throw, or knew where the stage props were for later. 

No one else knew, not even Owen -it  was necessary to ensure that their reactions were genuine. Owen seemed more pensive than normal, didn't want to get involved with the pre-show camaraderie as he normally did. For some reason he hung around Helen, who was the newest recruit.

Yvonne looked askance at them constantly and it was obvious she was uncomfortable having Helen around.  Steve  had only been with the team less than a year but even he felt awkward about the arrangement; but it wouldn't matter soon. Things were going to happen later that would  make this anniversary edition definitely something to remember.

"Before we go any further," Yvonne continued, speaking into the camera which was currently being held by Bob. "Can anyone remember that first night? The first broadcast? I was so nervous." 

"The way you wore your hair back then, love, I'm not surprised. " Owen chipped in and Helen laughed into her hand like a schoolgirl.

"Now, that's not nice, Owen." Yvonne complained, shocked by the edge in Owen's voice. Where had that come from? He was supposed to recall one of the events that they'd encountered. Steve chipped in to her defense.

"Don't worry, Yvonne. He's only jealous -back then he actually had hair, after all. He must be finding things a bit drafty tonight."

"Just watch it, Steve." Owen snarled before realising this was being caught on camera.

"I do remember the first time we had one of the doors slam, Yvonne." Bob continued. "It was the door to the kitchen and we knew that it had a mind of its own anyway, but when it slammed we were all shook up but you screamed like a right one!" Everyone laughed.

"And the legend was born." Owen chipped in, sarcastically. Yvonne tried to ignore him but Steve saw she was hurt.

"Tonight we're hoping to re-create the magic of that first night and go deeper with our new insights and technology. We've got Bob who knows more of the history of this place, and Steve to debunk his wilder stories." Yvonne carried on, trying to maintain her composure. "What we're going to do now is just walk around the property first whilst its light and we can familiarise ourselves with the layout and then later we can turn the lights out. Now, before we go any further I have to stress that this is now a fully abandoned and derelict building. It's also been condemned  and some of it has rotten floorboards and some rooms have no floors at all so we're all going to have to be careful and look after each other."

4)

Whilst Bob gave his normal preamble about the history of the building and the ghosts that supposedly haunted the place Yvonne found herself thinking inevitably about Desmond who had been the fourth member of the team at the start of it all. At that time he was just the camera man and it was only later that he developed into the role of team psychic. It was after he had visited a holistic fayre that he'd been introduced to the idea and he felt drawn to it; suggested it to Yvonne, who had liked it. They were all aware that they were sitting on a potential gold mine because no one else had thought about an actual series about Haunted places and back then there were no other tv psychics -Desmond wanted to be the first. Owen thought it was a crap idea but back then he was just the silent partner. 

There was only one small problem, Desmond was an abysmal psychic and couldn't get any feelings about the first two places they visited. His attempts at using the Ouija board  were problematic and boring and threatened to derail this fledgling program into a laughing stock. (how ironic was that?) Owen suggested that Desmond could either make it all up or do research before the show and then use creative license to spin a yarn that the viewers at home could believe in. Yvonne was dead set against this but Desmond, although initially siding with Yvonne, soon saw the more lucrative side that Owen was suggesting. That was the first step on that slippery slope that led to ruin.

Bob had finished his preamble and they all split up into groups. Owen thought it would be a great idea to have Sandy and Helen take the most haunted area of the property. Sandy was grounded and knew there was nothing to worry about; Helen was a complete contrast -she was actually a fan of the series and believed everything she heard and saw. She jumped at the slightest provocation and, since she'd started, ratings had gone up quite a bit to see what kind of a farago she'd create. Her screams and juddery personality made for great viewing.

Owen, Yvonne and Bob went together to the basement, which had a bad reputation; whilst the others were conspicuously absent to create all the shenanigans. Everyone had handheld cameras with a narrow field of view, which was perfect to hide things that Owen would use later on. Once again, Yvonne was blissfully unaware what was going to happen, but this time Owen and Bob had concocted a rather nasty story thread . Bob was aware of Owen's infidelity but knew where his next paycheck was coming from so had kept quiet for months.

Yvonne knew that Bob was just a jobbing actor, but also knew of his past (something that Owen wasn't aware) and consequently would never allow him to be alone with Sandy. Yvonne warned Bob once but that was enough; this was going to be payback though.

5)

The camera had been recording for a few minutes and Helen was walking up the stairs in front of Sandy. Every creak of the stairs made Helen squeal in fright; every mote of dust in the air made her whirl around in shock. This is going to be an arduous evening, Sandy thought. What the hell did Owen see in her?

When they finally reached the hallway and walked into the nearest room they did what was expected of them and just stood still for a bit, barely breathing. It was important that the camera picked up the baseline quiet so any sound would be amplified. Steve was somewhere around and it was important that they ignore him. Sandy found it easy but Helen just jumped at everything.

"What the hell does he see in you?" Sandy finally muttered after Helen almost leaped into her arms when she caught sight of her own reflection in one of the few remaining windows.

"What did you say?" Helen snapped, pushing herself away.

"How long do you think this can go on between you too?" Sandy asked.

"What's it to you? Who do you think you are?"

"Yvonne's friend. I've known her a long time and I won't see you hurt her."

"You want to be careful -point your nose into things that have nothing to do with you and one of us might end up an actual ghost!" Helen threatened. And it was then that Steve chose to throw the wrench into the room making them both bolt for the stairs, shrieking like schoolgirls.

The basement was very small and had once been a wine cellar, though Bob was explaining how it had once been used for more nefarious purposes. Although it had once been a National Trust place it had been a stately home apparently owned by a very questionable person who was part of a black magic lodge.

"That can't be right, Bob." Yvonne questioned. "That never came up when we were here last."

"Do you honestly believe that, Yvonne?" Bob replied, raising his eyebrow. "I'm not sure the National Trust would ever have admitted that to you; it doesn't exactly paint them in a great light..."

"So how do you know about it?" She asked.

"C'mon... think about it." Owen chipped in, using the camera to focus on her puzzled face. "He's a demonologist, after all." The camera had a light attached. It wasn't very bright but it was enough that they could make out where they were in the room.

Yvonne almost let the cat out the bag by saying the truth, but knew that Owen was just trying to trip her up for some reason. Something was going on, he was being really nasty to her. "Ok, then. What happened?"

"It was a ritual sacrifice, normally a woman. They'd take her down, leave her alone in the dark so she'd never know what was going to happen to her." Bob was relishing this and Owen was making the most of every micro-gesture of fear on Yvonne's face. She knew it was false; knew there were no such things as ghosts but she had no idea what was going to happen next. "Normally they'd use this." Bob stated, holding up a stone knife he'd fashioned himself. It was as blunt as hell, but she didn't know that. Just then Owen turned the light out and Yvonne screamed despite herself. Bob had lunged at her just as the light went out and she stepped back, twisting her ankle as she did so.

The light snapped on all of a sudden and she was splayed out on the floor, rubbing her head. Owen and Bob were laughing their heads off, the camera still pointing at her.

"Bastards." She spat, despite herself.

"Careful now, there might be kiddies watching." Owen retorted and walked up the stairs with Bob, leaving her there sobbing. What was going wrong?  She didn't want to carry on anymore; everything felt as if it was all falling apart. Just then she felt a soft presence behind her and a hand  pressed lightly on her shoulder. She didn't jump because if felt familiar, although it shouldn't have done. "It's all going to be ok, pet." Desmond whispered to her, but it couldn't have been.

6)

Ten minutes later they all converged on the ground floor again. Sandy looked shaken and Yvonne saw Helen pull Owen to one side and mutter something. It was then that she realised what had been going on. She cursed herself for being so blind and wanted to have it out with Owen right then but he already suggested that he was going up with Sandy, whilst Helen and Steve would go into the basement allowing Yvonne to recover from her 'fall'.

Yvonne wanted to call him a rat bastard but thought better of it. She was aware that Bob was going down into the basement with Steve and Helen for some reason; which suited her fine because she couldn't stand Bob. It gave her time to think back to Desmond once more. She still felt guilty for what had happened to him, despite trying to talk him out of it several times. He was too enamored with his own fiction and played too much into the theatrics of the psychic role he was creating. Into the third season and it had almost become the Desmond show and Owen was becoming sick of it and given several warnings that it wouldn't be tolerated but Desmond ignored him.

Owen was very sneaky and started feeding duff information to Desmond; names that were really acronyms of rude words and vaguely licentious facts. This all prompted Desmond to behave like a caricature of himself and it all accumulated when Owen sent an anonymous message to the local press that Desmond was either making stuff up or had done an impressive amount of research to make his psychic readings more professional and believable. The press, understandably, jumped at this and set Desmond some obvious tests, all of which he failed miserably -which, of course he would.

Yvonne was forced to fire him because of the scandal; it seriously threatened to derail the series, which she still believed in. Owen had told her none of what he'd done and she was horrified by what had happened. Desmond was a broken man afterwards and no one wanted to touch him; he was the subject of ridicule wherever he went and he could never go back to being an actor again,

He cut all ties with the show and with Yvonne, and the next she heard about him was when the news reported his body had been found in his home, after overdosing on sleeping pills and whiskey. She wasn't allowed to the funeral for some reason, but Owen went and came home crying, absolutely drunk. That was the first time he'd ever shouted at her and he actually told her what he'd done. She was speechless and sickened. That was the first time he lost his temper with her and although the slap had been brief it had nonetheless been painful and left her reeling. Owen apologised that night, but that was the one and only time. The beatings continued.

Upstairs Owen made sure that he was between Sandy and the stairs. He waited until they were alone and deliberately kept the camera off this time. He wanted to keep this as brief as possible.

"If you want to make it out of here in one piece then I suggest you keep your mouth shut." He said very calmly to her. "Yvonne will find out when I'm ready to tell her. If you say anything to her about this or about Helen then there will be one other ghost haunting here. Got that?" Sandy could barely nod. She'd seen the bruises on Yvonne's arms and throat at times but had never said anything. Owen was a dangerous man and she had just found out how far he would go. She watched as he walked down the stairs letting the light drain from the room around her.

7)

It took Sandy a few minutes to come down and meet up with the rest of the group again in the great hall. Yvonne saw Owen come down alone and walk to the corner where Bob and Helen were and then Sandy walked down in tears. Steve rushed over to her, concerned and Yvonne went over to them, hobbling a bit still. 

Steve had managed to get the truth out of Sandy what had happened, despite herself.

"This is an all time low, even for you, Owen." He snapped.

"You going to believe her or me?" Owen replied, belligerently. "Who I sleep with is up to me."

"Who said anything about that?" Steve replied, almost triumphantly. "She just said you'd threatened her."

"Bastard." Owen snapped.

"You're the rat bastard, Owen." Yvonne responded. "I can believe I've spent so long with 

you, and for what? So much for the anniversary edition!"

"Are you kidding me? Grow up -this is dynamite! I've been filming everything. It may be the last episode but it'll be the perfect swansong!"

KERRASH!! The bottle exploded millimeters from his head, sending shards spiralling out. Luckily only Owen was cut by the glass and he looked at Steve.

"I didn't bloody throw it!" Steve shouted, shocked as much as the rest of them. 

"Who the hell threw that then?" Bob exclaimed, wiping the spilled liquid off his suit. 

Suddenly they were aware of a light at the end of the room, someone was standing there. It was actually three people, just silhouettes, but it was obvious that they had thrown the bottle. The team were now in a great deal of trouble -they'd never thought of the possibilities of squatters!

Bob, Owen and Helen just ran off through the nearest door, leaving the rest of the crew to the mercy , but they hadn't kept an eye on their surroundings and hadn't realised that they were running into the dilapidated part of the building where they'd been warned off. None of them were paying any attention to where they were going and it was Helen who fell first. The non-existent floorboards were no longer holding her weight and she fell with full force, with Owen right on top of her. They never stood a chance and the fall was impressive. Bob stopped in time and looked in horror at the bloodied, broken heap below them, unaware of the squatters who were walking behind him.

8)

Yvonne, Steve and Sandy just held each other. They didn't know what to do; they didn't know how many squatters were left in the building let alone what was likely to happen. Sandy looked around her with one of the few torches left and recognised where they were; the front door was just in the opposite direction from where Owen had run, but  it was also in the direction from where the bottle had been thrown. 

They were too tired and scared to run and it would be hours before it became light again. Steve was all for creating a diversion so the two women could escape but Yvonne had seen enough hurt and pain for the evening. She just wanted to leave and got the three of them to walk calmly to the entrance, holding the remaining torch in the least threatening way she could think off. 

Sure enough the entrance was less than twenty feet in front of them, but as they got closer they could see the three squatters from before.

"I'm so sorry we've invaded your space. We had no right to do so and we're all so sorry. Please just let us go and you'll never hear from us again." She said as calmly as she could, her voice wobbling as much as her legs. She tried walking as slowly as she could to the door.

"You're Yvonne.... Hardacher, aren't you?!" One of the squatters exclaimed, walking into the light. Yvonne nodded in a daze. "I remember you from kiddies television! I used to love watching you.." She blushed despite herself. Another one of the squatters, a woman this time said, "You do that Ghosthunter show, don't you? Is this one now??" The woman was almost beside herself with the prospect. "Does that mean we're on television now?" The third one said and actually tried to smooth his hair straight. 

"You can be if you want to be." Steve said, despite himself. He could scarcely understand what was happening.

"You're the skeptic, aren't you?" The first one said and Steve wanted to crawl under a rock.

"I was.. but I think Yvonne's making a believer out of me." He replied.

"Well, before you all go I've got one thing to say to Yvonne that will make you all believe." The third squatter remarked. They were almost at the door and Yvonne was about to turn the handle. She turned around and looked puzzled. 

"This is from Desmond?" The squatter said. "He says to keep your chin up, pet; and don't stop believing."