 |
10
(1 votes)
| Rating | Rated by | | | 10 | Unknown | |
You must login to vote
|
|
|
CHAPTER ONE
Dayle watched the ragged group stumble into the store. She looked at the clock. It was nine o’clock and time for her to close. What could these people want? God she hated it when people did this to her! She’d been on her feet since six that morning. She was ready to go home. Still, she couldn’t show her disgust. She smiled pleasantly.
“Hi. Can I help you?”
A tall, muscular man stepped forward. “Yeah, can you tell us where the Teighlortown Inn is? We’ve just driven here from California and we’re beat.”
Dayle wasn’t shocked. It happened occasionally. People would come in and ask for the Teighlortown Inn. How could she break it to them that there was no Teighlortown Inn?
“Um, I hate to have to tell you this, but there is no Teighlortown Inn and hasn’t been since nineteen fifty.”
“What the hell do you mean no Teighlortown Inn? Our agent said that’s where her travel agent said we should stay!”
Dayle felt sorry for the group. They definitely were not only dead on their feet they also had no place to stay.
“I’m terribly sorry. There used to be a Teighlortown Inn but it closed in nineteen fifty then it became a private residence. My friend Hal inherited it about three years ago. Hal has told these tourist places and travel agents to stop sending people to the Inn but they don’t listen. They just keep sending people out here without checking. Hal even still gets the catalog from the food company that used to ship the Inn’s food when it was still in business! I’m really really sorry.”
The man was tired and angry and Dayle understood. She would be too.
“That’s ok; it’s not your fault. Just tell us where the nearest hotel is and we’ll go there.”
Dayle bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry but the nearest hotel is one hundred miles from here.”
“What! Jesus Christ! What the hell are we supposed to do?”
A blond lady stepped up. “Can you call your friend and ask him if we can stay there? We’d be happy to pay for the rooms. Please…we’re desperate. We really did just drive from California to here. We can’t drive another mile. Please!”
Dayle wanted to help them. She didn’t think Hal would go for it. The least she could do was try. What was the worst Hal could do, say “no?”
“I’ll call Hal and see what I can do for you.”
Dayle picked up the receiver from the old-fashioned wall phone. It had come with the store when she purchased it five years ago.
“Hey Hal. I hope I’m not calling too late but you’re not going to believe this. I’ve got five people standing here in the store that just drove straight from California to here after being told that the best hotel to stay in is the guess what?”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me? Another one?” Hal wasn’t surprised but still, the travel agents really needed to get their acts together. How many times could you tell people that an Inn was no longer in business?
“Hal they have no place to stay and they are dead tired.”
“Whoa Dayle, I know where this is going and you can forget it.”
“Come on Hal! They just drove from California!”
“Dayle are you crazy? You know they can’t stay here! How could you even ask such a thing?”
“Come on Hal. They said they would be happy to pay for their rooms.”
“Dayle, that’s not it and you know it.”
There was silence.
“All right, they can stay but I swear Dayle, you’d better tell them everything and I mean it! You’d better not leave one detail out, I swear to God! If they still want to stay after they hear everything call me back. I’ll meet them at the dock.”
“Thanks Hal. I will.”
“I mean it Dayle, everything.”
“You got it. Talk to you tomorrow.”
Dayle hung the phone up and smiled at the group.
“Ok, Hal says you can stay there…but…there are some things that I have to tell you first. If you still want to stay after you hear what I have to say, great, if not…but I have to call Hal back either way.”
“Whatever it is we’re not worried about it.” The “leader” of the group was clearly dead on his feet.
“You might after you hear what it is. Hal’s house is haunted. That was why it went out of business as an Inn. In today’s world, that would probably bring tons of money to the place, but during those times, people weren’t too keen on ghosts. Hal’s house is not just haunted; it is majorly haunted, by three separate ghosts.”
The group looked skeptical.
Another of the men spoke. “Yeah, whatever, as long as it’s not like demon haunted or anything.”
They didn’t believe her. Dayle knew she had to convince them. Hal had been insistent.
“I know you probably don’t believe me but that house is badly haunted. I didn’t believe it myself until I experienced it. Hal’s had the usual, being followed through the garden, being watched, turned around and seen someone fade away, but when it happened to me, now that was different story! I never doubted Hal again.”
Another lady spoke up. There were three men and two women. They all looked like high-class citizens of some exclusive country club. They should fit in well with the cream of the crop in the blueblood town of Teighlortown Dayle thought.
“How many ghosts are there?”
“That anyone can see? Three. There are many others though that Hal has encountered and believe me after the story I heard about that encounter, you don’t want to encounter them! I’ve personally seen two of the ghosts. There is one that is very elusive though and seems to appear only to Hal.”
“Are they dangerous?” The first lady that had spoken spoke again and looked frightened but interested too.
“No. The “house” ghosts as I call them aren’t. They’re just ghosts. They seem to mind their own business, however, that is if you are used to them. To anyone else they would probably be scary. But if you’re used to being followed and stuff like Hal is, then it’s no big deal.”
The leader of the group spoke for the last time. “Look, I can’t drive another mile. I am going to be a ghost if I don’t get some sleep. We’ll stay with your friend. Call him and tell him, ghosts or no ghosts, we’re staying.”
CHAPTER TWO
“You’re sure you told them everything.”
“Well I didn’t give them specifics but I told them there are three house ghosts and then the ones you encountered outside and they don’t care, they want to stay.”
“All right as long as they know, I can’t be held responsible for what happens.”
“They really appreciate it Hal.”
“Yeah, we’ll see after they’ve spent the night here. I’ll meet you at the dock.”
“Ok.”
Dayle hung the heavy receiver back up.
“Ok everybody. Hal will meet us all at the dock that leads to the island. I’ll take you there if you want to follow me. It’s only a block or so. This town is really small so you don’t have far to drive.”
“Great,” the leader said.
Dayle parked her seventy-nine little car in the parking space at the dock. The van full of people pulled in next to her. The doors opened and with what looked like the last of their respective strengths they managed to stumble out.
“Hal should be here any minute. Hey, there’s the boat now!”
A large, old, pontoon boat pulled up to the dock and a figure slipped silently off the relic.
Once in the light, the group got a shock. "Hal" was dressed in long, flowing, “gypsy” style, black pants, with a black body suit and tiny black ballet slippers. Her hair was cut in a cute wedge and she wore a black shawl in the chill.
“Holy shit! Hal’s a woman,” one of the men said quietly.
Hal approached the group quickly.
“Hi I’m Hal.”
The leader smiled. “Hi I’m Tray Rafferty. Uh sorry, we thought you were a guy. We kept referring to you as “he” to your friend.”
“That’s ok. I get that all the time. Dayle does too.”
Tray laughed again. “We really appreciate you letting us stay with you.”
“It’s no problem as long as you understand what you could be getting your selves into.”
One of the other men walked up. “Hi, Glenn Tavers. I’ll tell you for my part, unless demons are shrieking around the house day and night and pitching us out windows, I really couldn't care less that your house is haunted. I’m beat.”
Hal smiled. “No, nothing like that. They may stand over your bed and look at you, but that’s about all.”
“I can live with that,” the handsome man said.
It took a while but finally everyone was ferried across the large lake to the monstrous mansion on the dark island. Every lantern all along the dock was ablaze to light their way.
Standing in the foyer, the group was awestruck by the gothic architecture and sheer size of the former Inn.
“Damn,” the last of the men, the one Hal hadn’t met yet, muttered.
The two women walked over to three large portraits on the foyer walls.
“Seventeen twelve? Wow.”
“Are these your ghosts?” the other woman asked.
“Yes,” Hal answered proudly as if showing off some collectable pottery.
The blond man was Talbert Sawyer, the beautiful red head was his wife Reona Chastain Cummings Sawyer, and the gorgeous, dark eyed man was Brahm St. Clair.”
“Well guys,” Tray said,” I’d love to hear all about the ghosts but I’m ready for some rest. Maybe you can tell us about them tomorrow Hal?”
“Sure thing,” she answered amused by their awe.
Hal showed the guests their rooms and finally got to bed herself by midnight.
“God I hope everything goes all right while they’re here,” she prayed as she drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER THREE
The morning was chilly as Hal gazed at the waves gently lapping the shore. She gathered her mat and with one final glance at the rising sun, headed back to the house.
“Good morning everybody,” she said quietly as she walked past the ancient cemetery. It was foggy at this part of the island; it was always foggy here, though Hal had never been able to figure out why.
She passed the gazebo with the bright azaleas blooming merrily and the hyacinth pond. She stopped and threw food to the large orange carp that swam lazily through the cold water.
She could smell the roses as she got closer to the house. The garden could only be reached by walking down a winding, pine needle ridden path and through an ancient stone fence, but the roses were so powerful that depending on the wind, they could be smelled at most places on the island.
She kicked off her shoes at the back door and entered the sunny kitchen. The birds were beginning their morning song and the butterflies were fluttering around the open windows, close to the lilac and nectar vines that hung right outside.
She checked the pantry. There was nothing to eat but a few cinnamon and pumpkin muffins. She hadn’t heard from the gourmet food place that used to call her for her order all the time and send her free samples. Maybe she had finally been able to convince at least them that the Teighlortown Inn was no longer in business.
She picked up the phone. “It’s six am, Tony should be in,” she said quietly as she dialed Tony’s bakery.
The young, ebon haired woman stumbled into the kitchen. Mornings were definitely not her time Hal quickly concluded.
“Good morning. We didn’t get a chance to meet last night.”
“Yeah, I’m Rachel, Rachel Davies.”
“Hal Hallstan.”
“Please help yourself to some hot cocoa. I don’t drink coffee, but I’m having the local bakery bring some. I also have some tea if anyone is interested. Breakfast should be here in about a half hour.”
“That’s great, thanks. I’m no good without my caffeine.”
The pretty young woman poured herself a cup of hot cocoa and sat down at the small table with Hal. Wind chimes tinkled their melody outside the open windows.
The women made small talk until the phone rang.
“That’s breakfast Rachel. If you’ll excuse me I’ll be right back.”
The young man that Hal hadn’t met stumbled into the kitchen next.
“Morning Lex, have some cocoa, it’s delicious.”
“Where’s our hostess?”
“She went to get breakfast.”
“Oh. I can’t believe she lives in this monstrosity alone! I wonder if she and that Dayle are dykes together.”
“God Lex you are such an asshole.”
“What?”
“Just because a woman lives on her own, she’s a lezbo. God you can be so stupid sometimes.”
“She also has a guy’s name and has really short hair.”
“And your point would be?”
“Dyke.”
“You are really obnoxious Lex. I hope the ghosts terrorize you the entire time we’re here you prick.”
Lex sulked and Rachel shook her head. Lex could be terribly obnoxious and Rachel usually had little tolerance for his bigotry but she wasn’t quite awake yet so she decided to ignore him instead of feeding his idiocy.
Eventually all the guests made their way to the kitchen and Hal returned shortly with breakfast.
Hal, wishing to be a good hostess had ordered assorted pastries and two large breakfast quiches. The group ate hungrily.
“Hal you really didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” Tray said dishing himself a hefty piece of quiche.
“It was no problem Tray. I didn’t have anything to eat here but a couple of pumpkin muffins.”
Lex wouldn’t leave Rachel alone and they had continued to needle each other about Hal’s sexuality and why she lived alone. Unbeknownst to their hostess, they had placed a small bet.
Lex spoke first. “So tell me Hal what made your parents decide to name you Hal?”
Hal smiled. Well, actually my real name is Halverson. I go by Hal for everything except official business because no one can say Halverson correctly. Any variation of Halverson you can think of, I’ve been called it. I finally got fed up with it and decided to go by Hal. It’s just a lot easier. Now all I have to worry about is people trying to spell it weird. I’m getting used to the wacko ways people can butcher such a simple nickname too.”
Rachel laughed and gloated at Lex.
The young blond woman from the night before spoke. She seemed to be the quietest of the group.
“I didn’t get to meet you last night Hal, I’m Stricia. I can wholeheartedly sympathize about your name. Imagine going through life with a name like Stricia and having to explain over and over to people that it’s because your parents couldn’t make up their minds whether to name you Stacie or Patricia!”
Hal nodded. “I think there’s more of us out there than we think.”
Glenn spoke next. “So tell me Hal, how can you stand it here by yourself? Don’t you ever get lonely for someone to share this house with?”
Hal smiled. “No I don’t get lonely or bored. I have lots to do to keep me company. I tend the flower garden at the other side of the house which is nearly a full time chore unto itself, I have a vegetable and herb garden I tend, I keep the cemetery up, clearing out weeds and I give tours of the island whenever need be. I also have had the privilege of meeting some of the descendants of the inhabitants buried in my cemetery. Being as when this island was left to me, and the cemetery came with it, I have sole ownership of the cemetery, and people must have my permission to see their ancestor’s graves. I’m very accommodating. I wouldn’t want someone turning me away if I had a chance to see some of my ancestor’s final resting places. I’ve met many fascinating people that I still keep in touch with. I really enjoy living here.”
“Are you married Hal?” Rachel asked.
“I’m widowed Rachel. I was married for ten years until my husband passed away. He was quite a number of years older than me and in poor health so it was a relief actually. It’s terrible to watch someone suffer and know there’s nothing you can do to help. I’ve been widowed now for three years.”
“You don’t look old enough to be a widow,” Tray quipped.
Hal smiled. I’m thirty seven.”
“Wow, what’s your secret?” Stricia asked.
“I enjoy every day. I don’t stress or worry about things. I take time to enjoy what I have each day and make the most of it. My life is slow and really kind of boring I guess most people would say, but it’s enough for me.”
Lex clearly defeated and ignoring Rachel’s gloats of triumph changed his attitude toward his pixyish hostess.
“Would you take us on a tour of the island after we eat Hal?”
“Sure. I’m always happy to share my island with those interested.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The group enjoyed their tour of the island. Hal showed them her roses, the gazebo where she had witnessed many beautiful marriages, her prize hyacinth pond, the tranquil beach where she did her morning Tai Chi and meditation, and her beloved cemetery.
Hal took the group to town and laid down for a nap, picking them up around six o’clock. They dressed and went to the only real restaurant in town, The Teighlortown Train Stop Café, which was in the old Teighlortown train depot. They ate in one of the more secluded cars and came home around nine o’clock.
“Hal, your friend Dayle was telling us about a really bad experience you had in the cemetery. Can you tell us about it?”
Stricia’s eyes sparkled.
“Sure, if you don’t think it will scare you too badly.”
“Naw, not at all. We’d like to hear the history of your ghosts too,” Tray said enthusiastically.
Hal fixed hot chocolate, turned out the lights, lit the oil lamps and candles and they all settled in around the fireplace for Hal’s spooky stories of the history of her house and cemetery.
Hal sipped her hot chocolate and grinned. “When I first moved in here I was overwhelmed to say the least. My great Uncle Edward had left this estate to me. I had no idea I even had a great Uncle Edward, let alone was I expecting such a large inheritance!
My first day here, all I did was wander around checking the house out. The next day I explored the island, finding the cemetery nearly over grown. I spent the next three months cleaning it out; between working on the house during the day; and planted roses and a myriad of other flowers there.
When I finally finished with it, it was beautiful and I spent an entire morning and afternoon exploring, and writing epitaphs. The day wore long and before I knew it, it was getting dark. I was at the back of the cemetery and slowly made my way up to the front, smelling my roses along the way and stopping back by stones that had caught my eye in particular.
I was halfway through the cemetery when I heard rustling behind me. I ignored it, figuring that I was just scaring myself. I mean, I had just moved into this big, spooky house and had already given myself the willies a few times. I kept walking and the rustling kept getting louder and more insistent. I started getting scared. I was afraid that someone had somehow gotten onto my island and was in the cemetery with me.
I turned around and my heart nearly stopped. Standing almost arm’s length in front of me were the early inhabitants of this town. Well, to be more specific, what was left of the inhabitants of the town!
I turned and ran like there was no tomorrow!”
Everyone laughed.
“I was halfway to the gate when I turned to see if they were about to grab me and ran smack into this giant, black haired black eyed man. I was too afraid to scream, but he grabbed me, put me in front of him with his arms around me, and started backing up to the gate. I thought I was done for sure.
I thought, oh God, he wants me for himself and he’s going to eat my brains; that comes from watching far too many zombie movies I might add; and just knew my life was over.
He backed me up all the way to the gate and when we got to it, he pointed and I ran through it. I didn’t stop until I got to the Widow’s Walk on top of the house. I knew they couldn’t get me up there and that’s where I slept. It was a few days before I could go back to that cemetery again and I made sure I was out of there long before dark!”
Laughter again.
“Oh my God what a nightmare!” Glenn said breathlessly.
“Oh yes, and then when I realized who my savior was, that freaked me out even more! I slept in the boat house that night!”
“Tell us, tell us,” Rachel chimed like an excited child scampering for a bedtime story.
“This story’s kind of long are you sure you want to hear it tonight?”
“Yes,” was the unanimous answer.
“Ok,” Hal breathed. She couldn’t believe that these people were so excited over ghost stories. But Hal had to concede, it’s not everyday that you hear stories as interesting as hers. She smiled inwardly and took another sip of hot chocolate.
“While exploring the house my first week here I found the stairs to the attic. I hate it up there. The feeling is indescribable…utter despondency and hopelessness. I made myself stay up there though and managed to find the three portraits you saw in the foyer, a diary and some old newspaper clippings. Imagine my surprise when I saw whom the one portrait was of! It was days before I came back in this house!
I learned the entire story of what happened to Talbert and Reona from the diary, Reona’s diary.”
Talbert and Reona’s Story
“Talbert and Reona Sawyer, childhood sweethearts, married in the spring of seventeen ten and lived in town in a small rented cottage until their house was completed. Talbert with the help of his friend Brahm built it with their own hands. It took two years to complete.
Talbert and Reona were very happy together and Brahm was a regular visitor. I’ll tell you his story after I’ve finished with Talbert and Reona’s.
In seventeen twelve, Talbert and Reona got double good news. Talbert because of his kind and fair nature was made the Constable of the Town of Teighlortown and Reona announced that she was pregnant.
Talbert was ecstatic on both accounts and took his new job on with a fervor that no one had ever seen. He did his job very well. He was never too busy to help someone paint a fence or look for a lost horse. He was well liked and respected by everyone in town. Even the people he arrested liked him.
Most nights would find him at the local tavern watching the inhabitants. He would even join in card games if asked and whatever he won; he would give back at the end of the evening.
One night he was asked to play cards with a group of men that he didn’t recognize. He played cards with them most of the night, winning nearly every hand he played. By the end of the night he had amassed a small fortune.
One of the men was very drunk and he cursed Talbert and called him a cheat. Talbert gave the man his money back and told him to go sleep off the drink. The other men were very thankful for being given their money back, but not this one particular man. Unbeknownst to Talbert he planned revenge.
It was about two o’clock in the morning when Talbert first heard the noises. He heard shouting and saw torches outside the house. When he looked outside, it was that same man but he had friends with him.
Talbert instructed Reona to stay in the house and went to talk to them. It was dark and Talbert was a crack shot but he didn’t want to kill anybody. He just wanted the men to go home. Everyone in town knew where he lived so there was nothing truly frightening about them being there, it wasn’t like they had stalked him or something. But what he didn’t realize was that they had stalked him. They were nothing more than ruffians passing through town on the way back to their town, Tobblersville, eighty miles down the road.
The men began firing at Talbert the minute he stepped out the door. He was wounded nearly immediately. Talbert managed to kill one of them and wound the others, but not before they killed him. Reona had been standing at the window watching and when she saw her husband go down she ran screaming out the door to his side.
The men grabbed her and threw her on the ground. They saw that she was pregnant and ripped her clothes off her. They taunted her pregnant stomach before finally raping her so brutally she miscarried. She was five months pregnant. They each took turns with her until she was nearly dead from blood loss. They then jumped and sat on her and punched her in the stomach until the baby came out. Believe it or not, the baby was still alive, but not for long. They bashed its head unto a tree and put it beside Reona’s body. They thought she would die but she didn’t.
Brahm found her the next morning. She had lain naked in freezing temperatures all night, bleeding. The baby was a bloody mass of flesh. He wrapped the baby in a small blanket and put him away so Reona wouldn’t see what they had done to him, then he wrapped his cape around her and carried her into the house where he quickly summoned the town doctor. You see, back when they lived here, this lake wasn’t here. It was a valley of sorts.
The doctor managed to save Reona but she went insane afterward. After Talbert and the baby’s funeral she had to be carefully watched all the time.
Brahm exacted his own revenge for his best friend’s death and his story is even more tragic.”
Brahm’s Story
Hal took a drink of her hot chocolate and looked at the eager group.
“Brahm François St. Clair was born to wealth and privilege in Orleans, France in the year sixteen eighty four. He came to this country at the age of twenty and met his best friend Talbert Sawyer soon after. The two men were inseparable. When Talbert married Reona, Brahm was his best man. The same for when Brahm married Ivania Matchton, Ivan he called her for short. They were married only a year apart.
Brahm and “Ivan” lived in town in a stately country manor and the Sawyer’s were frequent guests. Ivan became pregnant first. Brahm was ecstatic. But his happiness was short lived. Ivan and the baby died during childbirth and Brahm was devastated. You see that wasn’t the first tragedy in his life. The first tragedy happened before he even came to this country.
Brahm’s parents had died while he and his younger brother Jacques were still teenagers. Brahm was sixteen and Jacques was fourteen. Brahm became his brother’s legal guardian and had to grow up very quickly. He had to get a job and decided to be a furrier. With is muscular build and strength; he was well suited for such labor. He worked hard and took very good care of his younger brother. Jacques did what he could to help and he and Brahm were happy for a while. Brahms’ first tragedy would strike soon though.
Jacques had just turned sixteen and Brahm was eighteen. The two young men liked to wrestle around out in the yard to release some of their stress. They were wrestling one day when Brahm flipped Jacques a little too hard and he landed on a pile of sticks that Brahm had sharpened. One punctured his back, went through his chest and one lung and he died in Brahm’s blood soaked arms as he rode to the doctor’s house. Brahm always blamed himself and never forgave himself for what he’d done to his baby brother. He left France shortly after that.
Brahm had never been the same since his brother’s death, but when Ivan died, he lost what was left of his heart. Though he loved Talbert and Reona, he was cold and distant, “eccentric,” and “strange” the townspeople called him. Though dashingly handsome, as you saw by his portrait, he never dated or married again. Losing his love had been too difficult for him. You see, he blamed himself for Ivan’s death as well. He always said had he not gotten her pregnant, she wouldn’t have died. He could never love again, he told Reona.
Brahm lived in the manor he had shared with Ivan, though he rarely stayed there. He stayed most often with Talbert and Reona. He had his own room and Talbert and Reona considered him one of their own. They were happy to have him. Talbert loved Brahm dearly and he was like a brother to Reona.
When Reona became pregnant, Brahm was overjoyed. He couldn’t wait to be an “uncle” as both Sawyers’s proclaimed he would be.
Then the incident happened with Talbert and the thugs from town. Brahm lost even more of his sanity after Talbert’s funeral. He openly wept, something none of the townspeople thought him capable of. He hadn’t cried since Ivan and his baby died and usually showed no emotion. Reona had become dangerously insane and Brahm kept constant watch over her.
One day, exhausted and all but insane himself, he fell asleep. When he awoke, Reona was not to be found. He ran over the entire property looking for her and finally found her the next morning hanging in the attic. She had killed herself.
Poor Brahm lost what was left of his sanity at her funeral. He became completely consumed with revenge for the deaths of his friends. He had lost the only five people in his life that had ever meant anything to him and he was all alone.
He hunted the men down that were responsible for his grief and tortured them beyond all comprehension. He did things to them that you would see nowadays in horror movies. He would’ve made some of the leading horror masters of today proud.
The new Constable was crooked and evil and hated Brahm. He had been a childhood enemy of Talbert Sawyer’s, so any friend of Talbert’s was an enemy to him. He tried and convicted Brahm of murder, without benefit of trial and had him publicly hanged in the town square.
Before Brahm died he gave his last statement and it was printed in the paper. I have the paper in the attic if you’d like to read the full articles about the torture and Brahm’s death by cruel injustice. What he said was beautiful. Let me see if I can remember it.
He said, “I accept this fate as peace at last, no more tears to weep, for Heaven’s gate awaits me now, where my soul may finally sleep.”
The paper reported that a single tear ran down his cheek as he spoke and even the executioner, knowing that the hanging was a farce, shed tears as he cut the rope, dropping the floor out from under Brahm.
As a final mockery, Brahm’s body was left rotting on the gallows for a week and the Constable declared death to any person who tried to take him down and give him a Christian burial.
Brahm was cut down though. A few of the townsmen who couldn’t stand seeing his desiccated corpse hanging on the gallows any longer, cut him down, bathed him as best they could and buried him in a fine suit of clothing in what is now my cemetery. His gravestone is beautiful. It’s wooden. Having a slate gravestone made would have been too obvious, the Constable surely would have found out who purchased such a pricey stone, so a wooden gravestone was made for him.
Now you know the story of my ghosts. It’s no wonder none of them can rest in peace. I feel sorry for all of them.”
To Hal’s surprise, when she looked at the group, Rachel and Stricia were both crying.
“That is so horrible,” Stricia choked.
“I hope that bastard Constable is rotting in hell!” Rachel spat.
“Oh he got his,” Hal said with a grin. “He was murdered slowly at the hands of a gang of thieves. He was kidnapped for ransom and no one would pay it, not even the men who had supposedly been his friends. They killed him very slowly and parts of him were found all over his house. I’d say justice was served after all.”
Hal was tired but she sat and talked for a while, answering questions and clarifying things she had left out and everyone turned in around one in the morning.
As Hal lay in her bed, she dreamt of how life must have been for her ghosts. Carriage rides, cobblestone streets, gentile mannerisms and gentlemen who truly loved their women. She drifted peacefully off to sleep.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Hal we can’t thank you enough for letting us stay here. It turns out we were supposed to go to Taylor’s Crossing, not Teighlortown. Our agent got screwed up,” Tray said as he ate the last of his breakfast scone.
“Well that’s not too far, it’s about one hundred and fifty miles away. You’ll be there this afternoon if you make good time. I’ve really enjoyed having all of you. Come back and visit anytime you like.”
“I’m almost disappointed we didn’t get to see your ghosts,” Lex said snidely as he sipped his coffee.
“That’s the one thing about ghosts, unlike in the movies, they appear when they want, not when people “command” them to.”
“I’d like to come back and visit with you sometime Hal if that’s all right. You have a little slice of Heaven here I do believe,” Rachel said, squeezing her arm around the tiny hostess.
“I’d like that Rachel. Come back anytime.”
Hal saw the group to their van and waved at Rachel through the back window until she couldn’t see her any longer.
Hal walked the garden in the warm, morning light. She let the fragrant roses envelope her and closed her eyes. She felt a presence behind her.
“You know they did not believe you about us.”
Hal turned and smiled at the handsome discarnate.
“I know that Brahm. I don’t care. I didn’t want to be sued in case anything did happen.”
“I hope they do not come poking back around here and getting in our affairs.”
Hal laughed. “You don’t have any affairs Brahm, you’re dead! Besides, no one can get onto this island without my permission. You said yourself they didn’t believe me so what’s the harm. If I wanted “ghost hunters” here, I could’ve had the world’s finest a long time ago. No one is coming here unless I invite them. I liked Rachel. She was nice.”
“I know you did. I am just selfish I suppose. I do not wish to share you with anyone.”
“You don’t have to Brahm. I love you and only you. That’s how it will always be. Who would believe that a mortal and a discarnate could be lovers anyway? Oh I know they must have thought that I’m a hermit or insane myself for living here all alone, but I don’t care, I’m not alone and whose business is it anyway what I do? As long as I have you, that’s all I need.”
The beautiful wraith slid his cold arms around the tiny woman and kissed her deeply. She slid her hand into his and they walked toward the house, the trapped discarnate, and the lonely human, so different yet so much the same, both finding in each other what neither had found, not in life or death…
THE END
------
As the dawn breaks, and the shadows flee away...
|
|
|
|
|
