Haunted House Tales

by Riley Amitrani

  Sophie looked hesitant.

  “I’ll be right here if you need me. OK?”

  Sophie nodded and treaded carefully from room to room. Nadia and Jack hung back listening to the echo of her footfalls as she moved through the flat. Nadia’s pulse pounded in her ears and she felt as if she was holding her breath as the minutes that Sophie was gone seemed nonending. Just as she was beginning to worry, Sophie reappeared from the hallway and smiled.

  “As far as I can tell, Mom, Helen is gone. I think it is all over…finally…”

  Nadia exhaled heavily and both Sophie and Jack hugged her tightly.

  After the clearing of Cleeman House, everything went back to how it had been when Nadia and the kids had first arrived…well mostly. Jack still stayed in Nadia’s room for a few days before feeling comfortable enough to return to his own room. Sophie was her old self again. Once the pall of Helen and the shroud of the legend that had hung over Cleeman House was lifted, the bright and cheery and outgoing Sophie reemerged. The school, however, was not convinced, and Nadia supposed she understood. She suggested having Sophie return on a trial basis, but apparently, too many parents had come together to complain, so that was a dead end. Fortunately, Nadia found an affordable private school for both Sophie and Jack. She knew Sophie would have no problem starting over and she did not want Jack to have to deal with any fallout from being the brother of the “problem girl”. In the end, it worked out for the best for everyone.

  Nadia went back to work with a renewed and invigorated spirit, and Tania fell back to her original position of afternoon nanny. All was well and Nadia thanked a God she still did not really believe in completely for her good fortune in all of this. About a month later, just as the weather was transitioning from winter to spring, Nadia came home late in the evening after having overseen a major new software implementation at the office. It was oddly quiet as she opened the door and announced her arrival.

  “Tania? Yoo-hoo…it’s me…I’m home finally…”

  No answer. Not even a sound from the kids’ rooms where the three of them often played games after supper. Maybe they had gone out for an ice cream. But surely Tania would have called her or left her a note so she would not worry.

  “Tania?”

  Still nothing.

  Now Nadia was getting concerned. She dropped her briefcase by the door and hung her coat as she moved further into the flat. Just around the corner, she saw an overturned step stool and a pair of legs splayed wide next to it. Nadia rushed to the hallway to find Tania unconscious but still breathing, a gash in her temple that had stopped bleeding some time ago. Nadia tried in desperation to arouse Tania, but she could not bring her to. She whipped out her cell phone and called for an ambulance immediately. As she sat with Tania on the floor, waiting for the arrival of the medical emergency team, Tania’s eyes blinked open and she struggled to focus on Nadia’s face.

  “Thank God you are alive, Tania. Just lie still. An ambulance is on the way. Did you fall?”

  “Not exactly, Nadia…,” Tania whispered as her head was pounding fiercely.

  “What do you mean, not exactly?”

  Tania tried to sit up, but Nadia would not let her. She could hear the approaching siren of the ambulance and knew she had to talk quickly.

  “Listen to me, Nadia. I do not want this to go beyond just you and me. It’s Helen. She is back. I guess the clearing was just temporary.”

  “What?” Nadia exclaimed as she felt her heart pound harder.

  “Yeah…she is back and this time she says it is for good. I put the kids to bed and was changing a light bulb when I felt hands on my back. I whipped around but there as no one there. The next thing I knew I heard this sickening, sinister cackle echoing through the flat. The hands shoved me off the step stool and then I woke up here with you.”

  “That can’t be, Tania! We had it cleaned!”

  “Not clean enough I guess…”

  “Let me come with you to the hospital, at least.”

  “That’s OK. Someone needs to be here with Sophie and Jack anyway in case she comes for them next.”

  “Sure…sure…. you get better and we’ll talk later.”

  “No later, Nadia. I’m done here.”

  “What? No, please, Tania…we need you!”

  “I’m sorry, Nadia. I love you guys more than anything, but if you had heard what I did today, you would understand. I cannot. And take my advice. Get the kids and yourself out of here. Helen is a force to be reckoned with and I am guessing she is pretty pissed we tried to force her out.”

  Before Nadia could reply, the ambulance team had arrived and shouldering by Nadia to get Tania taken care of. She answered their questions as best she could and then just watched as Tania, strapped to the stretcher, was wheeled out of the flat. The last she ever saw of Tania was her waving weakly to her as she disappeared from her front door.

  Epilogue

  Nadia took some personal time off from her job saying she had to attend a funeral for a distant aunt of hers down near Glasgow. She was still rattled from what had happened to Tania. In the time the nanny had come to work for them Nadia had grown very fond of the kind and compassionate woman. She had, to Nadia, become more than just a nanny and there was not a day that went by that she did not feel overwhelming guilt for what she had endured at the hand of the Helen-thing. She had tried several times to check up on Tania, even going through Alicia at work, but it had been futile. Alicia was very secretive when asked, but all she would tell Nadia was that Tania had left Londubh after being released from the hospital. She had told no one where she was going, not even her family. It caught everyone off guard as Tania departed in the dark of night, leaving her beloved hometown, without a clue as to where she had gone.

  After Tania’s accident—that was still how Nadia referred to it anyway—nothing more had occurred in the flat. To Nadia this was surprising, as she was sure that if Helen had taken the initiative to go after Tania, that she and the kids would be next…and soon. That had not been the case though. The three of them even stayed away from the place for the few days Nadia had taken off from work just as an added assurance. But even as they had returned, nothing had transpired. Once Nadia went back to work, she realized the absence of Tania had left a major problem. What about the kids until she got home?

  She tried to find a replacement in Poolewe or the surrounding area, but again as Alicia had said…Poolewe is small. Nadia was sure word had spread about what had happened to Tania. That plus the apparent failure of the clearing of the building was making Nadia and her flat toxic to everyone. The one positive thing, though, if you could find a positive in the whole nightmare, was that Sophie seemed to have matured well beyond her years. With no other options, Nadia fell back on Sophie to see after herself and Jack as Tania once had. To Nadia’s surprise, Sophie seemed more than willing to take this on. Nadia could not have been prouder of her daughter. She was not sure she would have been able to do the same at her age.

  Nadia had hired on some new help at the office at the request of her boss in Glasgow and she was now able to give up some of her responsibilities and get home to the kids at a more reasonable hour. On one particularly warm spring day, she was able to break away from the office and drive over to the new school where Sophie and Jack were now going. It was still walkable for them, but she thought it would be a nice surprise for them to catch a ride with their often-absent mother. Sophie was in high spirits as Nadia appeared in the circular drive at the school, but Jack seemed to be dragging a bit.

  “He OK, Sophie?”

  “Yeah…think it is just one of Jack’s normal colds coming on again is all.”

  Nadia nodded as the kids piled in the car. Jack was a great kid, but for some reason, his immune system seemed a bit weak. He never seemed to be able to ward off the cold viruses that Sophie never ever fell victim to. She carried the groggy Jack into the flat as Sophie trotted off to her room still full of vigor from her day at school. Nadia got Jack tucked
in for a nap as she left him alone to see what she might put together for them for supper. Nadia gathered what she needed for the evening meal as Sophie was quietly engaged in her room. Having the extra time to relax, Nadia fell into the sofa with an air of exhaustion and before she knew it she herself was out.

  Nadia awoke about an hour later as the sun was just beginning its descent toward the horizon and a crescent moon had appeared in the violet/blue evening sky. She thought it would be wise to check in on Jack before starting supper, just to make sure he was OK, even though he had not made a peep since she had put him to bed. However, when Nadia opened the door to Jack’s room, what she saw made her shake with terror and concern for her son. There, hovering about two to three feet over his bed, was Jack’s prone form levitating as if a volunteer for some magician in a stage show. As she entered the room, Jack cried out to her in horror, his blankets flying up from an unseen wind.

  As Nadia ran to him, her blood was curdled from the pervasive sound of a disembodied cackle of laughter that was anything but joyful. She gathered Jack into her arms as the laughter grew in volume while Jack’s hysteria was reaching its’ peak. Just then, Sophie burst in as well, her eyes bugging out in disbelief as she saw her mother struggle to disengage Jack from the air.

  “It’s Helen, again, Mom!” Sophie cried out, trying to be heard over the maniacal cackling of the Helen-thing. “She just came to me as I was reading. We need to go now! She says Jack will die next!”

  That was all that Nadia needed to hear. After what Tania had told her and how she had tried to warn her to get out with the kids before it was too late, she was convinced at last. She wrapped Jack into a bundle in the blankets that had joined him in his levitation over the bed and she and Sophie dashed for the door, taking nothing more with them than the clothes on their backs. Nadia realized she had almost waited too long as it was. There was no time to pack a bag. As she hurried them all into the car, Nadia looked back just in time to see a huge fireball engulf the Cleeman House. Soon multiple explosions erupted within the structure which made Nadia floor the accelerator and never look back…

  6 Months Later…

  The sudden destruction of the Cleeman House was written off to faulty gas lines and lack of proper inspections over time. Fortunately, no one was killed in the conflagration, but the building was a total loss, the fire too intense at the time for firefighters to save it. The gas line leak was the official verdict, but Nadia, as well as a few others in Poolewe, had their own theory. It was, though, a theory they kept to themselves. A theory that was discussed only among the most senior of residents of Poolewe, and then only in private. Nadia briefly considered leaving Poolewe after the Cleeman House imploded, but in the end, she decided to stay. Unlike Tania, she just could not run away…she could not say why, though. Hers had been a brief tenure in Poolewe, but even in that short time, she had come to love the village and the people who lived there. Her belief in the supernatural, though, had grown strong. She was hoping Helen’s attachment to the old place was just that, and that once it was destroyed that she had found the release to move on in whatever plane she was now inhabiting. That perhaps the end of Cleeman House had brought her peace at last.

  For a time, Sophie and Jack had trouble sleeping and seemed overly nervous with every creak of a floorboard or snap of a twig on the ground, but as was almost always the case, children always seemed to be able to recover and adjust. Such was the case with her kids. The memories, after a rash of nightmares for both of them, faded and life was once again quiet and serene for them all as they settled into a new place down in Gairloch. Nadia had to drive them to and from things more than before, but all things considered, that was a minor inconvenience. Work was humming for Nadia and her team and even the shy and somewhat reclusive Jack seemed to be coming out of his shell that had been with him as long as Nadia could recall.

  Spring spilled into summer which transformed into fall and Nadia was actually beginning to think that maybe it was time for her to consider some of the offers she was getting from single men in Poolewe. She had been alone a long time, and Richard was now well out of her system. As she drove through the crisp October air to get Sophie and Jack from school, the thought of a new man in her life was becoming more and more appealing. However, as she coasted to a stop at the school, Nadia looked over to see Sophie sitting alone on a hard, wooden bench. A strong afternoon breeze had suddenly sprung up and it was blowing dead leaves and small bits of trash and twigs through the air between Nadia and where Sophie was sitting.

  Jack came running from just inside the school and took his normal seat in the back of the car. Sophie did not budge, even though Nadia was sure she had seen the car pull up and stop. Sophie’s long brown hair flew in the wind, obscuring her face from time to time, but even so, Nadia could see something was wrong.

  “Jack? Your sister OK?”

  “Beats me…”

  “Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

  Nadia pulled her sweater around her body as the gusts threatened to tear it away as she approached Sophie and sat with her. The girl had been crying, but Nadia gave her the chance to speak first. Sophie was getting closer and closer to the dreaded teenage years. When she said nothing, Nadia stepped in.

  “Everything OK, Sophie?”

  Sophie looked up, her bottom lip quivering and her body trembling, though Nadia had an inkling her shaking was not from the temperature outside.

  “No, Mom. It’s not. In fact, since you ask, it’s awful…”

  “OK. Want to give it to me straight then?”

  Nadia braced herself for some adolescent boy/girl trauma, but once Sophie spoke, she would have given anything for the problem to have been something as simple as that.

  “We got a new classmate today. Her family moved in from somewhere in England I hear. I remember how hard it can be to be the new kid in school, so I tried to make her feel welcome.”

  “Good for you, honey…so what’s the problem?”

  Sophie looked up after having let her eyes go to the ground.

  “She had the most empty, dead-looking eyes, Mom. But that was not the bad part. She and I were alone during recess, just walking and talking when she turned to me said she had a message for me.”

  Sophie paused, obviously trying to find her self-control before going on.

  “She said…she said Helen had sent her. That it was time for me to pay for what I did to her at Cleeman House…”

  The Haunting of Glass Mansion

  By Riley Amitrani

  Prologue

  Carmarthen, Wales, United Kingdom

  March 15, 2013

  The village of Carmarthen in the south of Wales has a rich history dating from estimates around AD75, which is often used by the leaders and tourist bureaus of the picturesque little hamlet to boast of it being the oldest town in Wales. Among its other various historical attractions is that the Black Plague of 1347-1349 arrived with a vengeance decimating the thriving river trade of that day as well as the hotly debated tale that Carmarthen was the birth of Merlin from Arthurian legend. Whether or not this latter claim is entirely accurate seems to this day to of little concern, as it brings many to the area all the same. In fact, an old part of the legend refers to an ancient Welsh manuscript and this famous tree called the Merlin Oak:

  “When Merlin's Oak comes tumbling down, down shall fall Carmarthen Town.”

  It is said that the legend was so firmly entrenched in the locals’ minds that just to be safe, this tree was dug up when it died and pieces of it can be found in the town museum. As well, Dylan Thomas was known to have loved and written in Carmarthen. As time went by, the town’s agricultural endeavors grew over its spotty industrial concerns and a busy shopping district emerged to accommodate the rising tourist trade. To this day, Carmarthen is rated by many surveys as one of the best places to live in Wales.

  With agriculture holding an upper hand over industry, it is not surprising that the homes and scattered businesses reflect the
simpler and more traditional look associated with rural Britain. One notable structure, the Glass Mansion, can be found far away from the bulk of Carmarthen’s populace, down a long and winding country lane to the southwest of town. Of the remaining structures in the area, Glass Mansion is far and away the oldest and largest home around. The history of the mansion is as colorful and entertaining as you could hope for, vying for consideration as one of the United Kingdom’s greatest haunted locations. No one is quite sure of the exact dates of the origin of the mansion, but everyone knew it had been on the Glass family for many generations, being passed down from one age to the next.

  The current owners of Glass Mansion are Henry and Gladys Glass whose presence is seemingly wrapped in mystery and anonymity, have added to the rumors and innuendo of the Glass family and their persevering mansion. All anyone in Carmarthen knows of them is that they are elderly and that no one has ever seen Henry face to face. It is only the occasional forays into town for groceries and other necessities that Gladys has been spotted. But even her trips into town remain the subject of speculation and idle talk. Even by Welsh standards, Gladys Glass appeared especially reticent and private, never speaking to anyone. There was never any reason for it, but all the same, the people of Carmarthen had their own opinions of the elderly Glasses, the last in the line of the famous clan.

  The most salacious loose talk among the locals, especially the more senior in town, included that Gladys might be a murderess…maybe even a witch, and that she had long ago killed the as yet to be seen Henry, and that she was hiding his slowly decomposing body somewhere deep in the bowels of Glass Mansion. The younger residents more often than not rolled their eyes and snickered behind their elders’ backs when these stories were passed around, but the stories did make for entertaining conversation, especially around Halloween when a good scare was required. It was not like lots of odd sounds or unexplained lights or anything of that sort emanated from the mansion, but the old stone edifice just seemed to bring out this type of folklore. It was true that the mansion was huge and imposing, and perhaps even a bit sinister-looking when the setting sun fell behind the towering spires on its roof. And all this did was add some pop to the wild tales.