Haunted Happenings

by Lucrezia Black

  It truly was an amazing thing. Babs still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that they were actually going to keep him. She couldn’t process the fact that he was still alive, after all of that time in the grave. It made very little sense to her. She was plagued with more questions than answers, and she wasn’t certain that she would ever have the answers that she wanted. She wasn’t certain that they would ever really know what had happened.

  In the mean time they had enough to occupy their attention. They had a baby to attend to. Babs could tell that Ken was a little worried about the unexpected situation. After all, they’d just taken new jobs; they’d just moved. But the orphanage had been happy about the news and more than willing to give them the time off they needed, and no one seemed to bat an eye at the fact that they’d simply found a child. It made Babs wonder about how frequently this phenomenon occurred around these parts.

  Whatever the case, it seemed they were thrown back into parenting. They both loved being parents. They loved children, but they’d thought they were done with it all. Life seemed to have thrown them a curve ball.

  “So…” Ken looked at his wife as they entered the cottage after what felt like an endless day.

  “So…” Babs repeated and gave him a knowing look.

  “It appears we’re going to be parents again.” He gave a heavy sigh.

  “It seems so, darling. Would you have it any other way?” she asked

  Ken shook his head and looked at Timothy, sound asleep on the bed. “No, I suppose I wouldn’t.”

  The Truth

  Needless to say, Ken and Babs got very little sleep over the next week. Timothy consumed their lives. They’d both forgotten how much time and energy went into an infant. It had been so long in their past, but it all came rushing back easily enough.

  They began to develop a routine. They began to remember how things went, and they began to learn about Timothy. They could soon anticipate his wants and needs, and by the end of that first week, life with a baby was going more smoothly for them.

  Babs wandered into the kitchen in the morning in a sleep-deprived daze. She had a one-track mind. She needed to make tea to keep her awake. It had been a constant in her life over the last few days. They were up frequently during the night for feedings and Timothy was a fussy baby.

  Babs was beginning to wonder if she’d ever sleep again. She didn’t remember it being this difficult with her own children, but then again, she’d been younger. Age was not working in her favour this time around. She would likely live off tea for the next year, the stronger the better.

  Ken was with Timothy in the bedroom. She’d traded duties with him so that he could do the morning feed and she could make tea. They both desperately needed it and she tried to keep the feedings spread evenly between them. As much as he hadn’t helped with the early years for their children, she insisted that he help her now simply because she was not capable of doing it on her own.

  In a few more weeks she’d get her feet under her and he could go back to work, but until that time she needed him to help her out and he was more than willing to do so.

  She got the kettle and set it on the stove to boil. While she waited, she turned around to lean against the work counter, her brain in a sleep deprived haze. That was when she noticed him sitting at the table, and in her semi-conscious state, she actually smiled at the sight of him, after yelping involuntarily.

  Ken came rushing out of the bedroom with Timothy in his arms. His eyes went immediately to his wife. She didn’t look afraid. She looked a little startled, to be honest, but then he saw the smile bloom on her face.

  He followed her gaze and his eyes landed on Bradley who was once again seated at their kitchen table. Mary, the woman in grey, stood behind him with her hand on his shoulder. The couple smiled at them and there was a great deal of warmth in that smile.

  “Well, hello,” Babs welcomed. She rubbed at her eyes and blinked a few times. She did this to wake herself up and to be sure that they were actually in her kitchen. She hoped that this wouldn’t be a regular visitation, but she was happy that they were there. She had plenty of unanswered questions for them.

  “Hello,” Mary greeted.

  It was the first time they’d heard her speak and Babs was shocked by how young her voice sounded. For some reason she had expected someone older, but Mary was just a child. Babs estimated that she was no older than her and Ken’s own daughter.

  “She speaks now?” Ken looked at his wife in confusion and caught Mary’s smile out of the corner of his eye.

  “Yes, she speaks,” Mary confirmed. “And it is thanks to you that I can. It is thanks to you that we can both finally find peace.”

  “If you have found peace, why are you still here?” Ken asked and blamed the lack of sleep and lack of caffeine for his bluntness. Usually he was much more polite, but he couldn’t be bothered at the moment. Besides that, they were the ones intruding on his morning, so if he was a little rude, he figured he was justified.

  “We needed to make sure that Timothy was safe,” Bradley explained. He looked at his son and his eyes were filled with love. “We needed to know that you were going to keep him. We didn’t want him to grow up the way we did, as orphans.”

  “What else would we have done with him?” Babs walked over to her husband and took Timothy from him. “We didn’t have a choice but to keep him.”

  “Everyone has a choice,” Mary stated, her expression sad. “Many people would have abandoned him at the hospital.”

  “Well, we aren’t most people,” Ken said. He moved over to the kettle and poured the hot water into the teapot. “There was no way we were going to just leave him.”

  “Not a chance.” Babs planted a kiss on Timothy’s forehead. “We couldn’t leave this sweet little boy.”

  She reached behind her and poured the still steeping tea into a mug. She knew she should leave it longer, but she needed it now. She needed to do something with her hands and she needed to get the soothing liquid into her system.

  She looked at Bradley and Mary. She didn’t want to ask the questions but she knew that she needed to know. This might be her only chance to get the answers that she wanted. She had a feeling that she wouldn’t see them again after this. She had a feeling that this was a final goodbye.

  She drew in a deep breath and braced herself to ask the questions she needed to.

  “Mary…Bradley…how did Timothy come to end up in that grave?” Babs looked from one to the other and she could see the shame on Bradley’s face.

  “You have to understand. It was a misunderstanding. It was completely my fault. I thought he was dead.” Bradley looked at Mary and his eyes were filled with apology.

  “It’s okay, darling. I forgive you. I could never blame you for this.” Mary patted his shoulder and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “There was no sense blaming you for it.”

  “Blaming him for what?” Ken inquired. He poured himself a mug of tea. He had a feeling that he would need it for this conversation. Actually, he had a feeling that he would need something stronger in order to get through this interaction, but he would hold off on that for the moment. He didn’t want to start drinking this early in the morning.

  “Well, Mary got sick. There was nothing anyone could do about it. Tuberculosis, the doctor said, and there was no treatment, definitely none that we could afford.” Bradley looked pained as he spoke about it. “You have to understand that we had a rough upbringing.”

  Mary nodded. “I met Bradley in the orphanage next door. We were both orphaned during the Great War, like so many children were. We weren’t anything special, but we found each other in that orphanage, and we made our own family.”

  “It was the church that gave us this cottage after we got married. We both worked for the church, and then we found out Mary was pregnant.” Bradley looked at her and gave her a soft smile. “It was the best news we could have ever gotten.”

  “I won’t say it was easy. It was a difficult pregna
ncy and a difficult birth. And then after all of that I got sick. I tried to hide it. I tried to tell myself that it was nothing, just a cough. But I knew deep down that it was something worse.” Her face was filled with pain at the memory. “Timothy was barely two months old when it happened.”

  “I came into the cottage and she was gone.” Bradley sighed and took a moment before he continued. “She was gone and I panicked. I thought Timothy was gone as well. I didn’t think there was any way that he could have survived with how sick she’d been, and in my panic, I buried them both.”

  Babs gasped and held Timothy closer to her instinctively. “That’s horrible.”

  “I didn’t mean to bury him alive. I was so distraught over Mary dying. I was moving in a haze. I don’t remember even burying them. All I know is that I left after that. It wasn’t until the haze cleared that I realized what I had done and by then I was sure it was too late.” Bradley looked at Mary. She smiled reassuringly, encouraging him to continue.

  “What did you do after that?” Ken asked. He was definitely going to need something stronger than coffee to drink. Both he and Babs needed to hear how this ended and he had a feeling that Mary and Bradley needed to tell their story in order to finally find peace.

  “Once I realised what had happened, I couldn’t live with myself, and even though I knew it was a sin, possibly the biggest sin, I took my own life. I figured I was better off dead than living in a world without them. I was better off dead than living with what I had done to my son.” He looked down at the table, his face filled with shame.

  “Then, how did Timothy survive?” Babs looked at the little boy asleep in her arms. It all sounded impossible. The baby should have died in that coffin, and yet here he was. None of it made sense, but then again, the paranormal wasn’t supposed to make sense.

  “I can answer that,” Mary stated. “I kept him alive. What was left of my spirit kept him alive. Perhaps that’s why I went to the store for milk every day. I don’t know. All I know was that I was certain someone would find him. I knew in my heart that he would be rescued, so I kept him alive until then.” Mary shrugged. “The Lord works in mysterious ways, or so they say.”

  “You’re going to bring God into this?” Ken raised a brow. He was standing there talking to two ghosts and he was surprised that they were mentioning God? He shook his head. Nothing would surprise him after this, and nothing would ever be the same again.

  “God is in all things,” Bradley said matter-of-factly.

  Babs simply sighed. She didn’t want to argue with them even if she didn’t share their belief. She had no way to explain what had happened, so if they wanted to say that it was the will of God, who was she to judge?

  “You have saved our son. You will give him a good life, a good home.” Mary smiled as she said this. “We knew that someone who could do just that would come along.”

  “Well, you led the way to him. We couldn’t have found him without you,” Babs stated. She handed Timothy to her husband who cuddled him close. Ken looked at Timothy in awe. He knew that he would never fully understand what had happened here but he knew that he would treat Timothy as he had his own sons. He would be a father to the boy because his own father couldn’t be there.

  “You can trust us with him,” Babs assured them. “We will do right by him. We will raise him. We will love him.”

  Bradley nodded. “I would ask you to tell him about us, but I don’t think he would understand. I don’t think many people would.” He sighed. “So he is yours. All we can ask is for you to remember us as you raise him. We owe you so much.”

  Mary smiled. “And finally, we can find peace.”

  Before their eyes, Bradley and Mary began to fade away. It took a few seconds before they were gone and it was as though they had never been there at all.

  Babs stared at the seats they had occupied for several moments. She wasn’t sure she’d ever really understand what had happened but it was definitely an experience she wasn’t going to forget.

  “Let’s hope that’s the last we see of them,” Ken said, eyeing the bottle of whiskey on the counter. “I don’t think I could stand any more ghosts in my life.”

  “I think they’ve finally found peace.” Babs pressed a kiss to Timothy’s head. And they finally had their answers.

  Epilogue

  That was the last they saw of Bradley and Mary. After their kitchen encounter, there was no further contact. It seemed they’d finally found their resting place. Ken was happy about that. He’d had enough of dead people showing up at their kitchen table. And Babs seemed to be happy about it too.

  Life with an infant was a little overwhelming. It definitely was more work than what they had signed up for when they relocated to the countryside. They had to dig deep into their memories to remember how exactly things were done.

  About a month after they took Timothy in, they headed into town to buy groceries from the local store. The orphanage had fortunately packed the Manlin’s possessions into a store room on their property, and these were now returned to the Dires to use for the raising of Timothy. They now used the perambulator that had been gifted to Mary and Bradley on the birth of their baby boy by the church, and pushed the baby into the village. They entered the local store expecting a shocked expression on Steve’s face at the sight of the baby.

  “Ken, Babs! Did I miss something? Is this your grandson?” Steve rounded the counter and looked at Timothy in his pram. He was wide-awake, his big blue eyes bright as he took in the world around him. “How old is he?”

  “Just over three months now,” Babs said, her voice filled with pride. “He’s getting so big so fast.”

  “They do that,” Steve grinned and stood up. “So, grandson?”

  Ken shook his head. “Actually, a new addition to the family.” He looked down at the little guy and felt the smile pull at his lips. He couldn’t help but be in love with the boy, just like he loved every one of his own children.

  Steve looked from Babs to Ken and then back to Babs. “Did I miss something?” His brow creased in confusion. “I didn’t think you were expecting.”

  “A new addition but not in that way.” Babs shrugged. “We sort of found him.”

  “You found a baby?” Steve asked with a frown. “That’s one I haven’t heard before.”

  “Well we were a bit surprised ourselves,” Ken admitted. “But it’s a good surprise.”

  “Babies usually are. Though I haven’t seen many just get found. I’m sure there’s a story there.” Steve returned behind the counter to sit down. He leaned on the counter and looked from one to the other. “Are you going to share it?”

  “I don’t think you would believe us if we told you,” Ken chuckled. “Hell, we barely believe it ourselves.”

  Steve looked from one to the other and shrugged. “Well you don’t have to tell me anything.” Though he was a little disappointed that they weren’t willing to spill the beans on how they found a baby. He was always up for some local gossip and if someone had abandoned a baby, he was definitely down to hear about that.

  “Have you seen your woman in grey lately?” Babs asked. She knew that she was changing the subject. She knew that he would catch on to her intentional diversion, but she didn’t care. She also wanted to know if Mary was still making an appearance.

  “You know what, now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her.” Steve looked confused, “It was the strangest thing. She was in here every day for about a week and now she’s just gone.”

  “Perhaps she finally resolved her unfinished business,” Ken suggested and gave Babs a sideways glance. “I hear that’s how ghosts move on.”

  “It is indeed.” Steve pondered that for a moment. “Whatever happened that day that you followed her out of the store? You never did tell me.”

  Babs shrugged. She knew that she couldn’t tell him the truth. Even if he did believe it, she didn’t need that gossip going around town. She didn’t need Timothy to grow up with everyone thinking that
he was strange, some weird ghost baby. She preferred to just keep that between her and Ken. It was likely better that way.

  “Nothing happened that day,” she lied. “We followed her around the building and then she just disappeared, just like you said that she would. We couldn’t find her anywhere, and we never saw Bradley again either.”

  “I can’t say I’m super upset about not having ghosts in our life anymore,” Ken added and Steve chuckled at that.

  “They do make life interesting, but I can’t argue with you there. It can be a little trying having ghosts around.” Steve grinned. “So, what’s the little guy’s name?”

  “Timothy,” Babs answered. “Timothy Dire.”

  The Haunting of Ashwood House

  Prologue

  Ashwood House

  Jessop, Newcastle

  March 1898

  * * *

  Finally getting to play outside after several days of rain was the best. The brothers and sisters loved to play together outside. She had been going crazy, cooped up inside for so long. Her mother didn’t want them playing in the rain and the muck. She didn’t want them to get ill in the Spring weather. And at eight years old, Angela could do nothing but pout about it.

  But today they all got to go outside. It was likely to be a quick outing, considering the storm clouds overhead, but they would enjoy every moment of it until they were again holed up in the playroom.

  Angela loved playing with her brothers John and Tom, and her sister, Liza. They were all older than her, but they still let her play. They let her come up with ideas for games and sometimes they let her lead. They were good older siblings and she loved them very much.

  It was delightful outside despite the storm clouds. They ran around the yard and rolled in the grass, much to their mother’s displeasure. They got mud on their clothes and grass stains on their knees. Their hair was a mess but they didn’t care. They got to be outside. They got to experience fresh air and sunshine before the first raindrops began to fall again.