The Secrets of Oakley House

by S. A. Robinson

  It was sometime later, maybe a year or so that Olivette’s Papa brought home a new woman.

  Madam Sophia was beautiful, with long hair that flowed elegantly down her back, piercing blue eyes, and a smile that lit up the room. She looked so much like Olivette that it was hard to know that she hadn’t been Olivette’s real mother. Olivette loved her. She even spoke French and Dutch and began teaching Olivette Dutch which was so much fun. Olivette thought it sounded funny, but not nearly as funny as English sounded to her.

  Sophia spent many days and nights at the estate, working beside papa, and even playing dollies with Olivette on occasion after a lesson in Dutch. She always had beautiful things to say about Olivette’s dollies, with their pretty porcelain faces and hands, their fine silk hair, and their beautiful dresses. Her momma had given them to her when she was just two years old, and she imagined she would keep them for her own children one day.

  After many months, Papa asked Madam Sophia to marry him. The wedding was grand. The whole township came, and everyone danced and danced until their feet gave out. Olivette watched from the stairs as her papa smiled and talked to everyone. She was so happy to have a new mamma and she hoped she would soon have a baby brother to play with her in the big house.

  Not much changed over the next weeks or months. Papa worked, Sophia right along with him. Olivette played and her nanny Jeanette was needed less and less as Sophia took over most of Olivette’s care. Olivette begged her papa and new mamma to let Jeanette stay with them at least until she turned sixteen. Jeanette had taken care of her since she was little and was like a mother to her. She wanted Jeanette to be with her for her debut to society when she became a woman. Of course, they agreed.

  On her fifteenth Birthday, Olivette was still an only child, one infant had come but died two days later. The doctors said it had come too early. Sophia was so upset that she became spiteful of Olivette in return. On her Birthday, Sophia told Olivette that she was now much too old for dollies and said that young ladies should be occupying their time with sewing and learning to be a wife. Sophia took all of Olivette’s dolls and locked them in the cabinet. She had the cabinet moved to another room in the house and locked it away.

  Jeanette held Olivette as she cried and mourned the loss of her dollies, her only real friends since childhood. Papa agreed with Sophia that she should be doing more grown-up things and he did nothing to change what had happened. He carved an O on the cabinet so Olivette would always know that was her cabinet, and she could one day give it to her own children; however, the cabinet stayed locked away.

  As promised, after her sixteenth birthday, Jeanette had been sent away. She retired to a small hut on the property with her son, and many others from the staff. Olivette saw her from time to time, her heart aching with the pain of losing her.

  One night, Olivette decided to sneak into the locked room with the cabinet. Once in the room, Olivette shimmied the lock on the cabinet of dolls, she wanted to look at them and make sure they were okay. She opened her cabinet and found her dolls were all there, on their stands just as she had placed them a year ago. She held each one and cried for their captivity. She also mourned her mother. After all, the dolls were given to her by her late mother, and they meant so much to her that it pained her to see them locked away.

  Olivette was too busy fretting over the dolls to realize that Sophia had come up the steps behind her. She was furious that Olivette had broken into the room and the cabinet. She slapped Olivette across the face, leaving a deep scratch across the young girls’ cheek with a fingernail. Olivette had never been hit before. She sat there, shocked and hurt that someone could be so cruel.

  Olivette ran out of the room, leaving behind her dolls. She went straight to papa’s office, where she found he was gone. She cried out for him, but he was not there. Sophia arrived by the door shortly after and told Olivette in a hateful tone that papa had business in one of the lower colonies. He would be gone for a week or two. This came as no surprise. He often had business and would leave on trips, but he had always said goodbye to her. She cried because she felt forgotten, that and she was alone with Sophia, whom she hated more now than the day her dollies were locked away. She would now bear a scar on her face as proof of Sophia’s hatred.

  Running her fingers over the scratch, Olivette let out a blood curdling scream, and promised Sophia that she would regret hitting her one day. Then the now teenage girl ran out the door and into the woods by the house.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Mariah stood preparing herself for whatever was inside the cabinet. It had given her so much trouble and now it was finally open. Olivia smiled, and looked mischievously at her from around the doors. Mariah slowly peeked around the corner and looked inside.

  “It’s a cabinet full of creepy porcelain dolls,” Mariah stated, disappointment radiating from her tone.

  She had thought it would be something much more interesting, mostly because it was locked up, or, she had thought it was locked up.

  “How did you even open it?” she asked Olivia curiosity burning through her.

  She had tried and tried to open this damn thing, yet it seemed to just pop open when Olivia touched the doors. Maybe when Austin moved it to catch that blasted spider the locks or whatever was jamming the doors knocked loose, she thought.

  “It just opened,” Olivia said shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

  Reaching in they each began pulling the dolls out one at a time. First, a weird telescope pointing at the grounds instead of the sky, and now a creepy cabinet full of dolls. What the heck were these people into? Mariah wondered.

  Olivia however, looked mesmerized by the old dolls. As she pulled them carefully out of the cabinet, she fixed their hair and dresses with careful precision. She set the ones that had fallen over back on their stands and then moved them gently down to the floor beside the cabinet. Mariah had not been so careful, as she set one down it fell over and a small piece of the hand chipped off.

  “Crap, I didn’t mean to break that. These look so old, they must be worth a small fortune,” Mariah said. Shaking, she reached down and stood the doll up on its stand and set the chipped piece next to her. She would have to see if it could be glued back together.

  Olivia watched, obviously offended that Mariah had been so careless. Maybe it’s time to call it a night, Mariah thought after seeing Olivia’s angry expression.

  “I think I’m going to head to bed soon,” Mariah said. “Thank you for coming over to keep me company, and thanks for helping me poke around my house. With that mask and these dolls, I might be able to narrow down the time period of this house, or at least some of its former occupants,” Mariah said, heading for the door. Olivia, however, wondered over to the telescope and began to look out into the darkness.

  “I should go,” she said quietly. “Maybe tomorrow I can come by and we could explore outside a little. It would be beneficial for you to have a paramedic by your side.” Olivia continued looking around outside as she spoke in slow methodical sentences. “You know, just in case you get bit by something, again.”

  “That sounds nice. Maybe come by in the afternoon?” Mariah shut the light off signaling she was leaving the room. Olivia followed slowly behind almost in a daze.

  “What’s with the telescope?” Olivia asked almost in a whisper.

  “I have no clue. There are a ton of weird things in this house. I think I have a mouse or some kind of rodent problem too,” Mariah said, stopping halfway down the stairs, and turning back to see Olivia still standing at the top, unmoving.

  “Are you tired? Like too tired to drive tonight?” she asked with the kindest tone she could muster.

  She was getting annoyed and wasn’t sure how much longer she could be polite. Mariah was not used to people hanging out with her, much less for almost half a day. She needed some alone time, and soon. If Olivia was too tired to drive, however, she had no choice but to let her sleep over. After what happened to her father, she couldn’t in good co
nscious send a sleepy driver off into the night.

  “No, I’m fine. Just thinking about the dolls. They were so beautiful. I wish I’d have had dolls like that when I was a kid,” Olivia said in a wispy voice as she descended slowly down the stairs.

  “Well, you’re welcome to have them if I can’t get them sold. I hate those kinds of dolls. Seriously creepy with their frilly dresses and painted faces always staring at you.” Mariah turned and continued to the front door. Olivia looked happy with that offer and smiled as she followed her out the front door and onto the porch.

  “You sure you’re, okay?” Mariah asked.

  “Oh, I’m fine. I just got a little lightheaded in there. Maybe I’m just tired or the dust got to me. I’m just fine doll,” she said, staring out at the yard as if she had just snapped out of a trance.

  Not sure what to say, mainly because she’s acting weird, Mariah just hugged her and told her to drive safe. Olivia headed out and Mariah went inside to find something to eat before showering and hitting her pillow. The day had been exhausting, physically and mentally. It just needed to be over.

  Rounding the corner to the kitchen, Mariah froze, her heart beating faster as she stood in the doorway hardly believing what she was seeing. Folded on the counter, the mask sitting on top of them still soaking wet from the solution, were her bloody clothes. She bent over holding the door jam and began to dry heave. What kind of sick game did Olivia think she was playing? Mariah wasn’t scared of things often, but this was too much.

  Shaking from head to toe, Mariah stalked over to the pile of clothes, picked them up, threw them into a trash bag, tied it tight and took them back out to the trash. She came back in and stared at the mask sitting on the counter in front of her. It was beautiful, porcelain with very intricate lips and perfectly painted cheeks. The eyes were cut out so the wearer could see, but the nose and mouth were completely enclosed. There was an old ribbon tied through two holes on either side in order to hold it to the face of the person wearing it. Gently turning it over in her hands Mariah examined it carefully. Along the bottom inside carved so tiny she almost missed it was a tiny O. Weird, she thought examining the mask closer.

  Mariah took the mask, and two sandwiches of peanut butter and syrup, up to her room. She would have a long conversation with Olivia tomorrow about playing pranks on her in her own home. She plopped down on her mattress taking one small bite of sandwich at a time, still considering the mask sitting in her lap. She pulled her laptop closer, opened the browser and typed, “O, Oakley, Illinois. 1700s.” She hit enter and waited while Google did its thing. All she got was a few names that started with O that were definitely not eighteenth century, and a link to Ancestry.com, as though that was going to be any help when she didn’t even know the full names of the people she was looking for, much less dates. “Thanks for nothing Google,” Mariah said to herself, her voice dripping sarcasm. She shut the laptop and laid back on her pillows.

  She didn’t remember falling asleep. She felt like she was losing time. The after effects of the recluse venom maybe. She woke shaking in the middle of the night, her second sandwich lay on the floor beside her, the mattress once again as flat as a pancake. She had woken from the worst dream, only bits and pieces remained in her mind as she struggled to wake herself more. She had been walking through the basement, a light coming from behind the wall, the wall she saw steps behind. She had felt the wall and suddenly she was in a room. Not a room she had seen in her house before, this room was different, but she couldn’t quite place why. Then she was falling. She woke as the crashing sound resonated through her dream. She must have been dreaming of Johnny falling from the roof.

  Hitting the button on the mattress to blow it back up, she tiptoed over to the bathroom to splash water on her face and then returned to her room. Nothing, the mattress was still flat, there must be a hole that was too big to repair. “Nice” she whispered, anger growing in her like a pot of boiling water. Mariah kicked the mattress cursing. She supposed now she would have little choice but to sleep in one of the old beds. She took her blanket, pillows, and phone into the room next door. She hadn’t spent much time in this room yet, aside from moving a bunch of things into it when she had first moved in. She had basically left it alone, and now she would be sleeping there.

  The bed was small, a simple twin size day bed. The linens were old, but not too old, maybe from the nineties. It looked to be one of the rooms that was updated when the previous owner had moved in for that short period of time. Now she was convinced that there was definitely an infestation of mice, or something. What else would have popped a brand-new air mattress? Mariah laid on top of the bedding, pulling her own blanket over herself, tossing the old pillows on the floor and laying hers down. The bed was actually comfortable, more so than the air mattress. She fell right to sleep, a sick feeling in her gut from the dream that had woken her not ten minutes ago.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Not surprisingly, Mariah woke up early, the sun sitting just barely above the horizon. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around hoping to find the cause of why she was awake again so damn early. There was nothing, except the mask, which was lying next to her on the mattress. She didn’t remember bringing that with her when she switched rooms, but maybe it had been wrapped in the blanket and she didn’t notice. She was relieved that it didn’t fall and shatter all over the floor. That would have been horrible, not to mention messy.

  Getting up slowly she headed to the kitchen to start her day. She set the mask on the windowsill beside the day bed for safe keeping. In the kitchen she set a pod in the coffee maker and hit brew. As the coffee was doing its thing, she took a moment to switch out her laundry and threw on some clean clothes from the dryer. She walked back into the kitchen ready for her mug of hot delicious mocha coffee, picked it up and went straight back up to her room. This had been one hell of a week so far and it was only Wednesday.

  She took a little time to call and catch up with her mom, who was doing fine. She had a friend staying over and they stayed up late drinking wine and gossiping about the other crazy old women in the neighborhood. Not that her mom was old, but she was definitely not a spring chicken.

  Mariah filled her in on how her hand was doing, which was surprisingly well. Someone jumping to their death from your roof tends to take your mind off of your own meek injuries. As she told her mom about the suicide, or fall, the police hadn’t ruled it either just yet, her mother flipped. She went on and on about how she knew that the house had bad juju, and Mariah should hire a priest to come bless it, to release any evil spirits that reside inside, and outside for that matter. Mariah brushed her mother off. She really didn’t believe in ghosts and had yet to have anything crazy happen that would make her think the house was haunted, much less possessed.

  Her mother, however, continued by telling her about what her grandfather had once said when she was afraid of the monster in her closet.

  Grandfather had said, “Evil leaves a mark, whether it be through an object, place or person. When someone dies, murdered, natural or any other type of death, that leaves a trace. Houses keep the secrets of the families that live inside their walls. They absorb everything, each fight, every smile, happy memories, sad memories. Houses can hold evil, houses can hold anger, houses can hold love, happiness and joy. The older the house the better the chances that the house has seen horrors. The older the house the higher the possibility that the house holds secrets no one dare seek out. When working with old homes, be careful where you poke your nose. If you poke in the wrong places, the house might just poke back.”

  “Thanks mom, that was incredibly morbid,” Mariah moaned into the phone.

  She didn’t really know if her mom was trying to tell her to not poke around the old house, or if she was telling her again just in a different way that she thinks the house is haunted. Mariah finished up the conversation just as the front bell rang. It had to be Olivia, but she was really early.

  Walking down the stairs, aggravated ab
out the early intrusion, she headed to the foyer, where she could see that it was not Olivia, but Greg.

  “What can I do for you Greg, I thought you were taking some time off?” Mariah whispered solemnly, unsure what she could say that would even begin to soothe his pain.

  “Ma’am, I wanted to let you know that Johnny’s family,” he paused and took a breath. “They don’t hold you responsible. They wanted me to send my regards. Ma’am I also wanted to inform you that my men and I will not be back to work until after the funeral. It doesn’t seem right to work again until Johnny...” his voice cracked. Mariah could see Greg was swallowing back tears. “Until he’s laid to rest,” he finally finished his sentence, tears falling slowly down his cheeks and disappearing into his bushy beard. Not knowing what else to do, Mariah stepped out and pulled him into a hug.

  Greg was a big man, very much the contractor type. He had broad shoulders and long strong arms. He wore overalls that were stereotypically covered in dirt and paint. His beard covered most of his face connecting to his mustache and sideburns. Ironically, his head was bald. He wore big work boots that were coated in who knows how many years of mud and grime. He had a deep tan line around where his watch sits and wore a simple gold wedding band. Mariah hugged him, every moment reminding her of the hugs her father once gave her. Soon she had started crying, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  They stood hugging and crying with one another for what felt like hours. As Greg was leaving later that morning Olivia was walking up the path to the house. She waved at Greg as he pulled out and drove away from the house.

  Olivia was dressed for hiking. She had worn long jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, hiking boots and a hat. Her long hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she had forgone makeup as well. She looked quite stunning. Mariah couldn’t help but stare as she walked up the steps and into the house. She almost forgot how angry she was for the pranks the night before.