Haunting and Scares Collection

by Rosemary Cullen

  Aisha realized what must have happened. ‘They burned down the house!’

  Cassius nodded. Then, almost a whisper, ‘I wasn’t there when it happened.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Cassius.’

  ‘Their spirits,’ another pause, ‘their spirits still come there from time to time I think. We speak sometimes. You even had the privilege to see one the other day.’

  ‘Gracie . . .’

  ‘Yes. They don’t know. They have no idea what happened to them. Time seems not to have the same teaching effect on them that it has for us corporeal beings.’ Cassius looked at Aisha very solemnly. ‘Aisha,’ he said, ‘when I found you, you were holing a Bible.’

  ‘A Bible!’ She didn’t remember having picked up the Bible.

  ‘Yes,’ said Cassius. ‘My father, he – he read one part of the Bible every day. Every day during Gracie’s illness. It gave him such hope. It was from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says: “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.”’

  Cassius was silent.

  ‘Why did you tell me that, Cassius?’ Aisha asked.

  Cassius sighed. ‘Because I know Gracie would want me to.’

  Another long pause. ‘Have a restful day, Aisha,’ he said.

  ‘Good day,’ she replied. Then he went slowly out of the room, his shoulders slumped and his neck bent.

  But Aisha felt a rush of joy, of euphoria. She felt as if her heart was breaking and letting in the light. She thought of her past. It seemed a thin garment she could shake off at will. She thought of her life, with no prospects, no future, and it all seemed so small and irrelevant. She thought even of Sergeant Foster, and she forgave him.

  Peace flowed over her, and she lay her head down on her pillow in bed.

  It’s not over, she thought happily. It’s not over. I can still help people. If I can’t be a police woman, then I’ll be –

  She stopped. She didn’t know what she would be. She thought, and thought some more. And then it dawned on her.

  ‘A firewoman!’ she said aloud. ‘I’ll be a firewoman!’ She was practically shouting. A fire-woman, she thought. Yes. That seemed appropriate.

  Then she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and slept a dreamless sleep.

  THE END

  The Haunting of Fenton House

  Rosemary Cullen

  Copyright © 2019

  All Rights Reserved

  Prologue

  Jamesbrook, Virgina; 1854-1859

  Dr. Fred Myron slowly drove up the long dirt driveway, taking in the beauty of the area as he went. After reaching his destination, he parked his horse and carriage in front of the large and impressive hospital. His eyes sketched over the impressive stone building covered in ivy vines.

  “What a beauty you are,” he said out loud, in awe of the striking structure before him.

  After a few moments of soaking in the scenery, Fred slid out from behind the steering wheel, straightened his long black trench coat, and grabbed his briefcase from the rear seat. He walked up the brick path that led to the entrance of Fenton Manor Mental Hospital.

  Fred smiled, holding his head up high as he walked. He was finally going to show everyone what a great doctor he was. Fred would help the sick get better, a dream of his since he was a child. He had watched his father treat sick people for all of his young adult years. But his father had not worked in a place like this. His father had taken care of people with broken bones or the common cold.

  He stopped when he arrived at the steps leading up to the main door. He stood up tall, clenched his briefcase in his right hand, and climbed to the top of the stairs. He opened the wooden door of Fenton Manor and strolled into the lobby.

  “Hello. I’m Dr. Fred Myron. I will be the new doctor in charge of the patients here,” he said in a firm voice.

  “Yes, of course,” the woman replied. “I have been waiting for your arrival. I’d be happy to show you around. Would you like to see where your office is located?”

  “Yes, that would be wonderful. I’m looking forward to becoming familiar with the place.”

  They walked to a set of double doors where they stopped where the woman pulled out a key and inserted it into a heavy lock. Once through the doors, Fred smelled the strong scent of disinfectant in the air, which almost made him gag. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he observed several nurses in white uniforms with nursing caps.

  In addition to the nurses, there were several men in all white. They stood near the doors of each entrance as if waiting for a patient to get out of hand. After seeing the patient wards, they went through another set of double doors. Just beyond was a closed wooden door.

  “My office is beyond these doors, I assume. Thank you, for showing me. I’ll go on up and settle in then.” Dr. Myron bowed his head in a polite gesture, walked past her and opened the door.

  The walls were bare as he made his way up the polished wooden stairs. Once at the top, he turned the doorknob, pushed the heavy door open and stepped into the room. He placed his briefcase on the floor next to the desk. His eyes scanned around the room as his mind took in the view.

  Yes, indeed. He was going to do great things here. He was going to help the sick become functional. He was going to help them feel better. These people would have good lives because of him.

  He didn’t go to medical school to just take care of people with the common cold or a broken arm. No. He went to school because he was going to treat the people who needed his help in a less obvious way. Dr. Fred Myron’s dream was to help people who were mentally ill. The workings of the mind fascinated him and he longed to do good.

  Dr. Myron turned back around and wiped away the dust that covered the old wooden desk before gathering his briefcase from the floor and placing it on the table. He opened the case and took out a framed diploma. He held it in his hands for a few minutes, admiring his accomplishment, then walked around to the other side of the desk and hung the frame on the wall. He stood back and smiled. He would remember this day for the rest of his life.

  ~~~~~

  As the days at Fenton Manor flew by, Dr. Myron worked tirelessly. He listened to what his patients were feeling. He wrote notes about each one and filed those notes in a folder he kept in brown boxes beside his desk.

  He kept an extensive log of medications each patient took and he charted the results. He treated those who needed it the most and was astonished at the progress some of the patients were making. They seemed grateful for the attention that had been sorely lacking before his arrival.

  Many nights he went without sleep, studying his notes and applying new ideas and brainstorming new treatments. His work was experimental, but he believed he was gaining new knowledge with every trial.

  As the months at Fenton Manor Mental Hospital passed, Dr. Myron became discouraged. His early success was fleeting. Patients were no longer showing signs of improvement.

  He’d checked his notes over and over with no new insights. He was failing as a doctor. This was an outcome he could not abide.

  When he did sleep, he had violent nightmares. His mind was working triple time, which brought on more fatigue. The doctor poured over his writings trying to find answers that didn't exist.

  To make matters worse, he was losing control of his patients. Wild outbursts and screaming filled the rooms day in and day out. The people he wanted to help were even more tormented than the day he walked in the door.

  “I will not take more of the cure!” Eve, a dark headed child with wise eyes stood up to him. “Those pills are of the devil!”

  “You don’t know what you speak of, child. Swallow the medicine or it will be forced down your throat.” The doctor was at his wits end and rebellion by a child was more than he was willing to take.

  Thi
s child and her three siblings had been brought to the hospital by their grandmother. The woman said that the children’s mother had been mad and the children were like her. After a few weeks in the hospital, he wasn’t convinced they needed his help. However, the children had no family and he decided they would be adequate test subjects which he greatly needed.

  He took a step toward Thomas, Eve’s brother, with the intention of watching the boy swallow the treatment. The boy clawed his face, leaving a gash down his cheek next to his ear.

  “You’ll take this treatment whether you want it or not, Thomas. I’ll get an orderly if you refuse. It’s meant to help you.”

  “It’s bad! It makes me ill!”

  “It does no such thing. And do not ever try to hurt me again. I will put you in the cage if you do.”

  Little Beth started to cry and shrunk into her big sister’s arms. Eve tried to protect the little one as much as she could, but the doctor was able to take the youngest child away and get the medicine into her.

  “Please don’t put us in the cages, sir. We won’t be bad. I promise. I’ll make them behave.” Greta was just a year younger than Eve and more compliant than her sister. The problem was that Eve didn’t listen to her.

  “There’s nothing wrong with us, you nasty old man! We’re not ill and we never were.” Eve stuck her chin out in defiance, but the doctor paid her no mind. He was focused on his notes as he furiously noted the details of the outburst.

  The doctor walked away, but he could hear the children talking to each other. In the back of his mind he knew he should find a place for them to go, but he was too far gone for that.

  “It’ll be fine, Beth. Tell her, Greta. We’re going to find a way out of here.” Thomas reached over to stroke his sister’s hair.

  “Yes, Thomas is right. We’ll find a way. I’m the oldest and I promise to figure it out.” Eve butted in and nodded at Greta.

  “I just hope he doesn’t put us in the cages again. And why did Grandma leave us here? I still don’t understand.” Greta looked back and forth between Thomas and Eve.

  “She said we were too much trouble. She said she was too old to raise us.” Eve’s voice was strained. She sounded annoyed and upset.

  “We’ve been over it too many times, Greta. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Thomas looked at his sister and then leaned in to whisper. “We’re getting out of here soon. That old woman didn’t want us, but we’ll figure things out without her.”

  Shaking his head, the doctor left the ward and went back to his office. “Damn kids,” he mumbled under his breath.

  Standing in the office he’d been so proud of the day he’d arrived in this place with the only window open, he could feel the night air filtering in as thunder roared loud outside. Darkness fell over the building. He realized he’d had just about enough from those four belligerent children.

  “I’ll show them whose boss around here. You’ll take the cure. All four of you.” Still muttering, he stepped out into the dimly lit hallway. The candles flickered, casting long shadows on the walls and floors.

  ~~~~~

  The door at the bottom to Dr. Myron’s office was ajar. Eve grabbed the doorknob and quietly closed the door behind her. She pulled a set of keys from her pocket. “We’ll use these to lock him inside and start the fire,” she whispered to her brother and sisters.

  “Where did you get the keys?” Beth asked.

  “I snatched them from the nurse desk when nobody was there. Now, stop asking questions. We have to do this quick before he comes back down and—well, you know what he’ll do to us for not obeying.”

  “Yeah. I’m not going in the cage again.” He looked at his three sisters with quiet resolve. “We won't get out of this easy, so we have to do this right. We have to get rid of him before he makes us disappear.”

  The two younger girls looked at each other, then back at Thomas, and nodded in agreement. Eve put the key in the doorknob, heard the click sound, and withdrew the key. Thomas took off his thin cotton jacket and wadded it up at the bottom of the door. Eve took the candle she was holding and held it to the jacket. It ignited after a moment and soon the door was burning, too.

  Greta and Beth both stood back against the wall, watching with wide eyes as the fire grew out of control and waited for the next move. When it was time, they ran after Thomas and their big sister, Eve, down the hall. Eve used a different key and unlocked all the doors that held patients.

  “Run! Get out! The building’s on fire?” They yelled as they hurried the people down the hallways.

  Thomas turned to see his youngest sisters right behind him. “We told you to go outside with the others!” He yelled in fear when he realized they were all in grave danger.

  “We want to be with you,” Beth cried out. “We’re family!"

  Greta shivered from fear. “I’m frightened, too.”

  “Fine,” Eve said. “Stay close, though. We need to make sure Dr. Myron doesn’t escape.”

  “But what about the fire? Will we get out in time?” Beth whimpered.

  “We’ll get out in plenty of time,” Thomas replied.

  Smoke began to fill the air as they made their way down the hall to the attic door. Faint screams came from behind the door as Dr. Myron tried to run through the flames that were reaching as high as ten feet or more. Eve ran over to the door on fire, reached her arm inside and pushed Dr. Myron back against the stairs. In one quick second, the sleeve of her shirt caught her clothes on fire. The fire spread quickly down her leg and to the other side of her body. She fell to the floor, screaming as the hot flames enveloped her body.

  Clouds were gathering outside and had been for most of the evening. Thunder clapped and the sky lit with distant lightning. No one inside the building heard the thunder or saw the lightning.

  Thomas tried desperately to put out the fire, but it grew larger and was spreading faster by the minute. It was too much for him to handle without a blanket or a bucket of water. Besides, he could no longer hear his sister’s screams of agony and knew it was too late for her. He began to cry but knew he had to be strong for his younger sisters who were watching him for any indication on what to do. He wiped away the tears and went to Greta and Beth. They hugged each other, and then released, looking back at the door.

  “We need to do this for Eve,” Thomas said. “We can’t let her death be for nothing.”

  Beth and Greta looked at each other and then back at Thomas, nodding in agreement. All three stood watching as Fred tried to escape through the burning doorway. The three of them ran to the door. Thomas reached his arm in, trying not to catch his clothes on fire. He shoved the doctor back inside, but he grabbed Thomas’ arm and pulled him into the raging flames.

  Thomas howled in horror as both Beth and Greta tried to wrench him free from the evil doctor’s grasp. Being too small and lightweight, they were yanked through the doorway along with their brother.

  More screams filled the air as the fire closed in around the entrance to the attic and up the wooden stairs. None of them escaped.

  Outside, the smoke filled the night sky as the heavens above mercifully dumped water on the fire. The patients stood under out in the rain, waiting and watching as the hospital went up in flames. By the time help arrived at Fenton Manor Mental Hospital the four children and the once revered Dr. Fred Myron were dead.

  Chapter 1

  Jamesbrook, Virgina; February, 2016

  The large Victorian house sat nestled in rolling hills covered with tall oaks and pines. The driveway was just long enough to seclude the place from the main road giving it extra appeal. The property had been landscaped with love and care. In the spring, the flowers began to bloom, and by fall, the leaves on the trees turned vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

  Steven and Kelly Parker had painstakingly restored the house from the outside in. From the outside, the house looked like a stately home that had weathered well and stood the test of time. Whil
e much of the stone and wood work was new, it was made to look old and fit well with what had been saved. The inside had been gutted and all systems had been replaced. The decor and layout was modern and up to date. The place was a dream.

  The Parkers had spent plenty of time and money making this place their haven. The place they would grow old together and live their lives in had been in the back of their mind for years. Finally, they were here and they were thrilled.

  Steven had made his millions selling real estate in New York City. When he felt like he’d had enough of the constant hustle, he and Kelly moved to the countryside in Virgina. Away from the city. Away from the crowds. Away from the hectic lifestyle. Both were pleased with the change. Steven opened his real estate brokerage and his work continued to flourish. Life was good for the Parkers.

  After several weeks of sleeping in their beautiful Victorian mansion, they had become aware of strange things happening when the darkness came upon the house, but Steven and Kelly stayed.

  After months had passed and the noises didn’t seem to disappear, Mr. Parker took it upon himself to search through files on the house. He had found out that it was once a mental hospital that had killed five people. Four of them being children. The stories told him of the four children trapped and killed inside when it caught on fire. The children weren’t able to escape, but it had also stated that they were the ones who let all of the people out of the hospital before it was too late.

  The Parker’ became accustomed to the sounds that filled the rooms since they had no children yet of their own. Kelly began to sing to them while she sewed and prepared meals as if they were there with her like she had her own children. Steven played the piano, imagining that the four children were dancing around the room when in fact, they were, but he couldn't see them.

  When business increased, Steven and Kelly Parker spent more time away from the house traveling the world for several years instead of staying at the house. The ghosts were not happy with this as they missed Kelly and Steven Parker. They were like a family they never really had. Feeling lonely and sad, they began to act out and destroy things of the Parker’. Each time they came home from being away on business, they would find valuable things broken.