by William King
In what seemed to be an eternity, we finally arrived in front of the old house. My first impression was that it was in no way a match for the magnificent Blackwood Manor back in the states. The roof had a latticed edge, was colonial in style, and had three white columns that supported it. A graceful oval balcony separated the two levels of the house. The house was beautiful in its own right. However, it was in no way a match for Blackwood Manorback in the United States. Once we had stopped, not one of us had got out of the jeep. Elizabeth and Bartemius were talking to one another while I was comparing the two places in my mind, when something that they were talking about had suddenly and abruptly caught my full attention. I over-heard Bartemius tell Elizabeth that the servants had left the house, and then Elizabeth said, “I do not understand Bartemius, hasn’t Clarence at the bank been taking care of their wages?”
“It is not that at all Elizabeth. It is just that some very strange things have been happening around here since you left, at least that is what Lyle and Hillary had informed me.”
“Bartemius, I need you to be more specific.”
“I had rather not at this point Elizabeth. Maybe you should have a talk with Lyle and Hillary yourself. They are out at the MacDougal’s place with Josephine and Leonard. I am sorry that I had to be the one to tell you these awful things. However, I figured that it would be better to hear it from me rather than for you to show up and discover that the two of them were gone.
“Well Elizabeth, I better get a move on. The Misses will bloody well have my hide if I am gone for too long, leaving her to take care of the restaurant all alone.”
After Bartemius got back into his four-wheel drive and drove off, Elizabeth said, “It appears that wonders never cease.”
“What is the matter Elizabeth, and what do you mean by, wonders never cease?”Does it have to do with your maidservants being gone? If so, I will make a wager with you that we will do just fine without your servants.”
“Mason that is not exactly what I meant when I said wonders never cease. I was referring to our unwanted house guests back at the Blackwood Manor. It appears that they must have taken an earlier flight to England. I suppose they could not bear to part with the two of us.”
“Elizabeth, I think that is ridiculous! Why would any supernatural being use an airplane for transportation
when they obviously have their own ways of traveling?”
I tried to make her feel better by joking around, but I only succeeded in irritating her even more, and I knew that it had been a very bad mistake.
“Alright Elizabeth, calm down. What did Bartemius say to you that upset you so badly?”
“Well for starters, he told me that Lyle and Hillary had left the house.”
“Elizabeth, what is the big deal about Lyle and Hillary leaving. If you ask me, I do not think that it is such a big deal at all. Maybe they decided that they needed a vacation. There could have been any number of reasons why the two of them might have left the house.”
Elizabeth looked at me with a weird expression on her face, one that I could not read, and right then I was dumbfounded. Elizabeth knew Hillary and Lyle, not me, so I did not even know why I opened my mouth in the first place. I guess it was to comfort Elizabeth at the time. However, it seemed as if it had little to no effect on her.
“Mason, I believe that we should go have a talk with Lyle and Hillary, and try to find out just what in the hell is going on around here, that is after we put our luggage into the house. You can freshen up a bit if you’d like, pick any room in the house that you feel the most comfortable in, lord knows, there are plenty to choose from. I never did understand why my father insisted in having such an enormous house. I guess it was just for the status-quo. I will be in the room on the right at the top of the stairs if you need me for any reason.”
“Alright Elizabeth, I think I am going to have a look around the place if you do not mind.”
I walked from room to room expecting to find some sort of clue to explain why Lyle and Hillary had unexpectedly left, but unfortunately, the only thing that I found was an empty house. I could not get any sense of feeling from this old house, neither good nor evil. I thought, maybe it is just another ordinary house after all, but what had caused Lyle and Hillary to leave in such a hurry. I guess whatever it was will reveal itself eventually. I did know one thing for sure, and that was within the first night that I spent inside the Blackwood Manor, the supernatural force revealed itself. Therefore, I expected to see some sign by midnight tonight of what had scared Hillary and Lyle into leaving the Manor. It sure must have been something awful that they had encountered, as they were the caretakers of the Manor while Elizabeth had been away. I knew that all I had to do is wait patiently for the proper puzzle pieces to arise and fill in the voids, which would set everything back into motion. At least I hoped it would that is. Yes! That is exactly what I will do, for the time being anyways.
There was one feeling that I certainly picked up on upon my arrival at both of the Manors was that they both seemed to be in a state of linger. I walked through the Manor investigating each, and every room that I came to, and as I opened the last bedroom door, I got a very weird feeling, a feeling of a woman’s presence. As I entered the room I noticed a woman’s portrait hanging on the wall, directly across the room from me, and without a doubt in my mind, I somehow knew that it had been this woman who had come to my rescue back at the Blackwood Manor. I spoke out looking directly at the portrait saying, “Well Gwendolyn, you have brought us this far, now what?”
I felt a little uneasy at first, as I could almost swear that the woman within the picture had been smiling at me, though just moments before her face held a lifeless look, one that of a inconsolable person. The sorrowful expression that the woman portrayed in the painting previously, somehow changed, now looking optimistic, which seemed to reveal to me that we would find the answers that we were both looking for right here, just waiting for the right moment to be unraveled. Just as I knew that the woman in the portrait had been the same woman who saved me back at the Blackwood Manor. Therefore, I knew from that moment on, no other room in the house could offer more protection for Elizabeth and I than this one, from whatever supernatural forces existed within the Blackwood Manor.
I walked over to the bed and pushed down on it. It felt so comfortable that I plopped right down on it, and a feeling of safety unsurpassed by anything that I had felt before swept over me and I closed my eyes. I must have dozed off because a few hours later I awakened to the sound of Elizabeth’s voice calling out my name.
“Mason, where are you?”
I answered, “I am in here Elizabeth, in your mother’s bedroom.”
She opened the door with a puzzled look on her face and said, “Mason, how in the world did you know that this had been my mother’s bedroom?”
“I cannot explain it to you. It was a strong feeling that overwhelmed me as soon as I entered the bedroom and made eye contact with the woman within the portrait hanging on the wall on the far side of the room. Lets just say it is something that I have been gifted with all my life. There is one other thing that I forgot to mention Elizabeth.
“What is that Mason? I am all ears.”
“Well, I am pretty sure that it had been your mother who had saved my life back at the Blackwood Manor.”
Elizabeth stood motionless, with a look of disbelief on her face, and for some unknown reason that I cannot explain, I turned to look at her mother’s portrait and noticed that her eyes were full of tears that slowly ran down her blushed red cheeks.
Elizabeth shouted, “No, that is impossible!”
“No Elizabeth it is not impossible, and soon you will find out that nothing is impossible. You can clearly see that it is happening.”
Elizabeth and I stood there motionless, with awe, as we watched her mother’s portrait weep tears of sorrow. Their closeness was almost unbearable between the two of them, even though her mother had been dead for some time now. I stood there wonde
ring if I would ever get the chance to connect with Elizabeth on a deeper level once this terrible ordeal is over, when Elizabeth’s mother’s saddened facial expression smiled once again.
Elizabeth spoke out with an enthusiastic voice and said, “Mason that is the happiest moment that I have had since my parents passing. This was a homecoming that I had never expected to have.”
I scanned Elizabeth’s body up and down, and once again, the perverted thoughts of what were underneath Elizabeth’s clothes popped into my head. I kept asking myself, why does this sort of thing keep happening to me, especially in this ordeal. I never had feelings this intense before. Maybe it was not me at all. Maybe it was the powerful supernatural force within the house that was making me lust for Elizabeth, uncontrollably. I did not know, but I needed to find out. Well maybe I do, as I have always been attracted to alluring women. It did not matter what was going on, or where I was. However, the feelings that I was experiencing were different this time, they were much stronger than they have ever been.
At that moment, I got the feeling that Elizabeth and I had become closer. For an unexplainable reason, I felt that when Elizabeth saw her mothers painting weep tears of happiness, it meant something more to her as well, but I knew I had no time to allow myself the luxury of those feelings at this time. I fought the powerful feelings that I was experiencing the best I could and said to myself, at a later date there would be a time for the both of us to reveal our true feelings towards one another, but it would have to wait for now. The words sounded good in my head, but whatever supernatural force was within this old house was not letting me off that easy. My head began to throb intensely, as I tried to fight the feelings being implanted within my head. To a point to where I thought, my head was going to explode. Even though it seemed as if I could not fight the powerful supernatural force within my head, it telepathically let me know that this was nothing compared to what it could do.
Elizabeth and I walked out of her mother’s bedroom and down the long narrow hallway in complete silence. She knew nothing of what I had been experiencing, and I wanted to keep it that way until I knew more about what I was dealing with. Hiding my feelings, we both seemed to be very relaxed, and it had been the first time since we had met. There were no barriers between us, as if each of us knew one another’s thoughts, and for a fleeing moment, our hearts seemed to be synchronized. I thought to myself, ya right, if she only knew what this supernatural force was doing to my head!
Suddenly, I heard Elizabeth’s voice penetrate into my most private and deepest thoughts as she said, “Mason would you like to go over to the MacDougal’s with me? I must find out for myself why Lyle and Hillary would have left everything unguarded in such a hurry! He has been the caretaker here for thirty years, and not once in all those years did he ever leave when there was a sign of trouble. I am sure it had to be something beyond his or Hillary’s control to have made them leave the Manor like thieves in the night.
“Mason, does this make any sense to you? Because it does not make any sense at all to me. That is unless it is like I said earlier, and that is our house guests from the Blackwood Manor must have taken the same flight as we did. If that is the case, we are in much greater danger than I had originally expected.”
“Well Elizabeth, I am sure that whatever it was, will reveal itself soon enough.”
I walked up to the front door, opened it, and said, “Ladies first,” with a grin on my face to try to ease the tension. Elizabeth smiled as she walked by, out onto the porch.
She stopped and waited for me to close and lock the door, and once done Elizabeth said, “Follow me please.” Without saying a word, I followed her across the muddy yard to a vehicle that had been covered up under the carport. Once there Elizabeth asked, “Mason, would you help me pull the cover off the vehicle?”
“Sure,” I replied, and pulled the cover off the vehicle and laid it on the ground. I did not bother to fold it up, as it was muddy and wet, and Elizabeth did not ask me to. Once the cover was off, I noticed that it was another Jeep, but a jeep wrangler with four-wheel drive. Once Elizabeth unlocked the doors and we got in she said, “I hope Lyle and Hillary will be able to shed some light on whatever it was that had been happening here while I have been away.”
I put my hand on her leg and said, “I sure hope so to Elizabeth, because as of now, we have nothing much to go on.”
Elizabeth started up the Jeep to let it warm up for a bit before we started our journey. While we were waiting for her Jeep to warm up to operating temperature, Elizabeth looked over at me and said, “The MacDougal’s residence is just a short drive down an old dirt road, approximately three or four miles. It should turn out to be an interesting and exciting drive since the rain has made the old dirt road into a muddy one.”
Once the Jeep warmed up to the proper operating temperature Elizabeth put it into four-wheel drive and drove off. As Elizabeth navigated her way down the muddy road, the Jeep slide back and forth, fighting to keep traction. Elizabeth seemed to be having a great time, and I have to say I was enjoying the ride as well. I thought, it would have been nice to have a four-wheel drive vehicle when I had to drive down the muddy road to get to the Blackwood Manor, but I managed to make it all right with the front wheel drive.
We must have both been enjoying ourselves because before we knew it, we were at our destination. When we arrived, Elizabeth had noticed that Mrs. MacDougal was working within the barn. Elizabeth pulled the Jeep up to the front of the old barn, exited the Jeep, and started walking towards Mrs. MacDougal when she turned and motioned me to follow. Therefore, I got out of the Jeep and carefully walked through the mud over to them. It seemed as if Elizabeth was a little nervous as Mrs. MacDougal started the conversation. She smiled and said, “Hello Elizabeth, it is great to see you back home again,” with an amazing English accent.
I had observed a worried look on Mrs. MacDougal’s face with her next remark as she said, “Elizabeth, I only wish it was under more pleasant circumstances.”
Sorrow filled her eyes as she said, “Elizabeth it was not Lyle’s or Hillary’s intension to leave your parent’s home without locking it up. However, something awful had happened, something that you are not going to believe. Now Elizabeth, this may sound disturbing, but it was your father’s evil spirit that had made them leave the manor. You know deep down within your heart that they would still be there otherwise.”
Elizabeth looked at her with disbelief, and it was as if she had reached out her hand and smacked her in the face as Mrs. MacDougal placed her trembling, wrinkled hand up to her lips as if it had been an indication that she had already revealed too much. Elizabeth took Mrs. MacDougal firmly by the shoulders and said, “What in the world do you mean my father had made them leave? That is preposterous, you are not making any sense, he could not have done that, he is dead!”
I spoke out in a loud and firm voice as I pulled her away from Mrs. MacDougal saying, “Elizabeth, have you gone insane?”
I guess the entire ordeal had just been too much for her nerves to handle. Elizabeth stood there in the barn, motionless, as I walked a weeping Mrs. MacDougal back to her house. I rang the bell for the servants as I seated her gently into a chair in the kitchen. I tried my best to explain in Elizabeth’s absence who I was, and why I was there, as her servant had poured her a cup of hot sweet tea.
It could not have been but a couple of minutes after I brought Mrs. MacDougal into the house and sat her down on a chair in the kitchen when Elizabeth walked in, almost as shaken up as Mrs. MacDougal had been when I brought her into the house just moments before. She walked over, hugged Mrs. MacDougal, and begged her for forgiveness, saying, “Mrs. MacDougal, I am terribly sorry for what I said, but it is just so hard to comprehend that my dead father had ordered Lyle and Hillary out of a house that he had once occupied.”
With pity and remorse Mrs. MacDougal said, “I know it sounds ridiculous Elizabeth, but I have known Lyle and Hillary for many more years than you, and if it ha
d not been true they would not have said it had been your father.”
“Mrs. MacDougal, I would like to see Lyle and Hillary now. I must find out for myself what really happened just after I had left for the United States.”
Mrs. MacDougal sent her servant to find Elizabeth’s servants, leaving us behind in the kitchen to try to piece together the strange things that had happened back at the Blackwood Manor, and compare them to the things that are now happening here. Lyle and Hillary arrived a few minutes later without her. As they greeted us, one could tell right away that they looked more than just a little uncomfortable. Elizabeth was the first to speak up, asking Lyle about the statement that Mrs. MacDougal had made earlier.
Lyle had gritted his teeth as if he were to do battle as he said, “Mrs. Blackwood, I have respectively been the caretaker for your family for more years than I can remember, but never before have I ever encountered such an awful experience as this. You had been gone only three days before the awful dreams first began, or rather what I had thought to be dreams, or a nightmare that is up until a week ago. In what I had thought to be a nightmare, I kept seeing your mother crying while your father and aunt Cassandra argued bitterly. I am sorry Elizabeth, but I just cannot explain the things that they had spoken of. Your father seemed to be asking for some kind of papers belonging to your aunt Cassandra, and she would not give them to him, no matter what. The next morning we woke up to find the entire house in shambles, as if someone had been looking for something, and the strangest thing of all would have to have been that all the doors and windows within the house were unlocked and opened, just the opposite from how we had left them prior to going to bed for the night.
“Then about a week ago Hillary and I went to visit your aunt Cassandra to inform her of what we had both experienced, just to see if any of it had meant anything to her. When we entered her residence, we found her in a state of delirium. That is what we had thought at first, but soon we discovered otherwise. It seemed as if she had been screaming at someone or something that we could not see, when she threatened this unseen being by saying, ‘I will see you in hell before I give you anything!’
