Gifted

by Campbell, Jamie

  “So you think this Thomas guy could have killed Eve?” Cate asked. They had filled her in on what they found on the internet earlier that day.

  “It’s a possibility. It’s weird he would come all this way and then leave after only a year,” Blair answered.

  “Plus, he arrived in the same year that we think Eve was killed. Surely it can’t be a coincidence? The same year he turns up, the Reign’s daughter is killed and they move out of this house,” Charlie added.

  “Okay then, but remember that every murder needs to have a motive. Any cop show on television will tell you that. What was this guy’s motive?”

  “That’s where it gets interesting,” Charlie topped up her glass before continuing, relishing in the fact her sister was intrigued in their theories. “Cousins used to marry each other in the olden days. We think he was coming over here to marry one of the daughters. Something happens and he ends up killing Eve. Next day, he flees the country.”

  “What could possibly happen that makes him kill one of the girls? You don’t just decide to brutally murder someone when you’re bored.”

  Blair suddenly came up with a thought. “What about if he was meant for Eve and she turned him down? Didn’t you say the other day that Eve was head strong?”

  “That’s my impression of her from my dreams,” Charlie answered, curious about where Blair was going with his theory.

  “I imagine a man of good standing, such was our Thomas, wouldn’t take rejection lightly. I can see him getting very angry about it. Picture this: Big, arrogant twenty-one year old Thomas comes over to claim the sixteen year old Eve’s hand in marriage. She was promised to him by her father. As soon as she reached marriageable age, she belonged to him. His plan was to sweep her off her feet and drag her back to England to continue on with the family business. He had big plans. They’d marry, she’d pop out a few children, and they’d all live happily ever after,” Blair was gaining momentum. “But, unfortunately he hadn’t counted on Eve having a mind of her own. She refused to go with him which was a major blow to his ego. Whatever her feelings, it didn’t matter. Her father had promised and their families had agreed to the union. There was no way he could go back home to England empty handed. There would be too much shame in it. So instead of being humiliated, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He snapped her neck, got rid of the body and went back to England. He would tell people that his intended had died, probably as a result of some exotic Australian disease.”

  “That’s plausible,” Charlie agreed. “It would also explain why Lord and Lady Reign covered it up. They couldn’t rat out their nephew to the police. Not only would it hurt Thomas, but the good family name as well. It also wouldn’t look good for the family, having such a disagreeable daughter. To talk back to her father and refuse to marry her intended would have been a slap in the face to the men. Women didn’t have the right to have a say in their life. Marriages were based on strategy, not love.”

  “I’m not convinced,” Cate challenged. “Only the other day you thought it was purely the parents. Just because this guy turned up in the same year they moved, doesn’t mean he killed her. Everything you just said is based on your speculation. Where is the evidence for any of this?”

  “We’re talking about more than two hundred years ago! There is no evidence. All we can possibly do is speculate,” Charlie said defensively. “It’s not like we’re taking this to the Supreme Court.”

  “I have another theory,” Cate started. “Cousin Thomas came over to Australia to stay with his Uncle and Aunt before settling down. He thought it would be a big adventure that he could brag about to all his mates back home. He comes here, realises it’s just wild country and goes back home with his tail between his legs. Now that sounds a lot more likely than your marriage and murder scenario.”

  Charlie thought her sister had a good point but really didn’t want to admit it. There was the gossip girl inside her that enjoyed the murder intrigue plot much more than the mundane story. She looked at Blair who was thinking the exact same thing, it was written all over his face. She thought for a few minutes before saying anything further on the subject. If it wasn’t Thomas, then they had no other suspects besides the parents. In other words, they were right back at square one again. It wasn’t a good prospect. They had been so excited to find Cousin Thomas Reign earlier in the day.

  “You have a good point,” Charlie conceded quietly, hoping her sister wouldn’t harp on about it.

  “I think we should just keep our minds open to any possibility. You may very well be right but, until we have some more evidence, it’s difficult to say. I’m happy to play devil’s advocate until we figure it out. Was there anything else about Thomas on the internet? Something to tell us anything about his character?” Cate asked.

  “Not really. He was a successful businessman, which could denote a rather hard personality. But that’s a serious generalisation with no actual basis again. He married a women named Cecelia and had a bucket load of kids. That’s pretty much where his story ends,” Blair replied and topped up everyone's glasses again.

  “Can you imagine being a sixteen year old girl and being told who you were going to marry?” Charlie didn’t like the thought.

  “Especially if your future husband was going to take you half-way around the world and away from your family. She would have been terrified,” Cate shook her head with the thought. “Girls were so innocent back then too. Unlike teenagers these days, they wouldn’t have had a clue about men. She would have found herself in a marriage with an older guy that she didn’t know from Adam. She would have felt so alone.”

  “You almost make it sound like it was a blessing that she was killed instead of having to suffer that fate,” Blair noted.

  “In some ways, maybe it would be,” Charlie sighed. “I guess in time it wouldn’t have been so bad. She would have gotten use to Thomas. Her kids would have kept her busy in the following years. At least they had money so she would have been taken care of.”

  “True. She would have missed her family, though. You know how close you and I are, Charlie. Can you imagine being forcibly separated and on the other side of the world? They would have only had each other for company, stuck out here in the bush. They must have been as thick as thieves.”

  “They would have taken the separation as hard as her death. It would have felt like a death to them anyway. It’s not like they had telephones or emails,” Blair commiserated.

  From the foyer, the telephone rang.

  “Who could that be at this time of night?” Cate grumbled and hurried to the foyer to answer it, wine glass still in hand.

  “Hello? Hello? Hello!?” She slammed the telephone receiver back into its cradle. “Damn phone! When I call in an electrician, I’m going to call in a telephone man as well.”

  “No-one there again?” Charlie asked.

  “Nope, just dead silence. I think while I’m up, I’m going to go to bed. I’ve had enough fun for one day. Good night all.” Cate downed the last sip of her glass and placed it in the sink before saying her final good night for the evening. She climbed the stairs a few moments later, leaving Charlie and Blair to finish off the bottle.

  “Your sister’s a bit of a cynic,” Blair whispered in Charlie’s ear. “I so chose the best one.”

  “She’s not a cynic. She’s just argumentative. You have to admit that she had a good point.”

  “I know. I’m thinking bed sounds like a pretty good prospect right about now, what do you think?”

  “I think I agree. We shouldn’t drink and then try to have an intelligent conversation. Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

  They finished their glasses and staggered upstairs before crawling into bed. Charlie was too tired to worry about having any more nightmares that night. Instead, she just checked to make sure the windows and doors were secured before lying down and closing her eyes.

  * * *

  When the alarm started beeping at 8 a.m. the next morning, it was g
reeted with a synchronised grumble from both Charlie and Blair. The light was streaming in through the windows, reminding them it was definitely time to get up. Blair hit the stop button and rolled over to face his girlfriend.

  “You awake?”

  “Barely. Please tell me it’s not really time to get up,” she opened one eye to look at him.

  “It really is time to get up. We’re meant to be starting on the green room today. You know what they say about the early worm.”

  “It’s the early bird. Firstly, that bird was an insomniac anyway so it doesn’t apply to regular people. Secondly, if you’re a worm then there is absolutely no incentive to get up early otherwise you’ll get eaten.”

  “Okay, if you can say all that then you are definitely awake enough to get up. Come on.” He pulled back the covers and she slowly obliged. They took it in turns to have a shower in the main bathroom before dressing in their worker’s clothes.

  When they went downstairs for breakfast there was a note from Cate. She and Rahni were going down the road for another play date. Charlie knew Cate didn’t like being in the house at the moment so she was purposely planning as many activities for her and Rahni as possible. She didn’t really mind. They got a lot more work done around the house when it was just her and Blair anyway. There were no distractions.

  After having some cereal they collected their painting and tool supplies from the back shed before heading up to the green room on the second level. It was the first bedroom on the left, next to the main staircase. It needed a new coat of paint and some repair work carried out on the architrave. Blair also had his suspicions about the windows, he thought the sill may need replacing in a worst case scenario.

  In the room was a double bed with a moss green doona spread across it. It was made out of a dark wood with a simple carved Tudor rose on the headboard. Also in the room was a chest of drawers and a large, imposing wardrobe. They were made out of the same wood as the bed and featured the same simple Tudor rose carving. They held a simple, understated elegance. Cate had picked up the set at an estate sale. They had been an absolute bargain at only two hundred dollars for the lot. She had boasted to everyone what a steal they were.

  Charlie laid a sheet over the floor in preparation for the painting. They were going to repaint the room in almost the same shade that it currently was, just a bit lighter. With all the dark furniture taking up most of the space in the room, it needed a lighter shade to brighten the place.

  This room was one of the few that didn’t have its own bathroom, so it was never really used very often. Charlie couldn’t think of the time when it was last used, she doubted if it had ever been. Blair opened the paint tin and stirred it until he was satisfied it was combined. He picked up a brush and tried it on the wall.

  “What do you think?”

  “Looks good to me,” she picked up another brush and started working on the wall next to him. They progressed their way around the room together, talking as they applied the paint.

  “You know, I keep getting this feeling this room isn’t meant to be green,” Charlie stated.

  “What do you mean? It’s not called the ‘green room’ for nothing.”

  “I don’t know, it’s weird. In my mind, I can see it as being pink. The bed also shouldn’t be there, but against the opposite wall. I think it’s missing a fireplace too.”

  “You haven’t been sniffing the paint too much, have you? Maybe I should open another window.”

  “I’m being serious. It’s like I can picture how it used to look in the past. I’m pretty sure this was Eve’s room. It comes to me in little flashes. Like, you know how when a camera flash goes off? In that second, I can see another room.”

  “Are you seeing it in your mind? Or, do you actually see it with your eyes?” Blair was asking out of curiosity more than anything.

  “I can see it with my eyes. Then my mind tries to process it and it can’t because it doesn’t make sense. What I’m seeing and then what’s flashing in front of me are two different variations on the one theme.”

  “This Eve girl has really climbed inside your head, hasn’t she?”

  “I can honestly say it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. I don’t mind though, I feel like she’s almost a part of me. If I can help her cross over, then I will do anything necessary. Everyone deserves to rest in peace.”

  “I agree. Have you noticed how cold it’s become in here? Ever since you started talking, the temperature has dropped by ten degrees,” Blair rubbed his arms to reiterate the point.

  “Now you mention it, yeah, it has become colder. Maybe there should be more painting and less talking. That will warm us up.”

  They continued their painting around each wall until finally they reached the last one. In order to paint behind the bed, they had to drag it from its position against the wall. It was a heavy piece of furniture and it seemed to take them ages before it finally budged. The coldness of the room was forgotten as they broke into a sweat with the exertion.

  “I think I need some water,” Charlie stated. “Do you want me to get you something from the kitchen while I’m there?”

  “Water sounds good, thanks.” Blair picked up the paint brush again and started on the final wall. Charlie made sure she didn’t have any stray paint on her feet before stepping off the drop sheet and onto the wooden floorboards. She went around Blair and stopped when she reached the door.

  “I thought we left this open?” She pointed at the now-closed door and looked back at Blair.

  “We did, for ventilation.”

  “That’s weird.” She opened the door and stepped through into the corridor. She made sure to leave it wide open this time so there could be no question about how it was left. Walking down the stairs, she shook her head. This was an unusual house to say the very least. She poured two glasses full of cold water from the refrigerator in the kitchen and returned back upstairs.

  When she reached the green room, the door was closed again. Her hands were both full with the glasses so, with her foot, she carefully kicked the door. On the other side, Blair heard the knock and pulled open the door for her. He took one of the glasses and sipped on the water.

  “Did you close the door after I left?”

  Blair looked confused. “No, I thought you closed it.”

  “I didn’t! I purposefully made sure it was open as far as possible. Leave it open, see if it does it again.”

  They sat on the edge of the bed while drinking their water. At first it was refreshing. As they started to cool down, the coldness in the air reminded them about the reduced temperature they had experienced before moving the bed. It made a shiver run down Charlie’s spine.

  “Thanks, I needed that,” Blair said as he put the glass down and returned to painting. He was keen to get it finished so he could start on the other repairs that were needed. The room gave him the creeps too, he looked forward to being able to leave it.

  To take his mind off the mundane work, he started thinking about what Charlie was experiencing. He’d always been a bit of a sceptic when it came to anything paranormal. If it couldn’t be scientifically proven to be real, then it didn’t exist in his mind. His seventh grade science teacher used to say that you shouldn’t believe anything unless you could either prove it mathematically or scientifically, or touch it with your hand. He knew this was a simplified view of the world, but it had some merit. It had stuck in his mind for some reason and he was reminded of it a lot lately.

  He believed Charlie when she would tell him what she’d experienced. He knew she truly believed everything to be real. That’s all he needed. There may or may not be such things as ghosts or spirits, but she believed it and he trusted her. Plus, the things that had happened to him were hard to explain away. The day he had found the shower running full ball had been enough to put more than a slight doubt in his science theory. He couldn’t explain the peculiar actions of the plumbing, nor the strange feelings he had felt in the bathroom. He had though
t there was someone in there with him, shadowing his movements around the room. He could have sworn there was a person there following him, watching his every move. It was that one experience that had opened his mind to the fact that maybe there really was something else in this world that most people couldn’t see. And it was definitely unable to be scientifically proven. Before that day, he only believed in one thing that couldn’t be seen and that was God. Even his seventh grade science teacher couldn’t eradicate that belief.

  “What’re you thinking about?” Charlie asked as she watched Blair deep in thought.

  “Ghosts, actually. I’m trying to work out how they could exist.”

  “People die, they become spirits. It’s not really rocket science. How do you think they exist?”

  “I don’t know, I didn’t even think they did until we came here. I have always thought that when a person dies, their soul either goes to Heaven to be with God, Hell, or Purgatory until it’s decided. That’s what I’ve always been told. Now, trying to work out where spirits fit into the picture is doing my head in.”

  “You want to hear my theory?”

  “I would love to,” Blair replied earnestly. He couldn’t reconcile his beliefs in his mind, maybe hearing someone else’s point of view might help.

  “I think there is a place like Heaven, it’s just not where we go straight away. I don’t think there is a place like Hell or Purgatory.”

  “How can you not think there is a Hell? The church teaches us there has to be a Hell so you fear it and live the pure life of a Christian. It’s the age old symbolism of good and evil. To have the good, you must have the bad. Without one, the other doesn’t exist.”

  “I just don’t buy it. I believe that souls live on and get reincarnated over and over again. Their soul grows old and wise through life after life. Only once they reach true wisdom does the soul get to go to Heaven. Once there, they can turn into guardian angels and return to earth to invisibly protect those they love. I also think that as the soul gets older, they can choose their next life so they continue to return with the souls they love. I think that’s where the term ‘soul mate’ comes from. It’s something inexplicable that you see in another person. It’s the soul connecting with its partner. That person could be absolutely anyone - a spouse, a mother, a best friend. Once the soul recognises its mate, then it’s whole again to live another life with that person.”