THE APPOINTMENT: A chilling ghost story of malevolence and death

by Peppi Hilton

  Kelly arrived back with the food, and the aroma quickly filled the room as she walked through to the kitchen.

  “I’ve finished now,” Francine called down to her.

  “Hold on, let me steady the ladders before you climb down.” Kelly put the food on the table and walked over to the hatch to hold the ladders in place whilst Francine descended them.

  “I’ll just wash my hands, I won’t be a tick.” Francine popped into the cloakroom and freshened herself up, before joining Kelly at the table.

  Kelly opened a bottle of wine and filled two glasses and they both sat at the table to eat. They chatted about the trip to America and the excitement of all the plans in hand, and talked of making sure they had a celebratory night out before she left. Nothing was mentioned of what Francine had discovered in the loft, and it was a stress free and very pleasurable afternoon. Kelly seemed to be in good spirits, and no further mention was made of the complications of drinking alcohol with antidepressant drugs. Francine had no intentions of lecturing her friend, no matter how concerned she may feel, and she had enough to concentrate on already, having learned of the connection to the murdered girl.

  As they both hugged at the door, they promised to be in touch soon regarding the arrangements for their night out, and Francine went back to her own apartment after saying goodnight.

  As soon as she walked through the door, she switched on her computer and checked her emails. The image which she had emailed to her desktop had arrived safely in her inbox. After taking off her jacket and wandering through her apartment to put on a few lamps, she proceeded to take a closer look at the family tree and the scribbled notes which had been added to the back. She was amazed at what it revealed. The chart began with the year 1850 and James Oliver Carrington, who was better known locally as The Squire, who owned and resided at Hill House. He had a sister called Eliza Sophia Carrington, who worked as a Governess in Sweden and who, in 1850, married a Swedish man called Stefan Peterson. They had two children, Stefan junior who was born in 1851, and Olga who was born in 1853. In 1863 Eliza and her husband Stefan were killed in a Horse and Carriage accident. Stefan Junior remained in Sweden because he went to live with his Swedish relatives, and his sister Olga moved to Yorkshire, England, where she went to live with her uncle James Carrington at Hill House; she was ten years old. In 1868, at the age of fifteen, she was brutally murdered. There was no further information regarding Olga, or the circumstances of her death. Francine went on to read that in 1875, Stefan junior Peterson, who was still living in Sweden, married Ingrid Olufsen who then became Ingrid Peterson. In 1880 they had a daughter Anna Peterson, who in 1905 married an Englishman called David Middleton, so she became Anna Middleton. She moved to Yorkshire in the North of England, to her new husband’s homeland. They had a daughter in 1908 called Sarah, and in 1915 a son called John. In 1940 John married Eileen Smith who then became Eileen Middleton. They had a son called Graham Middleton - and he was Kelly’s father.

  It was simply too much to take in – too bizarre. Francine sat back and pondered on this new revelation. It just didn’t add up. Not only was Kelly related to the girl who was murdered at Hill House, she was also related to the man who owned it, who was known as The Squire. It was too incredible to absorb, and she read it through several times to convince herself that she had not misunderstood, or misread the content. But the puzzle did not end there. How on earth could Kelly’s family, and their distant relatives, be connected to The Grange, and what did it have to do with Hill House? She ran it through her mind over and over again, just like she did when handling a court case, but unlike a trial where there was evidence to be considered, in this case it was all speculation – and right now it wasn’t making any sense.

  Except deep in her mind, she felt there were too many coincidences for it to be free of any connection to the abandoned mansion.

  In her profession she often had to dig deep into the history of a brief, in order to arrive at a positive solution. She would have to apply the same skills in order to solve the mystery of what had really happened at The Grange. Had it been a ghostly encounter - or hallucinations as Kelly believed? One thing she knew for sure, it must have been pretty horrific to send Kelly back to that dark world which she had fought so hard to come out of all those years ago. She would get to the bottom of it, no matter what. She had to save her friend from going backwards, and messing up her future with the man she loved. But for now she would have to close her mind to it. She was in the middle of a court case and she was under pressure to close it in five days, so that was her priority for now.

  12

  IAs the week was drawing to a close, Francine was still feeling troubled at Kelly’s need for medication. She had truly hoped that she could have found a link to The Grange, which would convince Kelly that she had entered a time warp when she visited the property that day, and that it had nothing to do with her past illness and hallucinations.

  Although focused on her professional job all week, nagging questions still continued to interfere with her thoughts. She was convinced that Kelly’s relationship to the girl, and to The Squire, must somehow hold the key which would unlock Pandora’s Box. Even the date on which Kelly visited The Grange, matched the date of the hanging of Wolfgang Alfonse Gottschalk. There were too many coincidences to be ignored. She also explored several scenarios in her mind: maybe Olga lived at Hill House and Wolfgang lived at The Grange, therefore bringing them together at each of the properties. Maybe they were lovers – but she soon discounted that, after all Olga was only fifteen years old when she was murdered. And so the speculation went on in her head until she couldn’t let it lie any longer. She would take the first chance she had to explore the internet to do a wider search, to see if she could discover anything about Hill House which would prove, or disprove, once and for all, a connection to The Grange. When she did eventually get the opportunity, she was not to be disappointed.

  The information which she found on the internet was brief but comprehensive:

  THE HISTORY OF HILL HOUSE: Hill House was built on the site of a former mediaeval dwelling, which fell into disrepair and complete ruin by the end of the seventeenth century. It stood in an elevated position, high on a hill, with panoramic vistas across an isolated moorland road, which joined the two counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire together. The land surrounding Hill House and the site on which it stood, had been owned for centuries by several generations of the Scarlett family. It did not change ownership until the early eighteen hundreds when it was bought by a wealthy mill owner, James Oliver Carrington, a well-respected man, and a philanthropist, who was known to the locals as The Squire. He employed a number of household staff, including a butler who was a well-educated German man, which caused controversy throughout both counties. The house became infamous in 1869 when the butler was hanged for the brutal murder of The Squire’s niece. The Squire never recovered from the tragedy, or his reputation which had been badly damaged. He abandoned the property and was never heard of again. Several years later, the house and its vast estate was sold to Captain de Wolfe, who, in order to rid it of its reputation, changed its name to The Grange. He surrounded it with a forest of fir trees which stretched into the forests of Uplands, in order to shield it from prying eyes in the hope that its past history would eventually be forgotten. He extended the property and added four castellated towers, but never saw it finished as he was lost at sea before completion.

  Francine had finally found that one important piece of information which solved the mystery of how Hill House was connected to The Grange. They were one and the same property. She could hardly believe her luck.

  Francine was delighted at what she had just discovered. She didn’t need to read any more about the history of the house, she had seen enough. At last she would be able to prove to Kelly the truth of what she had witnessed at The Grange that fatal day, and hopefully convince her that she had not suffered hallucinations, but had entered a time warp whereby she had seen a fl
ashback of a past event. If she succeeded in proving her theory to her, then that should hopefully be sufficient to persuade her to come off the medication. In her current state she was not behaving like the kind and considerate person she had always been before the sighting began, she was becoming withdrawn and sullen, and her entire personality was undergoing severe fluctuations, and Francine was worried that Matthew may not understand why the changes had occurred, which may not help their relationship. Even though Kelly had experienced a second hallucination in her own apartment, Francine was convinced that it was due to the antidepressants playing tricks with her mind when being mixed with alcohol, thereby recreating the same images as before. She hoped to persuade Kelly that time slips can, and do exist. She couldn’t wait to tell her the good news.

  Two days later they were both sitting in Kelly’s apartment, enjoying a glass of wine from a bottle already half empty by the time Francine had arrived. Francine did not delay in telling her what she had discovered since they last met. Kelly seemed to be taking it all in, but when her response came it was not exactly what Francine wanted to hear.

  “I can only presume that my parents must have told me about the murder of Olga, sometime in the dim and distant past. And whilst I will have forgotten, it may have somehow lodged itself in my subconscious. No doubt it has been resurrected in my mind by way of hallucinations, due to my mental health problems. I must have known everything all along, without realising. Because my parents were keen to follow up their Swedish roots, which brought about their fate, I must have shut it all out due to the shock of what happened. It’s called denial and my psychiatrist explained all that to me at the very outset. He told me I wasn’t facing up to the truth of what had happened, but that one day something could unlock it from my memory. I’m grateful to you Fran, because you have proven to me that my appointment that day at The Grange, unlocked the door to the memories and the horrors which had been buried deep in the archives of my mind, forcing me to face up to them. I did the right thing by going back on the medication, because I’m much calmer about it all now, although it will take time before I can put it all behind me. Joining Matthew in America will resolve all that once and for all.”

  Francine was taken aback by her answer. This was just not what she expected and she couldn’t respond right away. It was clear that Kelly was resigned to believing that she was suffering from a mental illness, and nothing that Francine could say would shake that conviction. She was disappointed.

  “There are other factors to take into account as well,” continued Kelly. “I’ve been having a lot of disturbing dreams. Again, I must reiterate Fran they can only be flashbacks from my past, or perhaps scenes from a book I might have once read.”

  “And what are the dreams about?”

  Kelly hesitated for a while and drained her glass of wine. She picked up the bottle and leaned over to top up Francine’s which was still half full, but she declined. Kelly filled her own, whilst Francine looked on with concern.

  Kelly recalled all of the dreams in detail, as well as the emotions which they left her with, and her friend listened quietly. When she appeared to have finished, there followed a moment’s silence before she continued again.

  “For the last couple of nights I’ve had a strange recurring dream. I’ve tried to remember if it relates to something in my past, but I can’t think of anything. It seems ever so real at the time, and when I waken I’m left with a strong feeling that I was taking the place of the character in the dream.”

  “Do you want to tell me about it?”

  Kelly was deep in thought, as if she were trying to force her memory to open the door to her past and unlock its secrets.

  “In my dream I’m almost like two different people. I see a black coach and horses travelling furiously along the moorland road which leads to The Grange, except everything looks different. The house is not quite the same, and the landscape is much more rugged and bleak because it’s happening in the eighteen hundreds. I’m a child and I’m inside the coach, yet I know I’m not in the coach because I’m an onlooker and I know I’m dreaming. I can’t see inside the carriage, but it’s as if I’m watching myself knowing I’m in there. My heart is filled with emotion. I know I’m alone in the world, except for the driver, and I’m overwhelmed with great sadness. I am drowning in these feelings as if I’m trapped in the dream. There is no sound and I can’t communicate with anyone; I can only watch as it all happens. I don’t know where I’m being taken, but it has been an arduous journey and I have travelled a long way. I know these things only by instinct. I am taken to the big house and as I step down from the coach, he is there in the scene helping me out of the carriage and I am instantly afraid of him and his staring eyes. But then an older man, with a kindly face and long grey whiskers, greets me and takes me by the hand. I am comfortable with him, as I know somehow that I will be safe with him as he leads me to the door of the house. In my dream, I know I have been taken to the big house on the hill, yet as an onlooker I know it is The Grange – even though it looks different. And then I awaken, filled with melancholy and extreme loneliness, as well as unbelievable fear. The emotions feel real and they don’t wear off like they do in real dreams. But I’ve seen the little girl and the coach and horses before - they were in the picture I told you about, the one on the wall of the room at The Grange – the room I imagined. The past and the present are getting all mixed up in my head.”

  “Maybe it’s the medication Kelly. You’ve had bad dreams before, and your medication was changed. Perhaps you’re still suffering from side effects.”

  “No, you’re wrong – he’s in my head, he’s there – I know he is.” Kelly snapped. “I’m being taunted by my demons and they’re controlling my mind and causing confusion.”

  Francine knew there was nothing she could say. Kelly’s convictions were unshakeable and Francine felt utterly defeated in her efforts to save her friend from herself. She had tried her best and failed – the feelings were similar to when she had been unable to defend a client successfully in court - and it was a bitter pill to swallow.

  “You’ve only got ten days to wait and you’ll be with Matthew. Perhaps when you’re there you’ll feel much better. I’m sure in time the bad dreams will go away and you may feel confident enough to withdraw from the medication.”

  Kelly looked at her wistfully. It was clear that the alcohol mixed with the medication was taking effect. Francine could only look on with sadness. If only she had never gone to The Grange that day, none of this would be happening. There had been no more mention of them getting together before she flew off to America, and there had been little mention of Matthew in general, whereas only a few weeks ago Kelly was brimming with excitement. In fact there had been very little contact between her and Francine at all recently, which she had put down to both of them being busy with their careers. Something was happening to Kelly and Francine had no idea what it was.

  When Francine got up to leave, Kelly walked her to the door. They had a long hug and said goodnight, and as the door closed and locked behind her Francine walked back to her apartment with a heavy heart.

  Francine had a couple of free days following the closure of her last court case. Deeply troubled by her friend’s predicament and state of mind, she racked her brain trying to find an answer, still convinced that it had something to do with Kelly’s connection to the murdered girl and the Squire. Then out of the blue she realised she might have missed something important, and wondered why she had not paid more attention to it before. It was suddenly very clear to her that it all centred on the killer Wolfgang Alfonse Gottschalk, after all, he was the principal character in all what was going on - he was the one in control. The evidence, though circumstantial, pointed to him. She had been so busy with her court work that she had not been able to see things clearly regarding anything outside it. It had never occurred to her to conduct an inquiry into his background, just as she would with a brief, and so she knew very little about
him. In her research, she had concentrated on The Grange being the prime subject, in her quest to prove that a murder had taken place there in the past. If she’d have paid more attention to the perpetrator in the first place, she might have found something in his background that would unravel the whole scenario. She decided to check the internet once more to see what she could find.

  She did a search on Wolfgang Alfonse Gottschalk and before she had finished typing in the year of the murder, his profile appeared on the screen. A black and white image of him, immediately defined him as the character Kelly had seen on the date of her appointment at The Grange. He had black hair sleeked back from his face, exposing his cold staring eyes and harsh unattractive features. He was instantly repulsive to look at. She took a long hard look at the image almost willing him to tell her what was going on. But once she began to read the short history of him, everything began to make sense and the pieces slowly began to fit the puzzle.