Fall of the House of Crain

by Cindy Winget

  “Who’s out there?” Annabel asked, her voice trembling.

  The planchette began to move, spelling out the name Agnes.

  “Are you the spirit of Agnes Crain?”

  More scratching from the planchette: Yes.

  “What is the reason for your visit?”

  Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

  He must leave.

  “Who? Who must leave?”

  “Ouch!” cried Luke. He was rubbing the back of his neck.

  “What happened?” asked a concerned Theo.

  “The back of my neck was burning,” replied Luke.

  “Hush up!” implored Annabel. “Only I must speak.” She glared at Luke and looked pointedly at his free hand.

  “Sorry!” Luke cried, hastily grabbing her hand.

  Thunder continued to rumble and the patter of rain to ping off the rooftop. The floorboards groaned as the spirit of Agnes Crain continued to circle the group. Dr. Montague broke into a cold sweat. He wasn’t sure he was ready for such an encounter after all. Had this been a mistake?

  Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump.

  Not again! Dr. Montague groaned. The beating of the infernal heart thumped rhythmically against the floorboards, seeming to cry out for release. Dr. Montague’s mind drifted toward Valdemar. But it couldn’t be his heart that Dr. Montague heard. Valdemar’s heart had ceased beating the moment Dr. Montague had mesmerized him!

  “The scratching! The scratching!” wailed Mr. Dudley piteously. “Please stop the scratching!”

  The planchette was scratching across the page at a furious pace. Was that what had upset Mr. Dudley so much? If so, why did the man not leave?

  Dr. Montague bent over the table to read the message. He must leave. This house is mine!

  “Ouch!” cried Luke, holding a hand to his back.

  “Stop breaking the circle!” growled Annabel.

  “Stop the séance,” called out Theo. “He’s hurt.”

  The door to the library banged open, hitting the wall with a loud crash. A peal of thunder and flash of lightning revealed Miss Dudley standing in the doorway, dripping wet and looking livid. Her eyes were crazed and her hair disheveled.

  “Madeleine?” cried Mr. Dudley. “I was right. The scratching. It was you!”

  “You buried me alive!” she screamed at her brother.

  With a yell of fury, Miss Dudley charged at her bewildered brother, trying in vain to hit any part of him she could get her hands on. But the blows weren’t landing. It was then that Dr. Montague realized that she was an apparition. Her body had a translucent opaqueness to it.

  “How could you?” she wailed, devolving into tears.

  Madeleine’s burial clothes were filthy and her fingers bloody from her attempt to get out of her coffin. Her silent tears turned to wracking sobs. Roderick clutched at his chest. With a groan, he slumped down upon the floor. As his life left him, Madeleine’s ghost dissipated, becoming one with the shadows of the library.

  For a few harrowing moments, there was nothing but the sound of the rain and the wind.

  “Is he dead?” asked a tremulous Eleanor.

  Dr. Montague reached the remains of Mr. Dudley just as Harry turned on the lights. Dr. Montague searched for a pulse but felt nothing. He checked to see if Roderick was breathing. No oxygen passed through his lips.

  He was gone.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The next morning, they buried Mr. Dudley in the crypt next to his sister and held a small funeral service as they had done for Miss Dudley.

  Eleanor hoped that this time the Dudleys were both well and truly dead. Every time she pondered on Miss Dudley being buried alive, she felt faint or like she wanted to throw up. She couldn’t fathom the fear the poor woman must have undergone.

  And poor Mr. Dudley to have suspected the mistake he had made, for his odd ramblings now became abundantly clear. To have had his worst fear come to pass must have been more than the elderly man could endure. Eleanor could only guess how it would feel to truly die of fright. She could only hope that the pair had found peace and that wherever they were, they were together.

  “I am so sorry for your loss,” Harry said.

  There were nods all around and solemn declarations of what a tragedy it was.

  Eleanor also thought of Luke. It was discovered later that he had large, livid red scratches on his back and neck, presumably inflicted upon him by the ghost of Agnes Crain, who was angry at Luke’s family for taking possession of the house she felt rightfully belonged to her.

  The group wandered back inside where Annabel fixed cold sandwiches, a fruit and veggie platter, and some punch.

  Harry and Arthur were leaving today right after the luncheon. Eleanor was sad to see them go. They were great company, despite the circumstances, and she felt that life would be duller after their departure.

  “Eleanor, may I speak to you for a moment?” asked Dr. Montague.

  With surprise, Eleanor nodded and followed him from the dining room and into the small sitting room that the group had used so often.

  “What do you wish to tell me?” she asked, feeling apprehensive.

  “I want you to leave with Harry and Arthur.”

  “What? Why? Have I not been doing a good job?”

  Dr. Montague shifted his weight. “It isn’t that. You’re a wonderful assistant. I just feel that you are in over your head when it comes to Hill House. It isn’t for the faint of heart.”

  “I’m not scared,” she said, folding her arms.

  “Maybe you should be.”

  “But Theo and Luke need my help.”

  “They agree with me. They both think you should leave.”

  This hurt Eleanor. She thought she had been making real headway with Theo and that they were becoming good friends. So why then would she wish Eleanor to leave?

  “Let me say this as delicately as possible,” said Dr. Montague carefully. “Hill House has a way of getting into your mind. It can manipulate you into a false sense of security. It can drive you mad, and that is what we fear is happening to you.”

  Eleanor couldn’t believe this. Did they all view her as crazy?

  “I know this must be a shock for you to hear. Theo was worried because you had nowhere to go. Therefore, it is fortuitous that Harry and Arthur have showed up when they did. They have both agreed to help find you an affordable place to live. Or perhaps you can do as Theo suggested and become a live-in nurse somewhere.”

  “But I thought that perhaps I could live with Theo…” she said, hating how scared and childish her voice sounded.

  Dr. Montague looked uncomfortable. “Yes, well, that’s really up to Theo. I’m just the messenger.”

  “I don’t want to go. I like it here.”

  “I’m sorry, but I really must insist,” said Dr. Montague, tugging on his beard. “I’ll still pay you for services rendered. It should be enough for a down payment on an apartment. They’re planning on leaving in an hour, so I suggest you go and pack.”

  Eleanor held back the tears until she was out of sight, then she let them rain down her face in steady rivulets. She stuffed her skirts and blouses into her valise and snapped it shut. Dragging it to the door, she turned for one last glimpse of the blue room where she had had her first adventure.

  She lugged her valise down the staircase to rest by the front door, and then stepped back into the dining room where she presumed the group was still eating lunch.

  “Eleanor! Where have you been!?” asked a frantic Theo as she hurried across the room to where Eleanor stood.

  “I was packing. Dr. Montague told me that you all want me to leave,” she said, a slight accusation in her tone.

  “But you’ve been gone for hours! It shouldn’t have taken you so long. It’s dinner time.”

  It was? She glanced out the large windows and saw that the sun was already on its way down. It felt like she had only been upstairs for maybe a half hour, an hour at the most. How could it already be dinner time?
Then again, Harry and Arthur had claimed it had been three weeks when they showed up to Hill House. She pondered on what Dr. Montague had told her about Hill House being manipulative. Did time move differently here?

  “If I was gone for so long and you were so worried, why did you not come to my room to find me?” She let some of her anger and resentment color her voice.

  “I did,” insisted Theo. “You weren’t there. No one else had seen you either.”

  A little mystified, Eleanor could only say, “Well, I am here now.”

  Theo threw her arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”

  For the first time, Eleanor began to realize how melodramatic Theo could be. Perhaps it was for the best that they weren’t going to live together after all.

  She was surprised to see that Harry and Arthur were still here. “I thought you fellas were leaving right after lunch?”

  “We were,” said Arthur. “But we promised Dr. Montague to help you, so we waited.”

  Eleanor smiled at the benevolent man. “Thank you.”

  As the rest of the group joined them for a simple meal of hot tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, Eleanor ruminated on what her life would be like now.

  Boring. Lonely.

  As she blew on her soup, her throat thickened and more tears threatened to fall. Everyone else around her seemed oblivious to the misery she was feeling. She tried to reassure herself that with Mother gone, she at least didn’t have to bow to ridiculous demands. She no longer had to get up in the middle of the night, and she could leave her apartment whenever she felt like it.

  And go where?

  Well, she was used to being alone, for the most part. She had her books, and it would be a joy to be able to keep house in her own place.

  Despite her attempts to cheer herself up, her feelings of despondency seemed to increase with the sinking of the sun behind the hills.

  “I plan on leaving as well,” revealed Annabel.

  “Why? You’ve been in no way an intrusion,” protested Theo.

  “Oh, I know. But it’s time. I wasn’t originally part of John’s little experiment, and he has been kind enough to allow me to stay this long, but I fear I have overstepped my welcome. There are other places that need my attention. I’ve already called a cab, which should arrive shortly.”

  “All I can say is that I’m grateful to have participated in what was truly a miraculous event,” said Arthur, looking at Harry as though daring him to contradict him.

  “I’ll admit, I didn’t see anything fraudulent in that séance,” admitted Harry. “I can only conclude that I have finally been party to a true haunting.”

  The group gathered in the spacious entrance hall to say their goodbyes. Harry handed Eleanor a slip of paper. “We’ll meet you at this address to go over your options,” he told her. She nodded. Harry and Arthur climbed into their individual motorcars, and the group waved as the men drove away. Only a few minutes later, a yellow taxi pulled into the drive.

  “Thanks for letting me crash your party,” Annabel told Dr. Montague before giving him a kiss on the cheek and climbing inside the vehicle. “It was nice to meet you all!” she called before the taxi drove out of sight.

  “Are you certain you’re okay to drive at night?” Dr. Montague asked Eleanor.

  “Doesn’t seem I have much of a choice, do I?” Eleanor muttered as she hefted her luggage into the trunk of her roadster and slammed it shut.

  She hugged Theo. “I’ll never forget you,” she said as her eyes filled with tears. “I was so certain that we were going to be best friends.”

  “We are friends, Eleanor. I’m glad to have met you.”

  Eleanor let go and turned toward Luke. Not knowing what to say, she simply thrust out her hand and gave him a handshake.

  Dr. Montague stepped up and handed her an envelope. “This is the money I owe you for all the work you’ve done. I appreciate your help. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that you have to leave, but I truly think it’s for the best.”

  Eleanor only nodded and took the envelope from him, stuffing it into her skirt pocket. She climbed into her roadster and put it in drive. The headlights blared to life, casting yellow light onto the gravel drive. A murder of crows sat silently staring at her from a tall skeletal tree that grew alongside the road. As she slowly rolled along, small rocks crunching beneath her tires, her despondency turned to sudden elation. She had thought of a way to remain here at Hill House, nevermore to be parted from the place she now called home. With newfound joy, Eleanor slammed her foot down on the accelerator and aimed for the tree.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Theo screamed over the noise of crunching metal and breaking glass. Before she could wrap her head around what had just happened, the front door slammed shut. She wrenched at the doorknob, desperate to see if Eleanor was okay, but it refused to budge.

  “Open up!” she yelled, kicking the door.

  “I should have sent her home earlier,” said Dr. Montague, looking pale and disbelieving. “I should have realized the extent of Hill House’s influence upon her.”

  “There is nothing we can do about it now,” spoke Luke, trying to be pragmatic and jog Dr. Montague from his shock.

  Theo would have thought his comment callous had she not seen the haunted look in his eyes. “Let’s try a different door,” Theo said, heading toward the side of the house where sat numerous ways out to the verandah. The three of them tried unsuccessfully to open each and every one. Theo began checking the windows.

  “We’re trapped!” she shrieked.

  Would she be driven insane as well? Starting to breathe heavily, she felt as though the walls of Hill House were closing in on her. She felt eyes upon her. The need to get outside was overpowering.

  “I must…I need to…” She pulled and struggled against the window.

  “Calm down, Theo. Everything’s going to be alright,” soothed Luke.

  She turned on him. “You don’t know that!”

  “Let’s split up,” said Dr. Montague breathlessly. “We’ll try every door and window in Hill House.”

  “I’m not going anywhere alone,” cried Theo, grabbing Luke’s hand.

  “That’s fine. You and Luke may go together.”

  Theo gave a sigh of relief and followed Luke down the narrow hallway to the dining room. She reluctantly let go of his hand as they each began checking every door and window in the room. When no results yielded, they moved on.

  An hour went by with no success. They were trapped inside Hill House.

  “Do you think Eleanor is dead?” Theo asked. She clenched her hands into fists to prevent them from shaking.

  Luke didn’t answer right away. “I don’t want to alarm you, but probably. Or she shortly will be. Even if we got out of the house right now, she would likely be gone before we could get her to a hospital.”

  Tears filled Theo’s eyes. She should have been kinder to Eleanor, despite her strangeness and social awkwardness. She should have agreed to be her roommate. Perhaps then none of this would have happened. The tears overflowed and ran down her face.

  “Do you think Dr. Montague has found a way out yet?” she asked, wiping the tears quickly away.

  Luke could only shrug.

  * * *

  Dr. Montague was rounding the corner to the next room—a parlor—when he stopped. Standing before him was Valdemar. Not as he had known him in life, but as he had been in death. Valdemar stared unblinkingly at Dr. Montague out of a pale, gaunt face. His chest neither rose nor fell with breath.

  “But I…” began Dr. Montague.

  “Murdered me?” supplied Valdemar.

  Dr. Montague shuddered. “I didn’t murder you. You were already dead!”

  Valdemar took a step toward him, and as he did so, he began to decay. His flesh turned dark and sloughed off, leaving behind only stark white bone. A putrid odor permeated the room, causing Dr. Montague to turn away in disgust and plug his nose.

  Despite
the fact that Valdemar stood in front of him, Dr. Montague became aware of the sound of a thumping heart beating underneath the floorboards. He covered both ears with the palms of his hands, trying to block out the noise.

  “Stop it!” he screamed. “You can’t be here! I killed you!”

  “You can’t run away from your sins,” said Valdemar, his teeth clacking as his jaws clinked together. The walking skeleton continued to make its way slowly toward Dr. Montague. Staring, always staring, despite the empty eye sockets.

  Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump.

  “Go away! You aren’t meant to be here!”

  “Are you not the one who was seeking life after death? Are you not the one who wanted to know if ghosts were real?” Valdemar began to laugh. A horrible sound, like nails on a chalkboard.

  “Don’t come any closer!” Dr. Montague implored, holding his hands out pleadingly, whilst all the while came the infernal thumping of the heart. “Please!”

  He was dead! I was sure of it! His heart had ceased to beat long before I placed him beneath the floorboards!

  Desperate to corroborate his own recollection, Dr. Montague ran from the room and hastened to Valdemar’s bedchamber. He reached for the crowbar he had hidden under the bed and began tearing up the floorboards in a flurry of sweat-inducing yanks, wrenching furiously at the wood, caring little when they snapped under the pressure of his manic desire.

  When he had uncovered the remains of his old friend, he reached into the mess of ichor and gore and pulled out Valdemar’s heart among the bones, remarkably intact. He was right. It had ceased to beat and lay still in his hand.

  “Applesauce! What is that!?” came a cry from the doorway.

  Dr. Montague turned and found Luke, slack-jawed, staring at him in horror as the last of Valdemar’s blood ran down his wrist and dripped upon the floor.

  “It’s Valdemar’s heart,” Dr. Montague said with a touch of relief.

  “What’s going on here?” Theo asked in confusion as she stepped up behind Luke and peered into the room. She let out a piercing scream when her eyes landed upon Dr. Montague and what he was holding.