The Haunting at Morgan's Rock

by M. L. Bullock

  “I don’t know, Alex, but I was on a business lunch with Micah Todd, an editor for the local paper. He had some rare pictures to show me and is giving me access to some research. I swear, you could have just walked inside and said hello. How long did you sit out there and watch me?” I couldn’t shake that feeling again, the feeling that someone was watching me. I heard a door slam on the other side of the house. “Hold on a second.” I put the phone to my chest and yelled, “Hello?”

  Nobody answered.

  “I’ve got to go, Alex. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I didn’t wait for him to argue with me. I hung up the phone and stood quietly in the kitchen, listening carefully for any further sounds. Just when I thought it had been my imagination, I heard another door slam, only this sound came from the second floor. My least favorite place.

  Well, there was nothing to do but check it out. Sliding a kitchen knife out of the block, I walked toward the stairs.

  Chapter Ten

  February 1923

  I’d come to the balcony to smoke and watch the fog, but I woke up sometime later. The air was cold and damp, as a heavy dew had fallen. The sky was that strange dark blue color, the color of night fading, as the sun threatened to rise. How long had I been here? I felt as weak as a kitten, and my face was wet.

  “Vivian?” I whispered. She’d said goodnight to me before I walked out here. She was the last person I had seen. “Vivian?” I said a little louder. It wasn’t Vivian who answered me but Dan.

  Dan without his coat, his hair a mess, his shirt not neatly buttoned. “Joanna? What happened? You’re bleeding.”

  “I must have fallen. Help me up, Danny.” I said as I sat up slowly. As I did, my nose dripped blood. It spilled on my shirt, and my hand immediately flew to my face.

  “Here, put your arm around my neck.” He leaned down, and I did as he instructed me. He helped me off the balcony and tucked me into a nearby chair, then raced away to find a towel and returned with Vivian in tow. The servants must be busy with Mother. Why else would I be left lying outdoors all night? Yes, it would be morning any minute now. I felt so tired, but the blood continued to pour.

  Vivian said, “Tilt your head back. Dan, go pull her sheets back. She is as cold as ice. Now, now, Joanna. It will be okay. It is just a nosebleed. You won’t die from a nosebleed.”

  I was in no position to argue with her, but I did feel sick and dizzy. I couldn’t have lost that much blood. But something had happened to me.

  Try to remember, Punchanella. You must remember.

  I stepped out to smoke. I could see the fog coming in, Father. That horrible dragon’s breath, the one that took you away from me. I watched it crawl closer and heard the whisperings, the voices. Oh, there were voices in the fog. I heard the dead talking—talking to me. Oh, Father! What do I do?

  Danny returned, and I clutched his arm. “It was the dragon’s breath, Danny. I saw it, I was watching it. That’s the last thing I remember, but I heard something. I heard voices…”

  “Now, dearest. Don’t fret. There’s no telling what you saw.” Despite his words, his face paled at my description. “Calm yourself, Joanna.”

  “Listen to him, cousin. Keep your head back and stop talking.”

  I practically jumped from the chair. “I know what I saw and what I heard. If you two hadn’t been so preoccupied, you might have known I was lying on the balcony all night.” I had a few more things to say, but the dizziness threatened to overtake me again. I wanted to go to my room, to my own bed. Emma would help me. Yes, I would wait for Emma.

  “Joanna, please,” Dan said in a soft voice that warned me to keep my own voice down. What did I care what he and Vivian did in their own time? I didn’t care, not one little bit, but I wanted to go to bed. I was so tired now. I slapped Vivian’s hand away as I walked clumsily toward my room. I managed to kick off my shoes and peel off my bloody shirt before climbing into bed with my camisole top and pants on. The door closed, and I heard voices outside. They were talking about me. I wanted to yell at them, to tell them to go away, but I was too tired. I could do nothing but succumb to deep sleep.

  I fell into it gladly.

  When my eyes flickered open, I still felt tired. Exhausted, just as I used to feel after spending a day in the Egyptian sand, following my parents into dank tombs, shuffling away to find broken treasures of pottery or the rare unique find like my scarab necklace. How I missed that trinket. Such a precious gift, and I had lost it. What a clumsy girl I was. So clumsy that I must have hit my head on the balcony. I always hated the balcony and usually avoided it as much as I could, but I’d had such an urge to go outside and watch the fog. It was like I did not have a mind of my own. Like I had fallen under a spell, but that couldn’t be right. People under spells didn’t light cigarettes. Did they?

  Nomi, nomi, vita…

  Nomi, nomi, ray…

  I sat up in the bed and reached for my robe. My mouth tasted like blood, and I was sure I had dried remnants of it on my face. Where was this disturbing sound coming from? I slid my feet into my slippers and walked to the open window, the smell of rain warning me to close it. I heard the voices more clearly now. They were coming from beneath me, perhaps from another floor? Maybe in the woods? The acoustics at Morgan’s Rock were tricky. It was hard to know for sure where the voices were. I had to go seek them out.

  Nomi, nomi, vita…

  A strange chanting. Yes, that’s right. Chanting. I’d heard it before at the mosque in Cairo. But no, this wasn’t Arabic or any other language I recognized.

  I walked to Mother’s room. I’d been avoiding her since I had witnessed her spell. I knew it was beneath me to do so, but I could not bear to see her like that. Part of me did not believe that she was my mother at all. Where was the sophisticated and intelligent Zea Storm? I opened her door quietly now, hoping to peek in on her without her spotting me, and hurried to her bedside. The curtains were up, and she looked peaceful in her repose. Spinning on my heel, I turned to leave when she whispered my name.

  “Joanna, help me.”

  I paused and fumbled with my robe before turning back around to answer her. As I did, I could see that she still had her eyes closed. She had not moved a muscle.

  “Mother? I’m here.” I cinched my robe tighter. “It’s me, Mother.” I stepped closer to the bed and waited. Had I imagined hearing her call me too? She snored softly and didn’t flinch when I touched her wrist. She snorted but only turned her head slightly away from me. I withdrew my hand and stepped back from the bed.

  I should wake her. I should tell her that I love her, that I have always loved her, no matter how broken she became.

  Nomi, nomi, vita…

  The chanting was back. I wiped away the dampness from my eyes and backed out of the room. I never took my eyes off my mother, and she didn’t stir again. Closing the door, I walked slowly down the stairs. The fine hairs all over my body rose up as if I’d rubbed my socked feet on the carpet for a long time. Yes, that’s exactly how it felt, along with a dreadful sickness.

  Nomi…

  The feathers at the sleeves of my robe flitted about as if an invisible breeze blew them. I stepped onto the second-floor landing and waited. “Hello? Emma? Is that you?”

  Nobody answered me. A door creaked on its hinges, and the sound of crystals clinking together gave further evidence that a strange breeze was blowing through this place. That wasn’t hard to imagine. The servants were always leaving windows open. A hissing sound beckoned me from the bottom of the stairs. I clutched my stomach and waited for it to stop. I had a choice. I could go back to my room and hide, or I could investigate this intrusive sound.

  I wasn’t going to hide. I was Joanna Storm. Morgan’s Rock was my home. And I was curious now. No, not just curious. I was being drawn to the sound. Yes, it was beckoning me. The voices were beckoning me.

  Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t on the second floor but downstairs. The front door stood wide open, and the wind was blowing
outside. A storm was coming, and quickly too. I wondered who would have left this door open…who would do that? Vivian wouldn’t do such a thing. But Dan had been here. Maybe he’d left it open.

  Oh, yes. Danny and Vivian. I’d almost forgotten about them. What were they up to? Did Danny love her?

  Nomi, nomi, ray se va karu…

  The voices were more insistent now. Demanding. They wanted me, called me. I reached for the light switch, but it did not obey me. I flipped it repeatedly, but the hallway was determined to remain dark. I shuddered in the half-light but kept my head down and walked on toward the sound. Where were these voices coming from? The kitchen? I walked into the room—usually it was warm in here and there were always pleasant smells, but not now. There was a foul smell, like rotting meat.

  Don’t be silly. That’s just your bloody skin that you smell. You need a bath, old girl.

  That’s what Danny would have told me, but he wasn’t here now. And what I was smelling had to be more than some dried blood.

  Nomi…

  I put my hand on the pantry door and walked inside. It was a large pantry with plenty of shelves and bins for storage. There was a wine rack on the far wall, but it looked off. It was usually flush against the wall and was slightly off-center now. I walked toward it, uncaring that my white robe would become completely dusty in here. Yes, there was dust everywhere.

  Vita…

  That’s where it was coming from! I could hear the sounds clearly now. Many voices, not just one. Familiar voices. Danny? I walked toward the wine rack and noticed a slit in the wall. Only it wasn’t a wall…it was a door. How could there be a door here? I thought I knew every inch of this place. I had explored every room, hadn’t I?

  Yes, long ago, but not this room. No, you never explored this room. See what you missed? There’s something here.

  The door opened with a creak, and the voices got quiet. In for a penny, in for a pound, as my father would say. It was dark down there, very dark indeed. But there was a soft glow. I could see it as I stepped down onto the wooden staircase.

  The light was fading, so I walked faster. Where were they going? I wanted to call out to them, to command them to stay, but I did not. I was too afraid. I was in my own home, but this seemed wrong. I felt evil all around me. Evil that Danny knew about.

  “Danny?”

  A long, narrow corridor stretched out before me. In the distance, I saw the light dim until it disappeared completely.

  And then the pantry door slammed behind me.

  Chapter Eleven

  Present Day

  With an urgency I’d rarely experienced, I blazed through the kitchen and hurried into the pantry. I flipped the switch and glanced around the room. It wasn’t exactly as I remembered it in my dream—no, make that vision—but I could clearly see the back wall. There was no wine rack there now. That had been replaced with rickety metal shelves that were thankfully half empty. I set the knife down, slid the boxes of canned goods across the floor and tugged at the shelves. They weren’t connected to the wall in any way and came loose easily enough.

  But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the wall had been plastered. No doubt there had been an entrance there; why else would she have shown me that? She must be trapped down there. Is that what happened to you, Joanna? I sobbed as I slapped my hands against the unpainted Sheetrock. Who would do this to you? Vivian? Danny?

  With my back against the wall, I glanced around the room. There had to be a way to tear this wall down. There were no tools in the pantry, but I was pretty sure there would be some in the storage building out back. What would I need? Probably a sledgehammer or at least some kind of hammer.

  I raced back to my room and shed my pajamas, trading them in for blue jeans and one of my oldest t-shirts. I tied my wild blond hair up in a ponytail, slid on my shoes and headed outside to find something. I had to get into the hidden room. Joanna needed me to find her. She needed me!

  Without thinking it through, without counting the costs, I searched for a sledgehammer. There were dozens of tools out here but no sledgehammer. I did find an ax, though. I reached for it and tugged it free from the tool rack. It was a heavy thing but not too heavy for me. I could do this. I had to get to the truth.

  “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Crap, Alex! You scared the hell out of me. Don’t you know it’s dangerous to scare a woman while she’s holding an ax?” I patted my chest and tried to catch my breath. How did he get the drop on me like that? Not like me at all.

  “What are you doing with that?”

  “I’m not chopping up the neighbors if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m doing some…renovations.”

  “Renovations? Since when do you do those? Don’t you have a chapter to finish? A book to finish? Please put the ax down, Joanna.”

  I paused for a second and let that sink in. Alex just called me Joanna. Should I call him on that? Should I say something about it? What should I do? Well, I wasn’t going to change my mind. I had an ax in my hands, and that wall was coming down.

  “I’m not putting the ax down. I have a wall to take down. You can help me, or you can go back to your hotel. Which will it be?”

  “What wall? What are you talking about?”

  “In the pantry. There was a secret room, but someone boarded it up. I’m about to take it down. Want to help?”

  Alex rubbed his hand through his short hair and shook his head in disbelief. “Are you serious? In the pantry? How can you know this? Wait, I’m sure I don’t want to know. At least let me take a look at it before you go chopping it to bits. The last thing I want is for you to get electrocuted because you cut some electrical wires. Come show me, please.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Death by electrocution does not sound like the way to go. Thanks, Alex.”

  “You’re welcome. Don’t thank me yet, though. I’m not saying I’m going to help other than keep you alive.”

  “Well, that’s worth something, isn’t it?”

  We walked back into the house, and I led him to the pantry.

  “Geesh, I see what you mean. This is definitely a bad patch job, but we can’t know for sure there’s anything back there. It might just be a wall repair, Megan. Look…we can…”

  I didn’t wait for his permission. I swung the ax, and it landed in the wall with a dull thud. Alex swore at me but stepped out of the way. “See anything electrical?” I asked with a serious expression.

  “No, I don’t. Go ahead and destroy the wall. It’s yours to do with what you want, I suppose. But tell me again, why are you doing this?”

  I swung the ax again, and this time it landed in wood. Large chunks of Sheetrock fell to the ground, but the ax wasn’t moving. What had I hit? A beam, maybe? I tugged at the handle, but the blade wouldn’t budge. I wasn’t going to quit now. “Are you going to help me or what?”

  “Fine. But this isn’t how I expected to spend my day.” He snatched the ax from the wall and flipped it once in his hand. “Why don’t we try knocking the plaster down without actually destroying the structure?” I grinned in response as he bumped at the Sheetrock with the square side of the ax. More chunks of Sheetrock fell, but the results were disappointing. There was no gaping cavern before me.

  I sighed in disappointment at the sight of wooden slats. “I swear I saw this space open. It was a corridor, and Joanna was there—she was trapped, Alex. I saw the door close behind her, and she felt so desperate. So afraid. I must be going crazy. I guess I really am going crazy.”

  “This isn’t right, Megan.” He propped the ax against the wall and stood in front of the opening we’d created.

  “I know. I guess you’re right, Alex. I’m obsessed with Joanna Storm. I’m seeing her everywhere. Even in my dreams.”

  “No, I mean this isn’t right. These aren’t interior boards. These wooden slats are old, and they are an exterior wall. They shouldn’t be here. I need a pry bar and a hammer.”

  I stood beside him and stared at the fi
tted boards. “Seriously? You think there might be something behind there?”

  “Look at the surrounding wood. This was clearly added after, a modification. What if you’re right, what if there is something down there?” His eyes were wide with excitement.

  “Pry bar? That’s like a tire tool, right?”

  “Something like that,” he said as he picked up the ax. We were both sweaty and covered in dust.

  “In the shed. I saw one, and I definitely know where there’s a hammer.”

  Ten minutes later, we were tugging on a board and to my surprise it popped easily. A blast of stale air met us as we hovered in front of the portal. I held up my cell phone and tapped on the flashlight app. Even with this weak beam of light, I could see what I already knew. There were wooden stairs and something else just beyond. Could be a room, could be a tunnel. We stared at one another and then tore off another four boards before we stopped to catch our breath. I hurried to the kitchen to grab a flashlight. There had to be one in here somewhere. There! I grabbed the plastic light and scrambled back into the pantry. Alex was shaking his head at me.

  “I can’t believe you found this.”

  “We found it,” I corrected him as I powered on the flashlight.

  “I think we should wait, Megan. What if she’s down there? I don’t want you to find her like that. She wouldn’t want that either.”

  I touched his shoulder and looked him squarely in the eye. “You’re wrong, Alex. Joanna wants to be found. She wants to rest, and she can’t as long as she’s missing. As long as her killer is free.”

  “I hate to argue with you, but if someone killed Joanna and hid her somewhere, they would be dead too. Long dead, Megan. Those stairs don’t look too sturdy, and there’s no telling how old they are.”

  “If you think some rickety stairs are going to stop me, think again. I’m going down. Let’s go one at a time in case they do give way. Better yet, you stay up here. Just in case.”

  “I think this is a bad idea, but I have to admit I’m curious too. Alright, but you have to talk to me the whole time. No running off half-cocked.”