Due to Ted’s quick action and then that of Charles, Cecilia Adams was saved. However, this was the end of the idyllic life the children would have in Whitby. There were no other relatives to be found anywhere, so they were turned over to yet another social worker who removed them from the cottage for good. With no families willing to take on all three of the children together, they were, sadly, split up into three different homes. By all accounts, the new homes were warm and welcoming and provided the children with a safe place, but the separation was traumatic for them all the same. The residents of Whitby were alarmed at what had happened to Cecilia, especially after her seemingly positive transformation once Alice, Josh, and Ted had arrived at her doorstep. But what impacted them, even more, was all that these small and innocent kids had been forced to endure. It was unthinkable that such youngsters had now been through two horrific and traumatic events.
Time went by, and they grew up in their new homes, amazing everyone around them that they were adjusting and coping with what life had handed them. And even though they were living in different places now, Alice, Ted, and Josh remained in contact, the grim start to their lives the common thread of their bond. As they began the final years of their secondary education, they found out what had really happened to their Aunt Cecilia. The reasons were never disclosed to them, and quite frankly at the time were unknown to anyone in Whitby. Cecilia had been an eccentric hermit to most of them, and from outward appearances, it seemed as if the poor woman had just snapped…or had some sort of emotional or mental breakdown, pushing her to try and take her own life. It was an inexplicable conundrum to the town when compared to how Cecilia had looked to be coming out of her self-imposed shell. Even Marvin Charles, who knew her best was baffled.
Their Aunt Cecilia was remanded to a psychiatric facility…that was all they had found out. The school offered some counseling for the three once the horrid news made its way to them, but they all politely declined, preferring to rely on one another for support and recovery. Alice had momentarily thought of and suggested they visit Aunt Cecilia, but the authorities at her institution thought this unwise until they could somehow bring Cecilia out of the catatonic trance she had fallen into after her arrival there. Ted then suggested they visit the cottage instead, just for old time’s sake, but both Alice and Josh were adamantly opposed to that idea.
“Too painful for me,” Alice said as the three of them sat under a large elm tree that was atop a grassy knoll at their school where they often met to talk.
“Me too,” Josh added. “Besides…what will that accomplish other than make us sadder?”
Ted nodded his agreement.
“I guess you are right,” he replied.
And with that, the three of them just pushed any thoughts of a trip to the asylum or the Crooked Cottage from their minds. The cottage went dark and empty, soon becoming just a curiosity for people passing through Whitby, as the story of Cecilia Adams and her nephews and niece fueled all manner of legends and gossip. As to Alice, Ted, and Josh? They all went their separate ways after secondary school, no longer able to shoulder the burden of the Crooked Cottage and the memories they had had in Whitby…both good and bad. They promised to stay in touch as they had when split up from their aunt, but this faded over time despite valiant efforts.
An Inheritance from Out of the Blue
Kent, UK
September/October 2017
Much like their disparity in personality and interests as children, Alice, Josh, and Ted went in a wildly divergent matter as adults once out on their own. Wanting to put Whitby behind her emotionally, not to mention geographically, Alice fled to the suburbs of London following her university days, finally settling in Kent after trying out a few places that just did not seem like the right fit for her. Of the three of them, Alice was definitely the most extroverted and outgoing, so it came as no surprise to her or any of her friends that she went into social work. She loved the interaction with people in need of her skills, and she remembered fondly on the kindnesses and attention she had received as a child from the various social services workers as well. She wanted to continue on offering that compassion and concern as an adult.
Though her past definitely had influenced her decision when selecting a career path, she was careful not to discuss it openly with anyone, not even her closest friends, but rather to use those experiences to shape and mold her approaches with her clients now. Besides, her whole past as a child was still very painful for Alice to confront head-on. Someday she would is what she kept telling herself…but so far that day had not arrived. At 24, Alice was still single with no real plans on changing that situation anytime soon. It was partly that she lacked any real idea of what a normal relationship with a man was supposed to be like, based on her upbringing, but also partly that she was for the most part content with her life and saw no reason to rock the boat, so to speak.
Then there was Ted, 28, the oldest of the brood. As easy going and gentle and timid as Alice was, Ted could not have been more opposite. After leaving Whitby, Ted looked back on his life being shuttled around in Yorkshire and promised himself he would not be subject to such whims of circumstance again. For him, that meant money and doing whatever was necessary to succeed. He would never contemplate anything illegal, but in his adult life now as an investment banker, most of Ted’s acquaintances saw him as cutthroat and ruthless. Cold and private were the most common descriptions of Ted offered up by his competitors as well as colleagues.
In his drive to succeed, Ted did not really have friends…he just did not see the point. They were a distraction. Even his association with Alice and Josh had gone by the wayside in his drive to amass a fortune. As well, his love of sketching and drawing from his youth had been abandoned. But Ted was not a miser. Not in the least. As much as he enjoyed making money, he also loved spending his hard-earned income on the best things in life and making a big splash to those around him.
Which brings us to the adult Josh. Of all the children, Josh, 22, seemed to have been affected most negatively by all the events of their childhood. He had tried going to university when younger, but it was just not in the cards for him, he used to tell everyone, when he dropped out in his first year. His rough childhood had definitely made an imprint on Josh’s outlook, and though he never let it be known outside of some close friends who knew him well, Josh’s penchant for alcohol and drugs, beginning back in Whitby as a teenager was what really had derailed his future. He had been in and out of rehab several times, and even with Alice’s support, none had been highly successful. At present, Josh was living in a shared house arrangement designed to help addicts get back on their feet and lived with only the financial support of social services.
Alice had tried over and over to intervene for Josh, but he always seemed to backslide. Eventually, a social worker had advised her that though her intentions were well-meant, that they saw Josh’s best hope for a real recovery as one in which he alone raised himself up. Reluctantly, Alice finally agreed, though she still stayed in close touch with Josh concerned that he would soon fall into that dark pit that consumed their mother. Josh’s sweet nature and overall vulnerability worried Alice the most as she constantly fretted that someone out there would take advantage of him in his efforts to get sober.
The very separate and disparate paths that the trio had set themselves on seemed set in stone never to converge, despite Alice’s continued attempts to keep them close. Ted had no interest when she called him—though he was at least polite enough not to come right out and say that she and Josh did not fit into his life now—and Josh was often just not available—either based on his up and down mental and physical condition or from therapists that saw her as an enabler. However, in late October, that all changed. Alice received a letter in the mail from a solicitor in rural Yorkshire that had been placed as the overseer of the property where they had lived: the Crooked Cottage.
Alice looked over her letter with surprise and trepidation. Now that she was settled in
her modest flat in Kent, she had finally been able to put Whitby and the Crooked Cottage and that horrible night with Aunt Cecilia behind her…so she thought. For many years, even into her university days, she had been plagued by nightmares of her aunt’s suicide attempt and having been the first one to find her. But now, the solicitor that had sent this post was saying that Cecilia Adams had died in the asylum and that she, along with Ted and Josh had been named as joint owners, beneficiaries in a will she had no idea even existed. She had no idea if Aunt Cecilia had proactively named them or if it had merely gone to them as the next in line of blood relatives according to the law. In either case, it had just upset her otherwise normal and stable life.
She felt bad about never having been able to see her Aunt Cecilia ever again since that night, but there had been no way based on her fragile condition. Alice saw that both Ted and Josh had received identical notices with the request from the solicitor to meet with him at their convenience so that official and legal documents could be drawn up following probate. Seeing that the probate procedure was to take about another month or so, Alice decided to contact both Ted and Josh to get their thoughts. Ted was as shocked as she had been when he had received the notice, and through Josh’s social worker, Alice found out he seemed indifferent. Alice wondered if Josh had somehow managed to block out the memories of their days in the cottage in combination with the damage his substance abuse over the years might have contributed to? In a lot of ways, she envied him if that was the case.
Though no longer plagued by nightmares of Cecilia’s suicide attempt, this one letter had sent Alice spiraling backward emotionally to when she had been just a young girl and had found her aunt unconscious on the kitchen floor at the cottage. With Ted in London, Josh in the halfway house over in Guildford, Alice suggested they meet in Guildford to talk about this as Josh would need special permission to leave town.
“What’s to talk about, Alice?” Ted asked, a touch of annoyance creeping into his tone.
“Plenty, Ted,” Alice replied. “Aunt Cecilia meant a lot to us as kids. At least to me, anyway. And after all that happened that night, don’t you think we need to at least talk this over to put any demons to rest for all of us over what happened to her?”
Ted did not reply.
“Don’t you remember that you were the one to get Mr. Charles to call the ambulance that night?”
“Sure, but…”
Alice cut him off before he launched into yet another diatribe of how busy he was, but what she knew was just another excuse not see her or Josh.
“Look, Ted,” she went on, “I know a lot has changed since we were kids. I get that, I really do. But even if we just sell the place and put it behind us once and for all, shouldn’t we at least check it over to make sure it is still structurally sound?”
Alice knew that appealing to Ted’s bottom line mindset was the only way to reach him anymore. And on another level, she really did want to see her brother again and was hoping that maybe a quick trip back to Whitby might take him back to the days before he became so ruled and motivated by only money.
“OK, OK…” Ted finally relented, knowing she would not give in. “Can you get Josh out of that facility he’s in so we can make a plan?”
“Already done, Ted. I got approval from his caseworker for a few days away from his house so we can drive up and take a look at it.”
“I should have known. OK…meet me here at my flat and the three of us can drive up and put this thing to rest.”
Alice hung up smiling, pleased with herself that even with his air of superiority, she was still able to coerce Ted into her way of thinking…some things had apparently not changed since they were kids after all. She dialed up the halfway house and finalized the approval and conditions of Josh’s trip to Whitby, assuring them that she would take full responsibility for him until they returned. Then, as she was packing a small bag for the trip, Alice suddenly wondered if perhaps this was not such a good idea after all. She had been perfectly content in her life in Kent with her work with the underprivileged kids in town. Was this about to throw a wrench into all of that? And what if all the progress she had made in the years since leaving Whitby might be completely unraveled by a return to The Crooked Cottage?
She sighed heavily and pushed those thoughts from her mind. It was too late now. If she called off the reunion, she would never hear the end of it from Ted. And as much as she had no stomach for how he lived now and what had become important to him in London, Alice was excited at the prospect of seeing Ted again. They had been so close as siblings back then. She supposed that even these less than pleasant circumstances for a reunion were worth it…at least she hoped so.
Childhood Reunion
Kent, UK
October 2017
As Alice made her way down to Guildford to collect Josh, she thought of the stark contrast of Kent to London these days and how it was simply a mirror of her and Ted as well. Alice had tried London when she had first graduated from university, but it was all hustle and bustle and people in a rush all the time. It was everything she was not and just did not fit her well considering her chosen profession, though there was certainly a need for people in her field there. Kent, however, she had found to fit her like a glove. While there was definitely a growth spurt in industry there in recent years, such as papermaking along the Darent and Medway, chemical production along the Thames, and plastics, bricks, and tiles near the Swale, its moniker as “Garden of England” was still aptly applicable.
When not working, Alice reveled in the abundance of orchards that populated rural Kent as well as farms that were now converting from natural grasslands to the production of spring flowers and bulbs. And dropping by Shepherd Neame, Britain’s oldest brewer, for what has been described as “a taste of proper British beer” was a favorite of hers as well where she and her colleagues liked to go to decompress and commiserate over challenging cases appealed to Alice as well. All these features of Kent were part of what made it niche-perfect for her. And none of which did the same for Ted in London. Ted seemed drawn to the crowding and rush of London, and Alice was sure he could not have cared less for the rural highlights she loved where she lived.
In fact, she had remembered her brother speaking of how the suburbs of London were continuing to encroach out as far as northwestern Kent and the gleam in his eye as she was sure his deals at his firm were heavily involved in this—at least to her, anyway—were a sacrilege. As much as Kent and London diverged, so had she and Ted since childhood. As she picked up Josh and headed on the short drive up the A3 northeast to London, he seemed subdued, even for the normally reticent Josh. Alice tried her best to engage him in conversation about his life at his shared house in Guildford, as the staff there had been quite resistant to offering her any details of Josh’s progress as of late.
She had been stonewalled at every attempt by the staff, so Alice was hoping to get Josh to open up to her now that they were away from the facility and had some time to themselves before meeting up with Ted. It’s not that Ted and Josh did not get along exactly, but more that she knew Ted looked down on how far Josh had fallen as an adult. He was not a bad man, but Alice knew as well as anyone that compassion was not one of Ted’s strengths. After several non-responses from Josh, Alice gave up and let him be on that front, joining in with him when oddly enough he seemed to want to talk about their happier days at the Crooked Cottage. Alice, from other conversations with Josh, had assumed he had blocked out those days, but now Josh seemed to have a vivid recollection of those times, so she just followed his lead.
In fact, Josh’s memory of those times seemed crystal clear as he brought up incident after incident that she had completely forgotten about from their childhood. Alice laughed along with him as he reminisced, and soon all her concerns over his treatment plan and his progress at his halfway house vanished. They slipped into the madness that was normal traffic in London before Alice realized they had completed the hour or so drive. And after only
about another hour of aggravation, as she struggled to navigate the winding congestion to Ted’s flat, she pulled up to find him waiting for them. He threw his plush leather valise into the trunk, and the three of them set off for Whitby. Ted seemed his normal standoffish self toward them both, and neither Alice nor Josh pushed him. It seemed inconceivable to her that he was not more excited or interested in seeing her or Josh as it had been years since the three of them had been together at one time. But Ted was who he was now, and she just let it go.
To avoid the long almost five-hour drive up from London, Alice had booked them on rail transportation to get them within close proximity of Whitby. And now that she saw how Ted was behaving toward them, she was very grateful she had done so. It would have been a hideously long and painful drive if she had not. They parked her car in the lot, and they boarded the Transpennine Express north. Eventually, Ted began to loosen up a bit as they rode and soon, though not as warmly as she had hoped for, he seemed to fall back into at least a rough semblance of the boy she had known when they were younger. He even engaged Josh in conversation as they went along, and for the first time in her recent memory, Alice felt as if they were just as they had been as kids.
Ted sprung for a transport once they arrived at the last stop for the train and they rode along in silence as the car approached Whitby. It did not seem to be a silence of having nothing to say to one another but more, to Alice anyway, one of apprehension and anxiety for all three of them. The driver dropped them off in the center of Whitby and as it was getting late, they checked into an inn in town to get some rest from the long trip and make a game plan for the next day when they would stroll over to The Crooked Cottage for the first time since they had been taken away and placed in separate foster homes as kids. And as stereotypical as it might seem, a sudden and unannounced thunderstorm broke overhead dousing them with rain as they dashed inside.
Haunted House Tales Page 118