Haunted Happenings

by Lucrezia Black

  No one asked about the cabin. No one asked why they had left in the middle of the night. The thing that was of most concern was that the car had been crashed. They all thought that was fairly typical for their parents.

  It was several weeks before any of them found the answers that they were really looking for. The night of the Habitat for Humanity charity even the five of them gathered to go through with the only successful aspect of their cabin excursion.

  The event was about to start when a familiar face walked into the hall. Familiar, but unexpected.

  The last person they had expected to show up to their event was Percy Egerton. He’d been a recluse since the death of his daughter. He only really engaged with Mr. Bolton, and that was only if he put in the effort. To see him walk into a charity event was a momentous occasion.

  They all felt the wave of guilt wash over them. Well technically they hadn’t trashed his cabin they had also left it completely destroyed when they’d left. None of them had thought much of it until that moment. Looking at him now they were very hesitant about what to say on the matter.

  “We have to go apologize,” Miriam said. She’d always been the honest one. She’d always been the first one to volunteer them to do the right thing.

  “He probably hasn’t even been back to that cabin. He probably doesn’t know,” Adam rationalized.

  “Well decide quick because he’s walking right towards us,” Will told them. And they all moved as a group to face off with Mr. Egerton.

  “Hello, Mr. Egerton, so nice to see you here to nice,” Sophia greeted with a warm smile on her face. She’d always been able to put on a face when the occasion called for it.

  “We’re so sorry about your cabin,” Miriam burst out and then sheepishly looked at her feet.

  Percy Egerton made a gruff noise of acknowledgement and nodded. “It’s a damn shame about that place, burning to the ground the way it did.”

  “Pardon?” They all said it in unison, looking up at him with the same level of confusion in their eyes.

  “Didn’t you know?” He seemed to consider. “Shortly after you young’uns went out there it just poof went up in smoke. Darnest thing really. But probably for the best.” He looked reminiscent for a moment. “I had a lot of good memories out there, but it was just never the same after. I wasn’t going to go back out there.”

  “After what?” Adam blurted out and then remembered his manners. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

  “I’m surprised you don’t already know.” He looked from face to face. “That’s where my daughter died. Must have been just over two years now. A car hit her on the main road and there was no saving her.” He drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know what she was doing out there at that time of night. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know. But at least that cabin’s gone. It was the last piece of her, in a way. And now it’s finally gone.”

  “We’re sorry for your loss,” Jeremy said even though it was such a useless sentiment.

  “Don’t you fret about it. It’s my burden to bear. And it made me realize that I need to get back to living my life.” He glanced around the room that people were slowly entering. “So here I am.”

  “Well, thank you for attending. And for lending us your cabin, especially considering what it meant to you.” Will offered a somber smile.

  “I’m glad someone could use it before it disappeared.” Percy nodded before he walked away from them.

  They stood for a moment in silence considering what they’d just been told. Looks were exchanged among them as they remembered without saying the events that had occurred in those two nights at the cabin. Things were beginning to make sense now. If you were willing to believe.

  “It had to have been his daughter,” Will whispered, not wanting any of the guests who were arriving to overhear their conversation and question their sanity.

  “Well unless there are multiple vindictive ghosts with teenage girl level tempers hanging around I would guess so,” Miriam sassed.

  “Do you remember her?” Sophia looked around the group. Anna Egerton had been a few years older than they were but she was a personality they people didn’t easily forget.

  “It’s hard not to remember her,” Adam grinned.

  “Grow up,” Sophia hit him in the arm. “I mean more than the fact that she was pretty. She was quite the queen bee. It makes sense if that was her ghost we were up against.”

  “Well let’s just hope that with the cabin gone she is able to find some level of peace.” Jeremy thought of the woman he’d seen, the menacing smile on her face. He didn’t want anyone else to go through that.

  “Not much can survive a fire,” Will commented.

  “You’d be surprised.” Jeremy looked around the room as if finally coming back to himself and realizing they were surrounded by people. “I suppose we should probably run this charity event.”

  “Oh, it would be an idea,” Will grinned. And all thoughts of ghosts were left behind.

  The moon was full, offering a glow of light to the roadway below. The night was calm and quiet, but that was the case with most nights on the country road. A slight breeze drifted through the trees, not enough to make a noise, but enough to ruffle the hem of a dress.

  She stood and she waited. Lurking in the trees, watching as the darkness fought against the moonlight for control of the road. The battle would wage all night, but it was none of her concern who won.

  She may have lost one home. A foolish rage, a plan gone wrong, prey escaped – but no matter. They could not take the road from her. This would be hers forever. This would be her revenge.

  Anna stood in the shadows and waited, the night her hunting ground. She waited for the next unsuspecting vehicle. She waited to step out of the shadows and to bring suffering. Because she suffered and there was no end to it in sight.

  The Haunting of Sanctuary House

  Chapter 1

  History of the House

  May 13, 1884

  Beverley, England

  * * *

  Built in 1884, the house of Marianne Sculthorpe was an architectural marvel: a three-story house with ten large bedrooms and a beautiful front garden for all the world to see.

  But anything that beautiful has to have something revolting hiding somewhere in its deepest, darkest corners. In this case, one needed look no further than the owner of the house, Miss Marianne Sculthorpe.

  Marianne lived in the house with her parents and younger sister, Dorothy, together with a couple of maids and the servants who kept the house in order.

  Among these servants and maids was Harry Rowe, their gardener. He was a handsome and charming young man who, to young Dorothy, stood out above all the rest in the town. Lucky for her, Harry had noticed her and had fallen in love with her in the time he had been working there.

  They would sneak out late at night and meet in the garden where they knew no one would see them. Harry and Dorothy both feared that her parents would never approve of their love and they kept it a secret from them for this reason.

  Though Dorothy could never keep anything from her sister. She told her everything about their secret love. Marianne listened as Dorothy told her of their plans.

  Unfortunately, Marianne also had her eye on Harry and resented her sister for stealing him away from her. She couldn’t stand to think that Harry could be at anyone’s side other than her own.

  She tried telling Harry how she felt, but he wouldn’t listen and kept saying that he didn’t have feelings for her. Every time she mentioned it, he would say that he loved Dorothy and that his feelings for her would never change.

  This made Marianne hate her even more. She started making plans to get rid of her sister, but she could think of nothing that might work, and she quickly shifted her focus. If she couldn’t have Harry, no one would have that privilege.

  She locked Dorothy in her room one night before she could leave for their spot in the garden. When Dorothy got up and tried to leave, she found the do
or locked and her keys missing.

  Poor Dorothy yelled and begged for someone to let her out, but no one did. Marianne had made sure that no one was there to hear her, and soon Dorothy went to her bad and started to weep.

  When Marianne heard her crying, she ran to her parents and frantically told them that she had just come from Dorothy’s room.

  Her parents calmed her down and asked her what had happened.

  She told them that she had gone to her sister’s room and heard her crying. She claimed that Dorothy had locked herself in her room and wouldn’t let anyone in. When Marianne had asked Dorothy what was bothering her, Dorothy sobbed and told her about Harry Rowe and how he had abused her.

  She lied to her parents, claiming the Harry had raped Dorothy and that Dorothy was now shutting herself away in embarrassment and anguish.

  Her father stood up and stormed to her room, with his wife and Marianne close on his heels.

  He reached her room and was about to barge in when he heard Dorothy crying inside. He shook his head, walked down the stairs and herded his wife and daughter down in silence.

  They stood in the kitchen with Marianne’s father pacing up and down before the fireplace. When he demanded how this could have happened, Marianne told him that her sister had the ritual of going to the same place in the garden to look at the stars, and that Harry had been waiting for her there.

  The staff were quickly summoned to the kitchen and ordered to search the garden for Harry. If they found Harry at a specific spot in the garden, they were to beat him to death and leave him there to rot.

  When the staff wanted to protest, Marianne’s father started to threaten them and they reluctantly went into the garden. It took them only a few minutes to find Harry lying in the flower bed, where he was waiting for Dorothy to appear.

  They circled him and started beating him. He screamed hysterically for them to stop, but they didn’t. He demanded the reasons behind the attack, but he never got an answer.

  An hour later, the staff returned to their rooms and never mentioned the events in the garden again. That night could never be forgotten.

  Marianne opened her sister’s door a week later, and Dorothy thanked her before moving to the stairs, only to be stopped by her sister asking where she was going.

  Dorothy said she had to go to Harry, but stopped when she saw her sister’s sad expression. When she asked what was wrong, Marianne told her that an unknown group had beaten Harry to death in the garden where they had always met.

  Upon hearing this, Dorothy burst into tears once again, weeping on her sister’s shoulder.

  Marianne led her back to her room and told her to wait patiently while she got her something to eat. Their parents returned home from visiting a friend while Marianne was preparing Dorothy something to eat, and asked why she had made dinner at that time.

  She told them that Dorothy had unlocked her door and she had told her that she would bring her something to eat.

  Her mother was so pleased to hear her daughter had finally unlocked her door, and took the plate from Marianne and walked upstairs to Dorothy’s room.

  Marianne and her father remained in the kitchen, talking, when they heard a scream coming from upstairs followed by a loud shattering sound.

  They ran towards the wail and Marianne found her mother on the floor, screaming and crying between shards of glass and food. She wouldn’t look up and kept sobbing that something just couldn’t be.

  When they reached her, they found the door to Dorothy’s room wide open and Dorothy floating above her bed.

  It took them a moment to understand that she wasn’t suspended there. She was hanging.

  Dorothy had used her scarf to take her own life.

  A small footstool lay upended close to the bed, and the contents of her closet was strewn out across the floor.

  Little Dorothy’s eyes were still red and puffy from crying, and her hair clung to the tear trails on her face.

  She was buried later that week in a cemetery nearby, while Harry’s remains were dumped in a field thousands of kilometres from the house.

  * * *

  A year later, Marianne’s parents moved out of the house. They couldn’t bear the memories that the house brought, and left. Marianne inherited the house and stayed on with the servants and staff for many years, until she died of old age in her bed.

  * * *

  She left the house to her cousin’s children, the only close family she had. They lived in Italy and never used the house, but couldn’t find it in them to sell it.

  So, they left the house in the hands of a caretaker, only to get a call from him later in the year letting them know that he refused to ever venture near the house again.

  And the same happened with the next caretaker and the one after that. Soon stories were told in the nearby town, that the house was haunted by the lonely ghost of Marianne Sculthorpe.

  Chapter 2

  Retreat

  Present day

  “Emily Keats,” Ms. Dodge read her name from the papers in her hand.

  Emily moved through the kids and boarded the bus without a word, wishing she could just have done so without anyone calling her name. She moved through the aisle of the minibus, doing her best not to make eye contact with anyone as she went to her usual place.

  That was when she saw Joshua sitting on the seat behind her usual spot. He was looking out the window at the other buses as they were pulling away. He turned and looked straight at her, and she quickly averted her eyes and took her seat.

  She sank down onto the seat, and did her best to disappear from view. The bus quickly filled with more students who took their seats. Carol Linfield boarded behind Emily, and took a seat next to Andrea Hughes at the back of the bus.

  A minute later, Kate Neal gracefully strolled down the bus aisle to join Carol and Andrea. As she passed Emily, she gave a derisive snort and Emily could feel her revulsion like a physical blow.

  Kate never liked her and she wasn’t afraid to show it. She made fun of Emily at every possible opportunity, played pranks on her and tried to humiliate her.

  “Look who’s sitting alone again,” Kate smirked as she took her seat, sparking up a round of giggles from Carol and Andrea.

  Emily ignored them and opened her book as Ms. Dodge called Chris Sedgewick onto the bus. Chris hopped onto the bus and rushed to Joshua, giving him a high-five before taking a seat beside him.

  Ms. Dodge and Mrs. Galpin boarded and Father Bolton got behind the wheel.

  “How many are on this bus?” Ms. Dodge asked.

  Mrs. Galpin counted the students on board. “The last six are here. The rest of the buses are full, but this one is half empty.”

  “Or you could say it is half full,” Father Bolton added.

  “Don’t start that again,” Mrs. Galpin snapped.

  “And we’re going to be stuck with them for the next week?” Emily heard Chris complain behind her.

  Mrs. Galpin and Ms. Dodge weren’t the most beloved teachers in Lawrence Catholic School. They were always in a bad mood and arguing with each other when they got a chance. Father Bolton and Ms. Dodge were old family friends and he always tried to lend a hand where he was able, but everyone thought him accident prone. Wherever he went, disaster seemed to follow close behind.

  No one wanted to be on a bus with them.

  “Pay attention!” Mrs. Galpin snapped. “There’ll be no rest stops until we’ve reached Beverly in a couple of hours. We will unpack at the house, and then we will get something to eat with the others before returning to the house for the evening. So, I will ask this only once-”

  “Calm down, Galpin,” Ms. Dodge interrupted and asked, “Are you all set, dears?”

  “Yes, Ms. Dodge,” they said in unison – as they had been taught to do.

  “Then, Father, we’ll be off.”

  And with that, they left the school grounds for their annual retreat.

  Emily didn’t have much to do during the two-hour bus
trip other than stare out the window. Unlike the others, Emily didn’t look forward to the trip. It would be nothing more than a chance for Kate and her girls to humiliate her in front of Joshua.

  Joshua and Chris were talking sports behind her, with Chris glancing over his shoulder at Kate, Andrea, and Carol every minute or so. Joshua was leaning back against his seat with his eyes partly closed.

  The girls at the back were gossiping and braiding each other’s hair. Kate was leading their gossip session with more stories about the newest couples in Lawrence Catholic School.

  Emily didn’t care much for what happened to her on the retreat. Her mother had all but forced her to go on the trip, saying that it would be a positive social experience for her.

  Emily took out a book and was soon lost in its pages, only to be pulled back to reality an hour later when Chris tapped her on her shoulder. She moved her finger to save her space on the page before turning around to acknowledge him.

  “What do you think?” he asked her.

  “About?” Emily inquired. She had been miles away and had not heard a word spoken between them.

  “Oh please,” Kate rolled her eyes. “Like she would know anything about… anything,” she shook her head.

  Joshua sat up straight and gave Kate an irritated glance. “Give her a chance, would you?”

  Kate took her opportunity to slide onto the seat behind Joshua, and gently placed her hands on his shoulders and whispered, “Aren’t we protective? And tense as well, I see. I can help with that.”

  Joshua took her hand and placed it on Chris’s shoulders. “If you think I’m tense; you should feel the tension Chris is carrying on his shoulders.”

  Kate folded her arms and sat back in her chair, clearly not interested in massaging Chris’s shoulders.

  Emily was about to turn back to the window when Mrs. Galpin stood up and called for their attention. “We’ll have five minutes to unload the bus and take everything inside when we stop at the house. Therefore, we’re going to need everyone’s cooperation. Chris. Joshua. When we stop you’ll have to unload the bus. The rest of you girls will have to take everything to the living room. Then come straight back to the bus.”