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I wanted to clean Mother’s old room today so decided to make an early start. The room looked brighter after I pulled the dusty drapes down. I found a built in cupboard tucked under the eaves. There were three drawers and a door. In one of the drawers I found watercolors, and two bundles of letters tied in faded pink ribbon.
The door opened easily and I shone my flashlight into the cave like space. Everything was covered in a blanket of dust. There were things hidden just as the elderly couple in the garden had said. I took my broom and swept away the cobwebs before crawling inside. As I shone my flashlight around I saw two dusty trunks.
The trunks scraped the floor leaving a rusty trail when I pulled them out. They held wedding dresses and trousseau’s. How strange. The sun was setting when I finished cleaning and putting everything away. After lighting a fire, in the stone fireplace, I cuddled on the lounge, wrapped in my fleecy blanket, to read the diary filled with dainty writing.
My dearest,
Paul’s twin sisters had been deeply in love. Their fiancées were killed in a boating accident one dark and stormy night and their bodies never found. It was such a tragedy and the girls never recovered. What happened afterwards is too heart-breaking to talk about. The girls must have made a secret pact because they were found together on the anniversary of their sweet hearts death. It was a dark and stormy night when they took their own lives.
Paul and I put off our wedding for a few months. His parents couldn’t deal with the devastating event. The girls are buried in the garden which was their favorite spot. It is believed they still walk the halls hand in hand and create mischief on dark stormy nights.
I looked up and couldn’t belief what I was reading. There was more than one ghost. Were the girls the ones who knocked things all over the place? My eyelids felt heavy as I continued to read.
The sun shone through the stained glass windows when I woke the next morning. Francesca wrote about the secret compartments in all the rooms and one near the fireplace. She had made a detailed drawing.
I felt around the stones and wall. I found a knot hole and pushed the board sideways to reveal a small cupboard. I took the soft flannel off a dainty figurine of three dancing fairies, before pulling out the original deed and two miniatures. I could have been looking in a mirror. I gazed at a red head with a heart shaped face surrounded by ringlets. I put everything on the round table, under the window, before heading to the kitchen to feed Muffin and make breakfast. I had finished putting my things in my mother’s old room as the sun set behind the massive mountain.
Ghostly Writes Anthology 2016 Page 55