The children fell fast asleep in Genna’s bed while Mariette sat by the window, thumbing through the file she found in the attic. She had read five maybe ten folders while in the attic. As she continued to read, Mariette was disturbed when she came across the name of the so-called imaginary friend; she thought Geena and Steven had made up.
She read on to find out more about this Eve girl that Geena kept talking about. Mariette needed to go back up into the attic when the children weren’t watching, but it wouldn’t be tonight. She didn't have a way out, and too much had happened, and she was exhausted from the day's events.
Before nodding off, Mariette had just read that the beautiful Victorian house was once a mental hospital for the sick and delusional. She wasn’t aware of Dr. Fred Myron being a mad doctor who thought he could make a difference, but in the end, he had made things worse.
He not only tried to kill his patients but also everyone around him. He never left the hospital. He slept there and worked there, trying hard to make things right, but he was too far-gone to fix everything that he had destroyed. And that he was using the children to stay trapped in the house for all eternity.
Chapter 6
Mariette had fallen asleep in the chair by the window when Geena startled her awake the following morning. The file Mariette had been looking at was lying on the floor next to her feet. She had finished reading what was in the folder and decided that she wanted to know more about the mental hospital and what had happened back in the 1850’s.
Maybe then the house would go back to normal or at least she hoped. She’d never been in a place this big, but even so, she didn’t think it’d be haunted. There had been some explanation to what has been happening in this house.
Throughout the day, Mariette kept herself busy with the children, but every so often, she’d catch herself looking at the door to the attic. Tonight, she would have the children sleep in her bedroom, sneak out, and search the remaining files in the attic for answers. She had no other choice but to find out the truth. Although, the children would be furious at her once again for breaking the promise of not going into the attic. It wasn’t like she didn’t care.
Well, maybe a little, but it was for a good cause. She needed to end the havoc that was happening every night. So be it, if the children were mad at her, they’d eventually get over it, right? Yes, she thought to herself. They would! They had it see things in her perspective. The three of them couldn’t continue to live in this house without getting sleep at night, and the chaos that happened when darkness fell. It was her job to take care of the children and make sure they were safe.
That afternoon, Mariette had the children help her with the cleaning of the kitchen and putting away the dishes. As they worked, Mariette saw Geena from the corner of her eye, talking to herself in a hushed whisper or she supposed that it was the so-called imaginary friend named Eve, Geena was always talking about.
Mariette wanted so much to believe Geena and Steven Jr. about these ghosts, but until she could find out more about the mental hospital, she would not think they could see or even talk to these ghosts.
~~~~~
When the clock struck ten that evening, Mariette checked to make sure that the children were fast asleep before she quietly unlocked the door to her bedroom and slipped out, closing the door behind her. Usually, at this time of night, the house was waking up and the charades of games started, but as of right now, the house was still asleep.
The halls had a faint light coming from the moon shining through the windows. At night she was more frighten of what the children had said about Eve who liked to lurk in the darkness, more than anything. Mariette scared easily, but she was on a mission to find out the truth, and if something wanted to jump out in front of her, then she’d have to deal with it when it happened. She would just have to make sure she didn’t scream too loud and wake the children. Although they were on the other side of the house, she still didn’t want to take the chance of waking them. They needed their sleep as much as she did. Something she didn't have much of these days.
Mariette entered the room by the library. Up ahead of her were the stairs that would lead her to the attic. The boards creaked under her covered slipper feet as she made her way over to the door. She stood there, her hand hovered over the knob, wondering if this was a good idea or not. She took in a deep breath, exhaled, and opened the door.
She had to do this. No, if and or buts.
The floorboards moaned with each step she took as she went up the long dark stairwell. Had it been this grim the last time she went up? She didn’t think so. It had been earlier in the day when she had gone up to the attic, and the door at the top of the stairs remained closed so it could've been dark, but she wasn't sure. The thought of what lurked in the attic when it was nighttime made her more than nervous, almost fearful, no she was terrified to death. There was no question about it.
She gripped the railing to keep her hand from shaking, though it was too late, her hand had started shaking before had even stepped foot on the first step. She was quivering all over.
Once at the top, she opened the second door that led her into the attic. She pulled on the long threaded string that hung from the ceiling. The light flickered for a few seconds before staying lit. She walked over to where the box lay and peered inside.
Mariette scanned through each folder, not sure what she was looking for, but was hoping she’d find something before Geena or Steven found her back up here again and go ballistic like they did the day before. A promise that she had broken not once, but twice in two days. Genna and Steven Jr. would not forgive her this time, but in the end, would it even matter?
If she could solve this mystery of door slamming and wailing noises, wouldn’t that be better than breaking a measly little promise? Maybe to her, it didn't mean anything to break a child's promise, but to Geena, it meant the world to her. Could she really blame the girl? She did just lose her mother and father. No, she couldn’t blame her for acting out the way she had been lately.
Focusing back on the file in hand, she came across a name, Greta Fowler that sounded familiar to her. Well, at least the first name rang a bell. She knew she had heard of it before but wasn't sure from whom or where.
The file behind it read: Eve Fowler.
Possible relation? she thought. It wasn’t until she came across the two other names of Thomas and Beth that she was sure the children had mentioned the names to her when they told Mariette about the ghosts.
Mariette grabbed the files of the children and sat down in a chair in the far corner of the room. Besides, the chair being dusty, it was weird shaped, almost like a dentist chair with some kind of helmet on it.
She pushed back the white sheet and sat down, not giving it another thought. She hadn’t known that the chair was once used to electrocute the children she was reading about. She read Eve’s file first and then continued with the others. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she finished reading them all.
Sitting back, she gazed up at the ceiling. There was a small window near the top of the eve. Sort of like a skylight. No light shined through, which told her that it was still night.
Mariette huffed then stood and stretched her middle-aged achy legs before walking back to the box. She wanted to know about the doctor who wrote the notes in all of these files, but she wasn’t sure how that was going to be possible. There would be no information on him since he was the doctor. The person who wrote about what he did to every one of these people.
She glanced around the room at the other boxes. Some of them had writing on the box. She walked over to them and took the lid off the box on top. She thumbed through the files, but nothing jumped out at her. Nothing that told her about the doctor. She would have to find out the name of the doctor first and then go to the library in town.
They would have information on him, wouldn’t they? She didn’t know, but would have to find out, and soon, before the child were possessed by these so-called ghosts. She didn
’t know if they were good or evil ghosts.
Then it occurred to her that the doctor’s name was on the plaque behind her on the wall. “Dr. Fred Myron,” she said into the empty and cluttered room. In that instance, she felt a breeze pass her that virtually took her breath away. It was a cool breeze, almost as cold as ice.
She said the name again. “Dr. Fred Myron.” Her hair whipped around, smacking her in the face. A chill ran down her spine, she stiffened. There was no mistaking it. Something had just moved past her and through the opened attic door.
Mariette didn’t think twice before flying out of the room and down the stairs. She closed the door to the attic and rested her back against it. She took in several deep breaths before she quickly walked back to her room. She wanted to run back to her bedroom, but that wasn’t a safe thing to do in the dark. It was not a smart idea if you couldn’t see exactly where she was going.
Once she reached the door to her bedroom, she stopped and took several deep and relaxing breaths to settle her breathing before going back inside the room and climbing into bed beside Geena and Steven.
Even though her mind whirled with information, Mariette was able to fall back to sleep. Several hours later, Mariette was startled awake. She looked over and saw Geena and Steven sitting up in bed.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What is going? Who are you talking too?” she asked because they weren’t facing each other like most people did when they are speaking to one another.
Geena turned and looked at Mariette. “You were in the attic again, weren’t you?” Geena snarled.
Mariette looked surprised and wondered how Geena could know about her going into the attic again. Had the children been awake when she left?
“Did you go up into the attic?” Geena asked again.
Mariette swallowed. Was the child possessed by demons? Or had the ghosts taken ahold of her body, and made her talk like this?
“Yes, I went back up to the attic. I had to find out about these children you and Steven keep talking to.”
“Then talk to us about them. You promised that you wouldn’t go up there in the first place, but you lied to me. Now, Fred is awake and coming for all of us. See what you have done!”
Mariette shivered. “Fred?”
“Yes, Fred is the doctor who hurt them. He had beaten them and put them in the electric chair. He became cruel with the entire faculty after his work had started to fail.” Geena said, shouting at Mariette.
In that flash of a second, the door to the bedroom burst open and everything seemed to go mad around them. A knife flew out of nowhere, almost hitting Steven in the head, but he quickly lay down to get out of its path. The knife hit the window, shattering the glass into a million pieces, and covered the floor.
They all jumped out of bed, ran out of the room, and downstairs towards the kitchen. The cupboard doors started to bang open and close. Steven whimpered and clutched onto Mariette’s leg and shouted that Fred was going to hurt the ghosts. Mariette tried to protect them from the broken glass that was flying around in the room and was cut on the hand. She grabbed a dishtowel and wrapped it around the palm of her hand.
The children screamed in horror. Mariette then led them out of the room and into the family room. The next thing she remembered was what felt like a cold hand pressing against her face as if sucking the very life out of her. Her heart sped as she grabbed the children by the hands and hastily hurried back to Mariette’s bedroom.
Chapter 7
Mariette locked the bedroom door behind her. She eventually was able to get the children calmed down and back into bed. Once the noise outside the door went quiet, they all eventually fell back to sleep. Mariette woke several times in the night, checking the room for anymore flying objects. She’d close her eyes, but only to wake again a couple of hours later.
When Mariette woke in the morning hours, the bedroom was a total wreck. She hadn’t noticed all the broken things last night when they came back to bed, but that was most likely because it was dark in the room. Thinking about last night scared her, and the poor kids, what could they be going through?
She stumbled out of bed, almost stepping on a piece of broken glass that was scattered all over the floor from the broken window. She found her slippers and put them on. She turned back towards the bed; the children were still fast asleep. She looked around the room, shaking her head in dismay from all the mess. She would wait until the kids were fully awake before she started to clean. She stepped carefully around the shattered glass on the floor, slipped outside the bedroom door, and walked to the kitchen.
Mariette’s mind was spinning as she sat in the kitchen, sipping her coffee. She thought about what she read last night and the cold breeze that seemed to follow her since her visit upstairs. Mariette must have been deep in thought because she was startled when Geena and Steven appeared beside her, practically spilling her coffee.
Mariette decided she needed to speak to the children and let them know that they weren’t safe in this house any longer. “Children, I think that we should find somewhere else to stay until your aunt gets back from her trip," Mariette said before continuing. "This place isn't safe, and I'm responsible for your well-being. I can’t allow us to live in this house for one more minute.” Mariette stood, walked to the sink and rinsed out her coffee cup.
“But we can’t leave,” Steven Jr. pleaded behind her.
“Why do you think we can’t leave, child?” Mariette asked still facing the sink and looking out the kitchen window into the backyard. She couldn’t remember the last time she was outside since she’d come to stay at the mansion. The yard looked vibrate with all the different colored flowers blooming in this early spring. Mariette was snapped out of her daze when Steven spoke to her about the four ghosts again.
“Eve, Thomas, Greta, and Beth all need us to keep Fred away from them,” Steven Jr. pleaded.
Mariette spun around and was now facing the children. “Well, I’m sorry, but they are not real!” Mariette said as she stubbed her foot on the floor. She was getting tired of this talk about the ghosts. Even though she read their files last night, she still couldn’t stand here and believe that people came back from the dead. No! It was foolish nonsense if you asked her.
“They are real!” Geena hollered back. “I’ll prove it to you.”
Mariette stood against the counter, looking from Steven to Geena and back to Steven again. She did believe that it was possible that the children were telling the truth, but that was obscured. Ghost weren’t real. Were they? She was starting to second-guess herself.
"I'm sorry, but we are leaving!" Mariette demanded. "Go get your things, and we'll go stay at my house until your aunt arrives home to take care of you. It’ll be safer for all of us, I promise.”
“You promise?” Geena questioned. “Why should we believe you when you couldn’t keep a promise to us?”
“That’s different,” Mariette replied.
“How so?” Steven Jr. questioned.
They had Mariette cornered. She knew very well that a promise was a promise no matter who made it. But, she was the adult in this house, and her job was to keep the children safe until their Aunt Julie returned, and that was final.
“Look, I know I broke a promise…” Mariette was interrupted.
“Two promises,” Geena reminded her.
"Okay, two promises, but that was only because I wanted to find out why all of this is happening. Every night we are terrified to leave our bedrooms with all the noise in the house. Doors are slamming from somewhere in the house. I'm afraid to leave you, children, alone," Mariette said. "You have to see it from my point of view. We are just not safe here. No more discussion!" Mariette concluded.
Both Geena and Steven looked defeated. Mariette had won. She walked over to the child and turned them around. “Come on, let’s go get your things packed, and then I’ll take us all out for breakfast.”
Mariette, Geena, and Steven Jr. walked into the family room. The doors all ar
ound them banged open and shut. Mariette ducked down as a plate came flying at her head. Furniture and china dishes swirled around the room. Plates dropped to the floor, exploding into a thousand pieces. There was nowhere for them to go.
Mariette looked around the room and saw a table big enough for all of them to fit under. “Children, come here!” Mariette shouted. “We can hide under the dining room table.”
The children ran to her and crawled underneath to join her. Once the noise stopped and things seemed to calm down, Mariette and the children came out from under the table.
Mariette, who was trembling, dusted off her robe and guided the children towards the kitchen. Once in the room, Mariette lowered an iron bar across the door. Something Mr. Parker had installed after they moved into the house for protection against thieves. Not that many thieves climbed the hills of Pennsylvania to steal from him, but more for a security comfort. He was known all around the world for his riches and didn't want to put him or his wife in danger.
“I believe you about the ghost,” Mariette said frazzled by what just happened and sat down on the stool at the counter. “I have to believe you because there is no other way for all of those things out there to fly around the room like that. I’m sorry for thinking you both were making it all up,” Mariette said.
“Now you know why we can't leave. The ghosts need our help to escape from Fred,” Geena pleaded.
“No, we still have to get help. We can’t stay here.” Mariette stood, walked over to the phone on the wall, and picked it up. There was no dial tone. “Damn,” Mariette swore. She turned back around towards the children. “Any suggestions on what to do now?” Mariette asked as she started to pace back and forth, and then stopped. “Do you know how we can we get rid of the ghosts in the house so we can be free of this chaos?”
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