Carlton House

by B. Groves

  Her mind was in an absolute panic as thoughts about her impending death raced through her mind.

  She cleared her mind enough to think that if she locked herself in the cottage, she could call the police from there.

  Lily closed in on the cottage but she never made it inside because standing at the front door was Michael Carlton.

  Chapter 12

  Bones

  “No,” Lily moaned seeing Michael Carlton standing in front of the cottage.

  How could a frail man run so fast? Since the sunshine shone above her, this was her first actual close up of Michael. His skin was as opaque as Hannah’s but his eyes were alive and if he hadn’t been so pale, he would look like any other ordinary man.

  Lily felt her mind freeze. She stopped her run and tried to process the man standing there at her front door.

  Lily shook her head, tears streamed down her face, as the reality of Michael Carlton set in.

  “You’re… your real name is Phillip,” Lily whispered.

  She saw the frustration on Michael’s face. Again, he put up his hands as if to surrender. “Please give me a chance to explain.”

  Lily didn’t have many options. She didn’t want to hear Michael’s explanations. She frantically looked around for any means of escape.

  She had one other option. Lily remembered Michael telling her about the hole in the wall. She recalled him emerging from the forest carrying that bag and God only knew what he’d been carrying in that bag.

  Lily never gave Michael the chance to explain. She didn’t care. She was in survival mode. Any means of escape would be better than her staying inside this house and risk being murdered in her sleep.

  Lily turned and glanced up at the second-floor window. There stood Hannah watching the scene play out. Her long black hair partially covered her face. She spotted Lily looking up at her and clawed against the glass in rapid movements.

  Lily screamed and ran off towards the forest. Despite her panic, she remembered the direction that Michael returned from during the night.

  Her lungs burned, her feet hurt, and she struggled to move as waves of dizziness swept over her with each breath she inhaled and exhaled.

  The brick wall became closer and off to her right, she saw the damaged part of the wall.

  She didn’t dare to stop and see if Michael was following her.

  She jumped over a small pile of bricks as if she were an Olympic athlete running over hurdles and continued on trying to find a path that would usher her out of the forest.

  It was her only hope of escape. She would flag down a car and call the police. That’s if she made it out of the forest.

  Fueled by those thoughts, Lily entered the forest and made a left. She pushed brush out of the way as she struggled to find a clear path through the brush and trees. Leaves and pine needles crunched beneath her sneakers. She tripped over some sticks lying on the ground. Her one foot got caught in some soft mud, but Lily had to keep moving or she might become Michael’s next victim. He might stuff her into that bag like he might have with other victims.

  Limbs caught her shirt and hair, her feet kicked up leaves and dirt but Lily continued her escape through the thick forest, silently praying that Michael hadn’t caught up with her yet.

  A clearing appeared ahead of her and Lily ran towards it. She stopped to catch her breath but knew she needed to move on. She looked up at the sun. She needed to move west and that would take her out to the road.

  Lily turned to run again when something caught her eye. Inside the clearing were old gravestones with names and dates faded over time. She jogged a little farther into the clearing and slipped on something. She looked down and tried to hold back a scream. A piece of jawbone protruded through the ground with the teeth still attached.

  She turned her head and saw mounds of dirt deeper in the forest.

  Again, Lily froze in panic. She stepped back from the jawbone and felt something crack under her sneaker.

  She sobbed as she stepped away from whatever it was she broke and discovered another bone in pieces where her foot had just been.

  Lily did a 360-degree turn. There were graves scattered throughout the clearing along with more fresh graves.

  Lily paused as the tears blurred her vision and she felt it. The presence was strong behind her.

  Lily turned around and faced Michael Carlton.

  Another wave of dizziness passed through her.

  Deep down she knew she was defeated. She couldn’t flee him. Her lungs were on fire, and her heart pounded against her chest but her surrender to her fate was clear inside her mind.

  Lily placed a hand on her forehead and as the blackness swept over her, she only hoped that Angela would become concerned enough to search for her and give her a proper burial.

  The last thing Lily saw was Michael’s face above her.

  Chapter 13

  Michael’s Explanation

  Lily turned her head and forced her eyes open.

  She blinked and moaned when pain surged through her head.

  She wanted to go back to sleep, but she heard her named called from someplace close to her.

  Lily couldn’t figure out if she was dead or alive. She didn’t know what Michael Carlton had done with her after she’d fainted in the forest. Lily frowned thinking about that. She never fainted a day in her life, but she had been in such a panic that her mind couldn’t process the horror she saw inside that room.

  What other horrors awaited her?

  Lily moved her arm and placed her hand over her brow.

  Wait.

  This movement forced her to open her eyes. Her fuzzy eyesight cleared, and she stared up at a wooden beam on the ceiling. The wooden beam inside the cottage.

  Lily moved her hand and touched the soft velvety fabric of the sofa beneath her.

  Lily breathed in and out not knowing what to expect. Did she pretend she was still passed out? Was she still in danger? How would she escape now?

  “Lily, I know you’re awake. You can sit up. There’s water on the coffee table,” Michael said.

  Lily turned her head. She moaned again from the pain but her eyes searched for the source of the voice.

  She found Michael Carlton sitting on the floor near the entertainment center with his left leg bent and hand resting on his knee.

  Lily tried not to panic. She lifted herself up into a sitting position and ran a hand through her messy hair as the room righted itself. She had nowhere to go. It was obvious that Mr. Carlton wasn’t human and he would catch her before she even thought of standing up from the sofa.

  Lily eyed the water on the coffee table not sure if she should reach out and take a drink.

  Lily eyed Mr. Carlton when she reached for the glass sitting on the table. She sniffed the water first before taking a tentative sip.

  That motion received a snicker out of Mr. Carlton.

  “How long was I out?” Lily asked, taking another sip.

  “It’s been two minutes,” Mr. Carlton answered.

  “Are you going to murder me after I’m done? Because I can’t outrun you,” Lily said.

  Mr. Carlton turned away and shook his head. “Don’t you think if I wished to kill you, I’d have done it by now?”

  “Or you wanted me awake to suffer. So, I would stay alive long enough to watch you torture me,” Lily said.

  Michael frowned, but it turned into a smile. “You have quite an imagination, Miss Evans. Have you ever thought of putting that to use?” Mr. Carlton asked.

  “Me? Am I imagining Hannah locked away in a room? Hannah Carlton who should have died over one-hundred years ago.”

  Michael lifted his index finger and shook it at her. “I must give you credit, Miss Evans. You discovered Hannah on your first day. My last housekeeper didn’t put two and two together for three months,” Michael commented.

  “And where is he or she buried? In the forest? Did I step on one of her bones?”

  Lily pictured the jawbone protruding fr
om the ground and shuddered. What had she stepped on? Part of a skull?

  Michael didn’t react to Lily’s question. “No. She died three years ago at the ripe old age of eighty-eight.” Michael shook his head. “I miss her. She was loyal, friendly, and kept this place going when I couldn’t. She worked for me for almost fifteen years.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “There are resources over the internet that can help you find her. Go look for yourself. Her name was Ramona Turner.”

  Lily’s eyes narrowed. “And she worked here with Hannah locked away in that room?”

  “Oh, she ran from the house screaming like you did. She ran off, and I expected the police to arrive any minute. They never did.” Michael adjusted his position and smiled. “Ramona came back a day later and asked me a lot of questions. She stayed and was cautious for a long time, but she settled in as a trusted employee and a great friend. She never breathed a word about my secret, even to her own husband. She might have stayed with me for many more years if her daughter hadn’t died in a tragic drowning accident in Wildwood.”

  Lily’s mouth turned down from Michael’s story about this Ramona person.

  Was Michael Carlton telling the truth?

  “When did this all take place?”

  “Ramona worked for me until 1971,” Michael answered.

  Michael didn’t blink when he told her the date. It was as if Lily and he were enjoying a casual chat and the dates were not important.

  Lily clutched the glass. She thought she could use it as a weapon if she needed to.

  “Are you… Phillip?”

  Michael nodded. He opened his mouth to say something but Lily changed her mind. She didn’t want to wait for an answer. She wanted to leave this house and its weird occupants forever.

  Lily stood up and said, “You know what, I don’t care. If you will not kill me then I can leave, right?”

  “I’m not forcing you to remain here,” Michael said.

  Lily walked around the cottage searching for her phone and handbag. She kept looking back waiting for Michael to attack her. He never did. He moved from the floor and sat on the sofa. His face unreadable.

  Lily had so many questions but she didn’t want to find out the answers. She wanted to find out what happened to Hannah but yet, she didn’t. She wanted Michael to explain how two people who should have died years ago were still alive. She wanted him to explain what those mounds were in the forest near the cemetery.

  “There’s a jawbone and part of a skull in that cemetery, I saw fresh burial mounds,” Lily accused holding up her cell phone. “I can contact the authorities.”

  “Some of those are ancient graves, and with weather and time, that’s bound to happen. I’ve neglected them over the years except for my son’s grave. As for the fresh ones, Hannah and I must feed, but they are all animals. Deer, mostly,” Michael said.

  Lily froze in place. Feed? What did he mean by feed?

  Lily had difficulty handling this knowledge. She knew from the moment she stepped into Carlton House that something was off and now Michael told her he needed to feed on raw meat.

  “Call the police. I won’t stop you.” Michael scoffed. “I would love to be released from this curse, but if the police arrive, they won’t break it. In fact, if Hannah escapes, you might as well send this area into apocalyptic chaos, because that’s what will happen. You saw her face. Do you think I’m joking? I’m not.”

  Lily stood up straight and stared at Michael for several moments. She wanted to run. She wanted to run far away from this house, but something held her back and she knew who held her in place. The handsome employer in front of her.

  “What happened to you?”

  “My name is Commodore Phillip Francis Carlton the third. I served in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. I sailed to New Orleans to help defeat the Confederate Navy with the Anaconda Plan. My love of the sea and sailing started as a young boy in New York City. My father owned several ships that served for foreign trade. When the war broke out, I seized the chance to serve The Union and President Lincoln.”

  Michael inhaled a deep breath.

  “I left behind my young son and my wife—Hannah.”

  Lily took a step back remembering Francine’s blog. She had 9-1-1 ready on the phone and all she had to do was tap the button.

  “I read somewhere that you murdered your son and committed suicide,” Lily accused.

  Lily jumped back and bumped into the table when Michael stood up from the sofa at supernatural speed. Lily swallowed, thinking she made a huge mistake by mentioning Harry. Tears threatened as Michael ran a hand through his hair and muttered something about the truth.

  He turned to Lily and said, “If you want to believe I murdered my son then yes, I murdered my son. I caused his death. It was my selfishness. I returned from the war a broken man. All I wanted was happiness. Instead, I returned to an ill wife who I would have died for. It backfired on me and my family.”

  Lily stayed ready to defend herself but she saw how Michael struggled with his emotions from his explanation.

  He turned to Lily and pointed his finger at her. “You are free to go. I hired you because I saw your struggles and you needed a way out of your situation. I’ve been looking for someone to assist me in putting this house in order but I realize it doesn’t matter. I can’t die, so what’s the point? I’m cursed to live on this goddamn planet forever.” He turned and opened the door. “Go, Lily. I wish you the best of luck and if you must call the police, then do so. It wouldn’t be the first time, and those that have… well… they were humiliated.”

  Lily swallowed not knowing what to say. Her thoughts raced through her mind but didn’t have the words for a rebuttal. He was right. If she contacted the police, would they believe her? How would she explain the undead woman inside the room? Was Michael, right? If they freed her, would Hannah wreak havoc on this world?

  Just as Lily was going to speak, a text came through her phone.

  Jordan: “Where are u?”

  Lily sighed and ignored the text.

  “He’s calling for you,” Michael said.

  She remembered the night Jordan assaulted her. She thought about how the door opened on its own, how a gust of wind blew through her room and Jordan went flying into her dresser. She couldn’t find a logical explanation for how that happened.

  Lily looked up from the phone and said, “It was you.”

  Michael looked weary as he held the door open. “What did I do?”

  Lily raised an eyebrow. “You saved me from Jordan, didn’t you?”

  A smile played across Michael’s face. “No woman deserves that kind of treatment.”

  Lily tilted her head and lowered her phone. “Why me?”

  Michael smiled. “You and another person answered but guess who showed up.”

  “Oh.” Lily almost burst out laughing. She didn’t know whether she should have been insulted or flattered by a man who should have been dead years ago.

  “Are you insulted?” Michael asked with amusement.

  This time, Lily laughed. The tension lifted from her body for the moment. “This is crazy. What you’ve told me, I can’t imagine happening in the real world. I mean… I don’t even read books like this. I like crime dramas, you know, facts, science, logical explanations. This is why I wanted to pursue nursing but I’ve had to put that on hold.”

  A chilly wind blew through the open door making Lily shiver. Michael raised his eyebrows in question.

  “You can close the door,” Lily said. She looked down at her phone and at Jordan’s latest text. “Thank you for that night. I never saw him that way.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Lily looked back up at Michael. “I hope you understand that this is a shock.”

  “I do. Ramona needed a lot of convincing that day.”

  “How come you waited so long to hire someone else?”

  “I believed I’d never find anybody as reliable as Ramon
a and again I let the house fall into disarray. Upgrades were done to the cottage months ago. Thankfully, a few individuals I trust in this world hired people who wouldn’t dare reveal my secret. Money can do just about anything for anyone.”

  Lily walked over to the sofa and sat down. She didn’t know why but Michael no longer felt like a threat. The way his eyes projected his misery was almost enough to convince Lily that he no longer posed a threat to her.