The house was located in a quiet part of town. The council classified it as ‘semi-rural’ but in reality it was countryside. The area was mostly made up of hobby farms. It was a bit of peace and quiet on the edge of town. Close enough to have all the amenities not too far away, but distanced enough to not see your neighbour for months on end. It was a perfect spot to escape the world and raise a family - which is exactly what had attracted James and Cate.
Across the fields were rolling green hills, dampened and refreshed by the rain they had been experiencing recently. Summer was always a wet period for the area, but this year it had been few and far between showers. The rain was a welcome visitor in these parts of Australia.
The country houses they passed on their walk were mainly older style period farm houses. The few newer homes were closer together and much further towards town. They represented the few farm holdings that had decided to subdivide and sell parcels of the land before the council changed their minds on the permits. They were lucky, the window of opportunity to subdivide had been short lived. After much controversy they had repealed the decision after only a few years. Those that had obtained permits had made a fortune. All the city dwellers were keen to move to the country while it was still a popular trend.
Those that had moved to the area rarely moved back from whence they came. It was certainly a beautiful part of the country. It retained an old fashion charm to it. On some days you could be mistaken for thinking you were visiting a small part of England. This had been a deliberate act by the first early settlers. They had migrated here all those years ago and found they missed home. To combat their yearning to return, they had made their very own English village. The farm houses resembled those in a Jane Austen movie, even some of the oldest streets were still cobblestone to this day.
As Charlie and Blair slowly walked down the street holding hands, they each pointed out various animals grazing on the pastures. Goats seemed particularly popular with the locals. There were also a few cows and sheep scattered amongst the fields.
The sun was beating down from the sky, it wasn’t long before the heat had started getting to them. Charlie wished she’d had the foresight to bring some water with them, she was usually so organised with that sort of thing. She was never a scout, but had taken on the ‘be prepared’ slogan anyway.
They approached a farm house at the end of the drive where the road turned into a sharp corner. There was a woman in the front yard gardening, covered in dirt almost from head to toe.
“Do you think she’d let us have a drink of water?” Blair pointed at the women.
“We could ask, I guess. She can only say ‘no’.”
They caught her eye and waved at the women who was sitting on the grass in front of a flowerbed. She waved back, smiling. They continued on to the fence, made out of small rocks and concrete that lined the boundary.
“Excuse me, we have been out walking and forgot to bring some water. I was wondering if it would be okay to get a glass of water from you?” Charlie spoke using her politest tone of voice.
The woman stood up and brushed her hands on the tops of her legs, shaking the dirt from between her fingers. She slowly plodded over to meet them at the fence.
“Sure! Come in. Please mind the mess though,” she opened the gate and led them to the front of the house. It was smaller than Cate’s but still had that same old world charm to it. The woman took her shoes off at the door, Blair and Charlie followed suit and removed theirs also. Barefoot, the trio entered the house.
Inside the cottage was dark, the small round windows only letting in the truly persistent of light beams. For what the home lacked in light, it made up for in clutter. On every available surface there was something, whether it be a statue, figurine, pot plant, or wooden artefact. The thought of just dusting the place made Charlie vow never to hoard anything ever again. As soon as she returned home in a few weeks, she was going to have a throw out, she vowed to herself.
They walked through the living room and into the kitchen. It was lighter at the back of the house, but only barely. The kitchen was a typical farmhouse kitchen with thick wooden benches and a proud stove standing as the feature point of the room. The woman went to the refrigerator and pulled out a glass jug full of water, lemon slices floating on top. She placed it on the bench top before retrieving two large glasses from a cupboard.
“My name’s Louise by the way.” She placed the glasses on the bench beside the jug and stepped back. With a hand gesture, she indicated that they should help themselves.
“I’m Charlie, this is my boyfriend Blair.”
“Hi,” Blair poured the two glasses of water and handed one to Charlie. He started drinking as if it was his final meal before being executed.
“It’s a beautiful day for a walk. Awfully hot though. I’ve only been gardening for an hour and already I feel like I’ve been hit by a poker.”
“It certainly is warm,” Charlie agreed. “We didn’t really think it would be this hot outside when we decided to go for a walk.”
“Well, the summer heat can creep up on you in these parts of the woods. The houses are usually wonderfully cool on the inside, but as soon as that sun hits you, bam! The houses were made that way, you know. The poor English men and women didn’t know what had hit them when they arrived on our shores. I bet the government didn’t tell them that before they stepped foot on the boat!” She chuckled to herself.
“Yeah, it must have been a shock to the system. Still, they left some beautiful homes. How old is your place?”
“Just shy of two hundred years. It’s one of the oldest in this area. Built by a Lord! Can you believe that? A real life Lord! You would wonder why he would pick up his family and move them half way around the world. I guess he was promised something special - besides the heat.”
“A Lord, I’m sure it was one of the grandest houses around then,” Charlie was trying to make polite conversation while they drank.
“It was,” the woman nodded. “Are you staying in the area?”
“We’re staying at my sister’s house - Sage Manor, just up the road.”
“Oh, the Sage Manor house. My husband - God rest his soul - would never go there. Not even for a visit or a dinner party. He avoided it like the plague. Are you just visiting your sister then? It’s a terrible tragedy what happened to her husband.”
“We’re just staying for the summer, to help her out around the house. Why would your husband never go to Sage Manor?”
“Have you had anything strange happen about the house? It’s such a big rambling old place, you know.”
“Like what?” Blair interrupted.
“You haven’t heard the rumours about that place then?” She eyed Charlie from head to foot.
“No, what rumours?” Charlie noticed the looks the woman was giving her, she was starting to feel uncomfortable. She glanced at Blair to see if he’d noticed, he was happily drinking the cold water from his glass. Men were so unobservant.
Louise smiled a knowing smirk. “We don’t talk about it anymore. Best left that way.”
“It would be interesting to hear about the history of the house. I’d like to hear about anything you’ve heard.”
“No, really. Things like that are best left unspoken. Now, drink up. I’ve got lots of gardening to do.”
Remembering she was still a guest in the stranger’s house, Charlie finished her water and placed her glass and Blair’s in the sink. They walked through the house again and made it to the front door. As she walked, Charlie tried to take in all the ornaments. From what she could see, they appeared to be nothing more than kitsch trinkets. It was just the number of them that was overwhelming. They put their shoes back on and walked to the road. Instead of heading down the street, they decided to retrace their steps back to Cate’s house. The heat was tiring them much quicker than usual.
As she walked, Charlie really wanted to talk to Blair about her nightmare and her conversation with Rahni but she couldn’t bring herself
to broach the subject. She didn’t want to sound like a maniac, spouting off about her bad dream and how it had felt so real. Nor did she want to reveal how a conversation with a little girl and her imaginary friend scared her. Blair was giving up his entire summer to spend with her family, he didn’t need to listen to her complain. She decided to just let it rest, the closer they got to the house the less she felt like talking.
Walking through the front door of Sage Manor, they saw Cate and Rahni cuddled up on the living room sofa together watching television. They let them know that they were back and went straight through to the conservatory to check on the paint work. Blair was hoping it was dry enough to do any touch-ups he saw necessary. The room was hot to say the least. Charlie walked to the back glass wall and opened the French doors to the garden outside. They let in a cool breeze that neutralised the stuffiness of the room.
Blair picked up a small paint tin and brush and surveyed every inch of the walls, stopping now and then to dab some paint on a missed spot. Charlie sat down in a white cane chair that was resting near the doors. She watched Blair as he slowly moved around the perimeter.
“You look like Sherlock Holmes, looking for some clues,” she joked.
“I am looking for clues. Clues that lead me to believe I shouldn’t become a professional painter. I think I’ve found several,” he laughed.
“Well, it looks like we’ll be returning to university then after all if we can’t make it in the painting business.”
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am at that fact. These hands were not meant for manual labour,” he held up his hands to prove the point, careful not to let the paint drip off the brush. He refocused his attention back to the wall and took a few steps before tripping over a side table that was standing innocently beside the wall. He dropped the tin, sending paint oozing out on to the floor.
Charlie ran over and grabbed some newspapers, trying desperately to control the damage. She tried to coax the paint back into the tin, Blair used his brush to assist. They got as much paint as possible back in before setting it upright again. They looked down at the floor where there was a buttery yellow stain where there used to be polished wooden floorboards.
“We’re going to need more rags,” Blair shook his head.
“And water. I’ll be right back.” She hurried into the laundry room and found a bucket to fill. She turned on the hot water tap and found some rags. Picking up the supplies, she quickly ran back into the conservatory. Blair was still trying to mop up the last of the paint with pieces of newspaper. He moved aside when Charlie returned. She knelt down on her knees and started scrubbing at the stain. It was still wet, even in the humidity. She worked out all the paint until there were no traces of the spill left. Standing up to check her handiwork, she was satisfied there would be no permanent damage.
“Cate will never have to know,” she smiled at Blair and patted his arm. He went back to work on the walls, stepping more carefully than before. Charlie returned the bucket and rags back to the laundry, removing all evidence of the accident. She loved Blair with her whole heart, but he could be so clumsy at times. Once they had been walking through campus talking about their classes when he ran straight into a pole. It was right in front of him, she still couldn’t understand how he hadn’t seen it. It was one of his endearing qualities that she found cute, he found frustrating. He never learned though, clumsiness was just an inbuilt feature.
She was still thinking about the pole incident when she walked down the corridor and back into the room. She smiled at him as she walked through the door. She went back to her chair and resumed her position. She thought she better hang around, just in case her cleaning services were required again.
She stared out into the backyard through the open doors. The yard was beautifully kept and in pristine condition. The green lawns seemed to go on forever. If it wasn’t for the wire fences at the very end of the property, you would think that it was endless. Directly outside the doors were flower beds full of daisies. Pink, white, and purple ones. Cate had hired a gardener a week ago, but only to mow the lawns. She enjoyed gardening and looked after all the flowerbeds herself. The lawn had been James’ department.
Charlie turned her attention back to the room. Blair was still checking the paintwork. She looked down the other end of the room, she could see the small patches on the wall where he had applied some more paint to fill gaps. They would soon dry and be indistinguishable from the rest of the wall. As she was scanning her eyes along the far wall, something caught her attention. She moved her eyes back to the spot, trying to see it again, but it was gone.
“Blair, did you just see something on the end wall?”
He looked up. “No, nothing. Why, what did you see?”
“Nothing, probably just a shadow. Never mind.” She kept staring at the wall. She wanted to believe she had just seen a shadow but it hadn’t been. She knew she had seen a face come out of the flat surface of the wall. It had been so real and human that it couldn’t have been mistaken for anything else.
The wall had seemed to move forward, like someone had tried to come through the wall but was held back by the paint, leaving only a masked imprint. There had been a chin, a nose, and a forehead. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, it had vanished. She shook her head, telling herself the heat must be getting to her. Faces don’t come out of a wall, it was just nonsense. Her dream had just shaken her up, that’s all.
She continued staring at the spot on the wall, half of her hoping it would reappear so she could be reassured she wasn’t going crazy. The other half really just wanted to see a wall and nothing else. On one hand there’s crazy, on the other hand there is something completely unknown. The wall didn’t move again.
She waited for Blair to finish his retouching and they went back to living room, relieved to be leaving the stuffy room.
Chapter 3
That evening, after dinner was well and truly over, Blair sat down in the living room to watch a movie with Rahni. The little girl picked out Shrek as that night’s must-see flick. Inserting the DVD, she settled into the lounge suite next to him. The opening credits started to roll while they munched on hot microwave popcorn.
Cate had mentioned during dinner that she had received a call from James’ office, asking her if she would come in and clear out his desk. Life was moving on for the bosses, they needed the space for his replacement. It had prompted her to do something about his things. She planned on going through some of James’ belongings that night and visit the office the following day.
Cate was finally ready to go through his personal possessions, to try and make sense of what he’d left behind. Charlie had seen it as a good opportunity to talk with her sister privately; try and see how she was really coping. She offered to help and Cate took her up on the offer. It was decided they would start with his study, there wouldn’t be anything too personal in there.
The two women stood just inside the study doorway, looking around the room. It was dark green in colour and very reminiscent of a traditional gentleman’s study. Along the bottom half of the walls were dark cherry oak panelling, the top was wallpapered with stripes. In the centre of the room stood a solid looking antique wooden desk. The only other furniture in the room was a floor lamp, bookcase, and an armchair. While the furniture was minimal, it still filled the room and made it seem cosier than you would expect.
Charlie crossed the room to the bookcase. Its five shelves were crammed with books of all types. On the top shelf were old novels, beautifully bound in red and gold. All the other shelves held various paperbacks and a few ‘how-to’ guides. She noticed the books were arranged in alphabetical order and smiled - James and Cate had really been the perfect match.
“Are we packing these up to give away? Or are we just looking for anything important?” She asked, trying to phrase it delicately.
“I think for now there is no need to pack anything. Some of these things might come in handy. We’ll just look for items that might ne
ed attending to,” Cate sat down at the desk and tugged open the top drawer. She pulled it all the way out and placed it on the desktop. She started to pull out the documents one at a time to have a closer look.
“Have you notified the bank that you’re now acting for his estate? You are the executor, aren’t you?”
“I am. Luckily we had our wills drawn up when Rahni was born. I gave the bank a copy of the will and the death certificate. I haven’t had any problems yet. It’s been difficult though, James used to look after all the finances. I just paid the bills when they came due - he looked after everything else.”
“So he might have investments and things that you aren’t aware of yet?”
“Exactly. We never really talked about money. I know how old-fashioned that sounds, but we were traditional. He looked after the business side of things, I looked after the domestic side. It worked for us. Plus, he wasn’t meant to leave me, not for a long time.”
“No-one’s judging Sis, whatever worked for you. And from what I saw, it worked really well. You were perfect together. You know what they say, better to have loved and lost.”
“I know. I wouldn’t change all those years for anything. I just wish I’d had longer with him. No-one should pass over that young, not someone like him,” tears started to well in her eyes. She put the paper down that she was reading. Charlie put an arm around her shoulders.
“You’re right, he was a fantastic guy. He left you a beautiful daughter to remind you of him. Remember that he’s still with you in spirit.”
“Sometimes when I’m on my own in the house, I can feel him around me. I know how silly that sounds, but it’s like he’s standing right next to me,” Cate sniffled and picked up the piece of paper again. “Do you believe in an afterlife?”
“Of course I do. We don’t just cease to exist, what would be the point in that? Our soul, spirit - whatever you call it - just passes over. I believe that our loved ones wait for us on the other side so that when we join them, it’s love that greets us. Then we can all start our next life together.”
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