Thriller: Horror: Spirit Doll (Mystery Suspense Thrillers) (Haunted Paranormal Short Story)

by Stephen Kingston

  “And he made a pretty penny in the process too, didn’t he, selling all of those babies. No, what I saw in town was the result of low birth rates, a town on the verge of collapse. Empty buildings, closed businesses, and little, if anything, to bring the town profit. If you leave only the elite what purpose can a town serve? Did you people really not think any of this through? You didn’t save this community, you killed it!” Inga argued back, trying to use the logic that would make the woman see sense.

  “But, crime is low; drug abuse is low, why we don’t even use nearly as many welfare resources as surrounding towns!” Nurse Pracket shot back.

  “That’s because there’s barely anyone left! You’ve all but emptied out the town of people! And then there’s the emotional distress you’ve caused, the unjustifiable deaths, and the heartbreak of mother’s losing their children or losing their rights to have children! You two thought you were the final arbiter but you’ve done the exact opposite of what you wanted to do!”

  “I beg your pardon, young lady. You have no idea what we were doing. We were doing what was right and what was best for this country. Doctor Nelson and his father saw that something needed to be done and they worked to change it and stop it. We have made not just this town but the country better.”

  “No,” Inga replied, “all you’ve done is emptied it out of the one thing a vibrant town needs, diversity and people. You’ve destroyed it just as you destroyed the lives of the women that came to you for help. Now, please, which woman was my mother?” Inga finally asked, knowing she wasn’t going to make Nurse Pracket see sense.

  “I’m not telling you." Nurse Pracket said, wrapping her arms around her chest and looking away from Inga. “Despite your current low behavior you were raised in a good family and are better than this. Knowing which woman was your mother might drag you back into that kind of lifestyle. No, you don’t need to know.”

  “Well then, can you at least tell me what that “garden” was that the doctor tended to for so long?” Inga asked, remembering the words of the maintenance man at the hospital.

  “It’s a graveyard, of course, where else were we going to hide the bodies?” Nurse Pracket said, before realizing she’d revealed something she perhaps shouldn’t have.

  “And my mother? Is she in that graveyard?” Inga asked, hoping to catch the woman out again.

  Inga saw that Nurse Pracket was done talking and felt furious but knew she could do little more to get the information from the woman. She wanted to force the woman to reveal the truth but knew she couldn’t do something like that. Besides, she thought as she looked up at the sound of rushing footsteps, the police were here now.

  “We’re back here!” Inga called out, hoping the police officers would hear her, and waited. This wasn’t exactly how she’d planned all of this out but it was over now, at least.

  As Inga watched paramedics take out the last victims of Doctor Nelson she realized she’d also saved three women. She was overwhelmed with sadness as she saw the emaciated forms of the women. Only Joan had known the same terror of being stowed away and tortured, as these women had been, but poor Anne was still tortured in her own way.

  Inga gave her statement to the police, told them about the files she’d seen and where they could be found, and watched as both Nurse Pracket and Doctor Nelson were transported away from the house that had been bought with blood money. Doctor Nelson was being taken to a hospital and charged while Nurse Pracket was being taken straight to the local sheriff’s department. That part was done anyway, the perpetrators had been caught, but there were still so many unanswered questions. How many women had been murdered, how many children sold? Who was Inga’s mother?

  Inga’s head started to spin, exhaustion, shock, and too many questions and people flitting around joining forces to leave Inga feeling overwhelmed. She rushed out of the house and to her car, leaning against the cool surface of the roof to try to ease the ache in her head. After a few moments she opened the door and started to get in.

  “Miss? Miss Parr?” Inga heard someone calling out to her. It was one of the police officers, a women in her early 30s Inga had to assume. “Ma’am, could I ask you a question before you leave?”

  “Sure, what can I do for you?” Inga asked, holding the door open and looking over the edge at the tall blonde women with pretty blue eyes. Inga thought she looked too sweet to be a police officer.

  “Are you related to Bella Skaggs? You sure do look an awful lot like her. Like you could be her twin you look so similar.”

  “Who?” Inga asked, wondering who Bella Skaggs was.

  “She’s a model that comes from Louisa Falls, real famous lady. Her parents were Meg and Robert Skaggs, have you ever heard of them?”

  Inga felt her world shift a little to the right, wondering if it could be true. “I’ve never heard of her but I’ll look her up. I’ve never really paid much attention to models but if I look like one I might have to start, huh?”

  “You should, it’s amazing how similar you are. You’re just as beautiful as her too, ma’am. If you don’t mind me saying.” The woman blushed and then rushed off, leaving Inga wondering if she’d just found that missing puzzle peace.

  She made her way back to Anne’s house, making sure the woman was alright before she went back to the hotel and got her laptop out.

  Inga filled Anne in on what had happened and why she’d actually come to Louisa Falls. Anne’s eyes had brightened with joy as she listened wondering if Inga was indeed her Bridget, the name she’d given the child stolen from her.

  “I still don’t know which of you was my mother but it was one of you.”

  Anne looked at Inga more closely. If she squinted she could see features that reminded her of Jim, maybe even a little of herself, but there was nothing that screamed out to Anne that Inga was her child.

  “We can always do DNA tests, if you’d like.” Inga offered, almost hopeful that Anne was her mother so she could still have a living mother. “But I don’t want you to hope too much. Don’t get your hopes up, I have no idea how this is going to work out.”

  “No, I realize that. But you are definitely one of our children. Whether you are mine or Meg’s, or Joan’s doesn’t matter. And if you aren’t mine that’s fine, it just means my child is out there somewhere and so is Joan’s and Meg’s. Poor Joan. I do wish there’d been something I could have done but I wasn’t in any state to help anyone, even myself, at that point.” Anne said, her wrinkled face sad and her eyes filled with tears.

  “There was nothing you could do Anne.” Inga said taking Anne’s hand.

  “Thank you for saying that, Inga. You’re a sweet child either way. Thank you.”

  “So you’ll be leaving tomorrow I reckon?” Anne asked just before Inga left her.

  “Yes, I’ll be heading back to Charlotte in the morning. The police don’t need me and I have to figure out how to turn this all into a story for work.”

  “Oh how I’d love to get to see Charlotte once more, I so loved it when I was there. I imagine it’s unrecognizable from the last time I was there.” Anne said, her eyes smiling through the tears as she remembered her youth. “I wanted to take my baby there and start a new life. But it wasn’t meant to be.”

  “Would you like to come and stay with me, Anne? I have a big old house that needs filling with the sound of people. You can come stay with me for however long you want to.” Inga offered, truly hoping the woman would agree.

  “I might come for a visit. I don’t know if I could leave Louisa Falls now, it’s home. But I’d love to come and visit.” Anne replied, and Inga knew Anne really would come to visit her and that was enough, for now.

  “I’ll see you soon then. Good night, Anne. And don’t lose my phone number. You call me any time you need or want to, you hear?” Inga said with a hug and kiss before leaving.

  Now Inga was back in her hotel, staring in shock at picture after picture of a woman with her face. With her exact face. This woman even had a slight sc
ar on the right side of her eye, though Inga didn’t think the woman had the same reason for the scar. An accident when she was a child learning to ride a bike had left her with a permanent reminder that she had to keep trying.

  Inga didn’t know for sure, there’d been no DNA tests but she was 99 percent certain Bella Skaggs was her sister. Which meant Meg had been her mother. Inga sighed deeply, wondering how to contact the other woman, and reached for her phone to call her producer. She had to be sure he was getting the news of her story on air. And maybe start the search for the other children, for Anne and Joan’s children, and for Scott Parker. He had a child out there somewhere and he needed to know about Joan so he could, perhaps, finally have some peace.

  Six Months Later, Charlotte, North Carolina

  “So Nurse Pracket is going to be in prison for the rest of her natural life, Doctor Nelson has met his reward, in Hell I hope, now that he’s died from that last stroke, and my daughter is coming to meet me?” Anne asked from Inga’s kitchen table as Inga prepared dinner. She had visitors coming and wanted everything to be perfect.

  “Yes, Anne. Beth will be here in an hour. And Scott Parker is coming along with his daughter Cathy, we found her as well. And my sister, Bella, is coming too.”

  “That is perfect Inga. So perfect. Are you as nervous as I am?” The elderly woman asked, obviously worried her past was going to make her daughter hate her.

  Inga and Anne had discussed Anne’s worries before about her past and not fighting harder to save her child. Anne lived with a guilt that Inga couldn’t imagine. Inga walked over to her and sat down with Anne, taking her whisper soft hand in her own strong and nimble one.

  “Anne, you did everything you could, my darling. I guess me saying it is different though, you have to hear it from Beth. And yes, I’m as nervous as you. Now, don’t get yourself tied up in knots. You’ve kept me company all of this time since we’ve met and you are a delight and a pleasure to me. If Beth has any since she’ll think the very same thing.”

  Inga stood back up, draining the potatoes she’d been boiling, and thought about why she was nervous as well. Her sister, the supermodel, was coming to dinner. Bella had contacted her through the news station and a DNA test had proven she was Inga’s identical twin. Bella hadn’t been able to return home right away but Inga had met her other siblings in the meantime. They were all accepting and loving, glad to have the missing sibling in their fold at last.

  Inga hoped she met Bella’s expectations. The woman had written emails to Inga, telling her of how she’d felt something was missing her whole life and of how reading about Inga in the French paper that reported American news had made it all click. Bella had felt like she’d finally found that missing part and could barely hide her excitement. Her contracts had to be honored, however, but now she was coming to dinner.

  Inga had always thought that feeling of being incomplete was because she’d been adopted and didn’t know anything about her mother. As she opened the door and saw her sister, however, something clicked within her, and finally she felt whole for the first time in her life as she embraced her sister.

  Inga knew now that Meg had been her mother, had heard stories of her, seen videos, and learned quite a lot about her. But even as Anne’s tears flowed as Beth walked into her arms and as Scott and Cathy watched, holding hands from their seat on a couch as they watched, Inga knew that all three of the women, all of the women that had fallen victim to Doctor Nelson and Nurse Pracket had been her mother. But especially those first three.

  For a moment, as she stood watching Anne and Beth she thought she saw two extra people in her living room. Two women, a blonde and a woman with light-brown hair and a gentle smile stared back at her with tears and a happy smile full of pride at Inga. Her heart swelled as the images of Joan and Meg, themselves holding hands, turned away and disappeared into the wall of Inga’s living room.

  Inga blinked, trying to hide the tears that filled her own eyes. They all had peace at last and though Inga and a group of adoptees were still looking for answers for the other children Doctor Nelson had stolen, she knew that Joan and Meg, and now Anne, had been given the justice they deserved. A little bit of the world had been made better and Inga looked over at her sister, knowing her life had just become better than she’d have imagined it could have when she started this project.

  “Let’s eat people and get to know each other. I think it’s about time, don’t you?” Inga looked around at the happy faces filling the room and felt her own peace at last. This was better than Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays being all rolled into one. She had family again and that was more than she could have ever hoped for.

  The End

  The Shadow Man

  Horror

  About the Book

  Sometimes we see things out of the corner of our eyes. Dark things that may only surprise us. But sometimes those dark shadows, those hints of things unseen, can be terrifying. For Clara the shadows are only dust in her eyes, or the imaginings of her own mind. She has more important things to worry about. Her mother is moving in and her mother has Alzheimer’s disease. When her girls pick up a new imaginary friend Clara thinks it’s just a phase her girls are going through, a way for them to connect with the grandmother that no longer recognizes them.

  But for Clara’s mother, Betty, those shadows are real. Those shadow figures are real and they are terrifying. For in those shadows lay darkness, death, and memories best left alone, or forgotten. But the answer to Clara’s birth, and her parentage lies in Betty’s mind, and perhaps the answer to how to save them all. Can Clara convince her mother to tell her the truth before it’s too late? Before death, or something worse, claims Betty and perhaps all those she loves?

  Chapter One

  Present Day

  Charlotte, North Carolina

  The storm clouds were finally clearing over our old farmhouse on the outskirts of Charlotte. The white two-story building had weathered another storm and I gazed up at the receding clouds with happiness. It was going to be a good day after all, even if our lives were about to be turned upside down.

  “Clara, what time is your mother arriving again?” I turned to see my husband, Wes Slade, coming out onto the wide screened off porch that spanned the front of the old clapboard house. His grey eyes were laughing as our twin daughters, tiny and blond at eight years old with curly hair the same as me but with their father’s dark grey eyes, danced around his long legs, playing tag. This was my world in dark and light. I ran my fingers through Wes’s dark brown hair and gauged the length, narrowing my own green eyes as I measured. Time for a haircut, I would have to get my scissors out later.

  “Hi babies! She should be here in a couple of hours Wes, her friend Stella is driving her down.” I gave him a grateful smile, knowing this was going to be a huge change for the family.

  My mother was developing Alzheimer’s disease, a disease that stole your memory and made it hard to function in life. My mother had been a nurse all of her life and when she started to have problems I swore I would never put her in a nursing home, though it seemed the popular option these days. Put Mom and Dad away and the problem disappears until visiting day. Not for my mother, I loved her far too much and respected her, I was not going to allow her to go to a nursing home until it was necessary. Not after some of the stories she had whispered to her friends when she thought I could not hear her while I was growing up.

  “Good, I am going to take the girls out to the park on this fine Sunday morning so they’ll arrive home quiet and exhausted. How does that sound?” He pulled me close to his side and bent down to inhale the scent of my own curly blonde hair. “Mm, I do love how you smell munchkin.”

  Wes and I have been married for ten years now. We met in college and married a few years later. The girls came a little later and now we are settled into our dream home at 34 years old. We even have our dream careers, Wes as a public administrator for the city and I have my own career as a freelance photographer. I
mainly do jobs for the local papers and magazines but I am taking some time off to settle Mom into our home and transition my family into our new lives.

  “Well, if you promise to behave, Tall, Dark, and Handsome, I will let you sniff more of me later. But for now, yes, get these girls to the park!” I hugged them all as the girls shrieked in happiness at an outing and I went back into the house to make sure nothing else needed to be done.

  I walked in from the porch, going into the hallway that lead off to multiple rooms: a parlor, a living room, the kitchen in the back, and the downstairs bathroom. Upstairs we have three bedrooms and an office. The parlor had been transformed into a bedroom for my mother and the bathroom fitted to suit her needs. I had arranged for a home-health nurse and a personal care assistant to come and monitor my mother’s health and to help me as her disease progresses over time. I want Mom used to both by the time her symptoms get to the later stages.

  I've had locks placed high on all of the doors, ordered a system to help track her if she starts to wander off, done all of the research I could think to do, arranged a doctor here for her, and child-proofed the house. I sat down on the bed in her room, gazing at the quilt I had made just for her. The white, pink, and light blue star-burst pattern was intriguing and looked far more complicated than it was. I had to push back tears as I thought about the sudden reversal of our roles. Once upon a time Mom had prepared a room like this for my arrival. Now it was my turn. I knew she had a hard road in front of her, as did we all, but I wanted her last years to be good, even if they were heart breaking. I would keep her here for as long as I could.