Chapter 18

By

Brynn Morgan

Copyright © 2023 by – Brynn Morgan – All Rights Reserved.

It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited.

Chapter 18

Emily and Lainie were stunned into silence. The girl was Elizabeth's daughter, born of rape and rage. They could not even find words now. Lainie's ringtone shattered the silence. The phone vibrated on the tabletop. Emily jumped nervously.

Lainie answered. "Hello? Oh, hi, Clarrisa,"

"How is Emily today?" Clarrisa asked with concern.

Lainie put the phone on speaker so that Emily could hear the conversation. "Clarrisa wants to know how you are, Emily?"

"Speechless at the moment," Emily said, disturbed by what she had just read.

Clarrisa laughed. "I did not know I was on speaker!" and then she asked. "Any more occurrences throughout the night?"

Emily spoke softly. "I had another nightmare, but nothing to the extent of being lifted off the bed and hanging close to the ceiling. I am glad there was no ceiling fan with sharp blades," she added sarcastically.

Clarissa chuckled lightly. "I understand, Emily." There was a pause. "So, did y'all get your hands on the diaries?"

Lainie sighed. "Yes, we did."

"Well?" Clarrisa prompted.

"Too much to try to explain over the phone, honestly." Lainie paused. "But what we found was quite disturbing."

Clarrisa gasped. "I want to hear it. Would y'all like to come over tonight after work, and we can go over it? I have more pizza!" she said in a funny, cajoling tone.

Lainie looked at Emily and thought it could be a clever idea to discuss it with Clarrisa. "Want more pizza, Emily?" Lainie asked and smiled.

Emily sighed softly. "Sure, why not."

***

They made plans to be at Clarrisa's apartment by six thirty that night, and then Lainie stood up. "Want to take a drive with me?"

Emily looked at Lainie curiously. "To where?"

Lainie grabbed her car keys and opened the front door. "To the Hasting's cemetery."

Emily was on board. She pulled away from the table and followed Lainie out of the door.

***

The heat was brutal and unrelenting as Lainie drove down the road toward Hasting's House and turned onto a dirt road just before she reached the entrance to the mansion. She descended the path and parked the car at the bottom of a steep hill scattered with yellow and red wildflowers. "Ready for a climb?" Lainie asked, and Emily nodded but dreaded it in the excruciating heat.

They climbed the hill slowly, and as they did so, Emily saw Hastings House come into view, nestled in the valley. The house was stunning with its stately Antebellum structure, and she saw an old black pickup truck parked beneath the willow trees.

Emily wiped the sweat out of her eyes and asked Lainie. "Do you think that is the caretakers?"

Lainie nodded. "Probably so. Here we are," Lainie said as they approached a smaller set of iron gates that surrounded the medium-sized cemetery. Just like the entrance to the mansion, these gates had a rusted horse head knob. As Lainie pulled it open, it squeaked in complaint. They stepped through and into the family graveyard. There were many tombstones, but Emily's attention was immediately drawn to the two large white granite mausoleums at the center of the graveyard.

"This must be James and Elizabeth Hastings," she said.

They walked up to the two structures, and sure enough, one said James David Hastings, and then the other one said Catherine Snow Hastings, much to their surprise.

"What!?" Lainie exclaimed.

They were stunned into silence once again. James did not have his first wife, Elizabeth, lying beside him in death but the body of his second wife, Catherine. So where was Elizabeth's grave?

Lainie and Emily wandered around the tombstones and saw where many Hastings had been laid to rest throughout the centuries. Finally, at the back of the cemetery, more miniature tombstones were nestled under the sad-looking weeping willow trees. There was a smaller gate that led into that section of the graveyard. The clouds suddenly covered the sun, casting the tombstones in gray shadows.

"Let's see what we have here," Lainie stated. She walked up to the first tombstone, and her brown eyes widened considerably. "Well, here is Elizabeth." She said shockingly, brushing a stray weed away from her carved name in the granite.

Emily could not believe it. She had a very plain tombstone with only her name engraved. She was a prominent lady! This was where she had been laid to rest? James was a real dog, she thought sadly. There was no engraving or anything. Just her name. Elizabeth Rochester Hastings. "I do not believe this, Lainie," she murmured.

Beside Elizabeth's grave, there was Georgia May Hastings. There was no date of death, just her name. They passed across Paris Mary Hastings and came to James Edward Hastings, whose tombstone read.

James Edward Hastings

Taken so quickly from us but resting with the angels

We will miss you, son.

"Wow!" Lainie said angrily.

James wanted to ensure that he honored his boy but not his own daughters!" It was so unfortunate.

Then they came to another plain stone that read.

London Anne Hastings.

A breeze blew through the trees and cooled their necks where sweat had gathered from the heat. There was no other tombstone for (the girl).

"I just cannot believe it. I do not understand how a man, a father, can be so cruel. To his flesh and blood?"Her eyes were wet with tears.

She had not been able to afford the stones that she wanted for Luke, Isla, and Nathan, but thankfully, her in-laws could afford them, and she was grateful to them for that.

Lainie bowed her head. "It's just too horrible for words."

They walked together to the front of the cemetery and saw a cluster of tombstones toward the right of Catherine's Mausoleum. There was yet another tiny gate. Emily pushed it open, and they walked up to the graves.

"Here are the important ones, apparently," Lainie commented dryly.

There were four tombstones with fancy engravings, and the names were.

David Thomas Hastings – Born July 3rd, 1849 - 1922

Thomas William Hastings – Born October 31st, 1851 – 1931

Raeford Thomas Hastings – Born January 30th, 1872 – 1932

Brice David Hastings – Born October 4th, 1874 – 1934

"Sons and grandsons," Emily said. She looked down into the valley and noticed that two figures were standing out beneath the trees at Hastings House, and they were looking directly at them.

"I think it may be time for us to go, Emily," Lainie commented, seeing the man and woman staring at them.

Emily looked right back at them, unafraid. "No. I think it may be time for introductions of my replacements," she said coolly and stalked off towards the car.

Lainie sighed. "Alrighty then."

***

Lainie drove through the gates of Hastings's house and parked next to the old Ford pickup. The man and woman had disappeared quickly when they saw the car coming down the road from the cemetery.

Lainie chuckled. "Well, they sure did scatter quickly," she said humorously.

Emily opened the car door and stepped back into the unbearable heat, and Lainie followed suit. She strode up to the front porch, climbed the steps, and raised her hand to knock on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again, and still no response. Finally, the door cracked open, and an older woman peered out with piercing blue eyes.

"Hello," she said feebly.

Emily stepped forward. "Hi. My name is Emily," she said softly.

The older woman, who was, Emily surmised, in her late seventies, stared at her curiously. "Hello, Emily," she said. "How can I help you?" Her voice was clipped.

"I am here to gather the rest of my things," Emily said in a cheery tone.

The woman looked at her with untrusting eyes. "Your things?" she asked.

"Yes. I was the caretaker for this place for about two days before I had to leave. I left quite a few things in the bedroom off from the kitchen, and I would like to get those things now if I could." she explained.

The older woman was very guarded, but then she visibly relaxed. "Ahh. I wondered whose things those were. Come on in out of that heat. I am Maureen, and that man on the lawn mower is my husband Claude picked up a few things that were spared, and they are back on the shelf." Stepping back, she opened the door wide, and Emily hesitated. She froze as she saw the staircase in the distance and felt extremely ill. Nausea almost doubled Emily when she saw where Amori had fallen down the stairs and died.

Lainie stood frozen in place as well. She would not make a move toward the door. Emily turned around quickly and looked at her. She looked very pale and scared. "I can't do it, Emily. I can't go in there." She had not been in that house since Tristan had died. Lainie had no intentions of going in there now.

Emily understood and turned to go in, but Lainie stopped her. "Wait," Lainie said with a conflicted look on her face.

Emily turned and looked at her. "We will go in together,"

Emily nodded and waited for Lainie to join them.

The three women entered the house, and Lainie felt herself shake as she neared the staircase where Tristan had died. It had been five years since that day, and she would never be able to erase that image of Tristan lying at the foot of the stairs with a horrified look frozen in place. What had she seen? The Girl? She then looked up the staircase to the second floor and just stared. What was she expecting to see? The child with no name?

Emily and Lainie followed the older woman down the hallway to the kitchen, and Emily was shocked at what she saw. This was the first time she had seen the kitchen since the night she was terrorized. The space was barren. It only had walls and pipes. Everything else had been torn out and had been moved out to dumpsters at the back of the house. "How long have y'all been the caretakers here?" Emily asked as she walked around the corner, and her mouth gaped open in shock. She was not prepared for what she saw. The door to the bedroom was hanging off the hinges and had considerable dents in the metal door, and the bedroom was annihilated. Everything had been destroyed. "What- the- hell?" she whispered with her eyes narrowed. The kitchen was destroyed, the bedroom looked like a tornado had hit it, and the wind had just swept everything away. Someone had attacked the room in a rage. "When did ... this happen?" she asked incredulously. Her voice shook as she spoke.

Maureen said. "Uh. It was like this when we arrived yesterday." She bent over, picked up a box of items, and handed it to Emily. Here you go. This was all that could be salvaged."

Emily was shocked and scared. She then noticed that her records and record player from Luke were not in the box, which upset her. "This is it?" she asked.

There were only a few items in the box. A picture frame with a picture of her, Luke, and Isla at the beach and a few other things. Had the girl done this? Had she destroyed this room that morning after Emily escaped out the window? Had she been watching from the window as she ran to safety? "Oh, my God." She bent over sick and ran to the bathroom. She barely made it to the commode. Lainie ran after her. Maureen looked at the two women with confusion etched on her face. She held the box.

Emily leaned over the commode and threw up, and when she was done, she straightened up and looked at Lainie with her legs shaking. This thing wanted to kill her. She could feel it in her bones. The attack here, the attack at Lainie's house, and now seeing the bedroom destroyed. She felt like she needed to run and just keep running as far from this house as she could, but would it still follow her?

Maureen brought her a wet paper towel, and she accepted it gratefully. "Are you okay, dear? You are as white as the towel in your hand," she said.

Emily breathed deeply. "I will be okay. It is this heat. It is getting to me today." she lied.

"Do you and your husband stay here at night?" Lainie asked as she watched Emily with concern. She was not okay.

Maureen laughed aloud. "Oh no! You could not pay us enough to stay in this house at night." She said, smiling, and then the smile disappeared, replaced by a frown.

Emily lowered the towel from her face and reached for the box. Maureen handed it over to her.

"Why?" "Have you seen things?" Emily asked softly.

Maureen walked out of the kitchen and back into the front entryway. She looked up the stairs, and her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke. "I am fine being down here dusting and the like while Claude is outside doing chores around the property, but I will not go upstairs alone. Claude must be with me," she said in a respectful tone as if someone was listening to her, and she had to choose her words carefully.

Lainie questioned her. "Why? What have you seen? I ask for a reason, Mrs. Maureen."

Maureen looked back up the stairs, then turned and looked back at them. "I have seen. I have heard. I have felt," she said in the most dreadful tone.

Emily turned away from them and walked quickly down the hallway, through the kitchen, and back into the bedroom. She opened the door to the closet and breathed a huge sigh of relief. She smiled. The red record player and records were tucked away where she had placed them. She grabbed them and then hurried back to the front of the house. Lainie looked at her but did not question why she had disappeared.

"I found what I came for. We can go now." Emily said hurriedly, then she turned back around and looked at Maureen. "Do you get nauseous when you go upstairs and walk down the hallway to the right?"

Maureen looked at her. Emily was unsure that she would, but the old lady responded. "Yes. I do not walk down that hallway anymore. Claude and I both stay away from that part of the house," she said.

"Have you ever felt anything on the stairs or above? On the landing?" Emily asked.

Maureen looked at her sternly and guided them to the front door with her hands on their backs. She was almost pushing them. They opened the door and stepped out onto the grand porch. They were shocked at her strength. "If you are referring to the house being haunted. Yes. It is haunted, and it has been haunted for generations. I mind my business, as does my husband, and we do not stir things up. We leave it alone. It is safer that way. Please take my advice and do the same. You will be better off for it." She said and slammed the door and locked it.

If you enjoyed let me know!! Please vote, comment and follow if you did!!!💀👻👀🖤❤️