Chapter 35 and Epilogue

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 35

Day of Penelope's death- Later that night

James expressly forbade Georgia and Paris to mention anything about how Penelope died. His voice was harsh but shaky as he instructed them urgently at the top of the steps. "I want you to go to your rooms. You may come out only when I call for you," Paris was terrified to leave his side, but she went into her room and shut the door softly. Georgia, however, was pale, and her eyes were wide and dilated. She could not erase the horrific way the girl stared at them; It petrified Georgia.

"Papa, I'm scared," Georgia whispered. James looked down at her, and his voice was harsh.

"We will burn in hell for this, my darling Georgia," he said with dread. " We will burn in hell. Now go to your room," he said roughly, pushing her on her shoulder with no tenderness. He was disgusted by her. Georgia looked up at him strangely, and her eyes were questioning. She decided that it was best to leave and went to her bedroom. Her stomach was in turmoil, and she threw herself down beside her chamber pot and wretched terribly.

James straightened up his clothes and wiped the sweat away from his brow. He diverted his glance as he hurried down the stairs. James could not look at Penelope again. He could hear the screeching of the rope as it swung back and forth slowly. That sound would forever haunt him. That look in her eyes, and that smile on her face would forever stay with him.

James went outside and walked to the garden where Catherine played with the children, and he took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. He motioned Milly, one of his servant girls holding his little daughter London, to go inside and have Cora, the kitchen maid, bring a pitcher of water and glasses for the family. Milly did as she was told and went into the house. A piercing scream rang through the air a few moments later, and Milly ran out of the house, crying and looking at the door with fright, pointing and running toward the garden. Catherine looked at James with alarm. Sam, one of the stable hands, ran up the path to the front porch and entered the house. He came out a few minutes later with his hat on his chest.

James motioned him over to him with a wave of his hand. "What is going on, Sam?" He asked casually, knowing they had seen Penelope hanging in the front entryway. Sam shook his head slowly.

"The girl went and hung herself, sir," he said regretfully. James gasped, and Catherine held her gloved hand to her lips delicately.

"What?" she breathed slowly. Sam was a large Irish man with a head full of red hair and warm brown eyes. He was a gentle giant.

"Yes, Mistress. I think she was a bit touched in the head," he stated. James placed a hand on his shoulder and led him away from Catherine. He looked at Sam and grimaced.

"Where did she do it?" He asked with concern. Sam nodded.

"In the front of the house, from the upstairs railing. It's a horrible sight, Master James." James smacked him softly on his back.

"Take Jed and cut her down," he said with authority.

Sam nodded.

"Yes, sir. Where would you like her placed until the burial?" he asked low. James had yet to think that far ahead. She had to be disposed of, but not on the grounds.

"Put her in her room on the bed. I need to think of where she should rest," James whispered. Sam nodded and went into the house. He and Jed took a knife, cut the rope, and lowered Penelope's body to the floor. They looked at her and shuddered at her condition.

Something was wrong with her that did not make sense. The girl was brutally beaten and seriously injured, but they just looked at one another. Her leg was broken badly, and the bone was exposed; Jed grew faint and almost passed out from the sight. There were bloody red welts from a whip - and they were fresh. Something was not right. They would not dare question it, though.

Sam and Jed carried Penelope up the stairs slowly and down the hallway. They opened the door to the room and lay her down on her bed. Sam looked at her, and he quivered with fear. He turned and looked out the door, feeling that he was being watched, and saw Georgia standing in the middle of the hallway with the strangest expression on her face. She looked afraid but also curious. He closed the door on her loudly. There was not a doubt in his mind that she had been part of this. He knew how mean she was. She had whipped his girl Attie enough, and he wanted to take the whip to her backside repeatedly. He had witnessed her mistreatment of the female servants on many occasions.

Those welts on the poor child's body were from Georgia. He even suspected that she had not hung herself. How could she? Her leg was broken, so there was no way that the girl could pull herself up on the railing, turn herself around, and fling herself off to her death. There was no way. Something stank badly in Hastings house. The Master and the oldest daughter were covering up what happened. He knew it as sure as he knew his name.

***

Sam was further shocked when Master James asked him later that evening to investigate how thick the brick wall was in the room and if there was any space behind it. Sam loosed some bricks and discovered it was pretty deep with open space behind the wall.

James summoned Sam to his study to report his findings."About ten feet of space behind the wall, Master," he reported. James leaned back in his chair and smoked his cigar slowly. Sam noticed that his hand was shaking, which held the cigar.He then bowed his head and looked back up at his servant.

"Bury the girl behind the wall there and seal the wall back up." Sam looked at James with shock registered on his face.

"I'm sorry, sir?" he asked questioningly. James looked up at him from where he had been looking at some documents.

"Is there an issue with that, Sam?" he asked with narrowed eyes and a voice of steel that brooked no argument. Sam cleared his throat.

"No sir," he said softly. "No issue at all, sir." he turned around and left the room quickly.

********

They wrapped the body in burlap, placed Penelope inside the wall, and then labored to seal it quickly. It took all night into the early morning to complete the task. Catherine did not ask questions about the knocking and banging from the room at the end of the hall that night. She knew that James had changed. His countenance was different; she knew it happened after the girl was discovered hanging from the upstairs railing. She knew something else had transpired that afternoon upstairs, but James was not saying, so she did not push him.

***

Penelope first appeared to the housemaids a few days after her death. She lurked in the dark, shadowed corridors and peeked around the corners at them. They only saw the shadow, though, and not her face. The next night, another housemaid went upstairs at dusk to light the oil lanterns along the walls and hurriedly rushed back down the steps, claiming that she heard whispers and saw a girl floating in the hallway in the semi-darkness, chillingly staring at her. She said it looked like the girl, but the face was disfigured. She was dismissed by the other servants as touched in the head and told that there were no such things as specters.

A few nights later, there was a loud commotion. A household servant investigated the noise and found yet another housemaid babbling incoherently about a girl floating in the corridor and chasing her down the steps. The poor maid's legs were broken in two places where she had fallen down the stairs. She screamed that the apparition pushed her.

***

As Penelope pinned Vivian against the clock, Penelope showed Vivian that her first victim was Paris. Paris had suffered from horrible night terrors since the day that Penelope died.  A few weeks passed, and Paris claimed that the girl was coming to get her at night because of how she had treated her and would beg her father to let a couple of the servant girls stay in the room with her to protect her. As the sun went down and the shadows thickened, Paris would cry pitifully, and James would agree to let the servants sleep in the room, but it did not change anything. She had night terrors; still, that was so bad that she would wake up in a cold sweat, with drenched sheets and a soaked nightgown, screaming and destroying things, throwing objects across the room, yelling to the servants that she was chasing the girl away who was trying to kill her.

James feared Paris was losing her mind in the house, and he told Catherine that he would send her away to stay with his Aunt Victoria in New York, where she could have a change of scenery. She was to board the train with her father the following day.

Paris packed her bags excitedly. She felt that it would help her so much to visit her Great Aunt. She loved her big brownstone mansion. Paris's footsteps were light as she left her bedroom and walked down the hallway to the staircase. Paris placed her foot on the top step, and Penelope violently shoved her. Paris screamed in fear as she tumbled helplessly down the steps and landed at the bottom with a broken neck. Her legs were folded awkwardly beneath her. She died immediately. Penelope looked down at Paris with her sinister grin and black empty eyes and turned and floated back up the stairs to her room, to her grave.

***

The second victim was Georgia. Penelope visited her one cold, rainy night in January. She had also suffered nightmares but did not let anyone see her fear as her pathetic sister did. Georgia was disturbed when Paris fell down the steps to her death and feared she would be next, but she concealed it. The servants whispered that the girl had returned from the dead, and Georgia looked carefully behind her as she walked down the hallway each morning and went downstairs. On this particular night, however, Georgia was snuggled under the covers. The oil lantern on her bedside table cast eerie shadows on the walls. She could hear the rain gently tapping against her window pane like fingernails, and she closed her eyes, preparing to drift off to sleep. Just then, she heard something. She opened her eyes slowly and saw nothing. Georgia dismissed it and closed her eyes again. She then felt the quilt lift off her body, and Georgia opened her eyes and looked up. She froze in horror. Penelope floated above her, looking down at her. She smiled at her and reached out for her. Georgia screamed and hurriedly scooted to the edge of the bed to escape her, but Georgia was not escaping that night.

Georgia flew to her door with a pathetic cry and moaned pitifully as Penelope approached her slowly with that terrifying, malevolent grin.

"Papa!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

But there was no rescue. She finally opened the door and ran out into the hallway, where she saw Penelope approaching. She backed away from her, begging her not to hurt her. "Please don't hurt me, girl!" She cried out for mercy, but there was no mercy. Penelope swooped down, grabbed Georgia by her throat, and lifted her into the air. Georgia was choking, and she kicked and flailed her legs and arms helplessly. No one heard her screams, and no one came to her rescue.

Penelope drifted with Georgia, still holding her by her neck, and held her over the railing. Georgia panicked.

"No! Please, God, no!" She cried out and tried in vain to punch Penelope, but it was useless because Penelope was not human. She looked realistic and in human form, but the blows from Georgia went right through her. Georgia could cause Penelope no more pain. She slowly released one finger from Georgia's neck, and her grip loosened. Georgia's eyes widened in fear. "Please don't hurt me!" she begged. Another finger loosened. Georgia dropped a little bit, and she grabbed onto nothing. Her eyes widened in terror.

Another finger loosened, and then another. Penelope held Georgia up in the air with one finger. Georgia could feel her body slipping from Penelope's grasp.

Penelope looked deeply at her sister with pure hatred and hissed at her, then dropped her to the marble floor below.

Georgia did not have a chance to react. She fell with such a hard impact that her back broke on contact, and the back of her head was crushed and split open like a pumpkin. The last thing that Georgia saw, as her life was seeping away quickly, was Penelope hovering above her and smiling with that unholy grin. Redemption was sweet, indeed.

*****

The final sister to die was London. She managed to escape the house when she was small and went to live with her Great Aunt Victoria, but she conceived a child out of wedlock and was sent back to Hasting's house at the age of eighteen and was pushed to her death as well by Penelope, down the stairs.

All the daughters of Elizabeth Hastings were dead.

***

Present

Penelope showed Vivian how she had died, and she also showed her how she had taken revenge on those responsible for her death. Vivian was still held in place by Penelope, though, and she felt glass piercing, cutting her in the back where the glass had shattered, and one long shard was sticking into her, causing her extreme pain. "Penelope, you don't have to hurt anymore. You don't have to take revenge anymore. You can be free. You can go to the light. There is rest in the light."  Penelope hissed and jerked Vivian away from the clock. Vivian felt the blood trickling down her back. Penelope lifted Vivian higher and held her over the railing.

"N...o – Pe...n!" Bella stammered meekly. Vivian's eyes widened in shock, as did everyone else's. Bella stood up boldly and faced Penelope. Penelope hissed at her and defied Bella, raising Vivian's body high. Bella balled her little hands into a fist and struck the air.

"N...o!" She bellowed louder this time, and Penelope quickly dropped Vivian back on the floor, where Vivian gasped and choked beside Bella. Bella knelt beside Vivian and placed her tiny hands on Vivian's face, looking at her with piercing blue eyes.

"I'm , o...k Bella," Vivian assured her shakily. It was time to end this. Vivian stood up and gathered all of her strength. "Go to the light, Penelope!" She ordered.

Penelope hissed and moved toward her. "You are not welcome here in this house any longer. It is time to go to the light. There is rest in the light." She said authoritatively. Penelope fought hard; she did not want to leave."Go to the light and find rest, Penelope. It is time for you to rest."

A small beacon of light appeared at the end of the hallway that was so bright that it illuminated the upstairs and only became brighter. It was a peaceful and beautiful light. Penelope turned toward it and began to drift toward it slowly. It called to her, and she went toward it, mesmerized—prisms of light in yellow and white bathed Penelope. "Go to the light, Penelope. Find your rest and peace." Vivian said hypnotically.

Penelope was almost there, almost encased in the light, and then she quickly turned and roared angrily. She broke the spell that it had over her and flew down the hallway, where she picked Bella up and tossed her over the railing. Davis watched helplessly, as did the others. Emily waited for the impact of Bella's little body to hit the hard floor, and then it happened. Light shot out of Lainie in streams, and her spirit rose into the air, catching Bella halfway down in her warm and loving embrace. Bella grabbed her neck, and Lainie gently lowered her to the floor.

Lainie was so beautiful to all who looked upon her. She overflowed in white light, and no more pain existed on her face. In astonishment, she was joined by another radiant ball of light, and then Davis's eyes widened in amazement, and he gasped as Tristan appeared beside Lainie. Bella looked up at her, and she smiled with tears in her eyes. "Mama!"

Tristan smiled back at her precious daughter, and she touched her daughter's face with a caress made of light and peace. Tristan cupped her daughter's cheek.

"Be good for Davis, Baby girl. Lainie and I will be watching over you. You will be okay." Tristan said, and she smiled at Davis, nodded at Emily, and then she and Lainie went up into the air and vanished.

Bella went to Davis and Emily, and they hugged each other tightly. Davis was so grateful that she was okay. He did not know what he would have done without her. Bella loosened her grip, and with a look of absolute determination, she walked away from them and started climbing the steps, with Davis and Emily following closely behind her. "G...o to the... light!" She ordered with her hands held out toward Penelope. The ball of light reappeared at the end of the hallway... illuminating the room where Penelope had been tortured and buried. Vivian stood up and joined Bella, and together, they said in unison.

"Go to the light, Penelope! There is healing for you and peace for you in the light!" Penelope started drifting toward the light with her head thrown back in surrender. Vivian and Bella followed her down the hallway until they stood in the middle, and Penelope was still drifting toward the mesmerizing ball of light.

"Go to the light, Penelope!" Bella yelled. Penelope turned once more, and she transformed. The grimace and black eyes were gone, and in its place was a frightened and uncertain little child who had never known love or kindness. She had never felt a parent's embrace. She had only known fear and terror. She looked down at Bella with a questioning and scared look.Bella smiled. "Go to the light, Penelope. You can go home now." She said softly, and just like that, Penelope went into the light, the beacon of peace, and vanished.

THE END.... OR MAYBE NOT??

Epilogue:

ONE YEAR LATER

One year passed, and a lot can change in one year. Davis and Emily were busily planning their wedding in the fall. They were in love, and Bella teased them and told them to stop it with all their kissing."It's gross!" she said loudly. They would just laugh and kiss anyway. Bella would never tell them, but she secretly loved to see them together. Davis was sad that both sisters were gone, but Emily had helped him through his tough days.

It was twilight now, and Bella was resting on the porch in the swing, with Brandy resting beside her. She could speak normally now, and she loved having her voice back. She still loved to draw, but Vivian and Stephan were also teaching her to use her talent for her psychic gift. Vivian said that she had yet to tap into her true power. Bella was only nine, so she needed clarification on what she meant. She did love learning from them and the Sisters, though.

Emily had driven her over to Hasting's house earlier that day, and she and Emily had visited the rose garden and remembered Lainie and Tristan by picking a rose and laying it side by side on the stone bench. She could not believe that Aunt Lainie had been gone for a year. Penelope was gone too, and even though Penelope took Lainie and her mom away from her so dreadfully, she was happy that Penelope had, at last, found peace, and Bella found comfort in knowing that her mom and aunt were okay.

Bella stood up as a cold chill moved over the porch, and her senses were on high alert. Something was present with her. She shivered, hating it when this happened to her. It was without warning. Vivian and the sisters had been training her in her gift, and she knew she was not alone, but still, it was scary.

Bella doubled over as a vision hit her. She saw a large mansion, but it was not Hastings house. She saw a large room bathed in blood, drenched in red. She gasped as her cell phone rang beside her. It was a gift from her Uncle Davis for making straight A's. It made her almost jump out of her skin. Bella answered. Her voice was shaky. "Hey, chick!" It was Clarrisa. Bella felt relieved. It was a familiar voice.

"Hey," Bella answered.

"Just breathe through it, Bell. I saw it too, and I knew that you had. That is why I called." Bella gasped.

"What does it mean, Rissa? What is all the blood? And whose house is that?" Clarrisa sighed.

"I don't know yet, but I feel that all of those questions will be answered soon."

COMING SOON: THE HAUNTING OF KELLER ESTATES