The alarm sounded at six, filling the bedroom with it’s obnoxious hmeep-hmeep. It wasn’t really necessary, Elizabeth had been lying awake in bed for over an hour, more excited and nervous than she had ever been before in her life. Next to her, Steve gave a protesting groan and leaned over to slap the snooze bar.
She rolled onto her side and stroked his cheek gently before tracing the bridge of his nose. “Wakey wakey.”
He gave another groan, this one much more dramatic than the first, and ducked his head under the blankets.
“Don’t be such a drama queen.” She said, pulling the blanket down and shaking his shoulder. “Come on, up up up!”
Opening his eyes, he stared up at her for a moment. “Go away or you’re going to be a ghost in the investigation.”
Laughing, she shook her head and covered him back up, climbing out of the bed. “Ten minutes.” She called to him before ducking into the shower.
By eight o’clock they were waiting inside the restaurant that they were supposed to meet everyone at. Steve was sipping coffee, looking like he was still more than half-asleep, and Elizabeth was drinking some orange juice and reviewing a list of things to go over with the group.
Casey walked up to the table, smiling at them both. “So the journey begins.” She said, bending to hug Elizabeth. “How are you doing?”
She nodded. “Good. Excited and nervous. How’s Porter?”
Porter was the name of the spirit guide that Casey used to keep herself grounded during her trances and to keep spirits from squatting too long. “He’s great. Looking forward to talking to you again.”
Slowly the others arrived and their table was soon full of introductions and cheerful discussion. Elizabeth deliberately kept the conversation light to begin with, steering it away from anything paranormal. Molly was the hardest to keep off of the subject, but once the food came she seemed more interested in her pancakes.
Casey leaned back in her chair, taking a long drink of coffee. “So now that we’re all fed and watered, maybe you could fill us in on where we’re off to.”
Nodding, Elizabeth set down her piece of toast. “Well it’s a very obscure story and I don’t expect any of you to have heard of it before. But I hope you understand the secrecy thus far. It would taint the investigation to have you all at home, doing research about things before we get there. If you go in blind then any impressions that you may get will be more valid.” She paused, pulling a notebook out of her bag. “I’m not going to give you much information anyway. The house we’re going to is known as the Brightly house, it was owned by Richard Brightly. The house has been empty for closer to thirty years. We’ll be staying for a week and everything is already arranged for us. I believe that everything else will come out during our investigation.”
The check came and, as expected, there was a short battle for it before Steve began slapping hands away. The people at surrounding tables were laughing at the sight of six people trying to grab the check from each other.
Everyone’s luggage was transferred from their trunks to the large van that Elizabeth had rented for the week. They all climbed in and were on their way.
“It’s a few hour drive, so it’s the perfect time for everyone to get to know each other.” Elizabeth said, twisting back to glance at the group from the driver’s seat. “I doubt we’ll be able to find common ground with the radio.”
Steve, who she had expected to be rather quiet and withdrawn the first day, instead spent the entire drive turned around in his seat, talking animatedly with Casey and Lloyd. Alan and Molly were sitting all the way in the back, and the girl was grilling the man on his different abilities and urging him to demonstrate for her.
Silence fell over the car as they turned up the drive. There were huge trees obscuring the view of the house and everyone was leaning forward or towards their windows to try and get a clear look.
The trees had obviously been planted so that the first sight of the house was as impressive as possible. They ended abruptly and the house seemed to rise up out of the ground. It was a beautiful sprawling manor, built with gothic inspirations. There were hulking gargoyles standing guard above the doors, glaring down at any intruders into the house. There were windows cut into the stone walls of the house, but heavy drapes were blocking the view inside. Off to the right there was what looked like a stable, and to the left was a line of trees blocking the view of the backyard.
She parked the van and everyone clambered out, most of them staring open-mouthed up at the house. She and Steve had spent quite a bit of time there getting things ready the previous week, so they began unloading the bags.
Molly gasped suddenly, holding out her hands towards the house before collapsing with a scream.
Steve snorted softly with laughter and Elizabeth slapped his arm, walking over to her. “Molly are you ok?” She asked, struggling to maintain her temper.
The girl opened her eyes and peered up at Elizabeth. “We are unwanted here.” She said in a low and rasping voice. “We are unwelcome.”
“On the contrary…” Alan said, walking forward and holding out his hands towards the house. He looked back at Lloyd. “Can you feel this?”
The man strode forward and held out his hand, looking doubtful. “No I don’t feel… wait… wait what is that?” He asked, looking at Alan with wide eyes. “I can feel it… a pull.” He pulled his hand away, rubbing at the goosebumps that had risen on his arms.
Casey grinned and hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. “Oh I’m going to like it here.” She said, striding up to the door.
Elizabeth laughed and followed after her, unlocking the door and stepping inside. The house was beautiful, filled with treasures from all over the world. There were signs taped to the walls, telling where the kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms were. Waiting on a card table were toolboxes with everyone’s names on the front. “All right, welcome home, at least for the week.” She said with a smile, turning to face everyone. “Inside the boxes are radios, flashlights, batteries, digital sound recorders, tons of film, and a journal for everyone to record their experiences. I have three rules that I expect everyone to follow. Number one, always keep your flashlight and radio on you at all times. Number two, no wandering on your own. Stay in groups of two or more.” She paused at this, staring pointedly at Molly. “Number three, have fun. We’ll be working mostly at night so during the day you’re welcome to explore and take in the sights and do whatever you like. Just please don’t break anything.”
Casey laughed and guiltily put the vase she’d been inspecting back down on the small table that was pushed up against the wall. “So I see the sign points to the bedrooms, care to show us where to dump our things?”
Nodding, Elizabeth shouldered her own bags and headed down the hall. “Because of the size of the rooms we’ll be doubling up. Alan and Lloyd, you two will be bunking in the green room.” She said, opening up a door with green ivy engraved all along the wood.
The room was well named. The drapes, bedding, and decorations all over the room were varying shades of green. The huge Oriental carpet covering the stone floor was beautiful, with emerald and gold hues. Flowers, dried in the moment of their greatest beauty, were placed in large vases all over the room. Interrupting the picturesque view of the room was a pair of cots in the center of the room.
The two men walked inside and dropped their bags off, looking the room over thoughtfully before joining the group in the hall again.
“Casey and Molly, you two will be in the blue room.” Elizabeth continued, walking to the next door in the hall. This one had blue scrolling along the edges.
That room, like the last, was decorated in the same color as the name. Dusky and light blue shades had been used to decorate the bedding and curtains. There were two cots waiting for the women to sleep on. Again dried flowers were decorating the room, and this room held a large bookshelf full of antique looking texts.
“Oh it’s beautiful.” Casey said, looking around as she dropped her bag on one of the cots. “The detail…” She traced the spines of the books.
Molly threw her bag onto the free cot and looked around boredly. “So when are we going to start investigating?”
Elizabeth held back a sigh. “Tonight, for right now we’re just going to settle ourselves in.”
“So where are you and your fiancé sleeping then?” Alan asked curiously, looking between Elizabeth and Steve.
Steve shook his head slightly. “Oh we’re not engaged.” He said, going a little pink.
Alan looked surprised, taking Elizabeth’s hand and feeling along it slowly. “No, see I was right. I knew I felt a ring when we shook hands.” He said, rubbing her ring finger. “It’s right there. Nice one too.”
Elizabeth pulled her hand away, blushing horribly. “Maybe you’re ruining a surprise for me.” She teased, turning and heading out of the room. “Steve and I will be sleeping in the red room.”
“Red room! Red room!” Steve said in a raspy voice, laughing when she slapped his arm.
“Twit.” Casey said with a grin.
Inside the last room everything was decorated with deep ruby and burgundy colors. Like all the other rooms, the pair of cots were waiting in the middle of the carpet. Unlike the other rooms, though, they also had two rows of small television screens and a great deal of computer equipment.
Elizabeth walked in and dumped her bag on one of the cots. “Well, lets take a tour of the house and then we’ll have an early dinner, and then we’ll get started.”
The group slowly made their way around the house as Elizabeth showed them where things were. She didn’t reveal much about the house’s history, just giving a tour and ending up in the kitchen.
The group settled down for an early dinner. “You’re welcome to do what you like after we’re finished here. Just get used to the house, become familiar with the creaks and groans of the old wood.” Elizabeth said over her bowl of soup. “But at seven, please meet outside of the lounge so that we can begin for the night. If you’re not used to staying up late, I suggest taking a nap since we’ll be up for quite a while. And please bring your journals.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The First Night
At seven o’clock everyone was waiting outside of the lounge, everyone looking eager, excited and nervous at the same time.
Elizabeth smiled as she walked up to the waiting group. “All right everyone, welcome to the first night of our investigation. Tonight I thought we would focus on Casey, see if anyone is interested in talking. Alan, what I would like is for you to just keep a running list in your journal of anything that you sense or hear in the room.” She unlocked the door and guided the group into the room.
The lounge, as it was called, was a beautiful sitting room with Victorian couches placed in a circle. It seemed the perfect place for fine ladies and gentlemen to sit to tea and discuss the latest gossip. The group, with their jeans and tee shirts, with their gym shoes and notebooks, with their radios and flashlights, seemed entirely out of place.
Elizabeth turned on the tape recorder and camcorder before sitting down across from Casey. “Feeling up to this?”
Casey smiled and nodded, situating herself in her chair before letting out a long, slow sigh. “All set.”
“If everyone could please remain quiet from this point on. Alan, any impressions, please write them down.”
Shutting her eyes, Casey was still and silent for a long moment before her head dropped forward, her chin resting on her chest. There was a remarkably loud silence in the room that spiraled out and seemed to surround them all. The only sound was Alan’s pen, which would begin to scribble frantically in short bursts before falling still.
Soft murmurings and mumbles began issuing from Casey’s mouth. She shifted just a bit and her head rose. She looked around slowly before smiling at Elizabeth.
“It has been too long.” The voice issuing from the woman’s mouth was male, and seemed to have an English accent. “I’ve missed you.”
Elizabeth smiled and leaned forward to clasp her hand. “I’ve missed you too Porter.”
The woman’s head turned to take in the other people. “Straight to work then, but you must promise me that we’ll talk later.”
Elizabeth smiled and nodded. “I promise we’ll talk properly tomorrow.”
This seemed to satisfy Porter, as the spirit relinquished his control over the woman and her head dropped forward again.
She began shifting, her hands twitching rather restlessly in her lap before her head rose suddenly, her eyes wide. “Who are you?” Her voice was suddenly refined and elegant. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re friends.” Elizabeth said gently. “What is your name?”
She looked at the two men nervously before looking back at Elizabeth. “My name is Charlotte Brightly. Are you acquainted with my husband?”
“Charlotte… what happened to you?” Elizabeth asked, ignoring the woman’s question. She could hear Alan’s pen scribbling wildly. “Why do you linger in this house?”
“I live here.” The woman said defensively. “You need to go. Leave this place or I will call my husband.”
Staring at her intently, Elizabeth leaned towards her. “Charlotte, you’re no longer alive. Look down at yourself. This is not your body.”
Casey head bowed and her hands, trembling, touched her body as if she’d never seen it before. When she lifted her head again she had tears in her eyes and her lower lip was quivering. “It’s a trick… it isn’t real…”
“What happened to you Charlotte. What happened to you in this house?”
She began sobbing violently, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. “Stop it! I won’t! I won’t tell! Richard why? I loved you! Why?” Her head dropped forward suddenly and she was still.
Steve was staring at the still woman with an open mouth. He’d never seen anyone serve as a medium before and he looked like it might have traumatized him for life. He was an off shade of gray and his eyes were over wide.
Casey lifted her head and looked around. “How did we do?” She asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks rather uninterestedly.
Elizabeth nodded. “Very well. How do you feel?”
“A little tired.” She confessed, leaning back in her chair.
“Do you remember anything?” Steve asked curiously, leaning forward towards her.
Casey shook her head. “No, when I’m under it’s as if I’m asleep. I don’t speak for the spirits, they take hold of my body and speak through me.”
He frowned deeply. “But how do you know that they’ll leave if you’re letting them in?”
“Porter takes care of that. He’s my spirit guide, a spirit that has taken it upon himself to take care of me, keep me safe during my meditations. If an unruly spirit won’t take their leave then he forces them out.”
Steve leaned back and rubbed his arms, where goosebumps had risen up. “Giving me the heebie-jeebies.”
Elizabeth laughed softly and rubbed his hand. “Alan, how did you do?”
The man surrendered his journal. Scribbled wildly on the pages were descriptions of a woman in an elegant gown, of fresh flowers, and all over the page was the word darkness, written again and again.
Lloyd looked over what had been written out before looking at Elizabeth. “Does this mean anything?”
She nodded. “Yes. At least, everything except the darkness.” Rising to her feet, she walked across the room and pulled down the first of several large tarps.
It was a portrait of a beautiful woman that matched Alan’s description perfectly. She had ebony black hair that was twisted into elegant curls that hung around her face. Her eyes were the same black at her hair and seemed to catch the glow of the lights that were shining in the room. She was wearing a dress that looked very Victorian in design, with a high neck and long sleeves. She was holding a bouquet of flowers, roses, lilies, lilacs, and had been painted in a garden, framed by the same flowers as she held in her bouquet.
“Her name was Charlotte Brightly. She was married to the lord of this house when she was twenty-two. On her twenty-seventh birthday she simply disappeared.”
Alan walked to the portrait and stared up at the woman for a moment before cocking his head to the side. “Do you hear…”
Steven immediately turned on the recorder again, listening hard.
Soft weeping could be heard in the room. It seemed to be issuing from the portrait itself.
Lloyd, determined to find an explanation for these sounds, rose to his feet and began searching for the source of the noise. Finally he turned around and looked at Molly frowning deeply.
The girl looked amazingly guilty. After a moment the sobbing stopped, mid-sob. She slowly pulled her hand out from under her journal, setting the small recorder in view.
“Damnit Molly!” Elizabeth shouted furiously. She probably would have gone further, but the door slammed shut and the lights in the room went out abruptly. “No one move…” She said quietly. “Steve, hold up the recorder. Everyone else just stay in your chairs.”
There was a heavy silence in the room and she pulled her camera out of her pocket. “Flash.” She warned before each picture, turning in a slow circle. Through the view of the camera she watched different areas of the room appear in the bursts of light from the flash. The door, still shut tightly, Lloyd and Casey squinting in the light, Steve holding up the recorder and covering his eyes with his arm to avoid the blinding flash, Molly looking over her shoulder, the dormant fireplace, the wall with Charlotte’s portrait.
The last picture she shot was impossible. In the flash of light she saw a man standing in front of her, only a foot away. His eyes, a clear cold gray, were locked on her own, and he was reaching out towards her with one hand. She screamed shrilly and stumbled backwards in the darkness, tripping over a fold in the rug and falling to the floor.
The lights came on as she landed, the door wide open again. Everyone rushed over to her, Steve kneeling next to her.
“What happened? What the hell was that?” He demanded, white as chalk.
“What did you see?” Molly asked eagerly. “What was it?”
Lloyd took the camera and began pulling the pictures up onto the screen. “Wall, door, us, us, us, fireplace, painting… didn’t you take eight pictures? There are only seven here.”
Elizabeth sat up, forcing herself to breathe deeply. “I’m sorry. My mind was playing tricks on me. Look, lets all just go to bed, I think that’s enough for the night.”
“I want to take some pictures tonight.” Molly said firmly.
Alan nodded to her. “I’ll stay up with you for a few hours.”
Nodding, Elizabeth rose to her feet. “So long as you stay together you’re more than welcome to do some investigating.” She began gathering up her notes and changed the tape in the camera.
Steve rubbed her back lightly once everyone else had walked out. “What did you see?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, I’m just a little tired and imagining things. Lets just get some sleep.” And she led the way back to their room, but she didn’t go to sleep. That night she stayed up for several long hours, reviewing tapes and listening to different audio clips that had been recorded, and taking notes. All night the image of what she’d seen stayed fresh in her mind, and when she finally climbed into her cot she dreamt of the man who had been beckoning to her. She dreamt of Richard Brightly.
