Alice knew the house from the outside was a decaying wreck. The exterior looked unloved, making the house look sad. Inside, however, was a different story. There was an atmosphere building more and more each day. It was as if an unseen electrical charge was running throughout it. The shadows that walked the house were getting blacker, denser. Noises could be heard, if you had the inclination, and they came from the cellar.
Upstairs Alice’s solitary white mist wandered the corridors, trying her best to console the recently departed soul of the girl who had been taken from her life so abruptly and without reason. Alice had to make Annie see what was going on in here. When she had first come into the house Alice had felt such a strong connection to her. She had tried her best to show her how the house used to be: in the schoolroom she had placed her diary which had been hidden for over a hundred years in plain view. Alice wasn’t strong enough to stop the monster a second time around and it tormented her that evil was so much stronger than good. All Alice had ever wanted from her life was to be happy and to help others. Instead she had married a maniac, a killer. When she had found the strength to put an end to his murderous ways it had plagued her mind for the rest of her life and she had never truly found the happiness she deserved.
Deep inside, Alice had known from the very beginning that there had been something wrong with Edward. She had loved him so completely but it hadn’t been enough for him. She knew that he had planned everything to within an inch of his life. In the days after his death things had become much clearer to her. The dawning realisation that he had used her because she had been left half of the estate caused her great pain. Instead of turning against her he had fooled her for his gain. She realised that Lady Hannah had not fallen but that her loving son Edward had pushed her to her death. He had engineered the downfall of everyone. Alice had nothing but regrets for her lifetime but hopefully she would be able to change things this time. There was no way she would let Edward loose to torment and kill again and again; he had to be stopped.
Annie was so much like Alice but she had no idea what was at stake. It would be her that would put an end to it all for good. Alice felt herself draining. It was strange, she had never thought about ghosts when she was alive but here she was trapped in the house where she had died for ever with Edward’s evil spirit always lurking around. He kept to the cellar, in the shadows, rarely summoning up the courage to come upstairs into the light. He liked to dwell in the dark, reliving his evil deeds. Alice wasn’t afraid of him anymore but he made her uncomfortable and she would disappear as far as possible when she sensed him nearby. He had a thing for the woman as well: he lurked and watched her. She supposed that if she felt connected to her then he was bound to feel threatened by her. Alice had managed to stop him from doing any real harm to her but it was exhausting and she needed help. She needed someone to come and banish Edward for good and send his soul to hell where he belonged. He should not be roaming around causing heartache and havoc. If her connection to Edward was finally severed maybe she would be reunited with Alfie. Alice sighed and her image faded as a whisper of air rippled through the house.