CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

 

The interpreter must have emailed as promised, because Mariah came back from using the restroom and found Olivia holding Mariah’s phone, reading with nervous anticipation. Not only was she hoping to learn who lived in the house, but she wanted to try to figure out what happened to them. Olivia had seen so many children throughout the house, it was obvious that the children still walked the halls and the property out to the graves; but why? What kept them here? The only one that felt vengeful was the woman, and not just because they believed it was her that scared the nun making her fall to her imminent death, but because her eyes were so hateful.

Mariah listened intently as Olivia read what the woman had sent. They were medical records from a convalescent home run by the Catholic church for new moms who needed to recover from birth and all that it entails. Sophia was her first name, last name Monet, just like the grave in the woods next to all the children. She was brought in, in a hysteria, her baby girl, Ophelia was left behind with her father at the Oakley estate. She underwent daily talk sessions with the doctor, and she attended relaxing activities with other patrons such as walks, sitting in the garden, and sleeping.

The records indicated that she had tendencies to harm herself to gain attention, and that she was likely to be a risk to her children if she was in a bought of hysteria. She had lost multiple children due to illness, which gave her a need for personal attention, positive or negative. Sophia Monet craved a living child and would do anything to have one survive past toddlerhood. Her first husband died from an unknown illness, after being bedridden from a heart condition. Sophia then remarried his half-brother mere months later. She had just given birth to Ophelia Monet prior to being brought against her will to the convalescent home.

Records showed that she had a love for cooking but would often complain that the ingredients in the home were not adequate. She spoke of picking her own herbs from the woods surrounding her home every morning. Doctors noted that even after so much death in her home, she was surprisingly free of night terrors surrounding the deaths.

Olivia stopped after that last part, scanning the documents to see if there was any information on Sophia being released or how she might have died. There was nothing that indicated that Sophia died, much less how.

Mariah looked at the photos her and Olivia had gathered and hoped maybe the answer would be in one of them. Mariah asked Olivia to email back and thank the interpreter, Margo, for taking the time to help them. Then she told Olivia to order a pizza and she went to use the bathroom. She was feeling sick to her stomach again, but stopping when they were so close to breaking the story of Oakley was not going to happen.

“I have an idea,” Mariah whispered on her way out of the library. “Maybe we should have a séance and see if the ghosts of the kids want to tell us what happened to them.”

Olivia had a feeling Mariah was only kidding, but the offer was out there now, she grabbed Mariah’s phone and began texting vigorously.

When Mariah returned from the bathroom, Olivia told her all about how Austin, the paramedic she rides with, takes road trips around the country during his vacations and visits the most haunted places in America. He’s even been to some haunted castles in Scotland and Ireland. Mariah was enthralled. She had only seen Austin when he drove the ambulance and the one time he drove them home, and he never really said much. Olivia seemed to know a ton about him though. With a pang of jealousy, Mariah wondered if Austin and Olivia had a romantic thing between them. She shook that off when Austin arrived thirty minutes later.

Austin, outside of his uniform was quite flamboyant. He wore a hot pink shirt, with matching shoes, the collar of his polo was popped up, he had a layered white shirt underneath, and tight skinny jeans. He was the walking definition of a gay man.

Austin motioned hello, and waved another person up behind him. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought my husband, Ben,” he said as he handed a bottle of wine to Mariah and then made his way inside.

“Of course, the more the merrier,” Mariah groaned jokingly, though she never intended to have this many people over so late in the day.

The four settled into the kitchen and dug into the pizza, which had arrived just before Austin and Ben. While eating, they discussed what they planned to do. Austin, remembering something in his car, ran out of the room only to return a few minutes later with an actual Ouija board. Mariah gawked at the thing as Austin handed it to Ben. Olivia started laughing. This was going to be interesting.

“Hey, can I use the bathroom?” Ben asked shyly. It was obvious that Austin was the leader in that marriage. Ben was timid, but still adventurous enough to come to a haunted house where people were dropping like flies.

Mariah pointed toward the bathroom and then turned her attention back to the creepy looking board that would supposedly help to unravel the mystery of her house. Though presently, she was falling back into a state of denial that the house was haunted. Maybe she was still high from the recluse bite, after all, those effects could be long lasting, and she had been sick on and off all day.

Olivia, noticing her friends failing attentiveness, grabbed a picture of Sophia, her husband, and the little girl, rounded up four glasses on the counter and insisted that they all follow her to the library where they would have an easier time accessing information.

“Yes, we should head to the library,” Mariah agreed, nodding her head and picking up the glasses before Olivia could.

Austin took the pizza, and Mariah followed Olivia up the stairs to the library, where they situated themselves in a small circle. Just then, Mariah remembered that Ben was still in the bathroom downstairs. “I better go get him,” she said aloud, but Olivia stopped her before she got to the door.

“He’ll be fine, Mariah. He’s a big boy and can surely find his way to the only room in the house with people talking in it.” She rolled her eyes and Mariah sat back down hoping that was true.

Austin flipped through the papers, and looked at the photos, he was in haunting heaven. Mariah watched with intrigue, not knowing why someone would willingly put themselves through such scary things on purpose. After seeing the girl, Olivette, in the attic with blood-soaked eyes, and then the woman in the basement leaving the scene of the death, Mariah was sure this was something she never wanted to do again.

Olivia stood, went to the switch and dimmed the lights. She had asked Austin to bring candles when she texted him. Mariah had seen the messages since they had been sent from her phone. Candles lit, lights down, wine poured, Mariah and Olivia sat ready to take on the Oakley house. Even if Ouija boards were very much a high school kids joke, Mariah hoped they would get answers. Each of them took a photo in their hands, and in the other hand they touched the planchette. Austin told them to close their eyes and focus on the house. Mariah and Olivia both did so. Mariah had to be reassured by Austin that this was perfectly safe before she was able to close her eyes.

Austin began to whisper. At first it sounded like nothing but gibberish to Mariah, but as his volume increased, the words became more and more clear to her ears.

“Tell us your secrets ghosts of Oakley house. We are here to hear how you died,” Austin began to repeat this louder and louder as they all sat, eyes closed on the library floor.

Mariah burst into laughter after only a minute. Olivia and Austin stopped and looked up to see what had happened, but Mariah was doubled over laughing hysterically. She held up her hand, took a long gulp of wine, took a calming breath and spit out her exact thoughts.

“This is like a bad game of Clue,” she chuckled, half doubling over again.

“In the library, with the candle stick, I killed them Mr. Witherspoon.” Mariah rolled onto the floor laughing so hard that tears began slipping from her eyes.

Austin was not amused. He was taking this very seriously. Olivia, however, started giggling right along with Mariah. This felt like a real night of friends, and fun, minus the people that were dead, of course.

After a few minutes the laughing died down and Austin began prepping to start the charade over. He was refilling the wine glasses and had just set the bottle on the floor when Ben’s shrill, woman-like scream bellowed through the house.

The bottle flew over, shattering on the floor, as Austin jumped up and ran from the room. He practically flew down the stairs and towards the bathroom where Ben was supposed to have been, but it was empty. The kitchen was empty, and the living room areas were empty. He grabbed the stair railing and jumped two to three steps at a time, and then ran down the halls of the second floor, throwing doors open as he went, practically ripping down Mariah’s house in the process. The lights were all off throughout the house. Ben was nowhere to be found.

Mariah went around helping look. She knew the house somewhat better than any of them. Having checked almost everywhere except the attic and the basement, Mariah opened the door to the last unchecked room, the empty one with the big creepy bed.

She flipped the light on, but nothing happened. She tried again, but still nothing. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her phone and turned the flashlight on, just as Austin and Olivia came around the corner. Austin pulled the curtains back on the massive bed, hoping they would find Ben sitting there. Maybe he was just trying to scare them? The bed however was empty, except for the old venetian mask, shards of broken dolls parts, and a stalk of dark berries.

“Don’t touch those berries,” Austin whispered. “They’re dangerous. If I’m not mistaken, those are Pokeberries, and they are incredibly toxic.”

Everyone backed up from the bed, as though the berries would attack. Looking around for any sign of Ben, Mariah turned in circles stopping in her tracks as she saw the woman, the one from the basement. She was standing in the dark corner of the room, her hands covered in deep red. She had dark marks around her neck and the way she was looking at them made Mariah’s knees go weak.

Olivia turned to see why Mariah had gone still, as she did the woman disappeared. Austin, having only seen a small flash of what was happening poked his head out the door of the room. Shock on his face, he waved Mariah over to him. Lining the stairs, they could see two small boys and a little girl, staring into nothingness, blood dripping from their eyes, and deep red around their lips as though each wore a thick layer of lipstick.

Austin stood, taking in the scene, Ben leaving his thoughts for just a moment as he took in each detail of the children. Olivia touched his shoulder, pulling him from his trance-like state. Austin shivered deeply before they all began to slowly inch from the room.

Together they made their way down the stairs, past each small child. The first little boy wore all white pants, and a white shirt, with a white bowtie. He looked innocent. The second boy looked identical, only younger. The little girl wore an all-white flower dress, with her hair tied up in two small bows.

“Such pure little souls,” Mariah whispered to the others, “taken too soon, and from the looks of it, their deaths were not kind.” Mariah let a small tear fall, thinking about the pain these kids must have been in when they died.

Life is never fair, that she knew all too well. Seeing the kids, and how sick they looked, Mariah began to suspect that the plague had torn through this house. Maybe it had been a place where the sick had been housed in those days. Maybe the whole family died at the same time. That would explain why there were no dates on the graves.

“Austin, do you suppose that this was a sick house of some sort?” Mariah whispered as they made their way through the halls.

“Unlikely, there were no hospitals in Oakley. Sick houses were usually close to a hospital,” he replied.

Mariah thought that was a fair answer. Even now, the nearest hospital to Oakley was forty-five minutes away, and in those days, with no cars, that would have been impossible.