MY SHORT GHOST STORY

 
To my wonderful god daughter Angela Bacon, you gave me the idea for this short spooky story so I have decided to dedicate this in honor of you my dearest!
Always I love you
                    Aunt Kristy
                                      THE STAIN AT BENTFORD MANOR
           It was only midnight. It wasn't unusual to find a seventeen year old girl awake in her bedroom. Cassidy couldn't sleep but not for any normal teenage reasons. Her house was awful and she was the only one in her family to think so. Her dad was a lover of anything historical, and was infatuated with their isolated and weather beaten old manor. It was his families estate and he wasn't about to let his daughters childish and overactive imagination scare them back to the city. They were dwelling in history as her dad had said over and over since arriving six months ago.
         Cassidy tried everything to get comfortable in the manor. She rode the pretty horse her dad bought her around the property. She painted by the pond in back, and even tried planting a new bed of roses in the enormous garden. She reminded herself her dad was right where he wanted to be. He had his dream job at the university teaching history and her mother was rising fast at the clinic she’d landed a nursing job at. What did it matter that Cassidy was seeing things. That she continued to hear things no one else could hear, or that every night she had the same insane dream. A dream that she was running from someone in the house and tripping on a satin gown she didn't own. She was losing her mind and no one seemed to notice.
         She was hungry now. Her stomach growled in protest bouncing off the soft silk drapes and delicate dark cherry wood furnishings. She rolled onto her side trying to ignore her discomfort. She willed herself to relax and fall asleep. She couldn't venture out of her bedroom to get a snack from the kitchen at this hour, not with the house so dark. She mustered just enough exhaustion to emit a tiny yawn. She counted in her head. When she was almost to one hundred she drifted off. She eased into that exotic place in her mind where sleep engulfed her. She began to dream but this time it was very different.
            Cassidy could see her legs but she couldn't move them. She was rooted in place by a thick swirling grey mist that began to take on a solid black color coiling around her legs like a malicious snake. Her hands were free, and she used them to push the mist away. She screeched when her hands were sucked inside to join her legs. She panicked, she looked all around, but there was nothing. There was nothing but the black coiling mass inching up her body. She opened her mouth to scream. The black mist rose up fast and forced its way into her mouth. It pushed hard and straight down her throat. Tears sprang to her eyes. She gagged and sputtered but it kept fighting its way into her body.
            She awoke in her room as pale light filtered through her windows and banished the darkness from the corners of her bedroom. Daylight didn't sooth her racing heart. She was soaked through her nightgown. She sat prone in her bed massaging her throat with quivering hands. She felt strange and vague like she should do something. Her door opened wide and the short older Italian woman her mother hired to look after her strolled in.
           “Good morning my dear I see you’re up already.” Gina Romaine didn't look at the young girl as she opened the curtains wide and let the sunlight flood the room, “What a marvelous day out there! A perfect day for a horse ride hmm?”
             Her mouth was thick and dry, after several long seconds she answered, “I guess so.”            
            Gina spun about and eyed the girl searching her up and down, “Are you feeling ok?” her voice was strained and deeper than it should be making Gina wonder if the girl was catching a cold.
          “I'm Just tired. "Cassidy didn't like the invasive look the older woman gave her and scooched off the bed. She went to her bathroom and locked the door behind her. She searched her face in the mirror. She noticed her eyes were a darker green and her skin looked more olive than it had before.
           She took a quick shower but couldn't wash away the disconnected feeling inside her mind. She thought about her dream when she put on fresh clothes and checked her reflection once more. Her eyes were even darker now and her black hair had a strange red undertone. She gasped and tucked her hair into a cap she found under her vanity and put drops in her eyes. Her head hurt right at the base of her skull. A dull constant thud. After taking some pain reliever she emerged from her bathroom. She gave the older woman a small smile.
           The girl looked odd, like she wasn't quite herself. She wasn't vomiting or acting like she was sick the older woman shrugged it off and suggested, “How about some breakfast and then maybe a short ride on that horse of yours?”
          Cassidy shook her head and followed the woman. The house was quiet as they made their way to the large dining hall. There was already a side board full of various breakfast dishes but nothing appealed her her. To satisfy the suspicious older woman she scarfed down a blueberry muffin before leaving the house. 
          Rosie, the sweet tempered speckled mare, was the only escape from the oppressiveness she had. She grabbed a handful of the fresh oats and entered the mares stall. Feeling lighthearted she reached out her hand to feed her pet. She was surprised when the horse snorted and dodged her out stretched hand. She didn't back down at first, instead she moved closer to the animal. The closer she got the further the animal went. Confused she dusted the oats from her hand and tried soothing her.
         “What’s the matter girl?”
         The horse began to huff and continued to shuffle on its feet. Its large rump pressed against the wall. Cassidy was nervous now and she could feel her hands start to tremble. She tried once more to touch her pets snout but it bulked harder. The horse reared up enough that Cassidy shrieked.  Frightened she ran from the stall. Once she secured the stall lock she looked at the mare and glared. Anger bubbled up from her chest and her eyes narrowed to slits.
         “You filthy beast!”
         The anger dissipated as she made her way on foot to the small pond. Once there she stood beside the green water staring at nothing. Her mind was rather blank now. Once calm she was struck by the magnitude of her anger. It wasn't like her to have such lack of restraint on her emotions. She’d always been a kind and gentle person. She rubbed her hands across her face and pulled her hat further down on her head. She blew out a long pent up breath.
       She saw something in the thick wooded area behind the pond. Again unlike herself, she  walked around the murky water slipping into the woods. To her left she saw the same movement and veered in that direction.
          After half an hour of walking she came to a small ruin. All that was left was a single stone wall with a deep hearth still intact. She was drawn to the hearth. She could hear it calling and took the remaining steps to stand before it. She dropped to her haunches and peered into the dark hole where a warm fire would burn. She could almost feel the heat that used to be there. The stone felt cold and lifeless beneath her touch as she traced the lines where some mortar still clung to the grey stone. Cassidy felt at home here.                    
           She felt a strange sense of peace like this place held something nice and loving for her. She had a bizarre feeling like she had been here. She recognized the hearth and she remembered what the missing mantel had once looked like. She stood back to her feet and surveyed the small clearing. She could see the house that used to stand here in her mind. She knew it'd burned down before she saw the charred evidence at the base of the wall licking all the way up. She knew there were graves nearby as well.
         She walked directly to them. She wiped away the dead vegetation then tried to make out the names and dates. It was useless. Time had eroded the letters from the fire damaged granite headstones. There were twelve total and one had enough of the  first name for her to read. She said the name out loud.
          “Lizzie.”
          Searing pain slashed across her heart ripping away every delicate layer, exposing her rawest nerves. She didn't know a single Lizzie. Not in France at her boarding school, nor in her life in Chicago. Somehow, some way, she knew this child. She knew her enough to mourn her death. Enough to find it unjustified, and desire retribution for it.
          Cassidy remained in the clearing sitting beside the broken headstones for a long time. She tried to place why she had memories that she shouldn't have. She contemplated why she felt pain for this long dead stranger. 

           On her long walk back she mulled the last six months over and over. The sun had already began to dip below the line on the horizon blanketing the well-manicured grounds in hues of brilliant red and orange signaling how late she was.
         Gina flapped her arms at the girl when she entered the garden, gaining her attention. She’d kept her absence from her parents but intended to give the child an ear full for her disappearing act, “Where in heavens name have you been child?”
         “I took a walk in the woods and I lost track of time. I’m sorry Gina.”
         Cassidy ducked into the French doors that let into the parlor filled with the original antique furniture. She hated the room. It was oppressing and dark which was an odd contrast with the bright cream colored fabric of the setae and two matching chairs. Even the wooden tables were a light oak and the wallpaper a soft hazy green and silver stripe. It should have been alluring instead of so repulsive. She couldn't look at the fireplace either. Not since she’d seen the black shadow standing near it. She had the distinct feeling something guarded that spot and that something didn't like her very much.
          “Your parents have dinner guest tonight and I have only twenty minutes to have you dressed and in the dining hall for dinner. Sorry dear for being so catty at you but I must stress for you not to go off like that! What if some wild animal was in the woods?!” Gina had the girl dressed and her long thick black hair brushed into a nice shine in just under her allotted time.
          She stood back admiring her handy work when she saw something that made her hair stand up; the girl wasn't the girl. Her eyes were no longer green but were turning into a dull brownish color. Her hair wasn't its normal raven black, but a reddish black, and she looked older as well. There was something not quite right. Gina felt it all the way to her bones.
            “What?” Cassidy saw how the woman looked at her and it frightened her, “Is there something wrong with me?!”
             Gina was tongue tied for a few seconds. She knew there was something wrong but she couldn't explain, “I think you have caught yourself a cold dear, maybe tonight you should take something to help you feel better. Probably should avoid the sun it's bleaching your hair out.”
            “Okay.” She followed the woman to the dining hall and watched her walk away. She entered the long room and sat beside her mother. 

            Her mother, Ruby, was as beautiful as she was smart. Her hair long and flaxen blonde, her eyes crystal blue, and framed by long thick lashes. Even her voice rang like fine china.
              “How interesting Dr. Mathews and what drove you to study that particular field?” Ruby asked the middle aged, balding man across the long table.
              Cassidy didn't bother to listen to his answer. This wasn't her first dinner party and she knew her place was to be seen and not heard. It went on for close to an hour before desert was presented by fancy clad staff. Cassidy stared down at her delicious coconut pie and was about to take a bite when she saw a shadow to her left. She looked in that direction and saw a man standing there. He was very tall and thin. His skin was ashen and almost translucent, he wore an out dated suit. He smiled at her with his black beady eyes.
             She looked around the table but no one seemed to see him but her. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, but he remained there staring at her. She was trembling and put her fork down so she could hide her hands in her lap. She willed him away inside her racing mind.

            He began to float to her. She felt her spine dig into the back of her chair. He pointed a finger at her and opened his mouth. He had neither teeth nor tongue. His mouth was a solid black mass of nothing that threatened to consume her. He was just across the table now. He stood behind the doctor her mother was speaking with. She couldn't hear them over the hammer of her own heart as it sped up in her chest threatening to explode. She couldn't breathe either. Her face grew red and her eyes bulged. He spoke than in a low grating pitch just like she imagined a monster would sound.
             “I know who you are.”
             Even if she could speak she doubted anything useful would come out of her mouth. The man refused to disappear he continued to point his long bony finger at her. His mouth wouldn't close and the black within it seemed to move and take some unfathomable shape. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away. She looked again at the dinner guests and her parents. They were each engaged to each other talking about various things while she sat there froze in horror at what surely was a dead man.
            He leaned over the table his hands not touching the tabletop. His spine made crunching sounds as he continued to bend his back in such an unnatural way. His thin face was but a few feet from her now. She continued to sit there trying in desperation not to bring any attention to herself. She knew the rules. She knew better then to upset their important dinner party, but the dead man didn't care about any of that. The black from inside his mouth began to spill out and make its way to where she sat paralyzed. 

        She couldn't sit any longer fear winning over her need to please her parents. She reacted just before the blackness reached her plate. She leaned over and touched her mother’s arm and whispered in a trembling voice.
       “May I be excused mother I feel a bit ill.”
        Ruby scanned her daughters face and frowned, “You look very pale are you okay?”
        “Yes I’m fine. I just need to lay down for a bit.”
        “Alright then go and lay down for a bit. I'll check on you before I retire.”
         Cassidy stood up and pushed her chair in. She watched the dead man unbend his spine again making the same sick crunching sound. She heard her mother explain her departure as fled the dining hall. Once she cleared their sight she ran the rest of the way to her bedroom. With clumsy fingers she locked her door behind her and dived under her covers tucking them in all around her.
       Gina had spent the hour the girl was in the dining hall fretting. She had a bad feeling something was going to happen and she couldn't continue to ignore it. She waited until she heard the girl return and sought her out. The door was locked she used her thin skeleton key to gain entry, and found the girl sobbing beneath her blankets. She liked her new job of looking after the girl. She was much older then Gina had assumed she would be. She’d imagined the girl would be a small child to need someone to watch after her rather than the capable teenager she was. The parents were odd and far too stuffy. They took very little notice of the girl. 

            Gina cleared her throat and saw the girl go stiff. She said in a gentle tone, “I’m sorry dear I didn't mean to startle you. I just thought maybe we could….talk? Something doesn't....seem to feel quite right to me.”
         “You wouldn't believe me.” Cassidy wanted to tell somebody. Her chest was full and ready to burst like a dam.
         “I promise not to say a thing to your parents if you tell me the truth.”
         Cassidy pulled her covers off her head and began to tell her story, “Ever since we arrived I have seen things that can’t be real. Like shadows that move on their own. I've heard muffled voice, but I can only make out some words, like murderer and liar. Worse still is the dead man that appeared with a black mouth and eyes. He says he knows who I am.”
          An icy finger ran up Gina’s spine but she hid her reaction, “What did the man look like?”
          “He looks dead! His skin is grey and hangs on his bones. His hair's white hair and he’s really thin and tall.” Cassidy shivered but went on, “his face looks a bit like my dad....maybe an older version of him.”
          “How well did you know you great-grandfather?”
          “I spent most my time at a boarding school overseas. I’m only home now because of how close this manor is to the school my dad claims is the best in all the world. Every time they came here to visit I never came with, so I guess I didn't know him at all.” Cassidy sat up and asked, “You think that dead man is my great-grandfather?”
          “What all do you know about ghosts Cassidy?”
           “Nothing really, just what I have seen on television.”
          “I know a few things about ghosts and I know a bit about the history of this place as well….” Gina paused and thought about what she should or shouldn't tell the girl, “You must promise not to tell your parents what I am about to tell you.”
            “I promise.” Cassidy tossed the covers off her body and scooted to the edge of her bed. She was prepared to listen.
            “It’s an old story really and I don’t know all the facts. I know it’s a tale of murder. There used to be an old stone house just past the pond. It burnt long ago, and the path has grown over, but the graves are still there. It was the groundskeepers house or at least it was once, before the scandal.” Again Gina paused unsure just how much she should say, “It was told that your great-grandfathers eldest son fell in love with a chambermaid. The woman was found face down in the pond and the young man accused his father of killing her.”
           Cassidy couldn't hide her fear. She knew the stone house and she knew those graves, “There are twelve headstones only one has a name you can read. It's a little girl named Lizzie.”
          “It was rumored the child was a Bentford. It was thought she fell from the attic window where she was playing. The child belonged to the woman and used to come with her to help her mother clean the bedrooms. Things went very badly after the child died and the woman made accusations. That's probably why she ended up missing.” Gina cleared her throat, “after the man accused his father of murdering both his lady love and daughter he shot himself in the burnt ruins of the stone house. He kept the woman and his child there intending to go away with them. It was also believed the old man burnt the old house wanting everything to be destroyed when he lost his son. Maybe his own guilt ate his soul up and trapped him here for good.”
         “What do you think the woman wants from me?” she could feel something inside her shifting and moving. It was wrestling for control, and she knew now who it was now, but not what it wanted.
           “I don’t know sweetheart maybe some kind of redemption. The woman wasn't buried properly. She just disappeared.” Gina sighed, it was a sad story, “I suppose he wanted his son to forget about her and maybe believe she’d just run off.”
           “Do you think he drown her?”
           “It was rumored he threw the child from the window and then drown the woman. But in those times such things were seldom looked into. Especially if the perpetrator was of wealth and the victim a simple woman of no quality. It's a tragic love story that happened to be real.”
          “I think I would like to sleep now Gina thank you for telling me all this.” Cassidy didn't change into her pajamas instead she rolled over in her pink and pale green dress. She was tired and as soon as her eyes closed she was fast asleep. Gina left her there slumbering in her bed.
             Cassidy was dreaming but it was unlike any dream she’d had before. She was in the large old manor and it was dark and foreboding. She walked through the long and wide hall to the grand staircase without pausing. Although she could feel her legs she wasn’t in control of them. She was taken down the stairs to the first floor then to the kitchen. She stood in the doorframe unsure of what would happen next.
          She tried to open her mouth to speak but she wasn't able to. Fear spread like butter over warm bread and so did the panic. She wasn’t dreaming, she was standing in the kitchen. Somehow she knew she was wide awake but controlled by something unseen. The dead woman had possessed her body and was living out her last moments. She was walked to the kitchen window. The view outside the window changed night to day. An object dropped and landed with a sick thud. Unable to stop her own body she ran out the back service door and stood staring in disbelief.
           It was a small child no more than four. She laid twisted her and blood pooled beneath her. Cassidy’s head tilted of its own accord and she could see from the open window above a figure. The sun made it impossible to make out any features but she could plainly see it was a thin, tall male. Without any warning she collapsed onto her knees. Her hands came to her face making her heart speed up and her lungs become tight. She tried with everything she had to take back control. She tried to scream but nothing worked. Without warning her body moved once more.
            The night sky returned as she walked the overgrown path to the burnt stone cottage. After what felt like an eternity she was there at what should have been the ruins. Instead the old cottage stood before her. She entered the thick door and stood in the common room. There was a fire in the hearth banishing the cold with its flickering warmth. 

            A man lay quiet on the dark red sofa and she went to him. She touched his fevered brow. Her lips began to move and words came out, “Tis I father, your only daughter and I came to say my goodbyes.”
           The man was too weak to answer. He moaned and rolled over giving her his back, “I do not think you will survive your fever father. God speed and I shall see you in the shadows soon enough.”
           She tried again to force her legs to stop but they continued onward leaving the old stone house behind. She stiffened every muscle she could and stood there in the woods horrified. Just as sudden as she lost control she was back in control. She could feel the dark seeping close against her skin and as fast as her legs would go she ran back to the manor. Once she was in her room she went to her bathroom and stared hard at her own reflection.
          With a shaking hand she reached out at what she saw in the mirror. Her eyes were no longer green but a dark brown. Her hair was no longer black but reddish brown. She was completely gone now. She had become someone else. She removed the dress. It was dirty and torn in two places. She put on a sturdy pair of jeans and a plain dark blue t-shirt. She stuffed her hair beneath the cap. She waited along in the dark of her bedroom until the sun began to kiss the horizon and left the manor. She didn't wait on Gina to check on her. Before anyone woke she rushed to the ruins of the cottage. The woman wanted something from her but she still didn't know what it was. She had to find out. She needed to know what she had to do to end this.
        It was useless. There was nothing here. It was the same thing as it had been the day before. The graves sat undisturbed and the names unreadable. She didn't know which grave belonged to whom except the child. She knew which one that was. She bent down to it now and ran her hand across the name. It was sad and it looked bad from what she'd seen. The child had been murdered. She knew someone had been in that attic that day. She stood up again and looked back in the direction of the manor. She felt the urge to go back. She needed to see the attic for herself.
          She ran the entire length and was startled when she heard her mother’s voice call out from the hall, “I detest caps of any kind why are you wearing that!?”
           Cassidy stopped in the hall and gulped. Her mother would have a fit if she saw the color of her hair, “Sorry mother, may I go and fetch a scarf to wear. The sun has been fading my hair lately.”
         “Run along then, and by run along, I mean walk because one does not run inside one’s home.”
          She walked to her room and tied a scarf about her head and started to go to the attic when Gina stopped her, “Maybe it’s not so wise to poke about something we don’t really know anything about.”
        “She wants something and I have to find out what or else she might…” Cassidy hadn’t any idea how to explain things. She didn’t know what the woman might be able to do to her or the dead man by the hearth, “I have to find out what she wants, please.”
         “When terrible things happen child they can stain a place and leave behind ugly things that can haunt the most unlikely of people.” Gina lowered her voice and said, “You cannot let her be in control, you don't know if she is for the good or for the bad.”
         “I didn’t give her control last night. I awoke unable to do anything to stop her and she showed me her daughter’s death. Gina there was a man looking out the attic window.” Cassidy looked at her hands and her feet, “She had complete control of my body I have to find a way of getting her to rest.”
         “Then I will come along!” Gina looked up the attic steps they were narrow and steep, “Follow me dear.”
         Cassidy followed along. She didn’t say anything in protest. She wanted to stop Gina but she also didn’t want to be alone. Together they climbed the steps to the top of the attic in silence. They found it was full of boxes and trunks. It left little room to move around. Cassidy didn’t know exactly what she was searching for which made looking even more difficult. After riffling through trunk after trunk they found something. It was just another trunk at first glance but once they peered inside and saw the charred remnants of a wedding dress they knew they were onto something. Gina took the dress from the trunk and started to examine the lace and silk. Cassidy retrieved a small dress stained with a rusty red substance.
           “This was Lizzie’s dress.”
           “That poor mite, such a terrible way to die for anyone much less a wee child. I can’t imagine falling from such a height.”
           “I feel her loss in my heart.”
           Cassidy looked inside the trunk she shifted through everything within. There were old photos and she recognized every face she saw. The woman, the child, the woman’s family were all accounted for. She found her great-Uncle George’s personal effects inside the old trunk. She saw movement from the corner of her eye and before she could say anything she lost control again. She was forced to stand and walk to the boarded up window. Before her eyes the boards faded away and a window with sparkling stained glass sat in its place. Her hands moved on their own and she began to push the window open wide and stick her head out. The wind felt nice as it blew onto her sweaty brow. There was a sound behind her. She turned and saw the old man stood at the attic door.
          “A bastard child rummaging about my attic!”
           Cassidy was too high up. She felt like she was standing on something and it was flimsy making her body sway. The man began to come at her and a shrill scream erupted from her throat. It was the sound of a small child. She felt her body tilt and she fell out the window. She saw the solid cement ground rush up to greet her. Her arms and legs flapped useless before as she plummeted. Just before she hit the ground she snapped back in control and found herself safe in the attic.  
         “What did you see?”
         “The child wasn’t shoved! She tripped! The old man came in here and said something nasty, but I think he may have tried to catch her before she fell out the window.” Cassidy was shaking she could hear her voice quake as she spoke, “I think the little girl showed me the truth.”
         “My grandma used to say that some people had the rare gift of seeing the shadow world.” Gina patted the girl on her shoulder, “she also said the gift was more like a curse some times.”
          “I still need to know what the woman wants and what happened to her.” She shivered staring down at the wood hammered into the window frame. They were old slabs of wood riddled with splinters. She assumed it was hammered up right after the little girl fell to her death. It was sad but she couldn’t do anything to change it.  
          They left the attic and Cassidy went to her room to dress for dinner. She was almost ready when her mother knocked and informed her they would be going to town for a dinner party. But just the two of them would be going and that Cassidy would be on her own for a few hours. She was relieved and watched from her third story window as her parents rode off in their coop. once she was alone she spoke out loud cringing with each word she said.
        “I know who you are and you know who I am. What is you want form me?”
        There was no answer and she was relieved. She thought about the pond and forced herself to leave the manor. She didn’t let Gina know she was going. She didn’t intend to be gone long and knew she had to be alone for this next step into this dark adventure. She sat patient beside the pond watching the sun start to disappear, nothing happened. She was frustrated with the sudden silence. She thought about the stone cottage in the woods and headed in that direction. Whatever the woman wanted it had to be in order of her timeline. The last place she’d been was at the little house.
         It wasn’t there, not at first. She approached the ruin and bent to look into the hearth. She closed her eyes tight and when she opened them the house had returned. The man was still on the sofa in the throws of his high fever. She wasn’t in control anymore. 

        All she could do was let this thing play out. She would have to see for herself what this dead woman needed. Like before she said her goodbyes to her father. The sarcastic way she bid far well stung Cassidy. The cold aloof manner reminded her of her own relationship with her parents. Again she departed the cottage and started along the path that led to the manor.
         Half way to the there the woman came to a stop on the path. There was a noise just to her left. There was movement and without any warning a man emerged from the tree line. He had a long menacing lead pipe held tight against his side.
          “You might kill me, but you will not stop your brother from telling your father the truth. Your father will know you raped my baby sister!”
       “Oh I think I can stop him just fine as soon as I deal with you.” The man waved the pipe about teasing her with his intentions, “All I have to do is help you go away and burn down that damn cottage. No more pesky woman and no more ranting groundskeeper. It will again be just the Bentford’s and that’s how it should be.”
         Cassidy could feel the woman’s panic as well as her own twisting together making it impossible to think. She felt her body tense and ready to run. She did she run and she ran fast. She didn't look back as she darted into the tree line to her right. She could feel the underbrush snagging at her clothing. She almost made it to the clearing of the pond when she felt the jarring blow to the back of her head laying her flat onto her face. The woman wasn’t dead she was dazed as she watched his feet walk up close to her head. He leaned down his mouth a scant few inches from her face. His mouth was like a black hole. She couldn’t see his teeth or his tongue as he spoke in a dark whisper.
         “I know who you are. You thought you would get yourself with child and become the mistress of the Bentford manor! That sister of yours always teasing me, leading me on! She got what she had coming!”
         Cassidy was fighting to get back to her feet but it was no use. She felt her lips move but nothing came out but a pitiful moan. He straddled her from behind and lifted her up by her waist. She drooped in his arms like a rag doll as he walked to the pond.
          He hissed into her ear, “My father didn’t toss your whelp out the window love. He actually tried to snatch her before she fell. He came close too and nearly caught her by the ankle. His misguided guilt has made him rethink your love match with my brother, but it changed nothing for me. You will never marry into this family! All I have to do is rid us of you.”     
          He snatched something from around her neck and laughed into her ear, “Rest in peace my dear.”
         She was struck by horror as she was thrown into the pond landing face first into the green moss coated water. She couldn’t use her arms and legs she felt herself sinking like a stone to the bottom when a hand snatched her up by the back of her shirt.
         Gina drug her free of the dark water and sat her on the muddy shore, “Foolish child I warned you about running off like that! You almost got yourself drown!”
       “I know who killed her! It wasn’t the old man! It was the younger son! He was accused of rape!” she coughed and sputtered trying to catch her breath, “He took a locket from around her neck and I think he may have shot his brother.”
        “You swallowed some of that awful water honey now you’ll be sick for a week. Let’s stop all this ghost business for now and get you to bed okay.” Gina reached her hand out but the girl didn’t take it.    
        “I can’t stop until I find out what she wants. I have to see this through! Please Gina you can go with me but I have to go back to the stone cottage. Its almost over now. I promise.” She shivered as the cool night air blew against her wet clinging clothes, “please help me?”
        “Only if you hurry up! Your parents won’t be gone all night. If they find out you got into that pond they'll skin us both!” Gina said a quick pray and followed after the girl into the woods.
         It didn’t take long to reach the house. It was returned to its ruined state. She stood beside the hearth and waited for something to happen. It didn’t take long. She turned and there was day light and the house was behind her. She could see the man that killed the woman. Her body was there too and another man as well. The man who’d killed the woman spoke first.
       “You should have left her floating in the pond.”
        George didn’t move from where he stood. He’d suspected his father of having first slain his daughter, then maybe having killed his love, but now he realized the truth. It was too late. His own brother had drown her and attempted to bury her before anyone found her.
        “I gave her one nice crack to her skull and tossed her into the pond. If only you had been less careless of where your little bastard spent her afternoons playing. I would not have had to do any of this. Father intended me to have everything and I warmed up rather nicely to that idea. Then that damn child hurled herself to the ground and riddled him with guilt! So I do what I must do to have what I deserve and be rid of this whole affair.” Tomas smiled wide at his brother’s low growl. He wasn’t intimidated by his stronger and better looking older brother. He had the upper hand by way of the pistol he held in his pocket, “You chose to accuse father and drove him to the brink, making him give you back your inheritance! No one, not even you really gave a damn about that girls sister!”
       “Had I known you wanted all that I would have given it to you freely! The old man was sick and his younger daughter dead with him! You didn't have to do this to her!” George jerked forward to hit his brother but fell dead when the bullet left the chamber. His aim was true.
        Cassidy knew the woman’s body had been burnt and her ashes scattered. She saw him tuck the locket into his pocket after he set the house with the dying man still on the sofa. It was raw and ugly and it made her blood run cold. It was the past and it couldn’t be undone. Before she could escape her vision the dead woman reappeared and stood in front of her. She was ashen and dripping wet from the pond. She reached at her neck then pointed to the little girl’s grave and Cassidy knew what she wanted.
      “You better answer me right now Cassidy!” Gina watched the girl go into some kind of trance not respond to anything she said.
       “A locket! my great uncle took a locket from her, and she wants it brought here to her daughter’s grave!” Cassidy ran toward the manor not checking behind her to see if the older woman followed. She knew where the locket was. She knew what her great uncle had done with it.
         Gina was silent and stayed close to the girl when they entered the house. They went to the parlor still dressed up as it had always been. The girl stooped down and reached into the hearth pulling at a loose brick on the left hand side, “what are doing?”
         “It’s here! The locket! He put it here and something else too!” she got the loose brick free and pulled out a small metal box.
          “How did you know that would be there?”
          “I kept seeing something linger by the hearth. It was dark and oppressing. It's him trapped by his own dirty deeds.” Cassidy pried the lid off, “look I found her locket, and here is my great uncles diary. He wrote down what he did every! Every single detail is right in here.”
           “Now what?”
            “We give the little girl the locket.”
             They went back to the ruins and Cassidy dug down into the earth above Lizzie's resting place. She placed the old fragile locket into the moist earth, “There you are little one, maybe you can rest now and your parents too.”
            Gina watched the girl grow younger, her hair return to black, and her eyes again were bright green again, “It’s over?"
           “For them it is, but for me I don’t know.”
           “My grandma always said it was more curse then gift child maybe you should get some sleep for now.”
          Cassidy knew about the stains left behind by terrible acts. She knew the soul might leave and journey beyond but left a trace of who it was behind to rattle its own cage seeking justice. She’d been terrified but now that it was done she wasn’t scared anymore. She wasn’t just relieved for herself but for her great-uncle's victims as well. What had happened was sad. She couldn’t undo any of it but she felt like she’d finished something. It was over now and she felt changed. Maybe even she felt aged just a bit past her own seventeen years.