Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was Saturday, 11^th May 2019, eleven forty-six in the morning, when Joe Thomas and his wife Cynthia stopped their Nissan NV 350 minibus in front of the wrought iron gates of Thomas Gardens. Joe had picked up the keys to the family estate from his uncle Samuel three days ago.

It had been a long journey for him and his family, especially for his four kids. Nadine was twenty and was about to head back for her second semester in college when Covid hit. Brian was eighteen and working hard to be the rugby squad captain, but all sports and all the schools were closed and were going to be for who knows how long. 

Joe looked into his rearview mirror, his youngest two boys, James, aged sixteen, and Luke, aged fourteen, was still fast asleep in the last two rows of the bus.

“Get your brothers up please Brian? The truck should be here any time now.” Joe said to his oldest son and got out of the minibus to unlock the rusted padlock on the gate.

“Damn Dad, when was the last time anyone actually lived here?” Nadine asked miserably as they followed an overgrown path that led to a house mostly hidden by trees and the tall grass around it.

“In ’89, Uncle Samuel and his family lived here. He wouldn’t tell me why they left though, only that they came back once a year to do whatever repairs there that had to be done and then they’d pack up and go.” Joe replied with a sigh.

“How come they left? And Grandma?” Brian asked as he too, looked around the bus.

“Dad just said he doesn’t know.” Nadine snarled at her brother.

“Look, let’s just be glad we got this place all right? It is going to take some work to make it our home, but at least we have something.” Joe said sternly to his kids.

“Dad, we don’t have Wi-Fi yet!” James complained.

“I know, the company will come and install it on Monday,” Joe replied and looked at his wife for help.

“But Dad! The new Lucifer season just came out!” Nadine complained.

“How am I going to face time Jessica?” Brian complained.

“Would you lot please stop bothering your father, we all had to give up something. It’s only two days you know?” Cynthia said and got out of the car.

The kids kept their silence and got off the bus one by one.

“Are we going to do the entire yard work ourselves then?” Brian asked his father and kicked at a shrub growing through the stone curb.

“For now, yes. But we got the tools, I don’t think garden services would be necessary.” Joe said and tried to look enthusiastic.

“I think it would look amazing on my TikTok,” Brian said to his sister.

“What are you going to call yourselves?” She asked him quickly.

“Landscape Trio; Amazing overgrown lawn transformation Part one,” Brian said to her and took a couple of steps towards the grass.

“Stay off the grass for now, you can start doing that nonsense on Monday, once we’ve got everything sorted out.” Cynthia stopped her oldest kids quickly.

She was having a terrible feeling of absolute despair, and it radiated all over the property, all around them. Cynthia looked around and thought she spotted a young woman in the distance, her clothes covered in dirt. The problem with the woman was not that she was there, but the kind of clothes she was wearing. She appeared to be in her early twenties, but she wore a long dress, and a thin veil covered her face. Cynthia turned to ask her husband but when she turned back, the woman was gone.

“That’s odd,” Cynthia said loudly and started to walk to her family.

“What’s odd mom?” Nadine asked curiously and looked around.

“I thought I saw a woman standing over there,” Cynthia told her daughter and then they were standing at the bottom of the porch steps that led up to the porch, and to the front door.

“You really are tired mum.” Nadine said and pulled her mother closer.

“I am. But it will be good to have you home for a change.” Cynthia replied and put an arm around her daughter’s waist and that was how the two of them ascended the stone steps.

“Right, are we ready?” Joe stood at the door, key in his hand, and looked expectantly at his family.

“Stop being overdramatic Dad, open the door.” Brian scolded his father as he climbed up the stone steps.

Joe took the bunch and looked for the key.

“It’s the one with the big head Dad.” Brian reminded him.

“There are five keys with big heads,” Joe replied irritably.

“The one without the number Dad,” Brian said quickly, ignoring his father’s irritation.

Joe had finally gotten the key and turned it in the lock. The old lock clicked and the door opened with a groan from the hinges.

“Those are going to need some oiling,” Joe said to Brian.

“Yep.” Was all Brian said and waited for his family to walk through the door.

The house was cold, as if there might be a draft going through. Joe took the first step into the house, as if he was scared to enter. The floorboards creaked under his feet, but then he took another step and he was in the middle of a massive hallway that ran right through the house.

All the doors were open in the house, but it was pitch dark and dusty. Joe started to walk through, peeking into the doors as he went along. All the rooms had furniture in them, covered with dust covers, and all the floors were covered in carpets.

“I think this might be a bedroom.” Brain remarked as he walked past the first door on his left.

“No shit Sherlock,” James said to his brother as he too, peeked into the room.

“Looks like we might have to have a cleaning company in here before we can move in,” Cynthia commented and glanced at the room on her right. The room was massive, and the entryway was adorned with two marble pillars on either side of the entryway.

“Living room I’m guessing.” She said and moved on further down the hall.

“Another bedroom,” Joe said and pointed to his left.

Brian grew impatient and rushed past his mother and sister and to his father’s side.

“Bathroom.” He declared at the next door. “Why is there a carpet in the bathroom?” he asked and looked around.

“That is how the older generations did it. If I’m not mistaken, that would be a stone floor.” Joe said and watched his son step into the bathroom.

“Stone floor,” Brian confirmed and looked around. “It’s huge, they could’ve fitted a shower in here too, and not just the tub.”

Brian was more than disappointed. He hated tubs, ever since he slipped and fell when he was four, and that was why he would very much prefer a shower.

“We’ll see what we can do when we renovate,” Joe told him and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“Here’s another bedroom,” James called out in front.

Brain gave his brother an annoyed look as James carried on exploring ahead of him. Joe turned around to look for his youngest son, who had not uttered a word ever since they stepped into the house. The boy stood frozen at the door to the second bedroom, he was pale and he was simply staring at something in the room.

“Are you all right Luke?” Joe called to him.

Luke turned to him and started saying something but then he looked back into the room and quickly shook his head.

“No, I think I’m taking this room.” He said to his father.

“You can, if we can find the other two rooms, or else you’ll be sharing with James,” Joe told him quickly.

“Here’s a fourth room.” Brian suddenly said.

Joe looked around him and realized they had only traversed halfway down the hall by now. He stopped next to Brian and peeked into the room that was on the right.

“I think this might have been a study.” James said next to them and peeked through the door “It has another door at the back.”

Brian walked into the room with his brother and peeked through the door that was leading out of the study.

“I think this might be another bedroom, Dad,” Brian called out as he looked around the room.

“Okay, but where is the other entrance?” Joe called back.

“I don’t know, but there is another door here.” Brain replied and then his footsteps disappeared.

“Brian!” James called out concerned.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m all right!” Brain called out.

Cynthia had gone back to get Luke, and for a second she thought someone was sitting on the bed, but she was there, and then she was gone. It was a different woman this time, an old woman, but her clothes were slightly more modern than the woman outside.

Cynthia took a firm hold of her son and hurried after her husband and older kids.

To everyone’s surprise, the hallway ended in a T shape. Brian was peeking into the corridor from a door to the right. The entire family turned left in the corridor and through the next open door.

It was another bathroom, double the size of the hallway bathroom, it had a massive Jacuzzi-sized tub and an enormous shower. Everything was so big in the room it made the normal-sized toilet seem out of place.

“Wow,” Nadine said and turned to her parents. “Can I have this bathroom?” she asked.

“You can use it, but it’s not yours. Brian will be using the shower.” Cynthia said to her daughter with an all-knowing look and then walked further down the hall.

“I think this room might be the master bedroom,” James said and stepped into the room on their right. There’s a smaller room in here too, looks like a nursery.” James said quickly.

“I think I would rather use this as my study, where I can work,” Joe told his family and then they headed in the other direction. The hallway opened into an enormous kitchen, with a wood-burning stove and wooden counters. The tables and chairs were covered with dust covers, just like the rest of the house.

“This place is starting to freak me out,” Nadine complained and turned to her right.

“It’s only because it’s dark. The windows and curtains were only opened once a year for twenty-nine years. You’ll get used to it once the curtains are drawn and everything is open again.” Joe said and placed a protective arm around his daughter’s shaking shoulders.

“Pantry,” James said and walked into the room. And guess what? It walks into the dining room.” He said and walked through.

“And directly into the living room,” Brian commented five feet in front of him.

The house tour was done, and the first thing on everyone’s mind was how badly they felt the need to bathe.

“Okay, first of all, we need to find a hotel or guesthouse that will allow us to stay for a few days until the cleaning company is done. All our stuff is in containers, the trucks can offload the containers and be on their way. But the first call is the cleaning company.” Cynthia said in her no-nonsense tone.

“I agree, let’s wait for the trucks and then we go down into town,” Joe said quickly.

“Fair.” Nadine agreed quickly.

“Let’s do that then,” Joe said and walked back to the wrought iron gate to send their location to the drivers.

Nadine watched her father leave and then turned to her mother,

“This place gives me the heebie-jeebies.” She complained.

“You’re imagining things. It’s just an old property that needs a bit of care. It’s not as if we’ll be doing anything else is it?” Cynthia tried to reassure her daughter but could not help but think of the two women she saw earlier.