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Chapter 3
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2023-03-03 22:29:39The Thomas family was up and getting ready to go at 8. 30 am the next morning. The cleaning company had promised they would be ready to start at 9 am.
“Can’t I just stay here Dad?” Luke had begged his father as he rushed them to the minibus.
“I’m sorry Luke but no. I need everyone’s help with this, you are going to have to help your brothers outside. You do understand that the gardening services are not open yet.” Joe told him.
“Neither is the cleaning services but you got them out anyway,” Luke argued.
“We need to move in, I need to get back to work by Tuesday, and by then, everything needs to be done. Are we clear?” Joe said to his youngest impatiently.
“Yes, Dad,” Luke said and very reluctantly got into the bus.
The ten-minute drive to the Thomas Gardens seemed to take only a few seconds. Luke’s heart was pounding in his chest. He had seen a lot of people the previous day, and all of them had signaled him to be quiet before they vanished right before his eyes. None of them looked mean, but it was just the way they kept themselves, he saw the pain and despair in their eyes, and that scared him. And no matter what his father was telling him, he knew the place was haunted. He could feel them, he could sense them, and he knew, it was only a matter of time before they tried to make contact.
James had no second thoughts about being back at the house, he was simply interested in having a go at the ride-on lawnmowers his father had bought. He was curious about the property, he wondered what secrets lay within the boundaries. Perhaps there was a treasure hidden somewhere and the family had made the stories up to keep people away. It was adventure time!
Brian was trying to figure out how to tell his girlfriend why he hasn’t been able to talk to her all weekend. He started taking selfies turning the camera this way and that so that he can catch his siblings unawares. Then they were driving through the gate and Brian chanced one last click of the name board, not having any desire at all to walk back to the gate to take that picture.
As soon as Joe stopped the minibus he felt anxiety creeping up on him. He had no idea where that came from so he shrugged it off, took the keys, and hurried to the door. He yelled instructions to his boys as he walked up the porch steps, almost tripping over a rock that had appeared out of nowhere on the last step.
Cynthia noticed him stumble from the corner of the house and saw the annoyance on his face as he turned back with a dark frown and then heard the rumble as he pushed something off the porch with his foot. The rock rolled down two steps, then stopped. Her husband had turned his back and had gone into the house.
“Look, alive people! Here comes the cleaning crew!” Cynthia called out as she spotted a minibus approaching.
The crew stopped next to her and she slipped her mask from her chin over to her mouth.
“Good morning. Thank you so much for coming!” she said as the driver’s door opened.
“I’m so sorry we are late, when my crew heard we were coming over here almost a quarter of them had backed out. I had to promise the crew that did come double pay for the day.”
Cynthia smiled at the fierceness in the green eyes of the redhead in front of her.
“I’m Cynthia, my kids are all over the place, and my husband is in the house, he’s lost his temper for some reason or the other. I’ve been hearing things about this place since yesterday, and how more than half this town is scared to death of it, or us, I don’t know.” Cynthia introduced herself and pointed to where her sons were trying to get into one of the containers so that they could follow their father’s instructions.
“Nice to meet you, Cynthia, I am Skyler, my crew calls me Sky. There are a lot of damning stories about this place you know, how the family could never get it sold but still did regular maintenance and so on. Do you know if you have electricity in the house?”
“You’d have to ask my husband, he’s just gone in, but you are more than welcome to go in after him,” Cynthia replied.
“Oh no, no, no, no, not without a Thomas by my side. My crew feels the same way, you’ll have to post one of your kids in that doorway or they won’t be doing their jobs.” Skyler argued quickly.
“Are the stories really that bad?” Cynthia asked critically.
“Girl… you don’t know anything about this place, do you? It’s not my place to tell. If your husband is a born Thomas, he needs to call his momma or his daddy and get the truth about this place.” Sky gave Cynthia a matter-of-fact look and then turned to the second bus that drove slowly into the gates.
“You lot sure took your time.” She said to the fifteen-odd people that were getting out.
“Doofus wouldn’t go through the gate!” The man that got out of the driver’s seat said and slapped one of his colleagues.
“Why?” Sky asked him with an angry frown.
“People were walking all around!” the other man claimed.
“I told all of you, we are here as a service to the Thomases, nothing is going to happen to us as long as we don’t poke our noses where it doesn’t belong. Are we clear?” Sky yelled at her crew.
Sky turned to Cynthia and said
“Well, mama Thomas lead the way, and get a cub that can get us through the door?”
From behind the safety of the container door, the ‘cubs’ in question had to stifle their laughter. They had no idea just what it was that they were dealing with.
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The cleaners took two rooms at a time, but even with all their equipment and with the family’s help, there was no way they were going to make the two days deadline that they had been set. Every single piece of furniture in the house needed to be deep cleaned, and that took a lot of time. The boys carried the furniture outside the house; to the patio they had cleaned up, where the cleaning team tackled them with steam cleaners and anti-deodorants.Sky had finally convinced the rest of the team to join them on Monday, but so far, they had only been able to do the first two bedrooms, the bathroom in the hall, and the living room. Not to mention the other bathroom that was discovered in the first bedroom when they had removed an old closet from the room.The carpets had dark rust-colored stains in most areas of the house. Sky was about to say it looked like they were cleaning a crime scene but she saw the fear in her cleaner's eyes as the Thomases worked around them, so she kept her thoug
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By Thursday evening the crew was glad to put Thomas Gardens behind them. They had worked harder than they ever had, it was the weirdest experience too, being instructed by a fourteen-year-old and the parents just followed along too.The family was settled in, and glad to be done with the guesthouse. The rumors were spreading from the crew and the family’s last dinner at the guest house had been most uncomfortable.Each of the children had their own bedrooms. Nadine had taken the first bedroom closest to the door with the bathroom, Luke had picked his room the day they had walked through the house, which was the second bedroom. James had the bedroom at the end of the hall and Brian had taken the bedroom that was opposite James’s and next to the old study. The room that used to be the study became Cynthia’s office. Not that she needed one, but then again, who knew when a mother needed some alone time?The bedrooms were sorted out and packed the way the kids wanted them. Brian displayed
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Joe felt like he had barely slept when the alarm went off on his phone. Cynthia took her arm off her husband and looked at him. The two of them had a chat the previous night when they had come back to bed.Now she looked at him, the strain was evident on her husband’s face.“Did you know the extent of the hauntings?” she asked him carefully as he turned to look at her.“No. No one told me anything at all, just that there were rumors, but if we stuck together, we’ll be all right. I don’t even think they knew that the main house was an issue.” Joe replied thoughtfully.“What do you mean the main house?” Cynthia asked with a frown.“I’ve overheard conversations between my mother and uncle when I was younger, they wanted to demolish something on this property, so I’m guessing there are other houses here too, somewhere on this property. Uncle Samuel never went back to any of the other houses. He tried to sell the property a few times, but no one stayed for very long. Now I know why.” Joe r
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The Haunting of Thomas Gardens Epilogue
It is the 11th of May again. Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Thomas sat on the bench of the Thomas Memorial Park, staring up at the statue of three grinning young men.“I wish I had known you.” He whispered softly to the statue. “Maybe things would have been easier if you could explain them to me.”He huffed and shook his head, knowing he would never get an answer out of the stone. He leaned forward and ran his hands through his hair and took a couple of deep breaths.“There you are. I thought I’d find you here.” A voice called out to him.Jeremy did not even bother turning around. He knew his mother was right behind him.“Hey, Mom.” He smiled sadly at her and then turned his gaze back to the statue.“Are you speaking to your Uncles again?” Nadine grinned and sat down next to the boy.“No. I’m just sitting here. I feel drawn to this place.” He replied.“I know you are. You know, Brian renovated this place.” Nadine replied.“I know, and he did Thomas Gardens too,” Jeremy replied and rolled his
The Haunting of Thomas Gardens Chapter 57
The Thomas boys were buried the next Saturday in the family Cemetery in the corner of the property behind the waterfall that they so loved and carefully restored. Almost all of Buttershire turned up, including the divers that found them and half of the police force, Jerry included.Jerry was still a little banged up, but once he heard of the boys’ deaths he insisted he needed to attend. He believed they were the ones who saved him from a certain death.Mayor McCummins stood in the pavilion, looking back at a sea of faces, all dressed in black, and swallowed hard.“We are here today to celebrate the lives of three remarkable young men, who gave their last breath to save this town. They have made a massive impact on all of our lives, whether we know it, or not. But I know these boys touched my heart and inspired me to be better than I was.They worked hard for their family, who was their whole life. I will never forget the day when these young men first sat in my office, as I asked them
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James had Brian drive around seemingly without any real sense of direction. His face was still blank. Luke added a few turns or comments here and there, but not as much as James. Brian knew better than to ask who was controlling his brothers.After nearly an hour of mindless driving, James had Brian stop in front of what used to be a house. The people milling around the house were up to their calves in mud. A young girl clutched a crying baby to her chest, while two other kids were running around. A teenage boy was looking for something amongst the rubble.An older couple, that appeared to be in their mid-sixties, were being comforted by a middle-aged man when a preteen girl standing next to them. James opened the door without a word and got out of the bus. Luke followed close behind him so Brian shut the bus off and got out.“Hi, I’m James Thomas,” James said as he approached the couple.They turned to look at him and then the old man took a deep breath.“What can we do for you youn
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It was three days since the initial flood, three anxiety-filled days without a word of the Thomas boys. Surrounding towns opened their doors and heart to the survivors of the Buttershire flood. As the search and rescue continued day after day, the survivors became less, and the bodies became more.Bodies were found washed up along the banks of the rivers, and with every body bag brought through, Cynthia could only hope it was not one of her sons in those black bags.And then word came, the boys had been found.It was a bittersweet reunion for the Thomas family. Cynthia fell to her knees as Brian got off the helicopter, wrapped in a foil blanket. Joe rushed toward the young man who was helping his younger brothers out, and then Jerry came out on a gurney. There had been complications when he was rescued, but the medics on board stabilized him, all he needed was immediate medical attention.Joe enveloped his sons in his arms and kissed their wet heads as he held tight, all the while fai
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The sun rose over an exhausted group of people on the very top of the hill overlooking Buttershire. They were wet, cold, bedraggled, and not looking forward to another day of rain. But the rain had not stopped pouring down, as if it wanted to break down the very last hope of the survivors.The doors of a white minibus opened, and a worried Cynthia got out of the bus. She closed the door to prevent the chill from getting to Jeremy, who had gotten a nasty cough overnight, and the five other lost children they had found wandering the road.“Anything?” Cynthia asked as she wrapped her arms around her husband who sat staring over the rolling river that used to be Buttershire.“Not yet. They are saying there are more survivors on the other hills around, some got up Thomas Gardens, but no one can confirm if the boys are amongst them.” Joe replied worriedly.“Oh my.” Cynthia replied and started to weep softly. “can we go down there?”“I want to try, but the army will be coming in shortly with
The Haunting of Thomas Gardens Chapter 53
Outside in the minibus, Cynthia saw the commotion through the rain as people ran from the City Hall, and into the streets. Another wail filled the night air, partially drowned through the torrent of rain, but the voices outside in the streets were enough to make everyone realize what was going on.Joe jumped out of the minivan and ran against the hordes rushing out of the doors. He pushed and shoved his way through until he reached the receptionist who was hurriedly emptying her drawers of all personal effect.“Where are my boys?” he near yelled at her.She gave him a frightened look and shook her head.“I don’t know. The mayor ordered an immediate evacuation.” She yelled back over the din of voices before grabbing her bag and making a run to the exit.“Crap.” Joe cursed and then started calling for his sons.“They’re not here. They went to the basement.” A security officer told him.“Are they still there?” Joe asked him hurriedly.“I don’t know. Mayor had the door closed, Jerry broug
The Haunting of Thomas Gardens Chapter 52
City Hall security saw the two brother approach the hall, and then hang around the bottom of the steps, as if waiting for someone. A uniformed police officer joined the two, acknowledging each other with a simple nod. The thunder rolled over the town along with the dark clouds that gathered above. “Mayor, I think we have a problem. The Thomas boys are here, but they are not themselves.” The head of security called up to the Mayor’s office. The Mayor sent Enrico down to the lobby to receive them. Enrico was just approaching the doors when a cloud broke above the town, torrents of water crashed down to the streets. Every one raced for cover, except the Thomas men at the bottom of the steps. Their clothes were dripping wet within seconds, but they still seemed undisturbed. The street lights flickered on, casting an ominous glow all around. Dusk started to settle in, and as it became dark, Brian joined the trio at the bottom of the stairs. A minibus parked next to the curb, but the doo
The Haunting of Thomas Gardens Chapter 51
Chief Warden was in the middle of a meeting with Mayor McCummins when the five divers strolled into his office, wet and bedraggled, with serious expressions on their faces.“Good afternoon Chief. Mayor.” Graeme greeted with a polite nod.“We are in the middle of something.” Chief Warden admonished him with a dark frown.“My apologies sir, but this could not wait. The Thomas River broke its banks on the Thomas property, destroyed everything in its path, and nearly killed the boys. I think it advisable to ask for troops, members of the public service, to inspect the rest of the river, and any other water source depending on the river.” Graeme spoke quickly.The Chief of Police and the Mayor stared at Graeme as if he had gone insane, but only for a few minutes, as Graeme’s words sunk in, the Mayor paled visibly.“You said the river nearly killed the boys?” Mayor asked concerned.“Yes Ma’am. Brian Thomas nearly drowned saving his youngest brother. I managed to grab the middle boy, and my
The Haunting of Thomas Gardens Chapter 50
The Thomas boys waited until nearly ten am before they decided to go back to the river and attempt the feat again. The put on their swim trunks, and went down to the river.From some ways off they could hear the voices on the river bank. Men and women were all talking and calling out to each other and then the laughing started. When the boys broke through the foliage they discovered seven people, all wearing wet suits, six diving tanks stood in batches of two near the water’s edge.Six of the seven wore flippers, the seventh just had boots on.Brian stared at them and then opened his mouth, but no sound came out.“Hello Brian.”Brian recognized him as the captain of the rescue squad from Firehouse 117.“Hi.” Brian finally managed to say.“I hope you don’t mind, Jerry let us in and brought us down here.” He said and then pointed to the people around him. “This is Hannon, Liza, Alex, Graeme, Shauna, and Blake. These were the only volunteers I could gather for you to help you boys out.”
