All Chapters of The Haunting of Thomas Gardens: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

It was a Saturday morning, three days after Joe’s return. Brian had completely shut his father out or was ignoring him completely. Joe wasn’t sure which was the case. The house was quiet, including Nadine’s room. Brian’s room was locked, and his brothers’ rooms were clear of any occupants. Cynthia was outside in the garden, looking at the new blooms that had started to jump up everywhere. The magnificent blues and purples had enthralled her, and she longed to place some of the flowers in the house, but Luke had cautioned her, making sure she knew the flowers were only to be looked at, and not touched. Of all three of her sons, Luke had been the only one to remain civil to her husband, but his loyalties lay with his brothers and to the ghosts that possessed them. She understood from her conversations with Saon that there was nothing that neither the living nor the caring dead could do for her sons at this stage. She knew of Brian’s plans to take over house four her children had told

The boys were doing well at school, and very soon everything seemed to be back to normal; the only thing that reminded the family of the near tragedy behind them was the white lines in Brian’s hands and arms.The relationship between the boys and their father was mostly repaired, simply because Joe did not mention anything about the property at all. He enjoyed the walks with his wife in the gardens, and they loved to play hide and seek in the maze. Brian had recruited some of his friends to help him sort out the irrigation issue on the property and once the irrigation worked the garden bloomed. From dahlias to tulips, the light pink hibiscus grew nearly everywhere, save for the front garden.Brian had sought out every rose of every color he could find and had planted them in the front garden around the water feature and statues.Cynthia’s favorite though, was the white and yellow daisies, spotted so often with the blue and purple hydrangeas, that grew next to the paths.The lawn was w

As Brian promised he woke up again the next day, and the first person he asked for was his father. The family was waiting though, and so were the nurses. They checked him out, declared him fit enough for the visit, and then left.After the pleasantries, Brian turned to his father.“Did you bring the plans, Dad?” He asked carefully.“I did,” Joe said and handed the rolled-up documents over to his son.Jerry stepped closer to look over Joe’s shoulder.“Congratulations,” Brian said to him with a grin. “Do you have a wedding date at least?”“We’re getting married in your Garden. So you need to make sure you get your plans right so that we have a lovely backdrop for the pictures.” Jerry told him quickly.“Excellent. Now, all things considered, we should add a pergola over there, with climber roses on either side at the bases so that they can grow over them. I’m going to assume your bouquet is going to come from the garden as well, so you need to let me know what flowers you like so that th

As Brian had predicted James was let out of the hospital three days later. He was still weak from his experience, but at least he was at home. He wanted to jump into the work immediately, telling Brian he will go pick the rocks with Rodney, but Brian told him to rest instead. But instead of following instructions James decided he will sit on the lawn and watch his father and brother work and taking them glasses full of cold refreshments while their mother went to sit at the hospital, waiting for Luke to wake up.It was hard for Jerry to help them, he had picked up extra shifts to make extra money for his baby and the wedding. Nadine was still having the weird experiences in their home, but Jerry was completely oblivious. When Jerry worked night shifts Nadine would stay in the house. Brian was back in his house, so Rodney used Brian’s old room on the nights he stayed over.James had been home three days when he finally felt strong enough to go for a walk up the path. So that Wednesday

Luke did not return for another week, a week where Brian changed his mind more times than anyone could count.Brian’s final decision was to have the pond slope inwards, and then pan out in the center, where the pavilion and the pump house were going to be. Brian did not want a pump house at first, but after some research he realized he was going to have to put pumps and filters in to make sure the water is always clear and moving.Since the pavilion was going to be roughly thirty six squares in a hexagonal shape, he agreed to have the pump house underneath the pavilion knowing it would leave enough space for the twelve square the pump house needed.Joe had to force Brian and James to return to school the same week Luke returned home. Brian made his instructions very clear to the builders he had enlisted to build the pump house, and would rush home after school to check on the site.The structures came up quickly, Luke took pleasure in sitting outside in the shade and watch the men sin