Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy (5 page)

He had had countless tricks, numerous ways of scaring
people out of his house for good. But it had been a hundred
and fifty years since anyone had stayed the night in his house
besides himself. The servants just seemed to have disappeared
after his death, leaving their belongings behind, and with his
sister passing just before himself, there was no one left. Now,
as he stood looking down over the quilt covered body he
wondered why he had let her stay. He moved the blanket off of
her head so that he could get a better look at her up close.

He was annoyed when he saw the mask over her eyes.
The contraption that she had tucked into her ears was playing
some very loud annoying music. That was going to have to go
immediately. He threw it down and stomped on it until it was
silent, another one of those amazing things that had entered the
living world since his passing. He moved the mask up over her
forehead and stared at her in awe.

“An angel.” He whispered. He looked up at the ceiling
and said, “Finally. After one hundred and fifty years of being
stuck in this house you send me an angel…with pink hair.” He
said when he looked back down and noticed the stripe of pink
that ran down the front of her beautiful, flowing blonde hair.
“And she sleeps.”

Of course she wasn’t an angel, he thought. And she
would be gone first thing in the morning. He walked away
back up the stairs where he spent most of his time in his
library, alone.
******

As the sun shone through the tall windows of what
Drew would call the living room area of the castle, she woke
up feeling completely refreshed.
She had had an amazing
dream the night before of a tall handsome gentlemen and
herself dancing in a ballroom. She wore a long flowing dress
just like Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. In fact now that she
thought about it, it reminded her of the scene from Beauty and
the Beast, minus the singing tea pot of course.
She figured it
must have been a dream because she had never danced with a
man in her life and had absolutely no intentions of ever doing
so. For some reason, in the dream, it made her feel like flying.

Once she sat up and her eyes had adjusted, she realized
that her mask was lying on a small table beside the couch and
her I-Pod was in several small pieces beside it. The front door
was standing wide open with her suitcase and bag, that now
had her pillow and blanket stuffed back in it, waiting for her in
the door way.
It was halfway out the door as if whoever
moved it wasn’t going any farther or putting any more effort
into helping her find her way out.

“Well, I guess that is as about as frank as you can get.”

She stood up and stretched and took a better look at her
surroundings now
that
it
was
daylight.
The place was
absolutely gorgeous. The chandelier that hung above her head
must have been made of real crystal the way that the colors
changed in the sun. It had to have at least 50 layers from top to
bottom. If it wasn’t for the cobwebs hanging from every nick
and cranny the place wouldn’t seem that creepy at all. The
piano was still covered along with all of the other furniture she
noticed. There were several doors that led out of the living
area and of course the beautiful stair case that looked like
mahogany as did the trim around the ceiling and walls.

“Absolutely gorgeous.” She said aloud.

 

It was time to check out the rest of the house. She
debated where to go first. She decided on the door to the right.

“You can’t go wrong with right.” She said as she
started to sprint in excitement towards the doorway.
The
dining area was huge. There were two tall pieces of furniture
covered by dust clothes on each end of the room and what she
assumed was the very long dining room table and chairs in the
middle that
were
also covered with a dust
cloth.
The
chandelier in this room was made of iron and held what looked
like at least thirty candles that had been used quite often at one
time. She could actually imagine a family sitting at the table in
their fancy dresses and expensive coats. She wondered what
they talked about back then, evidently not about the latest
movies or whether the stock market was rising or falling.
“How ‘bout them Saints?” She said laughing.

She had to see what was underneath the cloths. She
slowly lifted the cloth off of the tall furniture that was against
the wall closest to her.
It took her breath away.
It was a
beautiful cherry wood china cabinet filled with very expensive
looking dishes, real china she presumed.
Plates, cups, and
bowls were neatly stacked in the cabinets. It was absolutely
amazing.
Everything
that
she had seen
so far
looked
practically brand new yet it was so old.

Drew started to lift the cloth to peak at the dining room
table when she immediately felt a presence in the room.
It
should have given her the chills from head to toe. Instead she
just felt annoyed.

“I’m just looking.” She said to the air. “I promise I
won’t hurt anything.”

When nothing happened she bent back down to peak
again at the table.
Just as she had suspected it was a deep
cherry wood just like the china cabinet that she had just looked
at.

“I don’t know why you keep it all covered. I know that
you can uncover it, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to play the
piano.”

There was still no answer from her invisible friend.

 

“It is absolutely beautiful. Can I see the rest of the
house?” She said again to the air.

Since she didn’t get a response she continued to the
swinging door that lay on the far side of the dining room.
She
stepped into the most remarkable kitchen she had ever seen in
her life. She could see, and was absolutely mesmerized with
how antique the oven and the cabinets were. There was an
adorable little island that stood in the middle that had pots and
pans hanging above it.
She imagined what once was fresh
grape vine were entwined between the hooks that the pans
hung from.

The neatest thing of all was the old stone fireplace that
was built next to the clearly new sink and refrigerator. She
didn’t like the look of the refrigerator and sink in this kitchen.
It didn’t belong. Maybe someday she could find a way to build
them into the wall so that they were hidden.
They were
obviously necessary, but they stuck out like a sore thumb.

Feeling kind of silly now she turned to go back into the
living room. She stopped when she noticed that there were two
other doors in the kitchen.
They blended in so well with the
wall that she almost missed them. She walked around the table
and pushed on one of the doors. They must have been servant
rooms as they held no more than a single sized bed, a very
small chest of drawers, and a wash stand with a pitcher and
bowl.

Whatever had been in the room with her must have
stayed back as she no longer felt its presence. She figured that
as long as they weren’t bothering each other she would keep
looking. She was even more curious about the house now than
she had been before. Whoever lived here in the past just up
and left things behind it seemed. Whoever had updated must
not have realized that an antique dealer would have hit the
jackpot here.

She turned around and went back through the kitchen
and dining room area. When she reached the bottom of the
stairway on the other side of the living room she looked up
towards the top and decided that she would check out the other
room first.
Something told her that walking up those stairs
might wear out her already not so welcome.

The doors on the other side of the staircase were
closed.
They were beautiful, heavy French doors that were
engraved with dancers and music notes.
As she swung the
doors inward she felt her legs go weak beneath her. The room
that lay before her was the exact same ballroom that she had
dreamt of the night before, and she was very certain that she
hadn’t gone past the living area last night.

The room was huge. It had four chandeliers hanging
from the ceiling. Two were made of crystal and the other two
were filled with candles as the dining room had been. There
was another grand piano that was set upon on a small stage.
The floor was made of a light oak that in her dream was
polished to a perfect shine.
It was now covered with dust that
made her want to find a broom and feather duster immediately.
She was determined to have this place dust free and shining in
no time. Due to the eeriness of seeing the same ballroom as in
her dream the night before though, she felt that she would have
to worry about cleaning it another time.

She was through searching the downstairs for now,
even though there were a couple of doors underneath the stairs
that she hadn’t checked out yet, and a long hallway that she
hadn’t noticed the night before that ran back behind where the
piano was sitting, she thought that she may as well check out
the outside and bring the rest of her stuff in that the cab driver
had just thrown out in the driveway.

As she started to walk towards the door she heard a
car driving down the gravel.

 

“Liza!” She yelled and took off running out of the
door and towards the gate.

 

******

The girl was a very curious one, Brendan thought as he
watched her make her way through his house in a black shirt
that sparkled, some type of pants that didn’t even go past her
thighs (that were quite beautiful actually), black boots and
white socks. Her wavy blonde hair with its pink stripe was
bunched up in a crazy knot that still allowed the back of it to
hang almost to her hips. She was quite stunning. And as he
had thought the night before she looked very angel like only
without the grace.

He almost stopped her from getting too nosey when
she obviously felt his presence and stopped to talk to him. It
was strange.
No one had ever really talked to him before
unless you counted screaming as they were running out of the
front door.
Well, all except for his cousin Mary Ann who
thought she was going to inherit the place. She took the liberty
of jumping out of the back sitting room window. He wished
he had waited to throw her skirt up over her head to scare the
crap out of her until she had been upstairs.

As he watched the girl roam through the house with
such a look of wonder on her face, he wasn’t quite sure how he
was going to get rid of her yet. He didn’t want to hurt her for
some reason, buthe didn’t want her in his house either. He
was quite used to being alone and he had no intentions of
letting someone come in and take over his things.

He wasn’t quite sure what “Liza” meant but it
reminded him entirely too much of his Lezetta. It had been so
long ago when he had lost her and it had been quite a while
since he had even thought of her that he was surprised to learn
that the pain didn’t seem to reach quite as deep as it used to.

Brendan watched the girl run across the lawn, trip, and
then get right back up and start running again without even
wiping herself off.

“Strange girl.” He said to himself out loud. He almost
frightened himself when he heard his own voice in the silence.
It had been a very long time since he had spoken out loud as
well.

******

“Damn it!” Drew said as she tripped over a stone that
had been over turned in the yard. She was definitely going to
have to get busy on the yard work. She loved being outside so
she was actually looking forward to it.

As the moving van came through the trees, Drew
damned it as well. She was really hoping that it was Liza. The
van was moving pretty quickly she noticed and hoped that they
saw her standing in the middle of the drive.

They came to a screeching halt just before they hit the
pile of her things in the drive in front of her. The driver looked
like he was probably in his mid-thirties.

“Lady, I don’t know what the story is, but my boss told
me that I wasn’t to unload anything until I knew for sure that
you really wanted the stuff here to stay.”

“Well, of course I want the stuff here.” She said
aggravated. “I asked you to bring it didn’t I?”

“Ya, well, I guess our company has been asked to
move stuff out here several times and no one ever stays long
enough to unpack. Then we always got to go back in and get
the shit. So, are you sure you want the stuff here or not. I’m
not really in the mood to load, unload, and then load the same
crap in one day.”

“Yes, please take them to the room on the left of the
living area with the French doors. I will decide what to do with
it all from there.” She said, then added, “and be careful not to
scratch the floor either.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He said. She watched as he struggled
with the Iron Gate for a moment then shook his head as he
realized what he was going to have to drive through. The other
two guys that had been riding along in the van were nice
enough to get out and put her things that were in the middle of
the drive in the van and haul them up to the house for her as
well.

As soon as the van reached the house she saw Liza’s
husband’s truck come through the trees. Drew felt like a kid at
Christmas time. She was so happy that her friend had come
that she was standing there jumping up and down clapping her
hands together.

Liza pulled to a stop and rolled her window down.
“Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look standing there
doing jumping jacks like a child?” She said.