The Spirit of the House

 

        Lilly was a poor orphan who lived in London. It was a very sad life for her as she had no family, no friends, and the matron was horrible to her. She did not get proper food to eat and proper dresses to wear. One day, as the cold winter wind blew, a tall gentleman was walking towards the orphanage. He knocked on the door. After some time, the matron replied with a gruff voice, ‘’I’m busy, go away.’’ 

“Mr. Greenwood speaking here, I have come to deliver a message from Anne Wilson. Is there a little girl called Lilly?” said the gentleman in a calm voice.

The matron opened the door, “And she is staying right where she is. In her grubby old dormitory”, replied the matron.

The gentleman said, “While Nora Wilson, the mother of Lilly died in the fire, her sister Anne escaped. Now she is living quite a splendid life in the country and is ready to give you a lot of money to adopt this child. She is going to come and give you the money herself tomorrow and is expecting the girl to be ready in her finest clothes standing in front of this door, waiting for her. Now if you please let me inside. It is very cold outside. We can discuss the matters calmly inside”.

The matron said “It doesn’t need a discussion. She will be ready tomorrow in her finest clothes. Now, bye” and slammed the door in front of the gentleman in a very unmannerly way. The gentleman was shocked. He felt such a relief that Anne was adopting that girl. Who would even want to live with such a cruel woman? But did he know what was at the store for that little girl?

The next day, the matron woke up the girl with a bucket of ice-cold water. “Wake up!’’ screamed the matron in her ears.

“Yes, matron’’ said the girl obediently.

“Your aunt Anne is adopting you. I want you on your best behavior. Now, let us get this show on the road’’ said the matron.

“Someone is adopting me. Yay!’’ She thought. “Finally, I’ve got freedom from this prison. No dirty clothes, no shouting’s, no sleeping on a stone-hard bed. Freedom at last.”

She jumped out of her bed, she bathed for the first time. She felt so nice to feel the cold water run against her body. She took her grubby old toothbrush. Then she saw that for the first-time matron had given her a clean toothbrush. She felt so happy. She was skipping down the hall. She peeked through the small keyhole. She saw a tall young lady with beautiful blonde hair. Her smile was warm and comforting. She had yellow arched eyebrows and green eyes. She carried a snow leopard skin purse and a suitcase. Lilly saw the woman handing the suitcase to the matron. The matron seemed very eager to take that suitcase and literally snatched it from her hands. The woman seemed shocked. They talked quietly for some time and soon the woman’s face seemed ready for something. Suddenly the matron opened the door. Lilly quickly hid behind the doors. The matron started calling her. She went out. The lady held out her hand as if calling the girl. Then suddenly the matron came out of the door. She looked menacingly at Lilly.

“You filthy animal leave before I SLAP YOU ON THE FACE!’’, she growled at Lilly. Lilly stumbled upon the stairs and ran into the carriage. Anne gave one last cold look to the matron and got into the carriage. The carriage rolled through the green hills and the beautiful buttercup meadows. Then it finally stopped in front of a house. The house seemed very peculiar. It seemed as it had some life in it. Despite Anne’s posh clothes, the house she owned was not so very posh. The windows were dirty and grubby and the garden? Well, there wasn’t even a garden but some weeds. The chimney was very unusual as it had bloodstains on it. Altogether it gave the house a very frightening look. Lilly wasn’t so happy to see the house, but she was rather scared. Anyway, Anne did not notice Lilly’s behavior and pushed the gate. It made a screeching sound. As if the gate did not want to be opened. They walked through the gravel path. A strong wind blew. The house did not want them to enter. Anne tried to open the door but could not. “Probably the door got stuck. Nothing to worry about’’ said Anne in a reassuring voice but there were droplets of sweat in Anne’s forehead.

The door finally opened, and they got in. The house was dark and smelly and smelled of decay. There were cobwebs and dirt all around.

“Then let us settle in. It is rather chilly in here, but you will get used to it. Now I don’t want to force you or anything, but do you want to go to the market with me?’’ Anne asked.

“No, thank you. I’ll just rest and explore the house’’, Lilly said.

“Oh! And one more thing please don’t go to the room on the right of the stairs. That is forbidden. Another thing, please clean up the house while I’m not there because I really need a helping hand as there is a lot to do’’ Anne said.

“Okay sure’’ replied Lilly. After that Anne went out of the room. Lilly felt afraid because of the dark. She felt that the house was watching her every move. Anyway, she set off to find a broom. She found a handle of a broom poking out of the room her aunt had forbidden her to go in. What would happen if she would go there? Curiosity got better of her. She opened the door. It was quite a pleasant room filled with dolls which were pretty and fair. She touched the doll that was in the right. That doll’s face seemed a little turned to the left so when she tried to turn it a door opened in front of her. It was a black door filled with different symbols. It was not English. When Mr. Greenwood was speaking with the matron, she saw the suitcase he was carrying. On the back of it were those same symbols. She ran her hands through it. It felt prickly and hot. Then suddenly a black smoke surrounded her. It was choking her out of life.

A long time ago when Lilly was not even adopted

It was winter. As the cold November wind blew.  A tall gentleman with a black top hat came and knocked on the door of the Wilson mansion.

“Who’s there?’’ asked an old lady in a solemn voice.

“Mr. Greenwood’’ replied the gentleman.

“Come in” said the old lady. The gentleman opened the door.

“So, Lady Wilson, how are you?’’ asked the gentleman.

“It is said that you are going to have a baby is it?’’ asked the gentleman. “Yes, I’m going to have a baby and I’ve already decided a name for that baby. It is Anne” replied Lady Wilson.

“Then when the baby is born you must give it to me as it is not safe for the baby in London’’ finished the gentleman.

“I’ll take the baby far away from London. It is not necessary to keep the baby with you’’ replied Lady Wilson.

“Lady Wilson, the doctor said that it is a very rare case for an old woman to have a baby so there are chances for the woman to get sick and die. Now, nobody would want that, would they? So, I suggest that you hand over the baby to me so that I could take the baby until it is big enough to take care of itself. Is it a deal?’’ asked the gentleman. Lady Wilson nodded her head as she was too weak to say anything. Just as her baby would be born it would be taken from her. She felt so sad about it but there was no choice.

        The black smoke coiled around Lilly. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. When the smoke finally cleared, Lilly found herself in a room that smelt horrible. She saw a shadow looming across the dark.

“Who are you? Show yourself’’ those were the words she wished she had never said. The shadow revealed itself. It was a spider. The most dangerous of its kind. It had slender long black legs and menacing red eyes. Lilly tried to scream but no voice came out. The spider was coming closer and closer towards Lilly. His sour odor filled Lilly’s nose. One of the spider’s legs came closer to her. She thought this was her moment and she bit through the spider’s leg. It was sour and meaty, a purple frothy liquid splashed on her cheeks. The spider screamed as if the spider was allergic to the human saliva. When she finally could not take it anymore, she left the leg. The spider came down tumbling to its dusty grave. The black smoke surrounded her again and this time far fiercer. It was taking her somewhere. The smoke stopped in a room. She took a long gulp of air. The room was filled with mirrors. The ceiling was full of mirrors and the floors. Lilly thought this might be her second or last challenge. But it was not so bad as the first one, right? Right?

        Lilly was tensed. Suddenly, she saw a girl she looked lonely and afraid, just like her. She touched the mirror on which the girl was. The innocent smile turned into a deathly scowl. She quickly moved her hand away from the mirror.

“It is okay to be scared of me. I just lay around all day waiting for someone to set me free. My only friend please if you would just set me free.’’ Was this a trick? Lilly thought. “I will just need some of your blood for that and there is some on your forehead.’’ Lilly thought about it for a moment and then she finally agreed. The girl showed her hand. Lilly thought that was where she must give the blood. She took a droplet of blood from her forehead and gave it to the girl. The girl came out of the mirror. Her face turned into the ugliest face anyone had ever seen. Her eyes were popping out of her sockets, her mouth had turned into an evil smile, and her hands had claws budging out of their fingers. The ghostly girl grabbed the throat of the poor Lilly and sucked out her soul. Lilly lay motionless on the floor and that was the last of the girl. The girl was a troubled spirit that needed a kind soul to rest in peace. A funeral was held for Lilly and not many people were there for it. Only, Mr. Greenwood and Anne were there for the funeral. After the funeral, everyone went back to their normal and busy lives. No one even cared about the girl. But she went to heaven safely.

by Wrishika Ghosh