COUNTERTOP
A couple of items sit quietly in the dark upon the countertop, the Aunt’s purse and a cocoa pot. Above them, an open cabinet gives way to a slightly rusted safe on the bottom shelf.
An alligator skin purse with a red jewel embedded into the clasp. Decay has left it mouldering and deteriorating. Its only contents are a sole book with the title, “Overcoming Grief”.
You’re replacing the bag with a sniff of distaste when the choked sob of a woman makes you jump. You turn around to find the sobbing spirit of Aunt Jane reaching towards you.
“It’s the cuuuuuurse!”
“I’ll do whatever I can to end this misery!”
“The poor girl! It’s not enough we were all struck down, but even in an afterlife we aren’t safe? There’s something dark at work here, can’t you tell? I just don’t understand why it’s targeted Elsie. That little girl was my last bright spark, my brother’s darling child. Caring for her was what helped me continue on after the loss of my own daughter.“
“It was all very disorderly! I remember trying to keep everyone calm while I waited for Vera, who had abandoned me to deal with the very irate neighbor. The neighbor was insistent on seeing Elsie, babbling about the theft of her garden stones or some trivial nonsense. Vera returned with some hot cocoa, awfully sweet if you ask me, but I was panicked by Birdie and regrettably quaffed it down too quickly! I instantly felt that something was off. I looked around, some people were missing. Virgil was gone, as was the salesman and the lodger. Come to think of it, the only people left in the room at all were myself, Vera, and the neighbor, Birdie! I saw Vera collapse to the ground, she was writhing in pain! I tried to scream for help but everything was already going dark! There was an unsavory flavor in my mouth, like metal, and a great pain started to overwhelm me. I fell back into the chair and… I saw the neighbor take off down the hall. A few moments must have passed by… I was still alive, but I couldn’t move. The last thing I remember is seeing the salesman step back into the room!”
“Excuse me?! Who are you to comment on someone’s life like that? It was a struggle, of course. It would be for any right-minded person! Losing my husband so suddenly and senselessly. Then, barely given any time to recover, to have Rose stolen, of all the kids in that busy park?! I may not be the definition of ‘happy’, but I’ve managed to carve out a sense of contentment, here with my brother’s family. Every day with them was another step towards finding a sense of normalcy again.”
You peer more closely at the antique cocoa pot. Unlike the rest of the McDermott House, which seems to be feeling the decades of wear and rot all at once, the cocoa pot before you remains shiny and spotless. Somehow, its unsoiled appearance unsettles you even more. Especially considering, while it was never officially declared how the poison was introduced to the victims, you’re forming the opinion it was this shiny little pot that did it.
You’re replacing the bag with a sniff of distaste when the choked sob of a woman makes you jump. You turn around to find the sobbing spirit of Aunt Jane reaching towards you.
“It’s the cuuuuuurse!”
“I’ll do whatever I can to end this misery!”
“The poor girl! It’s not enough we were all struck down, but even in an afterlife we aren’t safe? There’s something dark at work here, can’t you tell? I just don’t understand why it’s targeted Elsie. That little girl was my last bright spark, my brother’s darling child. Caring for her was what helped me continue on after the loss of my own daughter.“
“It was all very disorderly! I remember trying to keep everyone calm while I waited for Vera, who had abandoned me to deal with the very irate neighbor. The neighbor was insistent on seeing Elsie, babbling about the theft of her garden stones or some trivial nonsense. Vera returned with some hot cocoa, awfully sweet if you ask me, but I was panicked by Birdie and regrettably quaffed it down too quickly! I instantly felt that something was off. I looked around, some people were missing. Virgil was gone, as was the salesman and the lodger. Come to think of it, the only people left in the room at all were myself, Vera, and the neighbor, Birdie! I saw Vera collapse to the ground, she was writhing in pain! I tried to scream for help but everything was already going dark! There was an unsavory flavor in my mouth, like metal, and a great pain started to overwhelm me. I fell back into the chair and… I saw the neighbor take off down the hall. A few moments must have passed by… I was still alive, but I couldn’t move. The last thing I remember is seeing the salesman step back into the room!”
“Excuse me?! Who are you to comment on someone’s life like that? It was a struggle, of course. It would be for any right-minded person! Losing my husband so suddenly and senselessly. Then, barely given any time to recover, to have Rose stolen, of all the kids in that busy park?! I may not be the definition of ‘happy’, but I’ve managed to carve out a sense of contentment, here with my brother’s family. Every day with them was another step towards finding a sense of normalcy again.”
You peer more closely at the antique cocoa pot. Unlike the rest of the McDermott House, which seems to be feeling the decades of wear and rot all at once, the cocoa pot before you remains shiny and spotless. Somehow, its unsoiled appearance unsettles you even more. Especially considering, while it was never officially declared how the poison was introduced to the victims, you’re forming the opinion it was this shiny little pot that did it.