The Beginning
I sat on the steps of a dusty, worn out mansion. It hadn’t been lived in in probably over a hundred years.
Kind of sad, considering I had once lived here.
I’m a ghost. I haunt the Ivory Estate. People can see me, and I can’t walk through walls. I wasn’t always like that, though. I used to be invisible.
My usual hobbies were walking through my childhood home, and having random flashbacks to when I was sick with influenza. I was just one of the many people who died from the illness.
Nobody noticed when I died except my parents and my brothers.
They all went on to live good, happy lives.
Charles, my eldest brother, got married shortly after my death, and had twins.
I became an aunt. A dead aunt, but still an aunt. At that time, I was invisible, no one could see me. I cried of joy when I saw my niece and nephew.
“Ella, what shall we name them?” Charles asked his wife as he held his son.
Out of breath, I heard her say quietly, “Name the boy Edward.”
“And the girl?” Charles and I both asked at the same time. I hovered in the doorway of the bedroom, watching the scene unfold.
“Name her….name her after me. I won’t make it through the night.”
And she was right. Ella joined me in haunting the residence that night.
“Your children are beautiful, and will grow up to do great things.”
She died in the year 1904. Edward and Ella are alive still.
And life went on.
Mark, the second eldest, went on to run the saloon in town. People would always rave about how splendid the saloon was, and I would find ways to drift over to see it.
I couldn’t have been prouder of Mark if I’d tried.
My younger brother, James, became a robber. He went all over the country, and became famous.
I heard a while back he was hung.
James joined Ella and I after I heard.
I know you’re wondering who on earth I am.
Well, my names Tara. I’m a 15 year old ghost who died of influenza, but was always up on the fashion.
As a ghost, I could wear whatever I wanted. I usually wore jeans and a tank top.
James and Ella wore what they died in. Jeans and a fringed vest of cowhide, and a nightgown covered in blood. From the birth.
When the year 2000 rolled around, we realized we weren’t invisible anymore. Found that out the hard way.
Before this incident, I stayed in the nightgown I’d died in. It was comfortable, and I never liked to change out of it.
Some dumb kids were exploring the estate, trying to see if it was haunted.
It was.
There were four of them. Power in numbers was probably what they thought.
Their names were Jack, Amelia, Evan and Riley.
One girl, three boys.
“Guys, come ON! For boys, your pretty chicken,” Amelia said.
“Shut up, Amelia,” Riley said, trying to sound brave. “We’re, uh, we’re looking at the house from a distance first.”
Jack and Evan nodded, though I noticed from the upstairs window they were shaking in fear.
“Hey! I saw something,” Jack shouted, pointing to the window I was looking out.
I darted away, and shouted, “James, Ella, the kids saw me I think.”
“Impossible, must’ve been something else,” I heard James say from the library.
“Not necessarily,” Ella said, sticking up for me.
“Thank you.”
“Riley, Jack, Evan, I’m going inside. If there are any ghosts, I’ll find them.”
I heard the front door creak open, and her say, “Ooh, pictures of the last residents.”
I peeked out the window, and say Riley walk inside.
“Hey, I know them. The Ivory family. The parents were Lily and Austin, and they had four children. Charles, Mark, Tara and James. Charles married a women named Ella, and had two kids, Edward and Ella.”
“Jack, aren’t they your grandparents?” Amelia shouted.
“Yea, they are. Their mom died and they claimed she haunts this place.”
“Loon,” Evan muttered.
“Shut up!” Jack said, shoving Evan.
“Guys, get in here. I hear voices from upstairs.” Amelia said.
I heard her feet pounding on the stairs.
I hadn’t heard that noise since Ella and Edward were children.
“Ella, shush! She’s coming,” I said.
I heard three more sets of feet on the stairs, and then Riley peeked into the room James was in.
The library.
“Whoa, look at these books!”
James was hovering/sitting in the chair by the oil lamp, and Riley walked in.
“Who’s this now?” James asked.
“Ah!” Riley yelled. “What-you-”
“You can see me?”
“Yes!”
“No! That’s impossible!”
I heard them freaking out, and started to laugh,
“Ella, let’s see what’s happening.”
“Coming!”
We floated out of my room, and went into the library.
“James, what’s going-”
I saw that Riley could see him.
“On. He can see you?”
“Well, he isn’t looking at the chair!”
“Wait, so that means…”
Amelia, Jack and Evan rushed in to see what the fuss was about.
“Ghosts!” Jack and Evan screamed, and ran out the mansion faster than you could say sassafras.
Riley, still in shock, was frozen in fear.
“Riley, gosh, grow a pair and run!” Amelia shouted, though she herself was unmoving from the hallway.
Riley snapped out of it, and ran down the steps, shouting, “Jack! Evan! Wait up!”
Amelia shook in fear, but said bravely, “Your real?”
“Real as the hair on your head. I’m Tara, the one who died of influenza?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Ella, charmed to meet you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“James, the one who got hung for stealing gold…”
“Uh-huh.”
Amelia’s eyes got large, and she said, “Nice to meet you, I guess. I’m gonna leave you now to your ghost business.”
That’s how we found out people could see us. Must be some 21st century ingenuity or something.
You must be wondering why Charles and Mark didn’t join us here when they passed. Or our parents, Lily and Austin.
When they died, people were cremating the dead.
Charles had Lily and Austin cremated. It was hard to watch my mother and father get burnt to ashes.
Charles died next, and Mark cremated him.
When Mark died, his children did the same to him.
When you cremate someone, their spirit gets burnt as well as your body.
If it’s a casket burial like mine, Ella’s and James, then the spirit is free to roam about as they please.
Our family was buried on the mansion’s property. We visit sometimes.
Very peaceful.
Anyway, backstory done. That was nineteen years ago, and now it’s 2018. So much has changed.
I was sitting on the steps, and pondering what I would do on the morning of the anniversary of my death.
Ice cream, reading, visiting my dead family?
The dead family sounded appealing, so I stood up and walked to the back.
Ella was tending to the plants that had died. They were always so pretty in winter, all dried up and decaying.
“Morning, Ella. Where’s James?”
“He went to Mark’s saloon for a drink. It’s a wonder he hasn’t been outed for walking around as a ghost yet. He was quite the famous thief.”
“That he was. Care to come visit the graves with me?”
“Sounds absolutely wonderful.”
She stood up, wiped the dirt onto her bloody dress, and we walked towards the graves of our beloved.
“How have you been, with just finding our your children died over ten years ago?”
Ella took a shaky breath, and said, “I’ve been better.”
“Oh, sweetie…” I gave Ella a side hug, and said, “Well, they were buried on the property, so you can see them anytime you want.”
“They weren’t cremated, were they?”
We arrived at the family cemetery, and said, “I’m not sure.”
I looked at the graves of my mother and father, and my brothers. I pointed. “Look, there’s Edward and Ella.”
Ella walked towards her children’s graves, and let out a small sob.
“What? Happy or sad sobs?”
“Very happy, Tara. Very happy.”
I looked at the graves, and saw they were both large and rectangular. They weren’t cremated, and that meant only one thing.
“Let’s go hunt for your children.”
Ella grinned, and wiped away her tears. “Let’s find my babies.”
