Written By: Amelia Chavez, Staff Writer
MYSTERY: The second chapter in a spine-chilling series about a young girl in San Francisco.
She walked around the room examining all the furnished antiques that decorated it. It wasn’t the most welcoming place but, it would do. She stared at her suitcase and then at the door. Packing can wait.
The door made a long creaking sound as she peered down the hallway. Still no sign of Mrs. Gray. Guess she wouldn’t mind if I looked around. She began to walk down the hallway, it was eerily quiet.
She wandered down the dark hallways and eventually found the stairs. As she walked around the spiraled stairs voices echoed. It sounded close, but no again this house was deceiving. Her feet moved swiftly down the stairs, making them grow louder.
She swung round the corner, nearly knocking Mrs. Gray over.
“Oh! I’m terribly sorry Mrs. Gray.”
“Don’t worry dear, just be more careful.” she chuckled “Go explore the garden, it’s lovely this time of day. Besides the Gardener’s daughter is here, you two might get along.”
She eyed Mrs. Gray suspiciously but the prospect of a new person outweighed her curiosity. What was Mrs. Gray’s angle? She bolted towards the door dodging around the ancient furniture.
The crisp afternoon breeze filled her lungs while the assortment of flowers swayed. Aunt Gilda had traveled all over the world; collecting flowers from India, England, Ireland, Peru, and hundreds of other places. Her adventures were the topic of many party conversations. One day I’ll be on adventures of my own. They’ll tell my stories for ages.
She strolled through the oriental lilies basking in their beautiful aroma. Her eyes wandered on the ground, in the corner of her eye something black gleamed against the light. She turned around to examine it. Maybe its buried treasure! As she got closer to it she realized it was a shoe. How odd, who would leave a shoe here? It was an old dusty black work shoe, the type used for heavy duty gardening. She picked it up to get a better look, it wasn’t just a shoe she grabbed though. A foot came along, and her blood began to pump rapidly through her veins.
Stepping further into the lilies, she saw the lifeless eyes of a man staring back at her. A long kitchen knife was deep in his heart. A pool of blood oozed all around it, causing it to cling around him. She just stared at him in shock unmoving. No words could come to her mouth not even a scream.
In the far distance a girl was humming “Ring Around the Rosey”, she couldn’t see her. What am I going to do? As she stepped out of the flowers, she saw a girl two years younger turn the corner. Her hands were filled with an array of flowers.
“Hey” she waved “I’m Adelaide, Mrs. Gildas niece.”
The little girl smiled and waved back but offered no words.
“I was going to ask Mrs. Gray for some cookies want some?”
She nodded and followed her back inside the house. Mrs. Gray was standing over a cutting board dicing carrots.
“Go in the other room for just a moment please, I’ll bring the cookies” Adelaide said smiling at the girl
Adelaide turned to Mrs. Gray, looking her dead in the eye.
“ I see you found the Gardeners daughter, Betty.” Mrs. Gray noted
“And the Gardener”
“How is Mr. Sawyer? I’ve been meaning to ask him to trim the lilies”
“I don’t think he can” she said about to burst into tears.
“Why not?”
“He’s lying dead in them” she bawled
Don’t miss the next chapter next edition!