Dark Dreams of Yesterday

It had been almost a week since the move back into the old Hagen house without any thing strange happening. Ruby was beginning to think maybe; just maybe nothing else was going to take place. Today she had decided it was time to start throwing out the old paintings that hung in the front room, those of Grandpa’s ancestors that always seem to follow you with their eyes as you moved around the room. Karen panicked at first when she heard Ruby’s plan to pile them under the old weeping willow along with the furnishings out of Grandpa’s lab. Once everything had been moved out there she intended to pore gasoline over them setting fire to all the old ghosts that lived in them. As Ruby took the first portrait down to carry outside, Karen went begging her not to do so. “Ruby, if Neil does have some kind of hold on this place it is going to piss him off and he will punish us in some way. I just have a bad feeling about doing this; maybe we shouldn’t torch just throw them out there until we have the old placed bulldozed down. Then we could bury them.” Seeing how scared and nervous Karen had become, Ruby promised that she would wait until Marcus return from town later to set the fire hoping that would ease Karen’s mind. She continued to carry the paintings out to the tree one at a time until all of them had been removed. Going down into the basement Ruby looked around in the lab to see what she would move out to the trash pile. As she opened the door there was a rustle sound in the dark room. Ruby stopped quickly listening for the sound again. She was sure someone had moved on the other side of the room. Her heart pounding so loud she was sure it could be heard, Ruby slowly backed out of the room. Panic was beginning to close in on her. Not sure what was moving around, Ruby decided that it might be wise to have someone with her before going into the room. Quietly moving backwards until she felt the stairs touching the heel of her shoes, she turned around running up the stairs. She did not stop running until she was in the kitchen where she had left Karen. Karen’s eyes were wide with fright as she questioned the out of breath woman that stood in the kitchen door with her hands pressed against her breast. “What is wrong with you? Did you see something down there? Damn-it Ruby, I told you not to start trashing that stuff yet. You are going to get us killed if you are not careful” Giving a nervous giggle Ruby shook her head. “It was nothing but rats. I just got a little spooked going into a dark room by myself. When Marcus gets here I will have him to go with me.” Glancing at the clock above the kitchen sink Ruby could not believe how fast the day had passed. By the time they got supper ready Marcus should be here. For the next hour the two women worked side by side in the kitchen without specking until the sound of a car outside brought a sigh of relief from them. Ruby rushed to door to welcome Marcus home; that is if you could call this a home. The look on his face immediately told her something terrible had happened. Rushing to him Ruby put her arms around him without uttering a word; she waited for him to tell her but knew in her heart that Mr. Hall had passed away. Several moments passed before Marcus spoke. “Jerry called today, his Dad died this morning. He said they would be bringing the body home as soon as it is released. He will let us know about the funeral.” Ruby cried softly for the old man that had always been so kind to her but mostly for the son that would always blame himself for his Dad’s death. The couple still holding onto one another walked into the kitchen to tell Karen the sad news. In silence the three friends then busied themselves with placing the food on the table. Not one of them had any appetite but they fixed their plates in silence. For the longest time they sit pretending to eat as they moved the food from one side of the plate to the other. The silence was suddenly broken as something crashed loudly in the front room. Marcus followed closely by the women jumped up from the table running into the front room. Karen scream filled the house as it echoed from room to room. There on the floor were several of the old portraits that Ruby had carried out. Each portrait was lying exactly under the space on the wall where it had hung. Shaken Ruby begins to frantically look around the house; in the hall and the other rooms. Someone was in the house somewhere; those painting did not sprout legs to walk back in here. Ruby searched every room with Marcus close behind her. Nothing, there was no sign of anyone but them being in the house. Tears streaming down her face, Ruby slid down the hall wall into a heap on the floor. Marcus sat beside her reaching over he took her hand stroking the back of it gently; his voice was no more than a whisper; “Honey, we will find out who is behind this but we can’t lose our focus on what we are doing. Your Grandpa is dead; dead people cannot do things like this. It has to be someone that is trying to scare you into doing what that crazy old man wanted you to do. Whoever is behind this is very much alive and we will find him putting a stop to all this craziness. I promise you that.” Ruby continued to sob, shaking her head, not able to respond to his words. She and Marcus were still sitting on the floor when Karen interrupted; she stood in the doorway with the strangest expression on her face as she handed the phone to Marcus. Several minutes passed with Marcus listening to the person on the phone, his only words were “What, when, How did it happen?” The eyes of both women were glued on his face as he talked; as soon as he flipped the phone shut they both spoke together wanting to know what was happening.