Grandmom Faya returned to the car, started the engine, and drove off toward the new house. On the way there she talked to me about men. Saying no matter what I should always be myself, and things would work out fine. I was thinking, "I'll be sixteen tomorrow, and what a birthday present this is." I was still very apprehensive about moving into that house.
I thought how eerie it was to be moving in there on 'devil's night'. The day before Halloween. Fear shot through me. But I decided to make the best of it. There was nothing I could do about it anyway. I pushed my worries out of my mind.
Nicholas, Miss Miriam, Josie and Linda were already at the house when we arrived. Malin was still in school. And Emma was still at work. Looking around I saw that the extra months the workmen needed to fix the house up properly were well worth it. The house was more beautiful than it was the last time I saw it. It was a completely different place than it was when it scared me as a child. All of the furniture was in place, as well as a few new pieces my grandmother bought. I felt as if I was coming home from a long trip or something. For some reason there was no fear in me at all.
Standing in the house looking around I suddenly recalled the dream I had so long ago. In the dream Grandmom Faya and I walked into the house. This was the very same house I saw in the dream. I went into the kitchen where in my dream I was unable to move, or see who was behind me.
Walking into the kitchen I saw it was the same one I saw in my dream. "Maybe it's meant for me to live here," I thought. "Why else would I have dreamed about this house so many years ago?" At the time I had no way of knowing how close to the truth I was.
Josie was busy in the kitchen stocking the cupboards, and the big refrigerator with various foods, and staples. Nicholas and Linda were chatting happily about how much they loved the third floor of the house. There was an entire three-bedroom apartment up there now. And it was all theirs. It was formerly the attic Grandmom Faya told me about when I was a little girl. The very place where her wicked grandmdother, and her sisters practiced their dark magic during the night.
All of the bedrooms in the house were very roomy. Emma's bedroom was right next to mine. Also, we shared an adjoining bathroom. Grandmom Faya gave Malin the guest house next door to the property. He was excited about having a place of his own.....in a way. Then something very strange occurred.
Miss Miriam promptly claimed the downstairs bedroom. "It looks the same way it did a long time ago," she said with a smile. "I always loved this room." I was a little confused by her statement, but I made no comment about it. It was more than obvious Miss Miriam had lived in the house before. "I wonder when?" I thought.
We didn't know it at the time. But that bedroom was hers' and Grandmom Faya's when they were young girls. My grandmother made an all out effort to have the room re-done exactly the way it looked when they were young.
When Malin came home from school he asked me why I left early. He told me that after school Gary Shelley was looking for me. He told Malin he wanted to remind me he was coming over that night. I thought Gary was crazy or something. How could I forget that? I didn't need to be reminded about it.
"So," said Malin grinning, "you're going to start seeing Gary Shelley, huh, Ty?" "I don't know," I replied casually, as if I didn't care one way or the other. Malin was still grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Well," he said, "he deserves a nice girl like you, Ty, for a change. I like Gary."
Around six thirty that evening Josie had dinner on the table for us. For once the whole family sat down together at the kitchen table to eat. My grandmother was tickled pink. She tried for so long to get all of us there at the same time for dinner, and couldn't.
The food was delicious. We were busy passing plates of food to one another, and talking. Suddenly Grandmom Faya got an icy chill that shook her entire body. She stopped talking abruptly, and looked down the hallway toward the living room. Instinctively, the rest of us stopped talking, too, and stared at her. She appeared to be in a mysterious, trance-like state.
"G-grandmom, are you alright?" Emma asked her nervously. But Grandmom Faya didn't say anything. All she did was stare toward the living room. Just then a gust of wind violently blew open the big, front door startling everybody. We turned to see what was there. The room became so warm all of us began to sweat. The pungent odor of a sweet perfume filled the air. Josie and Emma began to get up from the table. "No!" cried Grandmom Faya. They sat back down.
"I'll go shut the door," said Nicholas. "Stop!" cried Grandmom Faya, and everyone froze. "Don't go near the door. Just stay right where you are." Her tone of voice filled us with fear. We realized something was getting ready to happen. She closed her eyes as if to be the harbinger of someone only she could see who had entered the house.
"What do you want?" she asked the unseen visitor. Several seconds passed before my grandmother spoke again. "We're all here now, and we are going to stay," she assured someone fervently. "You are welcome here, too. You don't have to leave because we welcome you." As everyone watched my grandmother we became more, and more fearful. We knew someone only she could see, and hear was there with us. The aroma of perfume was overwhelming.
"Yes," said Grandmom Faya, nodding her head to some information only she could hear. "We know that." After a few minutes passed we distinctly heard the front door close quietly. Whoever, or whatever had been there with us left the house. The room became normal again, and the smell of perfume was gone as my grandmother opened her eyes. She looked at everyone of us sitting around the table. All eyes were on her.
"Teresa is here with us," she told us quietly. "But don't worry. She is a good spirit who would never harm any one of us. She is here only to protect her children, that's all. We need not fear her." In spite of her words we were all very frightened. She smiled at us and said, "Have no fear." "My goodness!" exclaimed Miss Miriam. "Teresa is here, Faya, in this house?!" "W-who in the world is Teresa?" Josie asked frightfully, before my grandmother could answer Miss Miriam. Grandmom Faya and Miss Miriam turned, and stared at Josie intently for a moment.
Josie's mouth fell wide open in shock. "You can't mean......," she began. But my grandmother cut her off. "Yes," she answered Josie. "But where are her children, Faya?" she asked my grandmother. Grandmom Faya hesitated for a moment. Then she turned and looked at Nicholas, Malin, and Emma. "You three are her children," she said with quietude. "And so was Andrew, Jr." "What?!" they cried in unison surprised. "We don't even know anybody named Teresa," said Nicholas, as Linda gently reached for his hand.
"I know you don't," replied Grandmom Faya. "You were too young to remember her. But evidently she has watched over all of you these past years." "You said we three, Grandmom," Emma finally spoke. "What about Tyla?" "What about her?" asked my grandmother. "You didn't include Tyla, Grandmom," said Malin curiously. "Why?" Several seconds passed in reticence before my grandmother said sweetly, "Because Tyla is not her child." All of our mouths opened in shock, and surprise just as Josie's had. "I don't understand," said Emma, with confusion all over her face.
Up to that point I hadn't said anything. Sensing that something extraordinary was about to be revealed to us. Suddenly I began to recall all of the things Karen told me about my family. And I remembered the dream I had about Andrew, Jr. At that moment I realized what Grandmom Faya as well as Miss Miriam were about to tell us.
"Tyla had a different mother than the three of you, and Andrew, Jr. did," began my grandmother. "But you all have the same father. Tyla's mother is dead also. I've wanted to tell you children a lot of things about this family for a very long time. You are adults now. So it's as good a time as any to tell you the truth. Right, Miriam?" Grandmom Faya turned to face Miss Miriam, who nodded her head in agreement with her.
There are many things Faya, and I need to tell you children," began Miss Miriam innocuously. "Linda is family now and Josie is, too, in a way since she'll be here with us." "I remember it all now," said Josie numbly, and still in shock. "There was a lot of trouble here in this house years ago. Your grandmother found out Andrew was married, and had a family. He was secretly married to Teresa Boleyn for years. Am I right?" Grandmom Faya and Miss Miriam nodded their heads.
"She couldn't stand the thought of anybody being happy, because she was so miserable and unhappy," added Miss Miriam. "What about Tyla's mother, Grandmom?" asked Malin. "Who was she?" My grandmother looked at me and smiled. "She was my older sister, Marie," she said. For the first time I joined in the conversation.
"Marie?!" I cried in horror. "That's the name Andrew, Jr. called in my dream about him. He said she was very wicked, and she was following me. Also, he told me she was angry with somebody. It was somebody she was afraid of when she was alive." "Why didn't you ever tell me about that dream, Tyla?" asked Grandmom Faya. "I don't know, Grandmom," I replied. "I guess I just forgot about it until now. I was going to tell Emma, but I never did."
"Well," began my grandmother looking at me. "Marie was angry with a man by the name of, Roy Oberon, because she thought he loved her. He was a very handsome but wicked, young man, and he had supernatural powers. She thought he was going to marry her. But while he was staying here in this house as a guest he fell in love with Miriam." She sighed ponderously. Then gazed off into the distance as if she was collecting her thoughts. "You may as well know this, too," she continued. "Miriam is my sister."
Everyone at the table was stunned, except Emma and I, because we already knew that. We'd heard it on the day we eavesdropped on the two women's conversation. Grandmom Faya didn't notice we were the only ones at the table who didn't look surprised. As if on cue Emma, Nicholas, Malin and I looked at one another. We recalled the argument between our grandmother, and Mama many years before.
"Was Mama your sister, too?" asked Nicholas apathetically. "Yes, sweetheart," answered Miss Miriam. "She was." "So everything Karen told me about our family is true," I said out loud to myself. "That may well be, Tyla," replied Grandmom Faya. "But I would rather you heard the story from us. Okay?" "Okay," I said softly.
"Yes, Charon was our youngest sister," said Miss Miriam. "And she was forced by our terrible grandmother to raise you children as if you were hers' after your mother was found dead." "What happened to our mother and father?" Nicholas blurted out, without waiting to hear what she was going to say next.
"After your mother was found dead," continued Miss Miriam, as if she hadn't been interrupted, "and believed to have been murdered, your father committed suicide. He just couldn't take anymore. A lot of things happened in this house because of our grandmother, Ole Lucy, and Marie. He took a gun, and shot himself to death." "My, God!" cried Linda, who had been silent up to that point. "Someone murdered Teresa?!"
"Of course they did!" my grandmother said ardently, as if there was no doubt about it. "We just never found out who did it. But we always suspected Marie because she hated Teresa so much." "Yet," replied Miss Miriam, "as in the case of Andrew, Jr. a clear case of murder was ruled as a suicide. Ole Lucy had friends in high places like Charon did."
"But you told us Andrew, Jr. had an accident. Remember, Grandmom?" said Malin . "Yes," she replied nodding her head. "I did, and I do remember." "So now you're telling us he was murdered?" said Nicholas stunned. "Yes," she said. "He was murdered, and by Charon."
"I knew it! I knew it!" cried Nicholas incensed. He put his head down onto the kitchen table. As his body began to heave we knew he was crying. Empathetically, Linda rubbed his back gently trying to soothe him. My oldest brother's death affected Nicholas the hardest. For the first time we saw just how badly it hurt him. All of us sat there silently, absorbing all that was being told to us, when Miss Miriam continued the story. "I'm so sorry, son," replied Grandmom Faya speaking to Nicholas.
"Anyway," began Miss Miriam, "Marie seduced her own nephew, and got pregnant with Tyla, because she hated Teresa so much." "But why?" asked Emma. "Teresa had something she didn't have," Grandmom Faya joined in. "Teresa was happy! She had a man who adored her. Also, Marie and Ole Lucy couldn't control Teresa like they wanted to. But what fueled her hatred even more was because Ole Lucy took Tyla away from her, and gave her to Teresa and Andrew to raise. You see.... Ole Lucy had total control over Marie and Charon. She told them they were never to marry, or have children as long as she was alive."
"What?!" cried Linda. "Yes," added Miss Miriam. "Ole Lucy was just that hateful and wicked. Marie got pregnant by Andrew, and Ole Lucy wanted to kill her. Instead she took Tyla away from her as soon as she was born. Marie already hated Teresa and Andrew out of jealousy. But giving them her baby really gave her a reason to detest them both." "That was stupid," I said in disgust. "She should've hated Ole Lucy." Needless to say that name left an embittered taste in my mouth.
"Ole Lucy hopelessly destroyed everyone, and everything she came into contiguity with," said Grandmom Faya angrily. "Andrew waited for years before he came back to this house with his family. All he wanted was to be close to his mother whom he loved dearly. He didn't have to come back, but he chose to." Miss Miriam had tears in her eyes as my grandmother gently squeezed her hand. "It's okay, now, Miriam," she said comfortingly.
"Our mother was Ole Lucy's only child," my grandmother said. "And she hated our mother....her own daughter. She was so jealous of the loving relationship our mother had with her father, our grandfather and Ole Lucy's husband. Ole Lucy was so inexorably virulent she managed to destroy our parents, too."
Miss Miriam agreed with her. "She drove our father away," she said. "A little while after that he was found dead in the wooded area behind this house. Our mother was never the same again." "What kind of monster was that woman?" asked Linda horrified. Grandmom Faya chuckled softly. "You have no idea, Linda, honey," she said. Then she turned to Miss Miriam and said, "Why don't you continue from here, Miriam? I think it's time they heard it all, and from us. Don't you?"
Miss Miiram blew her nose softly, and wiped her eyes. Malin and Nicholas, who got himself together by then, figured out by that time it was Miss Miriam who was our true grandmother, and not Grandmom Faya. "Another thing that helped to destroy your father," added Miss Miriam, "was the truth about Faya, and I." "What was that?" asked Emma anxiously.
Miss Miriam hesitated for a moment. "Marie told him I was his true mother, and not Faya who raised him as her own," she told us. "I couldn't accept him as my child for a very long time, because of who his father was......Roy Oberon. He raped me, and I ended up getting pregnant. I let that hatred come between my son and I. I felt so ashamed. Your father was grown, and married when he found out the truth."
"We found out after he died he'd been told the truth by Marie," said Grandmom Faya. "She was only too happy to tell him you know. She did it just before she died. She was poisoned, too, like Teresa was." Miss Miriam began to sob softly, and all of us had tears in our eyes. "This is like some terrible nightmare," commented Emma, looking as distraught as I felt. "It's so incredible!"
No one said anything because each of us were lost in our own thoughts. However, the whole story was far from over. There was a lot more for the two women to tell us. It was a horror story from start to finish. It could be categorized as something Stygian, because it was so dark and gloomy.
We learned the true reason for our moving into that house. From what we were told I thought I understood why Grandmom Faya was so dead-set on moving back there. It held something for her, and for us as well. It was our future. That is, if things worked out as she wanted them to, or our demise if they didn't. Either way she felt we had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
I still didn't know if I agreed with my grandmother or not. But as I look back I can see her wonderful perspicacity, and prudence as well as appreciate it. She truly did know what she was doing just like Andrew, Jr. told me in my dream.
--------in all of this they never came out and told us what we all really were.......witches!!...........
Friday, January 6, 2012
Miss Cheyenne Mitchell 2011's Listorious - Supernatural Thrillers
I am very proud to win the grand prize from An Avid Readers Haven (www.anavidreadershaven.com) for a month-long, advertising campaign with my supernatural thriller "THE COVERING". "The Covering" is receiving great reviews and has been called "Excellent-Highly Recommended) by one of my avid fans and reviewers, Jen Goehl, who has been in the business for quite some time. There have never been any supernatural thrillers ever read, or written like "THE COVERING" and "SYROIA".
They are both original as well as packed with not only suspense, excitement, and mystery, but saturated with drama as well. I am looking forward to a great and prosperous year in 2012, and thank and praise my God for all of it. It is His great gifts of creativity and imagination that has placed writing into my veins like a burning fire, and I do mean "burning". As a Novelist I look forward to entertaining readers as well as holding them captivated with my work. Lots of love to all of my new fans out there, and a happy New Year. I have recently been contacted by the Women's Literacy Cafe, a group dedicated to promoting Authors and bringing readers and Authors together in one place. It is going to be a great ride!! Although my novels are far from Christian writings they are and always have been inspired by God Almighty Whom I can never thank enough. I leave it all to Him, because as He says, "without Me you can do nothing".
Monday, January 2, 2012
MISS CHEYENNE MITCHELL MEMBER OF 2011 LISTORIOUS
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