The Haunting Of Hastings House

Chapter 4

By Brynn Morgan
Copyright © 2023 by – Brynn Morgan – All Rights Reserved.It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document electronically or in print. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited.

Chapter 4

Emily woke up early the following day to birds singing outside her window. She saw the first signs of dawn coming through the bay window, pulled the comforter closer to her chin, and closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the pain to surface again as it did every morning.

Each morning, it started the same for Emily. She awoke with a blank mind, but gradually, it all flooded back to her like a broken dam in her subconscious. Her memories and emotions hit her like a battering ram of sorrow, pain, and longing that was fresh and new every time, unrelenting in its attack on her psyche.

She threw back the covers from her body and exited the bed. Her feet landed on the floor, and she shivered. It was so cold in the room. Emily longed for nothing more than a hot shower. She went to the bathroom, looked at her reflection in the mirror above the sink, and noticed the prominent black shadows under her eyes and the weary look of sorrow on her face. Emily was only 25 but looked 35 with what life had delivered.

She leaned over and turned on the shower and felt the stinging hot spray turn much more comfortable after some adjusting of the handle.

Emily stripped out of her clothes, got a towel out of her bag and some fresh clothes out of her suitcase, and piled her red hair on top of her head in a loose knot. She entered the large, spacious, tiled shower and let the water sluice down her slender body to the shower floor. Emily grabbed a bar of sweet-smelling soap from the tray in the shower, lathered her body, and then rinsed it off.

Once her morning ritual was complete, she dressed in fitted jeans and a white V-neck t-shirt that hugged her tiny waist and slipped into a pair of white canvas tennis shoes. It was time to start her first day.

Emily opened the door to her room and stepped out into the chilly hallway off from the kitchen. The morning sunlight lit up the kitchen, casting a soft glow on the copper fixtures and white marble counters, and she could see the gardens and hills beyond through the window above the large farmers' copper sink.

The southern sky was beautiful in muted shades of peach, yellow, and turquoise blue.

An intense need for coffee hit her, Emily looked around for a coffee maker but did not find one. Damn, she thought to herself. I need that. She would have to make a trip to the store and pick up a few things to survive here, and a coffee pot would be at the very top of that list and some food, Emily thought as she scanned the inside of the massive stainless-steel fridge and many cabinets. They were both bare. Yep! A trip to the store was most definitely in order.

Emily made a concise list on her phone of things to pick up, and then she went to the front of the house and opened all the doors downstairs to air out the spaces and let some freshness in.

Emily gazed at the large rooms, like the library, sitting room, and massive office, and could not help but be amazed by their immense beauty.

Emily walked out of the library and looked up the steps. Her eyes wandered to the railing again, but there was nothing there, only a stream of sunlight caressing the wood.

Emily, you are so silly.

She chuckled to herself and walked up the steps to the second floor. The landing was beautiful, with large oriental rugs covering the well-polished wood floors.

The head of the household liked clocks in the past , because they were everywhere, and as the clock struck 8 o'clock, they all began to chime. There had to have been at least thirty chiming clocks. Emily shook her head and turned to walk down the hallway to open the doors to the suites.

The sun lit the hallway to the left from the large windows facing the front of the home from the east. Emily turned to the right hallway; it was dark, and not one ounce of sunlight lit up the dark corridor. She decided to go ahead and let those rooms air out first. Get the creepy part out of the way.

Emily turned the flashlight on her phone and pointed it down the hallway. She went to the first large door and opened it up. The inside of the room was bright and sunny, and the décor was a light spring green. It was lovely with a high canopied bed, green rugs, and touches of green and yellow everywhere her eyes landed—the bedding, the drapes, etc.

One room down, she whispered to herself. Emily explored a pink room, a blue one, a yellow one, and a red one that was too much for her taste. It was ostentatious in decor. Then, there was the white space before she reached the last chamber. It was only accessible through three steps of stairs. When she went to open it, however, the door would not budge - Someone had locked it from the inside. How strange!
Emily dismissed it for a moment. She would have to get in there eventually, though.

Emily turned to walk away and heard what sounded like a slight knock on the door from the inside. She turned back quickly, grabbed the knob, and turned, but it would not.

Emily stepped back and glanced over her shoulder. The sight of the door made her sick, as it had the previous day. She felt weak and on the verge of throwing up. Even though there was no lock on the door, it would not budge. It would have taken a lot of effort to open, more than Emily had to spare.

As she moved away from the door, the nausea started to subside. It was completely gone when she reached the middle of the landing. The bedrooms had light streaming in from their windows but not from the door at the end of the hallway. All that came from there was an oppressive force that frightened Emily. She toed it back downstairs quickly. Once in the foyer, she heard the clock strike 9 o'clock, and the chime of the bells echoed loudly throughout the house.

Emily grabbed her wallet and keys and left the house. She got in her car and drove away. Emily needed some distance. She glanced through the rearview mirror, and the place looked so still and lifeless. The Weeping Willow trees surrounding the mansion even seemed to sag with sadness. The house was not still and quiet, though. Something was wrong, and Emily knew it all surfaced from that dark room at the end of the hallway. The door would not open. Someone did not want that door to open, and they fixed it so it would never open again.