“How is that my problem?” The words came out a bit snippier than I’d intended as I held my phone between my cheek and shoulder so I could hop into a pair of yoga pants, cringing at the way they stuck to my still damp legs.
There was a beat of stunned silence on the other end. After the stink I’d put up the last time I’d been contacted, Ashley was probably cursing her shit ass luck at having to be the one to break the news to me in the first place.
“Your aunt had no children of her own and recently divorced her third husband a few years back. She had a prenup in place, therefore her estate and all of her financial and liquid assets have been placed into your name. We will need you to come down to the office as soon as you can to go over all of the necessary paperwork.”
I blinked at my torn wallpaper several times as her words sunk in. Somewhere in the back of my head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like my own cackled. It laughed at me, making me itch to gouge the nearest object into my ears just to make it stop.
Ashley was still speaking, her words a jumbled mess of incoherent rambling until I tuned back in. “We will leave the decision up to you ultimately, but given the state of the property…”
“Hold on,” I said, shaking my head to clear away the mocking laughter. “What are you talking about? What property?”
She sounded irritated as she answered. “The Cooper estate. It’s been sitting empty since your aunt took over its care. There hasn’t been a groundskeeper on staff in years, but I’m afraid even one man just isn’t enough to manage such a large property, and unfortunately, it might have to be condemned soon.”
My ears were ringing, and chills raced up my spine, gripping my throat like icy fingers that wanted to choke the life out of me. The sound of my sister’s screams were back.
The Cooper estate—my family’s home since before I was born, since before my father’s father was born. I could see it in my mind’s eye clearly, every hallway of the fifteen-room mansion, every painting on the walls, every creaking floorboard. I could smell the dusty books from my mother’s library and the drying paint in my dad’s art studio.
I tried not to think about that fucking house, and yet it followed me. No matter how far or how fast I ran, it would always be right there, living, breathing, and waiting for me to come back to it.
What did that say about me? Was I really that much of a coward? Peter was dead, long dead, and I was safe, right? So why did the thought of returning to that house have my blood running cold?
“Miss Cooper, I do have to stress that if you do not claim the property, it will revert back to the state…” The words just kept coming, drowned out by the laughter erupting inside of my head.
So many voices…
So many fucking voices…
Iris
Ihadn’t been to the deep South in over a decade—so long that I’d almost forgotten how fucking hot it was. Or maybe I was just sweating because I was nursing a massive hangover. Regret wasn’t a strong enough word for how I felt about chugging two bottles of wine before napping for eight straight hours.
Here I was, though, twenty-four hours later, standing in front of a set of wrought iron gates that I never wanted to see again, holding a key in my hands as my car idled next to me. Fog rolled over the mossy driveway that used to be cleanly paved, and a heavy chain kept the two sides of the gate locked closed.
I looked back at my car as I approached the gate, wondering if I should say fuck it and drive away, leaving this fucking house and all of its memories behind me forever.
Hadn’t I already done that, though?
It had been ten years—ten whole years since I’d stepped foot on this overgrown, swampy property. I could see the house up ahead, shrouded by moss covered cypress trees. It was one of those old plantation houses in the deep South that should have been demolished years ago.
My family had only owned it since the 1930’s, but its history was…not something my parents had been proud of after taking it over. They’d tried their hardest to make up for the atrocities that the previous owners had been a part of, but all the kindness and generosity in the world couldn’t erase the cold dread that slithered down my spine as I unlocked the chain and let it drop to the ground. This place had a history for sure, and plenty of that history was…well, it was evil, as was most of America’s old South.
A heavy wind rustled the trees, blowing leaves every which way, as if unlocking that gate had breathed new life into a dying monster.
Getting back into my car, I slowly drove up the long driveway that curved into a roundabout around a stone statue of an angel weeping into her palms with her wings spread out wide behind her. That fountain used to flow freely, and my sister and I would toss pennies into it for wishes. The stone was cracked and chipped now, the fountain overflowing with weeds and sticks, and the tip of her right wing was missing completely.
The house wasn’t in much better shape. It was still massive and opulent, but you could tell no one had been taking care of it for a long time now. The four white columns that spanned the front of the house were dirty and had vines creeping up around them, spilling onto the balconies overhead.
I glanced at the passenger seat, eyeing the red plastic containers I’d brought with me, wondering if I should just get this over with instead of wasting my time poking around the source of all of my nightmares. The smell of gasoline filled the car, and I was starting to get queasy. I had three more cans in the trunk, and I planned to soak this entire house with them and light it all on fire, preferably with my body still inside it.
I was going to die in this place, just like my family did so many years ago. I was going to rest where they took their last breaths, and then I’d join them…wherever they’d ended up.
But not today.
Today, I was going to be a big girl and face this house that haunted my every sleeping moment, the house I used endless substances to scrub from my brain, failing every time. It whispered to me, even now, as I swung open the double front doors, the hinges squeaking obnoxiously. Musty, hot air hit me in the face, a gust of it wafting my hair over my shoulders, as if the house itself was letting out a breath.
Softness swished around my ankles, and I smiled, though I knew it didn’t reach my eyes or my heart. I shook my head as my two naked cats brushed up against me, meowing loudly because they’d been cooped up in the car with me for hours. Kevin and Kyle were the only two bright spots I had left in my life, and I’d had no choice but to bring them with me. When I inevitably killed myself and this damn house, I would have to make sure to find them a good home.
“Go explore or something. I’ll feed you when I get shit settled,” I told Kyle, who blinked up at me with bright blue eyes. I made a shooing motion, and he and his brother took off in separate directions, their little paws rapping against the hardwood.