Curse Of Crossing Chapter 4

Curse of Crossing

Chapter 4

Elizabeth

I cannot believe what I’m seeing! I hold on to Ben’s hand and his arm as tight as I can. I do not know what he is seeing, but I am seeing almost a mirror image of myself. Only she is wearing a long, straight, grey, wool-looking skirt with a white, long sleeved blouse with a tall collar and a bow in front. She has on black stockings and boot like shoes. Her dark hair is pinned up in an intricate chignon at the base of her head. Her whole appearance reminds me of pictures I have seen of people from around the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. She looks very regal and she is looking right at me like she knows me. The biggest problem that I have right now, I can see through her! She is not actually walking on the ground. It looks as if she is floating above it.

By the way Ben is acting; he is seeing something very similar. We are both staring at the wall with the shelves. My see through twin walks over toward the wall. She stands there for a moment, still looking at me, as something clicks behind the shelves. The shelves start to swing out slightly revealing a hidden room in the cellar. Then the lady smiles, holds up her hand in a small wave, turns and walks into the hidden room. The shelf wall, door, or whatever it is closes behind her.

I stand there for a moment totally dumbfounded. I don’t know what to say or how to react. Ben must be feeling the same thing because when I look at him, he is staring blankly at the shelf wall with his mouth slightly open.

“Did you just see what I saw?” I finally croak out as I’m tapping Ben on the arm over and over.

“Depends on what you saw.” He finally blinks and looks down at me.

“I saw a woman that looked exactly like me, but she was wearing clothes from the early 1900’s. I could see through her, she floated as she moved, then there was a clicking sound, the wall swung out, and she just disappeared into a room behind that shelf.” I point a very shaky hand toward the shelf wall.

“Okay, not exactly what I saw, but close. I saw a man that I could see through too. He was wearing a three-piece wool suit, with a black tie. He looked just like me except for the clothes. He walked over to the shelf, took that little broom off of the shelf, dusted one of the squares on the floor, just in front of the shelf, pull up the panel, pull something inside of it, then the click, and he walked through the opening after the shelf wall swung out.”

We both stand there and stare at each other with very wide eyes and complete ‘holy crap’ looks on our faces.

“Should we follow them?” Oh how I hope and pray he says no.

“I will do anything to find my parents. I’m still not sure what I really saw.” He doesn’t sound very convinced though. “I’m up for it you are.”

“Yeah, sure.” I wonder if my voice sounded as shaky to him as it did to me just now.

“Okay, we’ll flip the latch to open the wall, but we’ll pull something into the opening to keep it from closing. If anything feels the least little bit weird, we’ll get out of there immediately.”

“Deal.” I hold on to his hand a little bit tighter. Now I’ve got a white knuckle grip on him.

Together we walk toward the shelf. Ben stoops down in front of it and I stoop down with him.

“Wait, are you sure about this?”

“It’s the only lead we have right now. Maybe we both saw what we did for a reason.”

“Okay, go ahead.” I push the button on the small LED light on my key chain and shine it over toward the shelf. Ben just looks at me and smiles.

I watch as Ben reaches down to a pull up the panel in the floor. He looks down into the panel, reaches in and feels around for a moment, then pulls on something. I hear that same click as before, and the wall swings out wide.

Ben stands up and looks down at me. He tries to smile a reassuring smile but even as cute as he is, the reassurance stuff is not working. He lets go of my hand and pulls a heavy crate over to the opening so we can hold the door open.

“Okay, let’s do this.” He says as he motions for me to step into the room.

“Yeah, let’s do this.” I grab hold of his hand again and step into the room. Ben pulls the crate with us until it sets firmly in the opening. I shine my little light around.

The room is about the same size as the other part of the cellar that we just came from. There is a huge, old, cherry dining table in there. It takes up almost the entire length of the room. There are lots of papers piled upon it and a large, silver candelabrum with three white candles sitting right in the middle of it.

Ben lets go of my hand as he walks further into the room and around the table.

“Sweet!” He shouts from across the room.

“What’s sweet?”

“I found a box of matches. Hang on.” I hear him strike a match and see a little flame jump to life in his hands. He holds the match over to the candles and lights each one of them. “Now, that’s a little better.”

The room glows a brilliant yellow from the flickering candles, but we can see a little better now. I shove my keys into my pocket. Can’t lose those. Ben and I start to rummage around through the papers on the table.

“Wright family tree?” Ben says as he holds up a large piece of paper that looks to me like an old brown paper bag.

“Wright family? Could that be my Wright family?” I move around to stand beside of Ben and look at the paper he’s holding. Some of the names look familiar to me, then I spot my grandmother’s name. “That’s my dad’s mom, Evangeline.” I tell him pointing at her name.

“Why would your family’s family tree be in a hidden room of the cellar of a house that is supposed to be owned by my family?”

“I have no idea.” I tell him as I continue to look around at some of the other papers on the table. “Look there’s more. Looks like letters addressed to a Miss Josephine Wright. I can’t tell who they’re from though.” Ben moves around to look over my shoulder.

As we are standing there looking through the papers I find more letters to Josephine. There is also a leather bound book that looks to be a journal that was Josephine’s as well. The longer I stay here and look at all of these things though, the more I feel a deep, deep sense of dread come upon me.

“Um, Ben, I’ve got a bad feeling about staying here any longer. Can we just take all of these papers back up stairs and get out of this creepiness?”

“I was just thinking the exact same thing.” Ben grins slightly as he starts gathering up some of the papers.

I work quickly and grab as much as I can. We walk back out of the hidden room, pull the crate out of the way, and watch as the wall slides shut again. We walk up the stairs into the hallway and then out into the sitting room we came through first. I lay all the papers I am carrying down on the sofa, and even though I am wearing a sweater, I cross my arms over and start rubbing my upper arms with my hands.

Ben lays his arm load of papers down on the sofa beside mine. He comes around in front of me and places his hands on my arms and starts rubbing them too. “Look, I want to stay here and look around longer. I know this place is freaking you out a little bit, so why don’t you take me back to my car. I’ll come back here and do some more digging around. And you can take all of those papers we found back to your mom’s office. That way you can dig through them where it’s not so weird.”

“Ben I don’t like the thoughts of you being here alone. We already know the place is haunted. We are both getting weird vibes from just being here. What if something happens while you’re here alone?”

He pulls his cell phone out of his back pocket, waves it in front of me, and smiles. “I have this. I’ll be ok. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

I wish I could be as optimistic as he seems to be, but I have a funny feeling about letting him come back here alone. Of course, I have an even funnier feeling about staying here any longer myself. And the funny is not the funny ha-ha kind either. Reluctantly I nod my head at him. We gather up all of the papers that we found in the cellar, put them in the trunk of my car, and head back into town. I pull up in front of my mom’s office, right behind Ben’s car.

“Be careful, ok?” I plead with him. “If you need anything, call me. I will either be here or at my dad’s. Since most of the paperwork is from his family, I may take it to him to see if he can make any sense of it. Either way, I’ll have my cell with me and can be to you in just a couple of minutes.”

“I’ll be fine. You’ll see.” Ben smiles as he gets out of my car. He turns around just before he closes the door. “I’ll call if I find anything.” I smile back at him as he closes the door and walks to his car.

He gets in, makes a U-turn and drives back in the direction that we just came from. As he passes me he waves. I wave back and try to muster a little grin. As I watch his car go out of sight, I can’t help but wonder why I have this sinking feeling like I’m never going to see him again.

Curse of Crossing Chapter 3

Curse of Crossing

Chapter 3

Ben

This is unreal!! How can my family own a town and my dad and I not know it? Or did dad know and not say anything to me? There are way too many questions in my head right now. I normally like doing things on my own like I have for the last year, but I like Lizzy. She seems to calm me with one touch. Not sure how she does that. She’s nice to look at too. I’ve got to get my head on straight!

“Here we are Ben.”

“Why did we drive if it was just down the street?” I furrow my brows in a bit of confusion.

Lizzy is on a side street with the car still in drive. “Oh, we are not there yet.” She giggles a little, “Besides, I just like driving my new car. My dad just bought it for my graduation present. It’s just perfect for me!” She shrugs her shoulders and pulls into a very long driveway.

There are oaks lining the gravel drive. I can’t see the house yet, but the land is really nice.

“It’s beautiful here during the fall. These old red oaks turn orange and red. I would love to live in this old house. I’ve had this weird connection to it ever since I first visited. It’s been a while since I have been here, but it still feels all warm and cozy today.” Lizzy puts her window all the way down and takes a deep breath.

“It does feel really comfortable here. Weird, in the diner I got this feeling I was at home here.” I put down my window and take a deep breath in.

“Well, according to what I have found so far, you are home Ben. Ya know, I’ve heard of people walking into their old ancestral homes and knowing exactly where everything is and even felt like they had lived there before. Maybe you will get that feeling and find some answers.”

“Mmmm, maybe.” I just agreed, but really don’t believe in that kind of stuff.

“Skeptic!” She just called me out.

I look over and smile at her. She gives me a wink and then looks ahead to a very large black iron gate. It’s linked to a brick four foot wall surrounding a very large red brick house. It’s huge!

The car stops and I look over in shock at Lizzy. “So apparently my ancestors had money?”

“You my friend are from some really old money. I have no idea where it came from, but rumors were your family were traders back in the day.” She puts the car in park, turns it off, and gets out.

I follow her lead and get out too. She goes over to the gate, takes out a key from her purse, but it’s not a regular key. It looks like a very old key; long, brass, tree catches at the squared end. It’s like one of those keys to a secret garden or something from a movie. Still can’t believe this is happening to me. Other than my parents disappearing I lived a totally normal life. Now it’s been turned upside down.

She unlocks the gate, pushes it open, and motions me in. Guess it’s time to see if that voodoo magic works for me after I enter the house. Yeah right! As I enter the gate I look up to see about three stories of windows and red brick. There are two chimneys sticking out of the top along with a white fence running along the top. I’m assuming there is an entrance to the roof. That’s pretty cool. The house looks squared with a porch that wraps all the way around. It doesn’t look over one hundred and fifty years old. Maybe that old couple did some work to it.

We get to the front steps and walk up on the front porch. It feels pretty sturdy. Lizzy opens a large six panel wooden door that has two long windows on both sides of it. When we enter I feel this rush of air. It feels like it forces its way right through my entire body; I lose my breath for a short time.

I take a deep inhale. It smells like pipe tobacco. “Lizzy, did the old man smoke a pipe?”

“Well that would be a better smell. All I’m getting is a musty smell.” She pinches her nose. “I don’t think I ever saw him with a pipe while he was out around town.”

“Hmph, that’s strange.” I look over at her and she is wiggling her eyebrows. “No, I do not have that déjà vu feeling right now.” I roll my eyes and look around.

There is an open foyer with wood steps going up to the second floor. To the left is a room so I walk in it. There is a lot of old furniture and looks like it was used as a formal living room or what would have been a sitting room. There are a lot of antiques in this room including an old piano. There’s another opening on the other side of the room so I walk through and I feel Lizzy behind me. We walk into a hallway where there is a door in front of us and one at the end of the hall. It’s dark and I don’t see a light to the far door, but I feel this need to go to it.

I turn around to Lizzy, “You can stay here if you would like while I go see what’s on the other side of that door.” I point to the far door.

“Not a chance! I want to see everything.” She grabs onto my shirt as I start walking down into the darkness.

I open the door to find a wooden staircase that leads down into a basement or old cellar. When I look up there is a string hanging in front of me. I pull and finally a light. The stairs do not look sturdy. Lizzy pushes me a little and grabs my hand as I step onto the first step. It creeks, but feels like it will hold so I continue down. All of the stairs creek as we walk down. When we get to the bottom it’s a dirt floor so it must have been an old cellar. I see another string and pull so we have more light. When I look around there are a lot of old shelves. The shelves have old mason jars full of what were probably once fruit and vegetables. I see old metal pails, milk canisters, and decaying wood tables. I doubt there will be anything down here so I turn to start my way back upstairs. I put my foot on the first step and a cold chill goes through me.

“What was that?” Lizzy squeezes my hand.

I step down and turn to look at her, “Did you feel the cold air too?” She nods yes and her eyes are wide staring at me. “Lizzy, it’s an old cellar. I’m sure it was just a draft. Come on, we’ll go back up.” We both feel the chill again as my foot hits the first step again.

I take my foot off of the step and my body warms. Okay this is getting creepy now. I close my eyes and take another deep breath to regain some composure and sanity. That’s when the crazy starts. I immediately smell pipe tobacco and when I open my eyes I see a man that looks just like me, but a little older. He walks down the stairs and goes thru me. I follow where he goes with Lizzy’s hand still in mine. Her touch is what is keeping me sane right now.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” I whisper to her afraid I will disturb the man or ghost or whatever I’m seeing.

She gets really close to me and grabs onto my bicep with her other hand. “If you are seeing a lady that looks just like me then, yes.”

“No, I’m seeing a man that looks just like me.” We look at each other at the same time.

Lizzy and I look back at our images. I see the man walk over to the far side of the cellar, take a little broom from one of the shelves, squat down, and dust off a little piece of the floor right beside the bottom shelf. He lifts up a small wooden panel under all of the dirt, reaches in and pulls up some kind of lever. The wall with the shelves and jars beside the man opens up. I hear Lizzy gasp. The man disappears behind the wall and judging by Lizzy’s reaction, so does the woman!

Curse of Crossing Chapter 2

Curse of Crossing

Chapter 2

Elizabeth

Well crap! I do tend to open my mouth before I think about what I say and how I say it. Now I have scared poor Ben half to death. All he is doing is staring out into space.

“Ben!” I reach out and touch his arm. “Ben, are you okay?” I do not know how many times I say his name or ask if he is okay before slowly his eyes seem to focus again and come to rest on me.

“How could my great, grandfather have founded a town and I not know anything about it?” He asks with almost a helpless tone to his voice.

“I don’t know Ben. There are all sorts of strange things that have happened where Crossing is concerned.” There are many strange things that no one can explain and for now, I think I will keep all of that information to myself. I do not want to risk frightening him even more.

Finally he looks at me like he’s here with me. “Well you would think that something as significant as a family descendent founding a town would have come up in talks of family history.”

I do not know what to say to that. Thankfully, the waitress chooses that moment to come over and take our orders. I order a burger with fries and a chocolate shake for both of us. Ben just sits there and nods at the waitress, not saying a thing.

I have lived in Medford all of my life. I have never even been out of Massachusetts. When my mother took the job as a realtor, I started helping her with deed searches and things of this nature. I have learned a lot about Medford since then. It seems that while Medford has been busy incorporating various parts of Crossing, the parts of the old town that were once owned by or are still owned by the Crossing family remain untouched by outsiders and by Medford. Mother told me when she first went to see the house where Ben’s parent’s car was found that something felt very off. Almost like she was being watched the whole time she was there. Mother is quite the scaredy-cat and she always thinks that someone is watching her. This is such a small, quiet town. Nothing big ever happens here, so why in the world would anyone follow my mother around? Besides, the Johnson’s that had lived there until they died in that terrible car crash just over a year ago never really had much to do with anyone in town. They kept to themselves and only came in to get groceries. It wasn’t until the bank laid claim to the Crossing house that any of us knew that they owed money to the bank.

Ben is still not talking. I cannot begin to imagine all the questions and doubts that he has going through his mind. I do not know what I would do if my mother went missing and all I had left were thousands of questions. The only thing I do know is I am determined to help him find out where his parents are. There was some sort of instant recognition with him the moment I saw him. It is like I have known him all of my life but I know I’ve never seen him before. Anyway, it is time that I start asking some questions to help Ben get to the bottom of this situation.

“So, you said you never knew anything about your great grandfather Benjamin Eugene Crossing. What do you know of your father’s family?”

“Well, my father said he didn’t know much about his father’s side of the family. He said that his father died just before he was born.”

“Do you know where he was born?”

“Yes, my father was born in New York City. I do not know where his father was born. Why is this important?”

“You would be surprised what you can find on the internet. I have been doing research on properties that my mother lists. I have not had a chance to do much on your father’s property, but maybe that is somewhere for us to start.”

“Look, Elizabeth…”

“Please, call me Lizzy.” I reach across the table again and touch his hand. I have never been this forward with a boy before. There is something drawing me to him and it is the strangest feeling. And I have never told a boy to call me Lizzy before. That is the name my father gave me when I was small.

“Lizzy,” his smile is dazzling. “I appreciate all the information that you’ve given me so far, but really, if you can just point me in the direction of the house and then tell me where the impound yard is so I can see my parent’s car, I would really like to be on my way.”

The waitress returns with our lunch. She sets our plates down and turns quickly.

“Not a chance Ben.” I tell him the second the waitress is out of hearing range. “There is something going on here, and I want to help you get to the bottom of it. Besides, since I am the one who knows where to do all of the digging for all things historical about this town, I am your best shot at finding out all we can about the property and your family history.”

Ben does not say anything right away. We both sit in silence as we eat our lunch. The burgers here are great, but the chocolate shakes are better. I can tell that Ben is deep in thought as we both finish with our lunch.

“Come on.” I tell Ben as I stand up. “We can either go to my mom’s office and start on that research or I can take you straight to the house? Which one will it be Mr. Crossing?” When I say his name, the whole diner goes silent. Everyone stops eating with forks or burgers halfway to their mouth and just stare at me and Ben. What the heck is this about?

“Let’s just get out of here first.” He says as he lays money down on the table for our bill and walks quickly out the door. I follow as fast as I can. I can hear talking and noise start up again in the diner as I get closer to the door and then just before it closes.

“I have no idea what that was about.” I tell Ben when we both reach the street again.

“I think I should go to the house Lizzy. Something bad is going on here, I can feel it. You should stay here.”

“Can’t. Come on, my car is parked behind mom’s office. We will take it out there.” I just start walking. Thankfully Ben follows. To the Crossing house it is then.

Curse of Crossing Chapter 1

Curse of Crossing

Chapter 1

Ben

When I arrive in town I expect to see my parents at the local diner having coffee or at the grocery store buying groceries. I find neither. A year ago my parents went missing with out a trace. I was seventeen living my summer life like any other teenager. Woke up early to go to work at my dad’s hardware store, hung out with friends, and dated a couple of girls. It was a great normal summer before my last year of high school. My senior year was supposed to be the best year! Then, the day before I started school was the day my parents were to return home from their vacation in New York. They never returned. I filed a missing persons report and waited day after day for news. No news came. I hired a private investigator, but he found very little after they checked out of their hotel in New York. My days were filled with school where I walked around in a stupor and my evenings became filled with phone calls to everyone from our home in Ohio all the way up to New York. I called everyone in my mom’s address book, but no one had heard from them.

I’ve celebrated my eighteenth birthday and yesterday I graduated all with out the two most important people in my life. While at my graduation party yesterday I received a call on my cell phone. It was a realtor from a small town in Massachusetts telling me she found my parent’s car at the house she is trying to sell. This realtor just received the contract on the house from a bank that repossessed it. She asked why my parent’s car would be there, but I have no answers for her, just as she had no answers for me like where are my parents. Now I find myself in this tiny town just outside of Medford, MA where my mom went to college. Why would they come here? As I drive through town there are some old houses, a diner, one grocery store, and a very small school. This had to be a town they were driving through to go see some of mom’s college friends that still live in Medford. So how did their car end up here?

 I pull up in front of the realtor’s office on Main St. It’s just a row of old brick buildings that look like they were once town homes. There are steps leading up to each door and there are thankfully numbers on each door. They all look the same with red brick and white six panel doors. The realtor has her name on a small plaque to the right side of the door, Rose Walker Realty. She introduced herself as Mrs. Walker on the phone so I’m guessing she is the only one working here and from the looks of it, the only realtor needed. There doesn’t look to be too many houses to sell. I try to open the door, but it’s locked. I notice a doorbell to the right just under the plaque so I give it a ring. I wait for a couple of minutes, but no one answers. Our appointment is for three p.m. and I’m a few minutes early so I sit on the front stoop to wait.

While checking my messages on my cell I hear the clacking of shoes. I look up to see a young girl running toward me.

“I’m so sorry! I’m running late!” She is out of breath when she reaches me.

I stand to greet her. “It’s alright I was here a bit early. Are you Mrs. Walker?”

She smiles and extends her hand, “No I’m her daughter. She is in a meeting so she asked me to come and talk with you.” We shake hands and there is a little spark.

Her smile is beautiful along with her long dark brown hair and very curvy body. There’s something about her. It’s like we have met before. She is looking at me confused and I realize I am still holding her hand and haven’t spoken in a few seconds.

“I’m sorry. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ben. Have we met somewhere before?”

She laughs, “I was just about to ask you the same thing. I don’t think we have though.” She releases her hand from mine.

“Do you have a name or would you like me to call you Ms. Walker?”

“Oh! No, my mom is remarried. I’m Elizabeth Wright.” She blushes a little and seems nervous now. “Um, are you hungry? The diner is actually really good. We can talk over a burger?”

“I could go for a burger.” She starts walking and I follow.

We have a very short walk to the diner. When we walk in it’s like a time warp back to the fifties. All of the seats are red vinyl with silver trim like the old diners or the ones you see in older movies. There’s even a jukebox at the end of the long front counter. The stools at the counter look like originals. This place was made to look retro or it’s been kept in immaculate condition.

I feel a nudge on my arm. “It’s like being taken back in time isn’t it?”

I nod yes as she leads us to the right, to a front booth by a large window. There’s not much to see, but it’s a nice old town. I oddly feel at home here.

After we sit and the waitress comes over to give us our menu I start peppering Elizabeth with questions. “Where are we? Where is my parent’s car? Has anyone located my parents?” She puts her hand on my hand that is resting on top of the table. I take a deep breath and calm.

She pulls her hand back, “Your parent’s car is at the impound lot being searched for clues as to what happened to them. They have not been located. I wish I had more information for you as far as your parents. The only thing I can tell you is, my mom thinks that house where your parent’s car was found belongs to your father.”

I laugh, “That’s not possible. I have never been to this town before and we didn’t have family here. He’s never even lived here. My mom went to college in Medford and she met my dad while in New York. Your mom must have him confused with some one else.” I lean back in my booth seat and cross my arms over my chest.

This is crazy!

Elizabeth leans back and folds her hands in her lap. “That may be Ben, but do you even know where you are?”

I look at her with furrowed brows in confusion. “Your mom’s business address is Medford, but no I have no idea what this little town is.”

“Yes, some of this town was taken over by Medford, but not this part. This part and where the house sits are in the town of Crossing. This town was formed in the mid 1800’s by Benjamin Eugene Crossing”

I sit up straight and uncross my arms. “That can’t be! I’m Benjamin Eugene Crossing the fourth!”