Chapter 10

Adelaide has trouble adapting to her new lifestyle.

"I don't want to hear that. Why can't I wear what I brought with me? In fact, where is anything I brought with me?" Adelaide yelled at Grimsbane.

The butler rolled his eyes as his arms were crossed in front of his chest. "Because you have to look like you are a business woman and somewhat like royalty. Your clothes did not meet this criterion. We all have a role to play in this mansion and our attire must reflect that role. For example, I am the butler so I wear a suit and dress shoes along with white gloves in your presence, Miss Way."

"Correction, my last name is supposed to be Barnhardt now. I am here in the mansion away from public eyes, so I don't understand why I cannot wear what I want for now. I also did not ask you to dress like that. You can wear whatever you are comfortable in."

"You will always be Miss Way to me. The changing of your last name is simply a technicality. We must always be prepared for company."

Adelaide rolled her eyes. "Whatever, fine, I do not feel like arguing anymore. Can I at least choose what I want to wear? I'm not a toddler, plus that dress is quite frightening."

"Alright, follow me." He began to silently walk out of the room with Adelaide in tow. Grimsbane led her to a full-sized room with clothes hanging off racks and an entire corner dedicated to shoes.

"Woah, this is definitely not what I was expecting," Adelaide muttered as she began to sift through the materials in search of a comfortable outfit. "Why in the world would she-"

Grimsbane interrupted, "Because she wanted you to be well prepared for all the responsibilities that comes along with the name."

Adelaide threw a plain white button up blouse over her forearm before moving to where the bottoms were located.

Her butler gently took it from her. "One of those responsibilities is to allow me to take care of you. Take advantage of me."

Adelaide couldn't help the smile spreading across her face as she shook her head. "That just didn't sound right." Her fingers grasped the stiff fabric of a black pencil skirt and pulled it off the rack, holding it up before placing it where the blouse was previously laying.

The butler again took it away from her.

She then grabbed a maroon tank top with lace lining the top of it.

He also took it. "Please, Miss Way, be a little more dependent."

Adelaide rolled her grey eyes. "I will try but I cannot magically change my ways. I need a bit of a transformation period in order to get everything in order," she snapped, snatching an underwear set from the metal holder.

The butler nodded as he held up a pair of inky leather pumps for her approval. “Alright.”

“Good. On another issue, I am not wearing those heels all day. I do not want to torture my feet. I honestly don’t feel like wearing any shoes so just leave them outside whatever room that we’ll meet in.”

“Fine, but you will only be able to go in one entrance.”

“That works for me.” She walked out of the clothing room and back into the room where she was styled for the funeral, where the older lady was missing.

The butler handed her the clothes. “I’ll be outside.”

Adelaide closed the door before dropping into the vanity chair. She laid her elbows on the table. Her hands cradled her head as she sighed heavily. “I have no idea how I’m going to do this successfully, or even at all for that matter,” she muttered to no one in particular. She lifted a makeup brush, dipped it into dark gel, and carefully brushed it across the bottom of the eyelid, creating a small cat wing. She did the same to the other eye. Dark mascara was applied to make her lengthy eyelashes even longer and fuller. She began to run a brush through her lengthy locks before pulling part of it into a high ponytail. One of the part was partially wrapped around the hair tie, set in place with a bobby pin and the other soon followed but in the opposite direction. She swiftly curled the ends, giving it some more volume. She ran the brush through it a couple times, creating a messy-but-elegant look.

Adelaide stood up and quickly changed out of her pajamas and into her outfit. She bent down to grab the dirty clothes, retrieving her phone. Before leaving, she applied matte lip stain the color of a pink rose to her lips. Her fingers skillfully created stray hairs to give it more of the intended look. She opened the door to see the man patiently waiting with his hands behind his back and his shoulder set back. “So what’s the plan for today?”

Grimsbane pulled out a pocket-size planner from the inside of his suit jacket. He flipped through a few pages before stopping. “Let’s see. There are no scheduled meetings regarding the properties nor your savings, so nothing official. I would recommend meeting the rest of the servants, especially the cooks, so they absolutely know your preferences when it comes to food.”

Adelaide pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes briefly. “Can we please call them the staff or workers? Servants is a little demeaning.”

He slightly bowed. “As you wish.”

“That’s it. I’m going to walk around by myself,” she emphasized, “and explore this place. If I see anyone who seems like part of the staff, I will stop and talk to him or her.”

“I highly do not advise that, Miss Way,” he quickly said with wide eyes. “You do not know the mansion very well nor its history. Most likely, you will get hopelessly lost.”

The young blonde stared directly into his eyes. “I honestly don’t care what you advise at this point. It is a bit suffocating. There are phones in practically every room within these walls. In other words, I can simply walk into a room and call someone to come get me. And what does the history have to do with exploring? I will start at the bottom and work my way up to the top. She turned on her heels and began to stomp down the hallway.

“Uh, Miss Way?”

She quickly turned around with a huff. “What?” she snapped.

The elderly worker pointed a bony finger in the opposite direction from where she was standing. “The stairs are the other way,” he informed, void of any emotion.

I am such an idiot, she thought as she walked in the right direction.

“I will be in the sitting room if you need me,” he informed.

Before Adelaide descended down the steps to the first floor, she glanced back to see no one in the hallway at all. “He was there just a second ago,” she murmured, sliding her hand down the cold banister.

She was back in the front of the humongous entrance. She walked to the room where the funeral proceedings were the day before. The ballroom appeared twice as large now than when it did earlier. Her footsteps emptily echoed off the walls. Her arms were crossed as she walked the perimeter where a series of portraits were hanging off the wall, each in identical gold frames. The names of her past relatives were etched in a gold plaque that rested underneath the still. Above it, a small lamp was angled towards the captured face, brightening the colors. She stared into the lifeless eyes on the portrait of her great aunt.

The old woman still remained to somehow stare into someone’s soul. Her brown eyes bore into Adelaide through the painting. Her skin resembled what a dead chicken’s would look like after being plucked of its feathers. She shuddered before continuing her exploration. She opened a door, which just had numerous furs coats residing in it.

She continued on her journey. She wrapped her fingers around the cool, gold metal, turning it to pull the huge double doors open. What she saw took her breath away. The room was about as large as her house and void of any furniture. Intricate statues hung off thick columns. Adelaide stared up at the ceiling in awe. An enormous chandelier dangled from the center of the roof. The light sparkled off the glass, illuminating the room beautifully. Her footsteps echoed off the walls. The floor was decorated in large, dark brown diamonds, standing out against the white oak floor. There were even balconies peeking out from above. Adelaide slowly spun around, staring at every detail. “This is so beautiful,” she murmured to herself. She imagined what dances must have occurred here and the dances that came with it.

“It is breathtaking the first few times you walk into this room.”

Adelaide jumped. “S**t!” She turned around to find a woman in her mid to late thirties standing behind her. She was dressed in a long black dress with buttons down the front that loaded across the floor when she took a step closer. She also wore an apron that ruffled a bit from the shoulders. Her red hair was pinned under the small, white hat. It appeared as if she was from a century previous.

“I’m sorry, miss. I didn’t mean to scare you,” the woman said in a thick, Irish accent. “I’ve only come to escort you to where you’re supposed to meet Mr. Grimsbane in the basement.”

Why in the basement? she thought to herself. She followed the older servant out of the ballroom and down a dusty hallway. They silently made their journey until they reached a door. The door was extremely faded unlike the rest of the doors in the house, which were well taken care of. The paint was scarce or even nonexistent in most spots. The doorknob was not the normal crystal that the rest had. No, it was a golden one with tarnished spots on it due to the lack of care. Adelaide slowly wrapped her fingers around it but it did not budge. “If he wanted me to meet him in here, then why would the door be locked?” she wondered aloud. She turned to ask the maid for the key or how to unlock it, but she was not there. The heiress tried the doorknob again to find it magically unlocked.

Before she pushed the door open, she felt someone boring their eyes on her. She slowly turned her head to see her great aunt standing there, staring at her. Adelaide repressed an impending scream. Where her heart should have been was a gaping hole in her chest, stained with dark red. It was impossible for her to be alive and staring at her great niece.

After another moment of staring, the apparition rushed at Adelaide. The young woman took off running away from the door like the hallway was on fire and the flames were inches away from incinerating her. She did not dare look back before ducking into another room and locking the door. She wedged a chair under the doorknob before rushing to the phone that was in the room. She skimmed the sheet with numerous numbers on it and punched in the four-digit number that belonged to the sitting room. No one picked up the phone. She dialed the number to the kitchen, hoping that at least someone would answer. The doorknob rattled causing her to jump.

“This is the kitchen,” someone said over the line.

“Oh! Thank God! Can you tell me where Butler Grimsbane is?” she asked, panicked as she watched the door.

“He is either in the parlor or in the pantry taking inventory. Do you need me to transfer your call to him?” a deep voice replied.

“Yes! Yes please! Thank you oh so very much!”

Adelaide heard a beep before she heard the familiar, gravelly voice.

“Lost, Miss Way?”

“No! Some maid told me that you were wanting to meet with me in the basement. Next thing I know, she’s gone, and the f*****g ghost of my great aunt is f*****g trying to attack me or something s**t! I don’t even know why I locked the door at this point because she’s a damn apparition who can just casually float through anything, or at least that’s what horror movies have taught me so I guess I’m going to die soon since I’m the dumbass who locked myself in a room �" “

“Miss Way!” Grimsbane screamed into the phone, halting Adelaide’s rambling. “Stay where you are,” he commanded slowly. “I will be there shortly. Everything is going to be fine.”

She screeched into the phone, “YOU THINK EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE? THERE IS A F*****G GHOST OUTSIDE MY DOOR, MOST LIKELY TRYING TO KILL ME, AND YOU ARE TELLING ME EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE!”

“I’ll explain everything when I get there. Calm down. I will be there shortly.”

Adelaide barely had the chance to say his name before he hung up on her. “That’s it. I’m going to die,” she said as she slammed her phone down.

Suddenly, her cell phone began ringing loudly. She gasped before placing a hand over the incessant drumming in her chest. She took a few deep breaths before answering. “Hi Dad,” she greeted in a cheery tone as she kept a wary eye on the door.

“How’s everything going?” Roger asked his daughter.

“Oh, everything is great. I am having a bit of a rough time adjusting though. There is a lot of things I am not used to yet, like having a butler along with having to wear professional clothing all the time.”

“Oh really? That does not sound too good, except for the butler part. Now you won’t have to clean all the time,” he chuckled.

“Honestly, that is the hardest part. I’m so used to doing things myself that it is difficult for me to allow someone else to do it for me.” She warily watched the door as it rattled violently.

“Makes sense. You have always been so independent even when you were a child.”

A silence broke between the two as Adelaide closely watched the door that was now still.

Three solid knocks came from the door. “Miss Way, it’s Grimsbane. I would like to come in, so please open the door.”

Adelaide moved the chair after saying into the phone. “I miss you and Eric. You should come visit some time.”

The father agreed before saying that he had to go and he would call tomorrow.

She slid the phone into her pocket before focusing on the butler. “What in the hell was that?!”

“As you said, that was Miss Barnhardt’s ghost.”

“Her damn heart was missing! What was up with that? I thought she died in her sleep.”

The butler muttered to himself, “That’s new.”

“What do you mean ‘that’s new’?” Adelaide snapped, breathing heavily.

He guided her to sit down on the edge of the bed that was in the room. “This mansion is a resting place for numerous ghosts, mainly members belonging to the Barnhardt family. Most of the time, they are peaceful spirits, but there are times that they are not, like you just saw. The majority of ghosts in this house rarely make an appearance, and when they do, they just want someone to listen to their story. The best thing would be to just listen to their story, and smile and nod where it is appropriate. The ones who are not so nice usually remain in this hallway because the rest of the evil spirit are locked in the basement and has been for centuries. Only humans are able to open up that door, so some great advice would be not to open it.”

Adelaide stared at him. “So you are telling me that I inherited a haunted mansion with ghosts who just like to talk to people while the evil ones are locked in the basement like the rejected stepchildren?”

Butler Grimsbane nodded.

She sighed and held her forehead in her hand. “You’ve got to be kidding me. It better not turn out like the movie where a freaking ghost falls in love me with. I literally cannot take that right now.”