Chapter One

Kristin Maddow pointed to the white Victorian styled mansion surrounded by massive trees on the left side of the car in White Village, New Hampshire.
" That's the one, Mr. Grant! I want to buy that house right there!" she declared confidently in her high- pitched voice. Grant stopped his car directly in front of the house. He looked at his clipboard, this was only house twelve, he had another twenty-eight houses on the market that he needed to sell!
" Ms. Maddow, you seem so sure of your choice! Don't you want to look at-"?
" Here's the money," said Kristin, cutting him off abruptly. Then she handed him a check for 500,000 dollars.
" Is it enough?" She pulled out her blue checkbook again, just in case. Edward Grant, the town's best realtor, had never met a more determined buyer than Kristin Maddow. Kristin's long blonde hair was wavy around her shoulders, not curly. Her bright green eyes gleamed like emeralds with excitement as she looked at the house again. Grant's brown eyes surveyed her thin, pale face, checking to see if she was playing him. He saw no signs, much to his dismay, but complete happiness as she looked at the house. He took the check and sighed with amusement as he got out of the car. Kristin followed him; her short white skirt, and a black and white rose designed top gleamed in the warm sunlight. Kristin's silver purse clung to her small, but firm wrist. Mr. Grant looked extremely professional in his gray suit. His brown hair was thinning and had some gray spots. But all things considered, he was somewhat attractive for a late sixty- year old. Kristin was as tall as Mr. Grant in her silver two-inch heels; otherwise Mr. Grant would have been taller than her.
She was absolutely entranced at the houses' beauty. It had so much detail in the columns that were holding up the wide and gorgeous balcony. Kristin has majored in graphic design in college, and she loved anything that had to do with design. The mansion wasn't that big, but it wasn't too small either. It was just perfect for a thirty-five year old woman who wanted to get away from all of her family problems in New York. Kristin wasn't really paying attention to anything that Edward Grant was saying as they walked up the stone walkway to the house. Her mind was completely focused on the house. " It's so pretty. Mom would just love visiting me here when Dad and her have their fights," thought Kristin, " I wonder if Ben would let me do my work from here instead of driving all the way to Portsmouth?" Kristin was sure that the house could have Internet access, that way she could do her commercial and billboard designs whenever she felt like it. Mr. Grant's voice caught her attention then.
" Ms. Maddow? Were you listening to me?" he asked, his calming voice had an edge of annoyance in it now.
" No. I'm sorry. I was so... distracted by the beauty of the house. Could you repeat what you've said?"
Mr. Grant sighed, fully annoyed now though he tried not to show it.
" I was explaining that this house was originally built in 1952, after a fire burned the original house down a couple of months earlier. Mr. and Mrs. William Clark originally owned it. Mrs. Clark was young; actually they both were very young. They both were only seventeen when they got married. As I was saying, Mrs. Clark, Sarah was her name, died in a freak accident after falling from the cliff right there", Mr. Grant pointed through a forest of trees behind the house.
" You walk two miles north and then there's the cliff. Down below it, is a raging river that empties into the ocean after, oh about twelve miles,"
Mr. Grant reached the doorstep at the same time Kristin did. He opened the black and gold door for her. Inside the house was a beautiful black -ironed staircase that curled around itself till it reached the second floor. Then to the left of the staircase was a hallway that had a blood red carpet that contrasted to the black walls. The hallway had about four, five doors on either wall. To the right was a room with red walls. Several big black bookcases lined up on the walls. The room also had matching red loveseats and a mahogany antique desk in the corner. Kristin eagerly ran to the antique desk, her heels clicking on the wooden floor in the room. Mr. Grant followed her with a little less enthusiasm.
" Do you like it?"
" It's so beautiful! How could anyone not love it?" gushed Kristin with a smile.
" I know someone who couldn't," growled a voice. Kristin and Mr. Grant turned to be face to face with an old man. He had on an old baseball cap, a torn up t-shirt, and jeans. For shoes he had on sneakers. The old man had hypnotic gray eyes and a scowl on his wrinkled face.
" Bill, I thought I told you that I was coming with a client, and that you should stay out of it until they made their decision about the house," said Mr. Grant, calmly but commandingly.
" Yeah, well I bet you didn't tell her everything Eddy, did ya?" said the old man, Bill with a knowing look in his eyes. Kristin felt out of place in between this conversation. The two men gave each other glaring looks. Then the old man looked at Kristin for what it seemed like the first time.
" Well, well, well where are my manners? I'm Bill Beckingfield, at your service if you are going to buy this house that is!"
Kristin stepped towards him and put out her delicate, small hand.
" Kristin Maddow, and yes, I am going to buy this house".
Will shook her hand with his somewhat dirty one and then stepped back. He smiled at her, with his remaining teeth.
" You're going to buy this house even after what Eddy here told you about this house! That takes some mighty fine courage Miss Maddow. But don't worry, I'll protect you from that sicko any day!!"
Mr. Grant cleared his throat, warning Bill to stop.
Kristin looked back and forth between Bill and Edward, confused. " I evidently missed something important while Ed was talking", she thought to herself, wishing that she had been paying attention now. Edward excused himself, took Kristin by the arm and led her into the foyer with the staircase. Bill laughed softly and left using the front door. The house was quiet with Bill gone now. Kristin had been enjoying looking at the huge crystal chandelier that hung from the high ceiling, when Edward started talking.
" Now what I was trying to tell you earlier was that when Mrs. Clark died so did her daughter, Jennifer, and her sister, Madeline in a fire that burned down the whole house. The gardener for that time thought that he saw someone throw a match into the house seconds before it caught on fire. But it was never proven that anyone was there. That's why the whole town thinks that there is a serial killer on the loose that's a descendant of whoever killed Sarah Clark in 1936. It has always been thought of as a coincidence whenever someone buys this house-", he sighed, trying to find a way to put this gently without scaring her. Edward fumbled with his briefcase as he tried to form the right words.
" There have been many... deaths that have happened for women who have bought this house, Miss Maddow. Now whether it's a coincidence or not, I have been asked by the police department to inform anyone about this who is interested in this house."
Kristin stared at him, her eyes searching for any sign of a stupid practical joke. None whatsoever.
" But why just this house? Don't you think that it's strange that these murders are happening at this one house?" asked Kristin logically.
" I agree it is quite strange Miss Maddow, but I assure you we now have full security around the house. We also have the police number programmed into every phone if you press the number one. We can also program that into your cell phone if you chose to buy the house," said Grant.
He had felt nervous about this house from the first time it got put on the market in 1964. William Clark had finally moved from the house after he had rebuilt it. Some say he went to England, others say he went to Rhode Island, where Sarah loved to go when she was alive. But there had been strange murder cases that involved the women that bought this house. Very strange cases. That's why the state asked Bill Beckingfield to be the house's gardener and to be on watch for anyone suspicious. But even with Bill, the murders still kept happening. Granted, most of the people who bought the house were old ladies who had gotten enough retirement money and had lived in White Village all their lives. Some of them even remembered Sarah Clark; they claimed that they needed to live here because it would help them remember anything that happened that night. They were convinced that someone murdered her and that person was at the party that night, but it was never proven. Grant truly believed that they all were crazy, but even he felt bad when he found out that they had died under mysterious circumstances.
Bill really was trying his best, but he was 80 and he wasn't that fast or strong anymore. When they first hired him, he was a fit forty-seven year old, with a remarkable resemblance to William Clark. But he denied any family relation, and some guys at work had even checked it out for themselves. But he was right; there was no relation between them. Kristin cleared her throat now, to get Grant's attention.
" I'm sorry Ms. Maddow, I was the one who was distracted this time," he apologized. Kristin flashed him a white set of teeth.
" It's fine, Edward. I just have one question for you,"
" Certainly, what is it?" asked Grant, praying for it not to be how many people have died in this house. He did not want to answer that question. He; himself had lost count at twenty.
" Was the 500,000 enough for the first payment?"
Grant looked up, taken by complete surprise.
" Yes, it was enough," he half whispered. Kristin Maddow smiled at him again, completely unaware or ignorant to the consequences of the choice she just made. As Grant and Kristin got in the car, Grant felt an overwhelming sick feeling pass through him as he put the lease forms in his suitcase. He knew he shouldn't have let her signed the papers without telling her the last part of the story. The part about the skeletons the others had found in the walls of the mansion. And that the others had also been put in the walls and had been gruesomely discovered one day by Bill. And he should have told her that the killer was real, not some phony kid trying to play jokes.
Grant knew he should have told her that, but for some terrible reason he decided against it. Edward Grant then started up the car, dropped off Kristin at her hotel, and prayed that she would stay alive while living in that horribly messed up house.

...

Kristin moved into her new home the following Tuesday. She brought all of her stuff from her apartment in New York and loaded it all up into her Toyota Explorer. It took her a while to drive from New York to New Hampshire, but she managed to make it. Kristin's mother, Jane had wanted to come and help her, but she had gotten sick the day before Kristin had left, so she didn't come. Edward Grant had told Kristin that he would send some moving company's men to come help her unload everything. And when Kristin pulled up to the driveway that Tuesday afternoon, there were 8 men standing outside of 3 big moving trucks talking. As soon as Kristin stopped the car, grabbed her Vera Bradley tote bag, her box of books, and got out, she formally introduced herself.
" Well, hi! Um, I'm Kristin and are you the guys who are supposed to help me unpack everything?"
One of the men winked at her and said;
" Yessiree!! Well aren't you pretty? But why in God's name did you buy this house lady?" His brown hair was cut short, and he had muddy brown eyes, and a mustache.
" I liked this house," replied Kristin uneasily.
" I didn't realize that so many people have lived in this house and never... left? "
The man smiled at her.
" Don't worry Miss. We'll all make sure that your furniture is in the perfect position so you can beat up any intruders that come by,"
Kristin smiled warily at him as she made her way up the stone walkway.
She then pointed back to her car, which she had left unlocked.
" Okay boys, all my stuff is in there. I would like my sofa in the room with red walls, and my mirror can go in the hallway with the red carpet," she said as she ascended up the porch steps. She opened the door with her key. " My key to my own home", she thought as she walked inside. " I haven't lived by myself since Alex walked out on me". Alex had been Kristin's fiancé. Until the day of their wedding he left her standing at the altar. She had been crushed when he had said that he only wanted to get up on her and that he really had never loved her, in front of her whole family. That had happened four weeks ago. That was why she had been looking for a house that was far, far away from boyfriends who are jerks. Kristin inhaled deeply the smell of the house. It smelled like pine trees. She dropped the box right next to the door, and took everything in. The chandelier's crystals looked like they held some sort of secrets deep within the cuts of the crystal. The ironed staircase beckoned her with a warning. The circular, tall windows in the back, looking out into the forest of trees and the cliff, opened up the room, and let in the warm sun. Kristin, oddly, felt right at home in this place. She felt a connection between her and this house ever since she saw it from a distance, in Mr. Grant's car. Something in here called to her, whether for the better or worse she'll never truly know until it happens. Kristin checked her cell phone when it suddenly vibrated in the pocket of her skinny jeans.
" Hello?"
" Kristin? Honey, you have horrible reception up there in those mountains!!! Can you hear me??? Is this darn thing even working?" yelled Jane, her mother.
Kristin sighed. Her mother hated any technology; it had been such a hassle to even convince her that she should have a cell phone, never-mind buy one.
" Mom? I can hear you fine. Why are you calling me? No offense, but I'm kinda busy unpacking and rearranging my stuff, Mom,"
There was a long pause. Kristin could just picture her Mom's long, curly blonde hair shaking as she thought of something to say. Her deep ocean blue eyes in thought. Her red lips trying to form happy words to hide her disappointment.
" Mom? Mom, listen I'm sorry. It's just I really love this house and I really want to go explore it,"
Kristin wasn't sure that explore was the right word, but it was the first word that popped into her head that fit.
" Oh. I see, Kristin. I guess I was feeling a bit lonely honey, you know what I'm talking about. Don't you, sweetie?" Jane's voice broke a little at the end. Kristin gave a long sigh. They were fighting again. And this time Mom didn't have Kristin's sister, Heidi, to talk to because she had died in a car crash 7 months ago. Mom was still getting over it. But so was everyone in the family.
" Mom I'm sorry. Really I am. You know what, I'll call you tonight after the movers have left. How does that sound Mom?" Kristin tried to sound enthusiastic. Her mom sniffled slightly on the other end.
" Alright."
Kristin smiled, even though her mom couldn't see it.
" Okay then. See you later!"
" Kristin! Wait!" called Mom.
" What?"
" I love you sweetie,"
Kristin felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She paused before answering.
" I love you too, Mom."
With that Jane ended the call, satisfied and brave enough to face her always-angry husband. Kristin on the other hand, felt worse than ever.
She ascended up the staircase, her tote in one hand, and the box in the other. Upstairs the staircase extended up one more level, but on the second floor, there was a corridor on the left side, and on the right was Kristin's bedroom. The doors were gold with black roses for handles. She gently turned the rose, and the door opened, revealing a rose pink colored canopy bed. The canopy was light pink, but the sheets were white and rose pink. The pillows were a stark white color. There was a rectangular gold-framed window facing the cliff's direction. To the right of the bed, there was an ornate make-up desk and mirror, and a bathroom. Kristin set the box of books down on the nightstand next to the bed and looked around, shocked. Then she flopped down on the bed with glee. " I have got to be in a movie or some prank reality TV. Show!" she thought with disbelief. " No, Kristin, this is real, get a grip," she told herself with some mental force. She could hear the movers downstairs carrying her couch to the room with red walls and the books. She told herself to get up of her a*s and get down there and help them. " Who knows Kristin," she told herself as she got up. "Maybe one of them is single?"

Reviews

[corvus]

Really well written and enjoyable, but I must say I took one look and found it rather daunting - there's a complete lack of paragraphs and that can be quite off putting. The story's great. I was a bit concerned with how you started it, I thought Kristen might be a bit too clichéd, but I was wrong. My only criticism would be the structure; just break it up into paragraphs and good first chapter =)