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Chapter Two: Sprawling Mansions and Forgotten Shadows

Chapter Two: Sprawling Mansions and Forgotten Shadows

Allie’s jaw dropped when the huge mansion home came into view. Never had she seen a home so vast. It had an eerie kind of beauty as mist still hung in the air across the surrounding plains and vines covered the stones and bricks of the three story home.

The flowerbeds were overgrown with weeds and the home looked almost abandoned; forgotten as it stood in the middle of nowhere and nature moved in to take it over. It was a sharp contrast to the neat and tidy barns and corrals and the fences that stretched out as far as Allie could see in all directions.

“Is this where we’re going to live?” Amelia whispered from the back of the cart.

Allie turned her head and nodded at the girl, “Yes it is.”

“It’s so big…” Amelia’s brown eyes were wide as she stared at the house. “And spooky,” she added, wrapping her arms around herself.

“I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful, Amelia.”

The man driving the cart grunted but said nothing. Allie eyed him suspiciously and wondered if there was something about this place she didn’t know. It seemed that everyone she had met so for that worked for the Treadwell’s did not seem overly fond of them. But they had to be good people deep down, didn’t they? They had taken her sister in without question when they could have turned them both away. Allie certainly wasn’t going to jump to any conclusions or judgments about the pair simply based off of the opinions of others.

Activity was buzzing around the barns and corrals. Men in work stained clothes, sweat rimmed hats and worn chaps were working with horses and cattle, shouting back and forth to one another, talking, laughing and clearly enjoying their work.

Allie shifted uncomfortably in the cart seat when the men noticed the cart approaching and turned to catch a glance of the newcomers. She fussed with the prim and proper updo she had swept her hair into that morning and wrapped her shawl tighter around the shoulders of her new blue blouse. The early morning air still held a chill though it was April.

The driver, who had introduced himself as Frank, stopped the cart beside the stone walkway and jumped down before reaching out to help both Allie and Amelia down as well.

“I’ll see you both inside,” he offered as he grabbed their single worn and tattered leather case of belongings. Allie took Amelia’s hand in her and led her up the walk. The rocks were uneven and grass and weeds were jutting up between the stones. It was quite untidy and didn’t fit the image that both Mr. and Mrs. Treadwell had given off just yesterday.

Allie found her eyes drawn upward to a tiny window at the very peak of the large house. She was certain she saw movement flash through the filthy panes of glass but before she could watch for it happen again Frank called for her to hurry.

“Hurry along now. Mrs. Treadwell does not like to be kept waiting,” he warned. Allie quickly followed after him and she forgot completely about the window when she stepped inside the massive home.

A grand staircase stood before her, winding it’s way to a second floor. The chandelier above Allie’s head was covered in glittering crystals and the room sparkled with its light. She glanced to the right and saw what seemed to be a sitting room.

The furniture was all gleaming dark wood. Brass and silver glittered in every direction. The walls were a cheerful yellow plaster and adorned halfway up by wallpaper covered in golden fleur-de-lis designs. A stone fireplace with a heavy mantle took up much of the back wall of the grand room. Paintings of people, Allie assumed they were family portraits, and of nature scenes were scattered here and there upon the walls.