Washington Manor | An exceptionally horror experience

Fifteen

Lizzie's eyes fill up with tears as her mind shatters and a headache begins to grow across her forehead. She keeps examining the photographs, one by one, comparing them to each other constantly. There is no doubt in her mind whatsoever that she and Paticia are the same person. She doesn't understand it though...

Lizzie is aware that she is adopted, and she's never had any memories of her original family, only her adopted one, who have loved her and taken care of her, for almost her whole life. "You really don't remember them, mum?" Matthew asks curiously, looking over Lizzie's shoulder. She sniffles, feeling a tear run down her cheek. "N-no..." She stutters. "Only your nan and grandad my..adopted parents.." She says softly, still staring at the photos. Matthew sits down next to Lizzie softly and sighs.

Matthew also feels very confused now that his mind is clearing a little after the terrifying events of the attic. He wonders about this revelation and what it changes, if anything, and if any of this is somehow related to all of the creepy and unexplainable things that keep happening around the house. Matthew doesn't believe in ghosts, but he cant deny that something...strange is happening here.

"What....exactly do you know...about your birth parents?" He asks, gently taking the photos off Lizzie so she doesn't stare at them too much more. Lizzie sighs as her mind still tries to wrap itself around all of this.

"I..Don't know anything about them at all..." Lizzie says softly, staring blankly at the dining table. "My adopted parents...they know nothing about my birth family, apparently they signed a non disclosure agreement, they know nothing about them, or why they gave me up." She explains. Matthew's heart drops. He was hoping she'd know at least something about them..something that would help them.

"I'll research Washington's for you mum...See what I can find, we can have a look into the local archives in the library, there could be something there." Matthew suggests. Lizzie pauses to contemplate the idea.

"No honey...no I don't want to know." Lizzie says with a sigh. "I don't...we dont need to know anything about them." Matthew understands her point of view, after all the Washingtons gave her up, but he can't shake his confusion and curiosity about the situation. He went into the attic to discover the reason behind the banging they kept hearing at night, and found a rocking chair moving by itself and a box of items and photos of his mum that she's never seen before. He feels incredibly confused, and is desperate to get to the bottom of the situation, but as he looks into his mothers pleading eyes, he feels his resolve break. He sighs.

"Alright mum...I won't look into it any more....I promise."

***

The days that follow Matthews discovery of the photo album are filled with unease and illness. The house gained a silence that seemed to blanket it, making it feel heavier, as if the house itself is holding its breath.

The morning after his discovery, Matthew woke up with a vile migraine that has plagued him for four days now. No matter what he does, it just will not let up. No amount of water, food, sleep, fresh air, cooling pads, showers, and no screens have helped it at all. He can't just seem to shake it off.

Meanwhile, Lizzie has come down with the flu and a fever of 102.4F (39.1c), her fever has not broken once in four days, and she feels weak and exhausted 24/7. She is coughing so badly and so often that she has barely slept in days, her ribs hurt and her stomach aches from the coughing, she is sneezing twice every twenty or so minutes, and over the counter cold medicine is having no affect on her whatsoever.

Chloe on the other hand, has avoided the illnesses that seem to be plaguing her mother and brother, and although Lizzie has been feeling extremely exhausted lately, she's still having to look after Chloe the best she can. She still can;t shake the images of the photo album out of her mind, and she's even been dreaming about them. She's sure that its just her fever, after all, everyone has strange dreams with a fever.

"Alright darling, let's get you changed for bed shall we?" Lizzie smiles while reaching into Chloe's wardrobe for some clothes for her to wear. Chloe does not answer, she's been unusually quiet the past few days while complaining she's got a headache, which has been making Lizzie worry that perhaps she's coming down with the flu like she is, or has got whatever is causing Matthew's migraine.

As Lizzie begins changing Chloe's outfit for the night, she pauses as her heart stops. All over Chloe's arms, legs, chest and back are dark purple, black bruises the size of a grown ups fist. She gaps and examines the bruising closer, looking for some kind of explanation for them.

Her mind immediately accuses Matthew of being the culprit of the bruises. Lizzie knows for a fact that it was not her who put these bruises on Chloe, there's no other adults in the house, and there is no way Chloe could have done this to herself, none at all. The bruises are far too big, and in places she'd never be able to get too.

Even if she fell over, these bruises are too big, they look like she's been in some horrendous accident. "Chloe, baby girl...where are these bruises from?" Lizzie asks, her mind racing with all the possibilities, but the only one that makes unfortunate sense is Matthew...

However, she knows her son...he would never lay a hand on a girl, much less his little sister, there's no way he'd hurt her...As much as Chloe annoys him, he'd never be violent toward her. Chloe doesn't answer her, so she presses her for more information.

"Chloe? Did you do this to yourself?" Chloe shakes her head slowly, still not responding to her. "Chloe...baby girl...what's happened? Tell me where you got these bruises from." Lizzie says, practically begging her.

"I don't know mummy." Chloe says quietly. "I just found them.." She adds.

"How did you just... find them honey? Did you...Did you fall over? Did you fall down the stairs when I went to the shop the other day? Did..." Lizzie's eyes fill with tears as she brings herself to ask the question she never wants to know the answer to. "Did Matthew do this to you?" Chloe shakes her head immediately. "No Mummy."

"Chloe these..." Lizzie says softly, examining the bruises. "These are really bad baby...
Please tell me where you got them from...Tell me what happened, please..." Lizzie pleads, her eyes filling up with even more tears. The thought of something happening to her baby girl is...unthinkable for her.

"I fell mummy..." Chloe says finally.

"Where? When?" Lizzie asks desperately.

"The stairs...downstairs...I fell.." She explains.

Lizzie's stomach drops. The stairs downstairs? She feels so confused. The only stairs down there are the ones that lead to the boarded up basement, but she has never seen Chloe even in that part of the house before...Maybe she went exploring when Lizzie went to the shops a few days ago? It's the only explanation...

"Chloe, honey, from now on you are to NEVER go down there, don't even go near those stairs anymore, do you understand me?" Lizzie says firmly. 

"Okay mummy..."