Greenbriar Manor

Daniel and Daylight

The nurse found Daniel awake at dawn scribbling in his journal. She laughed lightheartedly. His sister had been a story writer for children. She wondered if he too was taking up the task of finishing one of her long-lost story books. She noticed a keepsake on his dresser. A tiny dog made from brushed grey corduroy. Carter he had said its name was once. He said that all the siblings had one made just for them by their mother. She told Daniel it was a dog because he was loyal to home and family. He liked that. This morning, he was frantically scribbling something. When she asked him what was wrong, he told her that he needed to finish this letter and get it to Fran right away. He called the main landline and then the extension of the maid's quarters, the line rang a low crackly noise three times. There was only one person in the Manor who would know to answer this phone. Hopefully, he had been waiting on his call. Tomorrow was Daniel's birthday. He could feel something changing on the wind he needed to warn somebody. 

Brooklyn was in the basement with Mack helping him organize some old tack and other items the family had left behind long ago. When he heard the vibration through the floor. Mack looked scared for a moment. Brooklyn told him that it was okay. Something that his mom and Mari used as a signal to come home for a family meeting--the lie was off his tongue before he could stop himself. Daniel was calling. He ran up the back steps and into the tiny hallway and picked up the phone.

 "Hello". Hi Daniel it is nice to hear your voice. A sigh of relief flooded the space between them. "what has happened?" Daniel's normal demeanor sounded ice cold. Brooklyn approached this delicately as he knew Salem and Daniel were close and also her  accident had greatly troubled him. "Salem...her son and the girl Brittany arrived last night." "Did you know they were coming home? They mentioned some important business in Vermont." "Mack claims that when he and Fran went on vacation that he met her somehow or a relative. But, Salem is in Nova Scotia. How is that possible? No one else has come back home." "You promised Daniel. My dad is almost home.. He had a heart attack he is  in a hospital he has no idea about us and well I want to see him here with my sister just one more day. Mother is scared. That little blonde girl has the entire Manor frozen with fear. You should have heard the metronome fall and awful clanging when she met Mari. Also, the horse healed and will be used to show children for a while until he is in racing form. We need my dad for that. I also think Bridgette came back. Somehow, she is home. The house is choosing out of order Daniel. We need you to come back to your library. You and Carter. Bermice the Bear and Flopsie the Hare are accounted for they have appeared in the last two days. I fear what will happen if Fran becomes aware of the delicate situation her linen maid and Brittany's grandma have created here. Also, whoever Mack met in Vermont is not Salem. Whoever it was never came home. Why would anyone say they were Brittany's grandma? Who would want to be Salem? Daniel coughed a long low AHA!  At the same time they said a name they didn't expect to ever say again..."VERA!"  Brooklyn smiled at the thought that she was free but worried about the cousin who had come home and found his sister aloof and distant. She had not even asked about the doll since the horse healed or Mack came home. She spent alot of time in the treehouse and the library looking at family pictures. Occasionally, he would see her follow after Scamp. It was as if his sister had found her purpose here afterall. He waited for his father to return and his mother to heal. But he felt Daniel's warmth would cement it all together. His friend had never failed him. Daniel Greene told Brooklyn that he would call the hospital to check on his dad and asked that Fran call him directly. The time had come to tell her a story one that she already knew some of from her own strange childhood. She deserved thr truth of the roots that bound her family to this place. 

He thought of his sister angry at the world after her fall from grace seeking solace in the old conquering tales of the sea: Mermaids and Viking fables. Things that seduce and swallow whole fiercer things. She had been stronger than anyone ever gave her credit for. He thought about Flopsie. A hare not a regular rabbit because they are graceful yet fierce. His mother had known her true character. He hoped that Salem's scream of fury at the past did not live anew in her firey eyed granddaughter.