Greenbriar Manor

A Father's Favor

Jeffery woke up  in a cold sweat for the third night in a row. Brittany really was not coming back. His mother had taken her in the night and gone back to her home in the cold north with only a simple disapproving note. While he knew that long ago he was not a father that little girl needed he had been determined to try. What he had always wanted was a home. What he had gotten was a heartache that was tightening around his wallet and his freedom like a dead weight. The city had begun calling demanding the main house be completely torn down as it was now an eyesore. He thought about the other dad who owned GreenBriar. Jake. Maybe they would be open to taking on another family estate and making it into something worthwhile.He  thought of Daniel trying to warn them both of the error of their ways but never in a chiding manner. He wished he had been a better nephew. A better son. A better person. 

 He tried to go spend the night in that tiny guest house but all that he heard was echoes. Memories of Rachel and Brittany when things were good and happy and he was not trying to outrun his own bad decisions. He had inherited Salem's ways of running from her problems. Dodging responsibility and causing everybody pain. Now even his daughter, the one thing he had ever done right was gone too. He called his mother and hoped she would reconsider but the phone went straight to voicemail. There was no one else here to call. He decided to call  Daniel. There were parameters that needed to be discussed now that Salem had done what she did best to them all. The deed had been signed in his name but without his mother help with investing in the Manor anymore he had found  angry people banging on his door. Even that contractor who was injured the day of the demo wanted ten pounds of flesh  He did not tell anyone about the nightmares he had been having about the woman with the rolling pen and angry gaze. They seemed attached to him like those disturbing Narwhal stories his daughter was so fond of carrying around with her. Like something that he should understand but could not make sense of. A memory on the edge of being remembered or forgotten from one of his road trips. Someone who his mother decided was safe enough but really was nothing of the sort. He thought of Brittany and hoped that she was not having the same strange dream. That wherever his mother had taken her that it was beautiful and kind. 

Daniel picked up the phone, his nephew was exhausted and long winded. Most of the words he said came out in frantic bursts. Brittany. Salem. Cold. Gone. House. Demo. Debts. Sadly he knew that this would happen. All his sister knew how to do was run. The rabbit heart. Salem was viscious when cornered so she never stayed in one place very long. That poor boy had been the tag along all his life. His eyebrows raised when he heard the word gone and Brittany though. What on Earth was Salem thinking? Where had she taken that poor girl. Only he knew where she had gone when things were worst.. Always cold country where few knew her and her fall. He sat a moment and pondered and made a couple calls. One to the man who went to demo the house. One to child services. The time had come to save one floundering little girl from a lifetime of grave mistakes.

 The first call was a strange one. The man answered the phone in a cheerful demeanor and even asked after the family. He went on to tell a story of knowing their cousin before she ran away that fateful summer and hoped that there would be no bad feelings about collecting for his medical bills. He also asked about a strange woman vagrant and a little three legged dog that saved his life. Daniel smiled so that is where Scamp had been going lately. It was at that moment that he had a grave and dark discovery. The properties were still linked even after Bridgette had returned and changed hands. But why? Vera had always been kind to his sister but to his knowledge there had been no time where Salem had stayed there. Her son yes and the little girl but the boy was not even aware at the time of the history of the place. He thought back to all the letters he had recieved and his own father warning them off of Salem like a curse. She had made deals with someone bad he had once said. Something that would always chase her down like a fox making a deal for some food or warmth. Something she believed would keep her safe. What could it be? He thought of the man's description of the woman from his coma and the nightmare that Jeffrey so easily described. A woman with a rolling pen. Myrna. Vera's unpredictable mother with a temper like a shaken bee. The original matriarch of that strange decrepit house that none other person in the family wanted to take on. He realized for the last two weeks he had not seen her shade wandering around in pensive anger looking and lurking. He thought of Salem that long ago night huddled in the dumbwaiter with that rabbit and the knife. Eyes wild and teeth bared blood coating her hands and her tea towel. How Chessie told a story to the maid about crying and frightening sounds and the Greys had come to stay. Mari and Brooklyn had become family because their mother was and so it continued. A place that carefully keeps but also wantonly discards. Unless there is a grander reason to stay. 

But the other Manor had always been different. It was not a place for children. But a museum to lost things and people. A shrine. A time capsule. A portal of angry evil feelings that if left unchecked could swallow you whole. It was true Daniel had taken on the Patriarch role for some of the young siblings early in life as his father was often away. Duty did that to a man. Greed did too which is how Brookie and his father had also quickly parted ways. He shuttered at the thought of all these children losing their way so early, It was senseless. As a man gifted with an extraordinarily long life he was starting to wonder if he was the lucky one of the linchpen. What would happen when the patriarch finally left the farm for good? He could sense the time growing nearer and nearer for him to leave. Fern was almost done with her project. Mari had gone on. The boys now beyond child age almost little men themselves. Jake had returned determined to keep Ingrim from making the same mistakes he had. Mack had been given a talent that started to make up for the ache in his chest thinking about his own dad. His own cousin Mabel was responsible for that. Brooklyn waited as always looking out over the gate. Hoping that eventually his father would return so that they would win the race this time and turn the tide. Daniel wondered about Brittany and had no real way of knowing where his sister had taken her. However, he felt like it would not be where she had told her son. He just could not see that woman dragging her granddaughter over those ocean waves into the dark. Salem was far more afraid of drowning than she let on. Where ever Brittany was it would be in plain sight. He dialed the number in Vermont anonymously. A woman picked up. Daniel looked out the window and caught the sight of his cousin with her green bow drifting in the wind a smile for him no one else could see . A smile for the friend who let her come home. Daniel would do this for her. He cleared his throat...Salem would never forgive him for foiling one of her plans but it might save another life. Greene's protect each other after all.   "I would like to report a little girl missing in Vermont."