Blue Umbrellas

Prolougue

A cool winter day in a warm, cozy mansion is where our story starts. There, lived a rich family with two spoiled kids. They were given everything they wanted, but the daughter wasn't happy. What she wished for most in life couldn't be bought. She wanted someone to love.
Of course, her parents tried anyway. From the time she turned five years old, her parents hunted for a suitor to take their daughter's hand. As each suitor came, they saw just how spoiled and rotten the girl was and left her without shame. The girl wasn't worried though; surely someone would take her in the end?
But, as the years passed, the girl began to despair that she would forever remained unloved and unwanted.
During these long, tiresome years, the son had been planning. He had an idea so evil, so devilish, that some would come to call him "The Demon of Earnheart Manor." He searched for a way to stop aging and even reverse its effects. He sought immortality.
In order to do his experiments, he became an unknown criminal, kidnapping children and teenagers. If his parents suspected anything, they didn't show it. Only his sister, Isabelle, suspected something.
She saw changes in Samuel that unsettled her. The way his eyes glinted at the mention of the missing people and how he disappeared to the basement sometimes for days at times made her uneasy. But, she had her own problems to deal with.
She was nearing sixteen with each passing day and she was nearing the end of the selection of suitors. People heard the rumors of the brother's schemes and no one wanted any part of it.  Isabelle seemed to slowly go mad; she shattered plates for no reason and screamed through the night. Her mother tried everything to keep her calm and within the confines of the Manor. Sam's prisoners became so frightened that some had heart attacks and died before he could torture them. He became increasingly enraged with his crazy sister. His victims were surviving less and less, and he vowed revenge.

Early one year, Isabelle finally lost it. She was done with finding love and wanted to die. She ran franticly around the house trying to find something sharp or dangerous, but her mother was prepared. Seeing no other options, she asked her brother for help.
He pleaded with her not to do this, but he was secretly pleased. He could finally get his revenge. Mentally damaged beyond reason, she didn't listen to him and pleaded for his help. He said that he knew a place where she could leave. They got in the car and drove away.
They stop an hour later at an old stone bridge. Keeping firm hold of his sister, Sam directed Isabelle to look over the side. He told her that if she stared into the water, all her worries would vanish. If she drank the water, she would be cleansed of all the insanity she had been through. At this, she dove into the water.
The only problem was that the river was only about a foot deep. When Isabelle hit the bottom, her neck snapped cleanly apart; she was dead with the second. Her brother let out the most menacing laugh and started on his way back to the mansion. All that was left was her dying scream.
As he drove through thundering rain to tell of the grim news, he heard a curious growl, not like that of his car. He slowed cautiously and listened beyond the downpour. The noise sounded again but, more joined in, and Samuel thought that it was a lost dog, one he could use for his experiments. He never used an animal before, so he hopped out of his car. Stumbling blindly through the woods, he heard an ear splitting howl directly behind him. He spun around, but he was too late as the wolf jumped and bit his face. Sam screamed and clawed as the jet black wolf mauled him slowly to death. As he took his last gasp of air, he jerked his pistol out of his pocket and fired a shot into the wolf's head. The powerful jaws clamped down, then went still. The demon and wolf died in the dark, stormy night, leaving no heirs to the Earnheart Manor.

After the deaths of the brother and sister, strange things began to happen around the property. The mother started to regularly look over her shoulder as she thought she saw a black, dog-like shadow follow her around and heard a cackling laugh that seemed shockingly familiar.
Sometimes, the father would feel tugs on his shirt or would swear he could hear maddened screams come from the room that belonged his lunatic daughter. Finally, after one incident where Isabelle and Samuel's mother nearly broke her back from falling down the stairs, tripped by some unknown source, they left the mansion. They sold it as soon as time would allow it and unfortunately, they heard tales of similar encounters experienced by the buyers. Shortly after, though, the last of the Clay family died and the legacy was lost forever. Over the years following, people never stayed more than a few months at the old home. Each time, any children went missing and were never seen again. People made stories about it to keep their children in bed at night without anyone knowing the true cause of "The Earnheart Curse."

"The Earnheart Curse" has been alive for the past eighty years and all that's left from the original family are two blue umbrellas.