A New Estate - Crimson Peak

Chapter Thirty

I said nothing to Robert about the hands grabbing onto me and he didn't seem to notice, almost as if I had imagined the whole thing.

And for a spell, I truly did wonder if madness had finally caught up with me and everything that had happened thus far within the manor had driven me to a point of no return, but the proof was as clear as day by the prints of red clay that were cemented onto my nightdress.

The time passed by too quickly, I had barely returned to my room and slept after bidding Robert a goodnight outside his bedroom door before I had to get up and see my parents off, by estimate I would have guessed to have had hardly two hours of rest.

As we stood outside the manor's front doors tears were shed, mostly by Mother who had always been rather over sentimental, and tight farewell hugs were exchanged but proved difficult to break.

It took longer to see them off than it should have, each of us stalling for just a second longer together in order draw out the inevitable, until they both hesitantly climbed into the awaiting carriage and the driver, who had been more than patient with us, whipped the horses into motion.

I stayed outside of the manor's doors in the bitter morning wind, one arm wrapped around my waist whilst waving goodbye with the other until they were no longer visible.

With a saddened sigh, I stepped back inside and rushed directly to my bedroom, knowing that I had plenty of time before having to prepare a morning meal for the men.

Upon entering the room, I closed the door behind myself and hurried over to the bed, crouching before it to pull out the large trunk I had stashed underneath.

I grunted with the effort it took to heave it out, the trunk thumping loudly along the bare floorboards in reply and threatening to wake up the sleeping workers.

Glancing over my shoulder, I pause for a few breaths to make sure that no one had stirred due to the noise and intended to come to investigate, but when nothing sounded, I hastily unclipped the thick bronze latches and hefted the lid up.

Still laid out as straight as I could get it within the cramped space, with the handprints undisturbed, was my nightdress from just a few hours prior.

Carefully peeling it out of the trunk, I set it delicately atop the bed and shifted around on my knees so that I could kneel beside it with the closest unobstructed view.

My eyes roamed over the red clay that thickly outlined two long and almost too thin to be human fingers, the memory of how cold the hands had been against my hips still very vivid in my mind.

There was no denying that they were there, I had tried to convince myself earlier of it being a trick of the light, perhaps even the atmosphere of the cold and unexplored area of the manor had gotten to me and that what decorated the thin white fabric was purely a coincidental brush up that I had put too much imagination in to.

Looking upon them now only confirmed my worst fears and chilled my bones.

"There's something in the clay," I whispered to myself.

There was something about saying my conclusion aloud that set in a grim determination and I instantly knew what I had to do, I just needed the right time to do it.

For a stuttering moment as I stared at the nightdress, I believed that I had felt a cold breeze pass through my hair, too reminiscent of the clammy hands from earlier.

I held my breath as a low, rasping exhale came from behind me, a firm grasp slowly draping over my shoulder as wisps of black rose up from the digits.

"No, Lucille," I spoke calmly, closing my eyes and trying to control my nerves, "you shan't scare me anymore."

"I don't wish to scare you," she whispered horribly, her voice too close to my ear, "I just want to live."

"You've had your time and you shall not be taking mine."

A shiver ran through me at the sound of her harsh laugh, it sounded cold, uncaring and terrifyingly inhuman.

"I always take what I want."

My lips had barely a chance to part to reply when the distant sounds of thumping arose from the rooms down the hall.

The workmen had risen for another day of work.

With a gasp of haste, I ripped the nightdress from the bed and forced it back into the trunk, this time not being mindful of preserving the prints congealed onto the fabric.

"We are done here, Lucille," I huffed, sounding braver than I felt, "I shall see to it that you never haunt the world as more than a spirit."

She didn't reply immediately, giving me time to force the trunk back under the bed and stand before she was upon me, her decrepit face leaning into mine with a foul sneer of what could only be described as pure hatred.

I couldn't be sure if it was purely due to her current state, the dark and foreboding presence of her lingering soul that was shrouded in the black wisps of her evil deeds, or whether she had been a tall woman in life, but she stood tall and loomed over me like I were a mere child.

"I shall be reunited with my Thomas," she howled awfully, the sound sending unpleasant tingles through almost all my senses.

Her visage then appeared to dissipate entirely, as if she had been eaten up by the fog-like cloak that seeped off her and swept into the air.

I wish that had been the case, that that was the end of it, but now I had so many other questions dancing through my already fragile mind.

I had thought that I was getting better at facing her, but it seemed that Lucille could easily break any resolve I had.

Perhaps I should have left with my parents, returned home and attempted to forget everything that had happened.

Try to live a happy life and forget all about Allerdale Hall, the red clay.

Maybe even Robert.

But it was too late to make such a decision now, not only because my parents had already started their long journey but also because I was determined to find answers to Lucille's claims and to put a stop to them.

To start off with, I had to decipher what she had meant.

'I want to live,' had been what she had croaked, the words dripping like venom, but how did she intend to do that?

Did Lucille wish to possess me?

To take control of my very being and steal my life from me?

And what was that about reuniting with Thomas?

No matter the answers, I would not allow any of it to happen, but was there any possible way that I could defend myself?

Lucille was now another being of an unnatural world and I possessed no power to stop her.

(Sorry this took so long to get out!
It's more of a filler chapter before things really start taking their turn and we wind down to the ending :( )