The Berkley Estate
By Alexandra Miller
The Berkley Estate consumes all who dare to enter. Can three best friends face the challenges to come? Or will they too be destroyed by the curse of Beatrice Berkley?
A group of best friends, Liz, Ariel, and Clara, walked ecstatically out of Laklen High wearing their rose pink graduation gowns and caps. Liz was the most outgoing of the group of friends, and had jet-black perfectly straight hair that cascaded down her sculpted shoulders. However, her most unique feature was her shockingly bright green eyes that always seemed full of energy and knowledge. Ariel, the diva of the group, always seemed to be doing anything and everything to impress her boyfriend, Sean. She was gorgeous with her strawberry blond hair that was always tucked neatly behind her ear, and her misty blue eyes. Finally, Clara was the sweetheart and the artist of the group. She had light brown wavy hair, and the deepest brown eyes that looked like they belonged to an owl.
Each of the three best friends was headed off to a different college next fall. Tonight, however, they were determined to enjoy themselves at the graduating seniors party. Britney Miller, the IT girl of Laklen high, along with her quarterback boyfriend, Sam, was hosting it.
The girls pulled up to the party in Clara's boyfriend, Brady's, SUV. The mansion-like house was surrounded in prim rose bushes, giving it a country-club feel, and you could see the misty blue mountains in the background looming over the house. It was an ideal landscape for one of Clara's paintings.
The group entered and stared in awe at the scene before them; the high ceiling was adorned by a grand chandelier, every wall was covered in "Class of 2011" posters, and the crowd was as diverse as the fish in the sea. "How's about I get you ladies some drinks," Brady shouted in a Texan accent over the din of the party.
When Brady left, the girls found themselves swept into the rhythm of the party, dancing melodically to "Apple Bottom Jeans" by Flo Rida. Across the floor, Liz spotted Brittney grinding against Sam, her boyfriend, and turned her head in disgust. This wasn't her crowd. She had warned Clara and Ariel about this earlier, but Ariel, as usual kept pushing them to go.
By the end of the night they found themselves in a circle of intoxicated graduates playing truth or dare. Most of the dares were minor, but for some reason, that the girls never found out, Brittney Truth or Dared Ariel. Ariel, always the diva, screamed, "Dare!" Which caused everyone in the room except, for Liz, to explode in a fit of giggles.
"I dare you to…" she paused and Sam leaned in her ear whispering ominously, "spend the night at…The Berkley Estate!" The crowd went silent, anxiously waiting for Ariel's response. The Berkley Estate was the most horrifying haunted house this side of the Mississippi. "However, you may take two friends with you."
"I accept," Ariel said with a hiccup, and pointed to Liz and Clara. "I'll take them!" she smiled. She would still do anything to impress.
A guy wearing a dark band tee, lip, tongue, and nose piercing, and guy-liner walked into the middle of the circle and said in a low ominous voice, "Don't you realize how dangerous the Berkley Estate is? They say that all who go there never come back. Do you even know the story of the Curse of Beatrice Berkley?" The entire circle was silently staring up to him; it was obvious that they had never heard the whole story, so he continued. "The Berkleys' were as happy a family as any other, and they spent their days contently up in the mountains, until…" he paused ominously, "the cold wintry day that little baby Stephanie died of pneumonia. Beatrice couldn't take the grief, and she cracked! She went berserk, and poisoned the rest of her family, including their servant, and then finally herself, thinking that they would be re-united in the after-life. However, she was wrong, for her actions, she was doomed to haunt the cursed halls of the home that only reminded her of loss and desolation! And they say that whoever or whatever enters her home faces the wrath and insanity of a grief-stricken mother!" He finished his speech, and slunk back into the shadows despite the eyes that followed him there.
"We'll still do it!" Ariel shouted drunkly. "I don't believe in ghosts."
"Well, Ariel, I don't know. It sounds scary…" Clara said hesitantly, scrunching up her face in fear.
"No," Liz said firmly, "I will have no part in this. I'm going off to Baylor next fall, and I'm not doing anything to jeopardize that." But in the end, as always, Ariel convinced them that it would be fun, and their last big thing together. And they finally gave in to her begging and pleading.
The next night, Liz, Ariel, and Clara walked stealthily up to the entrance of the estate. Brady had promised to stay just outside in his SUV, in case they wanted to run, and the girls had brought a camcorder to show everyone once the night was up.
Ariel took the lead and squeezed through a hole in the main gate. Clara thought that she felt something rush past her, but when she looked over her shoulder, it was just the wind, and she slipped through the gate after the other two. The entire central building was encased in creeping vines. Directly in front of this building was an archaic fountain with the remnants of magnificent sculptures; their eroded faces seemed misshapen and ghostly. The front door was covered in thorny brambles, but the girls had expected this; and Ariel easily cut through the gnarly vines with the machete she had brought.
Once they were through the front door the girls were greeted with a bone-chilling burst of air, and a blood-curdling shriek. Clara turned to run, but Ariel grabbed her arm saying it was only a cat. They continued on exploring through different chambers of the enormous estate. Each room was uniquely crafted with ornate moldings and faded hand painted wallpaper that looked as if Van Gough himself did it.
"Girls, I want to look around, we've only seen like three rooms, and we need to get more on video," Ariel said bossily as she headed out of the grand room they were standing in. Then suddenly, everyone's hair stood straight up on end, as if they were about to be struck by lightning, and a loud crash and bang sent them to the deck. When Liz dared to lift her head, she saw before her something that she would have never believed, if it were not before her. She reached out for the video camera wishing to prove to the world that spirits did, in fact exist, but the poltergeist flung the camera across the room saying sadly, "That will do you no good. The lens, or the mirror cannot see me. Anyway, you have other much more important things to worry about now. For example, the curse that you and your friends have set upon yourselves from the very moment you walked past the door."
"Wh...wh…whoo are you?" Clara stammered dumbfounded. She stared up at him in horror.
"I am Jeremiah. I was the Berkley's slave, and killed in a mad rage of Mrs. Berkley, and I have too been doomed to haunt the house. However, my purpose is to protect those who enter and warn you of the dangers to come. I have a riddle that may very well save your precious lives. It goes a little something like this, 'Avoid all things that shine and gleam, for they are not always what they seem' Also, another thing, I wouldn't try to leave until morning, for the mistress won't allow it. I wish you luck, and good-bye," and with that he vanished with another crash and bang.
"That was help? He didn't even make sense!" Ariel guffawed. Liz was more in shock than anything, and couldn't say a word.
"Ariel, at least he was trying to help us. I wonder what he meant, things that shine and gleam, are not always what they seem… I guess we'll find out," Clara said. Ariel shuffled over to where Jeremiah had thrown the camcorder, and picked it up, it was smashed to bits.
The girls finally ventured out of the room and began down the narrow hallway to what they assumed would be the kitchen. Liz said that that would probably be the center of the home, and could be their meeting-place if they ever got separated.
Suddenly, Liz let out a high-pitched squeal as her leg plunged knee-deep into one of the floorboards. She flailed about as she tried desperately to pull herself back up. The two girls tried to pull her up, but it seemed as if an invisible force was pushing against them. Finally, with a last grunt of effort they managed to pull her back up again, and to their horror they saw bite-marks and claw-marks all along Liz's leg. She held it to her stomach as the deep red blood oozed out of each laceration. Clara quickly pulled off her over-shirt and made makeshift bandages for her leg, and they all let out a sigh of relief.
When they had all slowed their heart rate, they continued on, seriously freaked out. This time they were careful, testing each floorboard before going onward. When they finally made it to the kitchen they set down the packs they had brought with them, and began to seek out good sleeping spots.
As Clara searched she pushed open the door to the dining room and shrieked in horror. Tears started to stream down her face. Before her were the aging skeletons of five human beings. At the head of the table Mr. Carlisle Berkley sat slumped against the table, the baby was strapped into a high-chair, Alexander, the eldest child sat leaning to a side, mouth wide, Jeremiah lay face-down on the floor, and finally next to the baby sat Mrs. Beatrice Berkley. She sat straight up, just as if she had expected the poison, and was adorned in a deteriorating yet extravagant dress with a giant shiny, gleaming diamond in a setting of gold intertwined with sliver.
The other two rushed in, thinking that Clara had been hurt only to be stricken with horror by the scene before them. Liz stood their stupefied, yet again she found herself paralyzed with fear. Ariel's attention, on the other hand, went straight to the diamond around the ladies neck, and she became possessed with such a longing for it that she could not contain herself. "The Diamond of Duke Darling!" she exclaimed. "I thought that this was lost forever! And to think it was in my backyard the whole time," saying this she reached for the pendant and before her friends could stop her she had it off the neck to the decomposing body in front of her and on hers.
At the very same moment that it went over her head, her entire façade was altered. Her excited innocent blue eyes misted over with hatred and madness, her smiling joyful face turned sour and murderous, and finally her stance went from slouching slightly to pristinely upright and proper.
The other two cowered in fear, recalling the riddle that Jeremiah had told them of. Everything abruptly went still. Ariel, or now Beatrice, was moving in slow motion, and Jeremiah appeared to them with a loud crash and bang. "I warned you…" he said sadly, then continued, "your friend's soul is already lost. Her greed may have doom you all, but now while you have the chance, you must go. Go to the main entrance, and I will help you escape." With a loud crash and bang he disappeared, and time went back to its normal pace. Liz and Clara looked wildly at each other and ran.
As they fled back the way they came they could hear Ariel's voice calling out to them, "Guys! Where are you going? Why are you leaving me here alone?" But they both knew it was not their friend who spoke, but an insane and murderous woman.
As they ran desperately along the hallway, they came to a fork. They looked at each other with despair, and Liz started one way while Clara went the other. Liz wildly pulled Clara down her path, and they continued on, not bothering to check the floorboards before stepping on them. They reached the end of the long hallway, and there was a door. For some reason Clara had a sinking feeling that the hall had gradually become smaller and smaller, because her head was bumping against the ceiling.
"I don't remember this door, Liz! This isn't the right hall!" Clara said desperately. She could hear the cries of her ex-friend get louder and louder as the seconds ticked on. Then she remembered the machete knife they had brought to cut away the brambles, had she found it or did she have another weapon?
Panic quickly rose in Clara's heart, and almost took control of her, but Liz quickly said, "There is not only one way to the front, I'm sure that this will lead there too." She walked through with Clara and the two started to pile things against the door to bar Beatrice from entering.
As Clara was gathering things to put against the door she reached out blindly and grabbed a hold of something slimy and putrid smelling. When she brought it to the faint moonlight, she dropped it crying out in disgust. She had grabbed a human hand a forearm. When she turned her shakable mini flashlight into the darkness she started bawling hysterically. Before her was a mound of skeletal remains, each one in such a twisted awkward position that it looked as if they were still in agony, and at the very front was a creature so gruesome that it almost brought Clara to her knees. It was at least seven feet tall, and resembled an ogre with rough scaly mud-brown skin, blood-red demon eyes, and rotten breath that you could smell miles away.
Clara tapped Liz on the shoulder, trying to silently get her attention. Liz jumped she had never thought or believed in such creatures until this day, and it scared her to death.
Suddenly they heard a loud knock on the door. "LIZZZ! CLARA! WHY WON"T YOU LET ME COME WITH YOU?" They both froze in fear of the ogre, who had begun to stir ever so slightly.
There was a loud crash and bang, and Jeremiah appeared to them yet again. "I see you have chosen the wrong hallway, that was the fate of so many before you," he said absentmindedly flicking his wrist in the direction of the remains, "I may only save one person, once more. The decision will not be mine to make but for now, take my hand and we will leave this place." He reached out taking a hand in each of his, and walked them straight through the wall! Liz was so surprised by this that she let out a little yelp, preparing for the impact of the wall, only to be pulled straight through. Clara was more trusting, and was prepared for the cool rushing feeling that always results of walking through walls.
Jeremiah brought them all the way back to the fork in the hallway and said, "Here is where I leave you, but I will warn you more plainly this time. Do not trust this house, it is in cahoots with the mistress, and will do anything to make you fail." And with a loud crash and bang he vanished.
"Ok, this was the hallway that we went down before, so we should go down this one," Clara said. As they began down the hallway, they could hear the screamed of Beatrice become fainter and fainter. Finally, they could see the entrance to the building. The moonlight streamed through the shattered stain glass window, illuminating the entire room. Cobwebs hung from every corner, and the floorboards creaked ominously with every movement. The two girls had noticed it was creepy before, but now all they wanted was to leave this place.
Beatrice unexpectedly dropped straight out of the ceiling and into the girls' laps. This would have been funny, except for the fact that she was wielding the machete knife that they had brought with them.
There was a loud crash and a bang, and Jeremiah appeared to them for the last time. He said, "Only one of you will leave this estate the other will eternally be locked in battle with the mistress until the day that a new girl sacrifices herself to the task. Which of you will take her challenge?"
"I will," said Clara as she began to step forward, but an invisible hand stopped her.
"Because you have so willingly sacrificed for your friend, you will be spared," and with that Liz was thrust forward by Beatrice, who then wrestled her unsuspecting opponent against the wall. To Clara's dismay, the wall began to morph to her friends shape. Molding a perfect crevice for her; and when Beatrice maliciously pushed her in, the wall closed round her, smothering her and muffling her screams. "Go now! While you still have the opportune moment!"
Clara sprinted out the front door, and because though she thought she heard ghosts chasing after her, she continued to sprint all the way to Brady's car. Shrubs, bramble, and tree branches cut her as she rushed past them. She fell several times, in the dead of night, the mountain path was not inviting.
When she finally reached her boyfriends car, she jumped into the passenger side and yelled, "DRIVE!" But Brady was too busy staring incredulously at her ragged appearance. Her clothes were basically in shreds; her light brown hair that was usually neat was sticking out in every direction.
"What happened in there? Where are Liz and Ariel? Are you ok?" he worriedly showered her with frantic questions.
"Beatrice Berkley got them," she said crying, "I couldn't help them! You have to believe me!"
He stared strangely at her like she had gone insane, and slowly began to drive away from the mountain path.
Clara stared desolately out of her barred window. Her ex-boyfriend Brady had decided that she had cracked under the pressure, and had maliciously killed her two best friends. Of course, this was not what had happened, but since neither Liz nor Ariel had shown up in the past two weeks the cops had declared Clara their main suspect. When she tried to explain herself to the cops, Clara was declared mentally insane, and put in an asylum.
I am the soul survivor of the Berkley Estate, she thought sullenly but I am not free. No, I am as trapped as my friends' souls are until the day they are lifted of the curse of Beatrice Berkley.