Chapter Five

            I hate nights when I can't sleep. That's what last night cracked up to be. I kept having all these dreams that I was Katherine Gracey. In my dreams, it was so weird, old 19th century Edward Gracey looked exactly like 21st century Edward Gracey and Ramsley was there too. (I guess that was what kind of creeped me out too.)

            There were no weird phone calls from Ramsley today, so I was able to stretch out my time as I pleased. I met Ben for lunch at a seafood place, which was really good, and I ingested so much popcorn shrimp, I felt kind of sick when I got to Gracey Manor. I had actually forgotten about everything as I opened the door to the Manor at about 1:15.

            "Hello, Miss Fox." It was Mr. Gracey. Shit. After yesterday, I really didn't want to see him ever again.

            "Um, hi Mr. Gracey."

            "Edward, please." He said, as he stared at me.

            "Uh ok. Then you don't have to call me Miss Fox, I guess. Everyone calls me Kim." I rattled.

            "Alright, Kimberly." Mr. Gracey-excuse me, Edward-said. "May I offer you any help this afternoon?" He is so hopelessly antediluvian.

            I shook my head.

            "You look so lovely today." He breathed. Well, THAT was out of left field! Even after yesterday! And I know for a fact I don't look nice today. My clothes are kind of dirty, my hair is a mess, and I'm paler than usual.

            I could barely hide my horror. "Th-thank you."

            Mr. Gracey just gave me that same smile he always gives me where his eyebrows raise up. "You are more than welcome, Kimberly." The way he says my name totally creeps me out. And the way he looks at me, which can best be described as amorously, is equally disturbing. Ugh. Figures I'd have the crappy luck to get assigned to write a story about a place that has a painting of its old mistress from the 1880s who looked exactly like me and is owned by a guy who wears the same Victorian era thing every day and has an obsessive crush on me.

            "I really should get started." I said quickly.

            "Wait a minute, Kimberly, I'd rather like to talk to you for a moment."

            Crap.

            "About what?" I said.

            "There is so much I do not know about you." He said. His eyes are just boring into me, causing a chill to run down my spine as he moved closer to me.

            Crap.

            "Um, I don't know anything about you either." I stumbled. And I'd rather like to keep it that way!  I'm really freaked out now. Scared, even.

            "Come with me." He said, motioning for me to follow him.

            "Uh, okay." Shit. Why did I say that? I could've said, 'No, I've got work to do.' Damn, damn, damn.

            We're at the banquet hall door, and he holds the door open for me, just staring at me the entire time. I'm so on the edge I can't even muster a "Thank You."

            I blinked and shook my head. Mr. Gracey even walked ahead of me and pulled out a chair for me to sit at. He sat directly across from me.

            Good. Some space. Although not as much space as I'd like.

            "Uh, this house has um, a really interesting uh, story. I think readers will be really interesting to read about it and how the people, uh died. The American public loves dead people! And uh, gross stuff." Where the hell did that come from? Oh God, get me out of here!

            "So, Kimberly, where were you born?"

            "San Antonio." I said rather curtly, looking away.

            "What is your favorite color?"

            "Blue."

            Mr. Gracey laughed. "I might have known."

            Damn. I knew I should've said chartreuse!

            "What is your middle name?"

            "Elizabeth."

            "Kimberly Elizabeth Fox." He repeated. "That's lovely."

            I have no clue what to say. 

            "Tell me, do you enjoy traveling?"

            "Yes." I answered, shaking. Well, duh. I certainly wouldn't have become a travel reporter if I didn't like to travel.

            "What's one place you've always wanted to go?" You know who he reminds me of? The Grinch in Halloween is Grinch Night. I think it's the eyebrows, plus the whole aura of eeriness. I wonder if he has an armada of the un-human race locked up in some huge wagon. He is that weird.

            "Paris." I said nearly automatically. Well, actually, Disneyland Paris. See, I'm a huge Disney freak, and one day, I'd like to go to all the Disney theme parks in the world. So far, I've only been to Disneyland in Anaheim, and that was with Ben's family when I was 13.

            Mr. Gracey's eyebrows lifted up. I totally would not have been surprised if his eyebrows started flying around the room. "Of course." He said, giving me a smile.

            I knew I should have lied and said Abu Dhabi.

            "What is your favorite flower?" Flower? Flower?

            "Roses." I should have lied. Damn, it why didn't I lie? It's like I can't or something!

            "Yes. Yellow?"

            My stomach flips. "Yes." As a matter of fact, my dad gives me a dozen yellow roses every year for my birthday. One year, Prince David did the same for me, and included this sappy card about how great it is to have a sister like me. (I admit it; I was crying when I read it. I may hate him most of the time, but when you get down to it, he is the world's greatest older brother.)

            "Tell me, is your birthday April 3?"

            My mouth fell open. "Y-yes."

            "I knew it." He chuckled.

            "How? Did they send you a fact sheet on me or something?"

            "I know you." He grinned, with his dark blue eyes shining.

            This is getting way too scary.

            "Um, you know, what, I, I have to start my work now!" I said as I jumped up. I ran upstairs to the attic, and locked myself in.

            For a while, I just kind of sat there idly. I wanted to waste as much time as possible. I started to write my article, and constructed a decent rough draft. I even read some entries in Katherine's diary that I had skipped over the day before. Most of them were about how much Katherine loved hosting parties with her husband, and how she always traced her husband's profile with her hands before she went to sleep every night. The last entry in her diary was about some big Mardi Gras party they were hosting, and how Katherine was planning on asking her husband to go on some big trip to France. After I read that, I yawned, walked around the attic, and decided to leave.

            When I was walking down the stairs, I saw Mr. Gracey waiting for me.

Shit. Why does my life have to suck so badly?

            "May I see you for a moment, Kimberly?" he asked me.

            "Um, sure." I can't bring myself to call him Edward. Way too weird.

            When I got to the foot of the stairs, he took my hand, forcefully, but gently, and led me to the hallway. There's something about him that reminds me of Count Dracula. If Dracula was an American Southern guy, not Transylvanian. I totally wouldn't be surprised if I found out he was a vampire.

            My stomach flipped.

            "Um, did you want to talk to me?" I offered weakly, my voice cracking.

            His hands went up to my face, and suddenly, he kissed me. Really kissed me. I mean, seriously. Intensely.

            I tried really hard to push him away, but he was way too strong.

            "Katherine," he murmured.

            I finally gave him a big shove.

            "You know," I started, disgusted. "If you're going to try to seduce me, at least get my name riii…you just called me Katherine, didn't you?" My jaw dropped.

            "I missed you so much."

            "What?"

            "You've been away for so long, Katherine."

            "You-you think I'm Katherine Gracey? You'd really want to kiss your dead great cousin aunt relative person?"

            "Of course not. But my wife…"

            Wife? Oh my God!

            "Who are you?" I demanded.

"Edward Gracey. Your adoring husband. Son of George and Mary, grandson of Ambrose, original owner of the-"

            "But he's dead!"

            "Whoever said I was alive?"

            Oh my God.

            One thing popped into my mind. "You're a g-g-g…"I trembled.

            "Ghost?" He smiled.

            I took a step back. "Ghosts don't exist." I stumbled.

            "I told you that you would be surprised."

            "B-b-but you're not a ghost! Ghosts are all see through or bony or green or floaty or"

            "You don't know much about ghosts, do you, my darling?"

            I stumbled backwards again. I have to get out of here. I, I…

            He took a step towards me, holding his hand out to me. "Come to me."

            "No! Get away from me!" I shouted.

            "Come to me, my love, so that we can be together again." What a cliché lovesick ghost line. "I was so worried I'd lost you forever. Fate was so kind, bringing you back to me. If you do not remember, I shall help you! Soon, you will remember everything! Oh, Katherine. I've waited for you for so long. I missed you so much, my darling. But now, now we'll never be apart!" He grabbed my hand and kissed it. "Just you and me, Katherine, together forever."

            "N-no!" I shouted, and I ran down the hallway. I have no clue where I'm going, plus I need to throw up, but-

            "Going somewhere, Mistress Gracey?" Ramsley said from behind me.

            "Get away." I groaned. I tried to push him away, but he wouldn't budge. Edward Gracey is closing in on me as well.

            Oh my God. Oh my God.

            "Katherine," he began.

            Everything started to swim before my eyes, and I fell to the ground.

            They were both hovering over me. Edward reaches down and I grabbed his hand, and with more physical strength than I knew I had inside me, I pushed him to the ground and ran. Ignoring them completely, I dashed out of the house, hopped in my car, floored it, and didn't look back once or slow down. I just couldn't get away fast enough.

            Screw the damn article. I am never going back there. NEVER.

Reader Reaction Time:

To Dominic: My PR version of The Haunted Mansion is much, much closer to the movie, which I actually found quite lacking...as there was no one for me to drool over! (LOL. I swear Disney should've put Glenn McMillan in as Eddie Murphy's adopted son or intern or something! But enough about my Glenn obsession…) Speaking of the PR/HM endeavor, there's much more to cover there…But I'm so glad you like it!

To Cmar: Yeah, I know the grammar's kind of shifty, but other than that, I'm glad you like it. (First person narrative is actually a lot harder than I thought!) Kim's one of my favorite characters I've ever written. I like her so much that I'm going to make her an ongoing character.

To Andrea: Thanks so much for the review! I totally appreciate it!