When You Hear the Knell of a Requiem Bell by Flashbeagle
Chapter Ten
In this chapter: Kimberly gets startled by the attic bride, gets stuck at a macabre Mardi Gras ball, finds herself in a room with no doors and four paintings that do something very odd, and gets corned by 999 grim, grinning ghosts…
After my encounter with Madame Leota, I was even more unnerved than before, which is pretty hard to imagine, because I felt more on the edge than ever before after this morning.
I spent most of the day alone, in the attic, worrying about what might happen to me. Something inside of me wouldn't let me leave. Every time I tried to open the doors up front, they wouldn't open, or my hand wouldn't be able to open it. When I tried to leave through the library chute, the book wouldn't come down!
I fell asleep in the attic, and I must have been out for a good couple of hours, because when I woke up, it was pitch black inside.
I slowly got up, and yawned. That was when I heard it. A heartbeat. It wasn't my own…it barely sounded real. The thumping got louder, and louder, and I could hear it right behind me.
Someone, or something, was right behind me.
I whirled around, and came face to face with a sad face with green eyes filled with tears. A veil with a tiara is placed on her head, and the netting covers her long, curly blonde hair. She's in a very old fashioned bridal gown, and I can see a red heart glowing through her dress. The trunk was open.
I screamed.
"I won't hurt you." She promised. Her voice was very youthful, and her big eyes were filled with tears. My God…she must have been about sixteen when she died.
"I, I, I…"I stammered, and I ran out.
Nighttime had fallen quickly, it seemed. There was something very suspicious about the house tonight, more so than usual, and I just couldn't put my finger on it.
I heard laughter coming from the general direction of the ballroom. I took a turn to the other side of the hallway but Edward Gracey suddenly materialized next to me.
Shit.
"My darling," he started.
"Oh, no." I groaned, with my eyes widening in fear. I am so sick of being called 'darling'.
"Katherine,"
"Look Mr. Gra-er-Edward. I know what happened to Katherine, and I'm sorry, and I realize how weird it must be for you, and I know how crazy she was about you, but you've just gotta face the facts. I'm not Katherine. I'm Kimberly."
He gave me a haunting smile and grabbed my hand.
"Come, my love. It's time for the party."
I let out a very audible gulp. "What party?" I asked, my voice unusually high pitched.
"It's Mardi Gras."
"Um, I know."
"We can't be late," he said, and it's only then that I notice he's in full costume, his hair hidden by a wig, his eyes covered by a mask. He's dressed up exactly as he was in Madame Leota's vision.
He tightened his grip on my wrist, and suddenly I'm in full costume too. I'm in a fancy, long ice blue dress, a matching mask is in my right hand, with my hair down and curly, and for some reason it seems darker and longer, lacking the highlights I paid a lot of money for. How is that possible? My eyes blurred and I could not think for a second.
Everything seems different now.
A slightly astonished, adoring smile decorates my husband's face. "I have never seen you look more beautiful." He murmurs to me, with his eyes gleaming. "Are you ready to go now, Katherine?"
Slowly, I put on the mask. I lean onto Edward's arm and say, "I'm ready."
I hold onto his arm as we enter the ballroom, where happy, masked couples are dancing, and an organ is playing.
"Everything will change after tonight." Edward whispers to me. "We'll be together. I promise."
"Alright." I agree, as we begin to dance. I feel so safe…
I can't stand this. I can't deal with this. This has got to STOP! It's like having multiple personalities or something!
"Katherine, you look troubled."
"I'm NOT Katherine." I insisted.
"You are. You are remembering, but it's taking time. Just wait…"
"I don't want to!" I shouted, pushing his arms away from me. I wanted to run away but I couldn't. It was like my feet were cemented to the ground.
"You do not want to leave." Edward smiled. "You want to stay here with me."
Couldn't be further from the truth. "No, I don't. I want to go back to San Antonio! I never want to see you again."
"It is our destiny to be together, Katherine. Do not fear destiny, my love. It is inevitable."
"No, no it's not!"
"Do not be afraid."
I was pissed by then. I could feel my eyes glaring with anger as I ripped off the stupid mask. "Hmm, it's a little late for that! I've only been scared of you, since, what, the moment I met you!"
"You are confused, my love. And that is perfectly alright! I understand! But you have no reason to fear me. I love you as you have never been loved before!"
I backed off a little bit and tried to figure out how to convince him that I'm not his wife. This is going to require some really quick thinking…
But then it happened again.
I'm young here, and I'm with my parents, Mark and Eugenia Frees. We have just arrived at Gracey Manor, and Ramsley has just ushered us into the banquet hall, where a tall, dark, and very handsome man sits alone at a table, wearing a dark blue jacket over a plain blue shirt. I'm transfixed, while my parents shake hands with him. When he gets to me, I throw my hand at him and breathlessly say, "I'm Katherine." And then I think…
"No! I'm Kimberly!" I shouted. He moved towards me, but this time I ran.
This sucks. Everyone in the ballroom was trying to keep me from leaving. They kept grabbing at me, and did I mention how hard it is to make an escape when you're in an 1880s party dress?
Crap. This sucks. It sucks!
Once I got out of the ballroom, I was relieved to see that no one had followed me. I was dashing through one of the portrait halls, when I noticed something really, really weird. The pictures…they were…
CHANGING!
One, labeled 'Juliet Gracey', featured a beautiful brunette in a pink dress changing into an ugly, wilting old hag. Another, the one I thought looked like Napoleon on a horse, had the picture's figures changing into skeletons. A portrait of a girl with golden brown hair changed into that of Medusa. The last one, labeled 'Captain Gracey's Ship', featured a large boat changing into that of a ghost ship upon a furious black ocean.
Sort of looks like the one in Pirates of the Caribbean…boy, did that movie ever rock! Capt. Jack Sparrow was so freaking awesome and…I can't believe I'm thinking about Johnny Depp at a time like this!
I continued running, and I found myself in the room with the other four paintings. As I stared at them, the door disappeared! I'm serious! I turned my head for one second and it was gone. All of a sudden, the floor started to fall down! I'm serious, the room was sinking! And as it sank, the pictures stretched out.
The one of the girl holding the umbrella stretched out to reveal her on a falling tightrope, with an alligator waiting to eat her! The one of the smiling man stretched to reveal that he was sitting on top of two other men, in a pile of quicksand! The one of the frowning man revealed that he was standing on top of a pile of lit dynamite. The one of the older woman showed that she was sitting on top of a grave, with a bust in front of it…which had an axe sticking out of the head!
All of a sudden, the candles in the room blew out. The room was pitch black, except for a single spot of light at the top. The light drew back to illuminate something hanging from the top.
Oh my God. It's a skeleton! A skeleton is dangling from a noose!
The one light flickered off, and I could feel my heart slamming against my rib cage so hard that it hurt.
I heard what sounded like a door opening. Suddenly, in a flash of light, I was in the foyer again. As I was about to run up the stairs to get my stuff out of the attic, I noticed something very, very disturbing going on with the portrait of Edward Gracey.
One second it showed him pretty much as I knew him. The next, middle aged, then as an old man, and finally it showed him as skeleton…the same one I saw in the room with no doors!
"This is way too weird." I said out loud as I retreated back to the attic.
Before I could even pick my stuff up, the ghost of Emily Gracey confronted me.
"Don't be scared. I won't hurt you."
"Okay, so you won't hurt me. But I think your son-in-law wants to kill me so, yeah, bye!"
I grabbed my stuff and ran like hell down the stairs. Right when I was about to open the door and finally leave, two zombies, appeared and blocked me, each grabbing onto one of my arms.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" One of them sneered at me.
"Away." I muttered. Okay, I'm pissed now.
"No you're not." The other laughed.
"Don't you get it, mademoiselle? Another ghost with a French accent said, emerging from the portrait hallway. Oh my God. It's the woman from the painting, Juliet Gracey! She keeps going back and forth from young woman to scary old witch-hag.
"You're the missing link, cherie."
"Oh, I am not." I growled.
"Let me ask you this," Another ghost said as he stepped next to Juliet Gracey. It was the man who had been standing on top of the dynamite. "Do you think it was all a coincidence that YOU were the reporter selected to do this article? You, who has the same face, same voice, and soul as the late Katherine Gracey?" He turned to Juliet.
"Lovely to see you, Mother."
"Oh, George!" she laughed.
"Um, yeah. I do believe it's all a coincidence. Now if you'll just excuse me-"
I turned around to face two very pale children. I screamed.
"Where are you going?" the girl asked me.
"Oh, no. Not again." I groaned.
"Father? Why won't she accept her fate?" the boy asked. "Tell her she needs to stay."
"Thomas, son, we're trying. Edward has tried repeatedly. Even Mr. Ramsley has tried. She won't listen." George Gracey said.
"Hey, look, I've listened. I've just chosen to blow you all off, that's all."
As I tried to push past them, I saw ghosts appear everywhere. I mean, everywhere. Everywhere I look, there's a ghost.
Oh my God. There really are 999 ghosts here!
Ok, I'm not just scared now.
I'm terrified
End Notes: Here's another fun Kimberly fact. The character's name was originally Christine, but I changed it because I feel that Kimberly fits the character better.