A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle
Chapter Four: Kim and MORE Haunted History
"Melanie and I met in 1857." Lawrence started. "I was working on her father's railroad, and I saw her one day and just sort of fell in love with her. Melanie was so beautiful, like an angel. Eventually I worked up the courage to start talking to her, and she was just, she was just wonderful." He sighed. He was smiling and he looked so lovesick. You can tell he was totally crazy about Melanie.
"We had a lot in common, and we started to talk all the time. Then, one day she kissed me, and it was then that I knew our love was true. I started to court her, and Melanie told me that I was the only man she'd ever love, and that she wanted to be my wife. So I proposed to her, and when she accepted, oh wow, I had never been happier. Melanie was so proud, and she was bragging to everyone about our engagement. It seemed like everyone was happy for us, except-"
"Melanie's parents?" I filled in.
Lawrence nodded. "Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood were both from old money families, and Mr. Ravenswood had become even richer once he started his railroad company. My family was as poor as dirt, and the Ravenswoods thought that I wasn't good enough for Melanie. They wanted her to marry some stuffed shirt guy who wanted to be the mayor who was equally as rich as the Ravenswoods. And boy, did they let me know that."
"Ugh. How rude."
"Melanie was nothing like them, though. She was so warm and accepting and understanding. She was so kind and so sweet. When I told the Ravenswoods that we were planning on moving to California, they were furious. They accused me of trying to take their daughter away from them, but that wasn't it at all! Melanie and I were both big dreamers. We wanted to get away from Nevada. We wanted to try out our luck with the gold industry. Melanie overheard them yelling at me, and she burst into tears and locked herself in her room, and she refused to come out until her parents agreed to accept me as her future husband and until they apologized to me. It was then that Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood realized that Melanie and I were truly in love, and then they both gave their blessing to our engagement. I still felt some disliking from them, but they accepted that Melanie loved me, and that was all that mattered. Then, there was the earthquake."
I nodded. "The one that killed Henry and Martha Ravenswood?"
"Yes. It was just 6 days before the wedding, which was originally scheduled for June 21, the first day of summer. Melanie and I were at my parents' house at the time, and though my parents' house was badly damaged, we all survived. The Ravenswoods had thrown a party for all their friends when the earthquake struck. All of them were in the ballroom at the time, and all of them were killed. The whole situation destroyed Melanie. We called off the wedding, and Melanie spent a lot of her father's money restoring the house and she paid for the funerals of everyone killed by the earthquake. She took it so hard. For months, she would start crying at any random moment. I hated seeing her so sad, but I understood why. I told Melanie that if she still wanted to get married, I'd wait as long as she needed. In August, she told me that she wanted to get married in October, so we set the date for October 18, which was Melanie's birthday. We went up to California to see where we were going to live, and there she told me that she wanted to come back to her parents' house every summer and for holidays. And then, before we knew it, it was time for the wedding." Lawrence swallowed. I noticed that there were tears in his eyes.
"I, I got to the Manor early that day. Melanie at first didn't want to get married there, since that was where her parents died, but she decided to have the wedding at the Manor because that's what her parents had wanted. I got dressed and then I went into the portrait gallery. I started looking at the pictures of Melanie, and suddenly, all the lights went off. I looked up, and I saw, I saw a figure holding a noose. I heard a horrible noise, which I realized was evil laughter. And then, before I knew it, the noose was around my neck and I couldn't breathe. And all I could think about was Melanie, and that we'd never get married and that she'd just be put through more pain and she'd think that I killed myself and didn't love her and…"
I had tears in my eyes. That's the saddest thing I've ever heard! I put a sympathetic hand on Lawrence's shoulder, before I gave him a big hug.
"Guests started arriving, but no one noticed me because whoever killed me, the Phantom, I guess, had pulled up my body." He blinked before he spoke again. "I don't really remember the wedding. I don't know what happened. For some reason, I couldn't leave that room. It was like that for the longest time. I never even saw Melanie! One day, Melanie's aunt and uncle came to see her, and they entered the portrait gallery where I was killed, and the Phantom dropped my body, with the noose still around my neck, down on them, and of course, they ran out of the house in terror. But right after that, I finally saw Melanie. She walked through the portrait gallery, and I tried calling out to her, but she didn't even hear me. Melanie just kept on walking through, singing to herself. I followed her out of the gallery to the windows up front, and she told herself, and I even remember her exact words, 'Lawrence is coming home to me. He's coming. I know it.' I tried to call out to her to tell her that I was there, right beside her, but Melanie couldn't hear me. Then, I heard a horrible voice from somewhere above my head. It said, 'She is mine, Mr. James. Not yours.' The voice cackled, and from then on, it's been, well, it's pretty much been the same. Even after Melanie's death, when she began to haunt this house as well, I couldn't come into contact with her, and every time I have tried, the Phantom tells me the same thing that he did that first time."
"What do you think of the tourists?" I asked.
Lawrence shrugged. "I don't care, Miss Kim. I sort of like them, to tell you the truth. I stay away from them because the one time they saw me, the people ran out screaming."
"Does that happen a lot? People running out screaming?"
"Yes, ma'am. It has happened even more recently, because the Phantom hates them. He's been trying to scare them off, and he's been appearing to the guests himself."
"So, he's the skeleton-like specter out in the graveyard?" I asked.
"Yes. That's him. The graveyard's called Boot Hill, and as a matter of fact, Melanie's grandfather, Ezekiel Ravenswood, was the one who commissioned it to be built. He was Thunder Mesa's first mayor, you know."
I nodded, because I already knew that. This sordid little tale has turned into a classic question and answer session, but that's okay, because I have to know exactly what happened here. I have to know why the Phantom killed Lawrence. It's sort of like how, once I discovered that Katherine Gracey was the woman who looked exactly like me, I had to know more about her. I don't know what it is…when I have a burning question, I have to get the answer. Maybe I should've been a detective instead of a travel reporter. Detective Kimberly Fox…Detective Fox…ooh! I like that!
"Why is Thunder Mesa part of Frontier?"
"Frontier and Thunder Mesa were originally two different towns, but before 1900, Thunder Mesa was completely deserted, so as Frontier grew, it gradually encompassed Thunder Mesa, and Frontier's leaders declared it a historical landmark area."
"Why is it deserted?"
"Don't know. I've been stuck here for the past 144 years. The only reason I know about Thunder Mesa becoming a part of Frontier is because I hear it all the time when the visitors are here. I don't think anyone knows why the town is deserted. I think it has something to do with the Phantom, Miss Kim."
"Wouldn't doubt it." I said. Hmm…do I have any more burning questions? Oh, wait, yeah…
"What does Non Omiar Morry mean?"
"What? Oh, Non Omnis Moriar." Lawrence said. "It's Latin for 'I will not die completely.' Mr. Ravenswood was very paranoid about death, and he always talked about how he wanted to be immortal, so he made it into the family's motto."
Something clicked in my head.
"Hey, Larry- I can call you Larry, can't I?"
"Certainly, Miss Kim."
"Larry, I think I may have a candidate for who the Phantom is."
"Who?"
"Mr. Ravenswood."
"Mr. Ravenswood?" Lawrence repeated incredulously.
"Larry, think about it! He's got this insane fear of dying, and he said that thing about not dying completely. So he dies unexpectedly, and becomes a ghost so he can stick around forever. As the wedding date draws nearer, Mr. Ravenswood realizes that you're going to take his precious baby girl away to California, and that since he's confined to the Manor, he's never going to see her again because he never knew that she wanted to come back during the summers and on weekends and on vacation and stuff. So he decides to kill you so you and Melanie can't get married and so she won't leave Thunder Mesa! And to make sure she never even tries to leave, he makes her think that one day you'll come back to her and marry her, so she forever stays in the Manor waiting for you so she won't miss you in case you come back. And the thing about her not belonging to you was just him gloating because you didn't get her after all!" I blurted. "Did that make sense?"
Lawrence paused for a long time. "Yes, yes it did. You make a good argument, Miss Kim. It…it sounds very likely."
"See?"
"But Mrs. Ravenswood was just as overly protective of Melanie as her husband was. Do you think she could be haunting this house along with her husband?"
"I don't see why not. There can be a Phantom and a, um, Phantomette, I guess."
"Miss Kim, this is so strange. I know Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood disliked me, but I can't see them hating me enough to kill me."
"I know it sounds weird, but hey, I knew that Edward Gracey liked me, but I couldn't have seen him trying to kill me because I'm supposedly his dead wife's reincarnation either."
Lawrence nodded. "Guess you're right, Miss Kim."
Author's Notes: Boy this chapter is a lot shorter than I thought it would be. As always, thanks to the reviewers and anyone else who read it.