The Only Exception
My candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open. - Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
The yellow Victorian house in Willow Ave was quiet. All the lights had gone out hours before and as the clock hands slowly made their way around the face of the elegant grandfather in the front hall, a sly figure weaseled his way in.
Her blue eyes snapped open and she sat up abruptly in bed. Her heart was racing and she pressed a clammy hand against her chest. Had she been dreaming something terrible? She didn't remember, but surely something startling woke her up. In the gloom of her bedroom, she could make out the door opposite her bed and her vanity next to that. The house was still...but wait.
She strained to listen to the silence that permeated the air around her. Something could be heard, if she stilled her breathing. It sounded like voices...had her fiance left the television on downstairs? He wasn't in bed with her, so perhaps he'd fallen asleep down there.
Quietly, she rose from bed and slipped into her pink house coat. The bedroom door creaked on it's hinges but she barely noticed. Karen leaned around the banister and peered downstairs. A light was emanating from the living room, sure enough.
She let out a breathy sigh and moved down the stairs.
The television was on, but the screen was fuzzy. Why had she heard voices then? And, after gazing around the small parlor, she also noticed that her fiance was not snoring on the recliner. He wasn't in the room at all. Where WAS he?
Hesitantly, she moved to turn off the television set, but gasped loudly when the apparatus clicked off before she could reach it. The room was cast into darkness and she squinted her eyes to see. Was that movement in the corner?
"Dale?" she called out. "Dale, is that you over there?"
But no one answered her. Stepping closer to the recliner, Karen's slim fingers reached for the lamp on the small table and snapped it on. The room fell into sharp relief, and she saw that no one was there with her.
"It was just my imagination," she said, a chuckled slipping out with her tension. She turned the light back off and left the living room.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
She stopped abruptly. Was the kitchen faucet leaking again? Rolling her eyes, she crossed over into the kitchen and turned on the light. The faucet was dripping alright. She'd had to ask Dale to take another look at it.
Her had had barely touched the cool metal of the lever when the faucet came on full blast, splashing her in the process. She shrieked loudly and scrambled for the handle, turning it this way and that, but the water refused to turn off. "What in the world?"
Another roar joined that of the kitchen sink and panicked, Karen ran for the downstairs bathroom, appalled to see that sink running full blast as well. As she stood dumbstruck, the shower kicked on too.
"What's happening?" she screamed, clutching at her pink robe. In fear, she thundered back up the stairs, around the corner and into her bedroom. With the door shut firmly, she let out a shaky breath. What was happening? First, the television and then the sinks!
Turning to lean against the solid wood frame, something on her vanity caught her eye. A shimmer that caught the light...slowly, she approached.
There was a pair of glasses sitting there. They weren't hers or Dale's...where had she seen glasses like that before? Drawing in a sharp breath, they fell from her fingers and clattered to the floor.
"Adam..."
The door began to shake violently on it's hinges then, as though a terrible monster were aching to get in and tear her to pieces. All Karen could do was close her eyes and pray, tears streaming down her face. The rattling became more intense and even the walls shook.
"I'm sorry," she cried in between reciting the Lord's Prayer. "I'm so sorry, please leave me alone. I'm sorry, Adam. I'm sorry, Barbara. I'll stop, just please!"
And suddenly, everything went quiet again.
It was the winter solstice, so Autumn and Betelgeuse finagled a bonfire in the back yard and toasted to the gods. Within the fire, that notorious For Sale sign burnt into a crisp.
"I'm so glad that's resolved," Autumn grinned, bundling further into her long winter trench. "What exactly did you do to that poor woman?"
A few nights after Autumn's confrontation with the obnoxious Karen, the realtor had called Charles to tell him the house was off the market and she was so sorry for the inconvenience. That was the last they heard from her, apparently, she'd left town really quickly after that.
"Ya know, babes, just the good ol' fashion scare up tricks," the poltergeist chuckled, remembering fondly how easy it had been to spook her. Of course, tricking the lady into believing the Maitland's had been behind the whole thing was a spur of the moment stroke of genius. They probably wouldn't be too happy if they knew about it though...
"I'm just glad she's gone now," the girl next to him sighed. Things had definitely started looking up for them, she mused. She'd finally finished her novel and sent it off to the presses. Her agent was impressed; he supposed this could be the manuscript that would secure her career as an esteemed author.
And Charles had agreed to let her stay in the house indefinitely, that was really the best part. She couldn't imagine living anywhere but in the spooky house in the hill with the equally spooky and annoying ghost she'd come to rather adore.
Speaking of said ghost, she noticed that he was slyly trying to slip around her and pull her close. This was odd, because normally he was so brazen in his "seduction" attempts. Autumn turned to look at him. "What's up?"
"Oh nothin'," he hemmed. "Just, uh, ya know, wanted to say it's been pretty good havin' ya around. That's all."
She smiled. "Yes, I quite like you, too."
Betelgeuse turned to her, surprised. "You do?"
"Well seeing as I'm stuck with you, it's probably better that I do."
He could agree with that. He couldn't imagine anyone else in the world, living or dead, he'd want to be tethered to either. Autumn was a special case, a gloomy little cookie, and she put up with him. If he had a living heart, it'd probably beat for her. But let's keep that sappy shit to ourselves, hmm?
She looked up at him, taking in his features. He was lovely in his own way, once you got past the mold and unruly hair. His eyes were his nicest feature, she decided.
Betelgeuse caught her eyeballing him and with a wicked grin, had her on his lap in seconds. She let out a squeak and blushed a lovely rosy red color all the way to her ears. Their first kiss had been an accident. The second was rudely interrupted. "Third time's the charm, ain't that what they say?"
"What?"
His mouth covered hers, barring all further questions. This time it was amazing.
"Hey babe?"
Autumn opened her eyes, her breath coming in shallow bursts. He leered down at her, a wide grin stretching across his face.
"Wanna get hitched?"
Hello, I know you guys have been waiting a while on an update. I'm both saddened and really happy to announce that this is the final chapter. An abrupt ending, you suppose? Yeah, that's kind of my style. But now it's left wide open for you to imagine your own future for these two weirdos. Heck, you could even write a sequel if you wanted - I'd be flattered!
If you're a Burton fan in general and are curious about my other works, I do have an Edward Scissorhands fic in progress, so check that one out too! Hope you all have a lovely day/night and it was a pleasure writing for you!