Letters From the Past

August 21

Hawthorne University. Bellweather, Indiana. Lia takes a deep breath as she plops herself on her twin bed; this will be home for the next four years. Southern Indiana is a lot different than Philadelphia, that’s for sure, Lia thinks. 

“Well, sweet girl, I think you’re all set,” Lia’s mom says, straightening a picture frame on the mini fridge. She could tell her mom was struggling to look her in the eye - her only child was moving out and into her freshman dorm.

“Thanks for helping me move in, mom,” Lia says, watching her mom give the room a final lookover. “It looks great, really.” Knowing her, she was probably trying to figure out what else she could fix so she could stay just a few minutes longer.

Her mom lets out a chuckle and says, “Lia, of course! This is such a big day for you. I had to be here.” She could see her mom’s eyes start to shine; tears were going to start falling any second. 

She knew what a big change this was for her mom - Grandma Rose passed away not even two months ago, and now her only child is going away to college out of state. Of course her mom was going to be teary-eyed. Lia could feel herself start to choke up; this was going to be her first time being away from home for this long. It would be a big change for the both of them.

“Still, I really appreciate all of the help. I don’t think I would have been able to make my room look this nice by myself,” Lia says, laughing, giving her room another look.

“Well, I can’t say you’re wrong in that regards-,” her mom starts, her eyes glittering with amusement and pointing at the pile of books littering the floor. 

“Hey!” Lia says, cutting her off with an even bigger laugh. “At least I admit to it!”

“Hey, have you heard when your roommate is supposed to move in?” her mom asks, lowering her voice, eyeing the door. “What’s her name again? Agatha?”

“No, mom, it’s-”

“Agnes has arrived in paradise!” comes a voice singing from the hallway. The door swings open, nearly knocking into the wall, and Lia and her mom watch Lia’s new roommate stumble into the room with two of the biggest suitcases they had both ever seen. Agnes immediately stops in her tracks, her eyes landing on Lia’s copy of Stephen King’s It on the floor, and looks back up at Lia. “Oh. My. God. I seriously won the roommate lottery.”

“Well, there she is!” Lia says, giving her mom a chuckle. 

September 28

Walking arm in arm, Lia and Agnes make their way through Rose Hall for their Monday class of Writing Horror 101. Although the two hadn’t met before move-in day, Lia had scoured through Hawthorne’s roommate page that previous spring. She spent what felt like an eternity looking through every post, wanting to find the perfect roommate for the upcoming year. When she saw Agnes’ post, she knew she had to be roommates with her; she was a film major from the Chicago suburbs, was planning on bringing her entire Beatles vinyl collection to school and had the cutest orange cat ever imaginable. 

Within their first conversation, they asked each other if they wanted to be roommates and were color coordinating their entire dorm room; Lia went with white and cream, while Agnes had an earthy green with vines draping the wall behind her bed. By the end of their first night in the dorm together, they had already finished half a box of cookies and had upset stomachs from laughing too hard. 

As soon as they walked into the classroom, Lia could feel her roommate suddenly squeeze her arm. “No. Way. Lia, we have to be partners,” Agnes says, stopping Lia in her tracks; she noticed Agnes had a habit of pausing when she was excited and needed to take everything in. With an excited whisper, Agnes points and says, “Look at the board.”

Every Monday, Professor Taylor gave them a new short story prompt, whether it be about ghosts, zombies, or even vampires. By their Friday class, every student had to be ready to do a cold read of their story in front of the group based on that week’s prompt. This week was different, though. 

Short Film Final - Partner Up! Was written across the chalkboard. Out of the corner of her eye, Lia saw Professor Taylor smiling at Agnes doing her happy dance. 

As class started, Professor Taylor explained their prompt for that week. They were to find a historical location throughout Bellweather, whether it be a historical home, museum, or even city hall, and create a short film using their building’s history as part of their plot. “My only rule,” she says, “is that you have to have a partner. Three in a group if you must. But there will be no one by themselves. And, extra points if your building is haunted”

As students started partnering up, Lia watches the boy next to Agnes lean over and say, “Hey, do you mind if I join you two?” He has a nervous smile across his face. Lia recognized him from previous classes, but couldn’t remember his name. He hadn’t gotten picked yet for a cold read, and he was usually pretty quiet during class time. She thought she had seen him talk to Agnes a few times in passing, though. “I know you have the screenwriter and film maker spots filled already, but I’m alright with researching a lot. I’m from Bellweather - I’ve got the perfect spot for us. Plus, this place is actually haunted.”

Agnes shoots Lia a look that she already knows well. She knows exactly what Agnes is going to say without even having to hear her say it. Yes.

“Well, Mr. Bellwether, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a group of three.”

October 3

It was a chilly Saturday morning for early October in southern Indiana while Lia and Agnes waited outside for Everett and his little brother Noah to pick them up. Everett, being from Bellweather, decided to commute to Hawthorne instead of living on campus. The brothers shared a car on top of it, so Everett promised him he’d drive him to his girlfriend’s house after they checked out the supposedly haunted mansion.

Lia didn’t believe in ghosts herself, but Agnes most definitely did. She spent almost half of their girls’ night telling her ghost stories from her own haunted house. Lia had chuckled after each story, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Girl, I’m telling you! They’re real! You just haven’t had an experience yourself yet,” Agnes kept saying, urging her to believe with her. All Lia could do was continue to giggle and shake her head.

Finally, Everett and Noah pulled up in front of them, both with huge smiles on their faces. As the two girls climb into the back, Everett asks, “Are you ready to see the most haunted mansion in America?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lia says, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“I’m telling you, once you have an experience for yourself, you’ll know ghosts are real!” Agnes says, a huge smile forming on her face.

“What! You can’t be telling me you don’t believe in ghosts, Lia,” Everett says, whipping around to face the both of them, letting out a fit of laughter. “Especially being in this class!”

Lia can’t help but laugh with the both of them. “Hey, I guess I haven’t been chosen by a spirit yet.”

Twenty minutes later and through the most winding ravines Lia had ever been through, Everett slowly pulled into a driveway that was clearly in disrepair. There were obvious signs of a gate once existing, but clearly it had been broken for years. 

“This must be the longest driveway I’ve ever seen in my life,” Agnes says, her jaw hanging wide open. Lia couldn’t blame her - huge pine trees lined the entire drive, making her feel like she was in the middle of nowhere. 

But almost as soon as Agnes finished talking, the mansion suddenly appeared in front of them. It couldn’t even come close to what Lia was imaging, and at least ten times more beautiful than what she pictured. It felt like she had landed in the middle of a fairy tale; she could hardly believe this was just southern Indiana in early October. 

“You need to let me out of the car, like, right now,” Agnes says, hardly waiting for Everett to park the car before she opens the door and runs up the rest of the driveway, pausing as she gets closer to take everything in.

“Someone is excited,” Everett says to himself, chuckling softly. He pulls up the rest of the driveway and parks just behind where Agnes stopped to gawk. 

Getting out herself, she takes a moment to take in the entire place. This must’ve been gorgeous when it was actually taken care of, Lia thinks. Between the wrap-around porch and the two-story bay windows, on top of the fact that the house was painted a beautiful deep red, it was hard to pick a favorite part.

“I need to see the back!” Agnes exclaims, taking off in almost a sprint around the side of the mansion. Everett and Noah give each other a knowing smile, a twinkle in both of their eyes, as they follow her around. 

Before she could follow them both, a whoosh of wind swept past her, swirling already fallen leaves around Lia’s ankles and legs. Lia swipes at her face as the biggest leaf she’s ever seen flies into her face, until she hears the sounds of footsteps running closer and closer to her. She could hear the slap, slap, slap, of shoes against the crumbling concrete around her, as wind continued to rush around her.

As soon as Lia snatched the leaf off of her face, she watched every single leaf freeze midair, almost as if she was living inside of a photograph. Even the wind, which was just creating a whirlpool around her, stopped. It was eerily silent - too silent. She couldn’t even hear her friends anymore, even though they had just turned the corner. 

She rubbed her eyes, thinking (hoping, more than anything) that she was mistaken. There was just absolutely no way this could be real. But as soon as she opened her eyes, she could feel her heart sink. The leaves were still there, frozen in front of her, midair. Everything was still extremely silent.

“Agnes?” Lia tried calling out, her voice shaking. 

As soon as she spoke, every single leaf started floating to the ground, as if nothing had happened. What in the world? Lia thought. There’s no way that actually happened, right? 

Racing around the side of the mansion, she found her friends gawking over the thick vines starting to grow up the walls. Lia slowly watches Elliott point all the way up to a second floor window, where the longest vine stops, and feels her heart jump even further up her throat. This can’t be happening to me.

There, staring directly at her, was the angriest looking man she had ever seen, his mouth wide open in a scream, blood pouring from a wound in his temple.

Suddenly, she feels someone grasp her arms, and she can’t help but jump back in alarm. 

“Lia, what in the world are you doing?” Agnes asks her, giving her a concerned look. “We called your name probably five times! What are you staring at that window for?”

“You… you don’t see that?” Lia says, pointing to the window. Except as soon as she looks back up, her heart falls all the way to the bottom of her stomach. Every single window, even the one the man was just in, is boarded up. 

“What are you talking about? The wood? What about it?” All three of them looked at her, none of them able to hide their worried glances at each other.

“I… It’s nothing, nevermind.” She could feel heat rush to her face and the panic begin to set in. It felt like she was losing her mind. What is happening to her?

Midnight, October 5

Dear Lia,

Please come back to the house to visit. I was really hoping you’d be able to come inside, except my dad ruined the moment. We hardly get visitors anymore, but when everything first happened, he was starting to get tired of people being here every day. 

I told him it was okay for you to be here, and you can even bring your friends again if it makes you feel better. I just need you to come back here. 

Come into the house next time. My dad promised he’d stay away this time. He doesn’t mean to scare you.

Tyler

8:30 AM, October 5

“You’ve got to be kidding me. The non-believer gets a letter written from a ghost after her first visit to a haunted house?” Everett says, letting out the biggest laugh Lia has ever heard. All of them were sitting on the floor of Agnes and Lia’s dorm room, looking at the letter left of Lia’s desk.

“Well, that’s what I was actually going to ask the both of you,” Lia says, letting out a small breath. When I woke up this morning, this was just sitting on my desk. I don’t have any paper that looks like this.”

“And my handwriting doesn’t look like that!” Agnes exclaims. “I can prove it!”

“No, no, I believe the both of you. I just can’t believe it. You got a letter from a ghost. Not just any ghost, either, it’s Tyler.”

“Who is-”

“Who is Tyler?” Everett yells, cutting Agnes off. “As in the biggest murder case in Bellweather? As in the father who murdered his entire family, including his son Tyler, who Lia just got a letter from?”