Pulling up to the mansion, I saw Mr. Wheeler, the lawyer who was in charge of the estate. Parking my company moving truck, I walked up to him and said, "Mr. Wheeler, a pleasure to see you again. What kind of story does this estate have?"
He shook his head and said, "Massie, I wish I could say it was all puppies and rainbows. However, over the last three hundred years, the estate has been here; there have been over seven hundred deaths."
"Excuse me," I said.
He said, "Seven hundred and seventy-nine deaths to be exact."
"You want me to cross over seven hundred and seventy-nine spirits?" I asked.
He nodded and said, "That is correct, and your pay will be for all the items in the estate. The owner has left stacks of cash, jewelry, and valuables. All for you to take if you get the ghosts to cross over. You will report back to me the names of the spirits you cross over and when they are moved."
"You know that I can move and cross over a spirit," I said. "They can return or come back."
"We understand that," He said. "However, we will deal with that if we need to. You will be able to hopefully do an additional walkthrough on the buildings that are cleared before your finished with the job. Are we still looking at a one-year time frame?"
"I told you eighteen months," I said. "Especially now since there are seven hundred and seventy-nine ghosts."
He sighed in frustration as he said, "Fine, five hundred and fifty days. Where are you starting?"
"The main house," I said. "The house is calling me. I am hoping that I can cross the people over from there and not trap them."
"Well I will leave you to it," He said. "I am curious how you will get everything packed and move them over."
"Easy," I said. "I will start in the kitchen and speak to the ghosts as I work. Gather the garbage, pack the items, and move the items to the work truck. My timer starts tomorrow, and my assistant will be here later today to start helping me."
"Assistant?" He asked.
"Yes," I said. "Otherwise known as my husband. He will be here driving the truck to our store and pricing various pieces to get on the floor and put the rest in the storage room. He handles the items, and I handle both the items and the ghost."
"Understood," He said. "You will be staying in the buildings correct?"
"Incorrect," I said. "We will be staying in our sprinter van next to the building we are working on. We requested the power and utilities stay on until we are finished with the buildings, then each building can be shut off individually. Now Sam will be here in twenty minutes and we are going to get our groceries. We will use the water for our tank and that is it. I know in the barn there is a place to empty our dark water and waste. So is there anything else we will need?"
There was rumbling in the distance, and he said, "No. Take care, Massie."
I watched him leave and I went into the hosue and stood near the base of the stairs as I said, "Hello everyone my name is Massie. I know between all the rooms on the estate there are seven hundred and seventy nine of you. We need to have you move on because I will be able to see you and the people who inherited the estate want to turn this place into a resort. Believe me you do not want to be here. I have five hundred and fifty days to move you all on or they will bulldoze the buildings that are left. I will help you, I promise. I will listen to your story. But please understand they want you gone."
I heard shifting around me and the door to the house opened. Sam walked in and said, "Well, I saw shadows on the upper floors. We have a lot of work to do, don't we?"
As I saw a child run across the landing, I said, "Yeah, we do. But first lets go get our supplies."
He said, "I have the house if you're ready."
I nodded as he rolled in the cart and I said, "This is a stack of Spirit houses, if you do not want to go to the afterlife, we can move you to our own personal store. Some people buy the spirit houses and keep them as a way to honor the dead. There are your own personal rooms, you can make your own. The room's windows will light up when a spirit occupies it. This is a no-questions-asked way to leave, and Max will bring you to our store when he brings the truck full to our store. This stack of houses can hold up to thirty spirits with five spirits to a house. We will see you all in the morning. We do not work before five in the morning and after six in the evening."
I left the stack of spirit houses at the base of the stairs. When I reached the door, Sam touched my arm and nodded to the house, where we saw three windows light up. When we has shut and locked the door, he said, "I think I will be bringing many of the spirit houses back with me. Now, how many spirits are on the estate?"
"You will be shocked," I said. "Seven hundred and seventy-nine spirits."
"Are you serious?" He said. "Do you think that we will get it done in the next 550 days?"
"I think we will be able to get it all done before the deadline," I said. "I closed my mind before I went in, except for seeing the children running on the landing."
He said, "Well, I guess the spirit boxes may fill fast. So let us go get some groceries and set ourselves up. I did see that there is a drain for black water and a hose for the clean water near the garden shed, next to the main house."
Walking into the sprinter van, I said, "I thank god we put in the larger apartment fridge and smaller kitchen cabinets."
The back of the van held our bed that lifted to our electrical unit and our clothing. The cabinets along the back of the van held our toiletries and towels. Then our waterproof toilet and shower were in the same cubicle. Across from the shower was our stove, airfryer, sink and cabinets that hold our plates and non-perishables. Then there was a small cabinet behind the driver's seat that held our electronics, paper items, and snacks. At the bottom of the cabinet was a small camper washer we use in the bathroom
I lifted the bed to grab a sweatshirt and sat in the passenger's seat. Sam said, "So let us get to the grocery store, and I believe we are starting a new YouTube channel."
"Well, we will hopefully stay awake long enough to watch a show," I said.
We drove to a local publix and each of us grabbed a shopping cart to get the groceries we needed. We walked through the store starting with the non-perishables, and once that cart was full, Sam took out the items and placed them on our bed. As I continued to shop with the remaining non-perishables and started the deli for perishables. By the time Sam joined me I was starting on the frozen food section. We finished the shopping and loaded the perishables into the van.
We drove back to the estate and parked next to where Sam could hook up the water and black water lines while I put everything away. Once he was finished, he took a shower while I finished putting away all the non-perishables. When he got out of the shower, he said, "How about I make some chicken patties for dinner while you're in the shower, and we have macaroni salad to go with it."
"That is a good idea," I said. "When you bring the first load to the store for Henry to price and sell, I think you should go up to the apartment and bring some of the groceries back that are up in our apartment. I would hate for the food in the fridge and freezer to go to waste."
He said, "That is a great idea. What about canned and packaged goods?"
"Baking stuff, bring it here." I said. "But I would suggest bringing what you know we can fit. We have a rice maker, crockpot, airfryer, and single-serve coffee maker. Now, before you lleave I will make a list of what we may need. You never know, there may be things here."
I took a shower, and when I came out, Max had dinner ready to go. When dinner was done, I prepped dinner for the crockpot for the next day. Sam asked, "BBQ chicken?"
"I figured it would be tasty," I said. "Besides, we are supposed to have rain tomorrow and the temperatures are supposed to start dipping."
"We get off for holidays correct?" he asked.
"Yup," I said. "Oct 31st, Nov 20-28, Dec 23- Jan 2, Jan 16, Feb14, Mar 3-6, may 28-june 2, july 1-5, sept 3-7."
"Does the 550 Days include the days off?" He asked.
"No, it does not," I said. "We do have the option to work on those days, however, we are not required to."
We sat down and loaded the YouTube Channel Kara and Nate. We loaded up the first ten episodes of the series and sat on our bed eating our food. We were eating when we heard the first round of thunder. I said, "Man, we will need to turn the truck around in the morning."
Sam said, "Stay here."
Sam went outside and turned the truck around. I heard him open the back and place the ramp on the front porch. When he got back, he said, "I placed the ramp down on top of the rubber mat and placed the stabilizer legs down for it. We have 4 boxes of industrial garbage bags. and stacks of boxes ready to be filled on the left-hand side."
Day 550 Oct 2nd
He placed our laptop on the shelf, and we lay down to fall asleep. We fell asleep, and I woke up around three in the morning to use the bathroom, and saw the lights on the top floors on and shadows moving through the house."
I went back to sleep, and when our alarm woke us up at 730am I placed the pillow over my head and said, "I don't want to."
Sam laughed as he climbed out of bed and I felt the van was much cooler. Pulling on a long-sleeve shirt and a pair of leggings. Then I placed the crockpot on the counter to cook while we are working. Sam and I each poured some cereal and ate as I worked on the store website, promising to upload pictures of the work done on the first day of working on the estate. Sam opened the truck and handed me the sheets of cloth to lay on the furniture that Sam would move while I was packing and sorting items. That and talking to spirits to cross over. I unlocked the door and opened it. Looking at the stack of ghost houses, I saw all that all three houses were full.
Pulling out my phone, I called Mr. Wheeler via video call. He picked up and said, "Massie itis day one, do you have an update?"
"Good Morning Mr. Wheeler," I said. "I do indeed have an update. These are my ghost houses and we have three full spirit houses. We are moving our fifteen ghosts to my store. They will be packed into specialty boxes today and loaded into the moving truck, so we are down to 535 ghosts on the estate left."
He said, "Once they are in the house can they get out?"
"The ghosts make a choise to live in the houses," I said. "Typically they cannot leave."
"Good," He said. "Good luck."
Sam came in with all the boxes that would hold the ghost houses once he moved them to the store. We had multiple walls of the store filled with full ghost houses. We walked through the house, and I placed the towels on the furniture that Sam would load onto the truck while I started to sort. After I finished placing the towels, I grabbed a few boxes and a hand cart. I headed up to the attic, and Sam said, "I will go ahead and bring up the boxes from the truck, then start with the furniture and spirit houses."
Looking around, I saw piles of items all over the place and drawers and cabinets open. I said, "Hello, everyone, I am going to open my mind's eye and will be able to see you. I will be able to hear you. If you do not want to deal with me, there are ghost houses at the bottom of the stairs that you can choose to live in."
Sam texted and said, "Another window lit up. I hope we will have enough spirit houses till I come back from the store."
I replied, "Do me a favor and check in with Henry. Make sure he has the paperwork ready in an envelope. Also, let him know that you will go to the bank for the deposit every few days when you come back. The cash should be dropped into the safe."
He chuckled as he walked into the room and said, "Henry can handle it, Massie. You will have everything to keep the paperwork up to date."
I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I saw a couple near the windows overlooking the lawn. I said, "I can see you both my name in Massie, and I would love to know why you do not want to leave?"
The woman stepped forward and said, "We are afraid that we will never see each other again."
My heart hurt for a moment, and I asked, "What are your names?"
The gentleman came over and sat on a chair as he said, "I am Mitch, and this beautiful lady is my wife, Gilly."
As I sorted and either packed items or trashed items, Mitch told us their story, "I met this Angel when I came home from the war. Gilly was a waitress in the speakeasy I frequented. When I asked her why she was working there--"
"I told him that I wouldn't have to work here if the factory let us gals keep our jobs," She said. "Mitch was very persistent and would come to the speakeasy every night to see me and ask me on a date. I finally said yes after a month."
"I knew I was in love the first time I saw her," Mitch said. "However, I did not want to push her. When we had been dating for three months, I could not wait anymore and I asked her to marry me. I got a job with the owners of the estate's family, Mr. Murphy. He let us live in a workers' building. I worked in the barns until the day I passed."
Gilly said, "When Mitch passed, I worked as a seamstress repairing clothing and furniture, and passed away a few months later."
Mitch said, "I was standing by the lake when I heard a voice call out. I had to search most of the property before I could find you."
I smiled and said, "So you are afraid to cross over because you are afraid you will be separated? You know that the new owner is going to tear down any buildings that I cannot clear."
Mitch asked, "What about those houses?"
"They are one ghost per room," I said. "I cannot guarantee that you would be able to see each other in the houses."
"Can we decide what we want to do by the time you finish the attic?" Mitch asked.
"Sure thing," I said. "We may very well need to buy more if they decide to make this easy on us."
My alarm went off, and we went out to the sprinter van. As we walked past our work van, I saw that the truck was filling up nicely. I pulled out tortillas and made us some wraps for lunch. Sam said, "You know that we are keeping pace nicely."
"How has moving furniture been going?" I asked.
"I got half the items moved along with the three filled ghost houses," he said. "When I get back, I am going to take out the full garbage bags and garbage items you have and move the items you have sorted from the attic so far."
I worked on notes for the article I am going to write for Mitch and Gilly. As I made notes, I ate and jotted things down. Sam lay on the bed with his phone, and I asked, "Are you alright?"
He nodded and said, "Yeah, I am alright, the back is a bit sore. The cooler weather is bothering me a bit."
"Can I get you anything to help you?" I asked.
"Nah," He said. "I need to remember to use the hand cart."
"Okay superman," I said. "Why don't you rest for a while and come back in when you're feeling better?"
I leaned over and gave him a kiss, "Love you."
Walking out the door, I went inside the main house, and I noticed another ghost house window was lit up. I went back upstairs and found Mitch and Gilly sitting on a chair, talking to each other. When they saw me, Mitch said, "We are glad you're here. We are going to take a leap of faith and cross over. We figure that if we do not go over together, we will find each other."
"How can I help?" I asked.
"Will you walk us to the lake?" Gilly asked.
"Of course," I said. "Is there anyone else up here that you want to say goodbye to?"
Mitch said, "No one else is up here in the attic, Massie. Many of the main house ghosts are debating on going into the ghost houses. I know three children all went in for their own room and a place to stay."
Nodding I said, "I am adding more of the ghost houses in the stack later this afternoon," I said. "My husband was having some back pain, so I decided to come in here and work on my own for a while."
Mitch said, "Well, if you would like to walk us, I think we are ready."
We got to the back lawn and they both thanked me. They turned to each other and embraced. Mitch pushed back Gilly's hair and said, "I will see you soon if we get seperated. I will love you here and in heaven."
Turning to the water, they started to walk to the shore, slowly disappearing. I had a smile on my face as I went back into the van and wrote a few more inches on the notes. I grabbed three more ghost houses and stacked them by the stairs. I removed the next full ghost house and added it to the truck. I walked through the house and placed more of the towels on furniture that needed to be loaded.
Going up to the attic, I grabbed the garbage bags and the broken lamp down to the dumpster. Then I came up for the boxes I had ready. The last pile was six chairs that were sorted. Looking at my watch, I saw we had a few more hours, so I went back to work in the attic. I stacked the items, and at 5pm I heard, "I fell asleep, babe, you should have woke me up."
"I know babe," I said. "But you were snoring your pain snore."
"You seemed to get a lot sorted." He asked, "What do you need me to do before the alarm goes off?"
I pointed at the stack next to the door. I said, "The pile on the left is for the store the pile on the right, next to the garbage bags, is for the dumpster. I had found a large amount of molded items."
"Were you alright with the mold?" He asked. "No allergic reactions?"
"No I am okay," I said.
"Alright," He said. "Let me get everything up here moved. Why don't you head down to the formal living room and pack some of the decorations until I am done with them? I will make the baked potatoes to go with dinner while you sit and write."
"Deal if you make it the kitchen instead of the living room," I said.
I went into the kitchen and opened all the cabinets and drawers. Grabbing a box, I started packing up the first drawer, tossing the garbage into a Walmart bag. Sam came and found me when I was closing the next drawer. I took the bag and brought it outside to the dumpster. Sam shut the door to the truck and I locked the house door.
We went to the van, and I sat down writing an article about Mitch and Gilly on the store website. When I finished the article and hit publish, I stood up and took a shower. Getting dressed, I climbed onto the bed and saw that Sam had transferred the chicken to a dish, washed the crockpot container, and was making our baked potatoes.
I fell asleep while we were eating dinner. I woke up around three to use the bathroom and I saw many lights on all over the property. I hoped that the ghosts realized that you will be removed one way or another. Lying back down I fell into a deep sleep again.
Day 549, Oct 3rd
When I woke up I got up and used the bathroom. Charles has woke up early and i assumed went for a job. I heard a car in he driveway and when I stepped outside I found Henry in his truck. He said, "Hey Massie."
"What are you doing up here Henry?" I asked giving him a hug.
"Sam called me and asked me to bring up extra spirit houses," He said. "I went to the store and filled up my truck. I also grabbed a rolling spirit house so you can bring it room to room with you. It holds 20 spirits and when we worked the hotel the last year it worked well."
He loaded the spirit houses into the sprinter van and took a stack to the front door. I unlocked the door and he opened and stacked a few on each floor. He then brought the rolling apartment to the attic. He had me open the truck and load the full houses into his truck. He said, "Well I am sure I will see Sam soon enough. Don't worry I will get these up on the wall when I get to the shop. I have more things from the hotel going to the floor today. I will see you later."
Henry left and I went inside and make some breakfast for Sam and I. When he came in I said, "You called Henry."
"I did," He said. "I wanted to make sure we had enough spirit boxes. I figured it would be a suprise."
"Well he placed Spirit boxes all through the main house and took the ones that were full," I said. "He brought one of the spirit hotels and placed it in the attic. I am going to go into the main house and let the seriousness of the situation. When I am done I will open the doors."
Walking into the house, I went to the center of the first floor and rang a bell I carried to alert spirits I needed to talk to them. I said, "Hey everyone I need to speak with you all,"
I started walking up the stairs and stopped on the second landing. I said, "I am going to try to explain to you all about the situation you are in. I need you to either cross over, which I will help you with or use a spirit house and be relocated. The owner is quite adament that any building that has a ghost in it will be torn down. I have the ability to see and speak with you. I know it can be scary and when I am in the building I will be able to see and hear you. If you would like to have any questions answered, I will be in the attic or I will see you when I come to all the rooms and closets."
When I got to the third floor I said, "Remember if you want a no-questions-asked exit, you have the ghosts houses which will bring you to my store and possibly going to a new home. If you want to speak with me and then go to a spirit house I have a large one in the attic with me. Please understand though the owner is adament he will bulldoze the buildings with ghosts."
I took the towels I had from yesterday for Sam to pack and move and placed more throughout the mansion. I looked on each floor and saw that only one spirit box on the second floor was full. I loaded it into its case and brought it down to the truck. When I laid the last towel down I went to the door and lt Sam in.
He asked, "You ready?"
Nodding I said, "You will see the towels on the furniture, and I will have another load from the attic ready in an hour for you."
He nodded and said, "Okay. I also wanted to ask you if you think I should load the truck to the doors and let Henry deal with it so you are not left here."
"If you leave when it fills you can help empty some of it and bring the smaller truck back with you we should be fine," I said. "We can plan daily."
He kissed my forehead and headed towards the dining room and I headed to the attic. Opening my minds eye when I started working in the attic again. I had started getting into a rhythm when I saw a window lit up in the ghost hotel. I smiled and a while later I heard, "Could you help me?"
I looked at a chair sitting in the middle of the attic and saw a young woman. I asked, "How can I help you?"
"I am sorry to bother you," She said. "I think I am ready to cross over. However, I would love to see a few pictures before I am to leave."
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Ella," She said.
"Well Ell," I said. "Where are the pictures you would like to see?"
Pointing to the chest in the corner I walked over and opened it. I looked in and then asked Ella, "Where are the pictures."
She leaned over and gave a big smile as she said, "The red velvet wrapped box."
I took the pictures out nd walked to a pile of crtes I turned them into a table and opened the cloth and pictures. I took out the pictures and lad them on the table. She leaned over and looked at the pictures as she asked, "Do you think they are on the other side waiting for me?"
"I don't have the answer to that," I said. "But I hope they are for you."
She started to tell me a story as she looked at the pictures, "I came to the estate when I was in my twenties. My husband had been thrown from a horse and could not work. I had been a maid in the house when I was younger and asked the owner's wife at the time for a position, if possible. The owners wife hired me on as a mid in the women's cottage. So I would come to work every day and still be home at night and the weekends to be with my husband and children."
She pointed to the picture and said, "That was a picture we had taken at an outdoor festival. My daughter was four in this picture. She was so still when we had this taken. This picture was me and my husband on our wedding day. This was my parents with my brother. I wish I could have done a death picture of my husband and daughter."
"What happened," I asked.
She said, "There was a big snowstorm in March of 1923. It went from a gentle snowfall to a white out blizzrd in less than an hour. There was wood in the kitchen of our apartment, and my husband had kept the fire going for the first 12 hours of the storm. My husband and daughter climbed onto the couch and, with a fire, fell asleep. In the middle of the night, the blizzard caused the snow to turn to ice, and it blocked the chimney. They died from the smoke in their sleep."
"I am so sorry," I said.
She asked, "Can I have some time looking at the pictures?"
"Of course," I said. My alarm on my phone went off and I said, "I am going to have a sandwich and will be back soon."
I saw ghosts as I walked though the amin house and an older spirit walked out of a room and said, "I think some of us will decide when you come to the room we are staying in. Those spirit houses, are they nice?"
"From what a spirit explained when a spirit house was broken," I said. "The room you go nto turns into your own space. He said his was a massive library. Another spirit told me his was a huge garden."
He nodded and said, "It is something to think about."
Sam met me by the door with a box of items and he said, "We will need a lot more boxes. I am guessing by tomorrow afternoon I will be bringing a full box truck to the store."
Going into the van I said, "I think we will be finished with the attic in a few days. Then I will drag everything to the basement. I am trying to let the spirits decide. Gilly told me as we were walking to the lake yesterday that the ghosts have decided that they will either see me to talk about crossing over or they will go to the spirit boxes."
Taking out the ingredients for grilled cheese, I made us sandwiches and tomato soup. We sat talking and I said, "Well babe I think we will have another spirit crossed over after lunch."
He nodded and said, "Well that is great. I will be honest with you babe I am feeling it bad right now."
"Then why don't you lay down and rest," I said."I will pull the items from the attiic and load the truck or throw it in the dumpster."
He said, "I hate that you are doing the hard work."
"Well i am going to use the hand cart," I said. "Would it make you feel better if I stay on the first floor while you are resting?"
He kissed my head and said, "Yes it would make me feel much better. I will clean up in here and lay down for an hour."
I went inside and saw that some of the ghost houses are filling up. When I got up to the attic, Ella was sitting there and said, 'Massie I think I am ready."
Where would you like to go?" I asked. "Out the front door and down the driveway."
She went to the attic door and called out, "I love you all and hope to see you in the afterlife."
We went to the front door and I walked out with her. She said, "I see a light and I see my family.
"You take care Ella," I said.
I watched Ella walk to end of the driveway and as she approached the gate she faded and I heard her say, "I have missed you so much."
Going back into the house I went up to the attic and started to drag down the garbage first. When I was taking the garbage to the dumpster, I noticed that dark black storm clouds were forming. After I finished with the garbage I loaded all the sorted items into the truck. I lowered the back of the truck incase the storm hits before I am finished. I went back to the attic and started to take some pictures of Ella's family pictures.
I looked at the Spirit Hotel and saw two more lights on. More than halfway done with the attic. I was moving through the attic as I packed more when I heard, "Your husband is in a lot of pain."
I turned to see a man in a white Doctors coat and I said, "I know and the Doctors cannot do much for him."
"What happened," He asked.
"We own a store an hour away," I said. "I had been feeling tired and went to lay upstairs in the office. I have a couch that covers the safe. Sam was downstaors and had went to srop mail across the street. A guy saw him leave the store and head in the direction of the bank and post office and thought that he was doing a cash drop."
"How bad was it?" He asked.
"He beat Sam within an inch of his life," I said. "I heard the firetruck and went downstairs as the bakery owner next door came to find me. He was in a medically induced coma for a week. The guy almost broke his back and he had a head injury. He is still healing. He hates that I can do most of this myself, however, he is now able to work in baby steps."
"That is why you leave options all over the place," He said.
Stacking another box and a small table in the keep pile I said, "I do not want him to feel like he is not contributing. Our Store worker Henry does a lot of the heavy lifting now and I told sam to change the trucks and leave them to Henry."
He went to the door and said, "We will speak again soon."
Shrugging I jumped when another boom of thunder happened. Looking at my watch I saw it was going on four. I brought the garbage down and went to get the completed items. AFter everything was loaded, I decided that I would work in the entry way. Grabbing a box, I went to a cabinet in the entryway and started to sort it out. When my five-thirty alarm went off I placed the sorted things in the truck, shutting and locking it. Then I locked up the house and headed to the sprinter van.
When I came in Sam said, "Hey baby I am gettig up."
"No stay resting," I said. "I will be making us breakfast for dinner."
I finished cooking and placed Sams food in the fridge as he went back to sleep. I laid in bed and fell asleep quickly. I left myself a note to write about ella, the old man and the doctor in the morning. After taking a shower, I fell into a deep sleep and slept hard, not waking till morning.
548 Days, Oct 4th
Sam woke me up the following morning and kissed my cheek. He said, "Baby, are you feeling well? You shut the alarm off, and it's ten in the morning."
I stretched and said, "Honest baby, no, I feel sick."
He said, "Stay in bed for a bit."
I felt him get out of bed, and I dozed off. When he shook my shoulder, he said, "There is a cup of tea next to you and some butter and jellied toast. Do not push yourself, Massie. I am going to take the work truck to the store and switch it out. I will pick up some of the food you wanted from the house and then get you some home-cooked food from McGills."
I heard him pack up the ramp and shut the door to the truck. Then I heard him pull out of the estate. I sat up enough to drink some of my tea and nibble on my toast. I felt off and exhausted. I decided that I would not let feeling sick bother me. Standing up I took a quick shower and slowly got ready for my day. I pulled the washer out from its holding spot and started a lot and of laundry as I cleaned up the van. After I hung the clothes up on the small drying rack we had outside I filled my sports bottle with water, walking into the house.
Looking at my watch I called, "out good afternoon everybody sorry I was a little late today however I wasn't feeling too well."
I heard some footsteps around the house and I proceeded to look at all the ghost houses noticing that there was a few more rooms taken but none were full in the main house and I went up to the Attic. When I went to the attic I did see that there was now five rooms taken instead of the three from before.
Walking to the door of the attic again I went down to little stairwell and stood on the third floor of the house over the landing and called, "out I would love to meet you all and get to know your story just please be aware I do still need to move you off from the house and the property eventually I will help you move on if you want to I am going to be up in the attic working slowly just say hello and I'll listen."
As I grab the box I was working on the day before and started sorting through more papers that would either have to be destroyed or put up for historical auction I realized I had not had a real day off in a long time. Sam and I had come right from the hotel job to this job with him only stopping to drop off the last truck from the hotel. Thinking about it I decided since I'm interacting with so many ghosts still I would have to go ahead and make sure that I have a little bit of a break. I decided to send Sam a text and said, "I think we're going to shorten the hours for the next week even though we'll be on property I think we're going to work in the buildings A Little less cuz I think I just overwhelmed myself."
A few minutes later I had a reply from him that said, "you probably need a reset maybe we can go down to the lake and have a picnic when I get back I'll bring something good that we can eat down there just don't overdo it we always have tomorrow I think once we start moving the ghost faster that will be able to get the house done more especially if we're both going into a different area also I had an idea then maybe we should stick a ghost house in each of the buildings and check them on a nightly walk to see if hey we had any takers."
I thought about what he had texted and maybe that would be a good idea I can put the ghost house in each of the buildings and then we can take walks at night and remove the ones that are already full to bring down the amount of people that we saw at the move. I always thought of them as people so I replied back to Sam, "considering how big this job is I really do think that is a fantastic idea and if the main building starts getting to us too much we can always walk to another location and start cleaning out and just bring everything out on hand trucks too. Do me a favor though we're going to need a whole lot more Spirit houses contact Mr McGee and make sure he has more for us."
"I may have already contacted him and had one procured for each building as well as a few of the hotels that way we can cover each location and it'll also give us a good chance to walk through each of the buildings this week and see what we can do," he replied. "I know we don't usually skip around to different buildings but if this building is starting to drain you mentally because of the amount of ghost in there we may have to switch buildings just for new energy. your health is more important."
I continued to work for the Attic while I waited for Sam to return when he did I only had a small section left in the attic to finish going through I had already taken down a bunch of boxes to the garbage and furniture that was broken up and near the front door of the building I made sure that I had stacked all the stuff going into our truck. Maybe just clearing out the attic and getting into a new room since this was one of the largest places would actually help me. Looking around Sam said, "damn easy you got a lot done where I was gone you would have thought that you were going to rest today."
"Oh we're going to rest after we get all this stuff moved into the truck and place all the spirit houses in the other buildings," I said. "I'll go in I will place a spirit house on a piece of furniture and let them know what's going on in each building and then once we put something in all the main buildings we will go ahead and take that picnic lunch you mentioned."
Once we moved everything into the truck from the main house that we had did I went and grabbed our hand card out of the sprinter van and we piled on all the ghost houses we could carry and we proceeded to go to each of the houses along the path to put the ghost houses in. When we finish introducing ourselves and explaining everything that needed to be done in each of the homes Sam and I went and grabbed a blanket and the picnic basket that he had bought with food for our picnic next to the lake.
Sam said, "you know mazy we are really lucky."
"How so," I asked as I started unpacking the food.
"When we got married," he said. "You had just lost your grandmother and you had spent all your time taking care of her. I had just gotten out of the military and was lost in my path. Then one day we're walking down main Street going to get something from the deli and you saw our store there's an empty building with a table sitting in the middle and you said the owner is just waiting for the right person to come in and he'll move on. We had already done some small jobs for a state clean out some was storing everything in a storage building with the hopes of having a store of our own one day but you just said that building was ours in two weeks later we own the building from the money your grandmother had left you and our home was upstairs I mean we have a business we have a home and one day we'll have a family I think we're doing pretty good."
"I agree," I said as we pulled out our food and started to eat watching the Sun dance over the water. "You know we're also very lucky that Henry was looking for a job too because he's the perfect assistant."
"You know you're right about that I mean yeah we helped him but he's helped us so much and his little apartment above the back of the store he considers that the best home ever," Sam said.
"I am just glad that we are able to help him in a situation," I said. "He told me when we were at the hotel cleaning out all the rooms together that everyone looked at him like he was a nothing he applied to so many jobs before us and no one would give him a chance because he didn't have an address the day we hired him and offered him the cut I mean we only had a cot in there Sam and we offered it to him and brought him over some towels and some food to get them started he said that was the biggest turning point that he had had in the four years since he came home from the military and had no place to go. Look how much he has changed that apartment and he's changed so much I am so proud of him."
We watched the water play with the sun for the afternoon, laying in the blanket and relaxing. A while later we heard rumbling in the distance and packed up our picnic. Sam said, "Well it seems that the weather has decided to move this party indoors so we can watch some television."
Stretching as we stood up I replied, "That sounds like a great idea."
We walked back to the van and went inside it as the first drops of rain started to fall. After we put the food away, we each took a shower and grabbed some snacks to eat. We spent the rest of the day watching television and talking. When we fell asleep, I felt so much better.
547 days, Oct 5
That night, while we slept, I had a dream that we finished the estate, and wrecking crews came in and tried to tear the place down. In my dream, Sam kept telling me we did everything we could to save them. I woke up and sat up in bed. Sitting against the wall, I looked towards the house and saw shadows walking on the porch. I was not going to worry yet. I said to myself, "Seven hundred and fifty-one souls."
Turning over, I went back to sleep for a while, and when I woke up, Sam was making us tea and breakfast, he looked up from cooking bacon and said, "Good morning, my love. What is on the agenda today?"
Strecthing I sat up and said, "Finishing the attic this morning and after lunch checking the outer buildings ghosts houses."
He raised a eyebrow and said, "it is to soon to worry."
Sighing I said, "I know. I am just trying to make sure they are safe. Something about the lawyer make me worry. If they decide they want us to stop here and demolish the place, we move on, but the displaced ghosts could be dangerous and serious."
We ate breakfast and after we were ready Sam put his hand out and said, "Come on."
"Where are we going?" I asked.e went to the
Placing three ghost houses into the pull cart he said, "We are going to check the houses
We went to the working barn and when we went in Sam said, "Hey, everyone, we are trying to save you all. We do not trust the lawyer who is handling the estate. The buildings will be torn down if you do not move on. We will be working on getting you to safety."
I saw that three of the five rooms were lit up. We walkd to the workers building and saw five of the twenty rooms in the ghost hotel were lit up and we went to the hunters cabin and the ghost house was full. We switched the houses out and saw no more of the homes had guests. As we walked back to the main house sam said, "I will try talking with them."
Picking up the pile of towels from the cart I said to sam, "I am going to place these in the rooms around the house. If things go well we may be starting the basement today."
Sam took my hand and said, "Babe if you want to go down and speak with the spirits who may be down there I will go down there with a ghost house and work on it. Being its underground, it may trigger your allergies."
Thinking about it for a few minutes I said, "You know you are right. Let's do it. I will have to come down for a while to speak with the ghosts if they want help to cross over."
"That's fine," He said. "I will tell them they can go to find you or you will be back."
I smiled and said, "Well let's do this."
I walked into the basement and said, "Hello everyone. My name is Massie and I can communicate with you. The owner of the estate wants the ghosts to leave and if you do not leave then they will tear down the building. My husband Sam will be down here sorting out the garbage and bringing the items to our truck for our store. We need to get you out of the main house. If you do not want help to cross over or cross over, we have a ghost house. Each of the houses have five rooms and we will move the ghosts houses to our store. I will be honest with you we do sell the ghost houses and they all go to homes where people honor the dead. The owner of the estate have people who will know if there are ghosts left. Sam will bring the house down soon. I am going to finish the attic then will come work here for a while to help you all."
I walked up the stairs and heard, "Miss wait."
Opening my mind's eye I saw a young man at the bottom of the stairs. I said, "Hello can you eave the basement, you can join me in the attic and we can speak."
He nodded and said, "I will join you up there."
He disappeared and I went up the stairs. Joining sam in the hallway I said, "I have a spirit waiting in the attic. I would suggest that you start with the outside door and work your way around that. outer wall first and we can meet in the middle."
He said, "That is a great idea. See you soon."
I walked up to the attic and went to the last section of the basement that needed to be finished. As I went through items, sorting them out and and tossing garbage. After a few minutes I heard, "Miss I hope you can help me, I don't think I can leave."
"Why would you say that," I asked.
"Because miss," He said. "I was murdered in the basement."
I stopped and said, "Murdered?"
"Yes," He said. "My murderers is in the basement still. They are very unhappy that I came to you. They think you are lying."
"They," I asked.
"My parents," He said. "They found out that I preferred men instead of women and they had a pastor try to fix me. I died on the floor of the basement. I had been seeing a guy my age and he worked in the barn. My parents told me they told him I went to Maine to work and I didn't want to see him. Maggie, another ghost in the basement, said he was heartbroken and stayed in the barn. Can you help me?"
"Can you leave the house?" I asked.
"Only a few feet," He said.
"Stay here," I said. "What is your name?"
He chuckled and said, "Yeah, I left that out it is Christohper. Where are you going?"
"To the barn," I said. I walked to the barn and knocked. I said, "I will be able to see you. I am looking for a specific spirit."
Walking into the barn I saw spirits of humans and horses. My breath caught in my throat and said, "Oh no there are animal spirits."
An older man came over to me and said, "Do not worry dear they are attached to the spirits here. When we go the animals attached to us come with us. Your the young ladt saying we need to cross over."
Nodding I said, "Yes. The new owner is going to destroy the building if there are spirits left. The ghost houses can be a way to go. The way it was explained to me is they become your own personal domain. One spirit told me their room was acres of land where he loved to fish. The only reason I knew about them is that the home the ghost house was in was destroyed in a storm and I went to get the spirits back to their safety."
"It is something to think about," He said. "How can we help you?"
"There is a spirit in the main house," I said. "His name is Christopher and he is looking for a friend of his that he was told is in the barn."
A young man came up and said, "It's okay, Bernie, I am the friend she is looking for."
I said, "You were Christopher's friend? Are you able to leave the barn?"
He nodded and said, "I can, but I cannot enter the house."
"Can we talk in private?" I asked.
He nodded and said, "Yes."
We walked to a set of benches and sat down. He said, "Christopher's parents tried to get me to leave and when that didn't work they said that he went to maine. Did he leave something for me when he went to maine."
"What's your name?" I asked.
He nodded and said, "Benjamin. So what did Christopher leave me?"
"He never left the property," I said. "His parents killed him with the help of a pastor when he tried to leave."
5/20 hotel House---- Old man, doctor, Maggie died in child birth
Barn- Bernie
547 days Oct 5- Oct 31st, Nov 20-28, Dec 23- Jan 2, Jan 16, Feb 14, Mar 3-6, may 28-june 2, july 1-5, sept 3-7 Oct 31st, Nov 20-28, Dec 23- Jan 2
751-5= 746 deaths - 5a-6p
Massie- Main Sam- Second main
Mr. Wheeler- Lawyer for the estate
Mr. Murphy estate owner
Henry- Store worker
Mr mcgee- ghost house maker
Ghosts-Mitch/Gilly++Ella
The Main House: Attic, basement, three master suites, 3 master closets, 3 master baths, 4 bathrooms+c, 2 bedrooms+c, laundry room+c, kitchen, breakfast nook, dining room+c, lounge+c, office+c, library+c, pantry, butlers pantry, formal sitting room, coat room, maids room a bathroom+c, butlers room w a bathroom+c, mudroom, entryway+c, 14 storage closets, 3 landings, 3 sets of stairs, music room, enclosed porch, glass garden. Garden shed (109 ghosts)
Three greenhouses with storage rooms and bathrooms. (1/5- 2/3- 3/4)12
Working barn with 14 stalls, 2 storage rooms, bathroom and office. (30 Ghosts) 3/5 in gh
Hunting cabin with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchen, pantry, dining room, enclosed porch and supply room. (28 ghosts)
Workers building- 14 bedrooms w bathroom and closet. Three kitchens with pantries, 3 lounges and 2 enclosed porches. (29 ghosts) 5/20 ghost hotel
12 cabins with 2 bedrooms with closet, bathroom, kitchens, pantries, 2 enclosed porches, living rooms. (1/10-2/5-3/3-4/4-5/2-6/4-7/2-8/3-9/1-10/1-11/3-12/5)43
Gaming building with bathroom, kitchen, three storage rooms and a pantry (45 ghosts)
Ballroom with kitchen, 2 pantries, six storage room, 3 covered porches, and 4 bathrooms. (29 ghosts)
Mens retreat with 4 bedrooms, bathrooms, closet, kitchen, pantry, lounge, and dining hall (33 ghosts)
Ladies retreat with 5 bedrooms, bathrooms, closet, kitchen, pantry, lounge, and dining hall storage room (57 ghosts)
Work shop with bathroom, enclosed porch, and small kitchen. (30 ghosts)
Seven outer storage buildings. (1/2-2/3-3/1-4/2-5/1-6/3-7/4)16
Decorative barn with office, kitchen, 18 stalls and 4 storage rooms (42 ghosts)
Music hall with kitchen, pantry, 4 storage rooms (40 ghosts)
Boat house with six storage rooms (31 ghosts)
Garage 1- 3 storage rooms, bathroom (10 ghosts)
Garage 2- 3 storage rooms, bathroom sitting area (15ghosts)
6 sheds (1/2-2/3-3/1-4/2-5/1-6/1) 10
6 Gate house with bathrooms (1/2-2/1-3/1-4/3-5/1-6/1) 9
