《642件可写的事》申午

11、Post Cards

　　“My dear Elly, I have arrived at ‘The Mansion’, the famous and mysterious house for disciplining young maidens in the Dark Times. But of course, it is just a beautiful and magnificent building now and you should see the work they had it done. Elly, I tell you, it’s such a wonderful home for the children. They would love it here. Oh, Elly, I can’t wait for you to come here! Love, Andi.”
　　“Dear dear Elly, I hope you are not getting too anxious in dear old Simpleton. I do miss you. Mrs. Barley, the chairman of local charity welcomed us and gave us a tour around the house yesterday. She was very kind, but somehow a little bit jumpy for a chairman. We all slept in different rooms last night, because there are so many empty rooms! Elly, you know I love sharing a room with you but we are ‘big girls’ now and I KNOW you would love to have your own room. But of course we will still live right next to each other, in separate rooms. Imagine! Love, Andi. PS: there are some rooms in the east wing still locked and we are told to ‘stay away’. I want to wait for you to explore them with me, but you know my weakness for adventure.”
　　“My dear Elly, my adventure did not go so well. I tried to sneak in the east wing but none of the windows were open and Mrs. Heywood was on to me. She follows me everywhere. Just like last year when we broke her precious vase. I need Chancy here to distract her. We’d be the perfect partners in crime here. Oh, send my love to Chancy for me. I miss him too. I asked Mrs. Heywood again when you guys can come here and she just wouldn’t give me a straight answer. I will force the answer out of her tomorrow. Love, Andi.”
　　“Dear Elly, something is going on here. I heard crying in the hallway last night and when I got up to open the door, there was no one there! I suspect it’s Mrs. Heywood’s doing again. She must have been scolding the prentices and made one of them cry, AGAIN. The woman never talks nicely to anyone. I know you told me to control my temper but I just can’t stand people like her. But you should be happy to know that I tried to start a fight with her only to find that she went out today. Some business meetings happening downtown, I guess. So I spent a whole day searching for ways to get into the east wing, and you know what? I found a hidden door in the walls! Near the hallway! Elly, behind this door, there could be a secret tunnel leading to the east wing! Things just got so much more exiting here! Get over here to open this door with me! Love and can’t sleep, Andi.”
　　“Elly, there’s definitely something wrong here. I heard crying again last night and I believe I heard it from the secret door. I could not sleep last night so as soon as I heard the crying I got up and went out to the hallway. There was no one there, but the crying did not stop. I followed the sound to the secret door and put my ear onto the wall. Elly, I’m sure it was coming from inside the wall. I tapped on the secret door and the crying stopped. I asked if anyone was in there but got no response. Then I woke up in my own bed. But, Elly, I KNOW that’s not a dream. I’m not stupid, at least not that stupid. There was SOMEONE behind that wall and I’m going to find out the truth. Love and very annoyed, Andi. PS: Mrs. Heywood seems to like the life here. She has not returned from her ‘business trip’ yet. This town must have some good gin and tonic to keep her busy.”
　　“Dear Elly, I’m fine. Don’t worry, I will be returning home very soon. Home, it’s a strange word to call Simpleton, but I’m happy to use it after everything I’ve been through in the last few days. I’m sorry that Mrs. Heywood won’t be able to return with us and I feel terrible about the things I said about her in my previous letters. She deserved more respect from me, if not for her care taking then at least for her hard working and her terrible fate. May she rest in peace.
　　“Dear Elly, I’d like to write everything down in this letter and if the letter arrives later than me, I’ll read it to you at your bedside. My memory is so fussy these days and I’m losing the details by seconds here so I’ll have to write fast. Apologies for the hand writing.
　　“After the second night I heard crying, I made up my mind to stay up all night on the third night to find out what was going on. And the crying rang, right on time and right there outside of my door. I opened my door and rushed to the secret door. I pushed my ear to the wall and I heard the sound. Not only crying, but also screaming, shouting, crashing and laughing.
　　“Oh, that evil laughing! I could not bear it.
　　“I banged on the wall so hard that I hurt my hands. But I could not feel pain, I just kept banging on the wall and screaming with whoever was suffering in there. Until I lost consciousness and everything happened later was told to me by others.
　　“My screaming woke up the prentices and they found me scratching the wall with my fingers and blood was all over my hands. They could not calm me down so they had to tie me up with curtains and clothes. I was cursing ancient words and struggling like a snake all night long until I finally passed out. They sent me to the hospital next morning and I remained here till today.
　　“After the mass I made that night, everyone was somewhat shaken by the scene. And the worry deepened when they found out Mrs. Heywood was missing. She never got to the meetings for the transfer of The Mansion and no one had seen her after the second day. At this point they had to call the police to the building and search for Mrs. Heywood.
　　“During the research, a policeman made the same discovery I made and opened the secret door by tearing down most of the wall. And, oh, Elly, they found four bodies in there, all local girls went missing in the last thirty years. They were abducted and abused and left to die behind the wall.
　　“They were there, Elly, they summoned me, to find them and return their bodies to their family.
　　“But they owe it not to me, it was Mrs. Heywood who found out the dark secret of Mr. & Mrs. Barley. Who’d thought the chairman of charity could be so EVIL! And no wonder Mrs. Barley was behaving so strangely on the first day. Only if we’d spotted it sooner(!), then Mrs. Heywood would still be with us. They told me the police found Mrs. Heywood’s body in Mrs. Barley’s garden and that’s why they connected Mr. Barley to the crime happened in The Mansion.
　　“What a MESS! Elly, I can’t wait to be with you and feel the love of everyone. Chancy, Lanny, little Casey, darling Mindy, EVERYONE! I need you guys after dealing with darkness this closely. And Simpleton does not seem so bad comparing to these dark, chaotic places. I’d rather be in an old orphanage than in some evil mansion.
　　“All the love, Andi.
　　“PS: I just realized what I want to do after high school, I’ll be a charity manager and really use the money to help kids like us. Elly, come with me, we could be the perfect partners in charity justice.”