Pride and Prejudice does not belong to me, rather to the witty Jane Austen who astonishes me every time with her insight. This story is based off of a folktale I read a long time ago. I can't remember the story but I think it is or similar to Robert D. San Souci's The Boy and the Ghost.
There will be two endings to this story. For those of you wondering about my other stories (and who haven't completely abandoned me), I'm working on it. It's complete in my head, just not written down.
Elizabeth Bennet snuggled closer into her shawl to ward off the chilly wind. October had come, colder than usual, and she had only her thin overcoat on her. She thought fondly of her fur-lined mantle, but bitterly remembered it was now in the clutches of her greedy aunt. Elizabeth, an only child, was comfortably settled with her loving parents until the carriage her parents were riding in overturned on one rainy night. It was a tragic accident and left the young woman an orphan at the age of twenty.
Her Uncle and Aunt Wickham had generously allowed her to stay in their home and were all smiles and hugs until the last of the mourners left for their respective houses. The second the door slammed shut they seized all of her possessions and deposited her out the door without so much as a parting goodbye. So here she was hours later, shivering and desperately looking for shelter as the sun began to set.
She had spotted a dark shape against a vast outcrop of trees on a tall hill and set out towards the direction. Perhaps fortune would smile and it would be someone's residence and a kind soul would offer some form of aid. Her face paled at the thought of running into thieves or bandits before nightfall and picked up her pace.
As she approached what now appeared to be a stately manor, she was disappointed to see that it was abandoned. None of the lights shone in any window; nevertheless, Elizabeth tried the door with a whisper of hope. With a groan the door opened at the slightest touch of her hand.
"Hello?" she called out tentatively. There was no answer except for the echo of her voice.
She walked around the entranceway and marveled at the tasteful decorations. Whoever had owned the house had obviously put great pride into its décor. Everything was elegant and stylish without any trace of gaudiness most houses of wealth projected. Well, it would have been if everything had not been covered. The white wrapping gave a sad, discarded ambience. Elizabeth was quite surprised that no thieves had carried off with the expensive items lying around the house. The front door was open for heaven's sake!
Venturing up the stairs, and feeling decidedly braver with her new found warmth, she found her way into an oak paneled room.
"A library!" she gasped with joy.
She remembered with pride the volumes her father kept so organized and that she had devoured as a youth. The library was often a hiding place for both her and her father from the nagging tirade that was Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth brushed back a tear as she always did when remembering her parents. Though they had their flaws she still loved them dearly.
The curious girl still had seen no evidence of any living person in the abode and thought it wouldn't hurt to peruse some of the books on the shelves. As she ran her figure across the dusty tomes, she heard a slight thump. Thinking it was just the wind, she ignored it until a louder thump resounded into the deathly silent room.
Night had completely fallen now, and Elizabeth no longer had the aid of the sun to guide her steps. Luckily the full moon brightened the area but still she began to search for candles to light the room. She found none.
The dull sound began increasing in frequency and volume and she was terrified to hear it come from the fireplace. She had thought the noise was squirrels who often built their habitats in abandoned rooftop eaves until a low noise dismissed that notion.
"Look out! I'm falling!"
A disembodied voice boomed into the room and Elizabeth frantically searched the room for its maker. Her heart beating painfully in her chest and her breath coming in short gasps, she heard the eerie voice a second time.
"Look out! I'm falling!"
A small clunk sounded, as if from the roof of the house, and became louder and louder as if falling and banged around the chimney.
Clank, Crack, Boom, BUMP!
It landed in the fireplace in a deafening cacophony of noise. Elizabeth, completely immobilized with fear, could only look on in horror as a pair of legs lay unmoving in the dirt and soot.
Maybe it was someone playing a Guy Fawke's joke she hypothesized knowing full well that if it was one then the joker had picked the wrong time and a very ill-humored joke indeed. To think that someone would willingly cut a corpse into pieces and throw them down a chimney for a good laugh! Preposterous!
Her mouth became dry as a desert though, when the legs picked themselves up and began running around the room. Elizabeth snapped out of her paralysis and immediately leapt into the only safe place from the wildly stampeding legs: the leather covered chair behind the rosewood desk. The legs gallivanted around the room knocking over small tables and upending vases. Tucking her legs closer to her body in the chair, she saw on closer inspection that the legs, though human, were transparent through-and-through.
Her mind was telling her to run before it was too late, but her body would not cooperate. The legs, despite their veering every which way, did not come close to her, so without any threat to hurting her, she stayed. In disbelief she questioned how this night could become any stranger after the hours passed until she heard a dreadful sound.
"Look out! I'm falling!"
The voice, eerie, deep, and low, again resounded from the rooftop and with a dull thud began the terrible events from before. This time the noise was even more frightening with unearthly wails accompanying the horrific pounding in the fireplace.
Clank, Crack, Boom, BUMP!
Another object landed noisily with a cloud of dust and ashes. Flabbergasted, Elizabeth could only wait as the soot cleared to see what it was.
A frightful legless and headless torso met her astounded eyes, as its arms raised themselves up and flailed in the air. With astonishment the hands began to crawl and dragged the torso around the room. The ominous and terrible wailing still sounded down the chimney along with the twofold noise in the library. The legs continued to run amuck and now the torso clambered around the room like an errant child with demonic speed. Both glowed with an ethereal aura.
Trying to shake herself out of her horror induced stupor Elizabeth gripped the desk so hard with her fingernails that she left marks. She still could not force herself to move. The noise continued for most of the night, and she gratefully could sense daybreak coming. She was surprised that she had not gone batty yet with the soul-chilling wailing and the body parts invading the room.
Perhaps she was too optimistic.
"Look out! I'm falling!"
The insidious phrase sounded, like the death toll sounding a man's life. With a deafening thump, the process began once again.
"Everything comes in threes…" Elizabeth remarked under her breath.
The wailing and groaning resonated down the chimney and increased in magnitude so much that Elizabeth had to shut her ears with her hands to block the noise. Her heart beat louder and faster than ever, the desk was smudged with her sweat-stained hands and her entire body shook with her tremors of terror.
Clank, Crack, Boom, BUMP!
A decapitated head landed in the fireplace and began rolling around the room like a tornado. Rolling, rolling, rolling, never stopping against any obstacles, the head spun every which way. The wailing seemed to ring against the walls of the room, yells of anguish and torture… perhaps what would happen to her if she didn't leave. Her mind stupidly could only wonder how the head didn't get dizzy from all that whirling.
Run, now before it's too late! She thought to herself. Who knows what new horror would happen now!?! In her mind though she had convinced herself that she had weathered the supernatural activity for nearly all of the night so it was now only with morbid curiosity that she should stay. Who was doing this and why?
The sun had never risen so slowly before and Elizabeth felt as if she had aged a decade when the first rays began to reach the window. As the light began to illuminate the room, the legs, torso, and head froze in place from their erratic motion. Fascinated she watched as the body began to assemble itself. The legs approached the torso and with a mighty spring of the arms, settled itself onto the appendages. The head, with one final spin, bounced off a nearby table and landed with a plop on top like a crowning cherry.
With a small laugh, Elizabeth noticed that the head had arranged itself incorrect and was now resting backwards atop the body. The apparition, with a slight disbelieving frown, raised its arms and twisted the head to the correct position. Humorously, Elizabeth now took the time to fully observe the ghost in its full from. The figure, a man, was tall with dark hair sweeping his smooth and candid face. He moved with an almost graceful, determined gait (much better than they way his body moved in pieces).
The smile fell from the lady's face as the figure approached her. With fear and trepidation she realized that there was no one around to hear her screams. She wouldn't go without a fight though. Ice-cold blue eyes bored into her shocked emerald eyes and she sat up with a burst of adrenaline.
"Ghost or no ghost, if you lay one finger on me, sir, I will scream!"
The phantom gave a small smirk knowing no one was around, but held his hands up in a movement of goodwill.
"My lady," he murmured in dulcet tones, "I will not hurt you. Rather, let me say how much I admire and love you."
To be continued…
Forgive me for butchering the P&P universe. It's my first time and I suppose I'm an engineering major for a reason. Review me with your comments, questions…flames. I might adapt my Second-in-Command (Vietnamese version of Mulan) story to P&P if I get some positive feedback.
Grignard