The Haunting Of Bechdel Mansion Read Online Free PDF Page A

She felt dizzy, frightened even. Curtis must
have noticed something in her fading color or nodding
forward.
    “ Mary? Mary!”
    Before she knew it, her head dropped
down and hit the dashboard without a moment ’s notice.
She was out cold.

Chapter Five
    Homestead
     
    Mary woke up, reclined in chair inside
mansion near a living room window with an icepack over her
forehead. She had no idea how long she had been out for. The sun
was still out and she could hear movement all around her. Curtis
was nowhere to be seen. She rose up from the chair with a sore neck
and scanned the empty room where boxes were strewn across the
floor. A large water bottle had been placed at her feet. She
grabbed the bottle and took a long swig from it, immediately
subsiding her thirst. She looked around the room, getting her first
glimpse inside of the mansion with no idea how she had even got
there.
     
    She left the living room and walked
through the two large double doors were propped open, revealing the
busy courtyard outside. She briefly covered her eyes as she walked
down the steps into the courtyard where a barrage of people and
unfamiliar faces moved around in a dizzying bustle. She turned to
face the mansion as it towered over her. It ’s faded
gray walls were covered in winding vines green brush growing spread
on all sides. Its windows were thick with grime and dust. Its
arching roof top was covered in leaves and debris, gutters full. An
elegant center deck on the second floor looked out into the entire
property.
    An empty fountain sat in the middle of the
courtyard filled to the brim with branches and dead leaves. She
turned back to the mansion, taking its looming sight in. This was
it. This was where they were going to live. It didn’t look nearly
as dilapidated as it had appeared in her dreams.
    Curtis had hired renovation team weeks
ahead. There were several landscapers on site, eradicating decades
of foliage growth with electric trimmers and mowers. Men with
pressure washer hoses sprayed the front of house, turning the hard
exterior surface from gray to white. There were also painters on
site, janitorial services, carpenters, and other renovation teams.
Mary lost count of them all. She shuddered to think of the
cost.
    The reality was that both she and Curtis had
dipped into their savings to pay for it all. For the life of her,
she hoped that it would be worth it. Their moving truck was parked
next to the courtyard fountain, backed in hear the front door.
Curtis at the rear directing the movers as they unloaded their
living room set, placing different pieces of furniture around the
court yard. Mary felt strangely detached, and she couldn’t pinpoint
why
    The sun was temporarily concealed by passing
clouds, providing some much needed shade. She looked to the
driveway circling the courtyard where a line of vans and trucks
were parked. Even with all the busy work going on, there was still
a lot of work to do. The thought of the cobwebs and rodents alone
made Mary queasy. Despite her lingering apprehension, she couldn’t
help but feel the excitement in the air. They actually owned a
mansion. Everything that had brought them to this moment seemed
unreal.
    She walked along pebbled ground toward the
moving truck to talk to Curtis. She had seen pictures of the
mansion before, but within its presence she felt as though she had
walked the same path many times before. She stopped beside the
moving truck and looked up to the center balcony where a white
curtain flowed into the air from an open window, it fabric
torn.
    A pest control van drove pulled up next to
her, out of nowhere, and parked behind the long line of vehicles.
She took in the disorienting sounds of the pressure washers,
gas-powered hedge trimmers, and lawn mowers around her. There was
so much activity going on, she didn’t know what she could do, if
anything, to lend a hand. Everything had already been set in
motion. Curtis had seen to that. What could she do, if anything,
but