The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Estate
by Suzie Lockhart

When I discovered I was the sole beneficiary of Aunt Lilly’s Estate, I cried. Not because I was happy.

Quite the contrary. I bawled my eyes out. My sweet, loving aunt would be missed… But she was a hoarder. I was literally afraid of what I would find in her neglected home. Rats? Roaches?

After we buried her, I waited a week to start sorting her mess. Her living room, the only place almost uncluttered, was untouched by time. Memories rushed at me and tears pricked my eyes, but I carried on. 

Each room got worse. 

In her bedroom there were swarms of boxes of trinkets, magazines, newspapers. If it could fit in a box, it was stashed there.

After hours of pitching most of what we found, my sister left for the day and my husband, Ray went to get dinner to bring back. He didn’t ascribe to Doordashing.

Exhausted, I sank next to the bed and onto the floor. 

A strange feeling washed over me, and a chill imbued the space around me as my hand brushed something under the bed.

I pulled out another box under the bed filled to the brim with old photos and my unmarried aunt’s diaries.

My brain tried to wrap around what I was seeing, and I soon came to understand why my aunt never married or had children. 

Aunt Lilly had been 82 at her passing, so the photos were of a forgotten time.

As I stared at the photos of her and the young, light-skinned black man at her side, tears slid silently down my cheeks. I didn’t even need to open the diaries. I could understand why…

Suddenly, the chill drew together in front of me, manifesting into Aunt Lily. Her eyes beseeched me to understand. 

I stood.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

It was all the encouragement she needed. She motioned for me to follow, so I did.

Down the hall, she pointed to the ceiling where a decorative string hung. I pulled it to reveal steps that must lead to the attic. 

Trepidation filled me as I carefully made my way up, claustrophobia making sweat bead on my forehead.

When I reached the room, her cool hand led me to the light, and as it spilled through the room, I gasped.

Aunt Lilly had many secrets. Paintings filled the room of not only her one and only love, but all of us. 

I ran my hand over one she’d painted of me in my wedding dress, capturing a beauty seen only through her eyes.

“Aunt Lilly,” I said, and as I turned to face her, her translucent form began disappearing. I cried out for her not to leave. As she faded time went backwards, and I heard her say faintly, “His name was James.”

 

Fiction © Copyright Suzie Lockhart
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Suzie Lockhart:

Morbid Metamorphosis:
Terrifying Tales of Transformation

Metamorphosis occurs every day as caterpillars become sweet fluttering butterflies, tadpoles become gorgeous frog princes and chameleons become one with the beauty of nature – but you won’t find any of that here.

The transformations you’re about to witness are unnatural, sometimes gruesome and deeply psychological. They will make you question reality and take your mind places it was never meant to go.

Terrifying Tales of Transformation from Greg Chapman * Roy C. Booth & R. Thomas Riley * Terri DelCampo * Dave Gammon * Nancy Kilpatrick * Rod Marsden * Jo-Anne Russell * M.J. Preston * Stacey Turner * Tina Piney * Suzanne Robb * Franklin E. Wales * Donna Marie West * Suzie Lockhart * Cameron Trost * Daniel I. Russell * Simon Dewar * Amanda J. Spedding * Ken MacGregor * Erin Shaw * Gregory L. Norris * Nickolas Furr

Available on Amazon!