Those big, beautiful blue eyes crinkled at the corners as a huge smile lit up her face. “You can see me?”
I cringed. How could I avoid her? Kids didn’t understand.
“Hey,” Johnny said as he approached her. “Hello there. What’s your name?”
I turned my back while Johnny had her attention and prayed for them to hurry up and answer the door.
Holly smiled. Did she suspect what was going on? Maybe.
As I listened to the girl telling Johnny that her name was Jemma, I had to push down the emotions that bubbled up at the thought of her dying at such a young age. She looked to be about four years old.
“Why won’t she talk to me?” she was saying.
I didn’t really hear Johnny’s response. It was going to be nearly impossible to pretend I couldn’t see her.
A faint melody reached my ears when Holly rang the doorbell again and I listened carefully as footsteps grew louder, then the door swung open.
A short, plump woman stood on the other side of the security door and a smile brightened her features. “Hello. You must be Maddelyn.” She turned to Holly. “Hello Holly. Nice to see you again. Come on in.”
As we entered, she introduced herself as Anna-Marie. She reminded me of a teacher I’d had in primary school, bringing back memories of her teaching us to sing and play percussion instruments.
I could still hear the conversation outside as I walked further into the house and the smell of coffee found me.
The house had an open plan with the lounge room at the front and the kitchen and dining room toward the back. My chest tightened and I looked away quickly when I saw another spirit pottering around in the kitchen, possibly the little girl’s mother. My anxiety ratcheted up a few more notches. How many more were there? A whole family?
My mind conjured up a family of eight and me finding a spirit in every room.
Anna-Marie led us down the hall to a room on the right where a woman dressed in a black blouse and jacket sat behind a large wooden desk, smiling sweetly, and I wondered if she was wearing a pantsuit. It would suit the whole look she had going on.
“Hello, Maddelyn. Holly. Please, take a seat.”
She gestured to the two seats in front of the desk. We exchanged pleasantries as we took our seats and the woman introduced herself as Ms Lyndria Grant. She was the doctor in charge of Waratah Estate and she made sure we knew that she’d been running the household smoothly and efficiently for the last fifteen years.
Okay. Was that a warning not to disrupt the smooth running of the place? Probably.
Whatever.
I just wanted to do my time here and go home. I wasn’t planning on making any waves or causing any trouble.
Do my time? Sounded like a prison sentence. It kind of felt like one too.
Ms Grant made one of those fake throat-clearing noises. “So, Maddelyn, I’ve read all of the reports from Katoomba Hospital and Mirrabooka House and the last couple of months seem to show much improvement. That’s good news. There must still be some doubt though, otherwise Doctor Calthorpe would have recommended that you be allowed to go home.” She paused to give me a fake smile. “I expect you to do your best while you are here and I expect to see great improvements in a short period of time.”
So she was laying down the law upfront. I guess I expected as much.
She sat staring at me and I figured she was waiting for some kind of answer from me, so I smiled and nodded.
That seemed to satisfy her and she went on to list the rules of the house. Keep your room clean. Help with household chores. No boys in your room. Be home by ten. No staying up all night. No loud music. You can have your own mobile phone and use the house’s Wi-Fi, but Internet usage on the two computers in the corner of the lounge room was limited and you had to get permission first.
If I got a phone from somewhere, I probably wouldn’t need the computers. My head wasn’t the only thing damaged when it hit the road in the accident and it wasn’t like I’d had the chance to go shopping to buy a new phone since then. I’d been hoping Mum would come through with one — even if it was secondhand — but it was like she hadn’t even thought of it.
She’d been acting so weird lately and she seemed preoccupied every time I talked to her. She said she was busy with work, but it felt like there was more to it than that. I totally understood that a lot of extra work went into selling houses, but she’d never been like this before.
Ms Grant and Holly stood suddenly and I realized the interview was over.
We walked back toward the front door with Ms Grant and Holly turned to me with glistening eyes. “You’ll like it here, Maddie. I’m sure of it.” She sniffed. “Take care of yourself and do your best and you’ll be back home with your mum in no time.”
I opened my mouth, but wasn’t really sure what to say. She stepped forward and gave me a hug, which I returned after getting over the shock of being hugged by one of my nurses. And I wasn’t used to being hugged.
Before I was ready for it, Holly was out the door and I was left standing there with some woman I’d just met in a house full of strangers.
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My chest felt tight, but I took a deep breath. Breathe. You can do this.
Ms Grant didn’t even look at me, just turned away from the door. “Anna-Marie?”
Anna-Marie’s voice came from somewhere at the back of the house. “Yes, Ms Grant?”
She waited till Anna-Marie reached the foyer. “Can you show Maddelyn around before lunch, dear?”
“Yes, Ms Grant.” She looked down at my luggage bag, then smiled at me. “Let’s start with putting your bag away in your room.”
My room. I groaned inwardly. My room was at home. In Katoomba.
I followed her up the stairs and down a long, wide hall to the last room on the right. It was bigger than any bedroom I’d ever had in all the different houses we’d lived in.
“This will be your room while you’re staying with us, darling. You have a nice view through the glass sliding doors, but be aware that they are locked every night for security reasons.” She waved a hand toward a door at the end of the hallway. “Bathroom is at the end of the hall. There are five other residents here at the moment and you all have to share, so keep your showers short.” She gestured to the wardrobe on my left. “All rooms have built-in wardrobes and queen-sized beds, but don’t let the size of the beds fool you. You’re meant to sleep in them alone.”
I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing at the serious tone and look she gave me. It was so comical.
She seemed to be waiting for a response, so I gave a half-shrug. “Okay. Got it.”
“Just leave your bag in here. I’ll lock the doors for you, even though the other residents are all at work right now.”
She locked the sliding door and the door leading to the hall and proceeded to show me around the house, which was a big country-style place with large bedrooms on the second floor. There was a common area near the stairs that had lounge chairs around the walls and a TV at one end.
The ground floor had a huge open-plan lounge and dining room with a fireplace on the far wall. The country-style kitchen was big with plenty of cupboard space and bench space. There were a few other rooms I was told were off-limits, such as Ms Grant’s office and her rooms. Then there was a large laundry out the back that was as big as the whole lounge room back home.
My chest hurt as I thought of home. How long will it take for me to get back there?
There was a smaller house in the backyard where Anna-Marie and the other nurse, Tracy, lived.
A few sheds dotted the property and there was a chook shed somewhere out the back — I could hear them cackling as soon as she opened the back door. Could smell freshly-cut grass with a hint of chicken manure.
Once we were back in the house, Anna-Marie led me to the kitchen where there were some mixed sandwiches on a platter in the middle of the table. She gestured for me to take a seat as a tall, blonde woman walked in. “Maddelyn, this is Tracy. She is the other nurse here, but has other duties involving the running of the house, like I have.”
“Hi, Tracy. It’s nice to meet you.”
She gave me a wide smile. “Nice to meet you, too. I hope you enjoy your stay with us.”
Enjoy my stay? I didn’t think so. All I wanted to do was hurry up and get out of here. I hadn’t been home in months. I wanted to get back to my life.
I forced a smile.
They offered me a choice of drinks and I went with the orange juice, then they joined me at the table, making small talk as we ate. That was unexpected. The staff back at Mirrabooka House never ate their meals with us.
When we were finished, I automatically joined them in cleaning up after the meal, earning smiles from them both. They probably thought I was trying to make a good impression, but it was just habit.
Tracy handed me a key and told me I could go up and unpack my things and just chill until dinner, so I headed up the stairs and trudged into that room. I didn’t want to call it my room, even in my head, but I knew I’d have to accept the fact that I’d be here a while. It had taken a long time to convince everyone at Mirrabooka that I was sane, so although I cringed inwardly at the thought, and how it had all gone south so quickly, I sighed and sat on the bed.
It was still hard to believe that all this had started after going to a party and falling off a gutter into the path of an oncoming car. So much had happened since then that it seemed like a lifetime ago, but it was only like four months.
I forced myself to unpack my things and sighed at how empty the wardrobe still looked. I hadn’t had much with me at Mirrabooka House, but Mum had promised to visit me out here soon and bring some more clothes and personal effects. I wanted her to bring my things, but at the same time, I didn’t. It would make this seem more permanent when all I wanted to do was run out the door.
My eyes were drawn to the sliding doors. I wanted to go out onto the verandah, but the key they’d given me wouldn’t fit the lock. I felt the warmth of the sun through the glass and stood admiring the view of the tree-covered mountains in the distance.
I eventually turned away and laid down on the bed, mostly because there was nothing else to do.
I must have dozed off because I jerked awake when there was a knock at the door.
Johnny peered around the doorway and my stomach clenched. I’d forgotten about him. “Hi. Mind if I come in?”
“Yeah, sure, but don’t even think about sitting on the bed.”
He crept in and sat on a chair in the corner, the muscles in his arms flexing as he put his elbows on his knees. “How are you settling in?”
“Well, considering I don’t even want to settle in, I’d say, not too good.”
I cringed when I remembered that to anyone walking past, I’d be talking to myself. I closed the door and sat back on the bed.
“Wait — how did you knock on the door?”
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Author's Note: How can he do that if he’s a ghost? What do you think is going on?
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