The End of the Road

The End of the Road(Chelsea Hamby) What I thought was the beginning was not the beginning it was just the end of the beginning. Arriving home in Charleston SC, it was a scorching hot day. The leaves were falling on the ground. The leaves were red, yellow, and brown colors. But the day before yesterday it was cold, like freezing cold. My sister walks out of the big white plantation house saying,” I swear the weather is bipolar here.” I had just arrived from getting back from the grocery store. So that I could make dinner tonight. It was Sunday afternoon, and our grandparents, and parents had planned to come to eat thanksgiving dinner with me and Milly. This Plantation home was our family home, eventually, our grandparents got too old for it. They moved closer into town, along with my parents. This was because they wanted to travel the world. So it was just me and Milly left at the house to take care of it. It was about twenty miles outside of town, on 400 acres of land. Milly and I had cows, and chickens that would go out to the grocery stores. We also grew corn, apples, green beans, and other vegetables that would supply grocery stores around us. My point was we lived in a big plantation house in the middle of nowhere. It was occasionally nice, but also scary. Especially when we heard certain noises because we knew no one lived next to us. So why would we hear noises from other humans?
Over time our grandparents would come, and we told our grandparents what had actually happened with the noises. But instead, they would tell us some knockout story, about slaves haunting us. The house was very antebellum meaning it was built in the 1820s and slaves used to work on our lands. It had beautiful big columns, and a huge staircase leading up to the french style door. Our family was very well known to others during that time. Like they knew the Russels, Calhouns, and Washingtons, amongst many other families that owned slaves. The noises we heard were the clanking of dishes and pots. Hearing the fire burn even though there was no fire in the fireplace. Hearing songs of the hymn and praise downstairs in the kitchen. Just while I and Milly were in bed with our bedrooms right next to each other. We did this because we thought it would be smarter to be beside each other just in case of an intruder. We’d also smell at times shrimp being cooked, even though there was no shrimp. It was very odd, the house we had lived in, had to be haunted. No force of nature could convince me or Milly otherwise. Anyway with all these thoughts, it was impossible to try to cook. I must have to rid myself of these thoughts right now. Milly walks into the kitchen, and I ask for her help. She smiles at me and nods helping right away. We prepare the turkey by rubbing the herbs and butter together. Then preheat the oven and put it in. Also, we make sweet potato casserole. Then we open the oven and cook that too, and make the rest of our dishes and so on. The time comes and it is time to eat. I and Milly take the dishes and set them all on the table along with the antique china. Then suddenly as the sun begins to set our power goes out, it was 6:36 PM. I was walking down the stairs trying to watch my step but I fell down the suicide stairs. That is what I and Milly called them because they were so small and our feet were so big. I come tumbling down with a rush, I could hear my ankle roll on the solid wooden staircase. Hitting the vase sitting next to the door I crashed into it. The vase exploded all over the place, and a glass mess was created. In the midst of trying to get up with my sprained ankle, I stepped on the glass and my foot began to bleed. I call for help and my mom comes. She takes me to the bathroom and plucks the glass out of my foot. Then puts the stinging alcohol on it to clean it. I screamed because my wound was very deep. After that, she wrapped my foot, but I could still feel nothing but the pain of the glass that meshed into my bones. Mom took me to the dining hall. Milly and mom had gotten candles shortly after that and lit up the room. The only good thing about that evening was that our food was warm, and we at least had something to light up the room. My belly fool I go to plop on the couch, and I saw a big snake. Was I imagining things? Was it real? Then grammy walks in, I ask her “Do you see that big snake on the couch?”
She shakes her head no, then suddenly it disappears. Was I hallucinating? I thought there was a snake there. At least I thought. Was it coming out more than ever? Was the house haunted like I thought it was?
My foot begins to bleed again. Mom takes me to the closest hospital. Then I get my foot stitched up. Turns out the glass was farther down than I thought it was. We arrive back home, all the lights are out. It was about 9:30 PM, so it was not too late for everything to not be lit up. Sarah my mom gets me up the stairs and I go to lie in bed. Trying to shift my thoughts, to a different subject, non-stop thoughts of how the house was haunted raced through my mind.
That was all I could think about all night long. Again I heard noises like I had before it was the clanking of dishes. So I decided to go downstairs even with my hurt foot. Nothing at that point could stop me, my curiosity gave me the motivation to go downstairs. The house and the noises that were going on were going to drive me insane. I didn't understand why this was happening, not unless that knockout story Grammy told me was true. Was I losing my mind? I don't think I was losing my mind, I went down the stairs. My ankle was hurting, and I limped down the stairs. The unwanted spirits heard me, then suddenly all the clanking came to stop. I climbed back up the stairs and went back to bed. I woke up again, except this time I was hearing voices downstairs in the basement. At that point, I was too tired and just wanted to know what it was. Then I got up again and went all the way downstairs into the basement. The voices were singing but in a cult-like way. I could chant spells, it sounded like spirits were cursing me. Then suddenly I yelled out of great anger, “WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU SPIRITS? SHOW YOURSELF.” Only at that moment, I saw it, the great ghost of slaves. The leader of them who rebelled against my ancestors.
Her name was Patsy Middleton, she spoke into my ears making them bleed. She had rebuked me for my anger, and for who I was. She screamed into my ears “RESPECT ME.” My ears were gushing with blood, unexplainably I could still hear. It was a very strange attack. Slowly I became dizzy and fell onto the ground. I dreamt of a dream never thought of one could dream off. It was the spirits of slaves attacking me just as my ancestors had done to them. I woke up my ears with dry blood on them. It was daylight and my family was up in the kitchen. I cleaned myself up before they could realize what I had gone through. After doing that, I talked to them but they seemed strange and a bit unusual, not like themselves. Every single one of them seemed to talk in an old style. I kept quiet, were they possessed by something? I ran upstairs wondering did something happen when I was cold-knocked out in the basement. I went downstairs and my grandparents were dead. They had multiple blood wounds and stabs upon them. Someone in that house was an imposter, and not knowing which one I called the cops. They answered and came as soon as possible. Taking my grandparents out, soon we would have a funeral. By that time it was the evening the sun had begun to set again just like yesterday. Milly, me, and my parents heard a huge knock on the door. I looked through the peephole but nobody was there. Then Patsy the old spirit came back, I asked her what she wanted, but she said nothing though. Looking behind me I saw a knife floating in the air. I tried to stop it but Patsy had stabbed Milly, mom, and dad. They were all dead. Blood rushing from each and every one of their backs I cried. Never had I seen such a horrific thing, sitting in my bedroom with the door locked I waited for Patsy to leave. But she never did. I could hear her banging on the door I had played on. A whole day had passed, and it was night once again. I sneaked down my balcony, down the column then into my car. The driveway was about 3 miles long and Patsy had stabbed each tire so I could go nowhere. As I inspected the tire, I heard a stab it was into my leg. I could no longer move, then stab again in my stomach. It was the end of the road for my family. Our line would not continue on. But Patsy would and I knew it deep down. Then my soul would pass out of the world. About three days ago, I thought my grandparent's death would be the beginning of the end. But I didn’t know that the beginning of the end would come so fast, that the end of the road for my family came so fast. I prayed to the lord, save my soul now that I die. Blood rushed from my body, my soul left the earthly realm.