Fear reigned in every nook and cranny of the stately mansion: around the satanic gargoyles, behind the Corinthian columns, in the marble statue of Neptune taming a seahorse, along the shadowy corridors, and on the grotesque figurines that grinned on staircases, the empty hall, and finally, the backyard where lurked an ominous shadow.
Only the oleander trees grew poisonous pink flowers in a bizarre contrast. The neglected front-facing garden, where the ancient gardener of Neil Long blossomed petunias, dahlias, and exotic roses, looked sad and bleak in a dried-up state.
The soft green mosses and velvety lawns where the special visitors enjoyed leisurely walks had dried up. The stalks had died long, abandoned like orphans. No flower grew there except some native clusters here and there, along with toxic partheniums.
Padlocked, secretive, and distant, the royal architecture stood solid against the baggage of an era gone by. It withstood the onslaught of time. It was inviolate except for the inexplicable, ugly gashes on the wall’s surface from the front side, camouflaged by the crimson vines that climbed towards the bastion, hiding its green tentacles with bloody clusters. What might have caused those gashes was intriguing and mysterious.
Anyone who dared intrude into its private world would incur the wrath of the invisible, fiendish lady, turning the intruder insane forever.
Longs’ Home, not sane, echoed cries of injustice in the hall every night, breaking the surroundings’ lull. If one listened to its strong walls, holding immaculately set brickworks, their silence in the daytime would speak of weird, unspeakable passions.
When alive, one strange tribal woman spent thirty -three years of her agonizing and ecstatic life in this mansion. Years after the tragic death of the couple who lived here, their son fled to the USA and never returned.
Who was that dark spirit visiting the abandoned estate with a foaming seafront on the city’s outskirts every night like a manic obsession?
Every spirit that floats around in a state of limbo has a story.
What was the dark woman’s story?
