Hallington Grove

“I had no idea how far off the main road this place was. How much further until we get there?” Judy questioned, starting to feel uneasy about what she had just gotten herself into.

“It’s not much further, the entrance is up ahead on the left.” Emily cheerily retorted back.

The engine roared as the SUV slowly climbed the hill and turned into the entrance, before coming to a stop in front of a huge gate. The driver window began to lower and the cool air tickled Judy’s face. It was crisp and clean, pretty typical for a late October morning in Massachusetts. Just above the gate written in decrepit iron was ‘Hallington Grove’ and to both sides was an enormous wall, tall enough to keep even the most persistent of people out. Emily quickly entered a code into the awaiting keypad, then swiftly shut the window shivering at how cold the buttons were.

“We’re getting snow. I can feel it,” Emily said half daydreaming.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t start until we get back into town,” Judy replied nervously. “We have a long day ahead of us.”

A loud clank rang out as the giant gate started to swing open slowly revealing a narrow and winding road, the mansion still nowhere to be seen. The SUV rolled through the opening gate and as it did Judy took notice of the ragged and overgrown grove of trees encompassing both sides of the narrow road.

“Boy this is even creepier than I had imagined. It’s like a scene right out of a Halloween horror story,” Judy squeaked clutching the door handle even tighter as the SUV bounced along, slowly making its way up to the main house.

“I agree, and I think that’s one of the reasons Abigail wants to sell the property as quick as possible,” Emily said. “She just has no use for the mansion or any of the land it sits on. She never liked coming here, even as a child.”

The overgrown grove of trees started to subside when all of a sudden, out of nowhere the huge mansion appeared. It was set further back to the left of the road, and Judy could tell the upkeep of this place was minimal to none, all with the exception of a neatly trimmed lawn. The discolored stone used to build it was overgrown with vines and thorns which certainly added to the creepiness of the place. Definite ‘Norman Bates’ vibes going on here, Judy thought to herself. The SUV pulled up in front of the grand staircase leading up to the enormous front door, then purred to a stop as Emily cut the engine off. 

“Let’s go,” she hollered jumping out of the truck. “Here comes Jack now.”

Judy followed suit jumping of the truck, holding her breath as the cold tickled her nose. Jack fumbled down the stairs to greet them as he put his jacket on.

“Hi, I thought you changed your mind and weren’t coming,” Jack let out with a hearty laugh. “Cold enough for you?”

“It sure is, and only going to get colder before we’re done today. I’d like you to meet Judy. She’s the staging expert I told you about, the best in the business. Just what we need if we’re going to get any offers on this sort.” Judy chuckled back.

“Please to meet you.” Jack said offering his hand. 

“Glad to meet you too. Looks like we have our work cut out for us today.” Judy replied trying to see into the open doorway.

“Jack was Reed’s handyman, so he’ll know exactly what needs to be done.” Emily explained.

“Reed? Who is Reed?” Judy said kind of puzzled, as the trio darted up the front steps and through the door inside to the awaiting warmth.

Jack started straight away while shutting the front door. “Reed Hallington was the owner of this house. It was built some 100 years ago by his grandfather, Beaumont Hallington, who left it to him upon his passing. Reed lived here all his life, and fell in love with the place as a young boy.”

“He lived here alone?” Judy asked questioningly.

“Yes, he did. He was quite an eccentric bachelor, very set in his ways and unable to compromise with the easiest of people. He hated any of his things touched or changed, so he lived here alone until his passing a little over a month ago. He left the property and all of his belongings to his niece Abigail.” Jack continued. “I Don’t Want My Things Changed! That’s what he’d say to me all the time, and exactly like that. I never did understand why someone wanted a handyman who Didn’t Want His Things Changed.”

“What about the rest of his family?” asked Judy.

“He had no children, and no use for any of his family. He used to say they’d steal from God himself if given the chance, so he disowned them a long time ago. He was always fond of Abigail, and said she was the only one who ‘didn’t care to care’, so he left everything to her.” Jack let out with a laugh. “He loved talking in riddles like that, just enough to make his point, but still vague enough that people never really knew what he was talking about.”

“Abigail contacted me right away about selling the house, the property and everything in it.” Emily chimed in. “But as you can see, the house is pretty run down, ENTER JUDY.” Emily quipped. “You’re a master at making any place look ‘sell-able’, so do you have any ideas on where to start?”

The trio slowly walked room to room, as Judy took everything in. The halls were dark and dingy, and smelled of musty mothballs. The dark wood covering the walls of just about every room obviously hadn’t been washed in a while, and the floors on the entire bottom floor squeaked so loudly when walking, that it was impossible to sneak up on anyone. 

“He liked it that way.” Jack said almost reading Judy’s mind. “Reed used to say there was no use for an alarm system with floors as squeaky as his. He had more money that most people could ever wish for, and was just as stingy with it.” Jack laughed amusingly.

“We’ll need new rugs, have to clean the windows, and paint. We definitely need to paint with some bright cheery colors.  People have to be able to imagine themselves living here when they walk through, and I don’t know anyone who would imagine living in such a creepy ‘Hermon Munster’ type mansion. We need to let the light in, and see if we can auction some of this old dusty furniture off. But first we need a good old fashioned cleaning. Soap, water and a vacuum!” Judy said walking swiftly room to room, speaking out loud her TO-DO list. “Oh, and I noticed some bookshelves that need fixing, as well as the kitchen cabinets. The outside will just have to sit for now.”

I’ll get right on that bookshelf.” Jack replied. “I have paint in my truck yellow, white, and sea-blue. Let me know if any of those work, and I’ll start painting right away.”

“Yellow in the kitchen, hallways white, and let me think about the sea-blue for now, OK?” Judy asked, kind of excited about sprucing up the place.

Jack was off in a flash, and started right away on his projects. As he tended to the bookshelves and painting, Emily and Judy got pails of soap and water, mops and sponges, and started scrubbing the house from top to bottom. Cobwebs, dust bunnies, old yellow papers and more all cleaned and thrown away. Windows were opened to air out the old, musty dank air, and replace it with the crisp clean October air blowing in from outside. The dining table was washed and set as if company was coming to dine. Vases of flowers were arranged sporadically throughout the house, and by the time evening fell, the mansion looked completely different. Light, airy, clean, it was an amazing transformation. At five o’clock all three agreed that was enough for one day’s work, and they would reconvene at 9 the next morning, provided snow wasn’t an issue. They said goodnight, locked up and then started out for home.

___________________________

The next morning, Jack, Emily and Judy all arrived at 9 AM, eager to continue another great day’s work on the old mansion. The snow was light and really didn’t amount to much, so Emily had time to go shopping before arriving that morning.

“I have more paint, and some decorations to hang, so let’s continue where we left off yesterday.” Judy said entering through the front door, Emily and Jack following behind her. 

As the three entered the foyer, Emily let out a short scream, and Jack shouted, “WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?” Judy dropped the bags she was carrying and just stood there in disbelief with her mouth wide open. 

“What the hell happened here.” Judy said, not sure whether to cry or run for the door.

Everything in the house was returned exactly as it had been the morning before. The paint was all gone, the cleanly washed floor and walls were all covered with dirt and cobwebs again. The bookshelf Jack fixed was broken once again, and the paint, all the beautiful paint they put on the walls was completely gone. It was as if they did absolutely nothing the day before. 

“Is this some kind of joke? A Halloween prank or something?” Emily stuttered. 

“I don’t think so.” Jack stuttered, taking a step backwards towards the front door. Look over there on the door to the library. 

Emily and Judy ran over to the library door and stopped dead in their tracks with a loud GASP.  

Written on the wall in what looked like red paint, or maybe even blood, were the words, “I Told You I Don’t Want My Things CHANGED!”

That was enough for Judy, like a shot she turned around and ran out the front door, Emily and Jack following closely behind.

“I can’t do this.” Judy said shaking. “This house cannot be changed. You’ll just have to call Abigail and tell her she needs to find someone looking for a creepy house of this nature and is willing to buy it as is.” Judy continued putting her stuff back in her car. 

Emily agreed and called Abigail to let her know what happened. 

“I have to say I’m disappointed, but not at all shocked.” Abigail chatted on the phone. “That place gave me the creeps all my life, I just can’t understand why my uncle left it to me.” Suddenly Abigail’s other line began to ring and Emily hung on while she answered it. A short time later Abigail returned to the conversation. “You won’t believe what that call was about.” Abigail said.

Emily intrigued at the suggestion asked, “What was it about?”

“That was another Realtor, and she has a buyer who wants to put an offer on the property, but would like to look at it in the morning. She said he would like to buy it as is, sight unseen with just a quick walk-through.”

“UNBELIEVABLE!” Emily Squealed. “I’ll let the others know and we can all meet back here in the morning. How’s 10 AM?”

“Perfect, see you then.” “Abigail hung up the phone. 

“Guess what?” Emily asked Jack and Judy. “We have a potential buyer. He’s coming with Abigail and his Realtor 10 AM tomorrow. We can all meet him here in case he has any questions.” 

“Sounds perfect,” they both chimed, said goodbye and left for the day.

___________________________

The next morning everyone arrived by 10 AM very excited and hopeful to be done with this place soon. An older man got out of the car, followed by his Realtor. Abigail had already arrived and was talking with Jack and Emily. 

“Hi I’m Karen Weiss, the Realtor,”

“Pleased to meet you,” everyone retorted back, and made their introductions. 

“Who’s your client?” Jack asked. “Wait, where’d he go?”

The group followed up the front stairs and into the foyer, where the exotic older man had already gone, and was now roaming room to room, muttering under his breathe, “Yes, Yes, Yes, this will do just fine.”

He rejoined the group standing in the entranceway, and said in a strong loud voice, “I’LL TAKE IT.”

Emily jumped in, “But there are some things I think you should know before you decide on buying it.

“Like what?” he said back.

“For starters, I really don’t think you’ll be able to change anything in the place. I really can’t explain why, but are you alright with things staying as they are?”

Without missing a beat he retorted back, “Absolutely. You don’t have to worry about that. I Don’t Want My Things Changed!”

Jack, Emily and Judy looked at each other in total disbelief. “Did he just say what I think he said?” Their eyes said it all.

“What was that?” Jack asked?

“I said, I DON’T WANT MY THINGS CHANGED!” said the older gentleman.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Judy piped up.

The older gentleman looked her dead in the eyes, and said. “REED. My name is REED HALLINGTON!”

The End