The Harold House Mysteries: Prologue

The Harold House Mystery

Prologue

E

ven though the light in this room isn’t that good, it is easy to see that the fireplace is the most impressive thing in the room. It is a massive marble edifice that dominates the wall. The marble is white with ribbons of pink and gray running through it. To be fair it is the only thing in the room now. I imagine in the past there were rugs, statues, chairs and tables scattered about the room. Now it is completely bare, much like the rest of the building.
         I am the last in a long line of owners of the Harold House. It sits on 3 acres of lightly forested land with a passable road in front. The last owners was my aunt. She died 3 months ago when a power line broke loose and dropped on to her car. The year before her husband had been killed falling down an open sewer hole. The reason he’d fallen was he’d been hit by a passing ice cream truck. They passed it to me, complete with a past due property tax of $12,000. I’d checked into it and the property tax has not been paid for 3 years. My aunt and uncle were not rich people, they did what they could. That is why it’s an empty building, they sold everything just to keep up with the taxes and that had not been enough.
         Hindsight being what it is, they probably should have either sold it right away or converted it into a Bread and Breakfast. Now, empty of furniture and appliances, it would be very expensive to get it back in shape and that’s not even considering the electrical and plumbing. I, of course, am not rich either.
         The executor of their will had come by my house, if you can believe that, to drop off the deed, keys, and a sealed envelope. He was a strange man, tall thin to the point of gaunt, but weary bright colors. He handed me the package and said, “May He-Who-Sleeps rest while She-Who-Doesn’t works.” then left.
         The deed was the deed, normal for this county, the letter in the envelope was on the same scale of weirdness as the man who delivered it. It was a rambling thing about activities that we’d shared and I was just about to toss it when I got to the last paragraph …
         There was, also, an ornate key in the envelope. I know very little about curses so I show the key to a couple witches, a clerics and a warlock and they all, basically, said the same thing, “Dude, you are on your own.” The only clue was one cleric said, “This sort of crap usually starts underground. I’d check the basement.” Just about as cryptic as what my aunt and uncle had passed on.
         Turns out the key unlocks the front door and that seems to be it’s entire function. I have looked everywhere for some kind of entrance to a basement and failed to find anything. If this does start underground, it is not going to be easy to find.
         This fireplace is the largest and most obvious thing in the house. It starts with a massive 8 foot hearth that is 2 feet wide and rises 6 inches above the floor. The opeing 5 feet wide and 4 feet tall. ON either side of the opening are carved columns that hold up a massive mantel. In the fireplace is a large, iron andiron. Everything is spotlessly clean. No one has had a fire in here in ages.
         I vaguely remember a movie where there was a secret door hidden inside the fireplace. There aren’t any sconces or ornate hooks on the walls around the fireplace. I pull out my flashlight and play the light over the front of the mantle and see a bunch of stylized fire reliefs along the front edge. I am just about to give up when I notice that some are slightly large than the rest.
         The mantle is right at nose level and the symbols are about a foot apart all along the front edge. There are 7 symbols in all and 3 are larger. The center one is larger and the symbols two feet to either side. I reach out and press the one in the center. Nothing happens but I feel a slight-almost-electric buzz. I touch all the symbols but only the three larger ones give out that feeling.
         OK, if it is a binary pattern then I got seven to try. If it isn’t binary I am going to have to search for some hint somewhere. I start touching the symbols in order until I get to 7. How am I going to press all three at the same time; they are two feet apart?
         Boy, am I glad no one is here to see this. I press my nose to the center one and touch the other two at the same time.
         I come to a few minutes later, lying at the foot of the fireplace. I feel a tingling all over my body. It’s a lot like the first time I touched the hot and neutral in an electrical outlet with my bare hand.
         I stand and look around, nothing has changed outside the fireplace, unless it’s in another room, which would be really annoying. I pick up my flashlight and play the light around inside the fireplace and immediately notice that the right side is different. Getting into the fireplace is awkward because I have to duck below the 4 foot entrance and not step on the andiron, as the bars are spaced such that I can’t stand on it. Once in, I find I can stand if a little awkwardly. There is a slightly open 5 foot tall section of the side wall that is open. I push it open and see that there are stairs leading down. So here are the basement stairs. What kind of nut puts stairs to a basement inside the fireplace? What if it’s winter and you need a fire and go down to the basement? I am starting to think great granddad was crazy as a loon.
         I squeeze into the opening and head down the stairs.
         There are 15 stairs. They are grouped into sets of 3 stairs and a landing. The stair way curves to the right as it goes down. The walls are brick at first then change to rough rock. The last step lets out on to a small landing in front of a door. The door has a fish on it. So I got two of the clues, now the third. I am hoping that it refers to the folding pocket knife I have in my pocket and not a knife or knives that will come shooting out and eviscerate me when I open the door. I wish my ex was here; I’d let her open it while I held the flashlight.
         Maybe I watch too many adventure/horror movies but I flatten myself against the wall and use the front door key on the lock. I hear it click and the door pops open slightly. I wait for a few minutes then toe the door open farther, then quickly look into the next room with the flashlight. All I see is part of a large room with a dirt floor. Nothing came out except the scent of musty air and … the sea?
         Gathering my courage, I step into the room and see that it’s more like a hallway than room. I walk down playing the light on the walls. They are covered from about a foot from the floor to about 7 feet up in primitive drawing, runes, hieroglyphs, words and other symbols. Some I have seen before but none of it is the least bit coherent to me. Too bad I couldn’t convince one of the witches, warlocks or clerics to come.
         I walk along until it seems to dead end but it actually has a right turn that goes to a very narrow, maybe 2 feet wide hallway. I look down it and see a brightly lit room. I sidle a long and enter the room, it is large and one wall the left is taken up by a huge fish tank. It’s at least 12 feet long and 10 feet high. And there is an enormous goldfish swimming in it. Further on is a cot and on it is a body. There isn’t much else in the room and I don’t see any other doors.
         I approach the body cautiously. The fish is getting agitated the closer I get to it. There is something on his chest. It’s a knife stuck into his chest. It looks like it pierced his heart. I lean over and see that the corpses eyes are open and that he looks familiar.
         “Dude,” I say stupidly as I straighten up.
         The eyes rotate toward me and the body sits up; I back up quickly.
         The corpse-man looks at my face then takes a wracking breath, exhales then repeats this a half a dozen times. I can’t hardly take my eyes off the knife in his chest as he attempts to get his breath. Out of the corner of my eye I see that the fish is now hovering near us, watching.
         “What are you doing here?” the corpse asks.
         “Who are you?” I counter.
         The corpse glares at me for a moment the says, “I am Jacob M. Harold, the owner of this place!”
         “I am your great grandson,” I say glaring back.
         “Great grandson, you say?”
         “Yes.”
         “How long have I been down here?”
         “My mother said that you disappeared when her father was about 10 years old. So that’s about 86 years.”
         “86 years? What the hell?” he says looking at the fish, then asks. “Why you come down here?”
         “Uhm. Trying to lift the curse?”
         “What curse?”
         “The one that keeps killing the owners of your house?”
         “Killing? That ain’t right.”
         “Lot of things ain’t right; like why are you talking to me and you’re dead?”
         “I ain’t dead, stupid kid.”
         “Then explain the knife in your chest.”
         The corpse-grandpa looks down and reach a hand to tug at the knife. It doesn’t budge. He says “Well son of a … you damn liar!” He turns to the fish and glares at it. The fish responds by retreating to the farthest corner of the aquarium.
         “Help me get this godsdamn knife out, boy!”
         I reach over and pull hard, it gives slowly at first then pulls out. There is no blood and the grandpa-corpse falls back on the cot.
         “Oh crap,” slips out of my mouth when I find that I can hardly hold the knife with one hand. It’s like it’s being held by someone else and they want to put it back in grandpa. I put both hands on it and keep it away from him. I look at the fish and it’s focusing on the knife. I drag the knife toward the tank and I bring it over my head. Standing only a couple feet away I plunge the knife into the glass of the aquarium. It penetrates pretty easily. The knife stops fighting me and the fish retreats deeper into the aquarium.
         “You can let go of it now,” grandpa says.
         I let go, retreat from it quickly and turn to him. He is still dead on the cot but hovering above his corpse is a … ghost? Part of the ghost is still in the corpse.
         The corpse-ghost-great-grandpa cursed for several minutes then asks, “How is the family?”
         “Mostly dead. All your kids are gone. About half the spouses are around. Me, Jason, my sister Pearl and our 2 cousins are the only ones still alive.”
         “Well, it’s over. It seems ole G’thun there was using my kids lives to keep me from moving on to the afterlife so he wouldn’t be lonely. Selfish bugger. This room and that hall in front aren’t part of the regular world. So you head on back and when you pass through the door, lock it by turning it to the left three full revolutions. That will start the process of severing this place from the world. The regular basement should appear in it’s place. Might take a few days, hard to tell, 86 years is a long time.”
         “What about you?”
         “Thanks for worryin’ kid but I just finally get to move on . Ole fish here can stay and be lonely or go back where he came from. I no longer care. You go on now and thanks.”
         “Ah, I hate to ask but did you leave any … money? My parents and aunt had a hard time keeping up with the property taxes.”
         “G’thun, lying sack of ...” corpse-ghost-great-grandpa yells at the fish then turns to me and says. “He was supposed to see that my kids and by extension their kids and you kids had more than enough money to keep you well.
         “When the regular basement returns you should find some treasure left there. I don’t remember how much. I hope it’s enough. Thanks for freeing me, kid. You take care, now.”
         I watch the ghost fade to nothing. I turn to leave and I hear/feel a voice.
         “I can give you your heart’s desire! For a small sacrifice on your part, all your children will have all they need for their entire lives.”
         The pressure on my mind was almost overwhelming but I steel myself against it and walk towards the door. Focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.
         “Anything you want! I can give you anything!”
         I make it to the hallway and the pressure lessens. I can’t hear him/her/it but I feel it trying to pull me back.
         Eventually I reach the door, it feels like a century. Once I close and lock the door, per the ghosts instructions I am freed from the pressure. I stand for a moment just breathing. My knees are weak but I manage to climb back up the stairs. I stand at the top and catch my breath.
         So, great granddad made a deal with that fish-god to provide for his kids and it cheated by shortening the lives of his relatives. That is the first god I’ve met and I think I want it to be the last.
         I get out of the fireplace, and touch the center flame symbol. I hear the door inside the fireplace click shut. I look around and see that the house hadn’t magically become full of nice furniture again but it does seem a little brighter.
         I leave that room and stand in the hallway. I see the outline of a new door under the stairs. It’s mostly just a rectangular shape. I’ll give it a few days then go down there. I wonder what I will find in a basement that hasn’t been visited in at least 80 years?