:::Holidailies Prompt:::

Tell us about an invitation you’ve refused … or one you never received.

Fenella Lindsey made the choice, every single day she when she drove or walked by the Isherwood House.

She chose not to walk up to the door, she chose not turn turn the knob ( the door would not be locked ) she chose not to walk into the house and close the door behind her.

It’s just that she walked or drove by that house a lot.

To be fair a lot of people did that.

The Isherwood house is not only the scene of a brutal murder, it turned out to late be the scene of an equally brutal suicide.

Jardine Isherwood killed his wife with an ax- and after the trial where Jardine was declared not guilty he returned to his house hammered  a knife into the living room wall and ran into the business end of it until he died.

Everyone in Luck Stop will tell you that Rodina’s  Ghost,  with her face nearly split in half, her chest a bloody mess,  walks from room to room in her empty house dragging the murder ax behind her. You can hear it scraping along the wooden floor if you’re foolish enough to be in earshot of the Isherwood house.

She’s a terrifying vision in black and red.

Jardine is hiding in the basement- you can hear him down there begging for Rodina to put it down and leave him be.

There’s a lot death still happening in Jardine and Rodina’s house- a lot of death and a lot screaming.

Fenella didn’t care about the Isherwood’s blood drenched past- what she cared about was what kind of garden she would plant if she lived in the Isherwood House, what kind of curtains would look best and she was certain she’d rather paper then paint the walls.

Sometimes when she walked by the House a window would be opened, the front door was ajar, sometimes Fenella thought she caught the scent of baking coming inside the house.

The House had taken to  inviting Fanella in for a little visit.

Just a little one.

It was Christmas of last year, the year it started to snow in October and snowed until the middle of April that Fanella found herself walking up the walk to the door if the Isherwood House.

She turned the knob, pushed the door open and looked into the house for the first time.

The House was cavernous, and only a little light made it’s way through the windows and to the walls that had been papered once.

Dead plants sat on small ornate wooden tables. There were pictures on the walls and dark heavy furniture, bloated with mildew and rot filled the living room.

She could fix this, make it right.

” I could be yours” – something whispered Fenella’s left ear.

Fanella grabbed her ear, she spun around.

She was alone.

” But you’re not Fanella, we’re here.”

It was the House in her ear, it was making it’s way into her head- she could feel it.

” Those people- carrying on- the screaming and fighting they did until the day they died. And they kept it up. They won’t stop. They kill each other every single night.”

Fanella stepped back towards the door.

” It’s enough to drive you mad.” It cried desperately.

Fanella nodded, she walked with her back towards the door.

” Live with me Fanella, make a home here. Bake cookies, paper the walls with rose print wallpaper , jam the rooms with
Victorian furniture, plant a vegetable garden. Please Fanella, don’t go and leave me with them.”

” I’m sorry.” Fanella told the House. ” I’m so sorry.”

She walked out of the house and as she closed the door behind her she heard the sound of something heavy being dragged across a wooden floor, she could hear Rodina choking on her blood, she heard a man’s voice pleading from the darkness within.

She heard a third voice too.

And it was screaming.