It’s funny how life likes to close circles Auntie thought as she tipped backfill into Maurice Turners grave.
She had been at his birth, his mother had gone into labour during his father’s funeral and Auntie had been in the wings waiting to fill the man’s grave. His birth had been quick, Maurice had seemingly been in a hurry to get at the world.
Auntie knew most people who rested here, bar those who had passed long before her time and Maurice was no exception. A nice boy, quick, slight and into everything. He’d had a hawkish face, which suited him as he bobbed and dashed around the place. Smart and likeable, mostly. Maurice had done well at school, earned a scholarship and had even managed to get himself all the way to university in neighbouring St Almany. At this point he had dropped off Aunties radar for she seldom left the cemetery let alone Kilder.
It wasn’t until her niece, Lolly had gone to St Almany to have her wisdom teeth pulled, that Auntie heard of Maurice again. Lolly met him by chance in the street, and he had taken her out for a fine dinner, then to the theatre. Not used to being around people with coin to splash Lolly had been very taken by him. She remained in touch with Maurice when she returned to Kilder, writing to him and seeking opportunities to visit St Almany.
Once done with school Lolly pursued a stage career, which took her back to St Almany and Maurice. Lolly had been beautiful and wasn’t short of suitors, but it was only Maurice that she had eyes for. It wasn’t long before they were engaged, which Lolly’s mother thought a good thing, as the girl couldn’t act and clearly wasn’t going to make her fortune on the stage. Better that she marries and perhaps start a family.
Maurice had become a wealthy young man, having started a successful shipping company. With his wealth he bought up land around Kilder including the old Rhodes estate. The estate had once been a grand residence, with extensive orchards and grazing. He intended it to become the family home and set about returning it to its former glory.
Lolly and Maurice’s wedding was an extravagant affair. Their guests were treated to a lavish feast, dancing and performances by friends from Lolly’s theatre days. Auntie had been invited, but had not attended, she didn’t go in for crowds or the formalities of the living.
For the first year of their union, they lived in St Almany, but when Lolly fell pregnant, she returned to Kilder taking up residence in the Rhodes Estate. She had an easy pregnancy, glowing throughout. At weekends Maurice would come down from the city and they would entertain guests. The love and joy of the young couple seemed to flow from their home and out into the wider community, rippling out like a flame. For the first time in years there was a sense that great things could happen in Kilder.
The night the baby arrived was still and calm, except the sky which had been lit by the burning debris of a passing meteor. Auntie had watched the flares of light and energy in wonder from the cemetery. When she heard Lolly’s child had chosen that night to be born, she couldn’t help but wonder about the nature of this omen. Good or bad? Whichever it was there was power bound into it.
A month later Auntie dug a new grave. She chose the spot carefully, on the edge of the cemetery, near the riverbank among a cluster of mayhaw trees, which would cascade with white blossoms in the spring and flame red with rich ripe fruit in the flowers wake. Lolly’s child was laid to rest here, amongst the trees. The funeral had been short, the parents were statuesque in their grief, and that night Maurice had returned to St Almany.
Lolly remained on the estate and for a while Maurice had travelled between the two homes, but storms, rival firms and even pirates had meant that his business was in difficulty, and he couldn’t be spared. Eventually he stopped travelling between his homes and stayed in the big city leaving his wife alone in her grief.
The pain of loss changed Lolly, she was no longer a bright and beautiful creature. Her mother and friends tried to provide her with solace and comfort, but she would take none. She blamed herself for what had happened and Maurice’s absence only reinforced this.
For a year Lolly kept to herself and was seldom seen in the daylight hours. On the anniversary of their child’s birth Auntie found flowers at the child’s grave, a bright cluster of asters laid neatly before the headstone. Soon after the estate which had been in deep mourning along with its mistress returned to life. The gates reopened, the household was restaffed, the orchard workers returned, and livestock brought to auction. A shroud had been lifted.
However, Lolly remained largely unseen by those who knew her, reclusive, she communicated with notes and letters only, but that winter things changed. Invitations came out, inviting the whole town to a New Years party.
The event was extravagant, and it was only the first of many. Soon it was not just the Kilder folk who were invited, but also those from distant regions. Each party grew in scale and expense, and Lolly was the queen of excess. When she started to invite theatre groups to the estate to entertain people began to talk, for everyone knew about Maurice’s money woes, but Lolly continued to spend, and they continued to attend. Maurice remained in St Almany, he didn’t come to chastise his wife for her spending and their credit for now remained good, but everyone noticed the growing rift between husband and wife.
A particularly famous troop of performers came over from Europe that season and they brought the roof down in every town and city they visited. Lolly just had to host them, she pulled every string and spent a royal fortune to get them out to the Rhodes Estate.
The troop arrived under the light of a full moon, in carriages pulled by fine black horses. Auntie watched them pass through the town and believed she recognised them for what they were. The following morning, she went out to the estate and asked to speak to Lolly, but she was turned away. Undeterred she had found another way in but was sent packing when she reached the house. Still, she tried again, asking a maid to take her niece a letter, the girl promised she would.
That night all the towns folk were invited to the estate, except Auntie. An elaborate production of Midsummer Night’s Dream was put on by the Europeans and the next day it was all anyone spoke about. Auntie felt slightly calmed as nothing untoward had happened.
Another night, another performance, the comic opera Princess Ida, this time with guests from all over the county not just Kilder. Auntie watched the fireworks that concluded the party from her bench at the cemetery. As the coaches rolled back to town, she began to wonder if she had been wrong about the performer’s nature.
The third night was the troops final performance. Kilder buzzed with excitement and gossip about the extravagances Lolly had planned.
A knitting in Aunties stomach set her worrying. She decided to seek her niece out, she needed reassurance that all was well. It was easy to slip into the estate this time for every tradesman and his dog had business there that day and she was just one of many people arriving. She let herself into the house, slipping past the maid she had previously asked to deliver her warning and made for Lolly’s bedchambers. She found the curtains drawn, but the bed had not been slept in. It was at this point she was discovered and was escorted from the property. As she was roughly handled down the drive, she caught a glimpse of Lolly emerging from one of the large carriages in which the performers travelled. Even from this distance Auntie could see the radiant glow about the girl, they locked eyes, then Lolly turned her back on Auntie.
Auntie watched as carriage after carriage rolled past her cemetery on route to the estate. The hum of the party could be heard over the cicadas, music and voices rising and falling. Later when she retired to bed Auntie noticed an orange glow on the horizon, she opened her window and the air that crept through carried the scent of smoke.
The fire had started in the kitchen, spreading quickly, trapping many of the guests inside. By the time an organised response was underway it was too late, forty-four souls had perished. When the news reached Maurice, he rushed back to Kilder and it was he who pulled Lolly from the rubble.
His wife was utterly unscathed, her clothes were burnt, but she hadn’t a bruise or singe upon her. She was hurried back up to St Almany for medical treatment, but it was unnecessary, and she was discharged into Maurice’s care. Once back in their town house she took to the bedchamber and wouldn’t leave.
Auntie interred the locals over the next few days and helped arrange for the final passage of the deceased who had further to travel. The cemetery had been a busy place, busier than Kilder which was now much reduced and deep in mourning. Though behind closed doors and in quiet places whispers began, had Lolly had started the fire.
While his wife refused to be part of the world and remained locked away in her bedroom Maurice’s money woes came calling. The estate had been mortgaged to cover his business debts, and with the fire the debt had been called. His remaining assets were seized, the business foreclosed on, and the estate sold.
Months later on a moonless night Maurice and Lolly returned to Kilder, taking up residence in their only remaining property, a small house near the forest. Nobody saw Lolly, but Maurice was seen pacing on the porch or walking in the woods. He came to the cemetery daily, placing a single lily at his child’s grave. Where he got the coin for the flower from Auntie didn’t know, but she never asked about it. However, at her sister’s behest she did approach him to enquire after Lolly. His voice was slow and heavy, his answer short – she was recovering.
The weeks passed, the seasons changed, Lolly remained an unseen entity while Maurice became wraith like in his demise.
One morning Auntie found fresh flowers at the child’s grave, not the singular lily she was used to but the purple blue asters. The following day Maurice’s body was found. He had been brutally slain. The coroner concluded it was an animal attack and when Auntie was called upon to prepare him for burial, she agreed that something wild had ended his life.
Of Lolly there was no sign. The house had been vacant when the sherif went to inform her about her husband’s passing. A search had been conducted but nothing turned up, she had simply vanished.
So here was Maurice, resting in a shallow grave just yards from where he had been born, thirty-one years ago. Funny how things worked out. Auntie pulled her pipe from her pocket and settled down to wait. Not long after sunset a shadow came creeping. Lolly. She approached and paused by the shifting soil in the grave before her. A hand clawed its way through the dirt, an arm, another hand, then Maurice’s face, filthy and feral. Auntie sighed, tapped out the pipes embers and picked up her shovel. Duty called.
© Juliet Robinson 2024, all rights reserved.
Mind Burble
This piece was originally much shorter and was written for a workshop. I wrote it following a trip to New Orleans which should tell you were all the ideas came from, least surprising of all the I guess would be the appearance of vampires. It was a lifelong dream to visit New Orleans and I did hope it would inspire a story.
I enjoyed leaning into the tone and the tropes in this piece. It was nice to come back to it, to make changes and finish it, as lately I am really struggling to finish anything and I don’t feel like I am making any progress with my long term projects. So yes a box ticked, a story finished and a vague sense of achievement, even if I am not wild about the story.
A Year of Time 