Chapter Ten: The Lament of Mr. Grieves:

Long before my family lived in Victoria Manor, it was the house of one of the richest men in Baton Rouge. He owned many slaves. Not many people know of the history. Or at least not the whole picture. I only know because Miranda showed me everything. There was an old slave on the property in the 1800’s. The other slaves were afraid of him. He was small and barely spoke much. Mr. Grieves was near-sighted and could barely walk. So why were they so afraid of him?

“He was a witch!” Miranda said. She twirled about in my room.

“What? How do you know that?” I asked. She flopped down onto my bed.

“He told me himself!” Miranda said. I looked so confused.

“But how?” I asked.

“He’s here right now.”

“Where?”

“There!” Miranda pointed out the window. I turned my head to see a thin black man looking into my room. He had scars all over his body and a heavy chain around his neck. He stared at me with big eyes. When he grinned, he had teeth missing. I ran out of my room, screaming. I pounded on grandma’s bedroom door.

“Grandma!” I cried. “There’s a man looking in my room! He’s really scary!” I looked up when the door opened. Grandma looked down at me half-asleep.

“What is it?” she asked. “Why did you wake me up?” I broke down sobbing as I tried to tell her about the man in my window.

“What?” she asked. I pointed down to my room. Grandma turned her head and looked.

“Something in your room?” she asked. I whimpered as I nodded. She picked me up off the ground.

“Okay, let’s go look, shall we?” she asked. I didn’t want to, but I was too scared to say otherwise. Grandma kissed me on the cheek.

“It’s okay, honey,” she whispered. I sobbed as we started walking. We made it back into my room.

“Now where is the monster, honey?” she asked. I pointed at my window. That creepy man was still staring at me. Grandma looked out the window.

“There’s no one there,” she said. I looked and I could still see him.

“He’s right there,” I said. “Look!” She looked out the window again.

“I don’t see anything out there,” Grandma said. She pressed my head to her chest. “You must have had a bad dream.” She kissed me on the side of my head. But, I knew what I saw. It wasn’t a dream. He was real and he was looking in my window. It didn’t help that Grandma put me back in my bed that night. Miranda sat in the corner giggling at me the whole time.

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Mr. Grieves wouldn’t leave me alone. I always saw him peering into the window. I would point him out and no one else saw him. They all treated it like a little game. Well, not all of them. Doris looked at me with big eyes when I described Mr. Grieves one day.

“Tell me about the man you saw again,” she told me in the parlor room one day. My mom was out partying once again. I didn’t know where everyone else went that die. It was just Grandma, Miranda, Doris, and me in that room that day. I could feel Grandma’s eyes on my back. I looked down at my feet.

“He’s black and really thin,” I mumbled. “He’s covered in scars and has a chain around his neck. And he’s always grinning at me.” Doris started to back away from me. That was the first time I saw her shivering. She tried not to bite her nails.

“Sweetheart,” Doris said in a low voice. “Who told you about the scary man in the window?”

“Miranda,” I whispered. The next thing I know, I was rushed out of the parlor room. In the hallway, my grandmother and Doris were whispering back and forth to each other. I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I did hear one thing.

“Her friend cannot stay here,” Doris hissed. “She has to go! She is part of his curse!” I didn’t know what that meant. Suddenly, Miranda had her chin on my shoulder.

“What is she talking about?” I whispered. I glanced behind me to see her smiling at me.

“Uh-oh, she’s scared of me,” Miranda whispered.

“But why?” I asked. I felt her nails dig into my back. Right then, I began to see the past of Mr. Grieves.