Mary Kendall, A Ghost Story

hehe, you might be on to something with your comment. Hopefully you will find out this weekend. Knock on wood...I'm not working.

Mary Kendall, A Ghost Story
The Visitor

Mary looks to see if the antique car is still in the garage. It is. She loves that car and works every winter trying to restore it before she is sent back to the netherworld to sleep. By the time she gets back, it is rusted again. She is very happy that no one has hauled it away to a junkyard. The radio still works too. Amazing technology! She listens to a news program to get a weather update and then tunes a music station to listen to the new music since she has been away. She finds the polisher in the tool cabinet and works on getting the rust off the body of the car. While doing this mindless activity she thinks about a news report that she heard on the radio while waiting for the weather report. "Hmmm, it seems there has been a breakthrough at the science lab in restoring life to some dimensional beings. What the heck is a dimensional being? I need to slip into the science lab and try to figure out what they mean. I majored in science at the university and have kept up with my studies with the equipment in the attic, the tablet, and books from the library. I should be able to understand this new information. I hope so. If the Fates can bring me back year after year and the other ghosts stay around all the time, perhaps there is a way to return to complete life instead of this half-life living ghost. Tomorrow evening I will visit the science lab."
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Across town, at the local lodge, a visitor arrives. He checks in at the reception desk requesting a room with a fireplace that doesn't smoke up the room. While waiting for his room to be prepared he wanders in the lobby. He finds gaming goggles and plays a holo adventure game.
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His room is finally ready and he settles in but doesn't unpack. He will only be here overnight. He does light the fire to take the chill off. He is anxious for tomorrow so he can sign the papers and finally be the owner of the lodge that is called Spring Manor.
"That's me! Damien Nazario III, yes, the third. Named after my father and his father. The almost owner of Spring Manor and newly licensed PI in Hidden Springs." He is excited at this new venture in his life. He worked with the police department for several years in Riverview after graduation. He is fascinated with mysteries and has a talent for uncovering puzzles and finding out 'whodunit'. He loves seeing justice served and he hates seeing injustice. He worked his way up in the department eventually working undercover to fight the criminal underground movement. He was not happy working undercover despite the successes of taking down several criminal organizations. He decided to take his life in a new direction. He saw an article that Spring Manor was for sale once again. He made the decision to buy it and move to Hidden Springs. He had enough money saved and knew with what he could get selling his condo he should be able to make needed repairs to make the Manor livable. He took a virtual tour, saw the extent of the damage the lodge has taken over the years, and makes a very low offer which is surprisingly accepted.
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He takes his tablet out and looks over his notes. Someday he hopes to write a book when he finishes the investigation of the Mary Kendall mystery.
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The story of Mary Kendall and her untimely death is a popular tale in her hometown of Riverview, my hometown as well. She was a smart young woman with a bright future ahead of her until her death. She was a heroine to many as she rose from a poor background to become the valedictorian of her high school and received a full scholarship to university. She excelled in University and was offered a dream job with a prestigious hospital to start her medical career. On the brink of an exciting career and full life, she died. Frozen to death. How did this happen? Why did no one come to her aid? Her death left many in the town shocked and saddened, but left me with many unanswered questions the more I delved into her story.

Her story was tragic and yet something always bothered me about the details that were related by the others staying at the lodge at the time of Mary's death. I started researching the stories and found conflicting information by several of the girls staying at the lodge. The official report was an accident. I wonder if the family wealth caused the local police to investigate poorly the inconsistencies in the story and the verdict of accidental death was never challenged. I interviewed several of her classmates and they were all surprised that Kerry would invite Mary to go skiing with her and her friends. Kerry was universally acknowledged as very jealous of Mary's brilliant mind and furious that Mary got the prestigious internship that she felt belonged to her.

I never lost my fascination with Mary's story and continued my research and updated these notes as I interviewed and read about those involved at the time of her death.
The lodge was eventually sold by the family after many strange incidents occurred. The first affected Kerry and several of her friends who stayed at the lodge the first winter after Mary's death. The lodge caught fire during that stay and Kerry suffered severe burns that disfigured her and scarred her to the extent no plastic surgery could repair the damage. She fell down the stairs trying to escape the fire but claimed she was pushed. She broke her leg in several places and was left with a permanent limp. The other girls suffered similar injuries during the fire. They were able to pull Kerry out of the home to await rescue. The fire was mysteriously extinguished before the fire department arrived. Kerry and her friends refused to set foot in the lodge ever again claiming it was haunted and the ghost was trying to kill them. The lodge was repaired and the family tried renting it out during the skiing season to make up the money for repairs. They ended up losing money as the tenants would leave in the middle of the night screaming that the place was haunted and demanding their money back. No one was ever injured among the tenants other than psychically.
Kerry's family lived in Sunset Valley and continued to be struck with misfortune as poor decisions were made in the family business, stocks crashed and several of their businesses went bankrupt. Her father and mother died in a car crash and her brother took off with what was left of the valuables in the home and has not been seen since. Trying to recoup some cash to reinvest into the business Kerry made contact with Nick Alto. She signed a contract with him and was unable to pay him back at the specified time. The last of her family's businesses were taken over. I tried to contact the friends that stayed at the lodge when Mary died. They all suffered misfortune and 2 are dead and the last is bedridden. Kerry is living in a tiny trailer in a trailer park, poorer than Mary ever was. Nick and his wife Vita are living in her family's former estate. Kerry refused to speak of that time at the lodge when Mary died when I interviewed her. She did cryptically tell me "that was the beginning of the end for us. Karma will bite you no matter how hard you try to run."

Damien closes his tablet and turns it off. He walks outside on the balcony hoping to see Spring Lodge. The trees are too dense to get a good look at it.
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He is hungry and decides to go to town and find a place to eat. On the way, he stops at Spring Lodge and walks up to the gate looking up at the house that will be his tomorrow. He swears he saw movement in one of the upper rooms. Probably a trick of the light.
Mary senses someone on the property. She looks out the window. "Go away! Go away! I don't care how good looking you are, go away!" She sighs when he turns and leaves. "He sure looked cute."
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Ah! There he is the good looking stranger! :D
Mary´s first and forever love and her savior to the living world again. Or to the neverland?
So Mary already had her revenge, why does she still haunt?
Nice try not to show too much of his face! (I hope he isn´t too hairy when undressed! :p :p :p )
So let´s see how the two of them get along with each other!

@bekkasan Making comments here. :kissing_heart:
Cute that Mary's working to fix up the old car. ;) Oh and she's just learned that she could possibly become resurrected via the Science lab! Nice! :grin:
That looks like a very nice lodge. :)
DAMIEN! :love: He arrives!!! :mrgreen:
Funny how he was driven to Spring Manor. :smirk: And that his low offer was accepted. ;)
The way he (well, you ;) ) wrote out Mary's mystery story was fantastic! :star:
(I love that embroidered rug on the floor beneath his feet. :open_mouth: Is that CC and where did you find it? )
While it's kinda sad, I am SO glad to hear that those girls got their comeuppance when it came to them basically murdering Mary! :angry: Just desserts!
Love that picture of him looking out at the frozen pine trees from the deck. So snowy and beautiful. <3 I'm the weird person who loves the snow and cold. ;)

She sighs when he turns and leaves. "He sure looked cute."

^Darn skippy! :smiley: Eeeeekkk! :mrgreen: I sense there will be love in the air very soon. :smirk: And you know I like it!
OMGosh I almost didn't see her looking through the window in that picture at the very end! Nice! :star:
I'm greatly looking forward to MORE! :smiley: <3

@bekkasan How frusrating to start the project with the car every year just to have it get rusty again :| .
It's good news Mary has been studying science... Perhaps she'sll find a way to return back to life. Sounds promising!
Hmm, a mysterious stranger :smirk: . Will he be the special man is Mary's life... Wait, that Emorrill's Damien :p.
Since he's a man who likes to see justice happening, he should have sympathy for poor Mary...
Oh, he already knows about her and wants to know all about her mystery! Even better :wink: .
Sounds like Mary already got her revenge on the girls even though all of that can't be directly her doing.
I feel almost bad for Kerry, but I probably shouldn't since she is the one to blame for Mary's murder :s .
Ha, Mary already likes him having seen him for the fist time. She's going to enjoy him being around even if she doesn't know it yet :smiley: .
I like the picture of Mary behind the door - scary!

@AlexaKry Thanks so much for the comments! :smiley:
hehe, all good romances, err ghost stories have to have a heroine and a hero. :grin:
The Fates have not allowed Mary to go to the light or stay in the netherworld. They have other plans for her. All will be revealed...eventually. :wink:
@emorrill created him, he's not hairy! :wink:

@emorrill Thanks so much for your comments. :smiley:
The lodge is part of Hidden Springs. I had not seen it until I was looking for a place for Damien to stay and realized I used the same log texture on Mary's places as that lodge had.
Once I got the idea it started flowing. I wanted to have Damien to tell the story that even Mary doesn't know since she is tied to HS.
It is cc. It is woven jute rug
Yep, I'd say the girls got what the deserved. They certainly didn't have a happy life. Karma. :lol:
Hidden Springs is so beautiful and the winter just adds so much to the pictures. I'm so happy to have seasons back in and behaving so far.

@meerkattime Thanks so much for the comments. :smiley:
yep...that is @emorrill's Damien :grin:
Yes, Damien wants to solve the mystery of Mary.
She does think he is cute. :wink:

Mary Kendall, A Ghost Story
Project Revive

Turning away from the frost-covered window after observing the cute but unwelcome visitor leave, Mary almost runs into her skeleton that she saved from her uni days. She was surprised to find her trunk in the attic the first year she returned to this world. It contained her things from the university. She remembers bringing the trunk with her to the lodge as she was planning on going straight to her new job after her vacation. After she was murdered, someone must have hauled the trunk up to the attic and there it stayed. Mary is a genius and studies to keep learning. She is able to update all her equipment with the tablet. She updates the brain enhancing machine on her return and is able to receive new technology fast. Her science station was bought on S-Bay, and she keeps her mind engaged by experimenting with it. She is astonished at how much the world has changed in technology in the years since she was slain. Sadly, the science station does not possess any information about restoring a life that she discovered on the radio. She will have to go to the science center and find the information there.
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Mary soaks in a hot bubble bath trying to warm herself before going out on the cold winter night.
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The manager recommends that Damien try the local diner. He finds the food delicious and likes the atmosphere of the diner. He enjoys well-cooked fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, lima beans, and homemade biscuits that melt in his mouth. He goes back to his room at the lodge stuffed and satisfied. Despite his excitement about purchasing his new home, he falls asleep quickly and sleeps through the night.
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After midnight, Mary floats through the peaceful town and enters the dark science building. It looks like all the workers have gone home. She floats through the hallways until she finds the computer room. She recognized the way very well from previous excursions in the science lab. She uses her tablet and connects to a terminal. She sets her software to hack into the computer hoping they have not changed passwords since her previous visit. They have not, and she searches all archives for the information she wants on resurrections. She eventually discovers the files and downloads them into her tablet. She spends some time searching for other advances in technology and adds to her downloaded files. She is caught up in her search and almost does not hear the sounds of a door opening. It must be the night security on their rounds. She promptly shuts her mobile tablet down after carefully saving the selected files and tucks it back in her handy bag. She floats through the cement wall in the back hallway of the facility just as the door handles jiggle as keys are put into the lock. She silently glides through another wall and finds herself outside on the loading dock. "Phew, that was close. I hope I extracted all the information, but I can always come back another night."
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Mary hurries home anxious to read the reports. She plugs her tablet into the science station and uploads the data. Mary's bird Sherlock distracts her wanting to play as it zooms around the room. She was lonely and when she found the bird in the cold snow one evening she brought him home and ordered a tree for him. She has enjoyed the company of Sherlock and has taught him a few words. She plays with him and tries to teach him a new word. She makes certain he has food and water and watches him play with his toy before going back to work. He squawks as he pecks at the toy and the bell rings. Mary wonders if she should free him, but the weather is so cold and she is afraid he will freeze.
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Mary picks up her tablet and opens the report she downloaded.
Physical Manifestations of Non-Dimensional Souls
Chief Researcher on Project Revive: Liam O'Dourke
Assistant Maya Abbot
The untimely death of humans can result in a non-dimensional soul being unable to cross over the veil to the final destination. In most cases, souls make the journey and are never seen again. The ones that are unable to cross are left to struggle between our plane of existence and the netherworld. They are not alive but not human either. They are generally tied to their urns or gravesites. Occasionally some are tied to strange ghastly gnomes that appear randomly in the world. Others can be tied to a memory or physical location that seems to prevent them from moving on. Research suggests some will cross if the tie can be broken. The longer a soul is present in the world the harder it is to send them over to the other side. Some become playful, mischievous spirits, others become evil manifestations. Our goal was to find a way to assist them to move on before becoming spirits or evil. Shockingly, we discovered that most don't want to move on. Some want resolution for their untimely death and once that is resolved, they are able to move on without our help. Others desire nothing more than another attempt at life without being constantly pulled into the netherworld. They don't even mind their form if they don't go back into the netherworld.
Of course, a non-dimensional soul otherwise known as a ghost wandering around town is not fully accepted by many humans at this time.
Thus, our goals became:
1) Find a way to stop the pull to the netherworld.
2) Find a way for the ghost to become corporeal.
With the help of many ghosts, we have been able to successfully prevent them from returning to the netherworld. We must have or identify the object they are tied to be it urn, grave, memory, or building. A spell is performed releasing the tie to the netherworld. Once released a few ghosts will choose to remain in their ghostly forms. They are encouraged to move to towns more accepting of occult souls. Others want to become human again and we can help them with that dream.
My considerable research over the years on plants and animal toxins and the effects on humans contributed enormously to our success. A Master Witch who specialized in potions that prolong life helped immensely. A Master Chef assisted in combining the ingredients so the effects of the ingredients are not inactivated during preparation. We tested extensively and eventually devised a recipe that will bring a ghost back to human life. It has been successful in 100% of the trials. The ghost must not be tied to the netherworld, or the risk is they will be sent back to the netherworld permanently. It is complicated to prepare, and the ingredients are rare and hard to find and they don't last long, and preserving is useless. It must be produced specially for each ghost.
This report is released to all affiliated science facilities and world leaders. A member of our facility will gladly travel and instruct local scientists on how to help any non-dimensional souls who would like assistance in moving on or resurrection and eventual transformation to human. A fee schedule is attached in appendix A.
The technique for releasing a ghost from the netherworld and the formula is encrypted and stored separately and will not be released as part of this report. The following data describe the trials and protocols we followed.
Mary stops reading the report not interested in statistical data. "My word, what a dry and dusty report. He is a scientist and not a novelist. I do know a non-dimensional soul is in fact a ghost. I have some hope for a future of not being a ghost tied to the whims of Fate. I will look up this Liam scientist. It sounds as if he has an affinity for helping others."
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Mary Kendall, A Ghost Story
Things That Go Bump In The Night

It's a beautiful morning in Hidden Springs and Damien is up early and on his way to town to finalize his purchase and collect the deed and keys to his new home. The papers are signed quickly and soon the realtor hands him the keys. He owns Spring Manor free and clear. He rushes back to the parking lot and hurries to his home. The snow completely covers the pathway to the house. He is careful walking on the porch because of the holes in the foundation. He has a contractor coming later to go through the house with him to help with the renovations. Some things he can do himself from working summers with a contractor while he was in school.
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Inside the house, Damien can see the potential. He is not worried about the plants and holes in the foundation. He had seen the pictures and knew to expect those things. He does not notice Mary hurrying into the tower and out of the room. Instead, he is looking at the far wall at what appears to be two ghosts chatting with each other. They notice him staring at them and they float through the wall and outside. Damien is surprised by what he just saw with his very own eyes.
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He blinks a few times and hurries out the back door and tries to find them. His best friend, Jamison believes in the occult and ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Damien believes there is another explanation for what he saw. A trick wall, images from a projector, or hologram machine, or some type of special effects. He calls out "wait" when he notices three 'ghosts' out in the snow. Only one waits, the others disappear. She answers some of his questions and others seem to offend her. She has her story down pat and tells him about drowning off the coast in a horrible boating accident and being collected by Death. Her husband survived the accident and did nothing to save her. He is now a very wealthy man inheriting her fortune. "I think he killed me!" she cries out and is why she can't move forward. "I'm doomed to be a haunt for the rest of my existence." She takes him over to two other ghosts and introduces him and then enters her gnome to rest. The other ghosts tell similar stories of death by accident and being tied to the gnomes in the yard and unable to leave the area. "We can rest in gnomes, but we cannot leave the property the gnomes are on." Damien has much to think about and now has a massive headache. His dream home is haunted. It is a good thing his best friend is a ghost hunter.
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While he was out chasing and talking with the ghosts the delivery van arrived. His furniture and belongings were placed haphazardly in the living area because of the holes in the foundation. They did get his bed set up in the upstairs room. He will have to move some things around once the foundation is repaired. His desk is currently in the small kitchen. He calls his friend Jamison. "I cannot believe my dream home is haunted and that I am stuck with these ghosts. I'll just get rid of the gnomes and that should take care of the problem. Jamison told him he could try it, but it might not work. "I can finish up my work here and be in Hidden Springs in a few days to help you out."
"That would be fantastic. Kinda sorry I doubted you about your ghost hunting gigs. So what else is real? Vampires? Werewolves? Witches? Fairy's?"
Jamison snickered, said "yep" and hung up on a very flustered Damien.
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Mary was studying anatomy when Betty the drowning victim came up to let her know the house indeed had a new owner. "He is very cute!", Betty exclaims.
Mary nods in agreement. "I saw him briefly when he came by yesterday. I heard the movers bumping around bringing in the furniture earlier. I was invisible and gave one of them a chilling hug and he ran out the door so fast he left his boots behind."
Mary and Betty laugh together.
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Damien decided a run was needed. He jogged the neighborhood until he couldn't deal with the bitter cold anymore. He makes a mental note to definitely go shopping for some long johns and warmer clothes for the climate in Hidden Springs. Damien brings in some wood and makes a fire. He hauls one of his chairs in front of the fire and makes notes on what he needs to purchase and what needs to be done in the house. The contractor came by before his run and will be back tomorrow to start work. Damien is still quite cold and decides to turn in and get an early start in the morning. He dampens the fire downstairs and lights one in his room upstairs and hopes it will not be too cold in the morning when he gets up. With all the broken windows though he is sure it will be very cold. He has not seen nor heard the ghosts this evening and hopes they will not rattle any chains or whatever ghosts get up to during the night.
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Mary was aware that the owner was asleep so she hurried downstairs and fixed some yogurt and berries for her supper. She decides she will bide her time and imagines he will give up on this house just like all the others did in the past.
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@bekkasan : hehehe, Mary is a very progressive ghost! That she has so much skills gained to even understand the scientific papers and data she got in the science lab and that she learned to load the data on her tablet: respect! For a woman who might be in her 90s this is a lot of modern science and technology she is able to use! :D

:D Damien seems to be very confident with his ability to ride a motorbike under such weather conditions! :D
And the jogging part in short trousers and a T-Shirt let me giggle a lot! Here in Germany we have a saying: "nur die Harten kommen in den Garten" every time I see someone in such clothes in the deepest winter I say that to me. :D (means: just the very hard people are successful, so here: just train in snowy weather in summer clothes and you´ll be much stronger afterwards! buuut: you must be very dumb and crazy to invest your health to do that! :p )
Finally we see his face completely! He is a very handsome young man, I´m curios about his background story and why he wants to own especially this house!
Let´s see how fast he discovers the parrot in his house!
Ohoh, don´t let his friend hunt for the ghosts! Won´t they vanish completely when he hunts them? :o

I love the snowy pictures of Hidden Springs (especially since we have a heatwave here, since 2 weeks the temperatures are ~35° to 39°C with awfully high humidity, I live in an attic apartmentwith south orientation, so the winter pictures give some sort of refreshness! B) )
Doesn´t Hidden Springs have lovely rainbows???

@AlexaKry Thanks so much for your comments. :smiley: I enjoyed reading them.
Mary loves learning and it is a good thing that ghosts don't age. :wink:
I love watching him ride his motorcycle around town on those snowy mountain roads. He's got style!
I laughed when he switched to his athletic gear for the jog. :grimace: I live in Florida and folks around her wear tanks and shorts and flip flops all year long, even when it drops to freezing those few times a year when it does. I've been here 21 years now and never seen it snow, but it does get very cold for a few weeks in winter. I'm not one who will wear shorts and flip flops. I got cozy fleece pants and jackets to wear for the cold stuff.
I expect there will be at least one ghost he is going to want to keep. I hope so anyway. :grin:
Hidden Springs is beautiful in the winter and oh my the rainbows are so gorgeous. I keep posting rainbow pics in the other thread. They said they are not bored with the rainbows yet 'cause I asked them. :lol: