The House On Turner Street

Chapter 11 - Tale Of The House

Stephen still wasn't thrilled but said nothing else against the idea. His curiosity was starting to disarm his pride. Tyler really did seem to know a lot.

"This house was originally built as a small shack in the mid 1800s around the time the town was founded. This main room was all that was here in the beginning. If you look behind the decor, "he motioned around them,"you will see remnants of the house's humble beginnings. Gabriel Watson, the man in this portrait to your left, came to town to set up as a coal miner. If you guys have seen the closed down mines, they used to be the backbone of this town and started bringing in plenty of workers. Coal carried the town, but there was also a market for gold and silver. There were quite a few places they could be found, but the largest collection was actually found not far from here. Gabriel started mining precious metals on the side and got rich real fast. He knew that he couldn't renew just how much he had uncovered, so he hid his wealth for a long time. He made sure that he never took in amounts bigger than the other prospectors. After about 2 years of accumulating wealth, he met a young woman at church who had caught his eye. They courted for around six months before he asked her father for her hand in marriage. Her parents were against it due to his seemingly humble lifestyle, but were eventually convinced to let them wedding move forward when their daughter convinced them she truly loved him. After the marriage, Gabe started building this house. He admitted to his wealth, and his new wife wanted for nothing. Sure would always tell him that she was thankful for their way of life, but all she ever wanted was him.Suddenly, his relatives were very interested in being close to him as they noticed his increase in fortune. He offered them chances to work for him, but they were offended that he wouldn't just take care of them. Games lived helping others. He just didn't believe anyone should be given things for free. He worked hard to get to where he was. He invested a lot of money in the town. He'd help local businesses through troubled times by buying into the ownership. This resulted in the town growing and Gabe being part owner of most of it.

Everything thrived, and the town was growing quickly. Gabe and his new bride ended up having three children. Two boys and a girl. If you go to the second floor," Tyler pointed at the upstairs landing, "there's actually a portrait of them all together.

Gabe's investments kept paying off. The family was living well. As the family grew, the house was passed down, and my mom and dad eventually took over ownership of it. Aunt Charlotte lived in the house with my dad until his wedding. Once mom was expecting, she moved out of town to pursue a career in real estate. Not because of any I'll feelings or anything. Sure would always joke that dad didn't need her now that he had a wife to take care of him and that she was tired of it anyway. My sister, Elizabeth, and I had fond memories of baking with Aunt Charlotte when she'd come for a visit. She treated us as if we were her own children, and we were all very close.

Then, one night, everything changed. Intruders came into the house while we were asleep. My mom and dad were caught by surprise. During the struggle, they made enough noise to wake my sister. She walked in on it and started screaming. There was a thud, and the screaming stopped. I was somehow ignored completely."His eyes turned sad for a moment as he trailed off. He realized his pause and seemed to shrug himself back to the moment, "I'm not sure what I did to merit having to go on without them. I found a hiding place in the basement and stayed there. We had goods stored in an old safe room that was added down there during the gears of nuclear attack on the US. I had everything I needed to hold up for months. I had hoped it wouldn't come to that, but the intruders took up residence in the house. It turns out they were looking for a house to hide out in while they processed various drugs they were planning to market in some larger city. Heroine, meth, cocaine. Anything you could think of, they were brewing up in the house. I'd sneak out at night to try and find a way out, but there always seemed to be someone on guard. After a while, I started smuggling their drugs and hiding them in hopes they'd end up leaving. Once they noticed, it got harder to sneak out of. They had gotten really paranoid. Then, one day, they left. I snuck out, and there were no guards. There were spots of blood in some places, and I found a couple of them dead, but they were gone. It must have been sudden because they didn't even bother to take all of their drugs. Maybe they thought the cops were on to them. No one really knows.

I got in contact with Aunt Charlotte. She rushed into town. The whole situation completely destroyed her. She gave up her career and moved back here to take over one of our investments. She hired Rogers to look after everything because she wasn't capable. It was too much loss for her to handle excess stress. I'm afraid I wasn't much help either.

Rogers stayed on for a good while. He seemed to handle the job well. Then it all changed. He got paranoid. Claimed the house was moving. He said he found something. Not long after, he was found running down the road. From his blood tests, they believed he'd found some of the drugs that were left behind. In the end, Rogers was locked up for reasons unbeknownst to me, and I took over here. I avoid it usually, but today is a special day."