The Hidden Vanity

We go through time carrying special items that have sentimental value to us. There are times when some of these items get left. There are certain items that can hide in the shadows waiting to show themselves to just the right person. The lively objects that carry a great deal of information wait through time searching to find their person. These objects allow the person or persons that they have chosen to discover them. Once the person discovers the item, it begins to show the stories that they have gathered over the years. The item does not show its tales to the person all at once or at the very start. After giving the new owners time to settle with them they begin to show one story at a time. When an item has chosen its new owner, it has already begun to take in their story to add with the other collections of stories. The items do not normally share their owner's own personal stories with them. In this story, we have a writer named Allen who discovers a new story with a very specially matched twist to the end.

Allen had been a writer now for 20 years. The genres that he favored most to write were sci-fi, mystery, horror, and thriller. Allen's 31st birthday was coming up in a week. Normally for each of his birthdays, since he was 10 years old, he had a new book written to have published on his birthday. This year was different for some reason. He was behind schedule on his writing and had come to a wall in the road that was blocking him. Allen had decided to take a vacation to clear his mind and focus on his writing.

In an article online that he was reading he found an ad for a manor to rent or own. Staring at the ad Allen just knew that this house had a story to tell. After writing the information down he called to schedule an appointment to see the place. The woman's voice sounded very excited to have him come to see the manor. She told Allen that her name was Mrs. Stonewall. The appointment got scheduled for mid-day the next day. Allen made the choice that after dinner he was going to make an early night of it. Just before heading to bed, Allen got his briefcase and typewriter all ready to take with him the next day. The house was a four-day drive away from where he lived in Red Fern Mountains. The name of the area of the manor was Angel's Rainbow Rivers. The name of the place is Angel's Rainbow Rivers because there were a lot of rivers that surrounded the area. They were not the color of normal rivers. All the rivers in the area were the color of rainbows.

Allen ended up going ahead and packing enough stuff to last him for a 5-month vacation. He did not even know if he was going to take the manor at first but it seemed that without realizing it he had already made up his mind. Allen made a list of hotels and restaurants to stop at on the way to the manor. He marked a store to go to for cleaning supplies or groceries. Once Allen finished, he got ready for bed laid down turned out the light then fell asleep.

She smiled at him with a smile that could grip and hold any man in the world. He was not the most handsome man in the world. He could not believe that he was so lucky that she chose him as her mate. They entered their new home with complete happiness in their hearts. Her name was Meredith and she had long, wavy black hair that seemed to go on forever. Her eyes were a pale bright blue and seemed to have a gentleness to them. She was wearing a long silk dark blue short-sleeved bustle dress with a diamond choker necklace and earring to match. Her shoes were black because she did not have shoes that were dark blue. At the top of her hair, she had several dark blue flowers in a wreath then going down the back of her hair in a single line with a few diamonds on it in-between the flowers. They did not seem like they were from the same time. She walked up to him and called him Armand then kissed him. "Welcome home my love," she said.

Allen awoke the next day to the smell of coffee and his alarm going off. " What a strange dream. Why did she call me Armand? Who was she and who is Armand? "Allen said out loud to himself. He sat in a daze for a few minutes thinking about his dream until the sound of his alarm clock still going off snapped him out of it. He got up out of bed to go to the restroom to get ready. Once Allen was ready he grabbed all of his bags and headed downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, he set all of his bags down next to the door. He made a quick call to his publicist who knew that he was going on vacation. He explained to his publicist Vinny that he was leaving in just a couple of hours. He told Vinny that he would leave the key where he found it before and the information for where he would be on the kitchen table. He hung up the phone with Vinny then headed for his daily jog. After Allen had finished his jog, he headed home to clean up. Allen put his clothes that he wore jogging in the laundry which he gathered to put in the washer. He had set his alarm to wake him up a 6 A.M. so that he would have time to get everything done. All the clothes were in the washer washing while he took all of his bags out to the car. He decided that he was going to do some painting while he was there too. He gathered all his items for painting and placed them in the car. He watered his garden of veggies, flowers, and herbs. Allen headed back inside to put the clothes in the dryer.

Allen prepared a very delicious breakfast with scrambled eggs mixed with tomatoes and red peppers. He had two pieces of sausage and two pieces of bacon on the side. On a separate plate, he had two pieces of toast with avocado spread on them. In a bowl, there were a few pieces of melon and some strawberries. Once he finished all of his food Allen sat there drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper. He did his daily word puzzles then got up and washed all the dishes along with the coffee machine. The clothes had finished and Allen folded them up then placed in another bag to take with him. He closed up the house then got in the car to head to the manor.

Allen arrived at the manor that had a flower garden going all the way around the house. He pulled into the oval driveway where he saw a woman with short blonde haired that looked middle-aged standing on the newly made porch. She had arrived early just as he had. She gave him a wave and a smile as he got out of the car. " Are you Mrs. Stonewall the woman who I spoke with on the phone?" Allen said. She shook her head yes then ushered him inside. She showed him a quick tour around the house. He told her that he wanted to rent the house. They did the paperwork real quick, and she told him goodbye then left in a hurry. Allen was still staring in her direction when she stopped the car just outside of the driveway and got out to look in his direction. She waved at him once more than got in her car and drove off. Allen shook his head then gathered all his things to take inside the house. He sat all his things down in the foyer. The house was spotless which told him that either there was a maid that cleaned every day or Mrs. Stonewall was taking the time to clean it herself. He locked up the door and headed to the store to get the groceries that he needed.

At the store, he met a woman who said she was a neighbor. She reminded him of the woman from his dream. She said that her name was Adelle. He invited her to dinner at the manor. She accepted the invitation and said that she would be there at 7 P.M. since he was serving dinner at 8 P.M. Allen paid for his items then headed back to the house where he got dinner ready. He got all of his clothes unpacked and put away along with all his other stuff. The typewriter and work stuff were all in the office. Adele arrived at the time that she said while Allen was still cooking. He stopped for a minute to open the door for her and invite her in. She did not want to sit at the table alone, so she took the bottle of wine that she brought with her into the kitchen where Allen was cooking. She found two wine glasses and poured wine into each glass. He finished cooking the meal then got everything set out on the table for them to sit down and begin their meal.

After their meal, there was a knock at the door. Allen got up to answer the door that someone was really slamming their fist on. He opened the door to discover that there was nobody there. Allen turned around to head back into the dining room but Adele was no longer in there. He checked the kitchen to find no sign of her. Allen began searching the house room by room and still found no sign of her anywhere. He was back downstairs when he heard another knock at the door. This time it was not so violent.

He walked to the door to discover that it was Adele knocking. " Sorry that I am late. My car quick working a few miles out so I walked here." she said."What do you mean? You were just here and ate dinner. Don't you remember? "He said. They looked at each other with confusion. Out of nowhere, there was a loud crash upstairs then a woman's laughter. Allen's car alarm starting going off. Allen and Adele ran outside, and Allen turned the alarm to his car off. There was a handprint on the window of the driver's side. Allen turned around to notice something out of the corner of his eye. In the middle upstairs window, there was a woman looking out at them. She picked up the candle sitting in front of the window and was now holding it in her hand.

Allen immediately ran back into the house up to where he saw the woman. Adele was following right behind him. They could see an opening in the wall in the hallway. It led to what was a small room with a black vanity that had black roses all over it. They stepped inside to have a look around and the wall behind them closed. The whole room began to shake as the vanity lit up like the color of the sun. Allen awoke to look at Adele who walked over to him and kissed him. "Welcome home my love," she said. Armand had found his way back home to his wife Meredith. It was the year 1873 where they were in their home. "What an odd dream," he said. Was he dreaming then or is the dream that he is dreaming now in a world that is in-between? A darker version from the world he was in.