KAW KAW {Ellen}

[womaninblack]

Another lawyer in Eel Marsh. The newcomer had not gone unnoticed by the always wary townspeople, who had been paranoid of strangers since even before the first incident. Arthur Kipps had only made them even more terrified of what lurked in the Eel Marsh House. Nobody had been up there since then. It was still preserved - nobody knew how it was the same or why nobody had torn it down yet. They were likely afraid of what whatever was living inside of it would do if it's home was taken away. The town was all aware of what the newcomer was trying to do. She wanted to continue the long lost job of selling the Eel Marsh house to someone; the job Arthur Kipps was supposed to do before his untimely death.

The ghost of the Eel Marsh house was also aware that someone else would be invading her home. She knew of everything that went on in the town. The townspeople liked to stay secret for that very reason. They never knew when she was watching or listening in on them. No matter what they said or didn't say, she knew what they were doing and why. The under town had practically been under her ghostly thumb since the Victorian Era. At least the townspeople were aware of it. They never once attempted to try to destroy her or even investigate what she was. They all knew the consequences of revealing even a bit about her. The death of a child. Playing into their fear and instincts to protect children at all costs was what kept her control over the town so steady.

At that very moment, it seemed the newcomer had just arrived in town. Hopefully she would go directly to the house instead of attempting to meet with the townspeople. The ghost didn't want any information being divulged; not even a hint about her presence int he house. The newcomer had probably assumed that the entire tale was fake - or it was something created from coincidence. Either way, nobody would go near the house if they thought the stories were true... unless they were particularly brave.

[ellen]

Ellen had become such a workaholic these days that her social life was becoming a bit...neglected. It was lucky for the few friends she had left that she wanted to keep them - particularly, in this case, her old college roommate who now worked as a solicitor in England. Evidently her friend had been assigned to the tedious task of selling a house out in a place called Eel Marsh - and she'd practically begged Ellen to come do the job for her. Ellen...wasn't quite sure why her buddy there hadn't asked someone who was...well, living a little closer? Apparently no one local wanted the job either. Seemed a bit silly to her - not to mention suspicious. She supposed it was sheer curiosity that had prompted her to accept the job - that, and she wasn't exactly going to pass up the opportunity to travel to Europe when she had an excuse to. This little job should prove to be nice and quick, and then she'd have some spare time to travel around and see the sights.

Ellen had arrived in town that morning - and as she drove the path through the bog up toward the house, not bothering to stop and chat with any of the shady-looking townspeople, she went over what she knew about the place in her head. Which wasn't much - except that the place was very, very old, and that a man by the name of Arthur Kipps had once started the paperwork process of selling the house before - but had died before he could complete the job. Really, it was kind of weird that no one else had tried since. Ellen chalked it up to the fact that the house was located in the middle of a marsh - not exactly a valuable location - and that it probably wasn't in the best condition. That, and folks around here seemed a bit superstitious to say the least. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

And now the estate was looming ahead. Ellen drove up the path leading up to it and parked her car just inside the gate, gazing out her windshield curiously. The place did have a strange sort of old, Victorian beauty about it - a little spooky, but very atmospheric. No wonder some English historian had been interested in buying this place - there were probably quite a few valuable antiques inside. Stepping out of her car, the brunette smiled just a bit as she walked the rest of the way up to the door and pushed it open. It really would be nice to take just a bit of time to get away from everyone else, at least. When she was alone, she didn't have to worry about who she had to trust, or how she had to deal with the latest criminal being tried in New York City. Here...she could finally get some peace.

The foyer of the house was all but covered in dust, though. The wallpaper was faded and thick cobwebs clung to the banister - most of the furniture was covered. It...was a shame, really, that this place had fell into this sort of condition. It looked like it might have been quite beautiful once. Walking over to one of the very large windows, with some effort Ellen managed to tie the curtain back and allow some sunlight to flood into the room. "There," she spoke aloud, stepping back and glancing around again. "...Makes it a little less dreary, at least."

[womaninblack]

From the window, a dark figured watched Ellen's approach. Having been in the Marsh House for years since Arthur Kipps had entered the house, the ghost was familiar with modern technology and had no questions as to why cars now looked so different. Obviously she'd taken no interest in technology or anything like that. Her goals and interests, however limited, had stayed the same throughout the many hundreds of years since her death. All she wanted was to let the 'oh-so-innocent' parents of Eel Marsh feel what she had once felt. They had done nothing to help her when she'd nearly been carted away to the Asylum because of her sister. They didn't even look for Nathaniel. They just left him in the mud without a proper burial. The ghost's only wish was that she could inflict the exact same pain upon the entire town; forcing them to never see their deceased children again.

The dark image flickered and suddenly stood, invisible, in the Courtyard nearby Ellen's car as the other stepped out. Slowly following, the ghost was soon led within the familiar house she'd resided in since childhood. The house held no significance to her other than a sort of base of operations. She was bound to Eel Marsh and what better place to stay was there than the house? As the curtain was drawn, the ghost's shadow was cast on a nearby wall before simply disappearing. Assuming the shape of a shadow, she watched and listened. Unsure of whether her talking to herself was a sign of nervousness, the shadow slowly, almost unnoticeably approached the window. No matter what the lawyer's business was, the ghost did not want her in the house for any longer...

[ellen]

Well. There wasn't much left to do now than to get to work. Although...Ellen really would've liked to have gotten a better look around the place. It seemed the old house offered plenty to explore, and it was sort of tempting - but she had a job to do here. And Ellen wasn't really a big fan of wasting time. Her curiosity could wait. She continued on gazing out the window, peering over the marshland beyond for a moment or so longer before giving a faint sigh and turning to look around for a place to settle down and work. Before she could really move, however, the district attorney spotted a dark flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. A shadow, moving along the wall. Ellen paused and eyed it curiously, her brow furrowing a bit in a puzzled frown.

Was someone outside..? She turned back again, half-expecting to see a figure obscuring the light from the window, but no one was there. The grounds were as empty as ever. Yet the shadow continued to move, albeit quite slowly and subtly, and Ellen...really couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Beginning to become slightly wary, she glanced around the room fleetingly. Empty...all empty. A moment ago, the solitude had been comforting, but now she wasn't quite so sure that she was alone anymore. Which was ridiculous, of course. Who else would be out here, slinking around this old place? The tides only permitted people's approach at certain times of the day, and she hadn't seen anyone on the drive up here...so they would've had to have been here before she arrived.

But again, she became aware of how crazy that notion sounded. The townspeople were terrified of this place, certainly no one would have any business staying here for any extended length of time. In fact...perhaps it was the townspeoples' paranoia itself that was causing her to project a little. Making her imagine things. Still, just to be safe, Ellen called out a quiet, "Hello...?"

[womaninblack]

The first part was beginning. She was starting to grow suspicious of the house, even if she was trying to make sense of it. She would soon discover that there was no other, 'sensible' way than a haunting. Although the townspeople believed that the ghost had some kind of fun tormenting them, she didn't. While she did get a strange 'happy' feeling when getting her revenge on the town by killing the children, it was not at all fun. It was the feeling that she was doing the son that was ripped from her and left to die any good. She couldn't do him any good in life - not when her sister had him. Thankfully, Alice Drablow had gotten her comeuppance as well.

As soon as Ellen said 'Hello', the ghost moved to her son's bedroom and began making the old rocking chair move. The loud creaking resounded through the manor, giving the clear sign that there was someone in the house with her. Hopefully it would be enough to drive her from the house. Jennet didn't want anyone else there - especially when they were immune to her particular breed of vengeance by having no children. People with no children were rare, fortunately. Everyone wanted to continue their bloodline one way or another. The entire race were practically lambs to the ghost's slaughter.

{Gah, this is a choppy post. :<}