#anna luis

"Candace is already chatting up it with the locals," Kevin joked, after giving a glance to all the local art. "And hey, booming business or not, but they're really playing up the historical and wine-related stuff here."

"A winery, focusing on history and wine," Anna snarked. " Who would imagine such a thing?"

"Oh, you know what I mean."

"Just relax and enjoy the trip, bro. You've been sour since we got here. Everything ok?"

...I forgot how much this show drives me to drink. 😭

"I can't believe we're drinking wine in a haunted house," Marcus remarked as Isobel joined him. "Living on the edge here!"

"A little alcohol helps me think. I was thinking, what if there are tunnels in this place? I mean, it was built sometime after WWII and the French had a need for secrecy during that time. It wouldn't surprise me if whoever built it had had hid some secret entryway here."

"For example, in that spot under our balcony?" he followed.

"Yeah! It's not that much of a reach, is it?"

"You alright?" Kevin asked as Ashton slumped next to him, exhausted.

"Yeah... our hunch just didn't pan out. No secret tunnel under here," Ashton sighed. "I'm sleepy."

"Rest up, we're all here, bro," Candace told him. "What's got you down, Anna?"

Anna: Why mornings? Why is the world built around morning people?

Jasper: Capitalism.

Anna: Shitty reason.

Georgette later joined the others as they enjoyed the warm outdoors.

"I'm glad Henrietta's troubles are resolved," Anna told her and the other. "Can't help but feel like something is missing, though."

"Well, traditionally speaking, if something ends with death, it's a tragedy. No one died today, though," Jasper mused.

"Don't curse it into existence," Rachel chided from where she was suntanning.

"Yeah, we've had enough of morbid stuff already," Candace agreed.

As if on cue, Clarice and Mario arrived.

"Bonjour! We have an announcement to make. Mario and I have been talking and... we're engaged!" Clarice announced.

"Is that so?" Georgette got up and turned around to take a good look at the beaming couple. "Mario, do you promise to take good care of my granddaughter?"

"Wouldn't dream of anything else, madame. She makes me want to be a better person."

"In that case, I can only give approval."

"And I believe, now this story is officially a comedy?" Isobel asked, half joking.

"You know what? I'll take it," Marcus agreed.

The next morning, the group was woken up somewhat early by the sounds of something heavy being moved and by directions given in French.

As it turned out, as soon as it opened, Georgette called the museum and told them she had something for them at the villa.

The museum instantly sent people over. It wasn't every day that they were told there were ancient relics discovered in town!

Waking up earlier didn't bother the group. They all actually slept pretty sweetly tonight. No scary dreams, no strange presence in their rooms, no one got locked out...

"You think she's happy now?" Isobel wondered.

"I think so," Ashton nodded. "Come to think of it, I think I understand why we, the men, were having such a bad time staying in Henrietta's home. If you think about it, the men in her life let her down. Her husband took credit for her actions. Her best friend didn't do enough to investigate her death. Even the worst thing she did, trying to poison her husband, was blamed on some old man."

"I get it. I'd become a misandrist too, if I had to go through that," Rachel agreed.

"Same," Jasper agreed. "And I am a man."

"How can we help you?" Georgette asked.

"Those relics downstairs. Can you turn them in? Take them to the museum or to the police. Tell them the truth of what happened." Henrietta should have done that decades ago.

"I can do that. I will."

"Your brother, how is he?"

"He's alright. Getting up there a bit. You know how he is - he's always been a worrier. And it's been taking a toll on him for the past few years."

"That's too bad. I think I may have scared him, too. He stopped by some time ago. When that young man was setting the place up."

"You know, Fabian did say he thought something cold touched him when he looked at our old bedrooms. That was you, wasn't it?" Georgette recalled how she told her brother he was imagining things. Oh, how wrong she was! "Anything else we can do?"

"Yes," Henrietta looked upwards. It always took a lot of effort for her to appear like this, and she was exerting more of it now. She was beginning to fade.

"I understand, Mom. I'll take care of that, too. I know you've never liked it."

"Thank you. Thank you..."

And then she was gone, leaving only a tearful Georgette and a fading purple fire in her stead.

"That thing upstairs?" Isobel asked, while the others were trying to process witnessing such a major haunting.

No sooner did she say that the room was cold, the lights in the whole house went out and the flames in the fireplace turned a cold purple color.

"Does this usually happen here?" Georgette asked.

"We did tell you this place is haunted," Clarice told her.

"I'm a little confused, though," Candace chimed in a little too nonchalantly. "Why are we being haunted now? Didn't she want people to find out what happened? Wasn't that the whole point of haunting this place?"

"My mother did always have a flair for dramatics," Georgette admitted. "Isn't that right, Mom? You're here, aren't you?"

And she was.

Georgette was always the first one to tell people that ghosts weren't real and were simply easily explained phenomenons of scientific factors.

Well, that won't work anymore, she thought. Because, clearly ghosts were real and her mother was one.

"Mom?"

"Georgie?"

Could ghosts cry? Because it certainly looked like Henrietta was crying.

"It's ok, Mom. It's ok," Georgette reassured her.

"No it's not. I was angry. And I wasn't thinking clearly. And I hurt all of you."

"And you've paid for it dearly," Georgette told her. "How long have you been here like this?"

"Since that cursed day," Henrietta admitted. "I should have poured that stupid wine out."