Series 1/Chapter 3: THREE BEATING HEARTS

A stately black SUV curled around the corner up to the front gates of Collinwood Manor. By this time the sun had gone down  leaving only the ghostly silhouette of a Gothic mansion sitting behind the rusted gates monogrammed with the letter C. 

Carolyn and her daughter Alexandra had flown from London on the first flight available to help Caleb locate Carolyn's husband Jack. Both women were terrified of the thoughts of what may have happened to Jack, albeit for different reasons. Alex was naturally worried about her father's disappearance, Carolyn was too, but the added paranoia of whom -or what- was in involved in his sudden vanishing gave the new Collins family matriarch a sinking feeling. She had seen this before, all her life she knew the dangers and treacherous ways of the mansion. This was a family history Alexandra only heard about in stories from Caleb was they grew up, she had yet to experience her mother's terror first hand. 

A droplet covered tinted window of  Carolyn and Alexandra's blacked out SUV rolled down revealing Carolyn's blue eyes staring up at the house of horrors she once knew. She stared intently at the mansion she grew up in as their driver, Jude Powell slowly removed their bags from the car.  Memories of murder, mystery and of one man in particular flooded her mind.

"Mother....." Alexandra said as she and Powell started on their way in to the house. "Mother..." Alex said again, Carolyn still staring at the house as if she couldn't hear Alex's voice. "Mother!" Alex yelled again finally getting Carolyn's attention.

"What? Did you say something honey?" Carolyn answered, her mind in a fog.

"Are you coming in? It's cold out here." Alex said, the frosty sea air swiping her pale skin. 

"I never thought I'd be back here again." She whispered to herself.

"Everything is going to be ok. Whatever happened in the past is over. I promise." Alexandra said helping her mother out of the car and trying to reassure her nervs.

"I'd usually agree with you, but the ironic thing about Collinwood is just how much the past seems to come back to life...." Carolyn said her sentence trailing as she stepped into the foyer of the house for the first time in almost 30 years.

Her eyes looked all around. The smell was the same, older but the same. It was a mixture of pine and dust. Every piece of furniture and surface was covered with white sheets to protect the antiques from damage.

Alex pulled down a sheet to reveal the old grandfather clock closest to the door of the main drawing room, it ticked the minutes away as no time had past.

"Its .....its amazing." Alex said in awe of the beauty of the old Gothic mansion.

They stepped into the drawing room, a room where many supernatural events had occuried, stories that Carolyn felt if she retold out loud, surly those ghost would come back and remind her why she left in the first place. 

Alex pulled down another sheet, this one from a painting on the wall revealing a very young Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

"That's your grandmother...." Carolyn said, beaming with pride.

"You have her eyes." Alex said, noting Carolyn and Elizabeth's ocean blue eyes.

As Carolyn started a fire, Alexandra continued discovering countless artifacts the Collins family had left in the drawing room over the years. Books, and letters that were stuffed in the pages, a letter opener monogrammed E.C.S., a set of tumblers that made Carolyn giggle... "Those are Uncle Roger's."

"And who's this?" Alex asked pulling down one more drape from a painting.

Carolyn turned from the fire to see Alexandra had found the painting of Barnabas Collins.

Carolyn's eyes gazed up and saw the man she once loved as a surrogate father. A man that held a secret so dark, so twisted and so evil that when the truth was revealed to her decades ago, it shook her to her core. And here again, faced with this image, her blood ran cold.

Carolyn rushed over and yanked the painting down off the wall without explanation just as their cousin Caleb Collins walked into the mansion.

"Carolyn, Alex!" He said hugging and kissing them both. "I'm so glad you made it."

"Darling, you look wonderful." Carolyn smiled, seeing Caleb as her own grown son.

"I have a detective coming." Caleb said entering the room.

"Where could Daddy be? When was the last time you spoke to him?" Alexandra asked.

"It was yesterday morning. I called him at his hotel and we made arrangements to meet back at the realtors with the keys." Caleb explained as Carolyn walked over to a set of French doors on the opposite side of the drawing room.

Carolyn drew back  the drapes and looked out in to the dark of night. She was quiet, her mind still filled with the terrors that would befall them if they stayed in the house....but they had to stay.

"You know, we can make arrangements for you to stay at the hotel Carolyn. If this is too much---" Caleb said, noting Carolyn's discomfort. 

"No! This was a long time coming." Carolyn interrupted. "I noticed some of the other sheets on the furniture were removed before we came in. Someone was here. It must of been Jack. Carolyn said walking over to warm by the fire.

"I agree. I found these when I walked over by the staircase as I came in." Caleb said handing over the lost keys to the mansion to Carolyn.

Just then a noise came from down the hall. It was a loud thud that shook the paintings on the walls. Alexandra screamed and ran over to her mother for comfort. The noise came again this time louder and it felt closer.

"What is that? Where is it coming from?" Alexandra said terrified.

Carolyn knew exactly where it came from, the room down the hall had been sealed off many years ago. It was room no one was to ever enter. But now there was clearly life in the home something that had been in house sensed the beating of three hearts of pure Collins blood. 

The sound came again this time as if it were a loud thunderous knocking teasing  and daring them to come close.

"I'm going down there!" Caleb said dashing to the door.

"Caleb stop!" Carolyn screamed.

"It could be Jack! He may need our help!" Caleb returned.

"Its not Jack. " Carolyn said.

"Well who is it?" Caleb questioned beginning to feel frustrated with the whole situation.


"It's Barnabas."