Intruders

By Haley Bennett

Olivia has spent her formative years taking care of her terminally ill father. After his death, she's left alone in the world and in their very large house...Isolated in the deep south where poverty runs rampant as do a pair of thieves he see an opportunity. Breaking into her home, the thieves see the young woman as low hanging fruit but what they find out is that she isn't exactly "alone".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201916688

Book preview

CHAPTERS

HOW EVERYTHING STARTED    3

2. HIDDEN INTENTIONS    5

3. DIFFERENT BEHAVIOUR    7

4. DIFFERING    9

5. EVERYTHING IS DARK    12

6. THE NIGHT    16

HOW EVERYTHING STARTED 

A rural house in the deeps of Mississippi doesn’t sound out of the ordinary, does it? Especially if the inhabitants are a lovely family consisting of a beautiful and caring mother, a hardworking man and a radiant young daughter.

The owner of the house was the hardworking Ernest Wittmaier. He was the owner of one of the most popular convenience stores in his little town and came from a wealthy family.

When Ernest was born his parents decided to leave New York city to raise their kid somewhere stress-free. They moved to the outskirts of a small town in Mississippi. They also bought a couple of properties that eventually became a chain of convenience stores. At the time the only ones in town.

The stores quickly became successful, which lead the Wittmaiers to have even more money. Ernest grew up amongst luxury and was used to have the best. Unfortunately, at the age of 34, he lost his parents in a tragic car accident. After that Ernest was alone in the world for he had no family left, including siblings.

Ernest inherited his parents big-beautiful house; the house that saw him grew up and become a man. The fancy- looking house was everything you could ask for, but with no one to share it with he preferred to stay away from it. So he started sleeping at the office of one of his convenience stores.

Every day for a little more than 3 years Ernest avoided to sleep at his house. How did he do it? Well, he used to overload himself with work and used that as an excuse to stay at his office. He only went to his house once every two weeks to make sure things were fine and to give the house a clean. Aside from that, he avoided it at all cost. He got away with this lifestyle for quite a while until someone discovered his secret.

Penelope Brown a rather new employee at his main store where he also happened to secretly live started noticing his behaviour.

The young and beautiful girl who worked during the night shift noticed Ernest never left the store at night. She started asking questions to some of the employees who had the earliest morning shift; they told her that every time they arrived, no matter how early it was Ernest was already there. Penelope deducted that Ernest was lonely and decided to approach him. It wasn’t difficult for her to draw someone’s attention. Just a couple of days after the young lady’s approach, he was head over heels and a month after knowing each other Ernest asked her to marry him.

Everything was rather easy and smooth. Penelope moved away from her family home at the young age of 16. She needed no permission from her parents or from anybody to do what she wanted.  Which meant Ernest never had to ask for her hand and they didn’t have to throw a magnificent party either. They got married in front of two witnesses and a priest.

They moved to Ernest’s house right after their marriage and two years later they had a child. It was a beautiful girl who looked just like Penelope. They named the girl Olivia in honor to Ernest’s late mother.

Everything seemed to have improved for Ernest and alongside his wife and daughter he was happy again.

HIDDEN INTENTIONS

A few years later, little Olivia was growing strong. She was 5 years old.  She was a bright kid who had all her life ahead of her. Like most little girls Olivia was close to her mother but to everyone’s surprise, her personality was very different. She didn’t care about money or appearances, she wasn’t selfish or cold-hearted. Despite physically looking like her mom Olivia had her dad’s personality.

Ernest’s feelings keep intact, the love he had for his daughter and his wife was unconditional but a little toxic. If times were different perhaps Ernest would have been diagnosed with some kind of mental illness. He suffered from intense depression, ever since his parents died. Things eventually got better thanks to Penelope and to Olivia but the issue was he never dealt with his problem. He focused so much on his wife and daughter, which most people would think it’s great but he was obsessed with them. He focused on them to try and avoid reality.

The truth is that Penelope didn’t love him. That was obvious. Ever since they got married and she got all she wanted her attitude changed. She was no longer a sweetheart, she was rather indifferent.  Ernest refused to believe Penelope didn’t love him. He tried everything in order to get Penelope’s affection back, ignoring he never had it in the first place.

Many people tried to warn Ernest before marrying Penelope. He was told many things, not to marry her was an example. He ignored all comments including those who said Penelope was a gold digger.

His desperation to have his life back in track led him to take bad decisions like marrying the first person he met or having a kid to try and save his marriage but Ernest was completely lost without Penelope and she knew it, that’s why she took advantage of the situation. She knew no matter what she did he wouldn’t leave her.

Penelope who dated other men went out almost every night. Ernest didn’t suspect she was cheating on him. In his mind she was perfect. They pretended to be a happy family for their daughter during the day and after bedtime Penelope went out. But one night she didn’t come back.

Turns out Penelope and her lover were hanging out with the wrong people. They  tried to scam dangerous men and things didn’t work in their favor.

Penelope and her lover died in a tragic way. They were tortured and eventually killed. In an attempt to hide the evidence, the murderers took the corpses to the forest and  tried to burn what was left of them. However, some campers that were around noticed something weird was going on. When the murderers realized people were coming they abandoned the scene.

Two days after Penelope’s disappearance the police contacted Ernest. They told him he needed to go identify the corpse. There was not much to identify for most of her was a burnt out shell, all her beauty, all her features, everything! But, there was something that survived, the jewels she was wearing that night.

Once Ernest left the police station after having identified his wife’s corpse. He was a different man. He was angry and hated everything and everyone around him. He had to face what he tried to avoid all his life, loneliness.

He was not ready for it.

DIFFERENT BEHAVIOUR

When life is not the same and things turn more difficult there are two options, you either come back stronger or you never come back. Ernest chose the second one.

Olivia wasn’t told the truth about her mother’s death, her dad told her it had been a car accident. Being a young innocent girl she believed him. After all kids always believe what their parents say.

Regardless from everything that happened she still stood strong. She was only 5 years old, it’s easier for young kids to assimilate and adapt to change. The problem was her dad. His behaviour became more erratic. Eventually, he stopped going to work and sold the company for millions. He thought work was getting in the way of raising his daughter and he didn’t trust anyone to be near Olivia.

At the same time her dad sold his company, he also stopped sending Olivia to school. From that time Olivia was homeschooled and trained by her dad.

Money was not a problem for them, they already had enough to live all their lives. All the things they needed such as food and house supplies were sent to them every week. Ernest had a deal with the people he sold the company to, they sent him and Olivia groceries every week. This was the perfect deal because they didn’t have to go out so often only in cases of emergency such as going to the doctor or the bank.

Olivia was taught how to do everything by her dad. She was taught how to cook, iron, clean and do all house chores. She was taught how to change a tyre and fix a car. She was taught how to use a gun and how to hunt. Though hunting was an activity they only practiced two weekends a year.

In the giant library they had at home there were many books on different skills, by reading them she learned many other things on her own. By the age of 10 she started making her own clothes and being totally efficient. Olivia was brighter and more talented than most kids, but perhaps being like the rest of the kids is what she needed.

Her skin was looking paler and paler everytime. She tried to catch the sun whenever she went out but she was barely ever outside.

She looked at the sun from her window everyday and tried to remember what it felt like to play outside, to spend time with the rest of the kids, to swim in a river. She missed all those things and every time she spent too much time thinking about that her vibrant hazel eyes turned an ocean of sadness.

There was nothing this house could hide. The marble floor, the giant windows, the expensive paintings, the millions of souvenirs from different places that once belonged to her paternal grandparents, the thousands books, not even all the rooms including the ones that had balcony with view to the ever-growing flowers in the garden could hide the sadness that possessed this house.

Olivia knew that the very popular saying was right, money doesn’t equal happiness.

DIFFERING

When Olivia became a young woman her hair was no longer light and her honey colored eyes have turned sad. Her skin didn’t resemble that of Penelope anymore. She was as pale as snow.

There were only a couple of things that made Olivia look like her mother. Her beautiful curly hair and her hourglass figure. However, her figure was always hidden by her baggy old-fashioned dresses.  She always wore her grandma clothes that were two sizes bigger than her or the clothes that she did herself that normally weren’t perfectly tailored.

Despite of all this Olivia was beautiful, there was no single doubt about it. Unfortunately, during her 18 years of life. No one ever complimented her appearance. Although, a monthly morning out with her father changed things.

Olivia and Ernest had to go to the doctor,  this was a thing they did once a month. Ernest was in his 60’s and a life of alcohol had caught up with him. He kept getting ill often.

While Ernest was being examined by the doctor Olivia was in the waiting room. She was reading a book as her tangled curls covered her face. There was a young man looking at her from the distance, he was a tall, slim guy with hair until his shoulders and green eyes, a total charm! Olivia didn’t notice him, until he sat next to her. That’s a good book, isn’t it? the young man said. Olivia slowly raised her head up in order to take a better look at the man. She got utterly shy and blushed as soon as she saw him. She never really spoke to anyone apart from her dad, the doctor, or the delivery man who brought them groceries every week. What’s your name? the man asked her, after a minute of silence she finally answered. You’re very beautiful he said. She froze as soon as she heard that. She never saw herself as beautiful, she didn’t even think someone could consider her attractive.

She smiled at the young man and was about to answer when her dad came out of the room. Let’s go Olivia Ernest ordered her, she then grabbed her umbrella and her book in a clumsy manner.

During the car trip she didn’t mention a single word. She was too busy thinking about the compliment the young man gave her and wondering what is name could be.

The same night during dinner Ernest asked her if the young man was bothering her but she said no. As they were having soup, Olivia asked him, Dad, was mom beautiful?. Ernest stopped eating and said What you’re asking me is not okay! I’m not giving you an answer.

Are there any pictures from her? Olivia asked.

I’ve told you there are no pictures of your mom Ernest answered. Now, let’s drop this topic and go to our chambers he ordered her.

Olivia listened to him that night but she couldn’t stop thinking whether Ernest had been lying or not. He seemed very nervous when he spoke about the non-existent pictures. She knew she had to start looking for answers around the house.

The next days Olivia started to look around the house for a clue. She looked in most rooms except for one, her father’s. Olivia barely went to her father’s room without permission but she knew she needed to go there if she wanted to find something.

A couple of weeks later her dad needed to go to the bank. Olivia always joined him for he didn’t want her to stay home alone. However, this time she would pretend to be ill so that she could stay home. After hours of faking a massive headache, Ernest decided to go on his own, promising Olivia that it won’t be long before he came back.

The curious woman got up from her bed as soon as Ernest left and started searching in his room. She didn’t have to look for long, all she had to do was opening one his drawers and there she found some pictures of Penelope.

Olivia grew furious and waited for Ernest to come so that she could confront him. As soon as he arrived he met Olivia's screams. He had to face the truth, his sweet lovely daughter was growing up. She was starting to act rebellious and there’s nothing he could do to avoid it.

Olivia was fuming, she was threatening with moving out of the house. Ernest couldn’t stand it anymore so he decided to do something he never wanted to do. Showing Olivia the report on her mother’s death.

The angry young lady read the report and after doing so her attitude totally changed. Her screams stopped and her tears dried out. She now seemed numb. Lifeless and almost in shock.

For the next days, Olivia fell into a very weird state. She started developing paranoia. She no longer looked for excuses to go to the garden and look at the flowers, she didn’t want to go with her father to the doctors anymore, she didn’t want to go the bank.; all