Haunted Holiday

By Sherry Walraven

Eight cousins travel to the state of Louisiana to their annual vacation together with light hearts and hopes of fun and adventure. After arriving at their destination, the lady at the desk of the luxury resort told the cousins they were sorry, but they had overbooked, and could put them in the mansion at the edge of the property. The ladies were told they could still do all the activities at the resort, so it would be okay with them. The cousins were not disappointed, because they had never been in a mansion that big, and they would have fun no matter where they were. One thing they didn't know was it had been told the mansion was haunted. That didn't concern the cousins because they didn't believe in such things. They knew the staff at the mansion would have things set up to scare their guests, but they were tough and could take it. The new people they met were colorful and fun, and the activities they participated in were just what they needed. It was all going well until two people were shot and carried out on a stretcher from the dining room while eating dinner. This had happened two nights in a row, and no one knew who would be next. Could the mansion really be haunted?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Proisle Publishing Services
• Release date: Dec 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781961526891

Book preview

Chapter One

The dazzling sun was peaking threw the swaying leaves announcing that summer had made its appearance. This meant it was time for the crazy cousins to travel to their annual vacation, which they called their holiday. They couldn’t wait to jump in Callie’s bright red van with the large white stripe and journey to the city of New Orleans. They would stop and pick up Birmingham on the way to the beautiful resort outside of town where the reservations had been made. Birmingham is one of their cousins, not a state. She is called Berm.

Okay, goofy ladies, get your bags in the van so we can get on our way to zip-lining, jet- skiing, swimming, and other fun stuff. Berm is probably sitting on the curb waiting on us to pick her up, said a hyper Callie, who always seemed to be eager to get to their destination, especially if it was a holiday with the girls.

What about Houston? asked Olive with a large smile, who couldn’t wait to get to their yearly holiday. They always had fun no matter where they went each year. They always made some new memories along the way and met new people. They loved meeting new people and making friends.

Jas gave Olive her answer, She is driving and will meet us at the resort. Jas didn’t need these holidays because she is always happy, but she wouldn’t miss them for the world.

This is going to be a fun trip, stated Grandee who could not wait for this vacation. She had been stressed lately and really needed this trip immensely. Traveling always seemed to make you forget life’s problems. Not that she had that many problems. It’s still nice to get away from home, only if for a little while. She knew her family could make it fine without her being there. She had taught them to take care of themselves since they were ten. She would miss them, but these trips were therapeutic, and this was what she had been needing. She was having a small problem with her neighbor. The lady next door had wild parties that were extremely loud. The lady didn’t care who she bothered and had parties every night. The police would come every night and knock on Grandee’s door instead of the neighbors. Grandee hadn’t had a good nights’ sleep in over a month.

Phoenix is flying and will also meet us at the resort. She’s been working a lot lately and she can’t wait for a break, explained Alaska who was also excited to make this trip. Alaska was also somewhat stressed because of all the work her husband was making her do around the house. He could be a major task master, but she loved him the way he was, which made her not mind the chores so much.

There was much laughter and talking as they traveled toward their destination. It seemed like no time at all before they entered the city of New Orleans. Callie had a heavy foot on the gas pedal when she drove, but the others were used to it. The GPS made its appearance when it began talking. The ladies were told the resort was five miles from the city, and then they would be at their destination. That made all the girls giggle even more than usual. Their yearly holidays were always fun and memorable. They thought this one would be just as fun and memorable.

Expectations of having fun and relaxation were running high as they neared the resort. They were in awe of the stately surroundings at the resort as they entered the driveway. Callie parked the van and went inside to check them all in. She looked around at the beautiful lobby with the shiny walls and the many pots of various varieties of flowers and plants. She knew this could not be anything but good. Who didn’t like flowers?

Callie slowly walked back to the van with an unhappy frown on her sad face. When she made it to the van, she opened the door, but did not say a word. The others in the van did not like the look on her face as Callie entered the van. She turned on the engine, still without saying anything. As she backed out, Jas was watching Callie and knew this was not like her to be so droopy. She was always excited and hyper.

What’s wrong, Callie? asked Jas who didn’t know if she wanted to know what was wrong or not. This was their vacation they could not wait to do every year. It wouldn’t be good to have problems at the beginning of their holiday in Louisiana. She hoped it wouldn’t set the mindset for the rest of the holiday.

Callie looked in the eyes of her curious cousins, They are overbooked, but they own the mansion at the edge of the property and can put us all up there, and we can still use all the amenities of the resort. That should be okay. We will have a bunch of fun, ladies. No one can spoil our good time. We can still jet-ski, zip-line and whatever else they have here on the lovely resort. It won’t be too bad. We may have to walk to the resort every day when we go do the activities, but we need to walk anyway, so all’s good.

That’s not so bad, and besides, we have never stayed in a mansion before. It could be exciting, said a smiling Jas. After the bad news wore off, the others were smiling too. Staying in a mansion may be just what they all needed to relieve stress.

The fun-loving cousins were almost as normal as everyone else. Their crazy parents decided when they had children, they would name the girls for a city or state, and the boys would be named after Confederate generals. They made that pact for a joke, but when the first grandchild was born, he was named Stonewall and the tradition had been started.

The girl cousins, who journeyed to a different location each year for a fun holiday, were Houston, Callie, Birmingham, Olive Branch, Grand Blanc, Alaska, Phoenix, and Jasperrilla. Not all the girl cousins were fond of their names, so they shortened them. These cousins figured they got all their adventurous genes from their parents. The difference between their parents and them was the cousins did not name their kids after cities or generals. They had always made the best of it and shortened their names.

Houston has a good head on her shoulders and has good reasoning skills. The others thought she had the Einstein gene, because she was so smart. Nothing wrong with that. She was good and calm in a crisis, which they had a few of during some of their other vacations, and Houston came through with good decisions. Maybe this year they wouldn’t have to make big decisions. This vacation was meant to have fun and nothing bad happening. At least, they wouldn’t have to bury gold this year.

Callie was the same age as Houston, so they did a lot of venting to each other if one of them ever had a problem. Callie also got their vacations together and took care of getting transportation and rooms, etc. She could also be a bit bossy, but sometimes she came up with fun ideas for them to do while on holiday that were not exactly met with enthusiasm at first, but they all did what she wanted to do and had a great time.

Berm is a sweet person and likes to have fun just like the rest of the cousins. She changed her name to Sarah Olivia last week because she thought Berm sounded like a serial killer. She told the others to call her Olivia. They all have the sweet gene but can be completely different in case of an emergency. They had the occasional incident on previous vacations but hoped this year’s holiday would be completely different. Just in case, they all brought their pistols. They wouldn’t use them unless it was absolutely necessary, because they didn’t want to actually shoot anyone. They were hoping a gun would scare the bad men away without them to having to shoot them.

Olive was the one who liked to trick people, but she always did it with a sweet smile and a sneaky grin. Mischievousness was in her blood like her parents before her. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with, and the cousins loved them and had a ball when they were all together.

Alaska was the type person who kept the cousins in line and on track with what they were doing at the time, and they all had to be kept in line quite often. Alaska always did it with a smile on her face. They didn’t know what people did if they didn’t enjoy the life the good Lord gave them.

Grandee liked to have fun with the rest of them. She was also the one who had trouble keeping the giggles inside her when something happened. It didn’t take much for the giggles to come out, and don’t even get her started about snakes, because there is not a good word to say what she thinks about sneaky snakes. She knew she wouldn’t have a snake problem this year like last year in a cabin in the mountains in Missouri. They saw several snakes in the mountains, but it all turned out okay, and no one was bitten.

Jas is a sweetheart except when something happens to one of the cousins, then all bets are off. She jumps right in to help do what she can. She is nice to all she meets except a year ago she was a little rude to run away from the lady who was going to give her a snake for her birthday. I mean, who would not want a rattlesnake for their birthday?

Phoenix is nice just like the rest, and she likes to have fun also. The others think she could have been a street fighter in her younger days, but they didn’t have any tried and true facts to back that up, so Phoenix just smiles a shifty smile that is somewhat shady when they say something to her about that.

Chapter Two

Callie was not too sure if she needed to tell the others about the information that she had about the mansion where they were going to stay instead of the resort. She thought most of them may be okay with this, but there might be a couple that would run for the high country if they saw or heard something scary, assuming they could even find any high country in Louisiana. Callie thought she needed to tell them anyway what she heard when she was in the lobby earlier. When they were in Missouri, they heard news that they would stay in the Jesse James cabin, but this might be somewhat different than that.

Hey ladies, I have something I need to tell you. When I was in the lobby, they gave me a paper with the agenda for the mansion. They have activities after dinner and at other times. The other times during the day, we can do the pool, jet-ski, and zip-line at the resort. This next thing will make you laugh. I heard someone talking about the mansion where we will be staying. We are going to have so much fun, explained Callie except for the part she left out. Maybe they wouldn’t notice, but Olivia noticed.

Okay, girl. You sound like you left something out of all that you said, stated an observant Berm/Olivia. The others thought so too, but they couldn’t imagine what it might be. They would wait until Callie decided to tell them all about what she found out.

There might be one more thing I left out, said a smiling Callie with a sneaky grin. She wasn’t sure how they would react when they heard, but she needed to tell them. It wasn’t anything too awful anyway.

Spit it out, girl, or we are all going to jump on top of you and tickle you until you pee in your pants, said Houston.

Well, I heard someone say that the mansion was haunted. They call it the Haunted Mansion. Isn’t that funny? said Callie with a sly smile as she looked around at her crazy cousins.

What a holiday we are going to have. It might be fun, said Grandee, who was the last one they thought would say that. Maybe it’s just snakes she doesn’t like. She sure was excited about Callie’s news.

Jas laughed as she looked at the others, I’m sure it will be fun. We don’t believe in ghosts and all that crazy stuff. Right? So, no problem. Besides, what ghost would get near us? They surely know what kind of people we are and know we don’t put up with bad stuff.

Right, said some with smiles and others with confused faces.

Away we go to our new destination. Hang on, ladies. Away they went to the Haunted Mansion where they were expected to spend several nights, and where most likely, people would be trying to scare them. They knew they could handle that. Hey ladies, don’t let anything bother you if you see eyeballs looking at you or a strange noise. The staff there are probably told to do those things to scare the guests. We know it’s not real.

Hey, we got this, girls. How bad could it be? You have gone in a haunted house at Halloween before, haven’t you? said Alaska, who wasn’t too sure about all this, but she wasn’t going to let the others know that. She wanted the cousins to think she wasn’t scared of anything.

I have an idea. Let’s stop thinking about a Haunted House and put our luggage in our rooms, and then we can go to the resort and walk around to see what we want to do tomorrow. They have all kinds of stuff and we can use all of it, since it was their fault for overbooking all the rooms, said Phoenix. She wanted to get started doing something. Sitting in the van wasn’t fun or cool. She was kind of looking forward to staying in a place that was said to be haunted. At least, it was something they had never done before, and they needed a new experience. It should be fun. Some of the cousins thought they needed to branch out anyway.

Good idea, Phoenix, said a happy Olive. She was amazed at their holiday so far. She didn’t believe in ghosts either, so it would be fun. I can’t wait to do the jet-ski and zip-lining. I’ve never done them before, so it should be a hoot. Y’all will catch me if I fall, right?

They all nodded their head as they walked through the double doors of the mansion and were met at the door by a person who said he was Boyd, the Butler. He also introduced some of the other staff. There was Kathy, the Maid, Stinky, the Laundry boy, Esmeralda, the Cook, and Allen, the Gardener. Boyd assured them their luggage would be in good hands and would be taken to their rooms. The cousins thought some of the staff were a little touched in the head, but they didn’t say anything. They wondered why a mother would have the courage to name her child Stinky. Medication?

Chapter Three

As the hungry ladies entered the dining area, they were amazed at the banquet tables that graced the floor. The elaborate detail on the sides and on the chairs was complex as the cousins gazed in wonder at the sight. They couldn’t begin to know how much something like that would cost, but it was most likely a lot more than any of them could afford, but they still thought it was exquisite.

People were milling around checking things out, not only the table and chairs, but the ornate fireplace and mantle. The ladies thought this room alone was worth staying in a haunted house. They couldn’t wait to see the rest of the house. They noticed on the agenda that after dinner tonight, they would be taking a tour of the manor with a tour guide. That should be interesting.

Hey, did any of you notice when we met the butler earlier, that’s when he told us he was Boyd, the Butler and we noticed he looked like Bestoink Dooley, and he had a deep voice like Sam Elliot? asked Callie with a huge smile that was fast turning into a giggle. He had those dark eyes with black circles around his eyes.

Who is Bestoink Dooley? asked a puzzled Olive. Callie forgets sometimes that some of the others are younger than Houston and her.

Houston put her hand on Olive’s arm and said, Bestoink Dooley hosted a show back in the sixties that showed scary movies. The circles were put on him just to make him look spooky.

Olive laughed, Well, he’s in the right place. The lanterns and candles made it dark everywhere in this place giving it a dreary atmosphere, but that’s what they were going for.

Boyd, the Butler walked in the noisy room and said in his best loud voice, Everyone please have a seat. Dinner will be served momentarily. They sure hoped the meal was good, because they were starving after the long ride to their holiday.

Everyone began finding just the right seat to begin their night. The cousins thought it was fun to watch the others and imagine what they did for a living. People watching can be fun sometimes, and there were a lot of people here in the dining room to watch. The room was full of vacationers smiling and talking to their neighbors. Overall, there was a good atmosphere over the room.

See that sophisticated lady over to the right? I say she is a college professor, said Grandee, who thought the lady looked smart enough to be one.

Yeah, you could be right about that, laughed Houston. She does look smarter than the average bear.

They couldn’t do the others at the table because Boyd, the Butler came to the front of the room. "Excuse me. We are so glad you could