Alberta's Ghost (Every House Has it's Secrets!)

Chapter 24- February 2006

      It was a new year, Christmas and New Year's day had come and gone, the seasons celebrations was a splendid family experience for the Johnsons and Doctor Joe. Mermaid street looked marvelous in its glory, the cobbled roads had become slippery with ice but the grounds sparkled, ice had covered all roof tops— creating a lovely white; blended with the green and red ribbons that had been hung across the streets— connecting roof to roof, window to window.

Each front door had a green and red round bouquet of flowers pinned to the door, lovely little statues were positioned in the front yards to serve as decorations. Truly, Mermaid street glittered with joy and seasons greetings!

Nights turned into days so quickly, the year rode by like a flowing stream.

Doctor Joe had come to live with the Johnsons for over three months now, 2006 was another year for greater expectations and accomplishments. Joe had been promoted to a higher level at his job.

He had been able to train the resident Doctors and they learnt pretty fast. They were able to have sessions with patients, detect problems and make prescriptions on their own; without any supervision, they were becoming masters of the practice.

Joe had decided to leave in six months time, since he had trained the resident doctors to survive without his help— they no longer needed his expertise. He had planned to travel back to the city to return to his normal life, but for now he would continue to do his best at work and serve the town of Rye as an Optometrist!

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The dark mansion looked really cozy; ready for the cold. The heater was always on, drapes were down, lamps, candles and chandeliers dimmed softly, slow classical music played harmoniously. The house continued to send a cool vibe through the soul, it was a haven, a home!

You could hear the residents of the mansion chattering away happily in the sitting room that cold night. For the first time in a long time, they were all seated in the living room— discussing, joking and laughing away the day's stress.

"Oh my God, look at William's face in this picture", Monica began to tease Will. They decided to look back on the pictures taken in the family photo shoot during the holiday celebrations.

"Yeah! He looks like a lost puppy", Amelia added while pointing to the pictures on the table.

"Let's watch the videos!" Karen demanded.

"Again?" Viola replied, "Karen we've watched it like a thousand times".

"Again again again!", the kids began to jump and down and protest.

"Again again again!" Joe decided to join, Viola gave him a side eye with faint smile.

Soon everyone joined in the protest, "Again again again!"

"Alright alright!", Viola ended the loud voices, "I must say, the video's sooo funny!" She giggled and grabbed Karen playfully and began to tickle her, the little girl giggled with excitement.

"Alright here I go! Let's watch our How we spent the holidays video!" She slid a DVD into a DVD player.

Each person had a smile on their faces, sat comfortably on the blue sofas and fixed their eyes on the screen waiting eagerly for the video to begin.