The Bonham Family E-Book

Rex Wolfe

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 73

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

The Bonham family, while rich, were relatively humble. They kept to themselves and mostly out of each other's way - until the siblings each received a strange invitation from the Matriarch, their Grandmother Ellie Bonham. Called together in a remote area of a vast park, Will, Danielle, Fiona, Eliza, Tim, and Gina, along with their spouses and children, convene to discover what their illustrious Grandmother has in store for them - and why they have been summoned. Instructed to bring something that reminded them of her, most of the siblings bring only flowers and questions, questions that deepen when they stumble upon a large mound of their Grandmother's items, things that were obviously taken from the expansive mansion in which she lives. That bundle of Knick knacks opens a mystery that will take them one by one, testing loyalties, trust and funneling them into a diabolical scheme that may ultimately break the family apart.

Leseprobe

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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Ellie Bonham sat in her grand old living room, leisurely reading the Sunday paper. There were a series of small creaks that sounded from upstairs, but the old woman wasn’t worried. She had been living in the house for long enough to know that her home was the most secure place that she could ever have, and she kept reading. Turning the page, she could swear she saw a small shadow reflected in the large picture window. Craning her neck, she called out,

“Martha? Is that you skulking around pretending to work?” When she received no answer, she shook her head. Silly maid, she thinks that I’m not onto her, she thought. Tossing the paper aside, she felt like getting some fresh air. As she took the first step into the hallway, there was a flash of gold before her eyes and a loud, dull clash before everything went dark.

When she came to, the first thought that came to her mind was that she was dead, as everything was pitch black. Trying to get to her feet, she found that she was chained to a wall, her arms outspread as they rapidly numbed.

“Hello!” she yelled desperately into the darkness. “Hello? Is anyone there?!” But there was no answer. Her blood ran cold as the gravity of the situation dawned on her. So she waited. Two hours later, she was awakened by the sound of footsteps. Tensing, she still was unable to see who was there with her.

“Are you scared yet?” were the only words that she heard, and before she could muster up the strength to reply, there was a ringing silence, and she knew that she was, now, totally alone.

Upstairs, a hooded figure wove its way silently through the expansive mansion, going through room after room, taking an item here and there and tossing it into a burlap sack. Once it was filled, the figure made its way to the study, sitting at the large oak desk and pulling out a pen and a few pieces of paper and began to write. Satisfied, it fished around in the sack until it found what it was looking for: a small box and a doll. Shoving two of the papers into the doll’s dress pocket and into the box, it busied itself with the rest of the papers. Folding them neatly, it placed them all in the five envelopes already lined up and ready to be mailed off.

Three days later, six different people received the same handwritten note, evoking emotions of nostalgia and dread all at once. Six people followed the instructions in their note, readying themselves for a long trip.

Five cars drove down a winding, tree-lined lane, heading towards the spacious private park. The remaining members of the illustrious Bonham family were on their way to what they assumed was an impromptu family meeting called by their grandmother and matriarch of the clan. Arriving at the park’s center, they saw that it was unusually empty that day, even though the weather was perfect. On any given day, there would be some small family or other milling about, secure in the knowledge that their money had bought them the privilege to enjoy the day in an exclusive location. One by one, the six siblings and their families got out of their respective vehicles, eyeing one another warily. Though they were a large, rich, yet humble family, the Bonhams weren’t as tightly knit as they outwardly appeared.

Parking their vehicles off to the side, the tension was thick in the air as they looked each other up and down, everyone sizing up the others. The three women and two men stood around obstinately, avoiding one another’s eyes. Will, Danielle, Fiona, Eliza, Tim, and Gina were the last of the original Bonham family, a name that, despite their humility, commanded respect. As they looked around at each other, there was an awkward silence that nobody seemed to want to break. As if they sensed the hostility, even their children refused to look at their cousins.

“So!” Gina shouted gleefully, purposely wanting to make the situation even more uncomfortable. “Haven’t seen you guys in a long time, huh? How are my nieces and nephews?” she smoothed Fiona’s daughter’s hair down lovingly, and the young girl backed away warily. “What’s the matter, sweetheart, aren’t you going to say hello to your Auntie?”

“Leave her alone, Gina,” Will chastised, breaking away from his own wife, who stood with their two tall, lanky teenage sons. “You’re scaring her.”

“Save it, Will,” she shot back. “You’re never around either, you know.”

Eliza put an arm protectively around her niece, a gesture that Gina noticed but wisely decided to ignore. “Anyway, we’re here to see Grandmother. Did you guys get that note from her too?” Everybody nodded in unison.

“I’m ready to get this over with. I have somewhere to go today, hm?” Danielle tapped her foot impatiently. “In her note, she told me to bring something that reminded me of her. I brought some flowers, she nodded towards her car.

“Yeah,” the rest of the siblings chorused.

“So we all got the same letter from Grandmother?” Eliza piped up, intrigued. “Interesting. I wonder what she needed us all together for?”

“I’m with Danielle,” Gina announced. “I’m ready to do whatever she needs us to do and get going. Did she tell any of you what time she’d be here or…?”

“Look!” Fiona’s daughter cried out, pointing towards a small wooded area.

There was a large bundle nestled in between the split trunk of an old tree. For a few minutes, nobody quite knew what to do until Will’s bravado shone through and he marched forward to grab it.

“It’s nothing,” he concluded. “Just a bunch of random crap.” Dumping everything out on the grass, they all looked at it apprehensively. “Hold on…” he knelt down and peered at the items a little closer. “This isn’t just some random antiques.” Looking around at his siblings, he grimaced. “These are all the things from Grandmother’s home.”

Stepping forward, Tim rifled through the mishmash of objects and pulled out an old baseball glove. Chuckling, he slipped it on, pounding one fist into the other as if playing a real game.