Dark Wishes Designs - A Life in Miniature

There is one portrait in Mortifer House that is rather puzzling.  It looks as if it doesn't belong there and so I will need to tell you why it hangs amongst the family of cousins and distant relatives of the Mortifer clan.  This rather, at first glance, disturbing picture, is that of Stitchy, a travelling entertainer. A man who took his performance so seriously that he was never, ever seen out of costume.  His very first visit to Mortifer came one summers evening when Charles Mortifer was throwing one of his lavish parties that he enjoyed so much. The guests marvelled at how, despite the sticky heat of a humid August night, Stitchy never once took off his costume, not even to consume a glass of water.  The women eyed him nervously, standing in groups, discussing him with quiet whispered giggles. They would run off shrieking if he dared to approach them. The men on the other hand were happy to slap him on the back and applaud his attempts at juggling and basic magic. ...

  Eleanor found it very hard to settle after the skeleton in the mirror incident. The house seemed to quieten for a while and things were relatively normal. The girls seemed more at ease and had actually started playing like they used to, their laughter echoed throughout the house once again. This pleased Eleanor greatly. She found it increasingly hard to have people around for readings, she was always afraid she was going to see unfortunate things in their future and the voices would grow louder and louder until they nearly caused her to cry out. Some days she truly believed she was going mad, which was always what Angus was constantly casting up to her.  One rainy day Eleanor found herself at a loose end. She sat for a while doing some embroidery in the bedroom and then read a few pages of a book but she really couldn't concentrate.  Wandering down to the hall she thought about moving the big chest of drawers. It really needed tidying and she was sure there was a ton of...

  Two short weeks after the bones were discovered, Eleanor encountered another strange happening.   The night of the bones incident Angus had been awakened by Eleanor's screams and even though he and his wife were not on the best of terms, it jolted him enough to race to her side.  Alice appeared white faced,clutching her teddy bear. Grace quickly materialised behind her on the stairs, torn from sleep by the sound of her mothers terrified scream. The girls were told sharply to return to their room by their father. Tearful and confused they obeyed.  Although Angus was obviously shocked and concerned, Eleanor was quite puzzled at his subsequent actions. After a mostly sleepless night, partly because Angus insisted on coming to bed with her initially, which was strange in itself, Eleanor went downstairs with trepidation. The door to the garden room was firmly closed, she reached out with a trembling hand to open it because, just for a moment, she wondered if it had been...