Turn of Events - Act Four

Act IV: I Do, I Did, I Died

Emily climbed out of the attic trunk that her corpse had been thrown in, and she searched the attic for her beloved James. Her spirit passed through lots of the furniture, and sometimes she even faded into thin air, only to come back a few minutes later.
Finally, she found him near the window where his headless body lay. After Emily tapped his shoulder, James spun around to see her. He looked remotely hideous, as both his body and his spirit had aged in death, and he looked nearly skeletal.
"So," James muttered, looking out the window that they had never escaped out of. "I guess that's that."
Emily nodded. "We're ghosts. We're dead."
"But it's not over," James insisted. "Even though Gracey did us in, it doesn't mean that we're helpless. That we can't take revenge."
Emily pondered over this for a moment, and then she replied, "No, I don't want to… Gracey should get his demise another way."
But James had a mischievous grin on his face, and Emily had no choice but to give in.
"What's your plan?" she asked, and he smiled.
"Follow me," James replied, and they both vanished from the attic.

~

"Now, where's that goblet…?" Gracey muttered, searching the entire house for his beloved glass goblet that was to be present at his wedding between him and Constance since, he had told her, Emily had second thoughts. He eventually was led to the portrait gallery near the foyer of the house. The goblet was right in the middle of the room, gleaming from the sunlight that pierced through the windows near the rafters. Little did he know that he wasn't alone in the ominous chamber.
"Hello, Gracey," James's voice echoed throughout the chamber.
Gracey jumped back in surprise. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door of the portrait hall disappearing into thin air. He was trapped in the room with no escape.
"Who's there?" Gracey demanded, his voice quivering.
"No one important," James replied, and then he materialized behind Gracey, making him jump with a start. "What's the matter, Master Gracey? Sword got your tongue?"
"But… you… you're supposed to be dead!" Gracey exclaimed, starting to back away, but James froze him in place.
"So are you, but am I complaining?" James replied, and it was only until a few moments later that Gracey realized what he had meant.
Meanwhile, Emily was high in the rafters, lowering the rope slowly to the floor, or at least Gracey's neck. She had tied the rope into an expert noose-knot, and was now aiming for the rope to land around Gracey's neck while James kept him distracted. Right now, Emily hoped she was accurate so that she could buy them both time until Constance would find out something was wrong.
Gracey saw the rope even though it was only halfway to the ground.
"No… James, please don't… and Emily, too! Oh, please don't do this to me! I promise to keep Constance safe," Gracey begged.
"There's no need," Emily piped up from above, swinging from the rope as it fell around Gracey's neck. "She was planning to kill you like this, anyway, so either way, you'd lose!"
"No… you're not ghosts… you're the devil, both of you! Coming to claim my soul!" Gracey exclaimed, and he started fighting as James tightened the rope around his neck while Emily gradually pulled him above into the rafters, swinging from the excess rope as she did so.
Once they were sure that Gracey was hanged, both Emily and James giggled as they vanished from the portrait gallery.
"Just one more stop," Emily whispered to James, and then she added, "I love your ideas, Hatty."

~

Meanwhile, Constance was impatiently waiting in her bedroom for Gracey to return from his search for the goblet.
"That thing was stupid anyway," she muttered to herself. "It always leaked, and it had all kinds of dumb carvings in it."
Constance was wearing her wedding dress as well, making sure to primp her hair into a tight bun to impress Gracey. Suddenly, the candelabra floated off the nearby dresser and hovered by Constance, nearly catching her dress on fire, had she reacted a second too slow.
"What in the world…?" she murmured to herself as the candelabra floated around her in circles as if it was trying to tell her something. Then, it floated out the door of her bedroom, hovering outside the doorway, waiting for her.
Constance gave in and followed the candelabra. It led her through dozens of hallways, only to make sure she was still following. Finally, it stopped in front of the attic doorway, and exactly then it was revealed who was holding the candelabra. It was none other than Constance's older cousin, Emily.
"Emily! What are you doing here?" Constance asked, for she had not heard of Emily's demise, but instead she had been given the excuse that Emily had returned home.
"I have to show you something, Constance. Something you'll never forget," Emily replied, and she grabbed Constance's arm with the hand that wasn't holding the candelabra and walked inside the attic, dragging Constance along.
It was in the attic that Constance noticed a malevolent, otherworldly glow coming from Emily's body, and it was in the attic that Constance realized that Emily wasn't herself that day - that Emily was dead.
A melancholy wedding march echoed through the room, played by James on the un-tuned piano that was in the back corner of the room. It was to mock Constance and Gracey's wedding day, and it was to celebrate Emily and James' wedding that was never to be.
"Constance," Emily piped up, which made Constance nearly jump out of her dress, "do you remember the song I used to sing you when you were a little girl that scared you every time you heard it?"
"I don't recall," Constance replied softly, turning around to see the attic door close behind her, locking. Her only escape was the window.
"Let us refresh your memory a little bit," James hissed, stopping the wedding march and standing up from the piano, standing on the other side of Constance.
"'When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake,'" Emily started, hissing in Constance's ear.
"'Spooks come out for a swinging wake,'" James added in a taunting sing-song voice, stroking Constance's arm as his head vanished from his shoulders and reappeared in the same place a few moments later.
"'Happy haunts materialize…'" Emily continued, starting to lead Constance through the attic, past all of Constance's belongings that had been moved up there since the mansion was officially her home.
"'…and begin to vocalize,'" James added, linking his arm with Constance's, making her turn pale.
"'Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize,'" they both sung together slowly in Constance's ears, her memory of the dreaded song slowly returning.
James then vanished, reappearing at the chest where Emily's skeleton lay, forever buried in dust.
"You remember how the rest of it goes?" Emily asked, letting go of Constance while she ran toward the window, trying to force it open. "'Now, don't close your eyes and don't try to hide…'"
"Please, please, please open…" Constance muttered, tugging at the lock on the window - the same lock that James had failed to open - as she silently prayed for her life.
"'Or a silly spook might sit by your side…'" Emily continued while James opened the chest, flinching at the sight of Emily's bones, still in her wedding dress.
"'Shrouded in a daft disguise…'" James hissed, walking toward Constance as Emily was at that very moment.
"'They pretend to… terrorize,'" Emily sung as they both picked up Constance - Emily by her feet and James by under her arms.
"'Grim grinning ghosts…'" they both sung slowly together, swinging Constance back and forth with every beat, aiming her toward the open chest. "'Come out… to… so…cial…IZE!'" Holding out the last note, both of them flung the screaming woman toward the chest, and as Constance's luck would have it, she landed right inside, the lid closing behind her.
Emily and James chortled as Constance felt around the chest, finally realizing she was sharing her prison with the bones of her unfortunate cousin. She screamed as she tried to get out. James snickered as he opened the chest again, this time slightly, although Constance was too cramped inside to have a quick reaction.
"I do…" James taunted her as she struggled to feel her arms and legs in the tiny space among the bones of her relative. "I did… I DIED."
He then slammed the lid of the chest over Constance's head as she finally found feeling in her arms and legs, just about to escape. But she didn't realize she was doomed until she heard the lock 'click' outside the chest, locking her inside with no air. Screaming until her lungs wore out, hoping that someone below the attic, be it one of the servants, or even Gracey, would hear her, Constance tried to fight her way out of the chest while Emily and James chortled, congratulating each other as they vanished into the shadows.