Copyright 2007 Tom Fowler
The
Fireplace
(AKA The Strange Happening at Hartley House)
1.
Frank
Hartley was mildly annoyed with himself. He knew the wood was covered with snow
when he went outside to the patio to retrieve it, and knew it would melt enough
to dampen his clean shirt before he deposited it in the log rack by the
fireplace. Nobody’s fault but mine,
he lamented, cursing silently beneath his breath.
Winters
in
All
of this ran through his mind as he finished bringing in wood. He began to place
kindling in the fireplace, something he had been doing in this house for over
26 years. Frank and Diane raised two fine sons and he looked forward to
retirement soon. Sort of, because for the first time in their 30 year marriage,
he and Diane were experiencing what his mother would have referred to as
“having trouble.” Serious trouble it was, too, but Frank’s thoughts abruptly
stopped as he pointed the first piece of kindling into the old fireplace.
The
piece of kindling, as best as Frank could recall, was longish, about 24 inches.
As he pointed the end towards the grate, a couple of inches seemed to
disappear. Must be
tired, Frank thought, until he looked at the shortened end. The new
end was perfectly flat and shiny, but at an angle. The same angle it was at
when Frank started to place it in the fireplace. This time, more slowly, Frank
cautiously moved the end towards the inside of the fireplace. Just beyond the
decorative bricks of the wall around the hearth opening, another inch
disappeared. Frank knew it was not his imagination or fatigue, for the end of
the kindling was sheared this time at an angle opposite what the first had
been. It occurred to him he felt no sensation of any kind. There had been no
feeling or movement in the piece of wood at all. It just happened
Dumbfounded,
Frank threw the wood into the fireplace, but it fell on the grate with a sharp
clap, intact as it had been a moment earlier.
Further
experimentation showed Frank that placing the wood slowly into the grate would
cause it to disappear. Throwing it in quickly would leave it unharmed.
2.
Most
of us have no experience with anything this bizarre or horrifying and Frank was
certainly no exception. With one piece of kindling apparently safe in the
fireplace, Frank left it alone for the remainder of the evening. Luckily, Diane
was gone, having decided to visit their son Mike for a few days. Diane was the
same age as Frank and was deeply hurt by her husband’s adulterous affair with a
30-year co-worker.
But,
the fireplace would dominate his thoughts the rest of this night, a night that
seemed to be getting colder and more sinister by the moment. Frank regretted
the mistake with his boss’ administrative assistant but there was nothing he
could do about it now. The damage had been done to his self respect and
marriage. The future didn’t look too good or promising.
What’s the deal with the fireplace? He
was dumbstruck, horrified, and now afraid to touch anything in the house. He
took another piece of wood – bigger and longer, and spent a couple of hours
poking through every nook and cranny of the home where he and Diane had raised
two boys to manhood. Only the place where he and Diane had enjoyed so many
warm, cozy fires seemed to swallow anything that entered it, if entered slowly.
The fireplace rewards speed, he
thought, and seriously entertained for the first time the notion that he may be
experiencing emotional problems brought on by too much stress. However, the
clean end of the kindling on the grate, severed smooth as to be shiny as new
wax, told him an even harsher truth.
He
was sane enough but in the early stages of a real, living nightmare.
3.
Frank
slept poorly that night. He arose before daylight, which isn’t hard to do in
December, and ate a light, tasteless breakfast. Afterward, he decided to test
the fireplace again, hoping with all his heart that what he remembered would
turn out to be a horrible nightmare after all.
But,
testing another, bigger piece of wood offered the same result. This time, a
full size log had been sheared at the end, which appeared polished as a table
top. He quickly threw the log onto the grate, a bit too hurriedly. It landed at
an odd angle. Most of the log landed safely, but there was a slick spot right
at the fireplace opening. At least, Frank got to see just exactly where the
phenomena began. With more than a little trepidation, he loaded the grate and
started a fire. He did this by throwing a lit match into the fireplace and
turning on the gas. Everything worked as normal. You could not tell by the naked
eye that there was an invisible wall at the hearth opening. Frank likened it to
an unseen laser light that destroyed anything it touched.
Frank
went to work but his heart wasn’t in it. He didn’t know what to do about the
fireplace and couldn’t get his mind off of it. For certain he had never seen or
heard of anything similar. That evening he mulled this over while sipping a
double bourbon and cola. Who do I call
and what would I say? Later, after too much bourbon and cola, the best thought
of the day came to him. He would tell his Rotary Club pal Bob Virden about this
and have him come over for a demonstration. Bob, a widower who Frank and Diane
entertained often, worked in R&D for the federal government and he alone
among his friends could he trusted with this information. The rag mags would love this, he thought. Wonder how much they would pay for this story? As he drifted off
into what would be a much better sleep than the night before, Frank was
grateful Diane was not there. He had caused her enough grief lately and he did
not feel her nerves could stand anything more just now. He didn’t love her has
he once had but did not wish to make her emotional state worse than it already
was.
Thank the Good Lord for small favors, was
his last conscious thought.
4.
The
next morning, alone in his office, Frank was on the phone to Bob. He waited
until after
“Haven’t heard from you in awhile.”
“Not
my fault you missed the last meeting.”
“Yeah. Messed up my perfect attendance.” Perfect attendance is a
badge of honor in the Rotary Club and Frank wisely made no reply to that
comment. After an awkward moment, Bob continued, “So, what’s up?”
Frank
realized he did not quite know how to explain this to Bob. With slight
hesitation, he said, “Well, I have an interesting problem I would like for you
to see.”
“OK.
What is it?” Bob knew something was not right with his buddy.
“I
have a very interesting situation here at home. I would like for you to come
see it.” He added, with shaky voice, “as soon as you can.”
“I
can come over after work.”
“OK.
I’ll fix a light dinner.” Bob was a widower and normally dined alone.
“Is
everything all right?”
“Let
me show you something interesting tonight. See you then.”
Bob
spent the rest of the day with an unaccustomed unease. He both dreaded and
looked forward to whatever it was that Frank wanted to show him.
5.
Bob
could scarcely believe his eyes when Frank demonstrated for him what he had
learned less than 48 hours previously.
“Don’t
know what to say,” was all he could say.
“That’s
an understatement, Frank added, dryly, but relieved that he had shared this
burden with a good friend he could trust.
“I
suppose we could run some tests . . . but I don’t know what they would be.
Never seen or heard of anything like this. Like you said, it does behave like
invisible laser light.”
“When
is Diane coming home?” Bob knew he hit a nerve the moment he asked.
Tightly,
Frank said, “Maybe next week now. She called after I spoke with you, said she’s
sorting things out. She’s with Mike. That’s good. I won’t say he’s a mommas’
boy but they’ve always been close.”
They
experienced their second awkward moment of the day. An odd feeling of intuition
swept over Frank. At that moment, he knew whatever was going on in his house
was going to get worse before getting better. Bob noticed the frightened look
on his face. He asked, “So, now what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe
it will go away. When was your last fire before the other night?”
“A couple of weeks ago.”
“No
problems then?”
“None”
The
scientist in Bob was intrigued by this, but Bob, friend of Frank was most
concerned. He simply did not know what to do or say.
The
men were silent at dinner. Frank, who possessed few culinary skills, served hot
ham sandwiches and beer. On a cold night, this hit the spot with both of them.
After
dinner, Bob prepared to leave. He told his friend, “I’ll see if I can research this a little.”
“Thanks.”
6.
A
couple of weeks passed. Diane came home and there was no word from Bob. The
dynamic of the fireplace had not changed.
Frank
had spent countless hours trying to figure out what was going on in his house.
There was just no explanation for it. But, he did come to a decision. A
decision which would make the foreboding he felt on the night Bob came over a
very real and dark reality.
Perhaps
it was the extraordinary amount of stress in his life that caused Frank to come
to a very tragic decision. Certainly it was a decision most out of character
for him. The falling apart of his marriage, the feelings he still had, or
thought he still had, with the very attractive Tiffany ate at him like a
cancer. He couldn’t live with her, couldn’t live without her. But, live without
her he must, because lately she had been seeing other men. Frank had sacrificed
his affection to her and permanently damaged a very happy family life, now,
apparently, all for nothing. Add to this the downsizing at work, his boss’
unhappiness with both of them over the affair and his probable retirement. It
was more than he could handle emotionally.
So,
he had an idea. As time and circumstance merged to serve his purposes, he felt
little joy in it, just a deep feeling that it needed to be done. She would
experience minimal, if any, suffering and for sure, nobody would ever find her
body. Frank worried that Bob would know
what happened to Diane, but he would
never know for certain. Frank was willing to sacrifice family and
friendships for the affections of a woman who no longer cared for him. When she knows I am free, she’ll come back
to me, he rationalized.
As
Diane never used the fireplace, Frank determined not to tell her about its new
and horrifying power. He didn’t worry she would find out by mistake, possibly
lose a finger or hand while doing so. She never placed wood in it, never
cleaned or lit fires. Frank did all of that and had done all of it for the last
25 years since her hand had been badly burned by a hot ember.
A
couple of evenings after he came to his fateful decision, after dinner he went
to the patio to retrieve wood. It was covered with snow, and Frank thought, I’m doing the same thing I was doing on the
night. Frank had begun to think of
the night of discovery as simply, the night and it haunted him more and more as
time passed. Well, tonight, some of the
stress will be over.
With more than a little nervousness, he asked Diane to help him with
the wood, because it was wet and messy. Surprisingly, she agreed and joined him
at the front of the hearth.
7.
Knocking
a normal sized healthy adult senseless is easier said than done. But, if you
are over 50 and have never murdered anyone before, the adrenaline runs strong
in your veins. A brutal blow on the back of the head was all it took. After
that, the only concern was to slowly stuff the limp body into the fireplace and
have it disappear into nothing. To say it was the “only concern” is not to do
justice to the fact that positioning a slightly overweight 50-ish adult body
into the small fireplace opening at just the right angles to achieve the
desired affect took a major and prolonged effort. Afterward, the realization of
what had just been done brought on violent nausea and severe hysteria, until
the light of the next morning brought a measure of emotional distance and
peace.
The
emotion of it was indeed overwhelming. To give up everything for a middle age
fling is one of the saddest things a person could do. Some people weather the
middle age crazies, others do not. Sadly, this would be one of the most tragic
and extreme examples of the danger and frailty of human emotions.
This
story does not have a happy ending. No body was ever found and no charges were
ever filed by law enforcement. Bob Virden never said a word to anybody about
his knowledge of the strange property of the Hartley house.
The
fireplace never lost its strange power. Its occupants would spend the next 35
years using it as a disposal system for excess trash.
Epilogue
Five years
later
“The
children no longer have objections to us marrying.”
“That’s
nice. It’s been a long time.
“Hey,
you’re doing OK. Social security soon and a new marriage.”
“I
know.”
“You happy?”
“Yes,
I am. Please believe that.” They locked hands, but he was only partially
reassured.
In
a low voice, he said, “Looking back, I’m kind of surprised we got away with
it.”
Pondering
this for a moment, she replied, “Yeah. But, a lot of people knew he had made a
fool of himself over that young girl.” Diane’s cheeks still burned when she
thought of it. “Anyway, we’re together and that’s all that matters.” They
kissed and this time, Bob Virden felt sincere affection coming from Diane, who
filled a great void in his life after Martha died.
She
smiled and continued, “That heat proof miniature laser you installed is a work
of genius. Too bad you can never take credit for it.”
Bob
smiled back, “I don’t have to. I’ve got you. But, I must say, I didn’t know it
would work so well. I was quite surprised and more than a little nervous when
he showed me the wood.”
They
kissed again. “Darling, I never doubted you.”
END