Aunt Eleanor was driving and humming songs to herself when Felicity asked for the umpteenth time, “Are we there yet?”

“No sweetie, there are approximately 20 minutes left,” she replied.

“Twenty minutes! But all we can see is huge barren land, with hardly any cottages or settlements, leave alone houses.”

Meanwhile, David and Isabelle were having quite an exciting game of cards. Ten minutes later, Aunt Eleanor said, “According to this map, we have arrived at the Greenway Hotel… ah! There it is. But it doesn’t look as … decent … as described in the pamphlet.”

In front of them was a bleak, grey building, with bits of paint peeling off from many places.

“It looks like a school abandoned years ago,” Felicity grumbled.

Aunt Eleanor ignored her. She was determined to enjoy a good vacation for a change and the Greenway Hotel had reasonable fare compared to the rest.

“It might be quite opposite from inside, let’s have a look, shall we?”

The lobby was a high-ceilinged room with a large chandelier, long, gloomy curtains at one side, some dark velvet sofas in the corner and a reception desk.

Once inside, they were met by a stern-looking lady with a straight nose and vulture-like eyes. Her penetrating gaze lingered on the children, then rested on their aunt. She gave a smile, which did not reach her cold eyes, patted her tight bun and said, “Welcome to the Greenway Hotel. I am Ms Jorkell, the manager. How may I help you?”

Despite the children’s apprehension regarding the lady and the hotel, two rooms were booked; one for Felicity and Aunt Eleanor and one for David and Isabelle. Their rooms were not bad; twin beds, a wardrobe, a dressing table and a night lamp. They had large windows which flooded the room with sunlight and revealed a landscape of the village.

The only other people in the hotel were the bellboy and the chef, who, to Aunt Eleanor’s satisfaction, made quite nifty dishes. The bellboy was a very pale and a weary man; he looked quite exhausted and had had dark circles under his eyes, as if he had not slept for days. His name was Henry and his face slightly resembled the manager.

Curious though they were, about the lack of guests, nobody said anything, assuming that it was off-season. The children were now changing their minds about the place as it was so big and many games were waiting to be played.

The next day, as David was wandering, he overheard the manager saying something to Henry, “The library needs to be dusted more often. The shelves and the books tend to get dirty…”

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “Is there really a library here?”

So that afternoon, the three children made their way to the library. The children looked in awe at the ceiling-high shelves, which were all filled with books. Judging by their yellow pages, they looked old, but quite valuable.

The manager warned them to handle with care, “Those books are not for children like you. I can clearly see that I can’t stop you from touching them, so mind you, don’t tear them apart.”

They took a few interesting books and sat down on a table. There was already a newspaper there. Isabelle was going to casually flick it aside when she noticed something eccentric. She showed it to the others and they curiously read it with a mixture of shock and amazement on their faces. The headline was:

Greenway Hotel … haunted by the White Witch?

The article further said:

“The Greenway Hotel is believed to be terrorised as rumours say. Tourists admit that they hear shrill cries at midnight and crashes of what seems to be furniture. The police investigated, but they weren’t successful. Many have theories based on an evil and a sinister spirit called the White Witch, who is thought to haunt the place.”

“That’s why there’s no one here!” exclaimed Isabelle, “It’s all true.”

“No, you silly, it’s all made-up I reckon, and the article doesn’t even look official,” snapped David.

“You’re right,” sighed Isabelle, “nobody would believe us, even if we showed it to them.”

That night, there was a thunderstorm when Felicity went to bed. Everybody was asleep, except for her. Aunt Eleanor was snoring. Felicity couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t stop thinking about that article. She tossed and turned for half an hour, when suddenly heard a loud thunder, followed by someone stridently shrieking.

Felicity froze, she could neither move nor say anything; it was as if her legs were made of jelly and she had forgotten how to use her tongue. She could hear blood pounding in her ears. She wondered if Isabelle or David were awake. Evidently, Aunt Eleanor was in a deep sleep.

Suddenly, there was a crash of something shattered. A shiver ran down Felicity’s spine as her blood went cold ….

In the morning, when Aunt Eleanor went for breakfast, Felicity quickly confided last night’s incident to David and Isabelle. They both were too appalled to speak. Unlike David and Isabelle, Aunt Elinor would simply think that Felicity was making things up, just to leave the hotel. She would refuse to worry.

David, wanting to do something, had secretly made a plan to have a word with the manager. As he silently approached the manager’s quarters, he could hear voices coming from the room.

The manager was talking to Henry in very different tone, “I have done everything to the best of my abilities, scaring them with the article, breaking the vase and operating the shriek. The children are affected, but that irritating aunt of theirs wouldn’t budge. I don’t know what to do … and what will we say to our boss?”

Unable to believe his ears, David rushed along with the alarming news.

Half an hour later, the police were there. They interrogated and finally arrested the bewildered Ms Jorkell and Henry. Their boss was a grim man with hard lines on his face; he looked so calm as if he was unperturbed by the activity.

As it all turned out, they were scaring away tourists as they were carrying out an illegal activity which was banned according to the police. Even the chef was involved!

Aunt Elinor was too scandalised to speak. Finally, after recovering, she said, “I’m so proud of you kids!”

Felicity beamed, Isabella hugged her aunt and David said, “I told you so.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 6th, 2021