Jillian Chantal

This week the writers of Tuesday Tales are writing to the word prompt, wood. I am in the midst of edits on my fall release so I started on a new story at lunch today (Aug 7) to get something up for the week. This is going to be a Halloween story. Or I think it is. LOL

Check out the other tales here.

My friends and I stood outside the remains of the Andry Plantation near the Mississippi River and west of New Orleans, Louisiana. This was the site of a slave uprising in 1811 and we were here to stay overnight on a dare. My friend, Jacques, is a professor at Tulane as well as a descendant of one of the slaves who was part of the revolt. They’d planned to march to New Orleans and start an independent republic for their people.

Ultimately, they were unsuccessful and captured or killed.

At the university, Jacques met the people who’d recently purchased the property to restore and, in the course of his discussion with them about how they would restore the plantation while also being sensitive to the historical context, they had extended him an invitation to come stay.

Upon being informed about certain eerie occurrences, Jacques decided he didn’t want to come alone so he invited me and another friend, Monty. Or, truth be known, he dared us to come. Double-dog dared even.

The three of us stood at the bottom of the short stairs leading to the porch. “Who’s going first?” Monte asked.

I studied the wood floor of the porch. It had more holes than it had planks. “I’ll lead the way but be careful. I worry about the state of that veranda. One wrong step, and your leg will go in one of those holes. We sure don’t want any broken bones.” I paused. “It concerns me about the inside of the house, too. I mean, if the porch is this bad, what’s the interior like?”

“I’ve been assured that the two drawing rooms are in excellent shape. At least the floors are. They’ve already been restored.” Jacques nodded. “Besides, the outside will be less pristine as it’s been exposed to the elements more than the inside.”

Monty looked up at the roof. “Some of it anyway. Looks like some natural air conditioning there in some spots.”

An eerie howl in the woods startled us all. My heart rate increased noticeably. “Whatever that is, I don’t want to be out here waiting for it to come claim me.”

“Nonsense. It’s probably just a panther,” Monty said.

“Just a panther?” Jacques asked. “That’s bad enough.”

The sound came again. Closer this time.

It was too dark out here for my comfort even with the half-moon hanging over the house. “Let’s get inside.”

“What happened to being worried about holes in the floor?” Jacques asked.

“The known is safer than the unknown.”