Group Picture Story

1. In the times of old when the lands of now were covered in blood, there was an elusive evil in existence.
An evil so complex and ruthless, that when one would ever discover it they would vanish. This force of
evil was different from others; different from sickness, war, murder, poverty, and debauchery.
In the woodlands of Eastern Appalachia, there was an old manor. It was built before the tensions of the
states rose to their peaks. A wealthy land owner lived there with his wife; Mr. and Mrs. Cline, as they
were known by. They were heavily involved in the communities surrounding their manor. They gave
food to the hungry, beds to sleep in to the homeless, and a place to work for the poor.
Years passed and the relations between the Clines and those who lived in the Mountains soared. Then it
all changed in a single night. Something compelled Mrs. Cline to become angry at young children. At first
it was unnoticeable but then it enhanced as she became physically aggressive. The children became
afraid of her as Mr. Cline began to notice changes in her attitude towards him as well.
Months passed and Mrs. Cline became demented. She would say things out of the blue like, “The
children will watch us all” along with other things that never made sense. Her skin became wri nkled and
her physical appearance seemed to age out of natural order. She was only thirty-three, but she looked
twice as older after a couple months from the beginning stages of her transition.
Mr. Cline called the local minister, Father Goodman. He suggested that she was in need of mental
therapy and wanted to get her admitted to a hospital. She refused to leave her bedroom for which she
had stayed in for nearly week prior to the Fathers’ visit.
In the middle of the nights she wailed uncontrollably and started to become violent with her husband.
One night in the fall of 1860, screams were heard from the manor. This time it was from Mr. Cline. A
couple grounds-workers came out of their shacks nearby and knocked upon the door of the manor.
There was no answer and light from burning candle appeared from the upstairs bedroom window. Then,
as quickly as it appeared it was gone.
Nobody heard from either of the Clines for the next couple of days until they noticed Mrs. Cline sitting
on the porch drinking tea. The children felt comfortable approaching her now as her appearance had
become healthier and her wrinkles were gone. She looked better than before.
When she was asked about her husband, she said he had gone the Washington for political matters.
Everything seemed to had gone back to normal until children started to disappear from the community.
One by one, every child had vanished. The townspeople had all left after the last child had disappeared.
The upstairs window always had a candle in it and the window was always shut.
Father Goodman stopped by to check on her and see how her mental state was handling the
disappearance of the children.

2. He entered the manor as the door was completely opened. The vegetation around the house had been
overgrown and the siding became rotten. The manor was decaying slowly and looked like something out
of a book.
He heard Mrs. Cline upstairs and proceeded to go to her. He found her painting in the bedroom in which
the candle always burned in. She was painting the walls. Dove’s were being painted onto vines in which
she painted green. Green vines with white dove’s on them.
“Misses Cline”, he spoke.
She turned to him and said, “There is room for one more”.
The minister was never seen again and Mrs. Cline had vanished as well.
The manor was ransacked during the civil war and used as a field hospital for some time. It was later
remodeled in the beginning of the next century and was used as a museum for civil -war artifacts. The
upstairs bedroom was never painted over, however.
Decades passed and soon, someone bought the old manor and made a home out of it. Upon the first
week of living there, the woman who bought it felt like she was living in a house with more than just her
family in it. Almost like there were more spirits inside the manor.
She opened the upstairs window to look outside. It was almost stuck shut. She had to use most of her
strength to get it open.
She went out of the room and returned a few moments later to find something different about the
room.
One of the dove’s that were painted on the wall was missing. As if it had peeled off and vanished. She
did not think too much about it. Maybe she had just noticed it or something, she thought to herself.
She went downstairs to drink some coffee, leaving the window open. When she returned later in the
afternoon, the dove’s had all vanished.
The dove’s were the trapped spirits of the missing children, Mr. Cline, and Father Goodman. When the
sealed window was finally opened, their spirits escaped and went to rest among the mountains of
Appalachia.