A Call from the Other Side
In a small town named Millswood, where farms stretched beyond the horizon, and lives constituted mostly of hard work, rumors crackled like brushfire through the community. The whole buzz was about the old Watson house, an antiquated Victorian home that had been standing in utter abandonment for as long as anyone could
remember. The family that had once thrived within its walls had vanished overnight sometime during the 1920s. Past the town's edge, it sat isolated, decaying under the weight of its own ghostly whispers—the ominous entity of Watson House was becoming Millswood's myth.
The curiosity piqued when newly married couple, Laura and Tom, decided to restore the Watson House into their dream home. Ignoring the chilled forewarning of the townsfolk, they began their daunting task. The couple was warmly welcomed by these structures of the past, that had been left untouched for decades. Their passion breathed new life into the forsaken establishment. Things were oddly simple. Except for the telephone.
In the center of the den, a surviving artifact from the past, crusted with old years and a thin film of dust was an old-fashioned rotary dial phone. In the quietude of nights, the telephone would ring, the shrill sound echoing within the refurbished walls. An impossible occurrence, as Laura and Tom hadn't yet got around to getting a telephonic connection.
One fateful night, as the haunting ring shook the stillness, Tom mustered the courage to answer the call. A hushed whisper flowed through the receiver, a woman's voice, strained with sorrow, repeating a haunting mantra — 'Tell them I am Sorry.'
The disheartening voice startled Tom. The calls became a nightly event, always the same, the voice of the unknown woman spilling her apology into their lives. Laura and Tom sought help from Millwood's older denizens, hoping to find the unforgiving woman hidden under layers of history.
Millswood obliged. The eldest member, an old woman named Edna, revealed the secret. The voice belonged to the former mistress of the house, Mrs. Watson. According to the legends, Mrs. Watson disappeared after a fight with her family over her love for a farmhand. Her family disapproved, but she was adamant. One night, she left, vowing never to return. The very next day, her family died mysteriously, a disaster that the townsfolk suspected was Mrs. Watson's doing.
Haunted by the revelation, Laura and Tom decided to put an end to this spectral disturbance. With Edna's help, they organized an old-style séance. The air hummed with trepidation as they made contact with Mrs. Watson's spirit, welcoming her to converse. To their astonishment, the woman’s voice filled the room, repeating her remorseful cry. Laura, filled with compassion, offered a hand of consolation to the remorseful soul. 'Your family has heard you,' she gently reassured, 'They want you to be free.'
A profound silence befell the room. A calmness seeped in, one that the house hadn't known for a century. From that night on, the phone never rang again.
The town of Millswood, abuzz with the tale of their local haunt's absolution, welcomed this new chapter of their myth. Laura and Tom lived the rest of their lives in the old Watson house, which was no longer filled with regret, but a heart-warming tale of forgiveness and liberation.
As for the old rotary phone, it remained in the den, a significant memento of the past, its silence a reminder of a peace hard-earned. The tale of the ringing telephone of Millwood was immortalized, a story to be retold while gathered around the fireplace on cold winter nights.