let sleeping skeletons lie

They had looked for many homes on their relativly meagre budget but what they needed wwasnt avaidible. The agent said "you need to up your money or down your expectations. The both thought about it and decided to give it another week and then reassess the problems.

After nearly a week with noses in newspapers, magazines and computer adverts there was little change. They were just thinking they should tell the agent they had decided to lower expectations , when the phone rang. It was actually the agent , with news.

"I know this isnt perfect, but its as close as you will get with the money you have. It used to be a farm but as buissness fell they sold the land off bit by bit. When they ran out of land they were left with a house and a few barns, plenty of storage among all the buildings. You need to come and see it"

Arrangements were made and the newly weds headed to the farm with just enough interest to make it worth a look. They had wanted something fairly well built and with not much work needed. When they first saw the farm they noticed the house looked ok but the sheds seemed to be standing more by luck then anything else.

The house meanwhile had the bits they wanted, the storage was lacking though. The barns would have to be utilised, at least the least dangerous looking one. As there was no garage the car would need to be in shelter over the cold winter they were expecting. Also after only recently moving in together there were plenty of duplicated furniture that neither wanted to get rid of.

The barn behind the house was chosen as looking the one that would not collapse just yet. It had been mostly cleared, except for some horse blankets hung on the rear wall. The floor was clear so numerous boxes and chairs were arranged at the back, the car was given a test storage. Mick noticed that there seemed to be less storage then he was expecting. When he walked round the building to check for any problems it seemed much bigger then it did now.

Mick decided to pace the depth of the garage on the inside and again on the outside. He soon realised he had been right, the inside was at least 5 paces shorter than the outside measure. Calling Sally over they decided to investigate. They had seen enough crime tv to know about hidden rooms and place where secrets were hidden.

Obviously there was a secret room , with no outward signs of its existence. The first task was to take down the old horse blankets, to see if there was a secret way in. They were expecting a secret switch or lever, instead was a not very secret looking red door. They soon found out it was a securely locked red door. It surprised them a little, they were expecting some mechanical trickery. They were ready for some detective work, even ready to look for some tools to smash a hole in the wall.

They were so disappointed in fact that they both lost interest. They searched the walls for a handy set of keys, finding none. They gave up and went back inside, didn't see any keys hidden in a drawer or hooked on the wall, and gave up.

The house was beginning to take shape, becoming more the house they had hoped for from the start. Some of the boxes from the garage had been sorted . Some items were now in the house and some up for sale. They had reached an agreement on whose items would stay and those that would go. In the end the split was fair and amicable. There were just a few boxes to sort and then the car would have more room.

What they began to notice as they arranged the boxes was a strong smell. They put it down to farm drains or something blowing in from a neighbouring farm. It wasn't a smell they could identify but they knew it was getting worse. Some expensive chemicals were poured into the drain, other sheds were examined and still the smell worsened.

Max was in the garage looking for an old book when he realised something, the smell appeared to be from behind the locked red door. After the initial brief attempt to gain entry the couple had dismissed the room behind the door as a mystery. They had no idea of the contents so couldn't be missing out on anything. They had guessed on a few uses, maybe tack for the horses, maybe a feed store. As both Max and Sally became more overcome by the smell they decided it may be time to act.

They had no experience in breaking and entering and weren't sure where in the yellow pages they should look. A locksmith might be a good idea, then again was it better not knowing. The smell couldn't be coming from anything good, so maybe it should be left alone. In fact the couple managed a few more weeks, the car was stored outdoors and the garage unused. As the weather began to get warmer the smell got so bad that even being near the garage was becoming a chore.

Max got a torch and covered his mouth and nose, he then went to see if there was anything obvious he could try. He looked through the key hole but only saw the end of the key, locked from the inside. The hair on the back of his neck and arms sprung to attention. There were no windows, so whoever locked the door hadn't left again. He went back to sally to work out what to do next. The options seemed to be, break the door down or get someone else to do it.

Sally much preferred the someone else idea, secretly so did Max. The local police took some convincing that it was worth their time. They did concede the door locked from the inside was strange. So one, bored looking, cop came to see what was going on. The smell reached him long before he got to the red door. He was about to say it was probably to ignore it, he then remembered he was there because people had called him.

After poking around in the back of his car he found the mini battering ram, used to smash doors down before arresting very surprised crooks. He slowly walked back to the garage, held his breath and strode in. He decided to try and break the door and get outside before he had to breathe again.

After 2 hefty blows the door swung open, he had strode in but now he sprinted out. Arranged on 4 chairs were the festering remains of four people, he presumed them to be the farmer, his wife and kids. Decomposition had reached the very smelly stage, most of the flesh was brown and hanging loosely. He had known the family and had recognised some jewellery hanging with the limp skin.

He forced himself to go back as he could see a letter in a plastic envelope , hanging from the farmers neck. He took another deep breath and managed to recover the note without too much of the smell reaching him. The note was securely sealed, to save any bodily fluids destroying it. It read;

although I hope not to be found i write this in case. I have been forced to sell off the farm handed down generation to generation for many years. I have failed my family name and my own family. I cant live with the shame and have decided we should be together at the end. Obviously I could have done this alone but it would upset my wife if I just vanished.

To hopefully save anyone from finding us I will lock the door from the inside. Hopefully nobody will think to try and get in here and we can stay together in peace. The agent knows to sell the property and now the sale has gone through its time to end it all, still in the farm we lost .So that there will remain a small part of the family in the farm.

To whoever finds us I can only apologise, I couldn't think of another way

Jack Brown and family