There were rumours about the old townhouse at the end of Brookman Street, the one with the faux Tudor front and cloudy brown windows. It was all to do with the courtyard entrance and how it was the largest in the south of England thanks to the owner's daughter who was never seen by the public during her lifespan and whose body was never found - only the scent of death lingered about the place.
With her father vanished a few days before the sickly smell appeared, the house remained empty and waiting for his return until forty years later when it was brought and sold to a children fostering company.
The children had all heard of the rumours before they arrived, the ones saying the daughter had been gigantic - eleven foot tall as some stories would have you believe. Of course with there being no proof, any story was theoretically possible, though general consensus was that the owner never had a daughter and used the unusual architecture to hide his mistress coming and going at odd hours.
None of the stories were believed until one child, playing where they shouldn't be, found a staircase hidden underneath the floorboards of the cellar. The stairs were metal and seemed to be heavily reinforced with thick tracks on either side, like they were meant to carry cargo down beyond the cellar, possibly towards the docks.
Being sensible the child ran for the closest adult and physically dragged them to the stairs, saying at first that someone had fallen down them so that the adult would grab a torch and explore the place with them as quickly as they could. It was so exciting at first until the adult's calls were answered by a deep woman's voice.
She sounded like she was in the far corner where an enormous mound of dress-shaped fabric was. As the pair drew closer, keeping the voice in conversation by asking if she was okay (she was tired and so thirsty, so hungry. Please bring me a drink, I've been down here for so long) and trying to see where she was hiding.
The adult nearly tripped over what they thought was loose fireplace wood at first until their torchlight revealed it was a femur as long as their entire leg. There were little indents all along it as it disappeared underneath what was now clearly a skirt. The adult dragged the child out, calling for help, for the police, for someone who knows what to do in this situation when a skeleton is found under the damn floor and it's talking!
While the adults were flustered and frantically placing call after call, the child snuck back down to the cellar to await the results of the oncoming investigation. They didn't have to wait for too long, the police get very speedy and concerned when bones are found under a children's home.
From the snippets of conversation passing by them, the child learned that there were actually two skeletons, an adult male cradled in the arm of a (possibly fake) nine foot female. Teeth marks were found on most of the male's bones, his time of death was almost a month before her's so cannibalism was the suspected cause of death.
And her's? Major blood loss from her legs, originating from a head wound that would have caused significant brain damage to the Sylvian Fissure. She would have suffered from vibrant and near constant visual and auditory hallucinations, they had no idea what she could have seen but the end result was likely that she had murdered and eaten the male before beginning to self-cannibalise wherever she could, in this case her legs. She got as far as mid calf before passing out from blood loss or pain or a combination of the two.
While the child crouched, hidden and hearing the entire forensic report given to the foster home's leader, another woman's voice began to speak right next to her. Some unseen person, the same deep voiced person whispered agreements and laughed into the child's ear as the report was muttered between equally horrified adults.
With her father vanished a few days before the sickly smell appeared, the house remained empty and waiting for his return until forty years later when it was brought and sold to a children fostering company.
The children had all heard of the rumours before they arrived, the ones saying the daughter had been gigantic - eleven foot tall as some stories would have you believe. Of course with there being no proof, any story was theoretically possible, though general consensus was that the owner never had a daughter and used the unusual architecture to hide his mistress coming and going at odd hours.
None of the stories were believed until one child, playing where they shouldn't be, found a staircase hidden underneath the floorboards of the cellar. The stairs were metal and seemed to be heavily reinforced with thick tracks on either side, like they were meant to carry cargo down beyond the cellar, possibly towards the docks.
Being sensible the child ran for the closest adult and physically dragged them to the stairs, saying at first that someone had fallen down them so that the adult would grab a torch and explore the place with them as quickly as they could. It was so exciting at first until the adult's calls were answered by a deep woman's voice.
She sounded like she was in the far corner where an enormous mound of dress-shaped fabric was. As the pair drew closer, keeping the voice in conversation by asking if she was okay (she was tired and so thirsty, so hungry. Please bring me a drink, I've been down here for so long) and trying to see where she was hiding.
The adult nearly tripped over what they thought was loose fireplace wood at first until their torchlight revealed it was a femur as long as their entire leg. There were little indents all along it as it disappeared underneath what was now clearly a skirt. The adult dragged the child out, calling for help, for the police, for someone who knows what to do in this situation when a skeleton is found under the damn floor and it's talking!
While the adults were flustered and frantically placing call after call, the child snuck back down to the cellar to await the results of the oncoming investigation. They didn't have to wait for too long, the police get very speedy and concerned when bones are found under a children's home.
From the snippets of conversation passing by them, the child learned that there were actually two skeletons, an adult male cradled in the arm of a (possibly fake) nine foot female. Teeth marks were found on most of the male's bones, his time of death was almost a month before her's so cannibalism was the suspected cause of death.
And her's? Major blood loss from her legs, originating from a head wound that would have caused significant brain damage to the Sylvian Fissure. She would have suffered from vibrant and near constant visual and auditory hallucinations, they had no idea what she could have seen but the end result was likely that she had murdered and eaten the male before beginning to self-cannibalise wherever she could, in this case her legs. She got as far as mid calf before passing out from blood loss or pain or a combination of the two.
While the child crouched, hidden and hearing the entire forensic report given to the foster home's leader, another woman's voice began to speak right next to her. Some unseen person, the same deep voiced person whispered agreements and laughed into the child's ear as the report was muttered between equally horrified adults.
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