By Laura Seymour Cubría. CEIPSO El Encinar.

It was a cold and windy night in the town of Brighton.  Mr. and Mrs. Ackerly had been planning their fifteenth wedding anniversary ball for a couple of days, and were finally working on the finishing touches. 

“I will say, Mr. Ackerly, our ball will not be a disappointment”, said Mrs. Ackerley. 

“I wholeheartedly agree, dear”, replied Mr. Ackerley.

They continued working for days and days, until there was no more waiting to be done, for the afternoon of the celebration had already come.  The Ackerly family was eagerly awaiting for all their guests to arrive. The youngest Ackerly son was not yet thirteen, and the eldest had just turned fifteen. 

“May I wait for our guests in my room, Papa?”, asked Octavious, the eldest son. 

 “Not yet, my dear son”, replied Mr. Ackerley.  “Ah, look!  The photographer has arrived.” 

Mr. Ackerly smiled grimly at the photographer and let him in.  As more guests arrived, the room got more and more crowded.  Octavious noticed that his mother was far too comfortable with one of her friends, Mr. Higham. 

“I must say, Mrs. Ackerly,” started Mr. Higham, “your ball is quite the success!” 

Before Mrs. Ackerly could reply to her friend’s compliments, the whole family was called upon by the photographer ready for the family photograph.  As the man covered his head with the camera cloth, all of the lights went out at the same time, leaving the room in a sorrowful, quiet darkness.  Some peculiar sounds started coming in from the door and got louder as they got closer to the ballroom.  The sounds left as quickly as they had come, and when the lights were finally turned back on, screams and shrieks filled the room.  Mrs. Ackerly turned around to find that her husband was nowhere to be seen, and instead, a pile of bones replaced him.  The whole Ackerly family was stunned.  What were they to do?  Who had done this terrible thing?  Mrs. Ackerly dared to look at her lover, Mr. Higham, but noticed something different about him.  A look of lust and greed dressed his face. 

“My love!” exclaimed Mr. Higham, “Now we can be together without repercussions, my love.” 

Mrs. Ackerly knew not what to do.  Was she to go with him and love him, or hate him for the rest of their lives?   

Before she had the chance to answer, Octavious had already stabbed and killed his father’s killer.  After that night, the Ackerly family moved far away, but for every mile they moved away, their past haunted them forever more.