The
Secrets of Hawthorne House
by
Donald Firesmith
Genre:
Teen Paranormal Mystery
Fifteen-year-old
Matt Mitchell was having the worst summer imaginable. Matt’s misery
started when a drunk driver killed his mother. Then Matt’s father
moved him and his sister to a small town in rural Indiana, as far as
his grieving father could get from the ocean that his mother had
loved. At the new high school, three bullies were determined to make
Matt miserable. And to top it off, Matt learned that the recluse who
lived in the dilapidated Victorian mansion next door was none other
than Old Lady Hawthorne, the town’s infamous witch and murderer.
Matt’s terrible summer was turning into an awful autumn when
something quite unexpected happened. Old Lady Hawthorne’s niece and
her three children moved in next door, and Matt met Gerallt.
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Hawthorne House
The
sun had just set as Matt, now transformed into a youthful vampire, walked out
his front door to join Gerallt and Gareth for their planned evening of
house-to-house candy extortion. Rising in the east like a pale pumpkin in the
sky, a full moon peeked out from behind wispy translucent clouds. The
temperature was dropping rapidly, and Matt drew his cheap black and scarlet
cape around him with a flourish before striding out into the gathering
darkness.
A
thin mist was rising from the dew-drenched grass, forming a low layer of fog
that darkened the shadows beneath the row of oaks lining Hawthorne Drive. Matt
looked next door at the old Victorian mansion and was amazed by its
transformation. Each tall window of the Hawthorne House framed a single
colorful candle, burning with flickering flames of yellow, orange, or red. A
few candles even burned with the same sickly shade of green that illuminated
the bottom of the twin streams of smoke rising from the mansion’s massive stone
chimneys. The green glowing smoke bubbling out of the chimney pots rose only a
few feet before cascading down the gabled roof to become a low-lying fog. Matt
was surprised to see a black shape suddenly swoop through the smoke, only to be
followed by another and yet another. Large bats fluttered around the twin
chimneys and the three towers, feasting on clouds of ghostly moths seemingly
drawn to the pale green smoke. Matt had seen the occasional brown bat before,
but never so many and never as big as these.
Only
the short attic windows were without candles. Yet, while watching in wonder at
the fluttering forms, Matt would have sworn that out of the edge of his vision
he had seen a pale figure briefly looking back at him from one of the darkened
windows. He looked back at the window, but the ghostly shape had vanished as
quickly as it had appeared. It sent a shiver up his spine.
Walking
slowly over to the Hawthorne’s gate, Matt admired the fantastic cobwebs that
covered their fence, bushes, and even the lower branches of the trees. Not the
thick cottony store-bought stuff he’d seen at the neighbor’s houses, they
appeared to be real spider webs. Each one was outlined in diminutive droplets
of dew and hosted what looked like a large black spider sitting smugly at its
center. Matt was impressed; the webs looked expensive, and it must have taken
lots of work to drape them so realistically.
The
gate creaked mournfully as Matt opened it. Thirteen of the most intricately
carved jack-o-lanterns he’d ever seen lined the front walk. Each had a
different expression, some friendly and some almost terrifying, and every one
worthy of wonder and envy. They were so incredible that Matt thought Gwyneth,
her mom, and great aunt must surely have worked all day on them.
The
fog was getting thicker. Gazing into the darkness on either side of the twin rows
of carved pumpkins, he could just make out fairy rings of large, white
toadstools around teepees of dried corn stalks and several giant pumpkins at
least a yard across. To his right, what looked like a real skeleton hung suspended
by a hangman’s noose from a lower branch of the huge oak in the corner of their
front yard. To his left, another pair of realistic skeletons sat hand in hand
in the small gazebo next to the fence between their houses. Clearly, Matt
thought, the Hawthornes went all out on Halloween.
The
covered porch was lined with more of the marvelous jack-o-lanterns. Cobwebs
hung from the newly painted gingerbread trim and between the ornately turned
spindles of the recently repaired railing. Leaning over to take a closer look
at one of the webs, Matt jerked back in shocked surprise. Both the big black
spider and its web were real! Turning in amazement, he went to the windows for
a better look at the colored candles; they too were real with flickering flames
burning yellow, orange, red, or green.
Matt Mitchell lost his mother a year ago in an accident.
Matt his twin sister Tina and their father move back to his father’s hometown
so they can all get away from the memories that their mother Mary left behind
in their cottage by the ocean.
After the move and without their mother’s income the family’s
finances start to dwindle. Matt’s father is having a hard time keeping up with
all the bills and things Matt and Tina want.
They move next door the famous Hawthorne house. Old Lady
Hawthorne a recluse known as the town’s witch and murderer. When Matt wants
money for new games and CDs and other things his Dad suggest that he go next
door and speak with Lady Hawthorne about taking care of her lawn as it is in
dire need of some repair. Matt takes him up on his idea and does just that. He asks
Lady Hawthorne for a job and she abides.
Lady Hawthorne’s niece and her three children move in next
door. Matt and the oldest son Gerallt become best friends in no time. Gerallt
lost his father last year as well. The three Hawthorne children start school
with Matt and Tina at Hawthorne High. Matt and Gerallt have a run of bad luck
with three bullies at the school. Before long the bullies frame Gerallt and
Matt for attacking them and other children which results in Matt and Gerallt
getting in school suspension as well as grounded at home.
Matt and Gerallt are both very strong boys and are determined
to set things right with the bullies and set out to prove their innocents and
to prove to everyone including their parents that they didn’t do what they were
accused of. Someone has to do something before someone gets hurt big time by
one of the three bullies. How are Matt and Gerallt going to stop the three
bullies? Can they stop them? Will their parents ever believe them again?
The Secrets of Hawthorne House is very intriguing and
interesting with the history of the Hawthorne house. The stories of how the
house came to be and who built it and how it got its name and the stories of
all the Gods and Goddess were very interesting as well. The Secrets of
Hawthorne House is full of history, mystery, magic and great characters.
When I was reading The Secrets of Hawthorne House it
reminded me of the kids in Stephen King’s It and the kids in Stranger Things of
how they stuck by each other no matter what they always had each other’s back
and kept each other’s secrets. I can’t wait to see what the Mitchell’s and the
Hawthorne’s have in store for us in the next book.
The Secrets of Hawthorne House is for anyone who loves a
good story with lots of magic. If you like It and Stranger Things then I
believe you will like The Secrets of Hawthorne House as well.
A
geek by day, Donald Firesmith works as a system and software engineer
helping the US Government acquire large, complex software-intensive
systems. In this guise, he has authored seven technical books,
written numerous software- and system-related articles and papers,
and spoken at more conferences than he can possibly remember. He's
also proud to have been named a Distinguished Engineer by the
Association of Computing Machinery, although his pride is tempered
somewhat by his fear that the term "distinguished" makes
him sound like a graybeard academic rather than an active engineer
whose beard is still slightly more red than gray.
By
night and on weekends, his alter ego writes modern paranormal
fantasy, apocalyptic science fiction, action and adventure novels and
relaxes by handcrafting magic wands from various magical woods and
mystical gemstones. His first foray into fiction is the book Magical
Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore written under the pen name Wolfrick
Ignatius Feuerschmied. He lives in Crafton, Pennsylvania with his
wife Becky, and his son Dane, and varying numbers of dogs, cats, and
birds.
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