Today we have a special guest with us bringing her #fridayflash. Terri Talley Venters writes Elements of Mystery, and her debut novel Carbon Copy was recently released.
Nitrogen
By Terri Talley Venters
Ida ran late for her 11 a.m. tour of the Ponce De Leon hotel in St.
Augustine, Florida. She only needed to descend three flights of stairs to get
from her corner room in the tower to the start of the tour in the grand entrance.
But today, as most days, she needed to drag herself out of the bed.
She cursed herself for staying up so late dancing and drinking with
her friends. Her husband, Henry, yelled at her and made her go to her own room
before the sunrise. “But this is the beginning of the season. I want to stay up
and watch the sun rise at the Castillo de San Marcos,” Ida recalled pleading
her case.
Ida looked down at her ivory lace dress and admired the intricate
stitching of her new frock. She noticed her corset cutting into her ribs. She
never remembered putting it on this morning, nor did she recall removing it
last night. These lapses in her memory concerned her, but not as much as they
concerned her husband. She found huge blocks of time, hours or days, often unaccounted
for. She blamed the spirits for this, while Henry blamed the opium.
She felt the brooch at her throat and wished she had a mirror in her
room to ascertain if her appearance proved acceptable for society. Damn you,
Henry. Why did you take my mirror away? I’m not crazy, I won’t hurt myself.
Ida found her way to the grand entrance to find the tour already in
progress. Stephanie always spoke during the tours, while Ida merely helped
guide the crowd of guests throughout the hotel. Ida tried to speak on occasion,
especially when Stephanie said something wrong. But Ida’s corrections were
always met with strange looks, like she was crazy.
Ida spotted the group outside in the courtyard as Stephanie said,
“Notice the centerpiece of the fountain is actually the hilt of the sword
turned upside down.” Ida smiled at the beauty and uniqueness of the fountain in
the courtyard of her husband’s famous hotel in Florida.
She watched the group pour back inside the grand entrance. Ida looked
in horror at the wardrobe of the hotel’s guests. She’d never seen the latest
fashions from Paris, but it shocked her to see so many women showing their
knees.
Ida followed at the rear of the group as they turned right into the
receiving room. Ida loved this room because it was the only one which never
changed. And the beautiful Tiffany Chandeliers hung magnificently down the long
length of the room. Her favorite part of the tour was next.
“When guests first arrived at the Ponce De Leon, the women and
children were brought in here while their husbands paid for the hotel. Back
then, woman were not allowed involvement in financial transactions,” Stephanie
said.
“How much are these Tiffany chandeliers worth,” a guest asked.
“The Ponce De Leon hotel converted to Flagler College in 1968. Many items
were sold, but not these chandeliers and the stained glass windows. We had
these chandeliers appraised a few years ago, and because of their rarity, they
are truly priceless. The Tiffany stained glass windows upstairs in the dining
hall were appraised at $36 million,” Stephanie said.
Stephanie led the group to the other end of the long room. She pointed
at the glass casings containing photographs of Henry Flagler and his family.
“Here is a photograph of Henry’s first Wife, Mary Harkness. She died
young and Henry married her nurse, Ida Alice Shroud, who is photographed here.
Henry had Ida declared insane and kept her locked away in the tower until she
was institutionalized in 1899. In 1901 Florida passed a bill making incurable
sanity grounds for divorce. Henry immediately divorced Ida who remained
institutionalized until her death in 1930. In 1901, Henry married his third
wife, also named Mary, who is photographed here,” Stephanie said.
“It’s a lie! I’m alive and I’m standing right here. I’m not dead and
I’m not crazy,” Ida shouted.
All of the guests in the room heard her this time. They all turned and
looked at Ida. But they didn’t seem to be looking at her, they looked through
her.
“Did anyone else hear that? I thought I heard someone screaming right
in front of me,” one of the guests said.
“I heard something too. And it is freezing right here in this spot.
Look, I can see my own breath,” another guest said. She exhaled her breath into
the air to demonstrate it turning into white smoke from the cold.
“It’s from the nitrogen in the air. When ghosts appear, they carry a
strong dose of nitrogen with them. It’s what makes it feel so cold when they’re
near,” Stephanie said.
“Excuse me, did you say ghost?” the guest asked, instinctively
stepping away from the cold spot.
“Yes, Flagler College is haunted. One of the spirits is Henry’s second
wife, Ida Alice Flagler.”
Lilly Allen has brains, beauty, and a trust fund. She's living
in New York City and her career as a reporter is taking off. She's hoping the
love of her life, Grier, will propose soon. She has it
all, or so she thinks.
Grier Garrison, Create Life executive, is running the company
while his father, Dr. Michael Garrison, is in the ICU awaiting a heart
transplant. Grier knows the truth about Create Life and its shady side
business. He fears Lilly and her twin brother, Luke, are in danger.
While working on two unrelated stories, stolen newborns and
cloning, Lilly discovers a shocking connection. Horrific things are happening,
but who is behind it all?
Terri received
her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Master’s degree in Taxation from the
University of Florida. She is a licensed CPA and a Second Degree Black Belt in
Taekwondo. She lives in St. Augustine, Florida, with her husband, Garrison, and
their two sons.
Carbon Copy is the 1st thrilling novel in
the Elements of Mystery Series. The title of each novel will contain an
element from the Periodic Table of Elements. Terri recently finished writing Tin Roof, the sequel to Carbon Copy, coming soon from Wild Child
Publishing. And Terri’s
romantic/suspense novel, Body of Gold, is coming soon from Freya’s
Bower. For more about Terri’s upcoming releases, please visit her website http://www.elementsofmystery.com/
On the first
of each month, Terri also posts free short stories on her blog. Follow her at http://www.territalleyventers.blogspot.com/as she weaves her
way through the Periodic Table of Elements.
