The Ghoul of Stump Estate

written by Kelly Playko

Seline threw open the door to her plastic surgeon’s office, screaming in agony.

“Help! I need to see Dr. Proctor! Dr. Proctor!” she wailed, limping all the way to the front desk.

She was panting heavily, her clothes were torn to shreds, and her hair was matted in bulging red clumps. Blood ran down her neck, chest, arms and legs and a big chunk of skin was missing from her right calf.

Jody, the receptionist, was terrified of this ghastly sight and backed away from the desk.

Seline stopped and looked around the waiting room at all of the terrified faces. She tried to calm herself by taking a few deep breaths. Then she turned her attention back to Jody.

“I know I look like a raving lunatic right now, but I must see Dr. Proctor. This is an emergency!” she declared.

Still wide-eyed, Jody stood frozen in place.

“Please,” begged Seline, “I must speak with Dr. Proctor right away. Can you page him for me?”

Just then the head nurse, Charlotte, rushed out of the reception area to assist her.

“Oh my goodness! What happened to you, honey?” Charlotte asked with a sharp Southern drawl. “You look like you’ve been playin with a pack of wolves.”

Seline began to explain what had happened to her but was cut off by the concerned nurse.

“Oh never you mind, child. We need to get you in here so we can clean you up,” Charlotte said, pushing Seline towards an examining room.

Seline walked into the brightly lit room and let the kind nurse dress her wounds. As Charlotte cleaned and bandaged Seline’s injuries, she kept muttering and babbling, mainly to herself. Seline began to get impatient after a few minutes and brushed her off, having only half her wounds cleaned.

“Thank you, but I need to speak to Dr. Proctor right now. This is a matter of life and death. Where is he?”

She raced out of the room and ran down the hall screaming for her doctor. Finally, she found his office and Dr. Proctor sitting in his chair. She lunged inside and locked the door behind her so they wouldn’t be disturbed.

The doctor instantly stood up, wide-eyed and confused.

“Seline, what is going on?” he asked. “What happened to you?”

He noticed the blood on her clothes and around her neck and chest. White bandages were placed all over her legs and arms. Her hair was wet with blood.

She flung herself over his desk and grabbed his white coat.

“You have to help me! You have to take these breast implants out, or…” she trailed off.

“Or what?” he asked, still confused.

“Or she’ll kill me. She wants them. She craves them.”

Still baffled, Dr. Proctor asked, “Who wants what? Seline, I’m really confused. You need to have these wounds looked at.” He picked up the phone. “I’ll call Charlotte in to finish taking care of these and then we’ll…”

She tore the phone out of his hands and slammed it down. She was losing patience again. “You don’t understand! You need to prefer this surgery immediately or I am going to die!”

Stunned by her rage, Dr. Proctor froze and stared at the deranged woman standing in front of him, soaked in blood with gashes all over her body. He calmly sat back down in his chair.

“Okay, you have my attention. Would you mind telling me what this is all about? Why are you not happy with your breast augmentation?” he asked, attempting to get some answers but trying not to evoke another outrage from her.

Seline acknowledged the doctor’s look of fear—the same look she got from the nurses and the women in the waiting room. If she wanted help, she had to calm down and tell him her story. She sat down in the chair across from him and began to explain everything.

“It all started when I moved to Plantersville…”

Seline, a well-known interior designer, was hired by Ronald Stump, one of the richest men in the country, to restore one of his older estates that sat on top of Plastic Hill in Plantersville. Ronald only lived in the house for a month after it was built before he moved on to other business ventures. He turned the giant house into a successful bed and breakfast for many years until an accident occurred with one of his guests. After the investigation, Ronald shut the business down. It sat on top of Plastic Hill for over 10 years, unused and unwanted, until now.

However, Mr. Stump never knew of the rumors that swirled around his estate. The people of Plantersville never went near the house or its grounds after it was shut down. In fact no one ever went up to Plastic Hill because of the stories. They said it was wicked. They said it was haunted. They said it was evil.

Seline did not know about any of these stories either and took the contract.

After she moved in and began mingling with the local residents in town, she started to learn about Ronald Stump’s estate and all of the terrifying rumors that were told about it. People claimed to hear piercing cries of agony at night. Children would investigate the grounds and say they saw a black shadow circling the graveyard that sat close to the estate. Stories were told of people who went missing from the bed and breakfast when it was open.

At first Seline laughed off the locals’ crazy notions. She didn’t believe in ghosts, ghouls or spirits. It was all nonsense until she began to dig a little deeper. She began to research some of the stories people told her, mainly the disappearances. To her surprise, they were right.

She found out that couples used to go missing when they stayed at the bed and breakfast. But then mysteriously, the disappearance stories began to change. Instead of couples going missing, it was women who disappeared. She was even more intrigued and wondered what they all had in common. Further into her research, Seline put the puzzle together—they all had breast implants. And so did she.

Not long after her discovery, Seline began noticing bizarre occurrences at the house. Lights would turn on or off without anyone being in the room. Doors and windows would close or open on their own. The stereo or television would turn on or off in the middle of the night.

Then Seline began experiencing strange incidents. She felt eyes on her all the time when she was at the estate. At night she thought she felt a hand touch her chest. She had abnormal, sometimes scary, dreams and would sleep walk. Usually she woke up outside of the graveyard.

These unexplained phenomenon lasted for a few weeks but Seline still didn’t want to believe in the supernatural. She thought there had to be some other explanation until tonight, when she was attacked by a gruesome figure. It barely resembled a female with its long stringy black hair, small body frame and shrieking voice. Her eyes were hollow, her nose was missing, only half of her face had traces of skin on it, and she breath smelled of rotting flesh.

Seline had fallen asleep in the living room. She dreamed the most bizarre dream since she had been at the house and awoke inside the cemetery. Before she realized where she was, the zombie-like woman had jumped on top of her, clawing at her breasts and her chest.

“I want them,” she shrieked. “I need them! Give them to me!”

Seline knew she was after her implants. She fought with the ghoul for quite some time, wrestling on the ground, feeling teeth sink into her leg, nails ripping her skin. Finally she was able to kick the woman off of her and ran back inside the house. Frantically, she looked for her purse, grabbed it and her car keys and left the estate. Behind her, she could hear the undead woman howling for her breasts.

After hearing this outrageous story, Dr. Proctor decided that Seline needed help that was beyond his capabilities. He had to contact his friend at the psychiatric institute.

“So you see, doctor, it has nothing to do with your breast augmentation. It’s this…this thing that craves implants, for some reason. So I need these out tonight or she’ll kill me!” Seline cried. “You do believe me, don’t you?”

“Let me see what I can do to help, Seline,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

Dr. Proctor left the office for a few minutes and then stepped back inside. But this time, he looked different. He was paler, his hair was disheveled and there were drops of blood on his white coat.

“Dr. Proctor, are you…?” Seline began as she rose from her chair.

Just then, the doctor morphed into the grisly woman.