Irascible Dead Relatives 300-word flash

Martin inherits a haunted chateau.

Irascible Dead Relatives
 

Martin sat back, aghast. The letter he had just opened from his pile of post trembled in his hand.

“Uncle Hiram is dead! He left the old mansion and all his money to me!”

He took note of the lawyers in Montreal and rang them up.

“Of course, monsieur, I can send a member of my firm to see you with the paperwork,” the senior partner of the firm told him in a creaky voice.

They agreed on a week’s time. The week flew by, and soon Martin was face to face with the junior partner of his uncle’s law firm. They chatted briefly, the documents were explained to him and Martin signed each one.

“I’ll stop by your office for the key in two weeks,” Martin told him as he saw him out.

A cab dropped an exhausted Martin at his uncle’s chateau in Quebec wine country. He opened the door and stepped into a bygone era. A thick layer of dust covered everything, but the furniture was in good shape for its age.

“I think I’ll refurbish the old place and retire here!”

He opened the small case he’d brought with him and took out a sheet. Selecting a fainting couch, he covered it.

“Everything else will be here tomorrow, but for now, I’m exhausted.”

Before he finished telling himself this, Martin was asleep. He startled awake when he heard in his ear: “Get out of here!”

Sitting up abruptly, Martin looked around. He was surrounded by ghostly figures, dressed in clothes of all eras. They all had an unmistakable family resemblance to himself!

“I am a Lapierre!” he told them.

One by one they vanished, but Martin was certain they hadn’t gone far.

“Relatives, even dead ones, can be pesky creatures,” he told himself.