Betty’s Bed and Breakfast

Betty Florins had a dream.  She wanted to turn the home she had shared with her husband Thaddeus, for thirty years, into a welcoming bed and breakfast.  After Thaddeus had died Betty had rattled around in the large home they had once hoped would be filled with children and happiness. 

Once a decent period of grieving had passed Betty made her plan real. Betty’s Bed and Breakfast still serves as a hospitable place for a traveller to spend a few nights and enjoy the beauty of Betty’s home.  She always has little treats for the younger guests that she carefully chooses from Lucy Landry’s delightful store.  

Betty’s Bed and Breakfast boasts seven luxurious rooms, ambrosial gardens and a relaxing patio.  Guests to the Bed and Breakfast are encouraged to enjoy all the facilities and beauty that the home offers.  Although they are free to explore the magnificent abode there is one place in the house that has a red rope and a note written in delicate handwriting forbidding entry to the general public.  The door that is locked to guests leads downward into the cavernous basement. Most that pass the bolted door assume that it serves merely as a service and storage area for the Bed and Breakfast.  Guests that sometimes think they hear something that makes them pause for a fleeting, unsettling moment shrug off whatever they thought they heard and continue on their way.  

As happens in small towns many rumours abound about the basement of Betty’s Bed and Breakfast and what is actually down there.  Whispered gossip aside the Bed and Breakfast always offers a place of beauty and sanctuary to the weary traveller. 

Marie and Elsie

One of the quarters of historic Beguile is home to many immigrants.  They have made the quarter interesting both architecturally and in the wonderful smells of exotic foods that waft enticingly from the many restaurants and cafes.  The stores in the quarter are famously filled with curious and unusual wares. 

Marie Macrini has lived in the quarter all her life.  She came with her family as a small child and still resides in the home, on Oak Street her father built.  Although her parents have long since departed she remembers them fondly. 

Marie lives a quiet life with her devoted cat Absinthe.  Despite living alone since the death of her parents, Marie never feels lonely because of Elsie.  

When she was a child Marie had made friends with one of the neighbourhood children, Elsie.  She lived three doors down and was the only girl in a family of four children.  Marie and Elsie loved playing together until the night that Elsie had been taken. Her bloody and crumpled body found a few days later in a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of the town. 

The murder of her small friend had never been solved, the authorities deciding it must have been perpetrated by some transient visitor to the area. 

Marie knew that the killer was closer, Elsie had told her who had hurt and killed her.  Marie had not been shocked when Elsie had come to visit her after her death.   Marie and her father had always been able to see and talk to the dead. Although Marie had spoken in great detail about what had happened to Elsie and who had hurt her, there was no proof. 

The summer after Elsie ‘s death the adults in Oak Street had decided to throw a large street party.  No-one knows how the deadly leaf from the poisonous shrub had fallen into Tom Hadler’s cup.  The small leaf had gone unnoticed and was tipped away when the remnants of the party were cleared away.  He had died later that night of natural causes. 

Elsie and Marie had had a small celebration of their own the next day. Since then Elsie had lived in the Macrini house with her best friend Marie. 

Fox Footwear

Fox Footwear had been established by Hudson Fox in Beguile in 1901. From one of the original Beguile families, Hudson was known for his dapper appearance. Catering to the footwear needs of the townsfolk of Beguile, Fox Footwear had gained a reputation for quality and originality in their handmade products.  

Currently run by Frederick Fox, Hudson’s great-grandson, the small business still produces high quality merchandise.  It seems that the original work of Hudson still permeates the handmade products.  There are even rumours that the small antique shoe shine box that sits in the corner of the store is actually used by the long dead Hudson as a sort of portal to leave patterns for new unique shoes, at night when the store is empty. 

That’s just one of those small town whispers though. 

Lucy Landry

The candy store in Beguile is one of the most popular stores with the locals and any transient visitors that happen to venture into the town. 

Lucy Landry is the owner and the confectioner.  She is known to the locals as a powerful kitchen witch, skills she applies to the colourful and scrumptious confectionery in her store.  In general Lucy knows what you need and her recommendations always result in the desired outcome. 

Lucy has a most affectionate and well thought of pet rodent,  some believe familiar, called Iggy.  Many have commented on the sentient manners and kindness of the small critter.  Lucy has taught the rodent well.  There are some that believe Iggy is actually Ignatius Turner, a former suitor of Lucy who broke her heart and purportedly left Beguile with his new love. But that’s just small town hearsay, supposedly. 

Jonas Everhart

Jonas Everhart lives on the very brink of the Wild Woods in Beguile. His home was built by his great grandpappy, the formidable Josiah Everhart who is celebrated in the town square by a weathered plaque on a wooden bench facing the fountain. 

Like Josiah, Jonas takes his role as the guardian very seriously. He is diligent in his night patrols of the Wild Woods, never afraid of the rumoured nocturnal things that reportedly lurk in the dense forest. Even on the few occasions he has seen the spectral light of Annie he has not blanched,  but instead waved a friendly greeting to the ghost and called to her that he too will keep his eyes open for her missing son. 

The thing that Jonas really fears is the creature he has glimpsed several times since he became the guardian.  It’s the reason that guardians have operated in Beguile, unbeknownst to the townsfolk, who believed the Everharts to simply be a founding family.  The creature who can take many forms prefers on meeting you to take the form of the person you love the most. For Jonas this was Isabel.  She was taken by illness many years ago and buried in a beautiful ceremony by the Griffiths.  This doesn’t stop her from turning up on the very fringe of the Wild Woods and calling Jonas in a luring yet melancholy way.  The nights he sees Isabel are always the hardest for the guardian. 

The Gargoyle

Professor Armatige was a specialist in medieval history. No one knew where he had actually obtained the gargoyle. A small ceremony, organised by the then Mayor, had been held in the town ending with the gargoyle being cemented  on the eastern corner of the library roof.

The gargoyle had inspired many rumours over the years and whispers could still be heard about the suspected unnatural nocturnal movements of the statue.  Some believed that Professor Armatige had actually created a golem in the form of the gargoyle and no one would blame him after the horrific unsolved murders of his family that rainy July night in 77. 

Gabriel Luft

Gabriel Luft loves flowers.  When he was a child he liked to play in the cemetery beside the Catholic Church, St Sebastian’s.  Always a loner, he would enjoy wandering through the graveyard and carefully reading the headstones.  He often saw the flowers placed by loved ones on the graves of friends and family members, and he would feel sad at the colourful flowers losing their bloom.

On one of his solitary walks he had seen a bunch of red roses, dried up and dying on the grave of a recently deceased Beguile resident.  Gabriel had reached over and stroked the dying roses gently with his fingertips, and had been surprised when, in response to his caress, the roses had become velvety and bright red again.

This unique skill meant that he often revitalised the flowers in the graveyard by walking through and gently touching the dying buds.

No-one was really surprised when the odd young man who enjoyed exploring the graveyard had opened up the very first florist in Beguile. 

No-one really knew about Gabriel’s special gift; except for one person who had seen him use his talent on a dead girl.

But that’s another story.