Dark Discoveries

Laura didn’t even know where to start. There were still more boxes at the side of the armchair and if her idea was right, then that meant the rumour that her mum told her… could also be right. Laura pushed herself up from the chair and headed back out into the large entrance hall and looked up the wooden staircase with solid looking spiral carved finials. Each spindle was turned in a similar spiral pattern. The people who put the hard work, love and care into creating it, would be weeping if they saw its condition now. In fact, everywhere Laura looked, she saw decaying beauty. From the marble flooring to the delicately carved coving high above on the ceiling. Dust and cobwebs coated every stunning detail.

Climbing the stairs, Laura flinched at every creak the wood made.

‘I hope this place is as solid as it looks.’ She thought as she made her way to the first landing which stretched off to the right with only three doors on the left. Most of the doors were closed except one as Laura came to the top stairs. It was only open enough to be noticed but not enough to see inside. Laura’s natural curiosity pulled her to the open door. She could feel her adrenaline spike a little as she gently pushed open the solid oak door. Laura wasn’t sure what to expect but what she found wasn’t on her list of probabilities.

‘What the…’

Light flooded the master bedroom that was clean and neat. No dust sheets covering furniture, no cobwebs stretching between pictures and light features, no clutter piled in the corners… just a perfectly tidy, slightly dated bedroom.

Laura stood in the doorway for a few moments. Looking between the gloom of the landing to the bright room. It was like two different homes. The neat room made Laura feel a little more uneasy than the rest of the dilapidated Manor. She walked in, squinting slightly at the change in brightness. There was a large armoire, dressing table with a perfectly laid out beauty set that looked like silver with enamel inlay of a peacock, a large bed with a pale pink blanket that was pin-sharp, matching bedside tables, a bookcase with colourfully bound books that all looked unread and two bay windows with cushioned seating and the same pale pink drapes flowing down to the polished wooden floor. It wouldn’t be Laura’s taste but she couldn’t deny the beauty.

Laura walked in, running her finger along the top of the dressing table, a satisfying squeeeak echoed slightly as she tried to take in as much detail as she could. She sat down at the dressing table and looked at herself in the mirror and felt a shiver run down her spine.

‘How many times has Martha sat here? Looking into this same mirror?’ Laura wondered as she ran a finger under one of her eyes where dark circles sat. Looking at the room reflecting in the mirror caused her to have a bit of a strange deja-vu moment. Like the perfect glamour of the room was an illusion.

“I need some air,” Laura muttered, pushing up from the dressing table. She didn’t even react to the wood squealing as the feet of the stool scraped against the wood of the floor. All she knew was she needed out of this house. Laura ran down the stairs and out of the front door, only coming to a stop when she reached the stone wall overlooking the garden. She sat down on the wall after her shaking legs could hold her up no longer. This forced her to look back at the house. She held a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun that had creeped over the roof of the mansion.

“I’m going to wake up. Any minute now…”

The sound of gravel crunching off to her right brought her hurtling back to reality and she looked towards where the sound must have come from but she only found the empty drive and crooked trees. Just as her heart was beginning to beat at a normal pace again, she heard more gravelling crunching. The unmistakable sound of someone walking towards her but the way the noise bounced around from wing to wing of the mansion in front of her made her question which way the crunching was coming from. She jumped up from the wall and whipped her head from looking at the driveway to looking at the left side of the house where the gravel continued as a path.

“Who’s there?” She asked as loud as she dared. She was used to heart pounding scenarios; she lived for the adrenaline rush that her work gave her but this felt off. She was well out of her comfort zone with the undeniable feeling of being watched by someone.