CreativeChaos - Mended Manor

[CreativeChaos]

She couldn't breath.

Dani took a few short steps to close the distance between herself and the heavy wooden door.  To her left there was a bed of untrimmed roses, yellow.  She resisted the urge to lean forward and gather their scent.  The building was old, the trim securing the windows was weathered and decaying slightly.  She inhaled a deep breath and was struck with the aroma of rich pine and salt drenched sea air.  At least seven acres of woodland surrounded the heavy mansion and she knew that to her left a vast stretch of water thrashed against a rock covered shore. 

The sky was darkening and as a beam from the towering lighthouse illuminated the side of the building she knew she could no longer delay.  She lifted her hand to grasp the brass handle and knock but stopped short.  She had to gather her bearings.  The package curled securely under her arm was of enormous importance.  She had traveled nearly sixteen hours in more than her fair share of storms to reach this nearly abandoned town.  She looked over her shoulder and not even a single vehicle rolled along the gravel road which separated the home and it's land from nothingness.


Finally, she knocked.  The sound seemed to echo within the cold breeze which was now slapping at her back and sending wisps of hair painfully into her cheeks.  She heard the sound of a dog barking from somewhere within the tattered building and she was surprised. She had not realized anyone was here, she only knocked as courtesy of sorts, after all, she held the keys to the mansion in her hand and the for sale sign was currently decorating the back seat of her sedan. She knocked again and could not help but to think of the conversation she had with her friend before her journey here.

"I heard the resident never left." Her friend had said while shaking her head and taking a slow sip of what Dani considered to be stale coffee.

Dani frowned and emptied her cup in the sink.  She watched the tar colored liquid begin it's decent down the drain and shrugged.  She lifted her car keys and the box before making her way to the door. "I have to go." she offered, "The house was left to me and I need..closure."

Her friend sighed and scooped a toddler into her arms as she followed Dani to the door. "At least call you when you get there." Her disapproval more than obvious.  The house was a pile of junk to her and she knew her Dani was a fool to sell it.  She thought it would be easier to just contact a realtor and rid herself of the burden.  Dani had other intent.  The couple that owned the home had been her only living relatives, all of whom she never met and though she had heard the rumors that the house was haunted she needed to see it, to perhaps connect herself to a family she never would know.  So she stood on the door and as the sound of the knocking faded into the distance, she waited.