Noah dreamt of having a big house, and since it was difficult to afford, he was willing to make several compromises. The three-storied property had cracked walls, floors that creaked, and panels that had broken off altogether. Most of the lights didn't work. Others were extremely dim and flickered. There were barely any windows to at least seek the sun's refuge. Mold began to grow on the walls outside. Roof tiles continued to slide down one by one each day. Somewhere in the middle of the forest, away from everyone else of his species, Noah dared to live alone.
With all the dust, cobwebs, and continuous appearance of debris, cleaning was a monstrous feat. Noah didn't bother hiring help or doing many renovations. He didn't want to spend money. These inconveniences didn't bother him too much because he was thrilled to have his own home. The house was also fully furnished, granted all the pieces were falling apart, but that was nothing that he felt he couldn't fix up to a somewhat functioning state. He also felt certain that he could find some precious antiques that he could possibly make a profit off of or keep as assets. There were a lot of boxes and clutter in the attic. Noah was planning to spend his next day off going through as much of it as he could.
The house had a strange history. The last owners of the place lived there almost a century ago. They suddenly disappeared without a trace. Since there were no neighbors nearby, no one was sure what happened. Around ten people lived in the house at the time- a family of three generations living together. The house at the time belonged to a wealthy proprietor. He and his wife had two sons. The eldest son had two daughters, while the youngest had a son and a daughter. The wife of the youngest son had made a call to her cousin saying that the family was planning to go on a vacation trip. During the trip, they were planning to visit, but they never did. That's when the cousin informed the police, and an investigation began.
No evidence was found. The car was still parked there filled with suitcases implying that the family disappeared around the day they were planning to leave for the trip. No footsteps or tire marks were present. No signs of a struggle or blood was found inside. No messages were left on the phone. They searched nearby areas, and still nothing was found. The police thought about contacting local authorities and other officials around places they could have possibly visited to see if they had come across anything matching the description, but they hadn't. The strange thing is that their bodies were never found or identified. Since there was no evidence of their death, it was possible that they were still alive somewhere, but now that so much time had passed, it was highly unlikely.
After a certain amount of time, a distant relative inherited the property, but neither he nor his descendants inhabited the premises. Apparently, some people had tried to live there, but they would leave in less than a week looking extremely pale and dreary. They never mentioned what happened, only that they never wanted to go back there, and nobody else should either. As the property passed down, eventually someone outside of the family bought the land for a cheap price. They wanted to demolish the building, but for some reason, that plan was also abandoned. That owner was the one who sold the property to Noah.
Noah thought he was clever for buying the house at such a cheap price. Because of its strange past, several people came up with legends and speculated what happened. The house must be haunted; the family might have disappeared to another dimension, etc. Noah wasn't superstitious. He didn't believe in the supernatural at all, so he thought that people's delusions worked to his advantage. Ghosts were simply hallucinations prompted by nightmares or deceptions by the subconscious, and he was far too practical to let such things get the better of him. He wanted a house, and no matter the state, he would make a home out of it.
Noah wrote daily in his diary. He kept track of the progress he was making in organizing and cleaning. He documented little occurrences like the appearance of a pretty bird or strange weather. As the electricity was still getting fixed, he often wrote his entries at night under candlelight. It made him feel like the figure of the past and gave him a strange joy. In fact living in the house, itself, gave him a peculiar pleasure. It was a massive project to complete, but it was his massive project, and he enjoyed every minute working on it, and the progress he was making. Soon he would also get a chance to explore the attic- something he was looking forward to.
