The Twelve Chimes of Maligna Manor

History Repeats

Maligna Manor Certainly looked the part, at least. It had seemed fairly well maintained when viewed from the village, but now that Sara and Ben had made their way up the hill, the clear depredation was on full display.

The grass, which had already been a wild jungle when Maggie and Ricki had come here twenty-three years ago, had now become an almost impenetrable sea of tangled weeds and brambles.

More than once, Sara had found herself scratched by invisible thorns or tripped by a particularly dense pack of grass. If anything, it was proving to be a far better security measure than the gate. Sara had been less worried about getting through the gap between the two iron gates than she had been about getting tetanus from the rusted metal.

The night was still young, and the bright moon and stars provided a fair amount of light. The closer they got to the manor, though, the darker the surrounding grounds became. Sara rationalised this as the large figure of the manor casting shade over the surrounding area, but it was hard not to feel that the imposing old building was just Generating its own darkness.

Sara switched on the torch on her phone and began to make her way through the grounds. She noticed, however, that Ben was not following her.

"What are you going to just stand there?" She asked.

"Sara, I don't think..." Ben began.

"We should be here," Finished Sara, "Yeah, you've already said, and I've already ignored it, so are you coming with me, or are you going back to Aunt Maggie's."

There was something in Ben's hesitation that suggested this might not be the ultimatum Sara had expected it to be.

She might have to change tact if she was going to keep her brother on side. If he went back now, then he would definitely tell Aunt Maggie where she was and even if her aunt wouldn't come herself, she would probably get the police to bring her back.

This was also a bit creepy. Sara tried to downplay it, even to herself, but now that she was actually here, she felt it would be best not to be here alone. Even if Ben spent the whole time deathly afraid himself, that would at least give her the push to be the brave older sister. On her own, she wasn't sure she could muster it.

"Come on," Said Sara, "I just want to have a look around. I swear we'll be here ten minutes tops, and then we can go back to Aunt Maggie's."

"Why did you even want to come here?" Asked Ben.

"You were the one who wanted to find out about this place," said Sara.

"Yeah," Said Ben, "In the Library, in town, from books under lights."

"Ben you can't learn everything from books," Said Sara, "sometimes you've got to get out of your comfort zone and do things in the real world."

"Do what?" Asked Ben, "Walk around in the dark."

"You always talk about how cool it would be to go to see the pyramids or those old Roman places. This is just the same thing. Think of all the cool things we might find."

"Like what?" Asked Ben.

"Hey, I told you to think of them," Said Sara, "Besides there's only one way to find out so come on let's go."

Sara turned around and began making her way further into the grounds. She took a calculated risk and waited to see if it would pay off.

"Sara!" She heard her brother call after her, "Sara!"

Sara kept moving further into the undergrowth and sure enough she heard the sound of rustling in the grass behind her. She turned to see Ben running as best he could in the undergrowth, which came up almost to his waist, to catch up.