Lilith Burns

Untitled Part 1

 August 19, 1945

Dear December,

I have arrived at Brensburg to find answers on new rumors about the old mansion on the edge of town. After asking around the town I have found some weird and very untrue tales on this old creaky house. For example, one rumor states that on a full moon at the stroke of midnight you can hear a child laughing in a hushed tone, the sounds apparently coming from the nursery. Sounds like a fairy tale to me. I am here to prove that these rumors are not true and that they're really just stories to keep children in their beds and away from this mansion. Now I know that most people don't believe in ghost stories and say that it is childish to believe in such nonsense, I believe that too. Apparently, the town's people are foolish enough to believe in such stupidity. I am going in because I know I can prove the town's people wrong because ghosts do not exist. I can put these people at ease.

Signed,

Detective Jeffrey Bones

Jeffrey looked up from the letter he had been writing. His boss, December, had sent him here to see if he could calm the town's people down so that they would stop sending what she called "crazy letters" to the police. The house they all had been talking about looked like your average old house. You know the ones that look like no one had lived in them for years. It was pretty normal, just old. Jeffrey was here to prove that's all it was.

He put the letter in an envelope, wrote the address, and went downstairs so he could mail it. The lobby of the inn he was staying in was abuzz with the chatter of all of the citizens. In his mind, he counted all of the folks that were talking about supernatural things. Almost everyone was talking about the "haunted mansion". So many it made Jeffrey sick. He quickly left the inn, walking down the street to the blue mailbox. Slipping the letter inside, he swiftly returned to his room, changing into his nightclothes and going to bed.

The next morning he went to the mansion. Despite not believing in ghosts the house still freaked him out to some degree. It was old and leaning to its right side as though it was going to cave in at any moment. The paint had become a dull gray and was chipping off in thin strips. There were small holes in the outer wall so that you could see the paste and cement that held the walls together. The house seemed to rock back and forth like a boat on the water, and the stairs looked as though they would fall apart as soon as someone stepped on them.

Jeffrey slowly put his foot on the first step seeing if it would break. When it didn't he continued up the steps one at a time. Getting to the top he faced the door. He tried the knob and realized it was locked. He then began looking for another way in. Broken windows or holes in the wall would help tremendously. Before he found anything the front door creaked open. Jeffrey stared at the door. It had just been locked, hadn't it? Why was it suddenly opening on its own? Jeffrey looked for the most logical answer and thought of how his back door would jam up at home because of how old the house was. It would the open up later when it finally broke free. Was this the same? It had to be.

He went into the house, not bothering to close the door behind him, and pulled out his flashlight as he did so. The mansion was dark and it was hard to see where he was going even with the flashlights guidance. He continued onward even with his lack of sight, moving his only source of light around the house in order to do so. On this trip around the first floor, he discovered that the staircase was broken and the bottom half was gone. There was no was up without creating his own way. He began looking for something to use for a staircase. It took him a while but he found a ladder just tall enough to reach the part where the rest of the stairs broke off and smiled knowing he could continue his journey through the mansion, but first he'd finish searching the first floor. No horror had yet come, but it wouldn't till the night did.