The manor had been standing since the early 1600’s and held a stately presence like so many buildings from that time. It had apparently been in my family for generations but due to one tragedy or another in the early part of this century, it had been abandoned and eventually forgotten over time.
I would never have even known of its existence if it weren’t for my grandmothers’ disappearance and the driving desire my grandfather felt to solve the mystery.
You see I had grown up under the care of my grandfather as my mother had died giving birth to me and my father was an unknown man who I have never met nor ever wished to. My mother had never had any siblings and I was her only child so it came to the task of my grandparents to raise and care for me.
My grandfather was a marginally superstitious man who more often than not scoffed at tales of the supernatural and unexplained. This however did not stop him from taking care not to walk beneath ladders and covering mirrors when there was sickness in the house. This even extended to an aversion to having his photograph taken as, ‘one could never be too certain about these things.’
When I was twelve my grandmother disappeared under bizarre circumstances and my grandfather became obsessed with discovering what had happened to her. Most thought him eccentric but I never second guessed him and did whatever I could to be useful. As time passed, he became reclusive and locked himself away in the library for days at a time. These days were spent researching what he called the ‘finicky little clues that are littered across our family past.’ One day, when I was sixteen years of age he left the library in a frenetic amble and came to me to discuss a rather important turn of events.
I remember the day as clear as a bell, as if it had only occurred yesterday. Grandfather hastened towards me, firmly grasped me by the shoulders and said, “Olivia, I think I’ve found it.”
Grandfather explained there existed a forgotten manor in our family line and he was certain the clues he so firmly believed in led to that place. He told me that it was the cipher to the riddle that would lead him to the truth. If it hadn’t been for my trusting love for the old man and an unequivocal sense of adventure in my heart, I would have been very concerned by his theory and thought him mad. However, when he told me that we would be leaving in the morning to take residence in the old manor I was thrilled with excitement.
