The Vault

6 - Letter's I.M

And I don't really know if I did the right thing by telling you the status of you house now/

Dear Freya.

It's finally good to refer to you by name. Freya is a beautiful name. What does Freya mean? I don't know any Telfords' from my time.

You have not upset me but I am questioning myself further. What could cause my home to be abandoned? If I wonder too much then it is most likely that I will alter something in my time and I presume this may change your future and in all likelihood we will never communicate like this. I will just have to let time take its course and see what happens.

How did your uncle, May God rest his soul, inherit my mansion?

I looked at my watch, 11:56. I needed to write quickly before the electrician came.

Dear Oscar. I don't know what the meaning of my name is but if I ever do find out then you'll be the first to know.

I agree as well. I don't want you to alter the past. My uncle Johnny was really rich and was a property developer. He bought old estates and mansions and converted them into hotels. He bought this mansion and within a week he died of a heart attack. He had no children and so it was inherited to my father.

I would like to say more but I have to go and attend the door. It was really nice talking to you Oscar and I hope to hear from you again.

Freya.

So I put the last letter in the vault, grabbed the a1 plans of the house and headed downstairs because I heard the GONG of the door bell vibrate through the floor boards. I was feeling quit bizarre about the whole thing because I was doing something that a third party would consider being abnormal. Was it possible to contact someone from the past through a vault? Surely not but I had evidence upstairs in my bedroom. The series of letters were tucked under my pillow along with a key. Unless this was all in my mind, my wild imagination playing tricks on me because I was in living in a grand mansion that was supposedly haunted.

That was it! The weird sounds in my room, scraping doors and chairs and actually seeing that chair pull away from the table. Oscar must have been in my room when I was and moved things about because he can only see it as his own things, like misplacing the key from under the pillow to the old chest of draws and the diary. Whatever Oscar did in his room I can feel the presence and vice versa. So in theory Oscar and I were sharing a room, without even knowing that the other even existed.

I was thinking about my new found discovery when I opened the door to find William and electrician Bob [I guessed it was Bob by his name tag]

"What took you so long?" William asked as he walked in holding four shopping bags. "Got some microwavable food like you ordered."

I looked at William. "The kitchen is through that way." I looked at Bob and handed him the plans. "You do know what my dad asked you to do."

In a deep voice Bob replied. "Yes Miss I do. What time will Mr Telford be back?"

"Around 2 o'clock."

Bob nodded his head and went towards the back of the hall.

I closed the door and William shook the shopping bags in font of me to get my attention. I directed him towards the kitchen.

"So you weren't scared then, being all by yourself? I mean I did offer my service to keep you company but you declined."

I gave a sceptical look. "I don't get scared that easily." William smirked as he put the food on the work top. "I kept myself busy."

"And how is that?"

I looked into the grocery and started to take the items out. "Well I went on a little expedition and I discovered a cemetery out at the back. Cool right?"

I looked up to see William look slightly shocked but he played it cool by saying, "You mean the Ashford cemetery?"

"Of course, who else's would it be? Anyway I went in and -"

"You went in?"

"Yeah it was locked with a massive padlock but I climbed over the huge Iron Gate and discovered more."

By now William sounded concerned. "And what did you discover?"

"You know just lots and lots of graves, a mausoleum and more graves. And let's not forget - more snow. "

William began to take out the fruits and place them in a bowl that he bought himself. He looked quite scared like as if he wanted to tell me something but couldn't.

I pressed on. "William, do you know who owned this house before it was abandoned?"

It was as if William saw a ghost. He gulped. "I only know as much as you do Freya."

I got him a chair. "Hey you ok? You don't look good."

"No I am all right." He sat down, but his hands trembled. What happened to the over confident William that got on my nerves? I sat beside him and took his shaking hands. "Freya," he said. "There is a reason why the cemetery has a padlock on it. It's haunted."

I shook my head. "Believe me its not."

"You don't know what happened in there." William spoke in monotone. He looked straight into my eyes. "The Ashford cemetery is not a safe place. Promise me you won't go in there again."

I was going to protest but I had a feeling of why he was scared of the place. "I, Freya Telford promise you that I won't go in there again. You ok now?"

He gave a weak smile.