Whispers of Blackwood Manor.(Horror Story)

Whispers of Blackwood Manor.

The sun dipped below the California hills, casting long shadows over the empty Blackwood Manor. Once the epitome of elegance, the mansion now sat shrouded in eerie quietness, with broken windows and walls overgrown with ivy. The people of the town of Ravenswood huddled together and spoke of the manor in hushed voices, claiming that it was haunted by something far more ancient than time itself.

Emily Carter, the seeker of anomalies of the press corps, heard the rumors. Rumor of people disappearing within the manor, of voices at midnight heard within the halls. She yearned for the truth above anything else and with camera, flashlight, and notebook drove the curved driveway up the hill toward the manor.

As she stepped away from the safety of the car, the air grew thick with the stench of rottenness. The residence loomed up above her, the dark woods creaking with the let-out of drawn breath. She waited for the fleeting of the moment before taking the rusty gate by the handles and climbing up the overgrown driveway.

A House That Observes.

Within, the place was abysmally quiet. The faintly filtering sunlight that leaked between the cracked windows danced with specks of dust. Emily walked with echoing feet upon the creaking floorboards. The sweeping stairs centered at the entrance forked into two half-travers that climbed the floors. To the left of her rose the monstrous parlour; to the right the dining area with half eaten meals left at the rotten table.

She turned the tape machine on. "November 3rd. Entering Blackwood Manor. The atmosphere here is strange. Thick with something that isn't present facing us."

She took the uncertain step forward—and hesitated. A soft murmur. A woman.

"Help me…"

Emily turned. There was no one there. She accelerated her heart rate but did not stop, walking deeper into the house.

The stories showed that the Blackwood family went missing in 1932. The children and the Blackwood couple went missing totally. The dining area left the only clue—the plates of the half-eaten meals that were left at the table. It looked like the members of the family were kidnapped while they were dining. Shadows in the Dark

Emily climbed the stairs, each step groaning beneath her weight. A long hallway stretched before her, lined with doors. Most were locked, but one stood slightly ajar at the end. A child’s bedroom.

Inside, a tiny bed filled the corner of the room, the mattress thrown open. Dolls littered the floor, their glassy eyes catching the faint light. The peeling paper revealed something beneath it—something that had been intricately carved into the wood.

She stepped forward and pushed the crumpled paper aside. Words were written upon the surface that read:

"It sees. It waits. It desires."

She gasped for air. The heat at once disappeared. A cold blast of wind came rushing into the apartment and shut the door with force.

Emily spun about, struggling with the handle. The whispers came again, more loudly now, overlapping into an uncomprehensible chant. Then—the quietness returned.

A single knock at the closet door.

Her heart pounding, she seized her flashlight and proceeded toward it. The door creaked open into the dark emptiness within.

Then, from within, reached forth a dimly-colored hand and grasped her wrist. Emily screamed, breaking free and retreating. The grasping hand withdrew into the dark. The screaming intensified into shrieking cry of hopelessness and despair of pitch.

And then. it stopped.

Gasping for air, Emily leapt from the room. She had expected the fairy tale, but this was something more concrete. The Truth under the Floor. Determined to be away from it all, she went downstairs—until she saw something unusual. The dining floor of the Blackwood residence upon which they had eaten the final meal seemed… uneven.

Kneeling, she massaged her hands over the planks. A board creaked loose.

She forced it wide apart, and the dark cavernous interior unfolded itself. The smell of rottenness pervaded the air.

Taking a deep breath, she shone the light within and saw them.

The remains of the Blackwood clan members' bodies. Skeletal hands stretching up, lips curled into eternal cries of silence.

A strangled gasp escaped Emily's lips. The town legends were lies—they hadn't died. They were alive but were alive and underground.

Suddenly, the lights went out. The whispers grew again, ear-splittingly loud now. "You found us. So now you stay."

The shadows that haunted her coalesced into presence. The Blackwoods. The empty spaces of their eyes were upon her. The walls creaked with the sound of the house taking breath. Emily turned to flee, but the floor beneath her feet caved in. She fell, crashing with impact into the crawlspace beneath the house. The blackness completely surrounded her.

Above, the floor planks closed once more.

The house fell into quiet again. And Emily Carter was just another name people spoke about within the town of Ravenswood.