The Mansion

The+house+was+owned+by+Olivia+Willis.+She+committed+suicide+...

The house was owned by Olivia Willis. She committed suicide …

My best friend Sabrina Benton and I graduated from high school. We’ve known each other since the second grade and we are the closest friends ever, we might have our disagreements every now and then, but we are like sisters. We planned to move to a village near our college, we got a little bit of money, enough to rent a place and live a calm life, well at least that’s what we thought before it happened…

We planned to move to a village near our college to get ready for the new school year, well at least that’s what we thought before everything happened…

[July 28th, 2004]

“OMG! Tania, it’s hot in here! Are we there yet? I’m dying!” That was the 7th time that Sabrina had yelled at me in the past hour. Yes, it’s hot, the AC in the car was broken, and we were stuck in traffic, but that was not the reason for her to give me that attitude.

“Sab, stop whining, it’s giving me a headache. By the way, we are gonna get there soon!” I hate to lie, but I bet we need more time than that.

After a couple of hours, we were finally there. It took us more time than we thought, all we had left to do was to find a hotel and relax.

“Ugh, I need coffee,” said Sabrina, as she yawned, “I’m so tired from the trip!”

“Yeah, me too. I could just pass out right here” I said, rubbing my eyes at the same time.

“Hey, I saw a small coffee shop on the way to the hotel, wanna check it out?”

We walked in the café, a small store with about 10 customers. As soon as we opened the door we could feel the smell of freshly made coffee; a smell so strong that it was enough to wake anyone up. I got a cup of cappuccino for Sabrina and a cup of black coffee for myself. The owner was around talking to customers. She looked about 40 years old, had a warm smile on her face when she approaches us and asked, “What brings you in town girls?”

“My friend and I are looking for a place to rent, we just moved here to go to college,” I said as Sabrina nodded in agreement.

“Oh well, you’ll find this place charming, the small town life can be quite a treat. Got any ideas of where would you like to settle in?”

“ Um…. not really, we want a cheap place since we don’t have a lot of money,” said Sabrina. “You know any places around here where we could settle in?”

“I think the cheapest part in this neighborhood is near the old mansion but I wouldn’t recommend living there…” said the owner as her smile faded from her face. “That house was owned by Olivia Willis, who died about 25 years ago,” she said in a low voice. “Her husband died tragically in a car accident; after the accident, she became a completely different person. She went from being a kind and elegant lady that was loved by the entire neighborhood to a mean, cruel, and hated person. The closest people to her were the maids, some of them said that she got really depressed after losing her husband.”

The owner stopped and took a sip from a cup of water, “A few years later, she started to talk about dead people haunting her, she would wake up screaming in the middle of the night saying that her husband came and talked to her,” a sigh came out from the owner, “until one day she went completely insane and hung herself from the rooftop of her room, fully dressed in red. Ever since, anyone that lives near the mansion says they can still hear her at night, or even see her shadow from the window.”

After the story, no one spoke. Both Sabrina and I were deep in silence.

Later on, we decided to rent a house near the mansion regardless of the things people said about ghost and screams in the middle of the night. We didn’t have any other choice, we needed a place as soon as possible, and we didn’t have enough money to give ourselves the luxury of being picky.

“Sab, are you afraid of the story; do you really think that happened?” I said in a weak voice.

“What? pff! I don’t believe that kind of stuff,” said Sabrina cheerfully. I hated when she had had that kind of attitude where she pretends that she’s not afraid of anything, but deep down I know she is much more afraid than what I am.

[August 10th, 2004]

We settled in; the first few weeks felt weird as if we were being watched, I thought I would get used to it. But as time went by, it only got worse. One day when I came back home from school the air felt even weirder, I could feel the tension around the door. I went to the kitchen and was chopping up the vegetables to make dinner when I heard footsteps from the second floor. The steps were heavily walking around the second floor, squeaking on the wood floor, slowly making their way towards the staircase.

I thought to myself, it must be Sabrina, she got home earlier than me, I kept chopping vegetables and then it hit me! Sabrina said she was going out with her boyfriend tonight! The closer the footsteps got, the more frightened I was.  I tried to move, but the steps got closer and closer. I grabbed the knife tightly, as the steps got behind me, I quickly turned around ready to attack whoever this mystery person was, with the knife in my hand.

Then I saw her……

It was just Sabrina.