300 Years

Cara sighed and pulled into the gravel drive staring at the house. Old. Dilapidated. Somehow still standing... She groaned.
"Fan... Tastic." She muttered shaking her head. In the glove compartment of her brand new pride and joy were the deeds to this monstrosity of early 20th century architecture which she had received, completely out of the blue, when a lawyer from Stanford and Sons Legal Representative had rang her. Uncle Hubert, some ancient crazy relative that she'd adored as a young child had decided to give her his entire and somewhat substantial fortune.

The best thing was, of course, the Aston Martin Vanquish. Her dream car of about five years old she never thought in her life she'd have been able to own one. Uncle Hubert had one. In fact he owned the Vanquish, the DB9, and he had owned a Jaguar XK, all of which she'd inherited. She also now apparently owned this huge Victorian mansion house and an acre of land around it, plus £950,000. She'd probably never have to work again, a shame, she'd have loved to have driven to her museum in the new Aston...

She slammed the car door shut and opened the gate slowly. OK, so the house needed a little bit of work. OK, a lot of work... But with 950 grand she could easily afford it, and it was a beautiful house. Ivy climbing up the deep red brick walls and creeping slowly over the window sills, a beautiful balcony on the second story and immediately dubbed the room that led onto it as hers, a dark green domed tower on the far left of the huge driveway. The whole house was something out of an Austin novel, Northanger Abbey or somewhere. It was enough to house a family of 20... And it was all hers. She grinned slowly letting it sink in. Freedom.
"So," the estate agent said tucking her red hair behind her ear and looking over her shades, which was ironic seeing as she was dressed totally in black in one of the warmest times of the year yet she was still shielding her eyes. 'As you can see, it's got a bit of work to it..."
"A bit?" Cara asked amused. A bit was a bit of an understatement... The estate agent grinned sheepishly.
"Well..."
"Don't worry about it." Alexia laughed. "It's not important." She looked back to the house, "It's perfect." Her red haired companion grinned, smelling a sale, even though it was hers anyway.
"Let me show you around..." They walked in and Cara gasped. It was even better on the inside, a grand foyer with a dual staircase winding up towards two separate wings of the upstairs, carpeted in faded red. The banisters looked to be brass, but they were so dusty it was difficult to tell. The huge chandelier above her would be the hardest thing to repair and restore, but she wanted too. It would be beautiful...
"Through here..." The estate agent said opening a door. "Is the drawing room..."

To look around the house took a good 3 hours and she didn't even enter half the bedrooms on the second and third floor. It was fantastic.
"So, I take it you want to keep it?" The estate agent asked grinning. Cara nodded.
"Definitely." She said. "Thank you." A fair few papers exchanged hands and signatures were signed, and hands were shaken.
"I'll be back in the morning to finalise the details." The woman said perkily. This house had been on and off the market for years, bringing their statistics down when the old man wanted to sell it. She couldn't be gladder to see it go. Cara was happy also. For the first time, she owned property that was at the very least liveable in.

She showed the estate agent out of her new home before shutting the somewhat-sticking door, clicking the more than a little rusty lock, and grinning broadly. She span around and leant up against the door, gazing up at the beautiful ceiling.
"...Home?" She whispered to herself, her smile growing broader. There had never been a place that she could truly call home before... She stood up properly and span in circles gazing up at the chandelier, giggling slightly before she realised how hungry she was.

She trudged into where the huge kitchen was, it was one of 2 buildings in the whole house that had been reinvented enough to be suitable for a modern house. Inside she found a cheesecake, and she grabbed a slightly dusty fork, washed it thoroughly, and sat down and the old oak table with 3 pronged candelabras before tucking in eagerly, eyes lingering on the beautiful old artwork that decorated about the house. She raised the fork and took another bite... When she heard scratching.

She jumped up slightly eyes scanning the skirting boards, her skin on edge. She couldn't stand rats... The estate agent had sworn down, sounding somewhat sceptical of her sanity, that the house had been surveyed for rodents, insects, structural damage and damp and, miraculously, none of the above had been found. Definitely not rodents. But there was the scratching again, louder than before. She blinked and frowned slowly. It wasn't a rat scratching, it was... stronger than that. It was louder than that and it was heavier, and not as rapid. It was lethargic, slow, weary. Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

She frowned again, ears straining to hear it. Maybe she had another ear infection, and was loosing it at the same time. Well, wouldn't be the first time...
"Okay." She said to herself, wondering if there was something off with the cheesecake. It looked all right... She sniffed it lightly. It smelled all right. And it sure as heck tasted all right. And the refrigerator was working perfectly... She shuddered. "Time for bed. Good night's sleep. Overworked. Long day. Over excited." She pushed the chair back, the legs scraping lightly against the floor and putting her on edge. "Okay. Calm down. I need just to relax." She stood up and picked up a plastic bag that contained her overnight stuff and headed up stairs.

Once in her room she moved swiftly into the en suite bathroom and showered, the second of 3 rooms that had been refurbished, and dried her hair. As she turned the hair dryer off and climbed into bed, she heard something. The scratching again. She shuddered, shaking her head. She was loosing it...
"...Help." She half screamed and span around. She'd heard it, it was almost silent, weak, the sound of someone half dead. But she HAD heard it.

"W-W-Who's there?" She said shuddering. She sounded stupid, standing in a bathrobe and slippers in the middle of a bathroom talking to nothing. But she had heard it... For a while all was silent. So she went to bed, shaking slightly. Just as she settled down in bed and closed her eyes, she heard something else.

"...Help...Me..."