Chapter 6:
1st night: Part five
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Hey, nice to see you guys are STILL reading this. Sorry for the delay, but I recently came down with some kind of Flu and haven't had much time to work on this chapter.
All right, just to warn you, from here on, this story is nothing like the game. I mean, it will be like the game, but because I haven't gotten this far into it, most of the backgrounds and such will be things of my imagination. I'm actually making this with my sources being a couple of game faqs. Anyway, this chapter may be fairly short, but a lot is going to happen! So get ready!
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Lina continued walking around the room. It was actually almost bare of items, aside from the mats on the ground, and a table. Wait a second; there was something under the table. Lina used her flashlight, and the item seemed to reflect the beam. Blinded for a slight moment, Lina walked over and knelt down. It was a small stone mirror!
She shrugged and picked it up; so many of the strangest things had come in handy in this place, better not pass it up. She stood up and placed it in her bag. She glanced around for a moment, and then noticed a set of double doors. She walked over and opened them. They swung open without hesitation and revealed a balcony.
She stepped onto the balcony and looked over the railing. There she saw a small room that branched out from the mansion. She shrugged and went back inside, nothing there.
She noticed a small passageway coming from one of the walls. She walked over and shined her flashlight into it, funny how she hadn't noticed it before. Lina took a step towards it, and slipped on the floor, dropping her flashlight.
"Ouch!" She mumbled, rubbing her sore back. Her flashlight had rolled down into the passageway. Sighing, she stood and walked down the passage, keeping one hand to the wall for reassurance.
She shivered slightly and pulled her jacket around her body; this place was so unnerving! Walking carefully, she managed to find her way through the darkness. She knelt down by her flashlight and picked it up. She then noticed the two doors, one on her right and the other left. But the one on her left was boarded over. That didn't give her many options.
Sighing, Lina stood and brushed herself off. She walked over to the door on her right and reached for the doorknob. Her hand stopped on the handle, though. She took a deep breath and, half expecting something to jump out at her, turned the handle and opened the door.
Inside, there was a large hallway. Lina stepped through the door and looked around. Behind her there was a big closet, and farther up the hallway she could see a large mirror that ran from floor to the ceiling.
Lina walked slowly towards the mirror. Her breath swallowed slightly and her heart started to beat faster. There, in front of the mirror she saw a young looking woman. She seemed to stare into the mirror for a brief moment before disappearing. She stood there for a brief moment before approaching the mirror.
She stopped and shut her eyes tight. Not again. The voices… again with the voices! She concentrated, trying to rid her head of any sound that was not hers. She calmed as the voices died to whisper.
Lina sighed and relaxed slightly. It was then that she noticed the scrap of paper resting on the wooden floorboards.
She knelt down and picked it up. It was written in very neat handwriting, more then likely another scrap from Sylphiel. Using the light from her flashlight, Lina read it.
Aug. 27
The more I find out about Mikumoru Mansion, the creepier it gets. I'm sure it's the perfect subject matter for Mr. Gabrief's next book, but, to be perfectly honest, I don't like this assignment one bit. It gives me a bad feeling…
There's no way I want to go to that mansion, but it is my job, right? I guess I'll have to go, Mr. Gabrief will probably need me for research purposes. And it doesn't help me at all, this sixth sense thing. It's bad enough I get jeered at by Xellos; I don't need that from Mr. Gabrief too.
But, there is such a thing as knowing TOO much, isn't there?
Lina placed the scrap with all the others, and then stood up and brushed her pants off. To the side, there was another hallway. She shined her flashlight down it and noticed a door at the end of the hall. She walked towards it carefully; the farther she went, the more unsound the boards made her feel.
When she reached the door a sudden gust of wind caught her off guard.
"What the…" She broke off as she glanced around. "Where did that come from? There aren't any windows near by…" She shook her head.
Shaking slightly, Lina extended her hand and reached for the knob on the door. She gave it a quick tug. Locked.
She let out a frustrated growl. This place was starting to get on her nerves. Sighing, she turned on her heel and headed back to where the staircase was.
One hand on the railing, Lina made her way down the old, creaking steps. The stairway was dark, even with her flashlight, making it hard to see where each step was. But aside from these complications, Lina reached the bottom unharmed.
Lina shivered. The room suddenly seemed oddly cold. Her breath began to quicken in pace, as did her heart. She took a step forward and grasped the camera.
Slowly, she turned around. Out of seeming nowhere, a man appeared, reaching out for her with his long, pale arms.
Lina shrieked and took a step back, slipping on the boards. She landed hard on the floor, her camera sliding out her reach. Lina kick and back up as the man reached for her, horror written all over her face and expression. The man snapped a hand at her. She managed to avoid it and scrambled for her camera.
Grabbing it, Lina pressed the shutter, not bothering to aim. The long-armed spirit shrieked, giving Lina and opportunity.
Lina spun on her heel and ran down the hall. She reached one corner of the long hallway, huffing and panting, and turned. The man was slowly lumbering towards her. She brought her camera to her eyes and allowed it to charge.
Just as the spirit was about to reach her, Lina pressed down on the shutter, and then spun on her heel and ran to the next corner. She did this several times, until she found herself back at the staircase. It was just one big loop!
Sighing, she turned again and waited for her camera to charge. Once it had, Lina pressed down on the shutter. The ghost screamed, and then seemed to be pulled into the last shot she took of it.
Lina took a deep breath, and then checked her camera. It wasn't damaged, but it was running short on film. Lina reached into her bag and pulled out the package of film she had found. She placed it in her camera and took out the used roll of film.
"Okay, set." She said, placing the old film back in her bag. She then turned and walked down the hallway again, this time looking around more carefully.
She walked around a bit, until she found a small hole in the wall. There, on the floor in front of the hole, there was a small piece of paper. Lina knelt down and picked it up, it was an old newspaper article. Using the light of her flashlight, Lina read through it.
On the night of the 3rd, the police received a report of four children disappearing under mysterious conditions. Old superstitions in the area say that the children would have been "Snatched up by Ghosts", and that's what many of the members of a near by village believe happened.
Lina placed the article away, pondering on its contents. Four children disappearing under strange circumstances? That, simply put, spelled out Mikumoru Mansion.