Sinclair Mansion

CHAPTER 2

The next morning Jackson woke up feeling restless; after the night he had, it wasn't surprising. He didn't want to admit he was starting to believe Emilia, but he couldn't explain last night and ignore this gut feeling he had. Rolling over, he sat up and rubbed his face letting out a deep sigh. His eyes scanned the room then landed on the bathroom; remembering about the incident; He didn't really want to go in there; it would make for an awkward situation for later when he tried to shower. 

Jackson pushed himself out of bed and stood up, stretching his arms above his head. He heard his back c***k, and he dropped his arms to his side. He grabbed his toothbrush and pasted going into the bathroom. He stared at the mirror the entire time as he did not trust his surroundings. after he finished, he quickly splashed his face a few times with water and dried off with a towel. He again went to his dresser and pulled out dark jeans and a black shirt, exiting the bathroom. Putting it on, he ran his fingers through his hair. 

He wasn't really trying to style it but make sure it didn't look messy. Sitting on his bed again, he began to put on his socks and shoes but then heard a knock, though it didn't come from the door. He knew it from the weight of the sound. He would have ignored it, but it suddenly happened again, and this time he pin-pointed the sound to come from by his dresser. Getting up, he walked over to the wall and placed his ear to it. 

He raised his hand and made a simple knock patterning and waited. after a few seconds; he heard the rest of the knock from behind the wall; Jackson jumped back and ran to the door. Upon opening it, he ran into Emilia, causing them both to fall. "Ow, what the hell Jackson?" she groaned and held her head. 

Looking down at her, he stood up and helped her up also "Sorry but the strangest thing just happened, I was getting ready, and I heard a knock. I hoped it was you at the door, but then I heard it again from the wall by the dresser, and so I put my ear up to it and knocked myself, and it knocked back at me!" he said, freaking out a bit. Emilia blinked and just stared at him for a moment quietly. 

"Don't look at me like that" He frowned.

"Like what?"

"Like you don't believe me..." 

"I believe you, I do, but honestly, not the story I expected to hear from you." Emilia stated, pointing to the hall, "did you not hear everything last night?" she asked. He looked up at the hall and saw that it looked worst than before. there were tear marks in the paintings and claw marks on the wall. "...Is that blood?" He looked horrified. "Probably," Emilia answered, shrugging. 

"I'm just surprised you didn't hear it; even my headphones didn't cover the sound. It was scary, honestly," Emilia said, shivering at the memory. Jackson took a better look at her and noticed she looked a bit restless herself, so it must have been bad. "...I really didn't hear anything. I wonder why?" he asked himself mostly.

"Maybe your room is soundproof, and we don't know it," she told him and walked past him, heading down the steps. "wait, where are you going?" He asked, following her. "To school, duh, sleep or not, I have a test today," she tells him. "well can I go with you? I think I will have my courses switch over to the college just so I can get a few hours out of the house," He said. 

"Sure, but hurry up; the bus will be here soon." 

Nodding, Jackson ran back up the stairs and into his room. He finished getting ready and grabbed his things before going back down the stairs once more. He walked out with Emilia, and they went over to the bus stop. as they were standing there, he thought about telling her about the bathroom incident "....So, something else happened to me," he said slowly

"Which was?" she asked, looking at him. "So I was getting out the shower and stood in front of the mirror as it was still steamed up, but then I saw this...this little kid, I presume, and they were right next to me in the mirror but faced the wall. I wiped the mirror, and it disappeared. I want to believe I'm losing my mind, or you got me worked up, but...I can't take what this morning and that and think logically." Jackson said before looking at Emilia. She was making another weird look at him. 

"Again, with this look, this is your fault," He stated "how is it my fault? I think you are haunted. maybe it's not in your head, but definitely your doing," She replied. "I never had any haunting situations before coming here. I need to look up the history of this place" He sighed. 

"You can't. Your uncle's rule was specifically not to get curious" "Yea? Well, he's dead, and if we don't know what's going on, we could be next. It could simply be an old fire incident spirits are trapped and confused, so we could get a medium and have them help the ghost along, and boom, we got a normal mansion again," He says. "We'll never know until we try, and I don't know about you, but I can't put up with this for another year." 

Emilia rolled her eyes just as the city bus came and stopped in front of them. "Fine, but if something goes wrong, I'm sacrificing you first to them," She warned him as she stepped onto the bus. Jackson smile and followed her on and sat down next to her in a seat. "I can live with that; after school, we can go to the public library and see what we can find out about the house." Emilia nodding and the bus ride to the campus lasted about 15 minutes. 

Once they got off at the Campus, it wasn't as big as he hoped, but he didn't care that much as long as he was away from the Mansion. "So uhm, the College campus is behind that left gate. The office is the first on the left when you walk in, give me your phone; I'll text you when I'm out," She told him. Jackson handed her his phone and messaged herself before giving it back. "Cool, see you later," He waved, and they went their separate ways. 

Jackson had found his way into the office by listening to Emilia's suggestion. He went up to the student admission desk counter and saw a dark-haired later with think glasses typing away at a computer. "May I help you?" The lady asked in a somewhat stern tone but soft enough that it wasn't off-putting. "Yes, I was hoping to transfer my courses into the school for the year. I do online classes," He informed her. "It's just all general studies," He quickly added. 

"Name?" she asked, still not looking up. 

"Jackson Frazier," He says. The typing stopped, and she finally looked up at him "...are you Ben's nephew?" She asked randomly. Jackson raised a brow. "I am; how did you know?" he asked her, confused. "I went to school with your uncle, and we were excellent friends. It's such a tragedy as to what happened to him. He really was a good guy." 

"I'm Martha, by the way; I'm sorry for your loss," She said, holding her hand out; Jackson shook it and smiled some. "Thank you, but I didn't really know him, so it's not much of a loss for me. I heard he was silent and never talked to anyone," He stated. 

"Not completely false, but he wasn't always like that. he was very outgoing and athletic; He wanted to be a professional baseball player, but then something changed," She says. "What exactly?" "I don't really know, I heard the previous owner of the mansion before him dead, and so it was giving to him as next of kin. after he started living there, he just...changed, never showed up to his practices or games his grades slipped, and he barely spoke anymore. I just figured it was the stress of having to deal with everything on the house and the job the owner had left for him," Martha explained. 

Do you know what the job was?" 'Unfortunately no, I tried to ask once so I could help out, but he made me promise never to come over; he said it was to protect me and everyone else, so I figured it was some dangerous job and did as he wanted. After we graduated high school, I didn't see much of him...I do wish I could have helped or let him know he still had friends. The few times we did talk, he mentioned you and your mom and how he wished he got to meet you but knew it was a bad idea."

Jackson was too surprised to learn that; he heard from his mother that his uncle wanted no parts of them cause he was just a grumpy guy. "I see, well, thank you. It does give me some peace of mind to know he did want to meet me," Jackson says. She smiled. "I'm glad. But anyway, Write down the online school you attend along with your student ID number, and I will get started on that for you; for now, you can walk around and get familiar with the grounds if you would like. You should be able to start Monday if things transition smoothly," Martha informed him as she placed a pen and sticky note in front of him. 

He wrote down the information and handed it to her before he left the office. He took in a deep breath and let it out as he scanned the empty hall. It was honestly as big as his high school, maybe a size up. However, not a lot of people lived here so, not like they needed all that space. Walking around, he was surprised by how quiet it was; it was somewhat creepy in its own way. Even during class, one would expect to hear some noise. 

"Why did my mom send me here? I would be much better off with dad..." He says to himself. When he was 16, his parents split up, and his dad left the country for work. His mother never wanted Jackson to be so far, so he never really go to see his dad much unless it was his birthday or holiday. He would call sometimes, but because of the time difference, it wasn't often, just enough to let the other know they're alive.

Jackson peeked his head into some classes and eventually found himself at the library, going in; it was surprisingly nice and big, holding a large array of books. "Can I help you, young man?" A voice said from behind the counter. He looked to see an older man. "Oh, no, sorry. I am new here. I am just finding my way around campus, is all," He says. The man nodded and smiled, "Welcome to the school, then if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask," The man said, getting ready to go into his office. 

"Actually..." Jackson went a bit closer to the counter. "Do you have any records or newspapers on the Sinclair mansion here? I know sometimes public records are stored in colleges" "Hmm, I don't think so, but I haven't heard that name in a long time; it's still such a mystery," The Librarian said 

"what do you mean?" Jackson asked, confused. "Oh, just an old story, The Original owner of the place committed suicide in there. He was committed to saving lives but actually killed people with his medication and treatments. He swore in his note that what he did was right, but...we will never know for sure." "That place is one curveball after another..." Jackson muttered to himself with a sigh. "Thanks for the information; see you," Jackson said, leaving the library. He went out by the courtyard and sat down, taking out his laptop to do some private research online for the time being. 

Time passed by too fast, and he heard the school bell ring. Looking over, he saw students beginning to leave college. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see a message from Emilia telling him she was waiting for him. He wasted no time getting up and putting his laptop away; he walked over to the high school campus and saw Emilia by the gate. 

"Hey, how was that test?" He asked her. 

"Stressful, Let's go. I have been thinking about this all day; I'm nervous about whatever we may find," She said and began walking since the library wasn't far from the school. "So, do you like the campus?" She asked him. "It's fine, I guess definitely not a college I thought to have on my transcript, but oh well. I met a lady who knew my uncle back when they were our age." He tells her, "She said the house changed him, and he wasn't always so quiet and stuff; now I know for sure I need to find out what is going on."

"I feel like we're messing with something we shouldn't be. this could turn out really bad," Emilia frowned. "Don't worry, if something happens, I'll protect you for sure," He stated confidently. "Yeaaa, you screamed from seeing a spider. I don't feel very assured," She admitted. 

Jackson blushed, embarrassed, and crossed his arms "...it attacked me," He mumbled. Soon they reached the public library. It was huge compared to everything else around it. They went inside, and it was surprisingly full; he didn't expect to see actual people inside, let alone so many. "this place must be popular," Jackson stated. 

"We have very few attractions in this town, so you learn to use all places to fit your need" Emilia shrugged as they went up to the counter. "Hi, we want to see the public records," Emilia stated to the librarian lady. "What is it specifically that you want to look at?" She asked, pushed up her glasses. "The records on the Sinclair Mansion," Jackson told her. The lady paused for a second and cleared her throat. "Sorry, those records cannot be disclosed." 

"But it's public records...and we're the public, plus we live in the house. I think it's fair to say we have the right to look at it," Emilia says, getting a bit annoyed. "Do you have proof?" She asked. Well...No but-" "Then I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't show the records to you," The librarian says. Emilia was gonna say something, but Jackson took out his phone and set it on the counter; my mom was willed the house and then gave it to me. He is the property agreement signed with my name...can you show us now?" He asked. 

The lady was a bit taken back and looked at the photo and sighed, standing up. "Follow me then."