The Haunting of The Braidwood Manor

Grace's POV :- I wake up to the sound of footsteps coming down the hall... "Hello..?" I asked hoping for someone to answer but all I met was silence. I heard floorboards creek just outside my door, and a shadow creeping along the threshold. The shadow lingers for a moment...and then a knock sounds at the door. For some reason, I don't know, I kept quiet hoping for whoever is at the door will just move on... ...but I knew deep down, that they won't. "Whoever's is there...just...just leave me alone!". I said, hoping to sound brave, but instead I ended up stuttering. So I used another strategy. "I'm begging you!" But it had no effect on the intruder either. The knocking sounds again, harder this time, my teeth started clattering with each fall of the visitor's fist upon the door. "Who are you?! Just go...please..." The door starts to bend and c***k, the wood splintering inwards, until the door finally flies off its hinges. "No! Stay out!" And BOOM! I saw a silhouetted figure looms in my doorway, wreathed in fire. "Please don't come in!" "Did you forget me?" A voice I assumed was coming from the figure, booms through the walls of my room, as it draws closer, the flames spreading through the room, choking the air with smoke. "Did you forget what you did to me? What you did to your only brother?" "Jonathan, please...I didn't do anything! Just...just leave me alone!" I pleaded with him. "You know I can't do that." Jonathan stretches out his arm, his hand closing around my throat... "Let me go!" I struggled against his grip, desperately trying to free myself. "Get off me." I grab Jonathan's forearm and watch in horror as the flesh sloughs off, the fat crackling and burning beneath my hands. A blistered strip of skin falls onto my bedspread and burns away, leaving nothing but ash behind. "O God!...What are you?!" "You made me like this sister...now I'm returning the favour." "What do you mean? I didn't do anything!" "LIAR!!" ********************************************** I wake up again, gulping desperate lungfuls of air, the bedsheets tightly gripped in my balled fists. Argh...why does this keeps happening..? Without thinking twice, I grab my phone off the nightstand and dial a number. "Hello Victor, it's Grace...I need to talk. Now." "Hmm...Okay thanks, I'll get dressed and head over" After wearing a cosy white sweater and a pair of jeans with matching boots, I head over to the place Victor told me. A short while later, I was sitting across from him in a booth in the campus coffee shop. He was a tall guy, probably over 6ft. He has deep blue eyes with manly features. He was wearing a black sweater with dark blue jeans, his brown hair ruffled to one side. He was everything any normal girl would ask for, but I was no normal girl. I had my big brother on my back. Just the difference was other girls' brothers are alive, and mine was....well, let's just say not at peace... "So...it sounds like the dreams are getting worse?" Victor asked, his blue eyes laced with concern, which annoyed me for some reason. "They are not just dreams, Victor!" I lashed out at him. "I'm sorry Grace, but they are...Your brother is gone !" He said, stressing on the word 'gone'. "...And he's not coming back." He continued, speaking every word slowly and carefully, like for a child to make him understand something. "I know he's not Victor. I identified the body myself when they pulled him out of...what was left of his car." I again said, huffing in annoyance. "But he's...he's not at rest. He's angry...angry at me.." I continued gulping hard, dreading the consequences. "But why? What reason could he have to be angry at you?" Victor asked, his blue eyes boring into my brown ones. I looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "All I know I can't take another night of this Victor. I need to go to The Braidwood Manor today!" I declared, refused to back down. Backing down or chickening out was never my scene, especially if it involves my loved ones. "Can you take me there or not?" I asked him, a new determination in my eyes. "You mean can I help you put yourself into an incredibly dangerous situation!?" He asked, angrily staring at me, hoping to convince me otherwise with his angry glare. But, it won't work on me, and deep down he knew that. "Please...you're the only one I can trust." I pleaded, showing him my desperation. He took my hands in his, his expression softening... "Don't you understand? If something happened to you...I'd never forgive myself." He said tightening his hold on my hands, fear was evident in his eyes. "I want to protect you Grace. I want..." He trailed down. Before he could complete his sentence, I chimed in first, completing the sentence for him. "Something that I can't give. At least...not right now." Victor leans back in his seat and lets out a sigh. "Let's pretend I'm willing to go along with this...but I still don't understand what you are hoping to find in some old house. You can't actually expect to find some ghosts there...right?" Victor asked with a questioning gaze. "I've done the research Victor. Braidwood Manor is for real. If there's anywhere I can learn what causes spirits to linger after death...it's there." I said for the hundredth times, trying to make him understand my point of view. "Spirits? This isn't an episode of Ghost Hunters Grace....this is real life." "I know how it sounds, but for my brother's sake...I have to try something. Now, are you going to drive me there, or am I going to have to take a bus?" I asked him, pissed. I was tired of this conversation. "Okay okay...I'll drive you there after my shift. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into..." He agreed reluctantly. He knew very well, that I am not going to budge. *********************************************** That afternoon, I was sitting in the passenger seat of Victor's car, watching the landscape fly by out of the window. "I can't believe I'm doing this." Victor said with a tone of dejection. "Cheer up, it's not like you're driving me to an execution." He sighed. "It sure feels that way." "Then you should make the most of our last moments together. Be fun! Now!" I said, trying to lift up his spirits. A slow smile spread across his face. At least it worked...a little bit. "Okay okay... how about a game of I Spy? I spy with my little eye... something...white!" I pretend to stroke my chin, spying my surroundings and searching for the obvious answer. " Please tell me it's not snow!" I asked him, staring him with a playful glare. "Hey! It's the first thing I saw." Victor said pretending to look offended. I burst out laughing, as he grins at me. "Thanks for always cheering me up Victor...why do you put up with me anyway?" "Mostly out of habit I think. Plus, you're one of the less annoying people at Hartfeld." Victor said, his gaze fixed on the road. "Thanks Victor, you're...fairly tolerable yourself." I said playfully, gazing him up and down. "Maybe, I spoke too soon..." He said with annoyed smirk, which earned him a light smack on his arm from me. "...Hey!!" I said laughing. After sometime, Victor cranes his neck to look up through the windshield as the landscape changes outside. "Wow! look at those trees." He said, looking amused. "And all the snow...it's almost untouched out here, no other cars in sight either." I said, mimicking his expression. "Well, I'm not surprised. I mean...who in their right mind would want to drive all the way out to the Backwoods Manor?" He said, looking at me with a teasing grin. He laughs, as I roll my eyes. "So...do you want to tell me more about this place? Like...why it is so haunted?" Victor asked, still looking at the road. Well, it was a sensible thing to do, considering the road was quite bumpy and slippery because of the snow and pebbles. "Well, if you insist..." I cleared my throat and continued, looking serious and waving my hands to give some depth to my words. "It was a dark and stormy night...the wind howled mournfully through the hills, like the cry of a——" "Whoa! It's not that long of a drive. Just give me the basics." Victor said laughing, trying of shield himself from my acting hands. I let my hands fall on my lap with a thump, giving him a boring look. "Argh, you're no fun. Fine...here's what happened