Flat 1
North Marine Road
Scarborough
YO126QN
12th September

Dear Mr. Brown,
                             

I’m writing to you about your advert; my name is Travis .A, I am 24 and work at Atlantis swimming pool.

My ambition in life is to own and work in a skate-shop. I have a girlfriend the same age as me and spend a lot of time skating the skate-park behind my flat.

I wouldn’t mind staying in your Manor but what’s the catch?

If I got the money I would put it towards my university fund.

Yours sincerely,

Travis. A

………………….

Chapter1: The Acceptance

I was lying on my bed when I heard the letter-box ‘snap’ shut, I got out of my bed thinking it would be the usual, bills and advertisements, but I was wrong!

I picked up the pile of letters; on the top was a thin gold envelope and in perfect black cursive the words ‘Travis. A, Flat 1, North Marine Road.’

I ripped it open excitedly wondering what it would be about. Out dropped a letter in black ink with a picture of a house at the top. I read through it quickly. It was a reply to my letter about ‘Dark wood Manor’ it had taken nine months to get to me but the good thing was I’d been accepted!

Two weeks after the letters arrival I jumped in my van and started the two hour journey to Darkington.

I arrived at ten to eight in Darkington, I got to the meeting room at the ‘Swan Hotel’ with a few minutes to spare, so I got talking to a very interesting guy called Mick Jackson, who had come all the way from Scotland! He said he works in a chocolate factory and would get me some free chocolate when I wanted.

Mr.Brown arrived a ten past eight; he was nothing like I imagined. He was tall and thin with greying hair; he had a deer stalkers hat and was smoking a pipe.

He let us ask question’s, he was very secretive and a lot of the questions he didn’t answer.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you will be locked in the ballroom for your own safety, the second floor is out of bounds as it is dangerous and the flooring is frail." Announced Mr.Brown.

"But I’m claustrophobic!" Shouted a lady from Robyn Hoods Bay.

"Then I suggest you don’t come" he replied.

"I’m very sorry," he carried on "but there has been an unfortunate accordance and I have had to postpone the event to until next week, thank you and goodbye." And he walked out of the room.

Suddenly there was uproar of shouting of anger and panic. There were cries "what am I going to do?", "It’s too late for me to go home!" A rowdy bunch in the corner started throwing started throwing stuff at the door from which he had left, as a teacup smashed against the wall and the contents fell to the ground they stopped and resorted to name calling.

As we arrived at the Manor we could see no one had lived in it for a long, long time. We walked up the three steps, as we reached the big oak door lightning ripped through the sky and frizzled a tree in the groundsL .

Mr.Brown pushed open the door with an ear piercing ‘squeak!’ we walked in as a group and nobody moved, as we could see nothing. Mr.Brown closed the door behind us.

"Please would somebody turn on their torch?" he shouted through the dark. A lady to the right of me flicked on her torch and a bat flew from the rafters many of the women (and men) screamed "Don’t worry about the bats they won’t harm you," Mr.Brown said coolly.

"BATS! You mean there’s more?" screamed a lady huddled in her coat her eyes darting round the hallway.

I looked around the hallway in the dim torchlight. The ceiling was brown with damp, and the walls were cracked so the paint was peeling. There were oil paintings hanging on the walls with devil horns and moustaches that had been sprayed on by kids that had somehow found a way in.

In the kitchen there were spray cans littering the floor and legs of chairs that had been smashed. As the group walked on I held back a man I knew called Mark, and quickly whispered him my plan. He laughed then walked on as if nothing had happened.

Mr.Brown locked as we all stared in horror. Someone screamed that they wanted out (I think that it was the lady that had said she was claustrophobic.) I looked at the blank faces, nobody knew what to do. I unrolled my sleeping bag and out fell my camera, tools and two crowbars as I thought it would take two to force the lock, Mark laughed again and we headed towards the door.

Tonight we would find out the mystery of ‘Darkwood Manor….

Chapter3: The Passage

"Pass me the screwdriver Mark," I whispered. He fumbled through my leather carry case and found me one. We started unscrewing the hinges I was on the top one, he was on the bottom.

The door fell towards us; we caught it just inches above the ground. Someone flashed their torch towards the door, but we were gone.

We tiptoed along the corridor whilst I fumbled around in the tool bag for a torch. As I tried to turn it on I heard a ‘click’ and the floor opened up, we walked on air for a moment then dropped…

We were in some sort of tunnel! We followed it as neither wanted the other to think him a coward. After about ten minutes we came to a solid brick wall passed Mark the tool-box as he was in front. He tried hitting the wall with a hammer, but found it very tricky as he was on his hands and knees.

It wouldn’t budge! He went crazy- his arms spinning like windmills the hammer hitting the roof and floor in turn. Then as he hit the roof, a trapdoor opened!

He flew out as if he’d just grown wings (I guess the lady from Robyn Hoods Bay wasn’t the only one that had claustrophobia.)

We were in some sort of office! That didn’t seem right an office under a derelict house! I went over to a big cabinet screwed on the wall and opened it. Inside was a set of TV monitors "cool!" exclaimed Mark from behind me. I went over; he was holding some sort of projector in his hand.

"What’s that?" I queried him. "A hologram, I saw one on the ‘internet’. You fix it to a wall and it will project pictures all around the room. It can be controlled by computer and remote.

"Switch it on then!" He flicked green switch labelled ‘go’ and suddenly a ghost was flying round the room! It was disgusting! It held its head under its arm and was dripping pools of holographic blood along the ground.

"That is so realistic," Mark trembled as he spoke, "why would he need these?"

"I don’t know, but there’s something wrong with this place." I went back to the TV monitors and this time Mark followed. We looked them over I found a button and pressed it, the screens lit up.

Each monitor was linked to a camera in every room, they were watching over a hologram projector. A man came through the trapdoor that Mark and I had arrived through, "I see you’ve found my office" he said coolly.

I recognised his slim face and greasy hair: it was the estate agent I had talked to in the pub. "Yes but what’s it all for?" I enquired.

"I suppose I can tell you since you aren’t coming out of here alive!"

Chapter4: Knock-Out.

Pulling a gun from his belt he pointed it at Mark and I! We put our hands above our heads and stood against the wall. He started talking, "This manor is built on the grounds of the largest oil well in Brita.." I knew the only way to escape was by overpowering the estate agent, but that wasn’t going to happen when he was pointing a gun at our heads.

I started holding my breath, I remembered my mum forcing herself to faint when she didn’t get own way when she didn’t get her own way. "It was lucky that Mr.Br…" His voice was getting quieter and my vision was hazy, everything around me went blank and I dropped to the ground… I’d done it!

The estate agent bent over me, to see if I was faking it. Mark grabbed the hologram projector and brought it down on the estate agent’s head! He slumped down on the floor in a messy heap burbling like a baby.

After about fifteen minutes I came round to see Mark making himself at home with a bottle of brandy he’d found in one of the drawers. I got up and walked towards him, "Want some?" he asked.

"No, I’ve already got a pounding head-ache, I must have banged it when I fell over" I replied.

"Oh yeah did you do that on purpose, you know faint?"

"No of course not!"

"You did look pretty scared when you saw the gun! Are you sure it was purposeful?"

"YES!!!"

"Alright, alright don’t get stressed."

"We have to find a different way out of here I’m not going back in that stuffy tunnel especially not with you"

I mumbled.

"How’s about up there" He pointed to a big oak door…..

Chater5 The Door Closes

I was at the back of the house "How weird!" I thought. I ambled back down the steps and told Mark to follow me. We picked up the limp body of the estate agent and carried him up the stairs. At the top we dropped him in the wet grass! We both had arm-ache so took it in turns to drag him.

We arrived at the front door just as Mr.Brown was unlocking it.

"What are you doin..? Oh my who is that your dragging behind you?" He stood there in silence, then I replied. "This is your dear friend the ‘estate agent!’" I spat the last two words out.

"What have you done to him you, you …… FIENDISH BEAST!!!" He yelled.

We explained the whole story of the of oil well and the holographic ghosts, intended to score Mr. Brown off so that the estate agent could get it for a cheap price and pump the oil! After we explained the whole thing he had a different idea of who the ‘fiendish beast’ was!

He let out the other ‘Darkwood Manor’ visitors and we carried on with the finer details in the limousine on the way to his mini-mansion in the Surry countryside.

He gave us a tour of the grounds and stopped in front of the main entrance. He handed us our six hundred pounds each.

This seems such a measly amount compared to what I’m going to get from the oil well . How can I repay you?"

"A limousine would be nice!" Pete blurted out.

"I can’t get you a limousine, how’s about picking one of these?" He pressed his garage remote and five garage doors opened. Pete picked a black ‘Porsche’ and I picked a red ‘Ferrari Enzo’ and that’s where it ended.

Mr. Brown was happy, Pete was happy and the estate agent was in jail.