Dear Mr. Brown,

I am writing to apply for the offer in the local newspaper for the Darkwood manor; I would like to know more information, since there was very little in the advert.

I am a student teacher, aged 24; half of the money is going towards a new part of the school. I have a wife and one child.

I would like to know if there are any catches at all and are the rooms furnished?

HARRISON .J. SACKTON

I arrived at The Swan to find everyone there. A guy at the other end of the room beckoned me over. Someone else was sitting with him, I later found out his name was Jokey Smo. He was a boat keeper, and the other man was called Mc Sam Iam, a medical technician .The room became silent as the door closed and a short man appeared, we assumed that he was Mr Brown he wore a purple tee shirt with a gold necklace, yet he did not seem to be the sort of to wear these things. He was quite timid, and he had a stuttery voice.

"…H...he...hello I... I am Mr Brown," he said quickly, "are there any questions?"

"No....... didn’t you read the letter? There are no services connected to the manor."

He said while brushing his long black hair out of his eyes.

More questions were asked and none fully answered.

"No more questions, something has….errr come up you can’t come tonight , goodbye ," and he rushed out of the room .As soon as the door closed the noise rose to the full I heard one lady say that she had come from Wales!

We found ourselves a somewhat depleted group, stood a week later in front of the manor, with Mr Brown, at 9:30 in the evening.

"I would like you to put all your things in The Ballroom……

Oak panels partly covered the plaster patched walls, while a crystal chandelier, grey with dust was dangling dangerously from the drooping ceiling. The stone slabs on the floor were lose, some missing or cracked in half, so it would be very uncomfortable for the people sleeping there.

……… Now time for our guided tour," Mr Brown said so everyone bustled eagerly into the Ballroom, threw their stuff down, and rushed back to join Mr Brown …..

The first room we visited was the dayroom, totally empty apart from a faded green armchair in the corner but missing a leg so very wonky. The next room was the music room. There was an old piano against the far wall. "Does the piano work?" said a man excitedly.

"Unfortunately not …. I heard one of you was a concert piano player," said Mr Brown.

I noticed part of a large hole hiding behind it; Mr Brown notice I had seen it so he rushed us out into the kitchen.

This room was by far the busiest of the rooms; it had wooden worktops, sinks and one small steel bin.

"It may have taps but you won’t get any water out of them,

but you might get a spider or two!" Mr Brown said and he let out a hearty chuckle . . . . . . . . . . . .

We eventually arrived back in the Ballroom and arranged our sleeping bags and I poured some coffee for Sam, Jokey and I. the smell of an old rug hit my nose, it was so bad we had put our jumpers over our noses, and then we heard the lock click . . . . . .

For the first hour we just drank and played cards, then I decided to go to the toilet, in the there , well, it was like a normal portaloo but in the back there was a slightly opened crack, but the door was jammed so I gave it a big yank and it sprang open .There was a slimy stone arch this may have been the fireplace, but instead of going up it went straight foreword this seemed very odd because smoke rises , unless , it was built like this for a different reason . I went to get Sam.

"Sam! Sam! , come and have a look at this fireplace!"

"What fireplace?" Sam replied

"It’s behind the toilet," I insisted "let’s go!" so we ran over to the toilet.

We crawled along the sooty passage for quite some time

"So Sam why do you think this fireplace shaped like this?"

"Maybe it was so you could hide something in the smoke without someone finding it" said Sam……..

Eventually we reached the exit; the music room. The piano wasn’t there , I was right there was a passage behind the piano the passage didn’t have soot but the same as the other but I noticed two sets of three wobbly gouges marks all the way along as if they had been carved in to the stone like the person was resisting being pulled along the passageway .

"Look at this!" I said to Sam "it looks like scratch marks!"

The floor first gently but then getting steeper we slid down into what seemed the cellar.

"Aahhh!!!" I shouted "squishy bodies!"

"Don’t worry," said Sam "just stay away from it,"

We could hear occasional drips like we were in a cave. Suddenly we heard a sharp crack and a part of the stone ceiling collapsed on Jokey Smo!

"Arrrgg! I think av busted me leg!" he exclaimed in a forced voice.

"Sam, you work in a hospital, fix him!" I said

"As a teacher I thought you would know that I fix machines not people!" Sam replied shirtily.

"Can you hear that?" Jokey interrupted, "It sounds like a river……. and someone crying"

Shall we have a look then" Sam said.

"Hey what about me?" Jokey shouted intrudingly.

"You stay there and think about donuts and we’ll go and have a look, you probably can’t float even if you didn’t have a broken leg you old man,"Sam said cheekily.

"Respect your elders!" Jokey Smo said as Sam and I ran towards the sound.

Meanwhile some others had found Jokey.

"I think he’s dead!" one of them said, "let’s get out of here!"

"No!" Another one said "We’ll take him back with us," so they dragged him away.

٭٭٭٭

When we found the source of the river sound the surroundings were bright (we had to wait till our eyes adjusted to the light.)

There was a beautiful sunrise; purple heather carpeted the ground but then breaking the amazing view was a river but red like of blood!

Then we saw it, a silhouette of a man, a crying man we crept nearer he was wearing black. On closer inspection it looked like Mr. Brown.

I pointed out to Sam what he was holding, a gun!

BANG!!!!

Mr Brown collapsed! We ran to have a look.

"Look my hand goes right though him!"I said.

A light shone on the body: My eyes followed the beam up to the wall, several coloured lights shone on the walls, floor and the so called ‘Mr Brown’ I walked over to the moors background, I knocked.

"Its glass," I said plainly.

"What do you think is through there?" asked Sam

"I can just see a few blinking lights, I would say computer equipment, its getting close to six lets go," I said.

******

"Where’s Smo?" Asked Sam.

"I don’t really know," I said. "Look a body with blood squirting out," I said as if it was nothing.

"Let’s get back to the ballroom." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Where is everyone?" Mr Brown said in a totally unrecognisable voice……….

"There’s Jokey!" I said in surprise.

"And he’s walking!!" Sam said

Jokey Smo was talking to some people we had never seen before.

"Have your 600 pounds, I’ll give you it later at The Swan hotel" said Mr Brown.

A lady at the other end of the room said "I saw you shoot yourself!!"

"So did I," I said "It was a hologram," I added.

"Oh yes I knew that would work," he said to one of the people who Jokey was talking to.

"We had hidden cameras everywhere! You should all be out on TV in a few weeks. Yes all the bodies were fakes. Raise your hand if you were working for me." About five people, including

Jokey did.

"Come to the Swan the moneys there and I’ll tell you the rest … . . . . . . ... … . . . .... . . . . ..

"You are all on a new programme on the BBC™ called ‘The Horror House’, all I need is your approval to be on TV," most people were thrilled to be on but one person said "I demand my money!"

Everyone stared at him.

"What?" he said.

"Yeah give us our money or we have the right to sue you!" someone shouted.

Don’t worry you’ll get it! Now are there any other questions?" "No?"

Then he handed us the cheques and I went home looking forward to watching the program.

THE END