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I pushed against the door and the rotten wood gave way. The oak door creaked open and I noticed that the inside of the mansion was darker than the outside. Darkness had completely fallen and I could hardly see Fit who stood right next to me.
Suddenly, Fit pulled back and ran down the stairs of the mansion, into the front yard and disappeared into the dark.
I called out after him, but he didn’t come back.” Burnaby Said
A booming thunderclap rattled in the skies and broke the steady sound of rain.
“I walked along the creaky floor, reaching in the darkness and stumbling on some furniture until I felt a wall. I went along, feeling my way until I came across a fireplace.
Remembering that I had some matches in my pocket, I proceeded to start a fire with a chair and some papers that lay by the fireplace.
Soon I had a good fire going and I began to look around admiring the still so richly decorated room that I discovered, moldy-smelling as it was.
I looked around, and noticed some paintings on the wall that I assumed were portraits of the Milburns themselves.
One painting in particular was of the family in front of the mansion.
They must have enjoyed happy times because they looked very prosperous, with several work hands standing in the back and to the sides. Another painting was of, I believed, Ukiah himself.” he said.
“Despite there being many expensive-looking things in that room, I wasn’t too surprised that thieves wouldn’t wander in those hills, much less into the abandoned building itself.
It seemed to me that the mansion remain just as the last of the Milburn family had left it.” Burnaby said.
Fit stood, stretched and went and lay next to Edward.
“Those Milburns, they were so rich thanks to their father. It’s just sad that they became so greedy. It cost our town, that was just a village back then. They could have done so much good when they had the chance.” Lawrence said.
“Go on uncle Burn,” James said as he stoked the fire.
“Well, there I was, in them famous haunted hills, and at night to top it off there, and in the very mansion that started those stories and whispers by folk sitting in front of fireplaces and hearths late at night.
Soon I started to nod off and soon after that, I fell asleep.
"Hello?” I heard in my mind, and “Who are you? will you help us?” suddenly I woke.
The sound of the storm still strong in the night, and an occasional thunderclap broke the rhythm of the hard rain that hit the broken windowpanes and fluttering remains of great satin and lace curtains.
I figured that it was just in my mind playing with me and so I fell asleep again.
Soon after, I woke again with a strange feeling in my mind. I felt the way a man would feel when there’s something in the woods that makes him turn but there’s nothing there.
I felt someone in the room and quickly turned back.
The strong fire cast eerie shadows against the dark places of the room and against the furniture. I turned back to the fireplace and noticed some trinkets on the mantle and stood up to look at them.
Suddenly, to my left I saw something move from the shadows to a wall and then to the far end of the moldy couch. I slowly walked around looked behind the couch, and glanced back at the wall, nothing but dancing shadows.
A powerful thunderclap lit up most of an instant, and to my shock, in that brief moment, I noticed someone standing right in a corner.
“Is there anyone there?” I asked.
To my relief nobody answered me, nothing but the sound of the rain and the cracking of wood in the roaring fire in the fireplace. I understood why people who knew about the stories, traveled far around the land where the mansion stood.
I placed more wood on the fire and sat back down.
I thought of poor Fit, soaked and tired. If he kept on running, must have passed the river by then and was well on his way back to reaching home.
I fell back to sleep.
It seems like some hours later, something startled me from my sleep again.
I woke, and turned to see the same black shadow standing between the roaring fire and me. This time it didn’t disappear.
“Hello,” I said and waited for the figure to say something.
“Then I noticed another shadow figure to my right. It moved silently to, and stand next to the other spirit.
I sat there, not knowing what to do. I could bet that my hair began to grow white from that day on.” Uncle Burnaby said.
“Is one of you a Milburn?” I asked them, but I got no response. Nothing but the storm outside and the torn satin great curtains flapping in the violent wind.
Just then, to my fleeting soul, a third shadow came from the wall to my left, and closest to the door, and stood near the other two.” Burnaby said.
“Were they the Milburn folk, uncle Burn?” Edward asked as he poured himself another chicory coffee.
Burnaby relit his pipe in his shaking hands.
“That’s what I asked them, young Edward, I said; “are you Jacob Milburn or Lula? but they stayed quiet. Are you Ukiah or May Bell? I asked them. Are you someone else?
Finally I brought up the courage to stand, and as I did, a strong wind came in from the windows, I heard a crash in an adjacent room, and...”
The room was silent. The crackling of the fire, and Fit the hunting dog lapping at his water bowl, were the only sounds in Burnaby’s little cabin. The others sat there, mesmerized at the true story of his experience that Burnaby was telling.
“And?” Cousin Timothy asked. “And? what did they say?”
Uncle Burnaby sat there, Fit’s shadow dancing against the wooden logs that made up the little cabin.
“And... they were gone.” Burnaby said quietly.
“I strained my old eyes to look for them in the dark room. After a few moments, I turned to the door, and suddenly I heard; “Come with us...!”
I heard it as clear as if Timothy had said it, but like a whisper, drawn out and slow.
The hairs on my head stood straight up, and I was sure that the voice came from behind the moldy couch. I strained my eyes again to look for something by the light of the fireplace.
But nothing.
I waited for near an hour, the sound of crackling wood, and the wind and rain outside were my only company.
I waited for another sound, I waited for another voice.
The door at the far end of the room that led to the woods outside flashed in the light just before the thunder. In moments, it was as if the greatest sound of thunder that was ever heard over the valley, just shook the world.
It was not a doubt that everyone in the village heard that one. The village so far away.
Waking every bear, preparing for the long winter, every little animal, hiding in its burrow, and every dark and creepy thing, hiding in the dark wood.
I remembered about Fit, who was home by now. He must be lying on the front porch, under the pelts that I had left between two piles of firewood.” Burnaby said.
Martha stood to add more wood to the fire. She took an iron rod, and poked at the burned wood and cinders in the fireplace, before adding more firewood to it.
Burnaby continued...
“Then I noticed one of the shadows.” he said.
I could see it behind the moldy couch.
Then I noticed another, and another next to it. They were standing to the left of the fireplace.
I felt like running out of the door, and into the dark woods and the rain.
I felt like taking my chances against the goblins and imps that populated the dark wood in stories that I heard when I was young.
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