Friday, October 14th, 2016

"Did you find out anything else about Baywick?" Angie asked curiously, when Sid sighed and dropped his head onto his desk in frustration. There was so much information available on the internet, and most of Miller town's secrets were hidden deep inside the bottomless pit, that it was practically impossible to know where to look for the right information.

Elizabeth had lived a fulfilling life. She married, had three children, and apparently an old abandoned mansion out of town called Brook Mansion was built for her by her husband. She founded a mill with her husband, a school and did endless good things for the area, like helping to fund the start of an orphanage in Greenville.

"I take that as a no?" she asked while she descended onto the desk right beside his head. "What did you learn?"

"Nothing important, really. There is no mention of the perpetrators when it comes to his death, so connecting names to that group is impossible. There's no clear location as to where he lived in the woods, other than somewhere in Deer Trail. There's really nothing, aside from his daughter Elizabeth, who, despite her name and connection to him, was popular all over the area for the things she did."

"What about the rumours his wife had something to do with all the bad talk about Baywick?" Angie asked with a sigh, seemingly tired of hitting dead ends. "And what about you helping me to find my body? Did you figure out how we could go about that?"

Sid sucked in his breath, staring at her in disbelief. "Angie, what rumours? You never said anything about Lucia Baywick, or rumours?"

"Well, I just thought of it now." Angie shrugged again, "It's been a really long time since I've heard them, so I kind of forgot about them. But, you know, maybe it's something?"

Sid rolled his eyes, turning back towards his computer, searching word after word until he was met with an article, written about Baywick and all bad things he supposedly did. They spoke of Lucia Baywick, who never denied the rumour that her husband was seeing another woman. She never confirmed either, but why would she do that?

"Maybe I can ask our history teacher about this rumour. We're talking about the history of Ridge County anyway. If there's another woman, there might be more children," Sid said out loud, scribbling details about the rumours of the affair down in his history notepad.

"So, you didn't answer my other question."

"I really don't know how to locate and retrieve your body, Angie," Sid mumbled, turning to face the girl he now considered a friend, "we can't go back into the woods. It's too dangerous. And there's no pattern to the location in which they did find some of the missing children either, so I wouldn't even know where to start. Let alone the fact I don't know a way into the forest, let alone know how to navigate through it."

"I could... show you? I'm not asking you to go into the woods. Not before any of this gets solved. But why don't you let me guide you, in your sleep? That's safe, right?"

"Right..." Sid shuddered at the idea of having to go in there, no matter to what extent. But he promised to look for her, and getting to know the way around the forest in his dreams didn't sound problematic. "Let's agree, during the day, we solve my problem, during the night, we solve yours."

"Sounds like a deal," Angie said, happy with the outcome.

Sid nodded along, absentmindedly staring at his computer, though he wasn't really reading any of the information. What he wanted, more than anything, was to go back in time and make sure none of this ever happened. Still, he did like the company of Angie, even though she could be a little much sometimes. But finding her body would be complicated. The forest was a huge place they couldn't get to. Most of the history that seemed relevant, led them right back into that horrible place.

He jumped in his seat when his discord alerted him of an incoming videocall from Cory. Even Angela hadn't expected the sudden sound, curiously eyeing the computer, where Cory appeared as soon as Sid accepted the call.

"Hey, Sid," Cory said hesitantly, his eyes scanning the screen, and with that possibly Sid's room. "And Angie."

"What's going on? You seem... off."

"Yeah, because what I'm about to suggest isn't fun," he drawled, grabbing a notebook and waving it in front of the screen. "I was looking at our history homework, about the history of town, and how Baywick isn't mentioned anywhere, even though Elizabeth is constantly named as the daughter of the founder, not his wife."

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, she is our only link to Thomason Baywick."

Sid nodded along, stared at his most recent notes, and back at Cory, "though Angie, just now, remembered there had been rumours that Thomason Baywick might have another daughter."

"Did you find out who?"

"Haven't gotten around to that part yet. I was planning on asking Mr. Brightwaters on Monday. See what he knows about the rumours and play it off as wondering of it could've been altering the path of this region."

"Smart, but since we have no name, we have no link. Elizabeth really is our only link." Cory flipped through a few pages, looking for something in his notes.

"Well, what do you suggest?"

"Here," Cory said, clearing his throat, "in 1640 Anthony Miller gifted his wife, Elizabeth, a mansion for them to raise their children and to grow old together—"

"Brook Mansion."

"Exactly."

"So?"

"I think we should visit. I mean, it's haunted, I know. We don't have to go in. But isn't it weird that, with all that was going on in the Baywick family, Elizabeth's mansion ended up haunted as well?"

"Isn't it located inside the forest though?"

"No, it boarders The Pitts, but it's not inside the forest. You can enter the house, but I did read that it has a 100% death toll to those who do enter."

Sid frowned, typing Brook Mansion in the search bar on Google. He had known about Brook mansion's existence for a long time already. But he hadn't done any research. "A 100% death toll sounds..."

"Extreme, but it's what they say."

Sid skimmed through three articles before he concluded Cory was indeed right; according to stories, nobody had ever gotten out alive. But since it is forbidden to enter, Sid wondered if anyone who did manage to survive would actually admit it out loud. They could get in a lot of trouble with the owners—though unknown—and the cops. Seeing how dangerous the site was deemed to be, it made sense the cops were taking trespassing serious, like they did with the forest.

"I'm adding the rest."

"Did you need my approval first?" Sid joked, smirking when Cory's face turned slightly red, and he rolled his eyes.

"Your opinion matters most to me, yeah." Cory reluctantly said, when three screens popped up, all calling in one of their friends.

As soon as Amber, Davy and Annika all joined their conversation, Cory and Sid quickly got them up to speed on the topic of Brook Mansion, and a possible visit.

"What do you think we would find?" Annika asked with raised eyebrows, "aside from a dozen horrible ways to die. This article claims the floor broke down and someone fell through, accidentally hanging themselves."

"This one says someone slipped, and fell with their head on a part of the broken banister." Davy added, shuddering at the thought.

"Guys, nobody ever walked out alive. They never even retrieved bodies from the mansion. It's all rumours and hearsay," Amber said, sounding annoyed, "if anyone was there to tell the tale, the death toll wouldn't be a claimed 100%."

"Exactly," Cory agreed, nodding firmly, "and we're not planning on going inside. I just... I don't know..."

"We wanna feel the vibe," Sid said, waving a hand at Angie, "we do know how it feels to have something paranormal around. We just want to see the place for ourselves. Not in the least hoping to make more sense of all of this.

Cory sent him a small grateful smile, while Amber shrugged a shoulder, yawned and smiled at them, "I'm in. I've been dying to see the place. All these spooky stories and it still isn't fenced away? The whole story stinks."

"I'm in," Davy smiled as well, "if Sid and Cory go, I go. If Annika goes, I have to go to protect her."

Annika snorted, but seemed thankful for him wanting to protect her, "if you're all going, I'm going too. I really don't see the purpose, but since we have no leads, it couldn't harm either."

"So, we'll go? Tomorrow?

"Let's get it over with as soon as possible."

>>> Seriously, please vote & comment guys. <<<

I'm not joking.

>>> Every vote saves the life of a baby parrot! <<<

(And makes the author of this book feel very loved and appreciated)