Madeline searched through the draw of the old desk in one of the mansion’s many ancient rooms.  She’d tried to return the woman to her children and husband but the ghost still wandered the halls nightly…searching.  Madeline released a sigh as she thought about how unaware she had been only a month ago of the events that were to unfold.

One Month Ago…

Madeline stared at the large house, no the mansion, before her.  It was a classic nineteenth century house, with all its original features as it hadn’t been occupied or touched in the last 120 years.  If one looked at the house long enough they would notice that it had once been a magnificent building with white walls, a light grey-green roof and a large front lawn.  Now the paint had faded and dirtied and the lawn was overgrown with weeds as time had run its course, hiding the mansion’s real charm.

Madeline was only 17 but she had already quit schooling to help with the family business and now she owned an old abandoned mansion.  Her parents had died in a plane crash when she was four so she remembered little of them but she’d still grown up happily with her aunt and uncle who were unable to have any kids of their own.  

“Miss O’Field, you have a meeting soon, we should leave.”
Madeline broke out of her trail of thought and turned to face her chauffeur.  He appeared to be in his late 50’s with wisps of white hair escaping his cap and his John Lennon glasses which continuously slid down his nose despite his best efforts to stop them.
“Oh, of course, thank you Gramps!”
Madeline pretended to miss the look on his face when she got into the car as he held her door open.  Peter was in no way related to her or her family but she loved to call him ‘Gramps’ despite his obvious disdain for it.

***

Madeline knocked on her aunt’s office door before entering the chaotic room.  Her aunt was playing solitaire on her computer, either avoiding work or she had already finished.
“Ah! Madeline, did you go visit your inheritance?  What did you think?”
“I was wondering if maybe I could live there and get it restored.  It’s such a beautiful house, I don’t understand why it’s been abandoned”
“Because it’s haunted”
Madeline had heard the story about the haunted mansion ever since she was a child but she had never believed it and she still didn’t.  It was believed that a family used to live there but the husband abused his wife till one night he killed her before dying of alcohol poisoning himself.  They’d had two daughters but they’d escaped unharmed, at least physically.  The children had then each moved on with their lives, getting married and having a bunch of children who were believed to be Madeline’s great great great grandmothers and fathers or something like that.  When one of the woman’s granddaughters and her family returned to live in the house they soon moved out claiming that it was haunted and since then no one had stepped foot in there.
“Well Aunt, I’m going to live there and no stupid tale is going to convince me otherwise.  I only hope I can count on yours and uncle’s support”
“Of course, we’ll miss you and worry for you but we can help you move as soon as you wish”

***
Madeline flew forward as she woke up.  She could have sworn she’d heard someone talking but she was alone.  All the workers and staff had gone home hours ago.  She shook her head before laying back down to return to her pleasant dream.  
‘Where are you?’
Madeline sat up once again and surveyed her surroundings.  The voice sounded distant yet close.  She randomly grabbed at things on her bedside table in hopes of finding her torch.  Once she’d found it she slipped her feet into her slippers and began to make her way slowly down the winding corridors.
‘Why’d you leave me?’
Madeline paused just before going round the corner as she heard the voice growing nearer.  She didn’t have to wait long as a ghostly figure walked round the corner and stood before her silently crying.  The figure was that of a middle aged women covered in bruises, blood and dressed in a night gown.  Madeline dropped her torch in shock when she noticed she could see the pattern on the wall through the person…the lady was transparent, like a ghost.
‘Have you seen them…my love and my children? Please take me to them…’
Madeline recovered from her shock enough to run in the opposite direction of the strange lady and straight outside to her car.

***

“Gramps!”
“Miss O’Field!”
Madeline had realised that if she had gone to her aunt and uncle they would only have worried and removed her from the home she had come to love so much.  Her only other option had been to visit her chauffeur who had moved into the spare house on the family’s ground when his wife passed away seven years ago.  Although he was her chauffeur she often confided in him and saw him as part of the family.
“Gramps…it’s true…the house…haunted!”
“Miss O’Field, let me put some tea on to help you calm down.  I’ll never be able to help you if you continue to mumble like that.”
She smiled at him thankfully before collapsing into the closest chair.  Maybe she had still been half asleep and now she was going to be laughed at, but somehow she couldn’t help but feel that she had seen correctly.  She was brought out of her thoughts when the old man handed her a mug filled with tea.  She blew on the hot liquid as she watched her friend make himself comfortable in the armchair opposite to her.
“Now, Miss O’Field, tell me what has disturbed you so much that I find you in my cosy home at two am?”
“Sorry Gramps, but…I think I ran into a ghost at the old mansion that I’m living in.”
She watched him carefully as she told him everything that had happened but his expression never changed as he continued to listen and sip his tea.  Once she’d finished Gramps placed his cup on his knee and adjusted his glasses.  
“Miss O’Field, I’m sure you weren’t expecting me to blindly believe your tale but instead you came here seeking refuge and comfort but I won’t say I disbelieve you either.  For now we’ll pretend it was just a nightmare and continue as if nothing has happened but if it reoccurs, come see me and we’ll decide what to do.  Now I suppose you won’t be able to sleep there tonight, you may stay in my spare room if you like.”
Madeline smiled at him before rising and heading to the room she used to stay in when she fought with her Aunt and Uncle.

Present Day…

Madeline stopped her search as she found a yellowed envelope.  She searched for an address but only found ‘To whom it may concern’ written in tiny neat print on the front.  She sat down in the worn chair before carefully opening the letter.

12 August 1863

Dear Sir or Madam,

If you are reading this it must mean I have already passed onto the next world, you may not know who I am or who I was rather, but my name was Anne Cartwright.  I am writing this letter because I know it is unlikely that I will reach a natural end but I don’t believe I can pass over peacefully knowing that what happened in this house will remain secret forever.  I hope you read my story and pass this letter on to any of my surviving family members so that they may know of their history.

This family kept a secret that no one but my two daughters, my late husband, my brother-in-law and I knew, one that destroyed us.  It began after my late husband passed away of a fever, his older twin brother moved in with us making it seem as if it was him who died and not my late husband.  He promised to support us financially and that if we disobeyed he’d kill us all.  I would rather die than betray my love but I feared for my daughters who were only six and nine when this happened.  He often drank till he was drunk and abused us, I tried to protect my girls till they were old enough to leave this horrible place but I’m only a woman, what power do I possess?  

My daughters left yesterday after weeks of my pleading, I made them promise to never return and I can only hope they keep it.  Now that I know they are safe and that the horrible man they were caused to wrongfully call father can never reach them I will end this charade.

I can only hope this letter is found and put into the right hands.  I hope that you may let me ask one final favour of you and that is may you place my body with my children or true husband so that I may rest in peace.  Thank you for reading my dreadful secret and may God please you and your family.

Yours sincerely,

-Signature-

Anne Cartwright.

Madeline stared at the letter in shock before rereading it to make sure she hadn’t missed any important details.  She sat and attempted to put her sudden rush of thoughts in some logical order before rushing out the door with the letter in hand.

***

Madeline scattered the woman…no Anne’s ashes over the woman’s children’s graves before turning to the wrongly marked grave.  The grave was meant to be the husband’s older twin brother’s grave but after reading the letter she was sure that this was Anne’s husband’s final resting place.  As she scattered the remaining ashes over the grave two ghostly figures appeared a little way ahead of her.  She recognized the woman to be Anne but she was no longer covered in bruises and blood and she was smiling.  Madeline smiled at the woman and the man who was probably her husband as Peter gasped behind her.  Once the figures had disappeared Madeline turned and walked past Peter towards the car.
“Come on Old man, this is no time to stare blankly with your mouth open, I have places to be!”

The End