Westerfield Manor

Chapter 4

        Grace looked closely at the old black and white photo. It was slightly faded but the photographer had captured the subject well. It showed a large old style three story timber house with a large veranda at the front with ornate ironwork on the posts and railings.

Beside her both Shannon and Laura appeared awestruck at the elegant house which must have cost a huge amount of money to build in such a remote rural area.

"What a beautiful house," Laura murmured, "No, it's not a house, it's a mansion, and they built it way out here in the middle of nowhere."

"It's such a shame it burned down," Shannon muttered, staring at the photograph.

Grace pulled out her phone from her bag, and holding it closely to the picture, pressed the camera button.

George McKinnon watched with a slight smile, as the girls appeared fascinated with the old photo in front of them.

Laura looked up at him. "Mr McKinnon, you must have known the family who lived at our place before we bought it. Did they ever say anything about the house being haunted?"

"The Williams family? I remember two of their kids once saying they thought they had a ghost, but I didn't believe them. If it's an old house it's got to be haunted, right?"

"But I often hear strange noises at night," Laura said, "Sometimes it sounds like someone walking slowly up the stairs. It really scares me."

"I heard it too, last night," Grace added.

"When was your house built?" George asked, then answered his own question. "It was in the 1920s. That's over a hundred years ago. All old houses make strange noises at night."

The girls trudged down Cameron Road for twenty minutes and stopped at a junction.
"Here it is," Laura said pointing to the sign, "Dry Gully Lane. Let's follow it. If this used to be Reilly's Lane then the manor would have been off this road somewhere."

They walked slowly along the dry dusty road for another twenty minutes. They looked carefully for any signs of an old driveway, but they saw nothing.

"I think we're wasting our time," Shannon said, stopping for a drink from her water bottle. "We're probably not even on the right road. What do you think, Grace?"

Grace stood silently for a few seconds, then said softly, "I think we are on the right road. I have a feeling the manor was around here somewhere. If we can just find out where it was, then maybe we can find out what happened to...." She paused.

Laura gave her a puzzled look, "We can find out what happened to what?" she queried.

"Oh nothing," Grace replied with a smile, "but let's go a bit further."

After another fifteen minutes of walking Shannon stopped again. "We'll never find it," she said, "Let's go back. I'm getting tired."

Laura stopped and scanned the area to their left. "Wow, look at this," she exclaimed, pointing across the fence and the adjoining paddock."

"So what?" Shannon said, "It's just a farmhouse and a barn off in the distance."

Laura laughed. "It's not just a farmhouse, that's our house! This road has taken us right around to the back of our property. That's 'Green Hills'."

"Oh good," Shannon said, "We can take a short cut and get back in time for lunch."

The girls climbed over the fence and started walking through the paddock towards the house which was about three hundred metres away. Laura, who was setting a fast pace in front suddenly tripped and fell to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Shannon asked, helping her friend to her feet.

"Yeah I'm all right," Laura replied, brushing grass and sticks from her jeans, "I tripped on that rock. Oh look, there's a whole row of small rocks half buried in the ground. I wonder what they're doing there?"

"Who cares," Shannon said, "Come on, I'm getting hungry."

As Laura and Shannon walked on ahead, Grace stopped and looked thoughtfully at the row of rocks. They appeared to be roughly pointing towards the 'Green Hills' homestead.

*****

Later that afternoon Ken Rogers, the Green Hills station manager drove his tractor into the old barn which was located about seventy metres behind the homestead. He looked up at the sound of the happy squeals of Laura and her two friends swimming in the pool. He smiled. It was good to see that Laura had some company. He knew she had been lonely since her family had moved to the property two months ago.

Ken had been managing the farm for the last five years, and had worked for the Williams family prior to the Campbells taking it over earlier in the year. He was momentarily distracted while thinking about moving ten of the horses before going home for the day, and the tractor struck the wall at the far end of the barn. Several pieces of old timber came loose and fell down in front of the vehicle, including once piece from the landing above.

"Oh hell," Ken muttered to himself as he backed the tractor up and turned off the ignition. He stepped down and looked at the damage to the wall. It was minor. I can fix that up tomorrow, he thought as he picked up the broken pieces of timber and stacked them by the wall. As he picked up the last piece which had fallen from the landing above he noticed some faded lettering etched into it in large capitals. He held it up to the light and tried to read it. He could only make out a few letters from what appeared to be a single word. He thought there was a 'T' and an 'E', followed by maybe an 'R'.

Probably an old sign, he thought. How old was this barn anyway? It looked ancient. Probably built before the house was. He placed the timber on top of the stack with the others and walked to the front of the barn. Just as he was reaching to close the doors a gust of wind swept up against the wall of building. Ken wrestled with the doors against the wind for several seconds, then finally managed to close and bolt them.

Inside the barn the wind funnelled through from the doors and out the newly made hole in the back wall making a moaning sound. In the process the air swept across the stack of broken timbers, clearing some of the dirt from the piece on top. Now more of the letters were revealed to show the partial word or words: 'W - - T E R - I - L D'.

I hope I have you intrigued.
Read on, but please vote first :)