The Curse of Dreadgrave Manor

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - A GHOSTLY ENCOUNTER

"You're... You're a ghost!" Max gasped in shock.

Oliver looked around, worried. "Whatever you do, don't freak out!" He whispered. "You need to be quiet and listen, because we don't have much time."

"Oliver... What happened to you?"

"Last year, I was really bored on my birthday weekend because there was nothing to do. You were stuck at home with a fever, and Kris was visiting her grandparents, so I thought I'd come and explore this house. I thought it'd be fun to do some ghost hunting and see if the legend of Dreadgrave Manor was true for myself. Something went seriously wrong and next thing I knew,

I woke up looking like this!"

"What? But... but how?"

"Max, you need to listen." Oliver stepped forward and grabbed tightly onto Max's arms. His touch felt deathly cold. "I need to warn you. I know that you know that the legend is true, but there's something worse going on."

"Worse?"

"You have to be careful. You need to protect yourself from him."

"Who? Montgomery Dreadgrave? We already know that."

"No, you're not understanding me! I can feel him watching us right now, and he knows that I'm talking to you."

"What do you mean he's watching-"

There was a sharp knock on the door. Max swivelled around and saw Lewis' wide-eyed face poke around the side of the door.

"Um... Max? Who are you talking to?" He squirmed.

Max looked back, but Oliver had disappeared.

"No one... I was just talking to myself."

Lewis shifted uneasily. "Alright... Kris sent me to see if you had found anything that we could use." Max held up the box of chalk.

Lewis grinned. "Great! Now let's escape this place."

Max strode across the room and glanced back at the wardrobe a final time before he left.

I did see Oliver... didn't I? What did his warning mean?

"Where's Kris?" Max asked as they walked down the hallway.

Lewis spun around puzzled. "She was here a minute ago." He ran to the banister and looked around the area. "Honestly, she was right here waiting by the staircase."

"Look, she can't have gone far." Max replied with a fluster as he checked his watch. "It's coming up to ten minutes past eleven, and she's gone missing. We're running out of time!"

"Let's split up," Lewis suggested eagerly. "I'll search downstairs, and you search up here. We can cover more ground that way."

"I don't like the idea of being alone, but we have no choice. If we can't find her, we'll meet back up in the hall in ten minutes, agreed?"

Lewis nodded and sprinted down the stairs, blindly calling out into the growing darkness for Kris.

"Kris!" Max shouted along the corridor. "Where are you?" "Max..." Oliver's voice whispered from behind, startling him.

Oliver's ghost had materialised once more.

"He's taken Kris. He knows that by keeping you both apart, you'll waste what little time you have left!"

"Oliver, I don't have time for this! If you know where she is, you have to tell me now." He pleaded. Oliver stepped back, shaking his head afraid.

"If... no... when he finds out I've helped you, there's no telling what he'll do to me! It's not just the living he can hurt."

"Oliver... please. Kris was your best friend too."

Oliver sighed, and his shoulders slumped. "You're right. Listen carefully. There's a secret panel behind the back wall of the fireplace. He's sent her into a hypnotic sleep and locked her away in there. Push in the brick that has a skull engraved on it and the panel will open. He trapped me in the same place when I was alive. I hid the dog tags you got me in the grate, so there was some sort of trail in case someone was able to save me in time. Now please... hurry!"

As he spoke his last words, his ghostly form faded away.

Kris!

Max tore down the stairs and straight to the fireplace. Montgomery Dreadgrave's portrait had returned to normal and was once again hanging on the wall as if the terrifying events from earlier had never happened. He brushed away frantically at the soot and dust ingrained into the alcove's brickwork until he found the small skull engraving. Without hesitation, he firmly pushed in the brick. There was a loud click, and a sharp, metallic grinding sound as the panel slid to one side. Inside the secret chamber, no larger than a coffin in size, laid Kris' lifeless body, still clutching tightly onto the journal. He struggled to awkwardly pull her body out of the alcove.

"Kris! Wake up!" He shouted and started shaking her shoulders hard. "Kris!"

Her eyes rolled open, and she squinted up at him, unable to focus.

"Max?" Her dry voice croaked. "Montgomery... is... he's..." Her words trailed off, and she slumped into his arms.

"Kris!"