The Nightcolt Manor

(4)

Nadine burst into her room, grabbing her laptop and typing into the browser, 'Nightcolt Manor, Maine'. Searching around for a couple minutes, she was able to find a link to the history of the manor.

The site contained a paltry history of the house. The house was built in 1790 and originally belonged to the Nightcolt family. The mansion seemed to have had a rather unfortunate history, as the original family had all slowly died off, their last heir, Heath Victor Nightcolt, passing from an unknown illness in 1891 and leaving the house vacant. A lot of things seemed to have been left out, as there were a lot of gaps in the article. There was little more information and eventually Nadine had to give up on her amateur sleuthing.

Nadine sighed, rubbing her temples frustratedly. Perhaps the local library will have more information.. She thought to herself, closing her computer and throwing her coat back on to drive down to the city library.

______

Nadine's heels clicked on the shiny tiles of the public library. She stopped in front of the front desk, ringing the little bell for help. As soon as she did so, a little old lady sauntered over, "What can I help you with, dear?"

"Uh, I was wondering if you had any information on the Nightcolt Manor?" Nadine replied, giving the lady a quaint smile. The old woman's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she responded, "Nightcolt Manor, you say? Why, I haven't heard of that place in ages!"
Walking out from around the desk, the lady gestured for Nadine to follow her. The old woman lead her downstairs into the backroom labeled "historical files".

After a lot of mumbling, the woman finally exclaimed with an "Ah!" as she pulled out a semi-thick office file titled "Nightcolt". She handed it to Nadine, walking her back out and into the seating area. "Why's a young lady such as yourself researching on this?"
Nadine smiled in reply, "Well, I'm an architect and restorationist working on fixing up the place."
The receptionist lady frowned a bit, "You be careful in that place.. it's surely cursed! Ever since I was little I've been told of bad things happening there."

Nadine's brow quirked up in curiosity, "What kind of stories?"

"Seeing people in the windows, voices and such. As teenagers we would always dare each other to knock on the door!"

Nadine laughed but internally she shivered as she knew said tales were undoubtedly true at this point. The lady walked away and Nadine got to work on the unorganized newspaper clippings and articles. After a few minutes of randomness in the old pile she found an extremely old newspaper clipping in a plastic baggie.

Bingo.

Nadine carefully removed the fragile paper from its bag. It headlined "Heath Nightcolt Dead from Supposed Illness, May 23rd". The family itself was extremely wealthy until it's end and as she continued on, she noticed a picture.

It was a picture of Heath himself.

Nadine's breath hitched. Gazing at the photo, she could see that it was the same ghostly man she had met in the manor, except he looked more.. alive. She pulled out her phone to zoom in a bit. Looking the picture over, she could tell that he was quite dashing in looks and aura. He was also smiling.

She snapped a picture of him and some of the other documents before putting everything in its proper place. She walked up to the old librarian to hand everything back to her when she spoke, "If you see or hear anything, don't respond and just leave."

Little too late for that.. Nadine thought to herself but smiled and thanked the librarian and quickly walked out of the building. She hopped in her car and sat for a moment. Should I tell him I know? She really didn't want to engage with the spirit anymore than she already had but she also knew that it was inevitable as long as she continued to work in the old building. She groaned, turning on her car and driving home for another night's restless sleep.

______

The next day, Nadine marched into the manor, determined to get shit done and not have any encounters. She swept, cleaned and fixed, her speaker that she brought blasting out any strange noises that probably shouldn't happen in a non-haunted house. Eventually, however, she needed a break and so she decided to lay down on the blanket she had sprawled out on the floor of the living room. She made sure not to make the same mistake of falling asleep so she brought along a book to occupy herself enough not to nap.

As she read, she gradually felt as though she was being watched but ignored it, turning on her side to face the large marble fireplace. The longer she ignored the feeling the stronger it got until she sat up. Sighing she spoke, "Are you there?"

At that, the ghost appeared, leaning on the fireplace. "AH- FUCK..me.." Nadine yelled ungraciously at the sudden manifestation of the tall man. "Such crude words for a lady." He said flatly at her use of language. "Trust me, I could do a lot worse.." Nadine mumbled, rubbing her forehead. "Could you not watch me all the time? I could feel you staring at me the whole time." She said, propping herself up on her hands, her legs sprawled out in front of her.

The ghost gazed at her once more without saying anything and Nadine cocked her head to the side sassily at his lack of response. Nadine finally averted her hazel eyes from the spirit, instead looking out the window to the left of her. Should I ask him? she thought to herself. Finally she looked back up and asked the dreaded question, "What's your name?" Even though she already knew what it was, she felt she needed some sort of confirmation of it.

The phantom frowned at her, more so than he already had been, "Why would you want to know that?" Even as he was frowning at her, she could tell that he wasn't genuinely angry, just confused. "Well.. I mean... Seeing as I'm going to be here for a while, I just thought I should know who exactly you are." She said gingerly. He narrowed his dark eyes at her, walking over so that he was standing directly in front of her sitting form. She got up so that she could at least be closer in height, although she only came up to his shoulder anyway.

"I want to know your name instead, seeing as you're my 'guest'." He said lowly. Nadine held back a shiver at the cold radiating off of him as she replied "My name is Nadine Vandame."