The hauntings of Greywood Manor

1

~Rowan's POV~

When I woke up, I was covered in sweat. I had a nightmare. She was drowning. My best friend of seven years, Ruby, was reliving her death in my nightmares. Night after night, I had been experiencing her death for the last eight weeks.

I reach for my phone. I look through my contacts until I find who I was looking for. My phone rings for about three seconds before he picks up. "Hi, Jonah, are you free today?" I asked my friend.
"Yeah, where were you thinking of going?" He replied. I thought for a moment, before speaking again. "I was thinking, maybe we should go back to Greywood Manor to find any evidence of Ruby's death." I said, half expecting Jonah to say no.
"Sure, meet me outside the manor gates in 10." He said. I was shocked he accepted, seeing as he was not usually the type to trespass.

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As I approach the gate to Greywood Manor, I start to regret coming. Knowing this is where my friend died, and knowing I wasn't there to save her, makes me feel like shit. Ruby was the sweetest girl I had ever met, she didn't deserve to die.

I see Jonah, he looks extremely pale, and has visibly not slept much since Ruby's death. He looks like a corpse. As pale as snow, yet with eyebags almost as dark as his black hair.

We made our way up the hill after we broke into the manor garden by crawling through a bush. It's autumn, and there is a thick fog hovering just above the ground, The dark, eerie atmosphere is one thing that never leaves Greywood Manor. All year round it seems to have a sad yet mysterious feeling to it. Probably because so many people have died here.

We decided not to go inside the manor, not just yet, anyways. We decided to check out the lake in the back garden first, as that is where Ruby had drowned. Most people would brush her death off as an accident, but me and Jonah really knew Ruby. She was an excellent swimmer, and looks where she is going all of the time. She wouldn't just fall into this lake and not be able to swim to get out. No. Someone must have intended to kill her.

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After a while of searching for evidence around the lake, we finally found something. It could be from anything, it could link to Ruby's murder. Who knows. It was a black ribbon stuck to a wooden post next to the lake. Ruby wore black ribbons in her hair the day she died. "This ribbon looks just like the one she was wearing in her hair the day she died." I said, catching Jonah's attention. "We should keep a hold of it, just in case we need it in further investigations." He replied. With that, I put the ribbon into my pocket.

It was starting to get dark outside. We decided it would be best to continue our investigation tomorrow. The thick fog made it hard for us to see our way down the hill and to the bush we had entered through. After exiting the property, I turned around fir a brief moment. What I saw gave me chills. The image will haunt me for as long as I live. I didn't see any facial features, as they were quite high up the hill leading to the manor. But I saw the silhouette of what looked like a tall lady, holding a head. The head had long braids, and only one of them still had the ribbon tied at the end. The same hair style Ruby had that day, but her other ribbon was in my pocket.

If that wasn't Ruby's head, then I wonder who else had been killed at this mansion with that exact hairstyle lately. When the police had found her body, the head had been cut off. I think I now know where her head went, and I know I am petrified to come back to Greywood Manor. But I also know I must, I must come back to solve the mystery of Ruby's murder. And who knows, maybe even seek revenge...