Into Darkness

The Assignment

Sara could hardly believe her luck, she was young and had barely worked at the agency for two months and now she had been hand-picked for an assignment. They were a small but independent newspaper. One of the last, the owner supposedly too stubborn to give into the digital age. The truth was they did all the leg work themselves, everything was investigated, checked, and then double-checked.

She stared at the screen of her laptop; the words hung like a question.

Who is the man in the mansion?

No one knew anything about him, the house had stood on the hill for years, dated as far back as the seventeen hundreds, originally owned by Lord Wilton who had occupied it before the family had supposedly been forced out by the changing politics of the time. Stories were vague, some suggested gambling, some that there had been deals done with men higher up the royal chain. The truth was no one knew for sure. One thing that was for certain is it had fallen into the hands of the current owner's family somewhere in the early part of the nineteen hundreds.

In her research however she had not found any female linage, they'd been seen to come and go, but none whom you would think lived in the property, every few decades the owner would pass on the house to his son, but the trouble was what little could be found she believed showed the son was indeed the same man, that he simply shifted perspective somehow. The mansion itself was surrounded by a high stone wall. The mansion's only entry point was via massive wrought iron gates. The wall had vicious steel spikes atop it that would make it nearly impossible to climb over without seriously injuring oneself. The grounds within were huge, and according to a certain mapping company extended for quite some distance, it had its forest and a few smaller buildings that were likely for the various staff that had worked for Lord Wilton.

She mulled over the images in thought, then back the seven words on her screen. She would have to go and see for herself, and thus her current assignment to be gain an exclusive interview with a wealthy man in the mansion. A firsthand account of his generous nature toward the town, it seemed whenever the town was in trouble it was granted a rather large donation, just recently to the local orphanage which had almost been forced to close with the council's lack of funds and poor management, now a shining beacon of hope for young children and their futures.

She twirled the pen in her fingers, an expression of frustration etched upon her face. With a flick of her wrist, she tapped it lightly on the desk, the sound echoing the rhythm of her racing thoughts. The blinking cursor on the screen seemed to mock her, its persistent blink was a reminder of the writer's block that had consumed her.

Sara, a fiery redhead of only twenty-two, found herself at the cusp of her career in journalism. This news agency was her second chance after a discouraging stint as a waitress in a terrible coffee house. Memories of her first job soured her mood, as she recalled the loathsome owner who had propositioned her, attempting to exploit his position of power. Brimming with defiance, she had fiercely stood her ground, telling him to go to fuck himself before promptly quitting.

Her frustration was evident, Sara ran her hands through her vibrant curls, a cascade of fiery red that matched her spirited personality. She tugged at an errant curl, her unconscious mannerism revealing her internal struggle. The weight of her aspirations and the pressure to deliver a captivating story weighed heavily on her.

With a sigh, she took a moment to regain her composure, determined to conquer the blank screen before her. The sparks of her fiery resolve ignited within her once again; she was ready to face the challenge head-on. Inwardly channelling her determination, she set the pen down, ready to breathe life into the words that would soon flow from her fingertips.