The Inheritance

Chapter Nine - The Name in the Shadows

The next morning, Mike was back at the computer, typing Abraham Dunn into every search engine and public record archive he could find. His frustration from the night before lingered, but now it was laced with a sense of growing dread. The name wasn't just a dead end; it was as if Abraham Dunn had been wiped from history. No matter where Mike looked, there was nothing—a ghost in the system.

But there had to be something. His grandfather had written about him for a reason.

After several hours of fruitless searching, Mike decided to take a different approach. If Abraham Dunn wasn't in any official records, maybe he was buried in something more obscure. Local history archives, newspaper clippings from his grandfather's era—anything that might connect the man to the haunting. Mike's small town had an old library with an extensive archive of local history and records, and he figured it was as good a place as any to start.

As he pulled into the library parking lot, he couldn't shake the sensation that he was being watched. His eyes flickered to the rearview mirror, half expecting to see something lurking in the back seat. But the car was empty. He sighed, rubbing his face as he stepped out into the cold air. The haunting was starting to seep into his waking life now, and he couldn't afford to lose focus.

The library was quiet, nearly empty, as he walked in. The musty smell of old books and dust filled the air. Mike made his way to the archive section, where he found rows upon rows of old, yellowed newspapers and documents stored in boxes and file cabinets. It was overwhelming, but he knew this was his best shot.

Hours passed as Mike dug through the archives, scanning articles and documents for any mention of Abraham Dunn. It wasn't until he pulled out a newspaper from the late 1960s that something caught his eye—a small, seemingly insignificant article tucked away in the back pages of an old local paper. The headline read:

"Local Man Missing: Abraham Dunn Disappears Under Mysterious Circumstances."

Mike's pulse quickened as he read the article. It was short, with few details, but it mentioned that Abraham Dunn had been a recluse who lived on the outskirts of town. He had disappeared without a trace, and despite a brief investigation, no one had been able to find him. His home had been left abandoned, and rumors had spread about strange occurrences there in the months leading up to his disappearance.

There was no mention of the haunting, but Mike knew this had to be connected. The fact that Dunn had vanished, with no explanation, at the same time his grandfather had been writing about the shadows and voices, was too much of a coincidence.

Mike quickly jotted down the location of Dunn's old home, hoping it was still standing. He had a feeling that if there were any answers to be found, they would be there.