Ashville Manor

Ashville Manor 

She stumbled on across the dusty road towards her house. It was pitch dark and the street lamps were off as was usual at this time in Bannfoot.The only light that shone was from the torch she was carrying. The penultimate grain had been spent in the house and she had been compelled to go fetch grocery from the village centre.Though Bannfoot is a small village, it boasted of a very lively centre where one could easily spend a day without feeling a moment of boredom. 

The market was around two miles fromAbigail's house. The road was deserted as it was winter and late in the night. The walk seemed to take forever. The road meandered between birch woods. During daytime, with the sun shining high, it would make for a perfect joyous venture, but, now the scene was grim. There was not even the moon to be seen in the sky tonight. The birch trees stood tall and still; their branches stretching up into the bowels of darkness. There was little life among the trees, branches, boughs and the bushes. Even the crickets had retired for the day. The only sounds that made through her cold-bitten ears were a slow rustling of the leaves; or a squirrel jumping over overgrown roots; or a sparrow trying to settle cozily in its nest. There were a couple of blood-freezing hooting noises emanated bya restless owl from far away within the woods. 

She kept on looking sideways and backwards - straining her wizened eyes into the dark. The sword of light from her torch kept cutting across the woods in twitches. It was only a couple of minutes down the street, she thought. If she was lucky, she would rush past 'it' under a minute at top-speed without any incident; and then she could be within the warmth of her own home. The thought of cooking herself a simple dinner, relishing it on her rickety dining table and making the bed for the day's rest seemed to warm her up for a moment. She grasped the torch tightly in her hands, faintly feeling the corrugated metal cut into her already numb flesh. She was now cursing herself why hadn't she completed her shopping earlier today. Why did she spend too much time dillydallying over what to buy and what not to? 

She passed a couple of houses by the road. The yellow squares of light projected out of darkness portraying silhouettes of merry people finishing dinner, cleaning, watching news, or reading. Happy souls, she thought in her mind, as she pitied herself. She then turned the dreaded corner and her face took the colour of straw. In sight now was the Ashville Manor on the left side of the road. This was the spot she abhorred most! 

Like the other villagers, Abigail had always been afraid of passing by this manor wherein lies buried a tale of misery. The mansion was huge. At normal walking rate, it took two full minutes to walk past it. It was an abandoned house. It was deserted around 50 years ago. The manor itself beingolder than 200 years was almost in a dilapidated state. With creepers all over it, it was a hideous sight in daytime. At night, it would seemed as if a hill had sprung out of darkness. Its owner's lineage was now untraceable. The entire family was fabled to have perished during the Great War. Even though it was now a public property, it looked like apost-battle care-worn, old desecrated tank. 

The entrance to the manor was a huge iron gate modelled after Chateau de Versailles, however, nowhere near the grandeur. The gate was followed by a straight cobbled path leading up to the main building. The building was wider than it was long. The style was gothic with long doors and balustrade balconies - each signifying a room. Part of the ceiling inside had caved in. Undergrowth flourished within, over and about the building. Every place of the ground inside the building was covered by foot-long wild grass. 

The place received its share of grandeur when the rightful owners inhabited the place, as per legend. Soirees were thrown almost every other day with the richest nobelites being invited over. The rebellious mood continued till the wee hours of the morning. Tables usually heaved under the weight of food and the air used to be heavy with smoke and the smell of spirits. House servants and maids were busiest on those occasions.