The Desolate Mansion (Fukase x Oliver fanfiction)

Part 2

Oliver stood at the edge of the forest and waved good-bye until his friends were out of sight. Once he was alone, he turned around to face the ominous forest and slowly walked into the darkness, with only the moonlight guiding him. He had never been to the forest before, but it felt oddly familiar. He trodded ahead with caution, fearing the unknown.

The main road in the forest was at first smooth and straightforward, but became more rough and difficult to follow. It was apparent that the deeper parts of the forest were not maintained at all, with dead trees laying about and irregular branches sprawling around. With every step taken, Oliver could hear his own footsteps loudly and clearly against the dried leaves as the forest was surely devoid of sounds and life. Once or twice, he had heard an owl hoot but otherwise, the forest was in complete silence.

As Oliver went deeper into the forest, the moonlight became dimmer since the fog was thicker, which made it harder to see. He proceeded through the inconspicuous path with extra care, but soon got his boots stuck in a thick puddle of mud. With some difficulty, he was able to remove himself from the mud; however, the heel of one of his boots broke, leaving a hole. Oliver decided leave behind his boots since they were uncomfortable and worn-out. He soon found it was easier and quieter to walk barefooted – his feet no longer felt cramped and the dead leaves did not crackle as loudly as before.

After a short distance, Oliver arrived at a forest clearing, and in front of him was the rumored abandoned haunted mansion. He hesitated on approaching the decrepit manor and looked around for anything unusual. The ambiance around the mansion was dark, foreboding, and uncanny. Nevertheless, he mustered up the courage to press forward to open the seemingly heavy wooden door. Surprisingly, the door opened with little forced applied, and Oliver found himself in the lobby of the mansion.

When Oliver stepped away from the door, the wind picked up and slammed it shut behind him. He tried to open the door again, but it was sealed tight, which he thought was definitely unusual since the door was not locked before. He attempted to calm down and planned what he should do next. Oliver decided that the first thing to do was to look for a light source since he could barely see even a meter ahead. He fumbled around in the darkness with one hand on the wall and found a light switch. To his surprise, it worked and the lights in the lobby turned on. He was definitely astonished and wary that the electricity would work in a mansion that had been abandoned for at least a century.

Once the lights were on, Oliver noticed that his right knee and left ankle were bleeding. He had not felt any pain earlier, but assumed the wounds were from his struggles in the forest. His next goal was to find something to cover up his wounds to avoid getting infected.

Oliver opened up the door at the end of the lobby and walked into what looked like a lounge. He pulled out the camera and took a picture, and continued to do so for every room he visited. Other than the apparent decay, the room looked completely untouched – as if the inhabitants of the mansion just left without packing their belongings. The intact furniture, tea cups on the coffee table, a chess board that looked abandoned mid game, and various other objects lying about made it seem like people were around not too long ago.

At the other end of the lounge was a large painting of a family of three that stood in front of a beautiful mansion surrounded by a vibrant forest. The family's clothes looked similar to the ones wealthy people wore in the 1800s. The parents' faces were completely covered in dust, but the child's face was able to be seen with some strain: the boy looked about 7 years old and had bright red hair and eyes. Oliver wondered what could have possibly had happen to this family to make them leave their home. He had a strange feeling he had seen the boy before. He decided not to ponder too long though, since he still needed to treat his injuries.

Oliver went through an entryway into a long corridor that had many doors. He tried one of the doors, and to his luck, was a bathroom that contained some first aid supplies in a cabinet. He wiped off the blood and wrapped some bandages around his ankle and knee. Next, he removed his eye patch and covered his left eye with bandages as well since the eye patch seemed to fall off any moment. When Oliver was about to leave, he heard a cracking sound. He turned around and saw that there was a crack on the mirror, which was surely not there before. He figured his nervousness was playing tricks on his mind and moved on.

When Oliver opened the bathroom door, he saw that the ambience of the hallway became much more eerie – the deterioration was more apparent, the corridor seemed to stretch longer, and the lights were dimmer. He thought it was best to slowly open the doors to the rooms and only enter ones that seemed safe.

While he contemplated which door to try next, he saw from the corner of his eye that a white figure moved about. It looked like a small humanoid doll with only dots for eyes and strange fish shaped lips. Oliver didn't have much time to ponder about how a doll can move on its own, since it rapidly darted towards one of the doors down the corridor as paint dripped after it. Without thinking about how dangerous the situation could be, he followed the trail of paint and saw that it entered a dimly lit room full of paintings.