Vanished

Chapter 4

Tory P.O.V.

I was in the middle of eating breakfast when I died of a heart attack, caused by shock.

"Guess what?!"

Chance, clearly not realizing he'd just become a murderer, stood on the other side of the island smiling widely.

"I just died and didn't go to heaven? I noticed." I turned back to breakfast ignoring Chance's eye roll at my theatrics.

Chance sat down on a bar stool opposite me as he spoke, "you're so weird, sis. You know that right?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes before firing off my best comeback at that moment. "Well, I got it from you. It's a family trait." I smile sweetly and slide off of my bar stool walking around the island to rinse my bowl in the sink before dumping it in the dishwasher.

I spun around and leant against the counter. "Now, what am I guessing?"

Chance, still recovering from my last blow to his ego, blinked at me before straightening and smiling widely. "You can't tell dad I told you, but I think your comment in the car yesterday inspired him to move faster. He's thinking about asking Julia out!" He was practically jumping up and down by the end of his statement. He's such a girl sometimes.

To be fair, I wasn't much better. "Oh my gosh! Really?! Seriously?! He's actually going to -"

"Who's going to do what?" We both spun around. Our dad was standing in the doorway, smiling at our enthusiasm. Chance always has been the most obvious when he lied or hid something from our dad or me, had gone completely white. And I mean, white. He looks like a vampire.

"One of our friends is gonna ask his crush out. They've both liked each other for so long, like years and they've always helped each other and he's basically like her second in command." That wasn't too many hints, was it? Given the fact that Chance has been elbowing me throughout my entire explanation, he's either paranoid or I was too obvious. We're gonna go with the first one.

"Oh how lovely, sweetheart. By the way, I will be home late tomorrow night. I have... a few things I need to attend to." He's going on the date!

"Ok, but if it's anything special, you know I'm a girl, I could... help you with choosing an outfit?" If you hadn't guessed, I was planning to try and get him to admit whether he was going on a date with Julia or not. Seriously, he can't put us through this suspense!

"I think I'm good kiddo, but thanks anyway!" He's blushing! Wow, I'm fangirling so hard right now.

Dad disappeared with a suspicious bounce in his step. I turned to Chance who was beginning to regain some of his colour. "Anything else happen? I'm bored now that that's over and I need something to do before I die of boredom."

Chance stared at me for a moment before standing up straight and smiling almost wider than he had been when he first came in. "We could go explore the manor. There's a back entrance but it's so old and unused that they don't have a policeman stationed there. So, you want something exciting to explore? Let's have a look."

I contemplated for a moment. On one hand, it would be fun and interesting to explore that place, but on the other hand, the police were investigating it because of the body found there and all of the dead or injured people linked to it. See, the thing is, it wasn't just the girls who disappeared and died. In all six cases, the girls would disappear and then turn up dead or not at all. The girls all had someone else with them who was either severely injured or killed shortly after.

So you can see why our dad has become super paranoid and would probably pop several blood vessels if he knew where we were going. "Okay. But, if dad asks. It's all your fault, and I only came because I know you're an idiot and I would have to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't get into trouble or kill yourself. Agreed?" I'm his sister. I'm required to use every excuse and opportunity presented to me to insult him. It's in the contract.

"Fine. But if you're mean to me I'll tell him that I followed you to make sure you didn't get into trouble." He looked quite pleased with his idea, but again, I'm his sister it's in the contract to strike back.

"He'll never believe it if you do. He knows I'm the one with good grades who wouldn't be that stupid. You having the idea he would believe without hesitation." I can be a very mean person when annoyed or given reason to be.

"Alright, alright let's just go or we'll never leave." Ha! He knew I was right, he didn't deny it.

We had to walk to the manor since our dad had already left and Chance's car was in the garage. Not that we used it very often, the town was so small you could almost walk from one end to the other. Almost. We had finally reached the hill, and because of the heat, we were both panting like a pair of dogs.

"It's hot today."

"Really? I hadn't noticed Mr State The Obvious." Chance was too busy panting to respond.

We struggled up and reached the backdoor of the manor, only just avoiding being spotted by the policemen out front. I swear they camp here overnight. We struggled with the door, the ivy having grown over it, and eventually made it in the back where we were confronted with a surprisingly small passageway.

We had made it all the way down the corridor, some parts of it so small we had to go sideways due to collapsed walls. We found stairs and found ourselves in a passage next to the room with the body in it. There was a fact gnawing at the edge of my conscience. I felt like there's something special about this corridor. Maybe something dad had once told me about the manor? We found some wood slats had been knocked to the side slightly, probably in a storm when part of the roof had caved in and the wall had sagged. We watched for a while as some people in strange baggy white clothes with gloves, covers on their shoes, hoods and face masks moved around the body. Forensics.

Bored with watching them we headed further down the corridor until we came to the spot where there was a ladder leant against the wall leading into what appeared to be another path at a ninety-degree with our path. It was then that I remembered a conversation with our dad.

Flashback

"There are these passages in the wall, some of them have ladders leading to paths over corridors so they can get to the other side of it. It's believed they were passages for servants so they didn't get in the way of the people in the manor. Most of them have collapsed or have weak floors though."

Flashback Ended

That's where we are. In a servant passage, almost all of which are supposed to have weak floors. It was at that moment that the floor underneath us gave out a deafening creak. I looked up at Chance. The noise came from directly beneath me.