• A mansion… abandoned at the top of a hill. Isolated from urban civilisation, the mansion sits at the outskirts of Berrywood town. Many people bought it and lived in the place, but no one stayed longer than a week. All left after experiencing the unexplained and weird encounters in the house. Humans aren’t the only ones trying to inhabit the place, crows tried to make nests at the roof of the mansion, but something seemed to drive them away. Ivyrose’s Mansion was never considered haunted, but something still seems very strange.

    Realms
    Chapter 3: Dead Truth

    It was all quiet outside, on the streets.
    No one was around, no one to cry for help.
    Ella stared at the man.
    Her eyes were calm.
    “Since you know I’m a ghost, then do you think bullets will hurt me?” Ella questioned.
    “You… You… You don’t tell me what to do.” The old man shivered. “This… This is no ordinary gun…”
    Then, a gunshot was heard.
    The bullet pierced through Ella’s shoulder, although there was no obvious damage seen on her, she felt a searing pain on her shoulder.
    The pain was too much and it’s travelling down her arm.
    She let out an ear-piercing scream.

    Struggling, holding up her unharmed hand to halt the man from firing.
    “I… I meant no harm…” Ella choked on her words.
    Panting heavily, the man lowered his pistol, but he was still on guard.
    “Then… what do you want from… from this old lonely man,” He trembled.
    “I heard… you came… back from the dead…” Ella struggled from the pain.
    Although the pain was subsiding, it still hurt.

    Stunned.
    The old man was surprised, no one knew of it.
    No one knew that he was once dead except for Death himself.
    “Who told you that?” The old man demanded, raising his pistol again. He was certain that Ella was sent by Death to bring him back.
    His index finger tightened around the trigger.
    “George Wilson!” Ella shouted with her eyes shut tight. She can’t bear another shot from the pistol.

    “George? You… you mean my brother?” The old man stared at Ella.
    All of the sudden, the atmosphere relaxed.
    Ella tried to get herself out of the tangled mess. The net was no ordinary fishing net either.
    She could not phase through the net.
    “Your brother?” Ella was shocked by his response. “He said you were his friend.”
    “No, he is my older brother. My name is Arthur Wilson.” He replied.
    Arthur moved to the dining table, and drank a cup of hot chocolate.

    He was at the table when an intruder came in.
    “Yes, he was my brother.” Arthur sighed. “Ever since we died at Ivyrose’s Mansion. We haunted the place. But I don’t want to be dead. I searched of ways to bring myself back alive again.”
    “What happened?” Ella got out of the net and sat beside Arthur.
    “George wasn’t please with my intentions. He said we were better of dead than to be alive.” Arthur finished his hot chocolate in a gulp and stared down at the wooden table.

    “It isn’t surprising that George didn’t want me as his brother anymore.” Arthur sighed again. “But I’m happy that he still see me as a friend.”
    “So… it did work right?” Ella asked.
    “What worked?”
    “Coming back from the dead.”
    Arthur stared at her for a moment.
    “I don’t think you should do it.”
    “Why!?” Ella fumed.
    “It won’t turn out well, trust me. I’ve been there and done it. It is not pleasant at all.”
    “Just tell me, and I won’t bother you again.” Ella argued.

    After minutes of persuasion, Arthur gave up.
    “You need ‘faces’.” He said.
    “Faces?”
    “Yes, ‘faces’.”
    “You mean those with eyes, mouth and… you know.”
    “Yes, those.”
    “How can I get them?”
    “It is brutal. You… tear them off from humans.”
    “What!?”
    Shocking.
    Ella got more than what she bargained for.

    …To be continued