Featured by @fright for AAPIHM.
___
A librarian gets sucked into a web of horror as she investigates a century-old disappearance in the new town she has moved into.
___
Yvaine Agan had always led a quiet life and had expected to do the same when sh...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Those eyes were like two vast oceans full of sinister secrets.
Yvaine felt more than just a little unsettled at the sight of Wilhelmina's picture in the newspaper. She had presumed that the thing, that entity made of grey smoke, was just a product of her tired mind. It could not be a real thing, of course, it could not be. But then that afternoon looking at the picture she did not feel so certain about that theory.
Cold sweat dripped down her forehead. Her palms grew sweaty with tension as that similar chill passed by the back of her neck. But her eyes were fixated on the portrait of Wilhelmina, try as she might she could not tear away her gaze from it. Those eyes, they were speaking to Yvaine. It had so much to say yet it did not have a medium to do so. But the desire was strong, she could feel it.
Without realising what she was doing, Yvaine raised a finger and traced it along the cheeks of the picture when suddenly;
"Oh my God! Everyone, look what I have found!"
Yvaine shook it in surprise at Amberly's sudden exclamation, almost letting the photocopy drop down on the floor. Oleander too was taken by surprise that he spilt some of his coffee on the table, which he wiped with his elbow in haste.
"What is it, Miss Wood?" Yvaine answered, recovering from the momentary shock. "Something about the disappearance?" Subsequently, she folded the photocopy she was reading and put it on her lap.
"They might be connected!" Amberly's face glowed like that of an excited child. "Look here!" She brandished the photocopy in front of her face, waving it to and fro like a sword.
Yvaine and Oleander moved closer and peered at the article to which Amberly was pointing. It was dated twelfth January 1882, exactly two days after the disappearance of Wilhelmina Andras. The article read,
'Tragedy strikes the town of Andrasville. Right after the news of Wilhelmina Andras's disappearance, yet another heartbreaking occurrence has caused much grief amongst the townsfolk. In the early hours of dawn yesterday, the corpse of Felicity Rose was found underneath the boxelder tree in the garden of the Rose Mansion by her older sister Paisley Rose. She had claimed that her sister had been murdered but investigations made by the police and studies of the body made by the coroners suggested that Felicity Rose had fallen from the tree thereby snapping her neck which had caused her death. Grief struck Paisley Rose has accused the authorities of concealing the offenders. She claimed that Felicity never knew how to climb..'
"Isn't Paisley Rose the one who wrote that message in the bottle?" Amberly questioned, as Yvaine and Oleander retreated to their former positions having completed reading. "Didn't she claim that she knew where Wilhelmina was? Maybe that's why her sister got killed! They wanted to silence her!" She let out a deep breath, eyes shining at the conclusion she had made.
"That very much is a possibility," Oleander put a hand upon his overflowing beard, scratching it slightly. "But what proof do we have to support it? There is no certainty about this theory."
