An opening page to a mystery story…

A shrilling scream was heard from the mansion  half a block further and I shuddered.  I was drenched from head to toe from walking in the city in the pouring rain all day. The hustling and bustling city was deserted towards the outskirts and tight apartment buildings spread out into large garden and back yard mansions.

Cold sweat, along with raindrops, trickled down my forehead at the thought of what I had got myself into a few days ago.

A note on my doorstep in London had told me to find the person I was looking for in a 1800’s style mansion on Lavender lane. I didn’t know ’lane’ and ‘Avenue’ would have such a big difference and send me to the north and south part of the same city! The 1800’s style mansion stood out from the other extravagant modern mansions on the lane and drew my attention once I turned onto Lavender Lane. The door of the mansion was wide open so I wandered inside slowly and carefully.

The furniture looked like priceless antiques and as I ran my finger along the long, rectangular table, my fingers were covered in a thick layer of dust. The  house looked as good as new from the outside, but inside – the webs and dust made it look like it has been abandoned for at least a decade.

Nothing was to be found downstairs. I slowly and carefully walked up the creaking staircase and reached the second floor. I checked each and every room along the corridor and finally walked to the last room, which was the largest and appeared to be the master bedroom. I walked inside, and there, in  front of me, was the man who had my answers with a knife in his hand, sprawled on the ground and lying in a pool of blood!