Chapter 4 Lily

As the years passed, the legend of the mansion of malice only grew. People claimed to see shadowy figures lurking in the windows, and hear the sound of screams and whispers carried on the wind. The mansion became a place of dark pilgrimage, with thrill-seekers and ghost hunters flocking to its crumbling walls. But one person was drawn to the mansion for a different reason. A young woman named Lily, who claimed to be a distant relative of Sarah's.

She had always been fascinated by the story of the ill-fated expedition, and felt an inexplicable connection to the mansion. Lily began to research the history of the mansion, pouring over old records and conducting interviews with local residents. And what she discovered was shocking.

The mansion, it seemed, had a dark history that went far beyond the atrocities committed by Malcolm McAllister(the butcher). The mansion, Lily discovered, had been built on an ancient burial ground. A place where the native tribes of the area had performed dark rituals and human sacrifices. The energy of the land, it seemed, was cursed. And the mansion, with its twisted architecture and dark history, was a focal point for that energy.

Despite her growing unease, Lily felt an overwhelming compulsion to enter the mansion. To uncover the secrets that lay within its walls, and to understand the true nature of the evil that lurked there. As she approached the mansion, Lily felt the air grow thick with an eerie, unnatural silence. The trees seemed to loom over her, their branches tangling together like skeletal fingers. And the mansion itself seemed to pulse with a malevolent energy, as if it were alive, and waiting for her...

As Lily stepped inside the mansion, she felt a chill run down her spine. The air inside was thick with dust and the stench of decay. She could hear the creaks and groans of the old wooden floorboards beneath her feet, and the faint whisper of voices seemed to echo through the halls. Lily began to explore the mansion, her footsteps echoing off the walls. She wandered through room after room, each one filled with the remnants of a long-forgotten life. There were old portraits on the walls, their subjects' eyes seeming to follow her as she moved. There were dusty old books on the shelves, their pages yellowed with age. And there were old pieces of furniture, their surfaces scratched and worn. As she explored, Lily started to feel a sense of unease. It was as if she was being watched, and the whispers she had heard earlier seemed to be growing louder. She could feel a presence around her, a malevolent force that seemed to be closing in. Suddenly, Lily heard a faint noise coming from upstairs. It sounded like footsteps, heavy and deliberate. She felt a surge of fear, and her heart began to pound in her chest. She knew she had to get out of there, but her feet seemed rooted to the spot. And then, the lights went out. The mansion was plunged into darkness, and Lily was left standing alone in the blackness. She could hear the sound of her own ragged breathing, and the creaks and groans of the old mansion seemed to take on a sinister tone. Lily knew she had to move. She fumbled in her pocket for her flashlight and turned it on, casting a weak beam of light through the darkness. She began to make her way back downstairs, her heart pounding in her chest. But as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw something that made her blood run cold. A figure was standing in the doorway, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. Lily froze, her scream caught in her throat. And then, everything went black. When Lily came to, she was lying on the floor, her head throbbing with pain. The mansion was silent and still, the only sound the creaks and groans of the old wooden floorboards. She stumbled to her feet, her heart still racing with fear. She knew she had to get out of there, to escape the mansion's clutches. She staggered towards the door, her eyes fixed on the sunlight streaming through the windows. But as she reached the door, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, but there was no one there. The whisper seemed to come from all around her, echoing off the walls. "You shouldn't have come here," it said. And with that, the darkness closed in around her once more...