ABERCROMBIE LOCKE MANSION

This post is part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

CHAPTER 1

The sky bled bruises of plum and cherry over the rolling hills. A full moon hung low against the mauve casting silver shards through the trees. The mansion made of cold greystone loomed large beyond the rusted iron gates.

It grated on the gravel, rasping on the hinges and yawned open like a predator's jaw as Goldwynn booted it open with her foot. Her sneakers squished heavily on the mulch of dead leaves. Clutching her backpack, she looked up at the towering, grim structure forebodingly.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" her friend Lexi whispered, hesitating by the gate. "This mansion's totally cursed, they say." Lexi's voice was a thin thread. A chill crept up her back and she tightened her hold on Goldwynn 's sleeve.

Goldwynn smirked,her eyes sparkling as she tugged free from Lexi’s hold. "Cursed or not, I'm going to snatch the Locke Jewel. Meet me back here, midnight sharp.”

"What if the rumors are true?", Lexi chattered through her teeth. "They say whoever takes the Jewel gets...consumed."

Goldwynn snorted, swinging her backpack. "Consumed by what? Fiddlesticks! I'm going in there. You can wait for me here…or leave. Up to you."

The enormous courtyard engulfed her as she crept through the overgrown shrubs and tall stalks of grass in the neglected gardens. A strong wind whipped about her face, her chestnut-blond hair stinging her flushed cheeks.

The door to the mansion was boarded but Goldwynn sneaked around the side and found a window that could be wrested open. Her slender frame squeezed itself through the cramped opening. She found herself in what was once a sun room.

Inside, the shadows tangled with the bright moonlight sneaking through the grimy window panes. Cobwebs clung their skeletal fingers onto antique vases and furniture. Dust motes danced in the moonbeams and air reeked of decay.

Goldwynn's sneakers screeched again and a floorboard groaned in reply. She froze to the spot.

"..someone there?" A distant creak answered her. The wind howled, slamming an open window on the storey above.

She bolted for the grand staircase, her heart drumming incessantly. Shelves lined one side of the wall on the wide landing on which stood rows of dusty trophies, medals and framed photographs of a family long gone.

Where was the Jewel?

A swarm of bats roused by the running feet rushed past Goldwynn in a frenzy, their wings swatting at her face. Shrieking, Goldwynn sprinted blindly into the maw of the mansion.

The dancing shadows closed in on her as she leaned against the door, panting.

She'd run into a dead-end. As her heartbeats slowed, the floorboards suddenly surrendered, and she plunged into a pitch-black void.

The air was a solid wall, choking her. Goldwynn hurtled through emptiness, flailing for a handhold that wasn't there. Darkness swallowed her whole.

Bracing herself for a horrendous impact on hard concrete or even worse –a bed of crags and pointy rocks, she wished this was only a nightmare. Or a quick end. This is it !

I shouldn't have come here. I should have listened to Lexi. I only hope my death is instant.

Suddenly, the air thinned and cooled. A dim cavern materialized. I died.

Goldwynn floated, wingless but weightless. Instead of a barrelling free fall, her landing was soft. She slid down a sloping ramp, and rolled clumsily out of the cavern into a warm, pale peach gloaming.

To Be Continued....

*******

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.

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