Haunting of an obliterated enigma

In a quaint town, there stood an abandoned mansion famously

known as RoyManse. It stood majestically, even in its state of

dishevelment. Roys were known to be a huge family. The oldest

living matriarch had seven kids. Each of those seven kids went on

to marry and produce heirs for the family. For a long time, Roy

mansion was managed and looked after by the matriarch, Radha.

All her kids and grandkids were settled in various parts of the

country, trying to make their mark in the world.

Radha had instilled a sense of loyalty and duty in her family, and

they all cherished the memories created within the walls of

RoyManse. Their upbringing made them want to be self-reliant.

Alas, in the prospect of finding and establishing themselves, they

couldn’t instil the same values in their offsprings. They had not

inherited their mother’s wisdom and talent. In their quest of self-

discovery, huge losses were incurred, leaving most of them

financially unstable. Their kids, who were raised on the stories of

their rich and illustrious ancestors, developed a sense of

discontentment. They has started to resent their parents, who

robbed them of living a life of luxury.

Despite this bitterness brewing, the grandkids loved their enigmatic

grandma, who always spoiled them with love and security which

they couldn’t get from their parents.

Every year, once a month the extended family made it a tradition to

visit their family home. For many years, RoyManse was the picture

of prosperity. A place filled with laughter and joy.

As the saying goes, every family has a black sheep. In this case, it

was Gwendolyn, the oldest grandchild. She had developed a sense

of entitlement and delusion. She believed the inheritance was

rightfully hers and that the family home belonged to her alone. In

order to remove the competition, for years, she tried to portray

herself as the golden child. In the hopes of gaining favour from

Radha, she did everything in her power to persuade Radha, that

she was the obvious choice. But Radha was no fool. In a softly

tender manner, she refuted Gwendolyn's claims and saw through

her manipulative tactics.

When none of her schemes worked, Gwen gave up the pretense,

and became desperate. She decided to eliminate her hurdle. In all

these years, she knew what were her cousins weak spots. She

diverted her scheming attitude towards them, and brainwashed

them into helping her removing the hurdle. Only one out of the ten

siblings, Mani resisted the temptation. But she wasn’t strong

enough to rebel against them. In her own quiet manner, she tried to

alert her grandmother. It was too late, turns out Gwen had

anticipated this. She mis led Mani's attempt to reach out to their

grandmother, intercepting any communication and ensuring that

she remained isolated. They poisoned Radha and managed to

forge the will. Before dying, she whispered an agonized curse, tat

would bring misery to her murderers.

For a while, it seemed things were going according to Gwen’s plan.

But her happiness was short-lived. One night, Gwen was visited by

her grandma’s spirit. Radha’s spirit was no longer the benevolent

presence Gwen had known. Radha was determined to punish her

murders and had vowed, to eliminate the root of evil that brought

disgrace to her upbringing. In a fit of rage, she drove most of her

grandkids insane, eventually leading them to commit mass suicide.

She spared Mani and left her with a warning. Rest were not so

fortunate. Those who survived apart from Mani were cursed

eternally. They fled, relinquishing their rights to Mani, afraid of

consequences.

After this grave tragedy, Mani couldn’t bear living in a house

haunted by the lingering presence of vileness that spread and took

over the mansion, replacing the warmth that always brought

everyone together. The walls whispered with echoes of their

tormented thoughts, their anguish was imprinted on every surface.

Mani had vowed to never return. But her grandma’s warning always

stayed with her. She tried to raise her kid with the values passed

down by Radha. Decades passed.

Many generations of this family tried to lay their roots here. But

none could survive beyond a decade. The locals believed the Roy

family was cursed due to their past transgressions. It was believed

that behind the austere appearance that Roys projected, sinister

secrets filled the halls with its haunting presence.

Like clockwork, every decade under mysterious circumstances, all

family members who resided in the mansion, were killed in a tragic

manner, leaving behind one member clinically insane.

Legend has it, this terrible cycle of misfortune was broken for a

short spell, when it was inhabited by a vibrant, girl called Isabelle.

She was a juxtaposition, an anomaly to the austerity of Roys. She

was revered as the savior of the Roys, at least those who stayed

with her at the time.

She was successful in holding off the tragedy for two decades by

some miracle, infusing love in the otherwise stoic household. It

lulled the family into a false sense of hope. Alas, their happiness

was short-lived. Misfortune struck again, one fateful night, she too

disappeared inexplicably, leaving behind a cryptic note that was a

testament of her sacrifice. The note was found by on the banister

which read , “Follow the path of the forgotten, embrace the

shadows, learn from their whispers, and you may unravel the

enigma that haunts us all.”

Her disappearance was the most mystifying of all. She was the

only one who didn’t fit the bill of the typical tragedy. Her body was

never found, nor was she spotted by anyone. Nobody knew what

happened to her.

The cycle of tragedy was broken with her absence. The contents of

the note was a topic of town gossip, published in the papers,

attracting bunch of wannabe sleuths, paranormal investigators.

Over the years, her existence merely became a whisper of a

forgotten story. She was a blessing that came and took away the

perils of her household.

After twenty years, here I stand, holding an exact replica of the

note. I am Shreya, daughter of Isabelle, grand-daughter of Mani. I

am the descendant of the enigma that came and broke the curse.

When I came of age, mom who had successfully hidden her

identity, revealed my true heritage to me. She was only able to

partially understand what had happened all those years ago,

through bits and pieces of evidence found in the house. She

somehow got hold of her mom’s diary that had records of

conversation and cautionary messages from her grandma radha’s

spirit.

My mom believed she had broken the curse, by acknowledging the

misdeeds of her ancestors and leaving behind the luxury, leading a

life of anonymity. But over the years, she came to know, the house

was still haunted as reported by new settlers, who felt a sense of

uneasiness. This led her to believe, that to truly rid the house from

its haunting, someone would have to uncover the full story behind

the obliterated enigma. She delegated this task to me, and here I

stand with the journal she found and the cryptic message. It took

me months to figure out what really happened to my great great

grandmother. I was able to free her from shackles of her tragic past,

giving her spirit an assurance of justice, and promising her to give

the house to its rightful heir.

Now that’s a story for another time. The day I recover from the

shock of her secrets, the truth will be unleashed upon the world,

shattering the illusion of an alleged accident and the catastrophic

events that haunted my family.

Unlike other haunted mansions, Roy mansion retained her vibrant

aura that emanates even today, like a sweet melody that soothes

one’s soul.