CHAPTER 13 The Manipulator sa | just got back the first round of edits,” I say to Marietta through the phone. “I’m starting on them tonight.” “Wonderful, let me know if you need anything,” she says. I’m walking down my dimly lit hallway towards my room when a flash of movement catches my eye. I freeze, my finger just pressing the red button when I see what looks like a woman disappearing through the attic door. A smile forms on my face before I can stop it. In all the years I’ve been in this house, I’ve only seen an apparition a few times. More often, I’ve heard voices, footsteps, doors slam and felt the freezing drafts, but rarely anything visual. But I know what I just saw. A woman in a white dress with tight blonde curls. I didn’t see her face, but there’s a distinct feeling that it was Gigi. Nearly dropping my phone rushing after her, I run down the hall and swing the attic door open. It’s pitch black leading up the stairs, and there’s that nervous tickle in the back of my brain, but it doesn’t stop me. I tap the flashlight on my phone and quickly make my way up the stairs. A heavy weight of foreboding presses down on my shoulders, but I trudge through it. Whoever that was, they wanted me to see something. I shiver from the feeling, both in fear and delight. The moment I step on the landing, it feels like breathing in water. The air up here is stifling and heavy, rife with negativity. It feels like something dark has consumed this space. And it doesn’t like me up here. I can feel it staring at me from every angle. There’s a single bulb up here somewhere with a long string attached to it. I swivel my flashlight around until I spot the string. It’s swinging back and forth in an attic with no airflow and where the atmosphere feels denser than the woods outside of this manor. Rushing over, I grab the swinging string and yank on it, clicking on the light bulb. A whirring sound breaks through the silence, adding an extra note of spookiness.