Present day 2025…

  He sat at the dining room table and read the letter a third time. He couldn’t believe it. He knew his uncle hadn’t been well for several months, but now the sad news. His uncle had died a few days ago and this letter had just arrived from a firm of lawyers. Again he read the last sentence.

  ‘A copy of your uncle’s will is enclosed. You will note that he has bequeathed you all titles to the land and house including all internal fixtures, furniture and appliances. Also all moneys in his three bank accounts with the North Eastern Bank of England. Please contact this firm to organize a time to sign the relevant documents and take possession of the house and land.’

  Jackson knew he had been his uncle’s favourite nephew, but he had never expected this. A house and land, and all moneys from his bank accounts. He wondered how much it would be.

  A week later he been to the funeral, and signed all the necessary papers at the lawyer’s office. Now he was on his way to see the house, his house. He had never been there before. His uncle had only moved there six months before his passing. The lawyer said it was an old two story house on the edge of the rural town of Alford, about a two hour drive north of London.

  He stopped at a general store in Alford and picked up some groceries. He intended to stay at the house for the night before going back to London to pack some things and return in a few days to live in the house while preparing to put it on the market for sale. Twenty minutes later, armed with four bags of supplies, he continued his drive to the outskirts of the town.

  The house was at the end of a lane. It looked quite imposing and elegant from a distance, the nameplate on the open front gate said Oakhaven complete with a large oak tree on either side of the driveway.

  As the car drew closer Jackson could see the building was in bad repair. Obviously his uncle hadn’t done much, if any, maintenance on it during the brief time he lived there. Paint was peeling, there was mould on the brickwork, a couple of windows had cracked panes, weeds grew around the front steps and the lawn was overgrown and untidy.

  Jackson pulled up in front of the building. He got out of the car and stood back looking at the house. It would have been a beautiful house in its day, but now it just looked tired, old and neglected.

  The lawyer said his uncle had only lived in it for three months before he became hospitalised, so Jackson assumed no one had looked after it for at least the last three months.

  He walked up the steps and turned the key in the door.

  Surprisingly the interior of the house was in much better condition than the outside. It must have had an internal renovation sometime in the previous few years.

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  After checking the power was on, and putting groceries into the refrigerator, Jackson explored the ground floor.

  There was a generous sized living room complete with a large screen television, a kitchen, fully equipped with oven, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, cutlery and crockery, and even a toaster. The pantry contained some canned food, none of it past the ‘use by’ date. Down a short hallway was a bathroom and a library. Jackson looked at the shelves of old dusty books in surprise. It must have been here when his uncle bought the house. At the end of the hall was a laundry with washer and dryer, but a closed door adjacent to the laundry caught his eye. He opened the door and flicked on the light switch.

  Another surprise. This was a bedroom, complete with queen size bed, built in cupboards, and vanity.

  This must have been his uncle’s bedroom. It appeared he must have lived here on the ground floor. So what was upstairs? Disused bedrooms probably.

  Jackson walked back to the front of the house and made his way up the carpeted stairs. Where the stairs reached the second floor landing a door blocked his way. He tried opening it but it was securely locked with a shiny new looking lock. He tried all the keys on the keyring the lawyer had given him, but none of them fitted the lock. Why would the second floor be locked off, he wondered? He would get a locksmith from the town to open it for him later. He returned downstairs and then explored the gardens.

  The block of land the house stood on was not particularly big, but the lawns were overgrown, the rockery which probably once grew beautiful flowers now was covered with weeds, and the fishpond was green with algae with no sign of any fish in it.

  As he turned back and looked at the house, a movement caught his eye. The curtains were drawn in all the upstairs windows, but for just a second he thought he saw the curtains move briefly in one of the windows. He stared it for several minutes, but there was no further movement. Could someone be up there watching him through a tiny crack in the curtains?

  It gave him goosebumps thinking about it. Was there someone up there, or maybe the house was haunted and it was a ghost in the window. After all it was an old house, and aren’t all old houses supposed to be haunted? But a more likely explanation was a slight breeze had moved the curtains.

  That night he cooked himself a meal of lamb chops and potatoes, and watched television, all the while listening for any sounds coming from the floor above. He heard nothing, but that night when he went to bed in his uncle’s former bedroom he made sure to lock the bedroom door.