Chapter 10
Sandra
When Sandra arrived at the mansion, the gates were open. That was lucky. Usually the teens had to climb the wall to get onto the property. They had a system for that. Two ladders stashed in the woods. The first person up the ladder would bring the other ladder with him, lift it over the wall, and prop it up against the other side of the wall. The last person out would bring the second ladder back down with them.
The boys usually took care of that since the ladders were big and hard to handle. The gate being open from time to time was a blessing. They would still prop the ladders in place in case they gates closed while they were in there. However, the open gate prevented an obvious group of teens climbing over the wall, making it easier not to get caught. It also brought about the question of why the gate was open. Was there someone inspecting the property?
When the gates were open at night, it was easy to assume that whoever left them open simply forgot at the end of the day to lock up when they left. However, in the middle of the day was another story. Someone could be working in the garden, inspecting the building, doing maintenance, or any of the other many tasks that might need to get done in place like this.
Sandra was the last to arrive and came in halfway through the debate of whether or not it would be better just to leave since it looked like someone might be here.
The group was smaller than expected and standing across the lane from the open gate. Frank was there. So were Janet, Dillan, and Nelly. No Carl. Sandra didn’t ask Dillan about his brother and Dillan offered no explanation.
Nadia was missing. Sandra had no idea of how to contact the girl she met the other weekend. She didn’t know her address or her phone number. Sandra wasn’t even sure if Nadia lived in Garrison or Clairesville. Sandra felt a little bad that she hadn’t made sure that there was a concrete plan in place before focusing on Carl that night at the campfire. Maybe Frank had done a better job at making arrangements to meet with Nadia than Sandra had.
“Did you tell her the time?” Sandra asked Frank.
“No,” Frank said. “She kind of just disappeared last week before we made a real plan.”
Sandra cringed. She hoped that Nadia hadn’t been her earlier waiting in vain or was planning on showing up after they all went home. Sandra knew how hard it must be for someone like Nadia to find friends and be social especially if she was a shut-in because of her parents’ religious thinking. Just then, Sandra heard a familiar voice.
“Come on.”
It was Nadia. She was standing on the path beyond the gate. Sandra was greatly relieved to see her. Maybe she had been waiting there since the sun came up. Sandra pictured the poor girl sitting there on the front step of the mansion. Waiting hopefully for the others, being more and more scared after every passing minute that no one would come.
“Hi, Nadia,” Sandra said.
“Hi, Sandra.” Nadia waved. Her shoulder must have been sore. The arch of her wave jerked in a few spots.
Sandra and the others walked over to the gate and onto the mansion grounds.
“Hey Nadia,” Frank said. “Do you know who opened the gate?”
It was a good question to ask. If Nadia knew why the gate was open, they wouldn’t have to worry about it.
“I opened it,” Nadia said with a big smile.
That was a relief. They were there on their own. No gardener, maintenance man, or security guard to surprise them.
“Was it unlocked?” Dillan asked.
Obviously it had been unlocked if Nadia opened it. Sandra wondered if this was Dillan’s clever way of trying to figure out if Nadia had a key. After all, no one really knew anything about her. Maybe her family owned the old red brick and their religious commune was going to move from the farm into the mansion. Or maybe her mom or dad worked on the property. Either scenario would give Nadia a key and a key to the gate would be an amazing thing to have when planning the campouts on this property. No more bulky ladders to carry.
“Yes. Come on,” Nadia said.
Dillan looked a little disappointed with Nadia’s answer. Sandra wondered if it was because he was worried they might still run into someone on the property who was working in back and hadn’t seen them yet or if he really was hoping Nadia had a key or some other trick to unlock the gate. It didn’t really matter to Sandra. They had a system that worked for getting in and out of the Craine Mansion that had worked for years. A key really wasn’t necessary at this point.
Sandra walked past Dillan as Nadia started walking down the path. Nadia made it a little ways down before she turned and called, “Come on. Come on. Come on.”
Cleary it was safe to go in. The others grinned at each other and started down the path. Sandra jogged a little to get to the front of the line where Nadia was and started talking to her new friend.
“How’s it hanging?” Sandra asked.
Nadia didn’t respond. She kind of looked at Sandra as if she had heard her say something, but not heard it clearly enough to understand.
“What have you been doing lately?” Sandra asked.
Sandra changed her question deliberately. Maybe Nadia wasn’t so familiar with alternate ways of asking, “How are you?” Sandra had heard rumors that the people that lived on these communes spoke like they still lived in the 1920 and that anything that didn’t correspond with more old fashioned English was hard for them to comprehend. There was supposedly even a commune in which people still spoke Shakespearean English and wore clothes made from fabric they wove themselves and corresponded with what people would have worn during Shakespeare’s life.
“What have you been doing?” seemed like a question that Nadia would be able to understand better, especially if everyone else she knew spoke some kind of far out old English.
“Bringing people here,” Nadia said.
Sandra was a little surprised, but it was nice to hear that Nadia had other friends. She was a little awkward, but she was sweet. Sandra would have to ask her about her friends later. If these were other homeschooled kids or if they went to one of the high schools. It would be great if there was a whole group of undiscovered teens living in the area.
“Groovy,” Sandra said. “You must be an expert by now. So we’ll follow your lead.”
When they got to the door of the Craine Mansion, Frank insisted on tying his rope to one of the trees near the entrance. The rope was just one of the many supplies Frank brought in a backpack with him.
“This place is supposed to be haunted,” he explained. “We need a way to guarantee we can get back out again.”
The group looked at Frank a little curious. They all knew the stories, but there was a difference between saying it was haunted at the campfire for effect and actually thinking it was haunted. No one actually thought it was haunted.
“Just pulling your legs,” Frank said and smirked. “But it is an old building and it’s big. We don't want anyone getting lost or hurt. The rope will keep us together and get us out if we get lost.”
“Clever,” Sandra told him and Frank smiled big.
As they entered the house, Frank carried the rope and everyone followed him with one hand on their escape plan, except for Nadia. She walked ahead of the others. Nadia didn’t seem scared or worried about her surroundings. It was like she walked through these bizarre and creepy hallways every day. Sandra thought maybe she had. Nadia had, after all, told her earlier she had been bringing people here. That was probably why she was less concerned about safety than the others.
“There’s a garden,” Nadia told them. “People like the garden.”
Nadia walked confidently through a maze of halls and rooms until she got to a door. On the other side was a beautiful garden full of blue and white roses. Sandra had rarely seen a garden so well kept. The flowers were all perfect and in full bloom. There wasn’t a single wilted petal or obnoxious bug hovering around.
“Wow, Nadia,” Sandra said. “You’re right. The garden is out of sight.”
Sandra left the safety of the rope to get a better look at the stunning flowers. She had never seen blue roses before. Sandra wanted to touch them to see if they were real. They looked like something out of a movie or a dream. She wanted to smell them to see if they smelt the same as the roses behind her grandmother’s house.
As Sandra approached one of the nearby bushes, Frank grabbed her and pulled her back.
“We have to go,” he said. He grabbed Nadia too. Sandra went back to the rope, Nadia didn’t, so Frank kept holding Nadia’s arm.
“What is it?” Sandra asked.
Frank pointed at the ground beneath the rose bush Sandra had been headed towards. There were was a body. It appeared be a homeless man. Sandra thought she recognized the battered green pants as those of the old bearded man that Mister Dillard sometimes let sleep in the entry of the theater once the last movie of the night was done.
The group quickly made their way back through the mansion, climbing over discarded furniture and avoiding the cracked and broken planks in the wooden floor. Once they were outside, they had to make a plan. They couldn’t just leave that man there to rot. No one ever went that far into the Craine Mansion as far as they knew.
They would be in trouble if they said they went in there. There would be big trouble with the police, let alone their parents, once it got out what they were doing. Maybe if they went into the police station together as a group, there would be less blame on them individually. Maybe there would be more. It was hard to tell what the reaction would be to a group a teenagers finding a body in a building they had no right to be in. After several minutes of discussion, Frank stepped up and decided to take the fall for everyone.
“I’ll do it,” Frank said. “I’ll tell the police that I saw the gate open and got curious. I’ll tell them I was here alone.”
“Thank you,” Sandra said as she gave him a big hug.
With that, the group disbanded at the gate. There weren’t many directions to go from there, but with the shock of their discovery, some people wanted to walk alone and others didn’t. Sandra walked with Frank and Nadia down the lane.
While they walked in silence, Sandra wondered about the man. He was a drunk, but a friendly drunk. Maybe he had just come to the Craine Mansion to find a quiet place to sleep. Maybe someone lured him here. Sandra didn’t want to think that someone had brought the old man there to do him harm. Thinking of him dying of a heart attack on a hot summer night, peacefully amongst the flowers was better.
When they reached the end of the lane, the group huddled together for a goodbye.
“Rocky Horror is playing,” Sandra said. “It’s on at eight tonight at Dillard’s. It might be a good distraction.”
There were a couple of nods, Nadia was amongst them.
“We’ll meet at the doors at quarter till,” Sandra said. “I’ll ask Mister Dillard to put some tickets aside for us.”
Rocky Horror was fairly new. Not many people seemed to like it, but those who did went to see it more than once. It was a strange film, but Sandra thought it was fun. It was so different from all of the other movies she’d seen before. It was funny, strange, and had catchy songs. Even if the others didn’t like it, it would keep them distracted for a couple of hours. With their plan in place, the group dispersed and as they did, Sandra gave Frank another big hug for luck. Facing the police alone wasn’t going to be a pleasant task.