Manhattan Inheritance

I was a woman in my early forties, sophisticated and wealthy. My parents had passed away and I was coming into my inheritance - making me considerably wealthier. The object of my attention in my inheritance was a large building in Manhattan that had been the family city-mansion in my childhood, but which had been locked up and sealed off for decades. I went to unseal the mansion, knowing that it had been sealed for a reason, but not believing that anything was truly wrong with the place. I had only been eight or so when it was sealed away behind heavy locks and thick iron gates.

The building was about ten stories high judging from its exterior. It was narrow and wedged between two large gray concrete high-rises. Made of black glass and metal, it was dark and shiny, and looked both modern and yet old and neglected at the same time. The building was set back from the street with an open concrete courtyard in front of it, but locked behind the first layer of wrought-iron fences.

The day was dark and gray when I unlocked the first gate. I walked quickly and easily across the concrete yard to the next layer of gates. I used a large key on the gate, and pulled it open, and then opened the main doors to the building. They opened easily enough, but with the feel of releasing a vacuum seal.

The building was large and dark inside, lit dimly and warmly as if by candlelight, though the rooms were were so lowly lit that most of the walls and furnishings appeared black or dark gray. A tall, slender woman in Victorian clothing and large round glasses, with her hair in a bun approached me. She knew me, and tried to welcome me in a warm manner, but was oddly distant. She and two other people were in the building. One of the others was an older man, and the third may have been a middle aged man but he wasn't around much. Both wore upper class Victorian clothes. As I went about exploring the house, odd things started happening and it became apparent that the three house minders were ghosts. It also became clear that they were welcoming, but in a way that indicated that they would like me to stay with them in the mansion for forever.

I had a daughter and a husband who followed me into the mansion. We had been hoping to live there, but it was becoming clear that we had to escape and reseal the place. My daughter was the same age I had been when my family left the mansion. I sent them running ahead of me, while I had to fight off and evade the ghosts. I believe I made it out.