Blackvine Manor Mystery Read Online Free Page A

plays music,” Maxwell says, trying hard not to accuse Alexis of hearing things that don’t exist. “Just some leftovers from that Amelia Tennon woman I told you about. You can keep it or toss it.”
    Alexis shrugs, casually stepping past him to eye the disintegrating box. On the ground in the corner she notices a folded note that fluttered out when everything fell. In thin, curvy penmanship she reads her own name. She puts her toe over it and leans down to brush dust off her black boots, deciding not to tell Maxwell her mother’s maiden name was Tennon.

Chapter Six
    Dearest Alexis,
    I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything I was not able to give you and everything that was taken away from you when I left.
    For everything you grew up without, please know the one thing that was never missing was my love.
    I love you and miss you every second of every day. I’m also sorry for everything you did get from me—the sweet tooth, the tangled hair, the drive to always know more. Be careful. If you are reading this, I’ve given you more than you know.

    Love always, A
    A lexis lets the letter drop to the floor next to her red sofa and slowly leans her head back. Staring at the ceiling she takes a few deep breaths as her mind battles over the weird coincidental discovery. Part of her knows she was led to Blackvine Manor, while the other part warns her and wants to dismiss it all as a strange, cruel joke.
    She lifts her head up. The worst part of the discovery is not the letter, but an earmarked, coffee-stained paperback book with Amelia’s careful notes in the margins. The author covers the entire range of clairvoyance from empathy to psychic medium and every extra sense in between. Alexis’ first response is of course her fanciful and irresponsible mother would believe in such nonsense. Though, if she can bring herself to believe it, then the strange experiences she’s had since moving into the reputed haunted building are all explained.
    “I just have to make the jump from aspiring ad executive to clairvoyant.” Alexis heaves a jagged sigh.
    She snaps the book back up and heads into her narrow kitchen to make a cup of tea. Leaning against the gleaming black granite counter, Alexis squares her shoulders and makes a decision to read the book. Maybe it’s the comforting closeness of the galley kitchen—the ceiling is nearly ten feet high but the built-in cabinets make it feel snug—or maybe it’s the familiar routine of the tea, a habit given to her by her practical, and non-fanciful, father, either way, she takes a deep breath and opens the first page.
    She immediately finds Amelia’s margin notes more interesting than the text itself. It only takes her two pages to realize the margins act as a diary for Amelia, recording her experiences at Blackvine Manor. Next to the definition of “clairaudient,” Amelia recounts hearing the pleading voice of Delia.
    She pleads with him, always telling him she loves him. Then she whispers to me to forgive. To love is to forgive, to forgive is to love – this haunts me most of all.
    The kettle whistles just as Alexis sees an entry that cracks open her heart. With a shaking hand she turns off the burner and lets the whistle slow to a whisper as she reads, everything fades outside of Blackvine Manor. Seeing is just blurs in the corners of my eye like everyone experiences. I can’t catch any words or whispers. A. J. is relieved. So I can’t tell him. The rent is low and I pay in cash from waitressing at a North side café. He thinks I’m restless and wandering but I’m here trying to master this, trying to hear and see. I owe her that much.
    It feels disloyal to continue and Alexis drops the book, turning her back on it to finish making the tea. Her father loved Amelia, suffered when she kept disappearing, and raised Alexis all on his own. He would be livid at all of this and rightly so; she shakes her head at how far astray she’s gone from just a week ago. Her mother is right