Avoid the traps at the front door
You hold the map in your hand as you survey the mansion. It’s a gracefully intimidating building, with arched roofs and brick walls turned gray-black by time and the weather. Your sneakers squeak on the cobblestone path leading up to the aged iron gate, all the time telling yourself that this would be the last time you would ever do such a thing. There were rumors about the place, that people who went in never left, that there was a ghost with no eyes prowling the top floor. Of course you don’t believe such things, those are just urban legends and stories they told to scare kids. And of course, knowing this doesn’t to quell the unease churning in your stomach.
As you climb over the fence, the leg of your jeans catches on one of the jagged edges and tears, sending you to a very ungraceful landing on the other side. Undaunted, you pick yourself up off the over-grown lawn and dust yourself off. Sure, these were new jeans but you could buy some more anytime, especially considering the mansion was said to be absolutely loaded with gold and other valuables. It was a selfish motivation for breaking into a long-abandoned mansion, but it’s not like it’s going anywhere and if anyone wanted it, they would have brought it out with them, right?
You made careful steps towards the front door; one rumor you did believe was that the place was rigged up with traps everywhere. Even if it turned out they were exaggerated, it didn’t hurt to be careful. The door opens with a loud whine from the tarnished brass hinge, the moonlight coating everything in a soft blue light and tar-black shadows. The entry hall is moss green carpeting and floral wallpaper stretching away into darkness. A few clicks and your flashlight illuminates rows of doors on either side of the halls.
Your hands are clammy with cold sweat as you tried a random door. Behind it is nothing but dusty furniture and paintings of desert landscapes. You try another one only to be greeted the rictus faces of hunting trophies and not much else. Finally, a third door way at the far end of the main hall turned up something more interesting to your avaricious quest.
The door led into a private gallery of sorts, full of sculptures and jewelry taken from obscure and ancient parts of the world, all kept in delicate glass display cases. Any single item from here would get you enough cash on the black market to live comfortably for a good, long while. But there was one item that catches your eye as the ghostly white beam of your flashlight drifts over it.
Written by feder on 08 March 2017