10 The Previous Owner

"The previous owner? Why do you want to know?"

"Well I saw a couple of his pictures while I was cleaning the place and I was just a little curious." even if Daniel wanted to complete the missions quickly, he couldn't ask her directly without looking suspicious.

Elena raised her eyebrows and gave him a odd look, to which Daniel could only give her a wry smile, but after looking at him for a few second she finally gave in. "Well I didn't really know him personally, but my dad told me that he used to be a really nice guy. He brought his dog with him to the house, and let the little kids play with it, while their parent were inside. I don't really know what happened to him though, my dad just said that one day he came in and gave him a resignation letter, after that he just never came to work again."

Quickly checking his phone, Daniel noticed that the mission was still there. I need more information. Something must've happened to him after he left.

Daniel thought he needed to ask someone else, but before he left he had one more question. "Do you know what happened to his dog?"

Elena looked sad as though the memory brought her great pain, "I heard he was put down."

"Put down? You mean he was killed, but why? Was he sick?" Suffice to say, Daniel was surprised. He had seen pictures of the dog and he didn't think that there was anything wrong with him, if anything he was rather lively in most photos.

"About this, I think you should ask someone else," Before Daniel could even continue the conversation, Elena had ran out of the room without even so much as sparing a glance at him.

That was weird. Why did Elena run out of the room when I asked her about the dog? It seems that she knows more than she's willing to tell, the problem is I don't have any way to make her talk. We just met yesterday and she still doesn't trust me completely. If I want to complete this mission, I'm going to have to need to talk to someone who knows more, someone who would know about everything that goes on around the park.

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"Hello Daniel, what brings you to my office today." Sitting Directly opposite to manager Miles, was Daniel.

"Hello uncle Miles, I was just thinking that maybe the haunted house needed a computer, you know so that when we get some cameras we can hook them up with the computer and monitor the visitors from there." Before he came here, Daniel had already prepared a reasonable excuse, though it would be a lie to say that this was just an excuse. The haunted house really did need a computer screen or a small TV if it was going to be able to better care for its visitors.

"Why would you need to monitor the visitors," manager Miles looked unconvinced. The haunted house had operated for several month without any cameras, so why would they need them now?

"Well in case one of the visitors gets lost inside the haunted house or faints, I thought we could use the cameras to find him quicker."

Manager Miles thought about it for a second and then gave out a hearty laugh. "You're an ambitious one, aren't you? Well I have to say, that so far I'm liking it. I'll tell you what, I think I have an old computer sitting in storage, I'll call in Jack later to bring it to you."

Phew, well at least that's thing I've knocked off the list. There's just one more thing left do.

"Actually uncle Miles, there's one more question I have."

"What is it?"

"Well I was just curious about what happened to the previous owner of the haunted house, and I was hoping you could tell me a little more about him."

Immediately after having asked that, manager Miles looked spooked as though Daniel had brought up some taboo. "Did anyone tell you anything?"

That definitely wasn't an average reaction. It looks like there is more to the previous owner than I initially thought.

"No, I was just looking through a couple of old pictures that I found in the haunted house, and I got a bit curious that's all."

Manager Miles looked relief as he turned to look at Daniel. The previously warm and inviting atmosphere was long gone and all that was left was cold and serious air that was slightly unnerving. "Look he was just a crazy old man, that was off his meds. He was dragging the reputation of the park down, so management forced him to quit. That's the end of the discussion, I'll have Jack bring you the computer later."Not long after having said that, manager Miles had kicked Daniel out of his office and locked the door.

This is completely different from what Elena told me, does that mean that she lied to me? One of them ran away from me, and the other one kicked me out of his office, they're both acting very suspicious. I'll need to talk to Elena about this again.

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Back at the haunted house, Daniel was laying on his bed as he though of all the weird things that have happened that day. First the bone that he thought he had placed next to him, had mysteriously moved onto the field out back. Then when he tried to ask Elena and manager Miles about the previous owner they both gave him different answers, not to mention that they also seemed to be avoiding the topic. If at first Daniel was just trying to complete the mission, now he was fully invested into solving this mystery, however the entire situation was giving him a headache. Deciding that it was best to start all over, Daniel thought back to what happened this morning.

Let's see, first I woke up like normal. Wait just a second. I woke up just like normal? I haven't been able to sleep like normal since the accident. Thinking back on it, I don't remember my sister showing up at all that night. AAaaaahhhh, This isn't helping at all. Just what happened last night and what's up with everyone. I'm just making even more questions instead of solving them.

Eventually the park had close down, and Daniel was no closer to the answer than he was a few hours ago. He had wasted the entire day thinking in bed, and at this rate he was going to fail his second mission, not to mention that Elena never came back so Daniel couldn't interrogate her again. Overall the day was a disaster for Daniel.

He was still laying in bed depressed, when Daniel thought he heard something. The sound wasn't very loud, but the park becomes very quiet after closing hours making every weird noise especially clear, like drawing a small white line on black paper. It would've been barely noticeable if it was done on white or grey paper, but because it was done on black paper it stood out like a sore thumb. Immediately after having heard something, Daniel froze in place as he stood like a statue. He wasn't quite sure if he had heard something or if he had just imagined it, but Daniel thought he should play it safe and wait a couple of second.

As luck would have it, the sound did indeed come back after a couple of seconds, and this time Daniel knew he didn't just imagine it. The sound was definitely there, and it seemed to be coming from the front door of the haunted house. Slowly but surely the sound became increasingly clearer to Daniel. It was the sound the doorknob makes when it's being turned around. Daniel wasn't quite sure what to do. The park had already closed and he had made sure that the doors were locked after he came back from his visit with the park manager.

Daniel was sure it wasn't a thief, because no thief would ever break into an amusement park for a couple of buck, especially a haunted house that's been closed down for months. Even if it were a thief, they were far more likely to break into any of the other places that make money, such as the coffee stand of the burger joint in the food plaza. Daniel was sure this person had come to the haunted house specifically for a purpose, however he didn't think it would be any good considering that he broke in after hours.

Daniel quickly turned off the lights and slowly started to tip toe to the bathroom. He held his breath as he tried to make as little noise as possible, and very carefully opened the door as he grabbed a mop. Daniel went back to the staff break and glued himself to the side of the door ready to ambush anyone that came in. As he hugged the wall, Daniel could hear the door opening and closing very quietly, as if the person were afraid of being caught.

Eventually Daniel could hear soft footsteps gradually coming closer to the door. The floorboard creaked as they approached the door with a steady gait, and like the rhythmic ticking of an antique clock, the footsteps eventually made it to the end of the hall and stopped just outside of the door. After a couple of second had passed, Daniel could see the doorknob turning slowly and the door creaking as the door opened up just a little.

As if confirming there was nothing there, the person behind the door heaved a relieved sigh and opened the door fully. Daniel, whose heart was threatening to burst out of his chest, tightly gripped the mop with his sweaty hands as he struck down quickly.

THUMP!

Once again the quiet of the night had been broken by a very loud banging. Daniel, in all his nervousness, had swung with all of his strength and the mop had made clear contact with the perpetrator. The person staggered forward for a few seconds, before eventually falling to the floor with a loud thud. Daniel's heart was on fire and his hands were trembling as he dropped the mop onto the floor, and slowly approached the person to see if he was really knocked out. After a few kicks, Daniel could confirm that he was really out cold.

Immediately Daniel could feel all of his tension drop, as a cool and refreshing feeling swept over his body. The feeling was so intense that Daniel felt as though he was taking a cold shower on a hot summer day. After a couple of seconds had passed the feeling slowly faded, and Daniel finally remembered what he should do. He very carefully stepped around the body and turned on the lights, as he faced what was now the unconscious but familiar body of the perpetrator.

"Isn't this...."