Chapter 5 Mystical

Bernard pressed the bell, waiting for a few moments for the owner to come out.

"Mr. Aaron. I don't know what brings you here. Please come in," he said as he opened the door wide.

The aura of condolence was thick on the late Ivy's mother.

But when she found out that her guest was Aaron Rodriguez, a rich and famous young man, the middle-aged woman immediately pulled her lips into a wide smile.

Aaron sat on the sofa haughtily, while Bernard stood a step behind his master.

"Just a moment, Mr. Aaron. I'll go to the back first to get a drink and some snacks," Mrs. Ivy allowed.

"No need. I didn't come here to enjoy the banquet," Aaron refused coldly.

Aaron's unfriendly tone of voice made Brianna instantly speechless.

"Since I'm not one for small talk, let's cut to the chase. I heard that your daughter's death was linked to the Rodriguez family. Is that true?" Aaron asked intimidatingly.

Brianna was confused. She didn't know what to answer. If she confirmed the man's accusations, she would be asking for trouble, but...

"No need to be shy with me, just tell me the things that are weighing on your mind," Aaron encouraged Brianna to talk.

"I apologize profusely in advance, sir. I in no way meant to make the Rodriguez family a scapegoat...," Brianna said, not feeling comfortable continuing.

"Continue!" Aaron ordered, seeing that Brianna was not continuing.

"Before, Ivy was a girl with a bubbly personality. But somehow, sometime before she was found dead in the lake, I couldn't recognize my daughter...," Brianna's tears interrupted her sentence.

"Is it related to the change in behavior?" asked Aaron, interrupting Brianna's tears of mourning.

"Yes, sir."

"She said she was scared many times. And when I asked her what was wrong, she said she had seen a monster," Brianna wiped her tear-stained cheeks.

"Who was the monster she was referring to?" Aaron asked impatiently. The question and answer session was tough as Brianna continued to cry.

"Mr. Ellard's monster. Several times Ivy said she was afraid to meet him."

Brianna's wide-eyed glare collided with Aaron's sharp, glare.

"Does your daughter know that Ellard is dead?"

Aaron's question was met with silence. "Why the silence?"

"That's precisely what I wanted to ask, sir. Is it true that Mr. Ellard is dead? Why...,"

"Enough!" hurriedly interrupted Aaron.

The two excused themselves from there without a word.

***

The lights began to come on, replacing the dusk that disappeared into the darkness and the bone-chilling cold wind. Witnessed by the sprinkling of twinkling gems up there, Bernard had just gotten his hands dirty by eliminating those who were deemed to have been a stumbling block to his Master.

"Will the removal of the late Ivy's family cancel the summons to demolish the Rodriguez mansion, sir?" asked Bernard.

"It's not that easy, Bernard," said Aaron, "We can't possibly hide the smoke if the fire is already burning."

Why does his master like to play with words so much? Bernard, whose brain capacity did not match that of his master, was left thinking hard.

"Do you know my biggest regret, Bernard?" asked Aaron to change the subject.

"No, sir," Bernard replied straightforwardly.

"Letting that one asshole live instead of rotting in hell." Aaron's aura of resentment was inescapable. "I'll have to clean up this mess all by myself."

The Rodriguez Mansion was a hereditary legacy. He did not want the ancestral heritage from the time of the ancestors to be destroyed in his hands.

"I can't handle all this mess alone. We have to use other people," Aaron muttered.

"Who are you referring to, sir?"

"You'll know when we get to the mansion," Aaron said as he walked into the car.

"We're going back to the mansion now, sir?"

"No, there are still other places I want to go."

Bernard drove the car as Aaron directed. Towards a strange place that Bernard had never been to.

"Stop, Bernard!" Aaron ordered when the car they were driving arrived.

"What is this place we're going to, sir?" asked Bernard nervously. He wasn't afraid of the invisible creatures whose mystical aura so thickly enveloped this wooden house. Bernard was just afraid that the rickety building would collapse on them.

"See for yourself!"

Not even the soles of their shoes touched the ground, but the door in front of them was already open as if the master of the house was waiting for their arrival. "You've come too, young man!" greeted the host.

"You saw for yourself, didn't you? He knew we were coming," Aaron praised Bernard for the sharp instincts of the old man standing in the doorway.

"But the old man could have known because he heard the sound of a car stopping," but Bernard didn't dare voice it, of course.

"Uncle Roger, how are you?" asked Aaron with uncontrived friendliness, even the 29-year-old man extended his hand to shake.

Who exactly was the old man? Bernard didn't know.

"I'm doing very well. I'm glad to see you still remember your name and this rickety abode so well," he said with a big smile.

"You are too modest, Uncle Roger. After all, your kindness is not something that is easily forgotten," Aaron retorted.

"If you're already getting compliments like this, what can I do for you?" Uncle Roger asked straight to the point.

"You know me very well."

That was the extent of their conversation, as Aaron then led his not-so-young Uncle Roger to the Rodriguez mansion.

"Didn't I hear you wrong? As far as I'm concerned, your mind is too logical to be crammed with mystical things," Uncle Roger said when he found out that Aaron invited the old man to the Rodriguez mansion to see the invisible irregularities in the warehouse.

"I hate this kind of thinking. But what can I do, I'm curious."

Later, Bernard found out that the old man Aaron had invited to their house was the undertaker of Aaron's parents' funeral. So the old man was already familiar with mystical things.

"You can check it out tomorrow."

After escorting Uncle Roger to the room, Bernard, who couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer, finally expressed it to Aaron.

"Are you sure about all this, sir? Regarding the existence of invisible beings, are you beginning to believe in their existence?"

"Are you kidding, Bernard? Of course not," Aaron denied, laughing at Bernard's conservative thinking.

"Even at this point, you still don't know what plan I'm trying to come up with?" Aaron asked his assistant and confidant.

"No, sir," Bernard replied briefly and straightforwardly.

"I'm spreading the word that the mansion is indeed haunted, especially among the servants," Aaron explained.

"Lately, Ellard has been disobeying my orders not to appear too often."

"Are you talking about Valerie's maid, sir?" asked Bernard to confirm.

"You're right. My hunch is, that one girl won't stop until she gets what she wants."

"Then why don't you just kick the girl out?"

"That girl will come in handy someday. News travels fast through social networks. It doesn't matter if it's just a hoax though. She's a journalist. Do you remember?" Aaron pulled one lip into a purposeful smile. His brain was already stringing together many tactics.