STORY BEGINS HERE

The Will

It was a dark and stormy night as the little red Honda struggled up the slick muddy mountain road. Roger kept a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel wishing he'd rented something with AWD instead. His wife Becky continued her futile efforts at finding a cell phone signal before at last giving up and jamming her iPhone back in her purse. The only sounds in the tense atmosphere of the car were the straining engine of the vehicle, the pounding rain, and the wipers slapping in a rapid steady rhythm.

"This can't be right." Becky gripes for the dozenth time as she peers up the towering cliff face to the right of the car. "We must have taken a wrong turn."

"The directions were clear. You've got them right there. This the right road alright." Roger replies.

Outwardly Roger remained calm though internally he shared his newlywed wife's concern. They had been driving for over an hour along this narrow back country road and it felt like they couldn't possibly get any further away from civilization if they tried. They hadn't passed a single other vehicle along the way and it had been half an hour since they lost signal. If they broke down out here the prospects of finding help were slim to say the least. If there wasn't the slim hopes of an inherited fortune on the line Roger would have turned around long ago.

"Why did your uncle live out here?" Becky asks.

"Great uncle, and as I already told you I only met him a few times when I was very young. He was the black sheep of the family, nobody liked to talk about him much. All I ever heard about him was that he was VERY wealthy and VERY eccentric. Some say he was mad."

"Why couldn't he have the reading of the will back in that lawyer's office?"

"I don't know Becky."

"And if he barely knew you why invite you at all?"

"I don't know Becky."

"And what's with all the weird conditions? Having to come right away with plane tickets provided. Not being allowed to tell anyone. Coming out here to the end of the earth. And the strange language of the invitation. 'Friends, family, confidants, and true believers.' What was that about? Did they send us an invitation by mistake? Are we even supposed to be here?"

Roger sighs. "I don't know Becky. I know as much as you do."

"It will be so late by the time we get back tonight." She pulls her jacket tighter around her body despite it being perfectly warm in the vehicle. "I don't like this Roger. Any of it."

"Should I turn around?"

Becky falls quiet and settles back into her seat.

It is only minutes later they turn a corner and see lights up ahead. "There it is! Finally!"

After one last climb the road levels off. Ahead of them is a grand gateway with tall wrought iron fencing stretching out from either side. Beyond this a couple of hundred yards, appearing through the mist of the pounding rain like a ghostly citadel, is a massive stone mansion which stood as an opulent relic of a bygone time. Its full glory was faded but its size and architecture made it an impressive sight nonetheless. The lights were on along most of the ground floor as well two dim sconces on each side of the main entrance. Parked out front were various other vehicles none of which he recognized, but if the other guests received the same invitation as he did these were likely rentals as well.

"This is definitely the place." Roger says.

As the red Honda enters the grounds a grinding hum could be heard.

"Roger, the gates are closing!" Becky exclaims too loudly as she stared wide eyed out the back window.

"Huh." Roger humphs. "I...guess we're the last to arrive. Come on, we shouldn't keep them waiting."

"Keep WHO waiting Roger?"

"I don't know Becky." Roger says as he parks the car. "I just don't know."