Gracey pulled up to the gates of the Ashbrook Castle grounds. He couldn’t go through the gates themselves because there weren’t any guards to open them. Even if there were, the gates were cordoned off by barriers and crime scene tape. 

He took off his jacket and got out of his car, rolling up his sleeves. All the heavy lifting for the barriers left him out of breath, but he wasn’t finished even when he made a path. He walked up to the gates and ripped off the bright tape. 

“This was so much easier a few years ago. God, I’m getting old.” Gracey grunted as he slowly opened the gates that were wrought iron and twenty feet tall. “The security guards must have been in amazing shape, having to do this every day.”

He huffed in air as he got them open enough to fit his car. Instead of immediately driving through the gates and up the long drive to the castle, he just sat there. He was covered in sweat and his heart thumped loudly in his ears. During the was, he could go for hours-long rucks without feeling as tired as he did now… or maybe he was just remembering with rose colored glasses. 

He put his car into drive and crept through the gates and up the drive. If he didn’t get to the castle soon, Lawrence would arrive to the gates with the coroner. How embarrassing would that be? Especially after he’d already gone and talked up a big storm about going on ahead. It would look like he was scared. 

As he neared the bend in the road, he thought he saw a light and looked in the rear view window and back down. Then quickly back up again. 

SCREECH! His foot his the break and he reversed back to where he could see the gate. 

He raced out of the car and back around the bend so that he could see the gates. Open. Exactly where he left them. 

“Gracey, you need to stop listening to those ghost stories. You’re starting to lose your mind now.” He muttered.

He could’ve sworn he just saw the gates shut with an ostentatiously-dressed man crucified on it. But the gates were exactly how he’d left them. He dug into his pocket and brought out his flask, then thought better of it and put it back. Liquor wouldn’t help him. He wasn’t sure there was enough liquor in the world to help him. 

He got back in the car and put it in drive, but looked up again at his rearview mirror. It was a habit. And one that was disconcerting tonight. Why? Because the body’s back on the gate and he can make out more details: his chest cavity ripped open, and his insides hollowed out. His outfit wasn’t just a dark color, it was covered in blood. 

Gracey turned around, but couldn’t see what he saw in the mirror. He just saw the open gates. He ran his hand through his hair. He hesitated before looking back into his rearview mirror. The body was there again. 

“How much did I drink tonight?!”

He threw a kerchief over the mirror and drove to the castle. He did NOT have time to deal with this.