After much effort, the explorer stood at the back of the house, having worked his way under the low branches of old trees and through the overgrown bushes and waist-high weeds that hampered his progress. He gazed through the map, it was the exact location he was. A single window adorned the back wall. He walked toward a window denied access by high bushes, a large tree spread its limbs within inches of the cracked. Inching his way up the tree and out the limb, the explorer gasped with astonishment as he peered through the dirty glass. The room appeared to have been largely untouched by the fire that had ravaged the rest of the house. Excitement coursed through the young man's vein.
"This room might reveal what the rest of the house must have looked like before the fire and may provide clues he needed to determine who had lived here and why the house had been left to rot instead of being rebuilt" He said as he picked a dairy that lay open on the desk. "Who would have thought such a room could exist in this ruined house?" He asked himself as he walked farther down the hall revealing a small sitting room with the hulks of rotting furniture leaning against two walls.
"Perhaps other treasures awaits me in the part of the rooms I can't see"
Benard smiled, his chin revealing a deep dimple. For years he had wanted to explore this shell of a house but his mother had strictly forbidden it, reminding him that the forlorn gate to the fence that surrounded the property contained a faded "No trespassing" sign. Everybody believed it wasn't safe. Today no one could stop him, for he had bought the house a few hours ago to satisfy his curiosity.
He flipped through the pages of the diary and was astonished with the details it contained. A few pages of the diary were sticky and already fading some details, but a good part of it contained information that was still useful to uncover certain truths about the house.
"Donald Lee?" Shocked to realize the building was owned by his grandfather, no one ever told him nor did his mum, maybe she never knew he concluded as he flipped open more pages reading faster this time to grasp more details. Each page from the diary holds a secret that may have led to the ruin. It happened to Donald, his grandfather had collected a huge loan to save his family during the famine in 1890. The creditor, James Yuan, was interested in his building and he did everything possible to ensure he couldn't pay back bringing up an unrealistic deadline and interest. Unexpectedly to James Yuan, Donald got the money but James Yuan refused to accept it and he collected the building by force. Donald was pained and he cursed the house and ever since the house was haunted, following one disaster after another. Benard sighed, no wonder the house had been desolate for so long. His mother never told him this part of the story when he was growing up, his curiosity had been what had brought him this knowledge itching to fulfill his boyhood dream of restoring the house to its former grandeur.
"No son, the house wouldn't amount to any good" his mum told him when he told her of his plans to restore the building. He handed over the diary to her, "Do you know this building was initially owned by your father Donald Lee?" The shock in her face told her she had no idea, this probably must have happened before her birth.
"My Dad?" She recaptured as she opened the diary to find out what was inside, "where did you find this?"
"In the ruined house, a part where the fire had not touched"
She read through the diary and soon became emotional.
"Our dad never told us, all we knew about him was that he lived in pain the remaining days of his life. Rebuilding the ruined house may probably be his desire wherever he is, " she said, her eyes filled with tears. "We'll do this together," she added.
A few weeks later, the rebuilding of the house started, breaking down the part that was weak but trying to maintain some details that still held relevance to how the building was. Soon the work was done, with more decorations and ornaments that made the once old building more beautiful than it was from the beginning.
