Category: Property

Things weren’t looking good for Rylee. With her leg broken and a haunted conveyancing museum attempting to end her life, she had significant doubts over whether she’d escape. Finding a relatively safe corner to hide in, for a long while she simply hoped that the haunted papers and furniture would forget all about her, but after two hours, that didn’t seem to be the case. And so, if she was going to make it out, she’d have to crawl through the maelstrom and hope for the best.

Just as she prepared to push herself through the pain and leave her hiding spot, a paper bat crashed into the wall near her, falling to the ground in a clear daze. Rylee extended her arm and snatched the paper, unfolding it. The document appeared to be by a conveyancer operating near Brighton, detailing a property settlement, although it was only half-finished. The paper struggled in her hand, attempting to break free of her grasp. Rylee held tight, an idea forming in her mind.

She’d once worked as a buyer’s agent, real estate agent and pretended to be a conveyancer in the Mentone area, as well as numerous other Melbourne suburbs. She was perfectly qualified to complete this piece of work. Besides, even if nothing happened, the mere fact that it was half-finished bothered her quite a bit, so she simply had to do something about it.

Rylee pulled a pen out of her pocket and began to complete the paperwork, even as the paper continued struggling against her. It wasn’t easy, but eventually, she managed to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s.

When the job was done, the paper immediately stopped struggling. It went limp, then fell to the floor as she let it go. Slowly, the paper began to fade, until it was no longer there at all. 

Rylee put the pen away and considered what had just happened. It seemed the restless papers simply wanted their conveyancing business completed, so if she could put them to rest, maybe she would be able to get out of here safely. It was worth a shot, at least.

Tears streamed down Maphira’s face as Vai dragged her away. Rylee knew? How could she possibly have known? For years, Maphira had wanted to tell her the truth, that’s she’d seen Cole die, that she even considered herself partly responsible for it, but instead she’d simply claimed he had gone missing, too afraid to reveal the truth.

She’d been on a special assignment, years ago now. It had been the biggest case of her career, investigating a crime syndicate that had appeared in Melbourne. Cole hadn’t been a cop, but he’d begged her to bring him along. After all, the Syndicate’s latest victim was none other than Cole’s best friend.

Against her better judgement, she’d brought him along. It wasn’t supposed to get dangerous, but the Syndicate had caught the scent of their investigation and ambushed Maphira and Cole. She’d escaped with her life; he hadn’t. And the fact that she’d brought him with her was something she’d never had the courage to reveal.

The fact that Rylee knew and had somehow already forgiven her only made Maphira feel worse, as Vai dragged her through the haunted conveyancing firm. Distantly, she heard Vai’s voice, musing about whether this place was haunted by the spirits of past conveyancing solicitors. Maphira was too distracted by her own memories to give it any thought.

They entered a new section of the conveyancing museum, where things seemed to be a little less chaotic. Maphira wiped tears from her eyes and heaved for breath. She looked back, down the corridor, through the section dedicated to the many conveyancing firms in Sandringham.

“You better make it out of there alive,” Maphira said, thinking of her sister. They had their differences and their issues, but at the end of the day, nothing could break the bond between them.

“She’ll be fine, Mai,” said Vai. “She’d gotten out of worse situations, I’m sure. And besides, she worked as a real estate agent/buyer’s agent/conveyancer for a while. If anyone can get out of a haunted conveyancing museum, it’s her.”