Yvaine felt her heart throbbing in her throat, threatening to burst into a million pieces.

An intense chill had encompassed the living room, turning the window glasses foggy. The lights kept flickering with more fervidity, making it seem that they would go out completely at any moment. The growing darkness and the chill made Yvaine feel that the room was closing on her.

But she could not move, not even a single inch. Every part of her body was frozen with both fear and cold. Her spine tingled and gooseflesh had erupted all over her skin that warm July evening. Try as she might she could move her eyes from the lady, rather the entity standing behind her.

It resembled a woman of medium stature, with long, wavy hair that fell till a little above the waist. It had a face like a rose petal and sharp facial features: high cheekbones and a straight nose.

It was clothed in a princess lined dress with ruffles and something like a shawl covered it from neck to below the chest. A sordid grimace was upon its thin lips.

But it was translucent, not solid like any other object present in that room. It was grey and misty and Yvaine could clearly see through what was behind it. The vicious cold which had so suddenly taken over the room emanated from it. What it was she could not understand.

The only feeling that had taken over Yvaine was that of intense fear and restlessness. Although for some reason unknown she kept staring at the entity, she wished to escape from it. She wished to turn away from it and run out of the room. But something held her back, making her grow restless.

All of a sudden a jounce of stabbing pain emerged in the middle of Yvaine's head. She put both her hands on her head as the pain increased beyond bearing. A horrisonant, hissing voice buzzed in her ears.

"Mina...Mina...goodbye Mina!"

"Mina...Mina...goodbye Mina!"

"Mina...Mina...goodbye Mina!"

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Yvaine yelled at the top of her lungs as the whispers began once more but with more intensity. She lurched away from the entity, her eyes closed in pain. She flailed her arms all around, in a vain attempt to stop the whispers.

Subsequently, Yvaine's hand fell on the glass bottle on the table. And no sooner did that happen, everything, the cold and the whispers extinguished. The pain in the middle of her head ceased as well. A harrowing silence took over the site.

Slowly, Yvaine opened her eyes, her breathing much more relaxed than before. She looked around the room with widened eyes, taking in every detail.

The lights had stopped flickering and shone brightly as before the horrific episode. The glass panes of the windows had cleared away. The chilliness had gone away totally, replaced by the earlier warmth of the evening. Neither could the grey entity be seen anywhere. Yvaine was all alone in the château.

A relieved exhale left Yvaine's lips. She turned around towards the table and found her hand still resting on the antique glass bottle. Beside it was the letter that she had brought out from within the bottle, laying the way she had kept it. At that moment it seemed to be that the whole thing which she had experienced was but a trick of her mind.

"How the hell did I hallucinate all that?" Yvaine mumbled to herself, wearing a deep frown on her forehead. She rose from her seat, slinging the handbag over her shoulder and picked up the bottle and the letter.

"Maybe I need to sleep." Staring one last time at the living room, Yvaine walked away to her bedroom.

***

That night, however, sleep did not come to Yvaine.

She tossed and turned in her bed, restless and wide awake. Despite the ceiling fan running at full speed and the windows on either side of the room being wide open, Yvaine sweated profusely. She just could not sleep.

Her mind kept returning again and again to the ghostly figure she had witnessed only a few moments back and the letter she had uncovered. Even in her sleep, she could see the loopy handwriting and the uncannily striking features of the apparition.

Wilhelmina Andras. That name flashed in front of her eyes. It was the same name that was written in the letter and even the whispers addressed someone called Mina. Could the whispers be also speaking about Wilhelmina Andras? Despite not having complete faith in their legitimacy, she could not shake the feeling of some connection between the whispers and the letter.

Yvaine sat up. Turning to her left she switched on the night lamp on the bedside table and picked up the glass of water set on it. Downing it in one gulp, she put it back down and picked up her mobile.

The lamp cast a soft yellowish glow over the room, filling it with a comfortable warmth. The light illuminated the rich cyan shaded walls of the room and the polished marble floor, whine shone brightly even at that liminal light. In the middle was situated an age-old oval bed, a mirror to the right of the bed, a bookshelf to its left and a side table right beside the bed.

Unlocking her phone, Yvaine clicked on the browser in her phone and began to type the name of Wilhelmina Andras in the search bar, curiosity blazing brightly within her eyes. She was sure that there ought to be something on the internet that would be relevant to her search.

She hit the search button. Instantly almost a thousand matches popped up on the screen of her mobile phone. Biting on her lower lip, Yvaine began to scroll, quickly moving away from the irrelevant websites and articles.

After a good few minutes of futile search, Yvaine had started to get annoyed. She was just about to click on the search bar and enter a different keyword when suddenly an article caught her interest. Narrowing her eyes she tapped on the hyperlink and began to read aloud the very intriguing composition.

UNKNOWN MYSTERIES OF THE 1800S: THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF WILHELMINA ANDRAS

"The 1800s were an era of various changes which had ultimately shaped the world as we know today. From momentous scientific and historical discoveries, it was an age rich with glory. But it had its own darkness and secrets.

Here in our first blog on the Unknown Mysteries of the 1800s, we present you with such an intriguing story from the small, unknown town of Andrasville, situated farther south of Maine in America.

On the night of 10th January 1882, Wilhelmina Andras, daughter of a rich and high-class family went missing from her family home in the Andrasville town. For three entire days, the local police searched for her without any results.

Wilhelmina at that time was only nineteen years of age and was unmarried, living with her brothers Jonathan and Johansson Andras and her seven-year-old niece Winona Andras. The brothers, one can imagine, were quite in shock at the disappearance of their maiden sister. Desperate at the failure of the local authorities, they made their own searches.

However, on 20th January 1882, tragedy once more struck the Andras family. The brothers Johansson and Jonathan and a family friend, Paisley Rose, were found by the townsfolk to have been stabbed to death.

Even after rigorous investigations made by the police, the cause behind the triple murders and the disappearance was never discovered and soon they were forgotten. Some theorists believe that it was the work of some supernatural force while others are of the opinion that it was the work of some kind of serial killer. The serial killer is thought to be one of the brothers themselves, Paisely Rose or perhaps some murderous mob. "

"Oh my goodness..." Yaine's eyes dilated as she completed reading the last line. This was certainly the Wilhelmina Andras referred to in the letter. Could that letter be a clue to her disappearance? Thought Yvaine, absentmindedly putting down the phone on her lap. If so, how did that letter end up in the bottle and the town library?

As the night darkened, the look on Yvaine's face darkened as well. This disappearance was calling her, she could feel it. She ought to find everything she could about Wilhelmina Andras. And perhaps, perhaps she might find the root cause of the mystery, a part of her hoped.

She will hunt down the archives tomorrow.