Early that morning I got up, did my daily chores and went to the kitchen to scrounge up something to eat, the manor was scarce of food and was reduced to practically jams and an orange. So, after a rather disappointing early morning I got straight to work on the cases. Maybe if I finished early I could leave this place and go on with my life. I worked for several hours on the cases and found almost nothing, they had disappeared without a trace. No warning or sign that anything could have happened. They were good kids, and the family as far as I could see had no enemies. Wait! There in the shadows of one of the pictures was a man, tall and slender. He was wearing a hood and appeared to be wearing a white mask, all that I could make of facial features we two very captivating glowing yellow eyes. The thing was, it didn’t look as if he was meant to be in the picture at all, he was off, underneath a tree in the background staring at the children as though he were watching over them. And as I looked at the other pictures I realized, he was in every single picture that the children were in. always off to the side, never realized by the children.
Throughout the day, I looked through the pictures and put them into chronological order along with the different times at which the children were taken. The figure in each picture appears to move closest to the child that had gone missing. I looked at their ages and discovered that they all went missing at the age of six. And he looked like a shadow over each one when their time had come. I also looked into who had taken the pictures, but no one could give me an explanation on who took them, not even the antient butler “Wilfred” could tell me anything. In fact, they have no memory of the pictures even being taken at all. The children, also had a blank expression on their faces, as if all the life had been sucked out of them. They were drained of all color or life.
It was getting late and I was about to wrap up my studies when I thought about the night before and the sounds I had heard. I decided to go to the children’s room and see if I could find anything. As soon as I sat foot in the small room I had stopped and immediately had the feeling to run as fast as I can out of the manor and never look back, but I had a job to do. I pushed past these childish fears of spirits and monsters and continued with my work.  I spent about 30 minutes in that room looking for anything I could find on this new figure. I supposed that since he only appeared with the children that they would have something there. Then as I was about to leave, the wall opened. it was a small door, just big enough for someone small to fit through. Luckily, I wasn’t too thick in the middle and I could fit, but it was a struggle. What I found in the room horrified me. And all I could hear running through my head that night was one name that I found in the room, Ucrylix.
 

I didn’t get much sleep that night, all that filled my head was that name, and that face, or lack thereof. And most of all the eyes, the eyes gave you the feeling of fear. It all just didn’t make sense. I didn’t stay in the room long, but what I found gave me plenty of reasons to leave. I found little dolls made of sticks hanging from the sealing as well as drawings and what looked to be an offering table with dried blood on the rough cold stone. But what I found most horrifying about the room despite the other monstrosities was my name, on a piece of paper hanging above the offering table. I locked the door and didn’t look back. I dint have any plans on going back there ever again. I needed to find out who this guy was and what his ties are to these children. And most of all why and how my name was in a room which had been closed for more than a year, way before I started working this case.
I went to town to ask around and found out that this Ucrylix figure is an urban legend that is told to scare children. However, they say like bigfoot and sea monsters, people say that they have seen him. it was so curious, when I went to town, it seemed to be deserted. I did however find two people who were willing to talk. I asked where these people have seen him, and they said mostly around the manor. I asked if they had ever had any physical ruins with the man, and curiously when I asked this I got a rather odd reaction. They both became lifeless and cold, and they said, in sync,  in an almost hissing voice, “he doesn’t work like that, he shows himself to you when he gets under your skin, when he exposes your true fears, only then will you get a physical reaction.” it was if I was talking to the strange figure himself, but he was talking about himself in third person. When I got back to the manor I sat down and tried to figure everything out. I tried to fight it but I knew deep down that I was going to have to go back to that dark cold room with the dolls and table and my name.
 

 I woke up to rain, and thunder. I went down to get some coffee, I couldn’t eat after the recent events that have haunted my troubling week. I sat at the table in the chilling silence once again. There were no record players in the house, nothing to keep me company. Maybe I was going insane. No! I would not sit here and mope about until the end of this week, I am going to find who is behind this and what the hell was going on. I pushed all my fears aside and stormed upstairs to the kid’s room where I was going to find out who I was dealing with. But, as I got closer to the door my hair stood on end and a chill ran up my spine as I heard a sound, a knocking sound, that of a rocking chair. I stopped and thought about turning around but I kept going and I heard the same breathing sound that I heard the first night, along with the rocking. I slowly opened the door and looked inside, nothing had moved. However, the hatch that led to the little room was wide open.
I crawled into the little room and was astonished to see four lit candles on the corners of the stone alter, and froze as I realized that my name was no longer written on the paper. No, it was written on the walls, all over them. From top to bottom in a black substance that was unidentifiable. Then it all happened at once, I heard I child say quietly in my ear, “sleep”, then it felt like someone hit me from behind.
 

I awoke in the bed, as if nothing happened. It all felt like a bad dream, I was in my night cloths and everything was straightened, even the coffee cup I specifically remember leaving on the kitchen table. I got dressed quickly and rushed to the children’s room. The hatch was still opened, but when I looked inside my name was off the wall and nothing was written except one sentence, “We Got You”. I didn’t look around, not at the altar, not in the kids’ room, I left. 
They, it, whatever, I was being used for something. And I don’t think it’s anything good. I went downstairs and thought over the week. What the people had said made no sense, “when he exposes your true fears”. Then it dawned on me, he has been playing with me this whole time, the storm, no music, and most of all the silence. My fear is being alone, and being isolated, he showed himself to me because he found my fear. I knew I had to get out of there as fast as possible. He was now in my physical world and he could strike at any time.
I got into the car they had at the manor and I drove ten feet and saw that a tree ad fallen in the rode, blocking my path. There was no way out. I remember the people talking about the Ucrylix and saying the only way to get rid of him is to face him and prove that you have conquered your fear. So, I turned back, went and got a drink of water, and prepared myself to meet him, to stare fear in the face and beat it.
 

 This was it, my last night here. People would come tomorrow, I had to face him tonight. If I didn’t he would never leave me alone, he would follow wherever I went. I had a whole day to prepare, I would be ready. I spent all day trying to comprehend what he wanted and what I needed to do. I knew where this meeting would take place, the first place we came into contact. That small room is where I would face Ucrylix and take my life back. I now realize that it was a mistake to come here, I should have never taken this case. It was five, it would be getting dark soon.
I was ready, I prepared myself, I waited in the room. And as soon as the clock struck six I heard the breathing, but this time accompanied by giggling. I noticed that I somehow didn’t feel scared. I noticed it all day, even though I should be. That’s when I realized that I was not alone. Other people were standing in the room with me. But to my surprise it was the butler, and all the other staff of the manor. And with a gasp I saw the three children who had gone missing, they were just standing there staring at me. I also saw the people who had helped me with the information on the strange figure, “Ucrylix”. Everyone with whom I had met this week was there. I asked “is everyone ok” and their response was horrifying and caught me off guard, but at the same time made so much sense. They said, “you are safe now child”. Then, like a rushing river it hit me. That I was never leaving this place, because I never made it out of this room that one night that I was hit. I died, and I looked down to see my body on the alter. I was a sacrifice to Ucrylix, and I know the reason why. He had infiltrated my fears and trapped my soul here, along with all the other people in the room. I now realize that the people whom I had gotten information from where the parents of the children. Ucrylix had taken all of these people’s souls.
 

I knew right then I was never leaving. The cab came to collect me on Sunday, the last day. I would have been able to go home and see my family, but never again. He left when I did not respond, I guess he thought I had left early. As I watched him drive off down the road, I felt a large hand on my shoulder, I looked up to see him standing there looking at me. Now, here, his presence was almost peaceful. He had removed the one thing that us humans have that weaken us, and that is fear. But in doing this he took away everything that I loved about life, my soul remains in this manor along with all the other poor souls that have been cleansed of fear. The manor was not sold and no one has been here for 70 years. My name is James Hardwick, and if anyone should find this letter, you are now in the home of Ucrylix.