Chapter 2
She was soaked. Her hair was matted, her clothes were wet, and she was cold. She could feel her self start to shake “Great” she thought aloud “almost raped, now pneumonia.”
She walked down the long dark hallway, looking at the art and structure of everything. She then noticed the painting on the wall…it was blank, just black paint. “Strange” she said and stepped closer incase she missed something.
Suddenly a face appeared in the painting of a young girl “Hello!” she said cheerfully.
She looked into the fire as it danced around the fireplace, some sparks escaped and leaped out at her but none ever reached her, then again it seemed like nothing ever reached her. She knew it was pitiful to feel sorry for herself but there were some things that couldn’t be helped, it was human nature. “What did you think you were doing?” goosebumps appeared on her skin as she felt the cold chill flow over her.
His anger was higher than it had ever been, as he watched her leave he suddenly realized what he’d done. His anger was suddenly replaced by unbearable guilt.
Raven pushed himself further and further picking up speed as he went along trying to find the trail they had come to this horrid place by. Tara couldn’t tell the difference between the tears streaking down her face or the rain that was falling from her soaked hair. She couldn’t get away fast enough, the rain began to come down harder and harder, and they noticed the dead wood they were in but didn’t care, all that was on their minds were getting as far away from the house as possible, one was escaping a monster, another protecting his friend. A roar sounded in the distance along with a few howls. Raven immediately stopped and spun around “Whoa Raven” Tara said trying to sound calm “It’s okay boy, it’s okay.”
Raven stopped immediately when he felt himself a little lighter, he turned to see Tara flying backward and landing a few feet from the wolves. The wolves crowded around it and Raven ran for them, kicking and hitting anything that moved toward Tara, suddenly a wolf bit his leg. He cried out in pain and tried to get the wolf off of him, but it held tightly, he then turned to see all the wolves leap at him.
Raven then started tossing his head, as if pointing. She looked up and gasped.
There was a large castle like house before her, the front seemed to go on forever before stopping at two towers which had demon looking creatures perched on the tops of them looking out into the forest, her house doubled up wouldn’t even reach it’s roof, there was windows all over with dark red curtains covering them. She saw that there were gargoyles on the roof looking down at her with scowls on their face, and on the arch above the doorway was a dragon wrapped around it and looked down at her with a evil smirk on it’s face. She got off Raven and walked up to the door, then shuttered when she saw the demon with it’s face twisted in anger, and a knocker in it’s mouth. She reached out with a shaky hand and knocked three times. She heard nothing but the hallow echo of the sound through the house. So she reached down to the knob and pushed the door open. She looked around, and immediately noticed the smell, it wasn’t dingy like most dark places were supposed to be, it wasn’t a sharp stench, it was…it was…nice. It was the scent of the ocean, it was a scent that seemed to somehow calm and welcome her that was different from the uncomfortable surroundings. There was a large hallway before her that had two sets of stairs along the walls leading up with cobra’s as the railings. To her left was a large dining room, and to her left was a parlor. “Hello!” she called “Is anyone here?”
She walked into the parlor not seeing the two eyes that had watched her since she came in, they followed her and looked her over a few times. Standing in the darkness he leaned forward into the light, but not letting himself be known yet.
She looked around the dingy room that was amazingly clean, no cobwebs, or dust. She looked around quietly trying to find a phone when she turned to see a large mirror in the corner. Immediately she knew it wasn’t like any other mirror she had seen, instead of the demons, and gargoyles that were around the house it was surrounded with angels and one that smiled down at her with a gentle eye. She looked into the mirror and noticed…it glowed. She looked into it and swore she saw a man, a man kneeling before an angel looking up at her pleadingly, the angel reached down and touched his face then…
“What are you doing here?”
The hair on her arms and neck stood up with fear as she heard the cold voice behind her. She slowly turned to see a shadow in the corner, a tall dark shadow with only two royal blue eyes showing…cold as ice shooting spears into her. “I-I” she stuttered “I’m l-looking for a ph-phone” she told him “I…g…got lost in the woods and…and I needed to find some shelter.”
“So you decide to just break into my house?” he asked, his voice dripping with anger.
“No” she said “I was knocking, and no one came…so…so…”
“So you decided to let yourself in” he said.
“Look if you want me to leave then…”
“NO!” someone screamed.
“What?” she said.
“Ignore him” the man said, he then huffed “Very well” he said “You may stay. You can go anywhere you wish except the North West part of the house. There are stables in the back for your horse. You can have any room you want, but you must leave in the morning, there is no phone here…understand?”
She nodded slowly “yes” she said.
He growled lowly before walked out in the shadows. She felt a shiver run up her spine, he was so cold, and mean. She could tell that the isolation must’ve made him bitter. She shook her head before walking to the entrance and out to take Raven to the stables.
He walked up the stairs “Why did you do that?” he asked in a cold voice.
A face formed in the painting beside him of a middle aged woman, “You were about to send away your own redemption” the woman said.
“Why do you care?” he asked “You put me here.”
“Okay first of all, you put yourself here. You were the one thinking you were the greatest thing to grace this earth since Adam. And second, I care because I think you’ve been here a little too long, you need to get out of here as soon as possible Nick, and running every chance you have of completing a normal life isn’t the way to do it.”
“Leave me be” he said.
“I don’t think…”
“LEAVE!” he yelled.
The woman stepped back in shock “Yes sir” she said then faded into the painting.
“Ahhhhh!” she screamed.
The girl cried out and disappeared. Tara’s eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at the painting. “Oh…my…god” she whispered “I’ve entered a haunted house with the Phantom of the Opera as the host."
"Actually…yeah…your right."
She froze and turned to see an older looking woman with a sweet smile behind her "Who are you?" she asked.
"Don't worry dear" the woman said "We won't hurt you. We couldn't even if we wanted to."
She stepped back a little in fear "W-Who are you?" she asked.
"Me? My name is Denise Darling" she said "The little girl you just saw was…or is my daughter Hope."
"Um…hi…My name's Tara" she said.
"Well hello Tara, what are you doing soaked to the bone?" she asked.
"I-I um, got caught in a storm" Tara replied.
Denise shook her head "And you don't even have a coat! Well, come along dear, go downstairs and we'll start up the fire place for you, come along" she said.
"That's very kind of you" Tara said "But you do that, and I'll be right down" she said.
The woman nodded and disappeared.
Once the woman was gone she turned to the one hallway she hadn’t been down, it was dark, dingy and seemed to taunt her. She often felt like Pandora, curiosity always poking at her to do things that she knew she shouldn’t do, and like Pandora opening the box she wanted desperately to see what was down that hall. What was so bad about it? Was there some monster hiding in there? What was he hiding? Besides himself?
She slowly walked toward the hallway when a voice stopped her “No!” it cried, “Don’t go in there!”
She recognized the voice from the one that had screamed downstairs, she turned to see a man standing in a picture, he was dressed in 18th century clothes with a feather in his hat, holding a musket “Uh…who are you?” she asked.
“Call me Phillip” he told her in an thick French accent “I am the servant of the Master…and you cannot go down that hallway.”
She gave him a lazy look, “And you think you can stop me” she said.
“No” he said “But I can see right now that you don’t really want to go, you’re just trying to satisfy your curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Please, that is such a bull of a line, why did it have to be the cat? Oh wait, I know, because it rhymes…well it doesn’t exactly rhyme but…” she stopped when she realized she was rambling “nevermind, I guess I’ll go downstairs now.”
He watched her leave and chuckled. “What’s so funny?”
He immediately stopped when he saw the Master standing there.
She turned and saw his icy blue eyes glaring at her, he was still settled in darkness, with nothing but his eyes seen…his eyes…that fire had nothing on them right now. “Excuse me?” she asked.
“I saw you” he said “You were going to go into the North East part of the house! I told you NOT TO!”
She jumped when he yelled at her “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE!”
Fear unlike she’s ever known struck her, and she could feel her chest tighten, unable to breathe, she then began to studder “I-I’m s-sorry” she said “I-I-I d-d-didn’t…”
“GET OUT!” he yelled.
“But…”
He picked up the nearest vase and threw it at her “GET OUT!” he yelled.
She dodged the vase before running the other way and out the back.
She burst through the doors and ignored the rain, she ran to the stables, took Raven out, and jumped on his back only bothering to put on his bridle but not his saddle. “Let’s get out of here” she said.
He let himself fall back onto the chair behind him “Oh god” he said “What have I done?”
A pack of wolves suddenly surrounded them and began snapping at Raven, Raven reared up and ran as fast as he could from the wolves. The wolves were right on Raven’s hooves, nipping at his legs, trying to stop them. Tara screamed when one tried to jump at her, Raven kicked the wolf away before picking up speed, Tara turned and only saw the branch a second before everything went black.