The doors squeaked on their hinges. The floorboards were rotten and creaky. And it was always dark. Ross, Monica, Rachel, Joey and Chandler should have listened to Phoebe when she said that Black Rose Castle was haunted…
Ross had heard of a huge archeology dig near the town Black Rose in England, so he had offered to bring the whole crew up to Black Rose Castle and they'd stay there until the dig was over. But Phoebe insisted that the place was haunted, and refused to come.
OoOoOoO
When they arrived at the airport, Monica's phone rang. The reception was terrible and in a remote area like Black Rose, and she could only here a few sentences from Phoebe: "Watch yourselves out there… …Tawny owls… omens of bad luck or death… Find the library… do research… Gotta go… Pizza here…" Then she hung up.
"What'd Phoebe say?" Ross asked Monica.
"She just told us to watch ourselves and to find the library to do research on the town or whatever. Phoebe stuff." Monica finished with a shrug.
OoOoOoO
The five friends arrived at the Black Rose gates at 11:48 PM. All five were shivering in the crisp December cold, and as they walked towards the doors, an old, crotchety lady stormed out to meet them.
"Ross and friends?" She asked.
"That's us," Joey grinned. "But could we take this inside? It's kinda cold out here."
"Fine. Fine. I'm Miss Hisstrophagrias." Miss Hisstrophagrias kept glancing around nervously, as they walked up the path, as if expecting something to come out at any second.
"That's a name," Chandler whispered to Joey, who snickered, earning himself a disapproving glare from Miss Hisstrophagrias.
As she shut the door, Miss Hisstrophagrias began her warning: "Now, children, I will be leaving for the next six months. But I've lived here for 55 years. I know the facts. There are some doors which must never be opened. Some places which hold secrets that should never be revealed. Live by that one simple rule and there is nothing more that you have to know. Goodbye, children." And, with that, Miss Hisstrophagrias walked out.
When she shut the door, Joey commented. "Creepfest!" He whispered.
"No kidding," Rachel said, still eying the great doors the old woman had exited through just seconds before.
OoOoOoO
This room is kinda cool! Chandler thought when he first saw his crimson-colored bedroom. A four-poster bed, curtains and all, an overstuffed sitting chair, and a broad desk took up most of the room. The room smelled like bittersweet cedar wood and mothballs. He went immediately to the bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
Monica studied her new room. It was… charming. And it wasn't dirty or dusty. The wood floors, brown walls, ornamented with extravagant figures that seemed to tell a century's old story, and fancy bed made it look dramatically ancient. Looking out the window, she saw a spectacular full moon looming just above the little town of Black Rose. The ooooh, hooooo, ohohoho of an owl lulled her to sleep that night.
Joey didn't look at his new room. He just set his bags down and dozed off.
As Rachel stepped into her gray room, she noticed eerie furnishings all over. A menacing gargoyle, hunched over near the door, gave her an ominous look with its piercing red eyes as she walked past. A coat of arms hung on the door. Solum timor ipse timeri, it said. The words and the gargoyle's knife-like eyes hung in Rachel's mind as she drifted off to sleep.
Ross found himself in a ghostly room. It lacked personality. Sentire timor was printed over and over again on his wall. Pillars jutting up from the floorboards seemed like ghosts in his attic-like room. Or maybe they were just pillars. Maybe the fear was just getting to him.