Authors note- Thank you Kairisoul09, you've given me the confedience to go on...so I mean it, thank you. So I put up chapter 3 for you! Thanks again! And enjoy.
Chapter 3
The key had unlocked the locked door in the garden, opening up into a curved hallway.
Fiona was now standing in a nicely decorated rest room, washing her face in the clean sink. She didn't realize how sweaty she'd become...most of it was from fear. Mostly.
She stared at her reflection, still a little unnerved about what was going on, but feeling a little better. The small tiled bathroom smelled distinctly of lavender, the scent giving her a relaxed, relieved feeling. She stepped out of the bathroom, scurrying up the small set of stairs, stopping in front of the nearest door. This hallway consisted of only four...the entrance door to the garden, the bathroom, this one, and a locked one that didn't have a keyhole but a strange series of hooks. There was a puppet with strings design on it too, but she had no idea what that meant.
She gave the door a little kick open, the scent of raw meat coming to her nostrils once she stepped inside. It was a kitchen; the meat was strung up all around the kitchen units...flies were buzzing around them, making Fiona feel sick inside. Not going to be eating here...that's for sure...
She headed over to the farthest door on her right, pushing it open, and peering outside. It looked like a beautifully decorated dining room...the table was so long, it could seat fifty people. Candle flames flickered all over the place. Looks like they're preparing for a party. She walked over to the table, brushing at the red dining cloth. So clean! No dust at all. The maid must be a perfectionist. Even as she thought that, the furthest door opened, that maid appearing at the doorway. She carried a laundry basket, white sheets carelessly stuffed into it.
"Miss Fiona" she said, giving Fiona a slight nod of her head, before disappearing into the kitchen. Fiona stared after her, then moved to the door she'd come through, peering outside. She instantly recognised it. The room with the long staircase! She'd gone in a circle...and back to where she started! She moved back into the dining room, heading quickly for the kitchen. She intended to ask the maid what was going on here...but the maid had vanished yet again. Running after her would be a pain...She sighed, and took another quick look around the kitchen. Wait! There was another hall...almost concealed against the stony grey walls.
Where does this lead? She peered down it...there was a staircase leading down...and a sealed doorway at the bottom.
Fiona moved downstairs toward it, examining several planks of wood nailed all over the entrance. She touched it, hearing it creak underneath her fingers. Not very strong, I can probably break it…
She considered breaking things here rude...it certainly wasn't her place, and she had no right...but then again, she didn't ask for a disturbing freak to chase her either...
She stepped away, listening carefully for that monster, before she gave the barred doorway a rough push. It collapsed instantly, making a heavy clunk sound. She paused again to make sure no one had heard her and then stepped down wooden stairs, each step creaking at her weight as she moved down them.
It was some kind of cellar, there were canned goods on some of the shelves, and a number of wooden boxes, probably containing food as well. Cobwebs and dust covered pretty much everything, and she held her breath, trying not to breath too deeply. The last thing she needed was a sneezing fit in some creepy castle with a big monster on her tracks.
A small table caught her attention, several pieces of ancient parchment lay there and she picked one up to have a good look at it. Her heart skipped a beat. A map! She peered at it, and then picked up the others, each was a detailed layout of the castle she was in…three floor plans in all. Wonder what it was doing down here when it could have been in a safe or something...oh well.
She studied them each in turn carefully…noting she hadn't explored too much of the castle. There was an exit though; and her heart skipped another beat; and that was very close to the guestroom, she just needed to go outside onto to the second balcony and onto a bridge…
Feeling a new warmth in her chest, she hurried up the stairs, rolling the plans up as she ran and sticking them in the waistband of her skirt…she didn't have a bag to carry things in, so it would have to do for now-
-and a heavy thump made her stop in her tracks. She stood, listening, hoping she'd just imagined it… Another thump. Fiona felt her blood go cold. It was coming from the kitchen.
She took another step, stooping down low so she could just peer around the corner. She couldn't see or hear anything...maybe it was nothing but ….She took another few steps into the kitchen, expecting something to lash out at her any second. Everything looked normal, it didn't look like it had been disturbed. She glanced at the single window, wondering if the noise had come from outside-
-and an owl appeared, it's wings flapping wildly, making her stumble back in surprise until her back hit the counter. It hooted at her, sitting idly on the sill, and she stared at it, feeling a great sense of relief overcome her. She sighed, stepping away from the counter-
-and then, there was a heavy slapping sound right behind her, She spun around, finding herself face to face with the monster, his face so close to hers that she could count every pore on his hideous face-
-and if it wasn't for her stumble-backwards fall, he probably would had caught her, his arms swiping the air she'd been moments earlier, grunting at her angrily from behind the counter. She crawled out of his reach before getting to her feet, dashing for the exit. Was he hiding there the whole time?! She wondered as she slammed the door shut behind her, and heading to her right up the curving staircase-
-and her leg suddenly gave way, and she was falling again, her mouth hitting the next stair so hard that she winced, tasting blood on her tongue. She sat up quickly, feeling her leg, it looked like she stretched a muscle from all that running. She bit her lip, ignoring that pain, and tried to stand up, glancing towards the kitchen door in fear.
It swung open, the sound of heavy footsteps making her freeze on the spot, watching in silence as he emerged, looking slowly around the hall. It's going to find me...please make sure it doesn't see me! He paused for a moment, his mouth falling open stupidly as he turned to face her, and then giggled, the sound low in his throat, raising his hands up in the air. Forcing herself to get up, she limped up the stairs looking for a place to hide, she couldn't run from him like this-
-and as he appeared behind her, raising his hands higher above his head, she cringed back, feeling only despair.
"Exire Debilitas!" A familiar-sounding voice snapped.
Fiona gasped, and looked towards the monster. He had stopped, his hands frozen in the air looking around. Reluctantly, he stepped back, the expression on his face in likeness to a child being told off. He looked back slowly before lumbering back down the stairs, the sound of his footsteps fading within seconds.
"Please excuse me, Miss"
Fiona spun around as a figure stepped out of the shadows, hooded, so she couldn't see his face. She stared at him, before realizing why his voice was so familiar. That man in the piano room….with that strange wooden carving. Her stomach twisted at that thought.
"I am Riccardo, keeper of the castle" he spoke loudly, clearly. She stepped back slowly, unsure if he was a threat.
His voice seemed to softened. "So sorry to hear about your accident, your parents…."
"My parents?" She asked. "Where are they? Are they…" she trailed off feeling a new shock over come her. ...they can't be dead…that's not right… She could imagine their sweet, smiling faces gazing at her lovingly, her mum chatting to her happily as she held her husband's hand….No.
Riccardo continued as though she hadn't talked at all "As Mr Ugo and Mistress Ayla have been deceased, you Fiona are the sole surviving heir of Belli castle"
"What?" Belli castle? I didn't know this was my parent's castle! It has to be all a dream! The mountain of thoughts added to the growing mound in her head, making it spin. She felt sick and dizzy, her eyesight blurring, her head becoming all fuzzy just like before…
"Miss, will you be alright? You've had a long day….." Riccardo was saying, his voice becoming loud then soft and loud again "Perhaps you should go upstairs and rest….your bed has been prepared…." And then, she couldn't hear him anymore, and she felt herself hit the floor hard, the last thing she saw was a tanned sandal stepping up beside her before her vision went totally black.
Images swirled around her head, first pretty ones, her fifth birthday where her parents sat beside her, helping her cut the cake…then there was her fist day of school, feeling nervous, yet confident as she clung to her mother's hand tightly. Then there was when she got her letter, accepting her to the university, and her parents were happy, crying as they hugged her in their warm arms-
-the scene blackened, her parents screaming, her own scream joining theirs as their car careened towards the blockage, then shattered glass flying through the air-
"NOOOO!" she screamed out aloud, jerking awake from that nightmare. Gasping, she looked around, realising she was still in it, she was still in the castle back where she first started. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she got off the bed, and stood there, glancing out one of the large glass windows. It was night now, the sun had set leaving only darkness in its wake. She stepped closer to the windows, lightly brushing the cool glass as she looked up into the dark, starless sky. What do I do now? I'm stuck here, and if that man was right, my parents are dead...
Sighing, she glanced down into the garden. Directly below the window was that old dead tree and underneath it was...
She blinked a few times, then squinted a little, wondering if she was seeing things. No, there was a white form curled beneath it, from the shape of it, it looked like a dog...
"A dog?" she said to herself, folding her arms and frowning. Yes, she'd found a collar...She stared at it for a little while, wondering if it was dead or sleeping, but it wasn't moving at all. Maybe I should check, maybe it's still alive but hurt... She moved away from the window and headed outside, jogging slowly down the stairs, her boots crunching the dry leaves once she reached the yard, and she briskly hurried towards the animal's limp form, her hands clasping her mouth once she saw it.
How...how could anybody be so cruel?! The poor creature had be tied up with barbed wire at the neck...and she could see fresh blood stained into its white fur as the wire cut into the skin. She kneeled down beside it, feeling sorry for the dog, one hand reaching out to stroke it's head-
-and it jerked, struggling wildly at the wire, snarling. Relieved that it was still alive, yet fearful it might hurt itself even more, Fiona pinned down it's thrashing body "It'll be alright! It'll be okay! I'm not going to hurt you..." Something in her voice soothed the creature. It stopped thrashing, one large brown eye fixed in her direction, whimpering. She stroked it contently, whispering gentle words as her hands found the wire, lightly unwinding it from a tight knot. Then, once she freed it, she gently pushed it upwards into a sitting position. Despite the way it'd been tied up, Fiona noticed it was in good shape...maybe it belonged to someone in town...
"Go now...don't get caught again...alright?" she said quietly. The dog looked around before trotting away, stopping after a few paces, it's head swerved around to look at her.
She nodded "Just...go" she said. She watched it trot out of sight before gazing back at the sharp wire, feeling a cold shudder pass over her. If people here are cruel to animals...what will they do to me? She stood there for a while, staring absently in the direction where the dog disappeared...it would be nice if she had it by her side, but it had gotten hurt here, maybe it was best it went free.
She slowly made her way up to the suite room, feeling a strange sense of loneliness over come her. So what do I do now? The answer to that was a deep giggle.
She looked up and saw that monster perched on her bed, looking excited once she gasped, stumbling backwards. How...how did he get in here?! Her back touched the wall, and she kept watching it, unsure what to do, where to run. The garden's a dead end for sure...and I won't be able to run the other way, she thought, her eyes snapping towards the only other exit. But where would she run? Her eyes found the monster again, and he was now on all fours, attempting to grab her leg. Just like if she was a doll. She shrunk away, closing her eyes, just praying, praying for someone to help her-
-a bark. She opened them, and saw the monster growling at something, his face turned into an ugly scowl. That white dog was standing at the doorway, it's face snarling, ears pulled back. "Help!" she screamed out instinctively and immediately, it bounded forwards, it's jaws latching onto the monster huge, flat hand. The monster screamed and pulled away, clamping his other hand over the bleeding one. He hurried clumsily to the exit, smashing the door open as he ran and Fiona followed, slamming the door behind him, leaning against it heavily. Too close. She slid to the floor, allowing herself to calm down before focusing attention on her rescuer.
"Thank you...you saved me" she said breathlessly. The dog cocked it's head at her, before stepping forward hesitantly. It was a beautiful pure white german sherpard, absolutely gorgeous. She extended one hand, smiling "Come here...come on boy" It moved towards her slowly, cautiously at first, and then it seemed to decide she was no threat, trotting directly into her arms, one warm tongue licking her cheek. She laughed, despite the circumstances.
"Your name..." she said softly. "What's your name boy?" She gently stroked it, just thinking in silence. Then it came back to her.
"You must be Hewie..." she said out aloud "Is that your name? Well... hi Hewie!"
Hewie barked in response, and Fiona couldn't help but smile.
His dolly was now playing with something else, the doggie that that man had found.
The doggie had hurt him, bit him hard on his hand, and he tried not to cry from the pain it brought. He bandaged it carefully in his hut, feeling better once it stopped bleeding.
He sat on his bed, knowing he was going to be punished for trying to play with the dolly again. The hooded man already told him off before but the hooded man had gone somewhere secret, and was not here for the moment.
So Delibiltas could play again.
He played with his dolly collection for a little while, then got bored. With a grunt he stood up, wanting to chase the big dolly again. It was a fun game and now there was now something else to play with too.
He grunted excitedly, wanting to play quickly before the hooded man came back. And if the little doggie tried to hurt him again, he would hurt him too.
It was time to play again.
Poor Fiona and Hewie. I think Debi is more childish, and doesn't really know what he's doing...so I tried to make him that way. He was so annoying to flee from in the game though...lol.
Love Demento/Haunting Ground. Took me ages to actually get the bloody game and play it but it was well worth it. Thanks for those who review and I will put up the next chapter as soon as I can. Bye!