Mike thumbs the lip of the envelope anxiously as he stands at the foot of the manor. He flips it open and slips the photo enclosed up slightly. A black haired woman stares back at him, she was blonde at the circus but there's no mistaking it, it's a photo of Natalie. Mike steadies himself with a deep breath and puts the photo in the breast pocket of his dress shirt. He knocks on the large doors and waits, when he's starting to think no one is coming the door creaks open and a woman with a tight brown bun in her hair stares at him.
The woman continues to stare until a voice rings out from the room behind her. "Is it not Robbie Doctor?" The woman opens the door fully then and beckons Mike inside. The apparent owner of the voice comes up behind the doctor and stares at Mike momentarily before holding out his gloved hand. "It's not everyday someone new comes by. I'm Kevin Ayuso, the Cowboy, what's your name?" Mike looks the man over while he takes his hand, the title surely fits, with his large hat shadowing his eyes.
"I'm Mike Morton, it's nice to meet you Kevin!" After his momentary confusion wears off he pulls on a bright smile and shakes the man's hand vigorously, when he's finished he turns to the woman and extends his hand to her as well. "It's nice to meet you as well doctor! What should I call you miss?"
The woman takes his hand and introduces herself as Emily Dyer, the doctor. Her hands are also gloved, he notes. "Well Dr. Dyer, Mr. Kevin! I'm here on an invitation from someone named Oletus, I've been invited to participate in a game? I do hope I have the right address." The two welcome him inside the manor and they invite him through the entrance hall and to the dining room.
Kevin leaves Dr. Dyer and Mike in the dining room to get them all some tea. Mike would usually make a move to fill the silence immediately but he's still slightly overwhelmed by the new space and Dr. Dyer speaks first. "There's 19 other survivors here, most of them have gone to sleep already though. Kevin was just helping me clean up my office so we're the only ones still out of our rooms. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to meet everyone, unfortunately." After she registers the uneasy look Mike gives her she chuckles dryly. "Sorry, I didn't mean survivor as in that others have died, no one's died in this manor as far as I'm aware; and I've been here since the start. We're just called survivors in comparison to the hunters for the game." She pauses and thinks for a moment. "There are 12 hunters, they're all fairly kind outside of the game. I'm sure Emma and I could bring you over to their side of the manor tomorrow to meet them if you'd like." Kevin comes out of the kitchen with a teapot in his right hand and three cups hanging precariously from his left fingers. He sets all the teacups down in front of their seats and pours the tea carefully.
Kevin and Dr. Dyer go on to explain the game system to Mike, it sounds rather dangerous but they reassure him that everyone returns to the manor with little more than superficial injuries after a match. Dr. Dyer picks up what looks to be some sort of controller from the center of the large dining table and flicks a switch on it. A large projector is flicked on and a movie begins to roll, it has names listed in fours and what seems to be location names like "Lakeside Village". After it finishes Kevin thinks something over and turns to Mike. "Ms. Woods, Lucky and Mr. Clark are all free of matches tomorrow, I'm sure they'd be willing to go through a match with a hunter that doesn't have a game so you can get a handle on the game system." Dr. Dyer swallows a sip of her drink and nods her head.
"You should get to bed soon though, we can go find your room momentarily. There'll be a diary in your desk. The baron requires that you write in it or you'll be killed and turned into a hunter like Mr. Beck was, please ensure that you get in the habit of writing daily." Mike nods, it sounds like a rather harsh punishment for something so small but Mike isn't particularly worried, he's been writing diaries since he was a little boy.
Kevin takes their empty teacups and goes to the kitchen and leaves Dr. Dyer to bring Mike to his room. They make their way back to the entrance room and Dr. Dyer leads Mike up the stairs, at the end of the hallway one of the nameplates has Mike Morton - Acrobat engraved in it. Mike thanks the doctor for her help and says goodnight. She makes her way to her own room quickly and Mike heads inside his own.
It's a simple room, there's a desk and a dresser and a bed but that's about it. He'll have to see about decorating.
He drops his suitcase at the foot of his bed and goes about changing out of his dress clothing. He hangs his suit jacket on a hanger and rolls up the sleeves on his white dress shirt. Then he goes to shuffle around in drawers. He finds a pen and a leather bound diary. He turns on a lamp and gets to writing.
Day One | January
He trails off when he realizes he isn't certain of the day. He'll have to figure that out later.
Dear Bernard
The train ride today was tolerable, comfortable even, but in the end quite boring. I ended up finishing Les Misérables even though I didn't find it particularly interesting. You always insisted I should read it so I figured I'd give it a chance. I know it's supposed to be one of the best novels of this century but I don't see it. Maybe my taste in literature just isn't refined enough. I figure Natalie would've enjoyed it though; speaking of Natalie, I should be able to find more information on her here. You can rest easy Bernard, I will find out who did this to you and our home and I will ensure that you can rest in peace.
The manor seems like a nice place to stay so far, it's awfully spacious and the two residents, survivors as they called themselves, that I've met so far are both good company. Dr. Dyer seems to be a very intelligent woman, I mean, being a doctor you would hope she is. Kevin seems quite nice as well, he got me tea tonight even though he didn't know me. I know that's what a good host would do but it still feels quite foreign to me. I hope I can make good friends here! I do worry that they won't enjoy my company for long though, I'm not sure how much longer I can smile and nod when all this anger at what's been done to you is bristling just under the surface. I hope the others are as friendly as Kevin and Dr. Dyer are. I haven't had a friend since Natalie and well, you know how that went, so maybe I'll find someone to be friends with here!
I know you're the only person who will ever love me for me though,
Oh I shouldn't be thinking like that though, don't worry Bernard! Wherever you are I'll make sure whoever did this to you gets what they deserve.
I'm sorry if it's too much to ask but please send me your prayers from time to time. If you're somehow seeing this, I love you Bernard.
Your son
Forever loyal, Mike Morton