Phantom Manor

Chapter 4: The Phantom in the Stretching Room

That night in the hotel room for Robert was the worst night he had spent in his entire life. The thought of his best friend Chris abandoning him for Steve, ("a bookworm nerd at that" he thought), the constant calls from the front desk saying that they were getting complaints about smelling smoke from the room, and Brian's disregard of smoking in the room made Robert want the daylight to come so that he would not have to sleep in that room again with Brian.

When Robert had finally gotten to sleep, he started having a weird dream. It started with him standing in the mansion, alone in the dark. Then, one by one, the candles begin to be on the mantles, allowing Robert to get a clear view of where he was. He was in some kind of chamber that was devoid of windows and doors. Instead, four paintings hung on the walls, all depicting a girl with brown hair in different clothing.

The first painting was the girl in a purple dress holding a parasol over her shoulder sitting in a boat. The second, the same girl in a pink dress wading through the water. The third, her in a red blouse and blue skirt picking roses from her garden outside the manor. And the fourth, the girl having a picnic with what looked like a cowboy. Robert stared at the paintings, wondering who this girl was. From what it seemed she was probably someone who had previously lived in the mansion. Suddenly, the floor began to sink downwards, causing Robert to try to regain his balance. Looking back up, he noticed that the paintings were stretching out. No… they weren't stretching, were they? Sure enough as the floor continued to descend, more and more unseen details began to be revealed, making Robert feel more uneasy. The first painting revealed that the girl was actually about to go over a waterfall. The second showed a sea monster reaching out to attack her. The third revealed a gravestone with a skeletal figure crawling out from under the dirt. The last showed a line of ants, a snake and a couple of spiders converging on the happy couple. The floor stopped abruptly, forcing Robert down onto the ground. Suddenly, a voice came out from above him.

"You never should have come here. Do not enter the mansion. The secrets that it holds are not to be discovered by mortals such as yourself."

Looking up, Robert saw a faint transparent person on one of the support beams. Wait. That roof wasn't there before. The voice called out once more.

"Should you attempt to trespass on this cursed ground, your life will be forfeit, as is his!"

The person stretched out his hand, revealing a strand of rope that extended over the upper beams and down. At the other end, a man in a rose tuxedo was hanging by a noose around his neck. He swayed subtly, lifeless. With his other hand, the figure swept across the way, blowing the flames from the candles onto the wood. The room then suddenly combusted into more flames. The transparent one shouted out one last phrase over Rob's screams.

"No one can ever escape the Phantom!" The Phantom began evilly laughing as the flames continued to engulf the room.

Robert jolted awake, still screaming with the scent of smoke in his nose. He jerked his head left and right, checking for any signs of a fire. The only thing that was burning was the cigarette that Brian was currently smoking next to the window.

"Don't you remember that this is a no smoking room?" Robert complained. Brian turned and looked at Robert with his usual dull look.

"Does it look like I care?" Brian said glumly. Robert rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. The sun was out, glaring upon the dusty old town. Instead of the cold wind blowing as it was when they came in last night, the streets were now loudly echoing the conversations of the townsfolk. Robert got out of bed and sidled closer to the window, scanning for the mansion. There, high upon the hill to his left, stood the mansion. He didn't notice it at first, but it still looked old and creepy just as it was at night. Robert turned his attention towards the alarm clock on the nightstand. 9am exactly.

Robert quickly got dressed and went down to the first floor for breakfast. When he reached the dining room, he spotted Rose and Steve talking at a table right next to the pastries case. It seemed like they were talking about something interesting for Rose giggled from the comment that Steve had just made. Robert walked over to the counter, grabbed a plate, put some scrambled eggs and bacon onto it, and walked over to their table.

"Morning Robert." Rose called as Robert sat down adjacent to both Rose and Steve. "You sleep well?" she asked. Robert shook his head.

"Not really. Damn Brian and his smoking habits kept me up most of the night." Robert said annoyed. He glanced behind him to make sure that Brian wasn't in earshot. Brian was in fact arguing with the receptionist, once again discussing the rules about smoking in the hotel.

"And there was this dream." Robert added. Steve's face lightened up with intrigue from his bowl of Frosted Flakes.

"What was this dream?" Rose asked concerned.

"Well, there was this doorless gallery with four pictures of a girl. They all seemed normal until the room started stretching."

"A stretching room?" Steve gasped. Robert nodded.

"But there's more. The portraits started showing this girl getting hurt in four different ways. Then from the ceiling, a transparent figure in a cape and top hat appears in the rafters. He's holding a noose that's hanging some other guy in a suit. The whole place catches fire and then it ends."

Rose patted Robert's hand gently while Steve turned this dream over in his head.

"Very weird Rob." Steve spoke. "Do you think they have anything to do with the mansion?"

Robert shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe." He answered.

Steve thought some more. "Perhaps you could tell me about these paintings." Steve goaded. But before Robert answered, Chris came over to the table. "Come on guys. It's time to do some research."

The posse walked out the door to the hotel in unison as if they were a gang of outlaws that were just called out into the street for a showdown with the law.

"All right." Chris said, turning to the others. "Our best bet to get some research is to speak with the mayor of this town. Town Hall should be in this direction, according to the map here." Chris pulls out a map and unfolds it. He scanned through the map and put his finger right where town hall was situated.

"Well what are we waiting for." Myrtle cried and started racing down the street. Before she could get any further down though, she crashes into a big man with white in his hair. Myrtle plops down in the dirt on her butt, wincing at the pain from the accident.

"Oh. Why excuse me miss. I apologize for that." The man chuckled. He reaches his hand out and offers to pick her up. Myrtle grabs his hand and stands up, wiping the dirt from her butt. Myrtle then took a good look at the man that she had just crashed into. He was tall, a little plump but healthy, and wore a gray suit with a star that read "Mayor of Thunder Mesa" engraved into it. Chris, spotting this, stepped forward.

"Good morning Mr. Mayor" Chris greeted.

"Well howdy there." The mayor said, tipping his hat to the posse.

"My name is Chris. I was hoping that you could tell me and my friends here about the history of this town. The receptionist said that you were directly descended from someone who worked with Mr. Ravenswood himself."

The mayor smiled at the posse. The smile turned into a grin and then a hearty laugh.

"Well I'll be damned. You must be more of them students who are failing old Mitch's class."

Robert smiled sheepishly. Chris shook his head disapprovingly. Steve adjusted his glasses.

"Well, these three are. The rest of us are here because we are interested in the origins of that manor up on the hill as well as the origins of its owners." Steve corrected him.

The mayor stared at the mansion and gave out a sigh. "It's a shame really, what happened to the Ravenswoods. Damn shame indeed." He turned back to the others. "Come over to the Town Hall. I'll tell ya everything ya came here for."

The posse walked with the mayor down the road away from the mansion and towards Town Hall. The Town Hall was a giant structure that towered the rest of Thunder Mesa, except for the mansion. The clock perched on the archway of the building, rang the toll for 10amas the posse stepped inside. The seven of them crossed the main hall and into the mayor's personal office.

"Any of ya want a nice drink?" the mayor offered. The posse all shook their heads and settled themselves down into the chairs. The mayor then took out a giant book and blew off the dust that had been collecting there for a while.

"I haven't used this book in quite a long time." The mayor said. "Last time I used this book was about ten years ago when a group of kids just like ya'selves asked about the whole story of tis place."

"Ten years? That long?" Myrtle gasped.

"Tha's right little lady." The mayor said opening the book. "Ya's best get comfortable, 'cause this story's 'bout to be long and full of stuff."