Truth in the Heart of Madness
Truth in the Heart of Madness
Chapter 2
In the morning light
"So you say you saw a girl… in the garden?" Gregory shook his head as he listened to the guests story. "There is a girl who tends the garden and cuts the flowers for the rooms but I can imagine that she would be up this late" As he spoke he collected the now empty dishes and noticed there wasn't a flower on the desk in this room. "Why don't you rest and I will got out to the garden. If she is up I'm sure she will give me a rose for your room" with that said he turned and left.
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Gregory made his way downstairs and through the kitchen, dropping off the dishes and pausing one more time to make sure everything else was up to Chef's standards. Then he opened the door leading out into the garden. The rain had let up and a glance at Mr. Traverse's dark room confirmed he had taken Gregory's advice and gone to bed, turning back to the garden Gregory sighed.
"Come on out here! I know your up" He screeched. From between two of the larger plants a female figure stepped out into the open night air. For a permanent resident of the house she still looked pretty human. She had long red hair, solid black eyes , a pretty face that tended to hold a rather sad and distant expression almost all of the time, the only feature other than her eyes that would mark her as a permanent resident was that her skin was actually a pale spring green "not that it shows in this light" Gregory thought.
The girlstood statue still as she waited for Gregory to state his business and for a brief moment it was hard to tell where the dark of night ended and her plain navy dress began. "The guest saw you, Just what are you up to?"
"up to?" She asked. "I am not up to"
"Don't give me that act! I can hardly remember the last guest that could describe you in anyway…. This one shows up and suddenly Your not afraid of drawing attention to yourself?" It was true Gregory did not even need double digits to count the total of guests who noted the girl, which in his mind was a good thing.
"Every guest you speak to, We have problems with. You are almost as much trouble as that darn cat!" Gregory tilted his head toward the barred window belonging to Neko Zombie before grinning. "You leave this one alone do you understand? I wouldn't want to have any unfortunate events occur" The girl's face became ashen as she took the hint.
"I get your meaning" she mumbled turning to the rose bush Alexander had admired, before she reached in and gently plucked a flower bare handed. "I suppose you will want this for his room?" Gregory just snatched the rose wincing as he jabbed his paw on the thorns before storming back inside.
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The next morning
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Dawn breaking through the curtain woke Alexander the next morning, getting up and pulling the curtain back however revealed the sky gray and a downpour still threatening. Not surprisingly this wasn't an incentive for Alexander to move on with his travels.
"I wonder if Gregory would mind putting me up for another couple nights at least until someone can give me directions."
Turning to the wardrobe in which he had unpacked his clothes, Alexander was shocked to find that his 3 shirts and pants were not alone in the space. About 12 other shirts and pants in a variety of different colors also had taken up residence.
"all right……. Either my clothes have started breeding or someone stocked the closet, during the night" taking out his clothes plus another set, he went and fetched his now dry coat from the bathroom. Placing the jacket in the wardrobe he closed and locked the door. "Your going to look like a fool after this one Alex" he muttered to himself as he opened the door.
Sitting innocently inside where ten jackets, all the same style and size but in a variety of colors. "a magic wardrobe?..." Alex marveled aloud, Then he thought back, after all this place was run by a talking rat… and the girl in the garden could easily have been a figment of his imagination. "Okay, so the magic wardrobe isn't the weirdest thing in this place." With that he removed his coat from the closet and continued to get ready for the morning.
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Another resident of the hotel was also up at dawn. In his kitchen Hell's Chef was chopping ingredients for today's breakfast. The rest of the house was silent as the grave, the various residents all aligning to a new schedule as it always was when the latest guest arrived. The courtyard door opened and a red-headed girl entered with some fresh vegetables from the garden.
"Already on time I see chef. So has the new guest run afoul of your standards yet?" the girl chirped. Even though her face was sad her voice was far to chipper for anyone who was up half the night then early again in the morning. Chef huffed and gestured to a covered basket on the counter then turned back to his task. The girl smiled and fished a warm muffin out of the container. "No kind words for me this morning?" she teased kindly.
The only response was the cleaver suddenly hitting the cutting board with a bit more force than necessary. Chef never really had kind words for anyone but Catharine, especially the guests. It wasn't that Chef didn't like the guests but they changed things. Every visitor affected the house differently, agendas distorted, attitudes altered, even the residents appearances changed somewhat. Nothing to be done about it though, so Chef and the others adapted and went on as best they could. Most like his current companion pulled back and didn't show themselves unless necessary, others like him who were indispensable had to ride out the changes.
Before the guest had shown up Chef had a huge breakfast planned for the population of the house. With no external influence the inhabitants acted like one large dysfunctional family, while it wasn't a good idea to sit certain people next to one another, none would not risk there own existence to preserve another. Now instead of a comfortable sit down and chat morning it would be a morning of everyone dropping by when they could grab sustenance and leaving.
"Thanks for the food, Chef. Oh here you'll want to give this to Catharine when she stops in" The girl laid a bouquet of roses on the center table. all were deep red except for one which was a pale lavender "your anniversary is a special day and all, right?" Chef froze and looked at her "don't worry, I wont tell, with all you do around here? Not surprised it slipped your mind" and with that the girl left Chef to continue with his work.
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About 30 minutes after he woke up Alexander went down into the dining room, there on the table he found a tray of meat pies. He picked one, sat and ate it. "these are pretty good, I have to get this recipe for mother. Last time she made these I swear it was like something out of Sweeney Todd "
He went in the kitchen to thank the chef but backed out again quickly for a giant pink female lizard and an oversize living candle seemed to be having a private moment.
"well that has officially become the weirdest thing I have seen here" Alexander went back into the lobby "if I am going to be here for any length of time id better get to know my way around"
As he walked Alexander heard a soft mewing noise. He began following the sound until he came to a heavy metal door, much like a prison cell. Alex knelt and looked through the key hole and there was a black and white cat wearing a little 'jack ketch' t-shirt. The poor creature was all stitched up looking like it walked out of some horrible horror movie. As he watched, it saw him and padded over to the door.
"you moved in upstairs, didn't you? Please go get the key from behind the front desk, I need to talk with you." Alexander immediately left to do as the feline asked.
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A/N not exactly happy with how this chap turned out. thanky you to everyone who read and reveiwed the feedback is greatly appreciated.
Red roses mean love. Lavender roses represent wonder and impossibility, with a sense of the magical. There for giving someone a bouquet of all red + 1 lavender means something along the lines of : out of all the loves I could have you are the most special to me, Or: You have won my heart above all others.