Chapter 2: Insons insontis Freak

Sometimes, Ciel couldn't help but stare and stop in wonder in observing and looking at the details, accessories and structures of the manor. Ciel had a passion for art so architecture, music and paintings always aroused his interest to observe an object of interest and waste time. The manor had all the mentioned things to offer, and there was this hint of a wish that he wanted to reside there forevermore. However, the truth remained that somebody else had already been blessed with the privilege so, he could not do anything about it.

The gothic themed manor had an eerie, dark and mysterious atmosphere; and Ciel liked it to say the least. Every pillar, ledge, wall, arch, banisters and everything was made of stone; the sources of illumination were candles and chandeliers only, thus making the manor poorly lighted. There were a few details that proved that the manor was quite ancient; there were a few chipped stones on the floor and the wallpaper on some walls were yellowish and peeling. But what bothered the boy most was that he felt strangely at home with the manor and that he ought not to be. He shook his head one more time to set his objectives straight:

First, he had to find the master of the house.

Second, he had to ask about his whereabouts and his parents.

Then, ask the master a favor to send him home… the next day. He still wanted to explore the manor a little more.

Ciel ventured around the manor even if he didn't know where he really was going. He just went through doors that were open. They had to lead to somewhere…

He came to a hallway of sorts; the structures formed spaces to be used as windows, making it essential as a balcony also. The smooth stone pillars were encased in lush, creeping vines and the view outside made present the dark, violet twilight sky and a castle or tower of sorts hiding among the trees and mists of the forests. Some crows rested on the ledges and they seemed to be crowding around on a particular ledge.

Ciel's presence disturbed the crows thus, they all took flight. It revealed a gruesome detail surrounding the pillar: a dead rabbit was splattered on the ledge, bleeding. The crows had ripped most of its flesh and some limbs apart and the rabbit struggled in its breathing. The rabbit had lost its ears, tail and a front paw; all had bleeding stumps in its place, but it still leaped when Ciel approached it. Ciel gasped and panicked. "What's that rabbit doing here?!"

The rabbit had leapt off the ledge, down to its death below. The muffled crunching sound Ciel heard a little later had sufficed that the rabbit had destroyed itself to end its pain. Ciel refused to look down the ledge; panic was pounding in his heart and breathing. Anymore of that would not do to ease his increasing fatigue in going around the manor.

He walked faster to get through the hallway. He saw another door to his left and walked up to it, but it was locked in the inside like the other locked doors he came upon. It left him no choice but to do down the dark corridor after the balcony-hallway. While walking through the corridor, he came upon a fork hallway; on his left, it lead to a door blocked by a box and on the right, was a well lit corridor. He chose to go to the left corridor, but the right corridor bought his attention the most.

A shadow of a figure was on the wall; Ciel assumed it to be a person for it had arms and a mop of hair on a head. He stopped dead on his tracks and watched the shadow strangle something. Not satisfied in watching the shadow, he carefully peered from the wall to get a glimpse of the owner of the shadow. But when he almost got a view of the person, a doll was thrown at his face; the surprise shocked him so much that he fell to the floor. His heart was beating fast and his breathing was in a quicker rate; it made him feel more fatigued than ever. He took a deep breath to calm down and looked at the doll on the floor. It was a bisque doll dressed in a black gown and bonnet, trimmed with white lace. He picked it up to examine it a little closely; the doll had a white, skull-like face and he wondered what sort of person would play with a creepy-looking plaything like this?

As he pondered on, he heard quick footsteps approaching him. He looked at the direction of the sound but he was too late to dodge what was coming to him.

A man had tackled and pinned him down to the floor. He was panting and growling like a dog. As he caught sight of the bisque doll, he snatched it from Ciel's hands and retreated a small distance away. The man was rather deranged and had a behavior like that of an animal; his body was bent to crawl in all fours; he panted like a gleeful dog as he inspected the doll. The man's hair was disheveled and white; his eyes were a striking magenta and were wide and round like a child's; he had a lightly muscled yet, slim and scarred physique; his clothes were quite dismantled and baggy and he had a ring of keys hanging around his waist.

The man stroked the doll fondly like a treasure and he 'barked' and snarled at Ciel, thinking that his precious doll was stolen by the boy. Ciel sheepishly got up and took a few small steps back. "This man is not in his right state of mind." He thought. He chose to ignore the man and proceeded to go to the left corridor but the man blocked his path with his arms wide open.

"Yes?" Ciel raised an eyebrow. He composed himself to talk to the man politely; who knows? Maybe he knows where the master of the house is?

But the man did not block his way to speak to him. He wanted to get a view of the boy and the doll. He looked at the doll in his hands and at Ciel. Oh! This was the perfect, little china doll in the cellar he had worked in earlier. The china doll was out of that cage at last! Now he could play with him!

"Ih…! Doll…" The man struggled in his vocabulary. "…I like… n-nu.. dolly. Shoft and pr- pre-pri-tty… pretty…" He threw the doll away in a dismissive manner and approached to seize the already cowering boy. "Nu Dolly!!!" The man said excitedly. "My dolly!!!"

Ciel immediately sensed danger and seized the instinct to flee, but before he did so, the man gathered him up in his arms and gave him bone-crushing embrace… in a bad way. He did not find comfort in it, but harm and danger. The deranged man had thought that the boy was one of his playthings and his strength was that of an elephant's. Ciel panicked for the man's embrace was putting such force on his bones; pain was beginning to rack up on his spine and any more force would fatally break them. He began to kick and struggle; this embrace had to end, or his spine would break!

The man finally let him go, surprised that his 'doll' didn't like to play with him. He dropped Ciel, sobbing and the boy fled as fast as he could from him.

"Dolly!! My Dolly!! CII-EELLL!!!" The man called out and gave chase, thinking they were playing tag. Ciel did not look back and kept on running, panic was rising in his chest and his vision growing hazy. But he did not care and kept on running; the man ran faster and was gaining. Ciel's energy was drained fast and he could not outrun the man in his current state. Thus, he decided to hide. He ran all the way back to the bedroom where he had come from and slammed the door behind him. "I have to get away from that…that man!" He leaned on the door and looked around the room; he had to hide and stay quiet… he had to think…

…And then the four-poster bed gave him an idea. It had enough space underneath for him to hide and the hanging sheets from the mattress could conceal him well. Hoping for the best, he slid under the bed and fixed the hanging sheets to make sure he was hidden well. Now that he was down on the floor… and quite alone, he could feel the beat of his heart pounding at his ears; his almost uncontrolled breathing… and the approaching heavy footsteps of his pursuer.

"Dolly!!!" The man came bursting through the door and bawled out. "Where is YOU?!!" He surveyed the room as best as he could; behind the door, on the shelves, inside the grandfather clock, behind the paintings, and anything his tiny mind could think of. "Dolly!!! My dolly!!" He bawled and stomped in frustration. "Dolly… dolly…" He cried as he zombie-walked in grief to the door which led outside.

Ciel relaxed a bit from being fortunate in the situation. The man had failed to look underneath the bed, meaning that he had done well in blending in. But, he didn't know if he could do this hiding thing often. There might be a time where he would be found in his hiding place, so he had to be prepared; he should not be fully fatigued so that he would have enough strength to run away.

He crawled out of his hiding place and patted the dust out of his clothes. He was relieved that the ordeal was over. But he could not relax just yet…

So, back to business…

A/n: It's a short chapte, I know. But this introduces our first stalker. Take a good guess who he is.

So far, we have:

Fiona Belli - Ciel Phantomhive

Daniella - ???

Debilitas - ???

Replies:

Chu chu banato – Thank you! Have a tart!

knighted lioness – Really? There are grammatical problems? Sorry 'bout that; I'm practicing in writing in English and I'm not that good, I admit. Could you point out what part of the story had the said problems? Next time, I'll proofread. Thanks!

Thanks a bunch!