House of horrors

The Enthusiastic Girl

Anson must know I feel panicked because he offers me his handkerchief and speaks in a consoling voice.

"I understand how you feel. All of us are looking for a way out of here." Anson says. "Would you be willing to join us?"

"Of course. Strength in numbers and all." My voice is quavering, but I do my best to sound hopeful. Saskia suddenly laughs.

"You seem easy to get along with, Rae. That's a relief." Saskia says.

"Why do you say that?" I wonder.

"All the other quests here are pretty eccentric. You're much more normal." Saskia answers the question.

"Well, we're all trapped here. I can understand why people might be acting strangely." I('d be eccentric to if I'd been locked away from the sun for years...Oh! Sunshine...) When I think of the sun, my mind is suddenly filled with beautiful images. (Rippling water, lush trees, birds singing, and...) When I try to remember more my head begins to ache. "Ugh..."

"Rae? What's wrong?" Saskia asks me, and the moment my thoughts are interrupted, the pain vanishes.

"I'm... fine. I had a slight headache, but I.m fine now." I answer her. "The other guests you mentioned. Where are they?" I look around. Aside from the three of us the hall is empty. Before Anson or Saskia can answer, there's a loud bang overhead. "What was that?" The three of us immediately look at the stairs leading to the second floor, where the sound came from. I can hear glass breaking and wood snapping.

"Here we go again." Saskia says while shaking her head. "Can't he just settle down for a while?"

"Who?" I ask. In contrast to my confusion, Anson and Saskia seem completely calm, though Saskia looks a little annoyed.

"Don't worry." Anson answers my question. "It's just Zacharias."

"Zacharias? I wonder. "Who's that?"

"One of the eccentric guest I mentioned. He likes making noise. No one knows why." Saskia answers sounding a little annoyed. "Anson please show Rae around the place... I can't take it anymore."

"Of course." Anson said with a smile. "Leave it to me." Looking exasperated, Saskia turns to leave.

"Where are you going?" I ask Saskia who was almost by a door.

"The dining room." Saskia answers. "I'll wait for you there." Saskia hurries to leave the hall through the lacquered wooden door. I only manage to catch a glimpse of a huge, long table before she shuts the door behind her.

"What's gotten into her?" I ask confused. "Why is she so upset?"

"Saskia is sensitive to sound." Anson answers the question calmly. "She'll be fine once she's away from the noice." As Anson speaks, another dull thud comes from the second floor. I can't helb but frown...

"Are you sure nothing's wrong, Anson? I ask him. "Shouldn't we go upstairs and check it out?"

"No. We'd better not disturb him right now." Anson says sternly.

"So, none of you has a problem with Zacharias smashing things? I wonder.

"Everyone has their own resons for doing things." He says witch was true. "No one's trying to sleep right now. Saskia's the most sensitive to sound, but she doesn't want to start a fight. He's not hurting anyone, so it's best to just leave him alone." He says looking calm. "For now, come with me. There's something else I need to tell you." Anson walks upstairs to the middle landing, then stops and beckons me over. The staircase splits at the landing, continuing upward to the left and rigtht. In the center of the landing stands a huge grandfather clock. "Rae, did you inspect the clock in your room?" He finally speaks after looking at the clock for about a minute.

"Not yet. Why?" I assume this is not that important since it's just a clock.

"All the clocks here are at a standstill, except for this grandfather clock." He says catching me off guard. "That means this clock is the only way for us to tell time."

"Really? That's odd..." I say, quite unsure what to think.

"That's not the only strange thing about time in this place." He says like he's warning me for what was coming next. What I'm going to say next is particualarly important, so please listen carefully." Seeing his serious expression, I take a deep breath and prepare myself for whatever he's about to say. "Every night when this clock strikes midnight, we enter a time loop. We all lose consciosness, then wake up again at eight o'clock in the morning." His words are easy to understand, but my mind is reluctant to believe it. "Did I frighten you? I know it's a lot to get your head around, but this is the situation we find ourselves in. We're trapped in this place, and we must live by its rules."

"...I'm sorry, Anson. I think I need some time to process all this." I say flabberghasted. "You just said that at midnight, we enter a time loop. *time loop*... What does that even mean?"

"I'll give you an example. Do you see those candles?" He says. There are candlesticks all throughout the hall, and everywhere is brightly lit.

"Yes, I see them. I answer after looking around the main hall.

"These candles only last for about twelve hours or so." He says to me. "By nightfall, they've all shrunk to knuckle-length or burnt out completely. But when we wake up, they're all whole again, as if they've never been used. Whether it's a burnt-out candle or a smashed painting, everything reappears completely intact." As my brain struggles to comprehend all this, I stare at Anson incredulously. My heart starts beating fast again. "On the bright side the loop doesn't cause us any harm. That is, provided we're back in our rooms and in bed by twelve o'clock. It's just like getting a nice, long sleep. It's actually quite comfortable."

"I guess that is a bright side, but all of this is still hard to take in." I say, kind of happy that the time loop does not do us any harm if we are in our bed by twelve at night.

"It's okay. I understand. We've all felt the same way." He says in an understanding voice. "But we'll find a way out of here together one day. Please believe me." Though we've only just met, Anson's assurance gives me some courage. Just as I'm about to respond, Saskia suddenly appears at the bottom of the staircase, looking panicked.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need some help." Saskia says to us.

"What is it?" Anson asks her slowly going downstars with me.

"Hampus is drunk in the kitchen again, and Coiseam is to busy taking care of the food to help." She says leading us to the kitchen. (Hampus? Coiseam?)

"Rae, can you lend us a hand? Anson asks me.

"Sure! I'd like to meet the others too. I answer happily agreeing to help and meet some of the other people here. With that, I follow Anson and Saskia to the door she left through earlier. Right when I step into the dining room, a cold liquid splashes all over me.

"Whoa! Hampus, be careful!" A woman says. I wipe the pungent liquor from my face and see a young woman looking back at me. She has bright, sparkling, light green eyes that look like they're more used to laughter than the fearful expression they have now. She shoves the drunken man beside her into a chair in a panic, and quickly come to check up on me.