Dark Shadows - A New Beginning

Chapter Three

Evening has come to Collinwood, and already Stanley Polinsky has discovered that the Collins family has mysteries. 

On this night, those mysteries will begin to make themselves manifest, with revelation following in their wake. 

For Stanley will discover that Collinwood is home to not only mysteries, but secrets as well. 

Some unspeakable. Some terrifying...

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Stanley slowly wakened from his nap. His head feeling incredibly heavy and foggy, as deep sleep will do to one. 

His sleep had been without dreams, which left only the thoughts he'd had before sleeping.

He thought the name: Barnabas Collins.

Then the fog was dispersed by the rush of intrigue that Stanley felt when he thought of that name, as well as his new friend Adam's warnings. 

Stanley's eyes flew open, and he rose, quickly standing on his feet. He could see that it was just starting to be dusk from the sun's light outside his window. 

'That portrait in the foyer...' Stanley thought to himself.

He'd barely noticed the portrait when he'd first entered the house a few hours earlier. The portrait had seemed an insignificant background detail, so it was no wonder he was only beginning to think of it now. 

That portrait had been hanging in the foyer, next to Collinwood's double front doors. He must have barely glanced at the portrait, but he remembered that there was something dark and just a little disturbing about it. 

Stanley quickly made his way down the stairs into the foyer, finding that no one was around at the moment. That suited him just as well.  

He took his place in front of the portrait and studied it. The man in the portrait had short trimmed black hair, rather piercing eyes, and a hard to read expression on his lips. 

Even more curious than the piercing eyes and the expression were the cane he was holding, and a ring with a large black stone. 

Stanley tried to collect himself and wonder what it was about this portrait that made him feel slightly uneasy. He looked at the eyes and the mouth again and decided almost at once.

'Burning eyes. They seem to blaze. Filled with a consuming rage. The expression around the mouth. Calculated, confident, and yet... cruel.'

Stanley shivered and just barely stopped himself from giving a jump when his thoughts were interrupted.

"I see you've found Barnabas," David said, sounding amused. 

Stanley turned to Mr. Collins and managed a slight smile of friendliness. David smiled back and stepped next to the younger man, clapping his shoulder. 

"This Barnabas was our ancestor," David continued by way of explanation. "I don't imagine you will ever meet the other Barnabas, my cousin. He looks just like this Barnabas."

Stanley wasn't sure why that detail should deepen his unease, but perhaps it was the way he'd just been struck by the portrait's rather unsettling features.

"What happened to your cousin?" Stanley asked from curiosity. "The other Barnabas?"

"He went away to England some time ago, and my cousin Adam came, as though Barnabas had sent him."

Stanley tried to think of an appropriate way that he could voice his next thought.

"You don't find that... unusual, Mr. Collins?"