The Bloodied Truth

Guests

Delilah, Lance, and their daughter Camry pulled up to the Bouldercove Manor on a late fall afternoon. The sun beat down over them as they gazed up at the huge castle out their windows. The trees surrounding the residence were dying, most already with a complete loss of leaves, leaving various sizes of trunks with jagged branches breaking off here and there. An older man was off the left trimming a bright green bush off the side of the pavement.

Delilah got out of the passenger seat and took in a deep breath of the cool air. The sky was scattered with fluffy clouds that looked like they were pulled out and swirled alongside the wind.

Lance had gotten out and unbuckled Camry from the back seat before a valet boy with a red suit, white gloves, dark brown hair, and bright green eyes came to drive their car to a parking spot.

"Lovely to have more families coming to stay! Nice to meet you all, my name is Rupert Donner," he greeted them while smiling and offering for Lance to shake his hand.

Lance had to shift Camry over to his left arm so he could accept and introduce himself.

"I am Lance Pemberson, this is my wife Delilah, and this is our daughter Camry."

"Lovely! I truly hope you each enjoy your stay here. How was the long drive? I presume it took a while considering you're all arriving from Missouri."

Lance hesitated, confused as to how he knew.

"Uh... Yeah. It was quite long," he replied as Rupert kept smiling. Lance considered it too wide.

"License plate," Rupert said.

"Excuse me?" Lance retorted.

"Your license plate says you're from Missouri," he nodded towards their car.

"Oh! Yes! Of course!" Lance chuckled, smiling back at Rupert who returned the expression.

"Well, anyways... You all seem like you're ready to head inside. And you," Rupert puckered his lips as he bent to meet Camry's eye level and boop her nose, "You look like you could use some candy."

He pulled out a lollipop from his red suit pocket. He lifted it out with his white glove that descended under his black cuffs.

Camry giggled and kicked in Lance's arms. She reached out as Rupert handed it to her.

Lance was about to slap it from her grasp, but she took it and cradled it against her chest, giggling and suffocating the candy against her.

"What an adorable child you both have. Anyway, I'll let you head off," Rupert smiled up at Lance and Delilah smiled back. Lance handed him the car keys, though he wished he didn't need to.

Rupert accepted them and gave a slight bow as he headed towards their vehicle.

"Enjoy your stay!" He called out to them as they walked on.

Delilah dug in her purse before finally finding the white envelope that contained their invitation. The family then proceeded down the walkway made of cobblestone that led towards the double doors as the enterance.

After the multiple yard walk, the enterance door was held open for them by a passerbyer.

Once inside, they gazed around in awe. The floors in every direction were covered down the middle with a long trail of red, velvet carpet. There was a foot of blank floor on each side of the carpet which revealed the thick, heavy, marble floors under their feet.

They were in a wide open room with a big, circular, red carpet in the center which flowed into the descending ones. In the very center was a small table with an beautiful plant billowing out of a pot.