The Strange Mansion

Chapter 2

I startled as I turned around. No one was in sight, except... a cat. He was dressed in nice clothes and... could speak. I panicked and took a step back. This must be a dream!

"My, have I scared you," the cat spoke, "My apologies."

"W-Who are you?" I asked.

"I must have forgotten to introduce myself," it said, "I'm merely a butler in this mansion."

"Butler...?"

"My name is Porter. I've been in this place for many years."

"How come you're a... cat?"

"I am perhaps just a creation of the mistress. She created me to feel less lonely. Poor her..."

His voice was deep and a little sad. I could feel the awkwardness spreading through the house, but I stayed in silence.

"Now, young lady," he said, "what brought you here?"

"Well, I kind of found this place myself while walking in the forest," I replied, "it looks quite interesting, so I entered. I'm sorry if my appearance bothered you..."

"No, no, not at all," Mr. Porter said, "this place welcomes you. I'm glad you came. I do hope you can stay longer."

"... I'm happy to hear that," I smiled.

"Please treat this house like your real home," he continued, "we do treat guests like masters."

Just like that, he disappeared out of my sight. The silence soon filled the atmosphere again. I put my basket on the glass table and started walking around the house. This mansion was sure pretty outside and inside.

I wonder where he went... I thought to myself, he seems like a very nice guy...

I slowly walked on the stairs. Suddenly I heard a noise. Sounded like paper. I must've stepped on something.

"Huh?"

I quickly picked it up. It was a note paper with some words on it.

"Come and play"

"...," my mind was blank, "could this be...?"

I continued walking on the stairs until I saw a few rooms to explore. Even when I was inside the mansion, it was still as cold was I was outside. Just a little bit warmer. I opened the door. Many bookshelves appeared in my sight.

"Books," I said, "is this... a library?"

I started looking around. I saw a lot of bottles at the other end of the room. Some were emty. Some where filled with unknown type of liquid.

Don't dare to touch them... I told myself.

There was also a mirror between the bottle shelves. The mirror was made out of gold. A vase of flowers was placed next to it. But the flowers looked dead. I turned my eyes somewhere else, when somebody seemed to appear in the mirror. I looked back, but there was no one there.

"Must be my imagination..." I said softly.

I opened the drawer as I saw a book titled "The Little Red Riding Hood." I skimmed through the pages and out of a sudden, a small photo was placed in the between the pages quickly caught my attention. I took it and began checking it out. There were words on the back of the photo:

Navellia
16, December

"Is this the... mistress?" I asked myself, "she's pretty even when she was little."

It was a photo of a cute baby girl who was wearing a pretty dress, holding a little doll. I put it back in the book and left the room. There were two more doors left for me to check out before I move on.

Suddenly, Mr. Porter popped out of nowhere, making me panic as I fell on the cold, hard floor.

"Ahhhh!" I squeaked.

"My apologies," he started speaking, "I have scared you once again."

"Mr. Porter, please don't do that again," my heart pounded hard as I slowly sat up, "you nearly killed me!"

He just smiled. I then stood on my feet and wiped off the little dust on my coat.

"How's everything, Miss?" He asked.

"Everything's good," I replied, "... I think so."

"That's great to hear," he said, "I came back to ask for your name, Miss. It seems that I've forgetten such an important detail of our new guest."

"Um... My name is Ellen," I said, "Ellen Delaney."

"Ellen," he said, "that's a pretty name. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Mr. Porter then went downstairs and disappeared once again. I shrugged as I slowly enetered the very next room of the mansion.