Scarlet

1. Arrival

The carriage rattled along the dirt path with plain empty fields on both sides that had begun to look like the void as it grew darker and darker. It was only a little after sundown but the sky was overflowing with dark inky clouds that were heavily laden with rainwater waiting to pour over any minute. This made it a lot darker than usual of the time and there was a sense of impending danger in the atmosphere.

The carriage finally came to a halt and a woman stepped out of it, dragging a heavy brown suitcase after her with some difficulty. She was barely visible in the dark because of her black dress and black hair. She seemed to blend in with her dark surroundings and had someone witnessed her standing there by the road, they could have easily mistaken her for an apparition or a mirage.

She put her suitcase down on the ground and looked around to see where to go next. Before she could ask the carriage driver for any suggestions, it sped off with the rest of its passengers.

She knew she was a little outside of town. She could see their tiny twinkling lights from where she was standing. She began making hasty steps towards the town trying to reach there before the storm unleashed.

But the heavy downpour began before she hadn't even walked for a few minutes. She was immediately totally soaked and she looked around in a panic to find a place to wait it out. After straining her eyes for a while she saw a dim outline of a huge mansion on top of a hill a little farther away from the main road. She didn't give it much thought, there wasn't time anyway, and ran off-road towards the large house looming over the fields in the middle of nowhere.

As she got nearer she realised it was much bigger than she had assumed. She could see the details every time lightning flashed in the sky. The dark walls of the mansion turned white in the glow of it and it seemed as if the high towers of the mansion would be struck by it any moment.

A large area surrounding it was separated from the rest of the endless fields with the help of a tall iron fence. There was a high iron gate which had intricate decorations carved up in the iron. It wasn't bolted and left ajar with enough space for her to slip through.

She walked up the stone stairs and knocked on the heavy wood door. The brass door-knocker matched the extravagance of the rest of the place and she could barely lift it. A few moments passed and no one came to answer it so she knocked again. Finally, the sound of undoing the bolt was heard and the next moment the heavy door slowly moved.

A middle-aged man with a thin face peeked outside with curiosity. His attire suggested he was the butler.

"I'm sorry to intrude at this hour but may I stay here until the rain stops?" Her voice was quivering as she was now cold and she was shivering because of her wet clothes sticking to her skin making the cold seep through.

When the butler didn't agree immediately and began pondering over it she added, "Please don't turn me away. All I ask is a little corner to seek refuge from this downpour. " She pleaded.

The butler finally opened the door further and let her in. She quickly picked up her suitcase and walked in with hasty steps.

Once inside, she looked around in awe as she had never seen such a huge place before. The ceilings seemed to touch the sky and huge chandeliers hung down from it. But oddly, not all of the candles in them were lit and neither were many of the extravagant candelabras. She could tell every corner of the room was well decorated but because all the lighting elements were not being used to their full potential, the room was dimly lit and the shadows on the walls seemed ominous as one moved.

The butler left her standing and made his way upstairs seemingly to inform the owner. She did not move from her spot, scared she would offend them and be turned away and waited for someone to approach her again. She stood there hugging herself trying to bear the cold until the butler arrived, as water dripped down from her skirt onto the floor, creating a ring of water around her.