Quarantined

Chapter 3

Well, I woke up this morning feeling rather tired, for some reason. At breakfast, I let Chris and Sam know about how I was doing at the moment, and suggested that I stay behind today while they went out and explored some more. Of course, I only let up about my drowsiness; I did not dare tell them that I had visions regarding the wall pattern. The two of them said it was fine, and Chris has arranged for the mansion's caretaker of many years, Reginald, to keep me company for the day and to be at my aid if I needed anything while I rested. After breakfast was wrapped up, I said goodbye to them and, before I retired to my room again, told them to tell me all about their day upon their return. They said something about....going on a boat tour and then visiting a nature reserve, if I remember correctly. Let us hope those two do not encounter any more lizards, else Sam will never let Chris hear the end of it. 

I chatted with Reginald for a while before going to bed, and learned a lot about the history of the mansion in the process, before Chris's family got a hold of it. Apparently the house's ownership had suffered great legal distress in the distant past; a few individuals squabbling rather pettily about who was in charge of it. However, when I asked him about the room I was currently staying in, he would not say any more, looked at me for a few seconds with a reproachful expression, and left me rather abruptly, to go tend to the garden. I sorely wanted to pester him more, but I could not bring myself to do so. So I said no more about the matter, and went upstairs. 

I tried my best to avoid looking at the wall as much as possible as I slowly lifted myself onto the bed. I looked at the clock by my bedside, and flashbacks of the clock stores from my childhood briefly rushed through my mind. After fiddling with it a little, I managed to set an alarm for around lunch, pulled the covers over myself, and went to sleep. 

I suppose I was in such a deep sleep that I missed my alarm by a range of thirty minutes, give or take. Regardless, I headed downstairs and greeted Reginald, who revealed that he had ordered a pizza for me as a bit of a gift. Thank goodness! I shall not have to waste all of that effort preparing lunch myself! So I ate about two slices of it, with Reginald eating another two and the remaining half being put in the fridge to preserve it for a later time. I considered treating Chris and Sam to it, but then I remembered that they would be out all day, dinner included. So, I resignedly shut the fridge and headed upstairs once again. Reginald offered to assist me with my ailment, whatever it was....what a nice man! "Thank you so much, sir, but I am fine, really," I said. "You already have a lot of tasks to tend to around here, and I sincerely do not know how you manage it all without giving out. Don't worry about me; I'm sure I will recover soon." 

I went up to my room and gently closed the door, not making a sound. Once again, I had another episode where I attempted ever so dearly to fall asleep, and yet I could not. I considered taking another pill, but before I could, the wall design caught my attention once again. This time, as the afternoon sunlight bathed the room through the one singular window that the room had, I noticed something. The thinner threads which wrapped around the central strip seemed to fade from view, leaving only the main one behind, the vertical one which stretched the entire width of the wall. The design repeated itself across the length of the wall, so it looked kind of like....bars. Like the bars one would see on a rough jail cell, except they were not that thick. Before I could inspect it further, a drifting cloud covered the sun's rays, blocking its effect on the design and making it return to normal thusly. I was rather disappointed by this occurrence, and waited anxiously for the light to return. Nevertheless, after several minutes, it did not. Gloomily, I set another alarm for dinner, took another one of my pills, and fell asleep neatly within a few minutes. 

When I awoke (I did not miss the alarm this time; I am rather thankful for that), I got out of bed and hurried downstairs. Again, like earlier, I tried my best to not peer at the wall. I did not do such a good job. As I made my way toward the door, I saw that the sunlight had taken effect and that the bars were showing again. But this time, I thought I saw something else out of the corner of my eye. Behind the bar display stood a completely dark, blackened, silhouetted shadow of sorts. 

It looked like.....a woman.