by Brain S
The Reader House
Present
Pyramid’s Shadow
BY
Brain S.
Copyright
Copyright: Published in the Brain S./ © Brain S.
Published : 2 May 2016
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Table of Content
The Reader House
Present
Table of Content
Chapter one: The nightmare
Chapter Two: Welcome to your new home, welcome to the castle
Chapter Three: A perfect night until midnight
Chapter Four: The headless creature
Chapter Five: A bloody nightmare
Chapter Six: Meeting the beast
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Chapter one: The nightmare
It was a chilly December day. Everybody found something to distract each other during the night right before going to sleep at a very late hour. Although a long day was awaiting them, they stayed up until the sunburst, all of them except Brook and her brother. They were five relatives, Don, James, Glenn, Jean, Julian with Brook and her little brother Dale, they were all cousins and it had been a very long time since the last time they met, henceforth, they spent the entire night giggling and joking. They planned to celebrate Easter together and they wanted to make it very special and cozy that year. Don asked each one of his relatives to come up with an interesting suggestion to celebrate Easter. And Glenn’s idea seemed to be the best at least for the two brothers Jean and Julian. And everything had been set as they decided to spend the special occasion in a deserted castle in their city. The entire idea was to spend the night in the Stirling deserted castle in Scotland, on a dare. The winner would be the one who stays overnight inside that haunted mansion. But some rules were set; nobody was allowed to take his cell phone. There was a legend about that place, people said no one dared enter that place and even when some tourists would try their luck, no one was seen again. Some said they never came out while others believed that they were still there looking for an outlet. But the five relatives were not afraid apparently as they made their mind undergo that adventure and all that they were thinking of was enjoying differently. They even started gathering up the bet. But they decided to keep that idea from Brook, to surprise her even though they knew she didn’t like deserted castles. Meanwhile, Brook and Dale were together in their room, she had always been like a mother to him, ever since their parents passed away. Brook could never forget that horrible accident. It happened long years ago but she didn’t manage to get over it. They were both staying upstairs in their little cozy room; the latter was like an attic, stuffed with many toys. But there was something in common between all of them. All the toys were headless. Dale didn’t seem to like his toys to have any heads, he kept tear them before playing with them.
Dale was never able to sleep if his sister didn’t relate a story for him. And although Brook didn’t know many stories, she did her best to remember as many as she could to help her brother sleep every night. Dale started to have sleep troubles since the accident. And Brook couldn’t do much for him because she was jobless, and she couldn’t look for a job as well because she couldn’t trust anyone to leave her brother with. It was very hard for her to be the father, the mother and the sister at the same time. But she was doing okay, and pretending to be strong all the time. She was even starting to behave like her mother telling her brother not to eat right before going to sleep. And it was then when memories started to flow to her mind.
“Don't eat much before going to your bed Dale, you too Brook, you should learn how to look after your brother when we are not here as well.” Their mother used to tell them but she wasn’t there anymore to guide them or to tell them what to do and what not to do, she wasn’t there anymore to look after them like the rest of the ordinary families, neither was their father. They used to believe they were the happiest family in the entire world but that was before that cold winter day when they went to that circus. Everything changed starting from that horrible day.
Brook could never forgive herself because she believed it was all her fault, if she wasn’t driving that day, her parents would have been still alive but it was too late for regret, and she knew she couldn’t rewind time. Yet; the same nightmare chased her for over four years, every night without a stop. Whenever she would try to sleep, she would remember her mother’s words that were ringing like a bell in her ears:
“You might see a nightmare princess.” And Brook realized how right her mother was. Yet, she never believed her words until it happened to her.
It was an ordinary night at the beginning, Brook was hungry as usual and it was just a few minutes before she was about to go to bed. Therefore, she made herself a jam sandwich and had a big glass of hot chocolate. And right after eating and drinking, she went right to her bed. And she drifted off soon into a troubled sleep she never had experienced before. It was like a trip to hell for her, she would rather call it, a hell’s night. Brook was always scared to sleep all alone, and that was why she would sleep with her young brother Dale in the same bed, but she didn’t know that Dale would accompany her into every nightmare she used to see. Every night was a new terrific trip except that the setting would change. And the night that preceded Easter was the worst. Brook dreamt that a group of headless people looking for her and her brother. She wasn’t sure why they were chasing them for her. Brook was hiding everywhere from them with her brother but the dolls of rabbits would talk and yell at her and their eyes were lit in red as if they were lamps, and Brook would grab her brother’s hand and run away but the group of headless people would follow her faster and faster, however, the scariest moment Brook experienced with her brother was when her legs froze and she couldn’t step forward any longer as if she was paralysed. The whole place was like a horror or creepy movie in which Brook and her brother were the victims. And when those scary people would find out her hiding place, Brook would, fortunately, wake up to find that she was rather inside her room with her brother figuring out that she had a nightmare.
She would find herself sleeping on the floor, and the first thing she would do was to check on her brother and see if he was asleep in his bed. She would push herself up from the ground and face the door. She would close her eyes for a second trying to wipe all those
nightmares, then she took a deep breath, opened her eyes again, and after that she would go back to her bed but she would stop all of a sudden when she would hear the crackling of the door. It seemed as if someone was right in front of it trying to open it up pulling the door knob down as hard as possible. Brook was sure that someone was standing right outside trying grudgingly to open up that door. There was a shadow that could be seen underneath the door, the lights of the hallway were lit while Brook was still trying to figure out who wanted to sneak stroll into her room like thieves in the middle of the night. Everything was sinking in deep silence and Brook was hoping that, whoever was standing outside her room, he would go soon but she didn’t expect her young brother would wake up at that late hour.
“Brook, I’m thirsty, I want water; could you bring me some?” Dale asked.
Brook was surprised, there was nothing she could say to tell her brother to keep quiet so she covered his mouth trying to prevent him from talking. But he was just eleven years old, and when she did that, he started to panic and scream then he started to cry while Brook couldn’t even control the situation.
But as soon as Dale’s screams could be heard, the shadow disappeared all of a sudden as if it never existed. And only then could Brook breath with a deep sigh trying to calm her brother down at the same time because she realized how much she scared him. Brook went out to the kitchen to bring her brother a cup of water and on her way, she tried to see what the time was, the house was totally and even scarily quiet like a graveyard. The silence was strange so Brook rushed down to the kitchen. There was no single sound coming from the working huge fridge, or the ticking clock she used to hear; nothing at all. Brook opened up the tap and tried to fill the glass but there was no water at all? Not even a drop of water poured. The red glass remained empty. But fortunately, there was a bottle of water in the fridge and Brook just took it all and got back to the room.
Dale didn’t go back to sleep but he was sitting in front of the wall. It was very strange but Brook was very tired and went to sleep right after she gave him the water he asked for.
The following day, Brook woke up at hearing her door knocked repeatedly. She was still feeling sleepy but Don insisted on waking her up.
“I didn’t know my little beautiful cousin sleeps until a late hour, get up young lad, and wake Dale, we’re celebrating Easter today, and won’t believe the surprise we have prepared, so wake up and get changed; we don’t have much time,” Don explained
“Oh really, I almost forgot today is Easter, we will have fun then,” Brook replied with excitement.
“Yeah, you’d better get ready or you’ll miss all the fun and 0end up passing a boring Easter night all alone,” Don added.
“Sure; we will be ready just in few minutes,” Brook replied unable to hide her excitement.
“Where are we going, Brook?” Dale inquired.
“I don’t know, he said it is a surprise, we will have fun, come on let’s pack up,” Brook replied.
“No, I don’t want to go anywhere, I want to stay here,” Dale yelled.
“What are you saying? We have to go, we can’t stay here alone, grandma and grandpa won’t come back until the next week; we need to go.” Brook replied.
But Dale started to cry loudly and he wouldn’t stop until Brook gave him his headless toy to play with. She knew her brother very well and knew the best way to convince him to accompany her was to let him take his toys.
“Listen to Dale; how about taking your toys with you, will you go if I let them go with us?” Brook asked.
“Can I do that?” Dale inquired.
“Yes, of course, you can,” Brook replied.
“Okay then, I will go with you,” Dale replied with hesitation.
And while the young boy was playing with his toys, Brook packed up their clothes she would need for the trip. Everybody was indeed very busy getting ready to get in their cars. It was a chilly day as well and to go to a place she didn’t know was a little bit strange for Brook but she was excited, she had always loved surprises and she was hoping that they would go to the wonderland. It was her first time going on a trip after the dramatic death of her parents.
Everybody was excited as they knew where they would go except Brook; she didn’t even doubt them; all she thought about was to have a peaceful night without seeing a nightmare. And it was no more than few hours that they arrived at their destination point.
Brook was astonished as well as amazed at seeing that huge castle in front of her eyes, and they pushed the heavy gates, and their iron bars, dogs started to bark loudly as if they saw a beast and not people. There was a lonesome apple tree standing in the entrance of that castle. Its leaves were already gone because of the low temperature. The wind was howling and a crow was standing on a branch of that apple tree. Despite the charm of the place, Brook was scared since the first minute she saw the tree in.
Chapter Two: Welcome to your new home, welcome to the castle
The sky was cloudless even though it was a chilly winter day. And Brook, as well as her brother with the rest of her relatives, was watching the castle with amazement, but nobody except Dale noticed the existence of many owls on that tree in front of the castle. Everybody looked very excited to get inside and enjoy Easter in that huge deserted palace. It was gloomy, though as if the sun didn’t strike it at all. The air seemed cold and extremely numb with every breath Brook took. And as the castle was drawing closer and closer, everything around them seemed to become more and more distant. Even the trees seemed to be murmuring then nothing could be heard anymore as if everything was silenced and the Iron Gate looked scary with its rustling sound. Even the owls couldn’t be heard anymore, and all of a sudden, the ground became clean, very clean indeed even the falling leaves disappeared as if they were never there. There was nothing special about the entrance to the castle except for the old as well aged concrete steps to the doorway. The castle looked huge and wide from the outside as if it was a labyrinth. It was a unique place made of very huge dark and gray stones, and there were a big number of climber plants growing on the walls of the palace as if they were hugging it tightly. And as the cars got inside, the wind blew harder and howled as if storms stroke the house. It was creepy and strange at the same time; it looked like a special welcoming of the castle to its visitors. The windows were rattling loudly and vigorously because of that outrageous sudden blowing wind. Dale looked scared and kept talking to his sister asking her to get back home:
“Brook; I want to go back home, I’m scared, what is this place? I don’t like it.”
“Why are you scared my little angel, look over there, isn’t the place looking very nice? And look at the woods; they are just like in fairytales.” Brook replied trying to reassure her brother but it seemed he didn’t agree with her over her belief in the beauty of that deserted castle.
But, it seemed that Dale was the only one who saw the gloomy and dark side of the castle since the very beginning, he could even feel that the windows could fall anytime soon. The frames that were hanged on the walls looked very old and its wood seemed to be eaten away by worms and rotten. And even the content of the paintings was very scary and strange, blood was the major feature in common between all the paintings and the relatives were stunned seeing it:
“Look at that painting, ah, isn’t it charming?”Jean asked his brother Julian.
“Maybe it is, let me have a look; I wonder when this painting was drawn,” Julian replied.
“Whoever drew it must have been a very talented painter,” Don commented.
But while the relatives were still looking at the paintings expressing their astonishment, it attracted Brook to see some plants near the door, they were put into pots and even though the castle was deserted and everything was covered with dust; the plants seemed to be still alive, as if someone was watering them every day. That was very strange but there was no time for Brook to talk about that to her relatives since the night started to fall fast.
Brook grab
bed her brother’s hand and went straight to get changed in her room. The hallway looked very dull and it smelled of dust. There were three rooms on that second level. Straight ahead of those rooms, a kitchen could be seen at the end of the level, everything looked intact, the cups, the plates, even the leftovers of years ago.
“I’m thirsty Brook; can you bring me some water?” Dale inquired.
“Oh, yes darling, I’m sorry, I forgot to bring your bottle from the car, let’s hope the tap is working,” Brook replied in a low voice.
Then she entered the kitchen. It was a huge one, but it was very cold, there was a huge refrigerator inside it, it looked like a morgue in its coldness. Mugs and plate were placed everywhere even on the floor, the sink and even on the oven. The sink and the tap were completely eroded and covered with dirt, it was untouchable and the sound of the drops of water falling in the sink could be heard all over the entire place like the sound of a drop of rain falling in a silent deep well. And it made the symbols smash together.
The dining room was not very far from the kitchen, it took Brook just a matter of few minutes to enter it and see the huge black table with its seven chairs that were very cold to the touch and they were made of oak. The table was cleaned very well as if it was used by people, and above the table were put plates as well as spoons, forks, and even knives. The walls were plastered. And overall, the entire place looked charming like in the movies. Dale saw a small window, and ran towards it as if he was searching for something, and the entire family spent all the rest of the day preparing for the celebration making chocolate cakes and preparing the chocolate eggs for Easter.
And as the shades of the dark night started to be drawn, the shadows of the melancholic owls and the sounds of wild animals became clearer over the huge castle and a sense of deep gloomy mood dominated the entire place but no one among the relatives noticed it except Dale, he was the only one who didn’t look happy or willing to spend the night in that castle A sense of a very insufferable darkness and gloom pervaded Dale’s mind and he decided to sit alone in a remote corner in the living room waiting for the dinner to be ready. The castle was very silent and the dinner wasn’t fun at all because, there was nothing delicious, only leftovers and some bread.