Mystery and Suspense at the Cavendish Mansion

by Volpiceli, Waldon; Cristina Rodrigues Gomes, Ana;

  - You have the house’ keys, I knew it, that day I found you here and you told me I’ve left the door open, all lies, you had the house’ keys and you still have them, that’s how you got in, now, said Elizabeth.

  - That’s right, I lied, because I thought you were going to ask for them. I didn’t come here for things. I came down to scare you off, I went to your room, I picked up the bullet box and put it in the room that used to be mine, in the drawer, but you found it. Now...

  The butler pulls a handgun, 38 calibre, and points it Elizabeth, that gets even more scared.

  - Stop with the talking. You are going to sign these documents.

  He puts them on the table, near Elizabeth, and she remembers the voice, from before, that told her not to sign.

  - That voice couldn’t have been him, thought Elizabeth.

  - I won’t sign. You can’t shoot me, without my signature, nothing could happen.

  -You will sign, said, this time the lawyer, with a grave voice. Sign it, it’s all done, the document is already registered at the registry office, the butler will be your guardian and we will sell this property, the mansion and the gold mine.

  - So, there really is a gold mine here, they’ve told me the truth, said Elizabeth.

  - Yes, said the butler. It’s all going to be mine.

  The lawyer finds that statement, strange.

  - Calm down my friend, ours, we made a deal, half and half, said the lawyer.

  - Is that so? Said the butler, ironically.

  He stands back, points the gun at the lawyer, that gets scared, and... shoots. The bullet hits his chest. The lawyer falls dead, on the floor.

  - You are crazy, said Elizabeth.

  - No, said the butler Álvaro Lopes. I’ve been working for years at this place, in this shithole, taking care of the old man, putting up with him and now I am left without a thing? No. I will have everything. Now, sign, said the butler pointing the gun at her.

  Elizabeth gets close to the papers, but there’s no pen for her to sign.

  - Sign with what? There’s nothing to write with here.

  The butler gets frightened. Realizes he didn’t bring a pen. He saw the lawyer’s body. He leans over to have a better look and says:

  - Come here girl, check if he’s got a pen, any pen, quickly...

  He goes around the table, brutally grabs Elizabeth’s arm and throws her near the body.

  -Check his pockets, said the butler pointing the gun at her.

  She searches, but can’t find anything.

  - Pick up his suitcase, it’s there, on the floor, open it and look, said the butler.

  She picks up the suitcase and sees a pen. She jumps. She doesn’t want to sign, she doesn’t say anything...

  -So, said the butler, with a harsh voice. Is there a pen or not?

  Elizabeth firmly picks up the suitcase, but when she is about to check it out, a big rock is thrown from outside, breaking the window in front of the sink and hitting the butler Álvaro Lopes, that nearly falls on the ground. Elizabeth sees the scene and throws the suitcase away on a side and runs into the living room. The butler pulls himself together, standing up and from the door, shoots at Elizabeth, that was going up the stairs. The bullet hits the handrail closest to her. Elizabeth remembers about the rifle, in her room, she gets at the room’s door, looks for the right key, she manages to get the key in the lock, tries to open, but she doesn’t know if she was successful. However, she hears shoe steps, getting up the stairs, fast. Nervous, she can’t open the door, runs to the end of the hallway, and goes up the side stairs. The butler sees her going up the stairs and shoots again, the bullet hits the wall beside her, she gets scared, but runs up the stairs. The rain is heavier, outside. She gets to the second floor, she tries to open the room she was in before, but hears footsteps again. She gets more frightened, notices the large window that leads to the front roof, it’s open and she gets out through it. She goes out in the rain, gets wet, then...She slips on the wet roof, she rolls down, manages to grab the roof corner by a few tiles and remains hanging, only be her arms with her head up and the rain pouring on her face. The butler already arrived, looks around the rooms, they are locked, he looks at the window and sees Elizabeth hanging. He shoots at her. She gets scared. The bottom stairs are at 8 meters below her.

  - Sign those papers, or I won’t miss this time.

  - No, I am Elizabeth Cavendish Stanton, she says.

  - Forget about it, you are nothing, you don’t even have a name. Sign and you can go back to the orphanage, where you came from.

  - No, she says. I shouldn’t, I can’t, a voice told me not to sign and I trust it.

  - Stop being an idiot. It was all framed.

  He points the gun at Elizabeth, aims, but... he runs out of bullets.

  - Damn, I am going to get this girl. She will sign the paper, even if she must get a whacking, said the butler to himself.

  He puts the gun on the ground, and gets out through the window. It’s still raining. He balances himself up, and reaches Elizabeth.

  - Give me your hand, come on up. I will take you to the kitchen and you will sign those papers. I won’t lose everything.

  - Never, she says. I won’t sign a thing.

  - That’s fine, I tried. You will go down in the worst way.

  The butler approaches her more to push her down with his feet, so she falls on the ground, but suddenly...

  -You can stop right there my friend, says a voice coming from the window.

  The butler gets scared, slips, rolls down and...falls. Falls near Elizabeth. Falls on the bottom stairs. Dies instantly.

  - Who said that? Says Elizabeth, looking, trying to look up, with her face soaked. She gets scared. Because of the rain falling on her face, she has difficulty observing the window, but she notices...It’s Fisto.

  - You appeared? She said, frightened.

  - Yes, it’s me, I am here, said Fisto from the window.

  -Wait a minute, I think I can go there, says Elizabeth.

  She pushes herself up with all her strength, she walks a bit, looks at the window, at Fisto, and she notices he is pointing the butler’s 38 calibre gun at her.

  - What’s that Fisto? She asks, frightened.

  - Go back and let yourself fall, said Fisto, seriously.

  She gets even more scared.

  - I know about everything. You will sign the paper and you will make me your guardian.

  Elizabeth gets even more frightened.

  - I will inherit all this. You know what I am. You know what I deal with.

  - I know Fisto, but this doesn’t justify your attitude, said Elizabeth. I know you’re...

  - Yes, says Fisto. I am gay. My family despises me, they all discriminate me, but when I will inherit this fortune, I will sell everything. I know about everything, about the gold mine. I won’t be that “poor faggot” anymore, as they all call me. I will be rich, well-respected, my family, everybody is going to like me.

  - Do you think they will like you because of this? Says Elizabeth.

  - If they won’t, I don’t care. I will have power. It’s what matters. But...what’s the fun in all this.

  He laughs, drops the gun on the floor and goes to help Elizabeth.

  - What’s all this about? She asks.

  - It’s a joke, silly.

  - Aaaahhh, I can’t believe it, Elizabeth gets angry. Messing around with something so serious.

  - Calm down, cutie, calm down, said Fisto.

  Fisto helps her out of the roof and to enter the hallway through the window. Completely soaked, from the rain, Elizabeth finds him strange.

  - Where have you been, all this time?

  -I will tell you everything, said Fisto. When we were in the kitchen and you went to the living room I felt like vomiting. I left the kitchen and I found a door at the back. Still anxious I wandered off, although I couldn’t find a bathroom and I didn’t want to get the house soiled. I went near some trees and I vomited, but then because of my
illness I had a fit.

  -What illness, what fit?

  - Those pills you saw are my nausea’s cause.

  - I know what they are for, for AIDS, isn’t it? Said Elizabeth.

  Fisto is astonished.

  - No, they’re not, my dear, said Fisto.

  - I know, just kidding, said Elizabeth giggling. I haven’t got a clue what they are for.

  - That’s ok, they are for absence fits. Temporary amnesia. Sometimes it lasts a few minutes, but it could last a few hours. The pills control the symptoms. There are people that have the weak version of the illness, most of them, but there’s a few others that have the severe type. I have the severe form of the illness. I had a fit and I wandered off, walked randomly. I was like that for hours, when I started to come back, I forgot where the mansion was, I searched, until I found it, I got here and that’s when I saw you with those two, I heard the talk and I saw one of them shooting the other one. I got scared. I didn’t want to enter the house. You went running, I entered through the back door and came up here where all of it happened.

  - That’s why you pranked me, you’ve heard the whole story, said Elizabeth. That’s why I believed you and I got frightened.

  - Sorry, that was a stupid joke.

  - But, I rang your mobile before and someone answered.

  -Must have been me, when I get a fit, I get trailed off but not as much. I’d say I answered the phone and... I don’t know, maybe I couldn’t say anything, I don’t remember this happening.

  - What about now, there’s two dead people here, what should we do? Said Elizabeth.

  - Call the police, that’s the right thing to do. We shouldn’t touch them and explain the whole story.

  VII

  After two years.

  - Miss Elizabeth, said a female voice. There’s someone here to see you.

  - Let them in, thank you, said, Elizabeth.

  - It’s me cutie.

  - Fisto, you went missing, I’m so glad you came.

  The two hug each other. They go to the large living room. Well lit, it was night, but the lights were shining on the ceiling. The female voice that called Elizabeth was a girl, that was working for her. It was at her new house.

  - Happy birthday, 18 years old, said Fisto.

  - True.

  - I have news, said Fisto. The police closed the case. About the two men that died in that house, the forensic revealed that me any you were not guilty about what happened.

  - Oh, that’s great, said Elizabeth. I am relieved, it was a nightmare.

  - More news. Your documents, even though they were dishonestly obtained, they were accepted by the authorities, because the judge ruled that you had no fault. But in order for you to continue as the inheritor you must keep them. Therefore, you are Elizabeth Cavendish Stanton, not Henry Cavendish’s natural daughter, but adopted. That is why there won’t be any inheritance confiscating. Because you, when you were 16, made me your guardian, I took care of everything. If you remember I sold the land, the gold mine and the mansion, to the investors, interested in the mine. A good profit, of a few million reals and because you are kind you gave me a good amount. I bought this house for you, and now, that you turned 18, here it is: all your fortune is in a bank account in your name and the house too is in your name. I am not your guardian anymore.

  - It was the least I could do, said Elizabeth. You bought a house too. Why don’t you come to live here?

  - I bought, it’s near here, said Fisto.

  - You found your richness. I remember you wanted to be well-respected, that time I was on top of that house, in the rain, said, Elizabeth.

  - That was a joke, said Fisto, embarrassed.

  - But one of the reasons I believed in that joke was because of the way you said it, you said from the heart, could have been a joke, but it was what you felt, I think you made that joke with some truth in it, with something that you felt.

  Fisto looks down and says:

  - I think you are right, but I am still different and different is scary, it will always be scary, being successful or not.

  - You know, at the mansion, said Elizabeth. I was about to sign those documents. I was about to get tricked when I heard a voice saying: DONT SIGN!!!

  - Elizabeth, said Fisto, surprised. That was their scam, they were shoddy ghosts, those voices from beyond, were made to scare you, so you will desist of everything, give up the mansion, everything. In order for you to sign those papers.

  - But I don’t get it. Why exactly on the moment they were about to get what they wanted, that voice appeared, stopping me from falling into their wangle? That voice, only that one, it couldn’t have been made by them, said Elizabeth.

  - I can’t explain it, said Fisto.

  - Well, forget about it, I didn’t even thank you for saving me in the kitchen, that time, the rock that you threw at the butler was sure-fire.

  Fisto is frightened.

  - I didn’t throw any rocks.

  - But you said you were outside, observing everything, that’s how you found out about the story. Stop joking, you are joking again, aren’t you?

  - It’s true, I am not joking, when the butler shot the other one I got scared and I went to the back of the house to try getting in through the back door, to go to the kitchen to see if I could do something, but when I arrived in the kitchen, I went slowly so he won’t notice me, you weren’t there anymore, I heard steps in the hallway above and that’s when the idea to go upstairs occurred to me.

  - But who threw the rock? Who told me not to sign?

  Fisto and Elizabeth look ahead, observing an image on the wall and they discover there could be more in the universe than they could imagine.

  What was the image in front of them? It was the only thing Elizabeth wanted to bring from the mansion: Henry Cavendish’s portrait.

  THE END

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