We entered the mansion and I noticed details my eyes had neglected to see the last time I was in their domain. The floors were covered in a blood red carpeting and the smell of aromatic food wafted into my senses. At least I’ll get a decent meal out of coming here if nothing else I thought. We proceeded down the hallway that was lit by the glowing fireplace. We moved to the centre of the mansion where the stone staircase met the immaculate floors. The cast iron banisters created a diverted warped shadow on the opposite wall, which looked like a web only a black widow could have spun.
“There she is,” said father, his voice echoing in the immense space as he looked to the top of the staircase.
It was her, Georgia, the one that made my blood boil with murderous intent. Georgia chuckled as she floated down the stairs in her white dress. Jewels sparkled around her neck and wrists, even her fingers weren’t bare.
“Mother, you look beautiful,” said Dariouse with his eyes welling up like he was about to cry. I felt as if I could projectile vomit onto his face hearing his pathetic, grovelling to Georgia.
She smiled at us as she finally reached the last step and stood in front of us. Father took her hand and we all started to walk down to the north wing of the mansion. Father gave Georgia a kiss on her left cheek as he whispered to her, “Not long now my love.”
What did that mean, not long now? These people were too strange for words. My shirt collar seemed to tighten as we approached the dining room. I had noticed all three of them continuously stealing glances at each other, it wasn’t even subtle. I suddenly felt like I’d missed something and was just about to be trapped inside that hall of mirrors again. Their constant smiles were unsettling me and never faded. The light from the fireplace’s glow made their faces look uneven and deformed like the midget I had dreamt about. What were they all so unbelievably happy about? I pondered deeply in my mind trying to think everything over just in case I’d missed something.
My gut at this point was telling me to run and all the hairs on my arms stood up like red flags, warning me of what was to come. I tried to suppress my gut feeling and followed them into the spectacular dining room. Detail on the woodwork, statues and paintings leapt out pleasing my curious eyes. I had missed all of this the last time I was here. It was all emphasized in the light of hundreds of candles that were sat on the immense chandeliers which graced the room.
The display of food was incredible! Everything anyone could think of was on that endless table. There was meat, fish, game, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, salads, fruit, bread as well as umpteen condiments. I like food but it all seemed so excessive. Why tonight, what was so special they wanted to celebrate and why was I left in the dark about the whole thing? I couldn’t even get a private word with Dariouse as he’d sat himself down right beside Georgia. Once again I only had myself to rely on.
Just as father and I sat down, he began to speak. “Son, I just want you to know that everything we have done has always been in your best interests and for your happiness. Cheers son, now you are home and we can once again be a family.”
He raised his glass which was filled to the brim with dry red wine. We all held our glasses up, sipped some wine and started to eat.
“It’s so good to have you home boys,” Georgia said after she had taken a large sip of the wine. She glanced at Dariouse and me, it was the healthiest I’d ever seen her. I wonder how much make-up she was wearing to cover up the corpse like skin that lay beneath. The room was a little too quiet for my liking. I decided to start asking questions, after all I knew so little of these people who so strongly wished to be seen as my family.
“It must have been awful for you mother, at St Helens?” I asked Georgia as her smile dropped for a second in thought and then returned on her sly face.
“Let’s not talk about that Khedlar, life is too short and we have many things to be grateful for right here,” she said looking deeply into my eyes as if she was a feral beast who had locked her gaze willing me to drop it.
“This mansion is amazing father, how did you manage to buy such a beautiful home?” I asked. Father dropped his fork on the table. He laughed and quickly picked it up wiping it clean with his napkin.
“This house has been in my family for centuries that would make you… the fifth generation to live here. I mean that is assuming you want to live here so we can all be together?” he asked with no tact, throwing me into an awkward situation of my own.
“Yes, I would love nothing more, after I get everything wrapped up with my house,” I said acting like I didn’t feel repulsed at the thought of living in the same house as these people. Dariouse looked at me and winked.
The candles were starting to burn down and the light glow that lit the room had started to dampen. I wanted to know more about mother’s parents so I questioned her further. I didn’t care if it bothered her, in fact I liked to see her try to squirm out of answering every question I lay before her. I ate the last bit of my perfectly cooked steak and wiped my mouth clean. Folding my fabric napkin neatly beside my plate.
“So, do tell me more about my grandparents, I hate that I never got the chance to know them,” I said. Georgia’s eyes turned into a waxy glaze.
“Their names were Agatha and Desmond, lovely people,” she said avoiding my gaze. “Yes, I think you would have liked them very much,” she said. I turned to look at father and he was looking at mother so intensely, that’s when I knew she was still hiding the truth from me.
“What did they do?” I asked, pushing Georgia further. I could see in her eyes that the words escaping her lips contrasted harshly with what was so obviously going through her mind.
“Well,” she said, as she took several large sips of her wine, “They were doctors, just like Sally,” she said. Her expression was clear she wanted the questions to stop and she was twisting her answers to stab me deeper. I didn’t care she wasn’t as clever as she thought. Just like Sally stayed echoing in my ears. What did she mean by that?
“What about Desmond, what was he like as a father?” I asked. Georgia looked straight down at her plate and seemed to nearly vomit. She looked repulsed.
“He was the perfect father, I can’t complain, he was amazing,” she said as one tear escaped her eye. What was interesting was that it didn’t look like a tear of sadness but a tortured tear, the ones I knew all too well. She sat up in her chair rigidly.
“Care for any dessert my love?” she asked me, trying to evade my ever flowing questions.
I decided to change tactics as I could see Georgia had clamped up as her chin tilted defiantly towards me in a gesture that said enough was enough. I eyed Bernard and decided to turn my unwanted questions loose on him instead.
“Father if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly was it you did when you were on the run? After all mother did say that was what you were doing when she got dragged off to the nut house,” I asked in an arrogant, sneering manner. I wanted to goad him into spilling his guts up to me.
Dariouse stared at me in disbelief, his eyes bulging in shock. I suppressed a snicker as my eyes gleamed with evil and I stared at father who had gone pale.
“I was in trouble with the authorities at that time, a little misunderstanding really, nothing important,” he said as he took a puff from his oversized Havana cigar. “Yes son, nothing but a simple misunderstanding you see.”
“How long did you have to hide for father?” I asked not giving up without a fight.
“Not long but the timing couldn’t have been worse for your mother. I will never forgive you aunts for taking advantage of my absence to try destroy this family. What they did was unforgivable, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked looking at me with a searing gaze.
“Yes it was father, I couldn’t agree more.” He had caught me off guard with his confession and I wondered at the truth and sincerity of it all. My paranoid, deluded mind kept looking for the lie hidden inside his words.
“We even had to pretend I was dead, didn’t we Georgia?” he asked looking at his wife with l
oving eyes.
“Yes we did darling. It was all very dramatic. The story went that you had died in your sleep because your heart had given out. We even banned Ann and Morgan from your funeral to make it seem authentic,” she said smiling fondly at him.
“Mr Willows had the best funeral in town. What a way for a dead cat to see the end of his days out in this world,” he said and they all burst out laughing.
I looked shocked at Dariouse who was clutching at his sides and roaring with uncontrollable laughter. Tears streaked his face as he looked at me.
“Oh the hilarity of it all,” Georgia said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She lifted up her glass to salute the dearly departed Mr Willows.
“What are you all laughing at? Faking someone’s death is not funny!” I spat out feeling humiliated by not understanding the family joke that I felt I was being taunted by somehow.
“Oh son, if only you’d seen Mr Willows,” Georgia said as she started to laugh again.
“He was the fattest, scruffiest hair ball you could ever have seen. He was our family pet for years until he passed away choking on his fur balls. His fluffy coat got the better of him in the end,” father said as he snorted out more laughter.
“He was too fat for the freezer,” said Dariouse and they all erupted laughing again and I had to sit patiently until one of them could compose themselves enough to talk.
I felt like I was sitting a table with a bunch of naughty toddlers but I must admit even I was finding it hard to keep a straight face as the story unravelled. I couldn’t understand why they just didn’t chop Mr Willow’s up, I bet he would have easily fit into the freezer then.
“We set it all up with a fake death certificate and put Mr Willows into the best coffin money could buy. That reminds me Bernard, we still need to buy you a new one for the when the time comes. I don’t think you’d want to share with Mr Willows, do you?” she asked as they burst out laughing again.
I could help it but I started to laugh too. Maybe it was the thought of Bernard curled up with Mr Willows dead six foot under that did it or maybe it was the wine? I didn’t care, their laughter was contagious and that was funny I thought to myself.
“Yes dear we certainly do need to buy a new casket,” Bernard said as he took another puff from his cigar. “It was a good funeral for such a mangy beast but he was worth it. It worked too because people honestly believed it was me lying in the closed coffin,” he said as he let loose a high pitched giggle. He still hadn’t got his laughter fully under control.
“That is hilarious,” I said drawing their attention back to me. “If only Morgan and Ann knew what they’d been banished from,” I said with a twinkle in my eye. I wanted to charm them to get the answers I needed the most.
“The irony is what was best about it all and they lapped it up hook, line and sinker. Bernard got to disappear for a while, the authorities backed off but our family got torn apart in the process,” Georgia said as she gave me a sad look.
“Aunt Morgan threatened to kill me if I ever went back to see her again when I last saw her. I confronted her about all her lies and she denied it all. She said you were the liars not her,” I said as I got sympathetic looks in return.
“What did you expect son, she was just as rotten as Ann,” Georgia said with kindness in her voice. “I’m sorry you had to hear it from her so bluntly.”
“Mother, where is Demetrius?” I asked looking at her innocently. I had slipped the question in quickly and slyly trying to catch her off guard. “I know he’s not dead.” I thought I would throw in a bluff to see what she said in response.
“To be honest I don’t know where he is right now. He turned up at the house a couple of years ago and we welcomed him home with open arms. He betrayed us and broke our trust. He showed no regard whatsoever for us or what family meant. He didn’t just leave us but he also took our family history with him. It was all recorded in diaries going back generations and he stole them all. He is not welcome in our home son, we could never trust him after that,” she said. She looked heart-broken but resolute.
“Yeah that sounds just like him. He always took what he wanted no matter what,” I said as I looked at the scar on my hand. I still remembered the fish he’d stolen from me with anger. “I thought he had died when I was in the hospital but now I know it was just the drugs messing up my mind,” I confessed. At last I knew he was still alive!
“No son, he is very much alive and breathing. He’s out there somewhere, mark my words. Let’s just hope it stays that way and he doesn’t show up here again or he won’t find this house so hospitable,” Georgia said with a menacing edge to her words.
“Yes,” I said as my mind drifted off in thought. I felt I had come as close to the truth as I would get with these people. I knew I shouldn’t take them at their word as they seemed to talk with forked tongues. One side was partially the truth I had no doubt while the rest of it was lies piled on top of more lies.
We had consumed the vast meal and I felt a bit tipsy from all the wine. I reached over for my coffee and downed two cups of it. I don’t know why but I didn’t feel safe in this house of illusions and needed to sober up quickly. I was disgusted with myself for this slip in my normally tightly controlled character. These people were more dangerous than I thought. They had pumped a ton of food and alcohol into me to get me to relax and it was the last thing I had wanted to do. My revenge would have to wait for tomorrow as I was in no fit state to figure out how I was going to execute this pit of vipers. I was still in two minds about Dariouse though. I wasn’t sure if I should let him live or die. He seemed to switch sides instantly when we had walked into this house. All he wanted to do was play happy families and I was not going to be a puppet on their strings.
There were too many loose ends and not enough straight answers for my liking. I knew they were deceivers and hiding the truth of my past from me like they’d done all my life. I didn’t need this, what I did need was dead and gone. Sue was in an empty casket buried in a cemetery with no body to lay to rest. They had never found their bodies but still had no hesitation in blaming me for killing them. Their murders haunted me as the mystery of who their true killers were would probably never be answered, at least not in my lifetime. I would just have to be satisfied with the unknown.
I came out of my drifting thoughts as mother stood up suddenly to leave the room.
“I’m off to sleep for the night son. Thank you for a wonderful evening. Dariouse see your brother gets his surprise before bed okay,” she instructed as she left us alone.
“Goodnight boys,” Bernard said as he trailed after her.
The evening must have been too much for her to deal with. Her health was so obviously hanging on by a thread as not even her make-up could hide how frail her body really was. Killing her was going to be easy!
Dariouse gradually raised his head to face me. He slowly made eye contact, staring at me with intensity as he almost cautiously began to speak.
“Brother, it’s time you came with me. We have a gift for you,” he said as one side of his mouth pulled up to show his notorious crooked smile. Thousands of thoughts came to mind of what this surprise could be and yet dead cats and fishing hooks hung in my mind. I knew whatever it was wouldn’t be something I would like.
“Okay, let’s go,” I replied, trying to match his enthusiasm but failing to convey anything but sarcasm. My hands began to sweat as I got up from my chair pushing it neatly into the table.
He led me down into a part of the house I had never been to before. It was a library, books adorned every wall and oak ladders lent up against the shelves. Dust had created thick layers on every book, or so I thought. Dariouse walked up to a shelf on the left hand side of the room. His chest puffed out as if he was feeling proud of what he was going to show me.
“Are you excited brother?” he asked in a dry, sinister tone of voice that intrigued me. He had changed character so much since we’d returned to the house. I thought that he probably h
ad been talking to mother and father while he was staying at my house and it made me feel like I might have made a fatal error allowing him into my confidence.
He pulled the book forward and the entire wall started to shake. What now I wondered as I tried to prepare my overly heightened senses.
“This is our secret passage, pretty cool huh?” he said showing off a bit.
I wondered where this passage would lead as the wall finished opening up to reveal a dark stone tunnel. Dariouse pulled a lighter from his pocket and shined it against the right wall. The ceiling lights turned on one after the other drawing my eyes further down the tunnel.
“Heat activated lighting, father says it’s a stroke of genius, without a light you could get lost so easily down here,” he said as he chuckled At that point I knew that my gut had been right. It was the hall of mirrors all over again but my face was so warped no mirrors would be needed.
The further we walked down into the tunnel of damp and despair, the more I wanted to run. Dariouse whistled a tune that sounded familiar, a little too familiar.
We came to a stop at a door that was different from the others in the mansion. It was made out of metal and a bolt and padlock sat on the outside, it was strange and intriguing at the same time. What could be behind this door to warrant so much security? My active imagination wondered if it was a secret dungeon or worse. Gold or family heirlooms could be just behind the door. I tried to convince myself of a logical possibility, but I knew better. These people were not normal or logical, I surrendered my mind as I quickly came to the conclusion that it could be anything.
Dariouse looked at me and I could feel his pulse quicken as he smiled. He pulled an old rusted key from his pocket and looked at it for a moment before placing it inside the tarnished lock. The key clanged and rattled as he unlocked the door and swung it wide open.
I glanced about the room with my nerves on edge, looking at every corner and wall in the room… there was nothing, it was dark and empty.
“One second,” Dariouse said as he used the flame of his lighter to trigger the lights. My eyes blinked trying desperately to focus on the room as the fluorescent lights set them into a contracted shock. I started to regain my blurred vision and was disappointed to see it was bare. No furniture, no glamorous decor, just stone walls. The only thing that seemed out of place were blood red velvet curtains that ran from one end of the room to the other. They cascaded down from ceiling to floor and pooled as red waves on the stone ground. It looked like a small theatre. I thought this was quite fitting for this family to have their own theatre, as all the stories and lies they told must have needed rehearsing. The carnival music started playing in my head and I shook it several times, trying to get it to stop echoing its haunting melody but it was relentless.
Psycho-Analysis: The Beginning Page 25