by William King
“Mason, I kindly hope you will excuse my formality, but I am not accustomed to the way you Americans do things. This is my first time visiting the United States of America and everyone seems a bit out of the ordinary to me.”
I started laughing, and I could not control myself. I am afraid that Elizabeth had taken my laughing entirely the wrong way, totally misunderstanding what my laughter was intended for. Her face suddenly blushed and turned a light shade of pink, and she definitely retorted.
“I bloody well do not see anything funny about the way you Americans do things, it is preposterous!”
Now I was the one who was caught off guard, and I tried to explain to her that I had been laughing more at myself and not at her.
“I’m sorry Elizabeth. I really meant you no disrespect. I was just thinking about your lovely English accent right before your introduction.”
This time I was not going to make another mistake, and made sure that I introduced myself accordingly, as I extended my arm to shake her hand I said, “Elizabeth I am Mason Williams.”
Elizabeth too, now laughing reached out and took my hand, shaking it firmly and said, “In that case Mason, I am very pleased to make your acutance. I have just been in shambles ever since I arrived at the Blackwood Manor.”
However, I made sure for the rest of our meeting that little misunderstanding did not happen a second time. Elizabeth told me a few things about England, and I, in return told her a few things about the United States of America, and its ways of doing things. I tried once again to approach Elizabeth on the subject of why she had retained my services and brought me to the Blackwood Manor. However, she graciously declined by saying that I would definitely know by morning.
Elizabeth talked exceedingly about her parents, and I could tell right away that she had missed them terribly. I thought that it would make her feel a whole lot better knowing that I too had lost somebody close to me, so I told her about the tragic loss of my foster parents, Alexander and Charlotte Kingsley.
“Elizabeth, my foster parents informed me that my biological parents were killed in a horrific accident when I was a baby, and they had taken care of me ever since I can remember. I have not the faintest clue of what my biological parents even looked like.
“Six years ago my foster parents, Alexander and Charlotte Kingsley were horrifically murdered by some sort of a demon that called herself Bastelet, when I had just turned six-teen years old. She had a hideous smell to her, a smell that I still cannot describe.”
“Mason, I am pleased that you told me about them. I haven’t felt as if anyone has understood the things that I have felt since my parent’s death, until now.”
Somehow, I started feeling affectionate and strangely close to Elizabeth at this particular moment. I wonder if it had to do with her being such a beautiful woman. For some unknown reason that I just could not grasp, I felt as if I had known her my entire life. I blamed myself for being arrogant for even thinking that I did because I did not really know her at all.
Good grief, I had just met this woman, but I already wanted to have sex with her. So I said to myself, Mason Williams, do not make a complete fool of yourself, and at that moment the grandfather clock located within the hall chimed, making me jump, as the hideous sound echoed through the Blackwood Manor. An uneasy feeling came over me as I looked to see what time it was. It had just turned eleven o’clock, and before I had the chance to probe even deeper into Elizabeth’s past, she spoke out and said, “Mason, I do not know about you, but it has been a tiring day, and I am bloody exhausted. Alexandrea has prepared a room for you upstairs. It is the first door on the left. You will have your own private bath until midnight, and your breakfast will be ready at seven a.m. sharp. Goodnight and sleep tight.”
As she slowly walked away, she turned and looked back at me with a worried look on her face and said, “I sure hope you get some sleep tonight Mason.”
I stood there completely frozen, and my mind seemed to go blank. What in the world, did Elizabeth mean that I would have my own private bath until midnight? What did she mean by until midnight? Not knowing what she meant by her last statement would be enough to keep me up all night.
I made my way up the stairs, opened the bedroom door, and observed my surroundings, thinking to myself that the person who had once occupied this bedroom had exquisite taste. The bathroom consisted of a lavish, sunken pear shaped, jetted tub that I surely would not be using tonight, or any other night, a travertine tiled shower stall that was enclosed with etched glass, a granite counter top with double sinks, and a very large etched mirror running the entire length of one wall that was framed in gold.
Holy shit, I thought this has to be a dream, and could not be real. I thought for a brief moment that I was in a hotel room in Cesar’s Palace.
In the corner of the bedroom, there was a massive walk in closet, which was as big as my old bedroom. I walked over to the closet door and opened it, and to my surprise, it was filled with very eloquent suits, ties, hats, and shoes. All in different colors and styles, like that of the fifty’s gangster era. Most of them looked as if they had never been worn before. I would be honored to wear them. Puzzled now more than ever, I closed the closet door and walked back into the massive bedroom where a very expensive silk robe had been neatly laid across the bed just for me. The silk robe looked so comfortable that I decided to take a warm shower to get the filth off my body from the airplane ride, as I smelled like smoke. It seemed as if I had been within a casino surrounded by a bunch of smokers, but I had been aboard an airplane, and I was not even in the smokers section. I was in first class seating, since that was the ticket that Elizabeth had purchased for me.
After taking a warm shower, I slowly slipped into the silk robe and jumped right into bed where I suddenly and unexpectedly became very tired. As I rested on the soft, pillow top comforter, I tried to make since out of everything Elizabeth had told me. I was determined to stay awake to see for myself just what would happen at the stroke of midnight. However, I had fallen asleep in spite of my best efforts to stay awake. I was awakened just after one o’clock in the morning by a tremendous shaking and a loud noise that made me think it was an earthquake. It was as if the house had been hit by a massive earthquake, a ten on the Richter scale.
I quickly got out of bed and I could not believe my eyes, everything within the room was in shambles. The once beautiful room from the night before had somehow been replaced by a much older version with the smell of rotten wood and mildew. The once beautiful canopy bed that I had fallen asleep on was now nothing but rusted iron that contained old and faded bed cloths. I quickly walked over, opened the bedroom door, and horrifically discovered that there was no longer a second story to the once magnificent Blackwood Manor, and I was now on the ground floor. I quickly ran outside, now dressed in an old and faded, moth eaten robe to get a better perspective on things from outside, and to my surprise, the once magnificent Blackwood Manor was no longer here. It had somehow vanished into thin air, and in its place stood a rundown decrepitated old shack.
Holly shit, am I going crazy, what in the hell is going on? This cannot be happening. I have never observed anything like this, at least not at this magnitude.
The next thing I saw was Elizabeth walking out of the house, now aged thirty, plus years, walking with an old hand carved wood cane, speaking out to me, saying, “Mason, if I would have told you last night that this was going to happen, you would have not believed me. I had to let you see it for yourself. Come back inside with me and have a look in the mirror!”
I followed Elizabeth back inside and as I looked into the mirror I could hear screams of horror echo through the house, but the echoes sounded far away. I yelled, “This is preposterous, and cannot be happening. I want everything changed back to normal this instant.”
I was hysterical, rambling on and on like a lunatic, a nut case, like a 5150 patient committed into a mental institute. When I felt a sharp stinging sensation on my face, which finally
snapped me out of the craze I was in. Calming me down enough to realize that I was being cradled in an old woman’s arms, now listening to her comforting voice as she said, “It is alright Mason, after 3 o’clock a.m. things will go back to normal again.”
I looked, turned away, and looked again, focusing deeply into the mirror, now seeing a very old man that I did not recognize as myself. I truly thought that I would never regain the physical attributes that I had before entering the Blackwood Manor, and become my normal self again. It surly was an unbelievable sight that one would never believe unless it had happened to them.
Elizabeth leaned in closer to me, slowly turning her head to face me, with what seemed to be an apologetic facial expression, fixedly staring into my eyes, which looked as if she had been wondering if she should have never contacted me for my services. Quite frankly, I was too, wondering if this case was going to be more than I could handle on my own. However, I knew that I had Ambriel, my guardian angel on my side if things got too bad. Well at least I hope I did. I remember Ambriel had once told me that I would have to fulfill my destiny one day, but he never told me when that day would come. I felt a feeling come over me that I had never felt before in my life! I felt as if I had truly gone insane, figuratively speaking, and would never be my normal self again. My facial expressions must have indicated that I was going to freak out again because Elizabeth suddenly squeezed me tightly, cradling me, and then whispered soothingly into my ear.
“It will be alright Mason, go ahead and let it all out, get rid of all your pent up emotions. It will surely make you feel better, and then maybe the two of us can begin to take a closer look at what is happening here within the Blackwood Manor with some perspective.”
My body seemed as if was frozen in time when I said, “Elizabeth, how in the world could this be happening? I have never encountered anything like this in my line of work.”
The immense thunderstorms rolling through that had started just the day before continued, and placed the both of us in an even more depressed mental state. The house shook and rattled as the thunder fiercely roared out of control. It would have been the perfect haunted house, with the storm and all the supernatural activity. However, this was real and something that I have never encountered. I also knew that Elizabeth needed my help more than ever with whatever was happening here at the Blackwood Manor. I did not know what was going on at the moment, but I sure was going to find out. I knew that whatever was doing this was very powerful and no ordinary supernatural force. This was not a ghost that was caught between two spiritual realms and decided to haunt the Blackwood Manor, oh no! This was something more sinister.
The only thought that was going through my head was what a horrible experience this must be for Elizabeth. However, the only explanation that I could come up with at the time being was that the Blackwood Manor was under some sort of demonic possession, but deep down I had the gut feeling that it was much worse than that. Could it be a poltergeist? Yes that must be what it is. No! This entity is much too powerful for even a poltergeist. The only entity that is powerful enough to change the form of an entire mansion along with all its occupants could only be one of the fallen angels. That narrows it down to two-hundred fallen angels that it could be. It did not matter which one it was because they all have immense powers. Powers so great that they can do what has been occurring at the Blackwood Manor. All two hundred fallen angels are the only entity that is powerful enough to cause physical disturbances.
So far, all the disturbances at the Blackwood Manor seem to be happening within the Witching Hour, which only occurs during certain times, during midnight to three o’clock a.m., sometimes called the Devils Hour, mocking the Holy Trinity. During those three hours, the supernatural forces are at their most powerful. It seems as if one of the fallen angels has taking a liking, and somehow connected itself to the Blackwood Manor, and anyone within it is along for the ride. However, I had to find out what triggered the change in the first place, and how in the hell do I permanently switch it back to the way it was? That is if it was possible for me to do it, as the fallen angels have unimaginable powers that I do not have.
From that point on I made dam sure that I stayed away from any mirrors within the house, as I surely did not want to see my reflection in the mirror. Then again, who wants to see their reflections in the mirror turned into an old man or woman when they are in the prime of their lives? However, once the old grandfather clock chimed at four o’clock I finally built up enough nerve to look in the mirror. I knew that myself, Elizabeth and the Blackwood Manor had already changed back to our normal self’s some time ago, but I was still nervous to see what my own reflection had looked like within the mirror. I had Elizabeth guide me over to the mirror in the library as I kept my eyes closed, fearing that I would still see an old man in the mirror. When she stopped me she said, “Open your eyes Mason.”
I paused for a brief moment before opening my eyes, and to my surprise, I was back to my normal self again. I was so relieved with what I had seen, and thanked the Almighty One that this was not permanent.
The morning, afternoon, and then before we knew it the entire day had quickly passed by, and every minute of it I had found myself pacing the wood floors of the Blackwood Manor like an animal who was confined within a cage. My head ached tremendously from being overwhelmed with the numerous questions that were still unanswered, when unexpectedly, something most disturbing popped into my head. Alexandrea, where is she? I have not seen her since she had invited me into the Blackwood Manor and introduced me to Elizabeth. I had not seen her during the Witching Hour, better yet the entire day, in which I had been pacing the floors of the Blackwood Manor.
I ran through the hallways of the alluring Blackwood Manor screaming, “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, where in the hell are you?”When suddenly she spoke out saying, “I’m in the living room Mason.” As soon as I made my way into the living room, I did not give her a chance to say anything, as I demanded to know where Alexandrea was. Her face quickly drained of all its color and turned pale like a corpse lying within a morgue on a cold steel table, which terrified me even more than I had already been.
Elizabeth replied, “I hoped that you would not have asked me that until after tonight’s transformation, but since you have already asked, you had better sit down and get a tight grip on yourself.”
As soon as I sat down in a chair I felt as if something had tightened its grip around my body, so tightly that I could not breathe, cutting off the oxygen to my brain. The grip seemed to keep getting tighter and tighter until I thought I was going to lose consciousness, but at the last moment released its suffocating grip. I sat in the chair not moving a muscle, as if I was frozen to it. Just waiting to hear what Elizabeth had to say.
Elizabeth’s facial expression seemed to be hardened like a stone, as she said, “I am pretty sure that when you met Alexandrea last night you had realized that her age was in no way a match of our own.”
Speaking with a loud tone, I replied, “Elizabeth, what are you trying to tell me, spit it out already.”
I was trembling inside and out with fear as Elizabeth stuttered and stammered, trying her best to choose her words wisely.
“Mason, I do not know how to put this any other way. Alexandrea passes from life as we know it at the stroke of midnight!”
Everything started going black. It was as if darkness had fallen and engulfed the planet, and the floor opened up beneath me. I felt as if I had fallen into a bottomless pit, and hearing only the echoes of my own tormented screams as I slid deeper and deeper down it, knowing that I could never return to be the same person that I was before Elizabeth and I meet. When I awakened, I had very little sense of normalcy. Except for Elizabeth, I was completely alone. I realized that I was staring at the body of an old, old woman again. It was very hard to picture the alluring blue eyes that held so much fire and warmth just the night before, but the comparison was still audible as she spoke to me.
“Mason, I wish to God that
I had never brought you here, to the Blackwood Manor, right into the mist of all this evil. I should have never contacted you for your supernatural investigative services.”
“Elizabeth, it is alright, that is what I am here for, this is what I do for a living, remember.” I said with a brave look on my face. “This will be one of the greatest challenges that I have ever dealt with, to say the least, but I will find us a way out of this predicament.”
I hoped the brave person that I was trying to portray looked and sounded convincing enough, as I knew deep down within my heart that I was covering up a lie, there was no doubt in that. I had to pretend to preserve what I had left of my own sanity, as there had to be an irrational explanation for the dilemma that we were in, and I knew that it would soon reveal itself.
It was after twelve midnight, and we were now in the midst of the Witching Hour. Elizabeth and I walked through the rubble looking for anything that had stayed the same from the hideous transformation at midnight.
I asked, “Elizabeth, do you know how many different people had owned the Blackwood Manor before your parents?” She just looked at me with a blank expression on her face, and when she was unable to give me an answer, I said, “Maybe there is a county recorder’s office in town that could provide us with that information.”I knew that Briarcliff Acres was a small town, so it should not be that hard to find some worthy information. “Well I guess it is time Elizabeth, time to earn that generous fee that you had so trustingly deposited in my account.”
I wondered if after all this mass hysteria if Elizabeth was ready to throw in the towel altogether, but it did not seem to me, she was that kind of woman. Elizabeth and I made plans to go to the county recorder’s office in town tomorrow morning, after the Witching Hour was over and the fallen angel or angels finished terrorizing the Blackwood Manor, and us, as their powers always weaken after three o’clock in the morning.