The Deadliest Haunted Castle (9 page)

It was so peculiar that he liked it more
than he should have! His normal life and things he encountered were
too repetitive and he relished finding abnormal things to do and
explore, especially when they had new outcomes and findings.

He switched off his light and went over to
the window and stared out into the darkness and ancient wood with a
shiver running through him, from the cold, thoughts of the cold,
and deadly things that they had encountered there.

It was like another world to him and they
were put there to explore it, and it was like a world without a
proper sun and thousands of light years of empty space between it
and the stars.

The world below was a decomposing landscape
shrouded in snow with weak energy.

An array of door knocks made the door shift
about, reminding him of the age of the place, and he wondered again
why it had such advanced objects and structure for that age, and he
realized again that the people who had reconstructed it had done it
up and that he was experiencing 1880 technology.

He slowly marched over and yanked open the
thick wooden door, which had been clearly expertly crafted by hand,
and he watched Merton and Mortimer standing glaring at him from the
darkness outside, suggesting something was along the corridor.
Bryson nodded and closed the door behind him and followed them
along the outer corridor.

He still wondered why they liked being up in
the middle of the night so much, and why he never had properly seen
them tired in the middle of the night. Surely they never had that
many things to do at night?

As he considered how sleepy he was and what
they were up to, and then thought of other situations that they had
done and of them awaking him in the middle of the night, and as he
recalled situations he gasped as he suddenly realized that he could
hear sounds emerging from somewhere further ahead, and he gasped
even more when the sounds seemed to magnify and turn to being
blared out.

It then mildly amused him as he recalled a
similar situation, and he also realized that the sounds reminded
him of his dream, but he could not notice any connection and why it
did.

“
What hell happened?
”
Mitchell moaned, rushing up
the corridor, after being awakened by something and seeing them
rushing towards something.

He slapped his face trying to awaken himself
further, vaguely looking like he had a slight hangover, and he
recalled him taking alcohol from the helicopter.

As they approached a region of the corridor
that they heard the sounds at their loudest the disturbance seemed
as if it had different states to it and regularly altered, and
Bryson imagined it as a warp through in space and time causing many
different things to occur and create sporadic sounds about the
castle, and in his dream he wondered if he had seen inside the warp
itself (and the castle lay somewhere beyond it, being one of the
locations connected to it throughout space and time).

Yet even if it was a warp he still never
knew what it was or what was happening, what created it, and why
the things in the wood were there! Did the things, whatever they
were, become part of the disturbance while near it, when it
automatically opened?

Three scientists rushed up to Merton and
Mortimer and they began discussing the occurrences and situation,
and the three scientists rushed back to get equipment and more of
the scientists.

Merton and Mortimer stood listening to the
sounds trying to establish things and where they were mainly
emerging.

Some sounds came screaming at them with fury
and sometimes as though things were trapped in some form of
field.

The scientists rushed back and forward
setting up their new equipment, connecting the equipment along that
region of the corridor.

“
What do think?
”
Merton carefully asked him,
leaving Bryson with little to say.

He gave Bryson the impression that they
might be going to do something or come to a conclusion.

Mortimer also gave him the impression, which
would normally have confirmed it, but things were different there
and they were not fully themselves!

Bryson started to realize the implications
of things and that they might have to check what was there and
things of great danger!

Mortimer
quickly told the other scientists: “
Investigate all
these walls, floor and roof ...
”

Bryson suddenly felt deep tiredness and
wished that he had stayed in bed, and was asleep.

Why were they not tired like him? What had
they been doing when they heard the sounds?

In the darkness at the end of the
corridor two figures came rushing towards them from the
stairs
–
resembling a sort of dream view to Bryson in his sleepy
state
–
and
the figures turned out to be two of Mitchell
’
s men, who were on guard
below, and they whispered things in Mitchell
’
s ear.

Mitchell
’s
face turned frantic, and he was
desperate to do something, and he rushed away with the two men to
where the men had been, and to the stairs.

“
What are they up
to?
”
Merton
muttered, staring, bewildered.

“
This place is a hell of a
place!
” Bryson
mumbled.

Bryson watched drifting currents of
snowflakes blow about a room window, and he realized that he really
felt like going to bed. It had been a long day and the next day
could even be longer, and he watched Mortimer rush away after them
to the stairs, and he wondered what he was missing. Even though he
had done what he felt like doing
–
rush away
–
but in the opposite
direction
–
to his bed, and without saying anything.

Why were they not all tired like him? And he
recalled all the things he had been doing and all the late nights
before he had arrived there.

He watched them rush into the darkness at
the stairs and realized that they might have to stay up for a long
time, to obtain the conclusion to what was occurring, and he
realized he had better follow to get it over with.

Merton shrugged and followed him, and they
eventually started chasing after them.

In the sounds behind him he heard a
rhythmical tapping, slowly increasing in volume, making him slow to
listen, and he realized that it was footsteps rushing towards him
from behind, and from behind him two more of
Mitchell
’
s
men came running along, while they were fixing gun holsters on
their waists.

Bryson saw Mitchell going down the stairs
with his gun in his hand. They seemed to have adjusted their lights
dimmer, to make them darker and not open targets.

The situation looked bad! If someone did not
die it would be surprising!

Bryson and Merton rushed to them and
crept down the stairs
–
which creaked loudly when they made rapid
movements.

At the bottom of the stairs he watched their
dark figures creep around from room to room looking for something,
occasionally giving a significant gasp, which most of them had
given since they had arrived at the castle.

They eventually approached Mortimer trying
to get information.

“
Let
’s
look in the
kitchen!
”
Mitchell warned, creeping away.

His men followed him. And one of them
switched on a light and they rushed into the kitchen, holding out
their guns, ready to shoot at anything that appeared.

Bryson felt awake again, but tired and he
avoided staggering.

“
I saw someone down here with a
gun,
”
one
of Mitchell
’
s men muttered to them, moving along with
them.

How had he seen anyone down here he
wondered? It had been so dark without the lights that it was
virtually in complete darkness, and when he questioned him further
he told them that all they had seen had been a dark figure with a
gun.

When Mitchell entered the kitchen they
heard him gasp loudly, grasping Bryson
’
s attention as he had definitely
found something, and they rushed in after him.

When they reached the kitchen it was
virtually in darkness and Bryson turned his head about to search in
every direction and to where he saw gusts of snow blowing
rhythmical against a window, and through the window he saw the
haunting dark shapes of the trees of the wood shifting in the wind,
almost hidden in the dark about the castle.

The brightness beamed down from the kitchen
lights lighting everything about them, when someone finally turned
them on, and they entered further and glared over at an area of the
floor, to their side, where Mitchell was kneeling next to a dead
body.

Chapter 15

Mind-Bending
Dreams

Lights flew
around everywhere like electric forms of insects stopping Bryson
from seeing anything else in his surreal dream, with him mildly
viewing it while he happily slept, floating freely.

Deep in dark
regions he caught sight of things shifting about with no form to
what they were or doing, like energy floating wildly around in a
void surrounding him, and to his fascination he heard sounds of
thoughts like whispers from out in hidden places or invisible
zones, and they taunted him.

Energies of
the universe shone and moved, which normally would have been
invisible, and he saw mist formations that were really energy
formations and he realized that he was seeing something as it
really was, which was powerful and intelligent, which never really
made sense when thought about, but which did as a fantasy.

It resembled
floating in a cold dark cloudless night sky with no ground below,
under a bright moon, and a lunar colored radiance emerged
everywhere.

Golden places
appeared around the strange energy lights that twinkled brighter
through thick areas of the energy mist and a bright light appeared
deep in the mist, and he realized the depth of it was really
immense and that he was further off than he thought. It was
tremendous and like looking into the depths of deep space.

He felt the
presence of something mysterious and alive, which existed all
around him and which he could not account for, and again he looked
out at the lights and wondered what it all was, and studied it.
Even though he never recognized anything it had a familiar look,
which he determinedly tried to grasp.

He was
suddenly awakened by a loud knock that rattled his room door up and
down and he saw by the morning light that it was later than he had
intended to sleep and he rolled sideways and checked his clock and
realized that it was even later.

He
automatically listened to the voice of Mortimer asking him where he
was, and he told him he was getting dressed.

Even though it
was winter and the border of window was shrouded with vines and
other vegetation it was bright with the sun and light blue sky and
the snow covering the entire landscape, and he quickly put on his
clothes and opened the door and saw Merton and Mitchell, who both
studied him curiously.

“
You
wanted us to contact you if anything happened,” Merton stated,
excitedly. “Well, something has! You’d better get down to the
lounge if you do not want to miss the action!”

“
What
action?” he answered, shifting out of the door and studying the
corridor, watching some of the new scientists that they had brought
in, who were checking areas of the corridor.

“
One of
our men just found a few faint footprints of the killer at another
window further along from the kitchen!”

“
Is that
everything ...?” Bryson asked firmly. “And your theories
are?”

“
He
killed one of my men – who must have discovered him doing something
... And he got out the door, escaped into the wood ... And must
have returned later ...”

“
He
wouldn’t have dared go deep into the wood!”

“
And we
should have predicted his movements ...”

“
You
found the remains of his footprints after the heavy snow fall, with
the prints at the window that he entered, where they avoided being
fully covered over ...”

“
Perfectly correct! We are having a discussion on it in the
lounge and wanted you there!”

“
But
this means the killer is in the castle and that he can’t
escape!”

Both Merton
and Mitchell nodded in agreement!

Chapter 16

The First Death

All the main people in the castle were there,
sitting silently in the large lounge, where everything seemed to
have massive proportions for some reason.

They all sat still in various large seats at
various angles, in seats found in the surrounding rooms, in front
of what must be the largest fireplace Bryson had ever seen, with
the logs blazing away with a high temperature from all the logs
someone had piled into it, surely to fit it in there without making
it too small.