The Nightmare Game (28 page)

“The second one was added today, just for you.
Illea has had this room all to herself for a very long time. It’s quite
unusual, because most of us have roommates, except for Illea until now and of
course, Geoffrey.”

“You don’t even have your own room?” I asked,
finding it hard to believe.

“No. Geoffrey and I shared a bedroom together for
years, ever since his first arrival here. I thought he was happy with the
arrangement until about six weeks ago when he pitched a fit about it and
wouldn’t let up until Arrosha gave him his own room.” I could tell by Ben’s
expression that this had hurt him deeply. “I share a room with Timothy now.”

“You’re really telling me that in a mansion this
size, you don’t even get your own room? I mean, you’re all adults here, right?”
I still couldn’t believe it.

“Arrosha discourages it. She says that sharing
promotes camaraderie. We do have many private rooms, of course, but for the
most part, they’re reserved for our occasional overnight and weekend guests.”

“Won’t Illea mind losing her privacy?”

“Not at all. She’s wanted a roommate for a long
time. She says she often gets lonely being in here by herself. You see, we have
only four women in our little group. Three of them, our newest members, arrived
together and refused to be split apart. Theirs is the room next to this one.
Besides, Illea likes you. She was quite instrumental in helping me care for you
during your illness and she grew quite fond of you then. She’s so thrilled that
you pulled through and she’s really looking forward to being roommates with
you.

“C’mon, let me show you where everything is,” Ben
said, continuing his tour. “Your bed is the one by the window, nearest the
bathroom, and your side of the dresser is the one nearest your bed. Your
nightgowns are in there and your day clothes are in the closet.” He walked over
to a door on the other side of the room and opened it, revealing a massive
walk-in closet larger than the average living room.

 “This is Illea’s side,” he said, pointing to the
right, which was packed with clothes, “and this is your side,” he said,
pointing to the virtually empty left. “There are several changes of robes and
slippers for you in here. As you can see, there’s plenty of room for you to add
whatever you want. If you need anything else to wear, for sports or the city,
for example, please tell us and we’ll be happy to see that you get it. Now, I
told you that we had your old clothes cleaned. They’re hanging right here in
the very back, your socks and shoes underneath. If you’d rather wear them
instead of your robes, feel free, although by now I’m sure that you’ll find
them quite uncomfortable by comparison.”

“Do you mind if I check something?”

“Why no, this is your room now. Go right ahead.”

I walked over to the closet, pulled my jeans on
their hanger to one side and double-checked the pockets. Sure enough, as Ben
had attested, they were completely empty.

“I’m really sorry that there’s nothing there,” Ben
said. “We inspected all of your clothes immediately after your arrival, looking
for I.D., hoping for any clue to your identity or what may have brought you
here, but there was nothing. I wish there would have been something, anything,
in your pockets that could jog your memory. As it is, I guess we’ll just have
to wait for it to return on its own.”

My face must have registered my disappointment
because Ben came up to me, put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Don’t
worry, Ashley, you’ll remember eventually. It’s coming back a little bit
already. Everything’s going be fine. C’mon, lets get return to showing you
around and then we can get some nourishment in you. I’m sure that’ll make you
feel better.”

I followed him back into the bedroom and through
another door that led to a very large bathroom.

“It’s fabulous, isn’t it?” he said, trying to
sound upbeat. “I just love the bathrooms in this mansion, they’re wonderfully
retro. Arrosha tells me that she had them installed in the 1920’s. You just
don’t see this kind of elegance too much anymore. The tiles, the pedestal
sinks, the large footed tubs, it’s all so deco, don’t you think?”

“I’ll say. That tub is huge. Ben, I’ve never seen
a footed tub that large before.”

“It was definitely a custom job. Arrosha never buys
anything off the assembly line.”

“That must be nice,” I replied.

“Yes, it really is. You’ll be amazed how easy it
is to get used to living like this. If Arrosha accepts you to the group, that
is.

“By the way, the water from the bathroom faucets
is perfectly safe to drink. All of the water you’ll find here, is, by far, the
purest I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s unparalleled; nothing even comes close
to it. We even bring our own water with us whenever we go into the outside
world because none of us can tolerate any other liquid, except, of course, for
the libations that Arrosha provides for us. Just one drink of any other water
will make us ghastly ill because we’re so used to this level of extreme
purity.”

As I looked around the bathroom, I was noticed an
extra door.

“Where does that door lead?” I asked.

“Oh, that goes into the other bedroom, the one
that the three women share.”

“Wow, I haven’t seen a shared bathroom since I was
in college. It reminds me of my sophomore year dormitory. Is this for camaraderie,
too?”

Ben chuckled. “No, it’s just practical because we
don’t need to use the bathroom very often. The essence produces, well, no
waste, for lack of a better word. And while we do drink a great deal of water,
it won’t make you have to pee constantly. The body metabolizes it differently
than it does regular water. It won’t have you running to the bathroom very
often like the bargain brand does. In truth, our diet is so pure and the air
here is so clean that over time we don’t even need to bathe any more, except
when returning from one of our trips to the outside world. As a matter of fact,
you’ll find our water to be instrumental in overcoming the after effects of the
purge. If you drink as much as you need immediately afterward, it will heal you
of any residual unpleasantness.”

“The purge?” I asked. “You mentioned that once
before.”

Ben became thoughtful for a moment, then said,
“Umm, yes, how best to explain it? Forgive me if I’m awkward at this, but this
is not a part of my normal duties. Arrosha usually prepares our newest members
herself. The purge is, well, a little embarrassing for me to relate, but you
need to know about it so that you don’t get scared later.”

“Alright,” I said warily.

“How to start? Okay, let me just say that essence
is the most nutritionally complete and the purest thing that anyone can ingest,
purer by far than even our water. At the mansion, we live on these two things
alone. However, it is its very purity that can lead to a slightly unpleasant
after-effect that happens only once, after the first time of taking it, and it
will never happen again if you stay here. It’s the only downside that there
is.”

“I don’t like the sound of this,” I told him.

“It’s nothing to be afraid of. It isn’t that bad,”
he continued. “The essence will make you feel wonderful at first, then so
sleepy that you’ll want to go to bed very early. However, during the night,
you’ll probably get a little gastrointestinal distress. The body absorbs the
essence with an efficiency that can be a little overwhelming the first time
around because it forces all of the impurities out of you. It’s nothing but a
cleansing reaction. It’s not fun to go through, but it’s not that bad. You’ll
probably have a little vomiting and diarrhea, but it’s certainly nothing on the
level of a stomach flu or food poisoning. It’s not that extreme and it’s not
scary. It is, however, essential to be close to a bathroom when it happens.”

“Oh, no. Ben, I don’t even want to go there.
That’s the last thing I need today. Are you sure you guys don’t have anything
more, say, traditional, in the house to eat?”

“I’m sorry, Ashley, but we don’t. Essence is all
we have. You might feel a little sick a few hours later and spend some of the
night in the bathroom, but it will pass. And when it does, I promise you that
you will feel fabulous, far better than you could even imagine. As long as you
don’t go back to a steady diet of food, I can promise you that the purge is a
one-time thing.”

“Still, all things considered, I’d rather stick to
real food. I hope you don’t mind. Is there any way that I can order out or
something?”

“I wish I could oblige you, Ashley, but we’re
miles from nowhere, so there isn’t any take-out delivery to be had. We won’t
have any food in the house until our next party and I don’t even know when that
will be. The water and the essence are our only sustenance; we live and thrive
on them alone.”

“Can I wait until I’m really hungry to make up my
mind? Maybe I’ll be too desperate to care then.”

“Arrosha has told me that after today, there won’t
be any more essence for a month or more.”

“That long?”

“Yes. You see, once you take it, the essence will
keep you full for a very, very long time. While the water is enough to keep you
alive and you would be able to live off on it alone until the next batch of
essence rolls in, you’ll still become unbearably hungry without taking
nourishment tonight. Trust me when I say that the purge really isn’t that
terrible, certainly not to the extent of avoiding the essence. Please
reconsider. The cleansing will be over before you know it and when it is, you
will feel absolutely marvelous. You will, though, be very, very thirsty.

“You see that?” He pointed to a very large, low
deco cabinet that ran from the sink to the tub. A bottle of soap was set out at
the tub side, while toothpaste, a toothbrush and a large water glass were set
out at the sink side. “All of that stuff is for you. We have plenty of towels
set out, but just in case you need them, there are extra towels, washcloths and
drinking glasses inside the cabinet. Don’t ever be shy in taking what you need.

“And just fill that glass with water from the sink
faucet. Drink as much as you like. You’ll probably feel like bathing afterward,
too, so don’t be shy in taking a bath. Since you’ll need to brush your teeth
after the purge, that toothbrush and toothpaste next to the glass is yours,
too. You’ll find out during your first week that you’ll need to brush less and
less every day; eventually you’ll become so pure that you won’t need to brush
your teeth at all anymore except after an occasional indulgence in New Orleans.
I’m sure that, as with the rest of us, even that temptation will completely
disappear as well.”

“It looks like I don’t have a choice,” I agreed,
reluctantly.

“The benefits are enormous,” Ben continued.
“You’ll see. You won’t be sorry.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll do it,” I acquiesced. “I’ll take
the essence.”

“So you’ll take the essence with us. Good, glad to
hear it, Ashley. And now that’s out of the way, let’s move on to more pleasant
subject matter. Are you ready to resume our tour?”

“Sure.”

“There’s more to this floor that I’d like to show
you, but that can wait until another day. Let’s go downstairs and I’ll show you
the Great Room. It’s the showcase of the entire mansion and where the really
good stuff is. It’s sort of on the way to the hookah room, anyway.”

“The hookah room?” I asked.

“It’s our pet name for the dining area. You’ll
see.”

We left the bedroom and returned to the hallway,
retracing our steps.

“Let’s not do the stairs today, Ashley” Ben
suggested. “I want to show you the elevator because you’ll probably be too
sleepy after the essence to want to deal with the stairs. Besides, it’s more
fun.”

“The mansion has an elevator?”

“Yes. When Arrosha had the bathrooms updated in
the 1920’s she also had an elevator installed. She was very taken with that
decade; it was one of her favorites.”

Before we reached the grand staircase, Ben took my
arm gently and led me right, toward an alcove into which the lift was nestled.
It was an elegant yet strange example of Art Deco, adorned with stylized brass
monkeys devouring Egyptian lilies.

“It’s gorgeous,” I remarked.

“It may not be as fast as newer elevators,” he
explained as we stepped in. “but it’s a whole lot prettier and doesn’t have
nearly as far to go.”

He closed the door behind us and pulled a lever to
send us down.

“How many floors does this stop at?” I asked as we
descended.

“All of them,” he answered, grinning again.
“Sorry, don’t mean to be cheeky. It has three stops, the main two floors and
the smaller third story, the one that houses Arrosha’s temple. It might make
you a little more comfortable just to think of it as her conservatory for the
time being.”

When we arrived at the first floor, Ben said as he
opened the door, “This room is the showcase of the entire mansion. The view
from the second floor hallway is splendid, but actually being inside the room
is positively overwhelming.”

Ben was right. No sooner had we stepped out of the
lift, than I halted, gaping at the encompassing splendor. As impressive as the
space looked from balcony, the full impact came only from the vantage point of
standing in the room itself, for, if possible, it seemed even larger and more
imperial now. I felt incredibly small and unimportant, for the towering Great
Room loomed over and around me, engulfing me within itself. It would have been
an awe-inspiring and dizzying experience even for a public showcase such as a
major museum or an opera house; that this level wealth and grandeur belonged
within the hands of a single, private owner was, to me, unfathomable. My mouth
hung open; I was speechless.

Ben laughed. “Yeah, that’s everybody’s first
impression. Ashley, I know I told you that you don’t have to join us if you
don’t want to, and I stand by that, but if you do, this lifestyle could be
yours.”

“Good selling point, Ben. I’m still not interested
in converting to a new religion, but if I were, I’d have to say that’s one darn
good selling point.”

We turned left, walking around the bottom of the
grand staircase, which was a wide, extravagant affair. Its steps were covered
with the same thick, lush carpeting as the second floor hallway but its
handrails were carved far more elaborately than the railing from which they
flowed. The massive stairway curved slightly inward at the center and then
widened, skirt-like, at the bottom, flaring itself into a majestic and
beguiling entrance at the ground floor. The banisters ended, or rather began,
as two carved mirror-image jaguars.

There was so much to see in this room that I
didn’t know where to begin. The marble floor marked just the beginning of the
visual feast, for as the room’s columns and support beams rose, they lead my
gaze upward, toward an incredibly high ceiling filled with frescoes of
youthful, vigorous naked men and women frolicking and laughing merrily as they
ran, danced and played. This composition further lead my eye toward a larger
fresco displaying yet more naked men and women, this time swimming through the
air, bearing offerings of food and treasure upon golden platters to a portrait
of a woman in the center. This large, circular fresco dominated the ceiling and
the figure to whom they were paying homage was that of an impossibly beautiful
young woman with lilac colored eyes and flowing black hair. She looked
incredibly familiar to me. Again a little voice inside of me whispered that it
was important that I remember who she was. Try as I might, though, I still
could not place her.

“That’s Arrosha,” Ben told me.

“She really is gorgeous,” I said absentmindedly,
not really listening, intent upon remembering where I’d seen her before.

Eventually I gave up, hoping it would come to me
later. My eyes traveled again down to floor level, where I scanned the room,
trying to take in what it offered, at least superficially. It was filled
largely with sculptures from varying periods in history, interspersed with
sofas, loveseats and lounges. I didn’t know if these seats were part of the
exhibit or simply set out for visitors to linger and muse as they enjoyed the room.
The large central piece that I’d admired from the balcony, the crystal
sculpture, was done in a strange style I was sure that I’d never seen before.
It was so enormous that I couldn’t comprehend how it could possibly have been
moved in, because it was larger by far than any entry that I could see.

Ben gave me a few minutes to soak in the view,
then said, “C’mon, let’s walk around. Time’s running short, so as much as I’d
love it, I promise not to go into full curator mode this time. I’ll torment you
with that another day.”

We walked past the stairs and for the first time,
I saw the view of the inner wall, not visible to me before, as it was recessed
underneath the second floor gallery and then had been hidden behind the large
staircase. Taking up more than half of the wall was most massive fireplace that
I’d ever seen. It was stone, ornately carved with facing griffins on either
side and a man’s large, fierce, open-mouthed scowl graven directly into its
center, his wild hair flowing freely within the design, uniting its elements.

“I know I’m repeating myself,” I said, “but once
again, ‘wow’. I have never seen anything that even comes close to this room
before. At least not in real life. It’s so lavish it’s eerie.”

“Yeah, I felt like that too when I first arrived
here. Eventually, you get used to it, believe it or not.”

“This has to be the largest fireplace I’ve ever
seen.”

“I absolutely adore it,” Ben said. “It’s generally
ablaze when we have parties and it’s always the place that people like to
gather around.”

“It’s a working fireplace? A wood-burning
fireplace?”

“Of course.”

“Where’s the chimney? I don’t remember seeing a
place for it upstairs.”

“You noticed, huh?” Ben remarked. “To tell you the
truth, I honestly don’t know. It was like I told you earlier, Ashley. This
house can be very tricky. It often doesn’t make any sense at all, so don’t even
try to figure it out. I’ve been looking for the chimney since I got here and I
still haven’t been able to find so much as a flue.” He just shrugged and we
moved on with our tour as I was left to wonder how a raging fire in such an
immense fireplace could possibly work without a flue or a chimney, with no
avenue for the smoke to escape.

We next moved on to the corner at the other side
of the fireplace near the outer wall, where a realistic, life-size sculpture of
a man stood. He was set upon a short, stocky pedestal shaped like stony ground
and dressed in Roman garb.

“Now we come to this fine fellow,” Ben said,
returning his attention to the corner piece, “Can you guess who he is?”

“No, I can’t say that I’ve actually ever met him,”
I answered.

“This is an actual portrait in stone of Caligula.
The statue has quite a story behind it. It was presented to Arrosha personally
by the emperor himself.”

“Personally?”

“Yes. Like I said, immortality does have its
perks,” he answered, smiling. “To have such an important historical figure made
only two degrees of separation from me still impresses the hell out of me, I
suppose more than it should. Caligula fell hopelessly in love with Arrosha
after meeting her only once. On his second visit, he presented her with this
statue of himself.” Ben sighed, wistfully. “The romantic in me is so drawn to
the notion that he gave her this to remember him by always. She is, after all,
so very, very beautiful and extraordinary in so many ways.”

“Did she ever reciprocate his feelings? “

“Oh, no, not at all. He was far beneath her. As a
true Goddess, she could not lower herself to join with a mere emperor whose
godhood was only a matter of ego and edict.”

The goddess bit was now beginning to wear more
than a little thin with me, but Ben was sweet and I was just a guest, so I
remained polite.

“It’s just as well, I suppose,” I simply answered.
“From everything I’ve ever heard, the only one Caligula was ever really in love
with was himself.”

“True,” Ben sighed, smiling pensively. “I guess
I’m just a hopeless romantic, though, despite my many years. No matter what, I
still try to find the happy ending, even where there is none.”

We moved around the Great Room rather quickly now,
Ben commenting only briefly upon the histories of the treasures that surrounded
us, which included but was not limited to, long sections of Greek temple
friezes depicting scantily clad women frolicking with cupids, satyrs and centaurs,
medieval sarcophagi upon which rested stone knights clutching their stone
swords tightly in death, and elaborate display cases in which weapons, armor
and jewels, from ancient to antique, rested comfortably upon backdrops of
thick, lush black velvet.

Ben slowed down for a moment when we reached a
large statue in the corner, set high upon its pedestal. More imposing, even,
than its famous counterpart in the Metropolitan Museum, the sculpture was of
Perseus, averting his eyes whilst extending the hand in which he held the
severed, bleeding head of Medusa. The gorgon stared with great menace outward
toward the center of the Great Room, commanding all that dared come into her
presence to hazard a gaze upon her face.

“Every time I look at her, I’m convinced she’s
going to turn me into stone,” Ben said. “I suppose all the statues seem alive
to me in their own unique way.”

It was then that I noticed something strange about
the eyes of these statues. While I expected it from Medusa, all the rest also
looked either tortured or angry or both. As in the paintings upstairs, that
seemed to be the universal theme. Only the “Saints” upstairs did not seem
tormented. Perhaps, I thought, that was what had earned them their nickname.

We turned toward the front wall, the wall opposite
the balcony and fireplace, to face the gigantic sculpture that had so piqued my
curiosity since I first spotted it from the second floor. It was massive in
both breadth and height; larger by far then even the fireplace opposite, it
dominated the tremendous wall in almost its entirety.

“Of all the marvels you’ve seen so far,” he
continued, “this is the
piéce de résistance
, by
far the most valuable and important object in Arrosha’s entire collection. I
was saving it for last. It’s my very favorite, so I rushed everything else so
we could have more time to spend on this.”

Reaching almost to the ceiling, as clear as an ice
sculpture, the enormous polymorphic piece loomed over the entire Great Room, as
if holding court. The figure began as a beautiful woman, her breasts, shoulders
and arms bare, her shoulder blades sprouting large dragonfly wings. Beneath her
abdomen she was covered in scales, which ran from the tops of her hip bones at
her sides to a “V” shape just above her crotch. The scales continued downward
through her legs, which were similar in shape to those of an antelope, ending,
however, not in hooves, but in an extra set of elegant hands, each of which
held a water lily. Her hair floated, as if immersed in water, turning, near
shoulder length, into flowing, blossoming vines that entwined into a rich,
intricate pattern. She held her arms out low and her palms turned up, her
fingers not ending as they should but turning into the same thick vines as did
her hair. It would have been an impressive piece had it been small; at its
present size, the impact was staggering. The woman’s mouth was partially open,
her eyes half closed, looking downward. It was a strange expression she held,
for it was at once incredibly seductive, judgmental and dangerous. I recognized
her as the same woman portrayed in the floor mosaic and the center fresco on
the ceiling. More importantly, I once again got the sensation that I’d seen her
somewhere else, but as before, I drew a complete blank.

Ben stared at the piece with such awe that it
seemed almost as if he were viewing the crystal sculpture for the very first
time. “I never get tired of studying this,” he whispered reverently. “It’s so
incredibly unusual. I’ve only ever seen one other piece that’s even reminded me
of this art style in my life.”

“And what’s that?” I asked.

“Your raised tattoo,” he answered. “I think it’s
why she wants you to take essence with us and probably wants you to join us.
She hasn’t formally announced it yet, but still I’m almost sure of it. When I
saw your tattoo, I realized from the very beginning that you were a blessing
from Arrosha herself and that you were meant to be one of us.”

“That’s very flattering,” I said, “but I’d still
like to think of myself as just visiting, if you don’t mind.”