“… thus will I, cleanseth of pride, bow my head in thy presence…”
Wind rushed into my room with such a force it flung me back and prone in an instant. I admit I was staggered and quite scared. The doors to the balcony were wide open and the heavy velvety curtains were fluttering in the air just beneath the ceiling like they had been made of silk. Once the doors were open the room was suddenly a great deal colder and to make matters even worse, I could also hear the wind’s sepulchral howling in the lush garden just beneath the balcony.
The shock was so elating that I suddenly found the strength and courage to get up and force the doors shut. I backed off immediately, however, and rushed to light the candle on the bedside table. I was sure that the ghastly figure on the balcony I had seen on my first night in the castle hadn’t been a fruit of imagination and I finally had proof. Someone had unlocked the doors - that means someone had been inside my room. I looked cautiously around the room yet I saw nothing but old furniture, which I was sure dated back to the Cromwellian period. Mr Grogan sure took pride in his fine household. Being quite the critic and obscenely arrogant he was still a very hospitable man with taste. “The door...” I whispered in dismay. I hadn’t checked the door to my room. As I went to check it, however, I found it locked. “Then how?”
I drew the key, the only one for this room, from my pocket and opened the door. The corridor was unnervingly dark. I felt I was looking into the void, so I closed the door and locked it again proceeding to claim my bed in need of recourse from this haunting mystery. As I sat down I suddenly heard someone walk in the corridor. Then a dim ray of light escaped the void through the keyhole and I heard a knock. “Are you quite alright, mister?” It was the maid…
To be continued...
aww... such a tease....
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