Stranded - The Manor of Mystery

[celestialdragon]

She put on the sunglasses and instantly felt better. "Thanks," she said. She walked gingerly out of the room and motioned for him to follow.

Looking around, she saw what appeared to be a foyer, with blinding light through the stained glass windows. A grand marble stair case. Persian rugs.

"Whoever lives here is loaded," she commented softly.

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

If there was any phobia he had it was that of the rich people. They were cause of few of his neurosis. His stepmom was rich. He's father married her for money. He was a handsome man, a painter. Two of them looked same but were nothing alike. They were like twin brothers with one getting all psychotic genes. She appreciated art. Or so she said. She was always dressing him up like a girl and making him learn girly stuff. He was feminine but he wasn't a femme. When dressed up like a girl she would parade him with her friends. It all took off from there. His mild mannerism for example. It all brought back memories. Big house. Him in a skirt playing with her friend's daughters. Him tucking his penis so they don't think he's weird.
"This is not well. If this was a dump we would be safer. It's only a matter of time before they dress us up like girls." He didn't want to say that. "I mean... torture us. Yes."
He was scared more than ever. If this was his stepmoms plot everything would make sense.

 

[celestialdragon]

She walked cautiously around, wishing that she had an idea about what the chin sa da* was going on.

She looked around and saw a silhouette of something. She felt her breath quicken in fear.

"Durcet?" she asked. "Do you see what I see?"

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

"Probably not. But it's okay."
He knew being comforting wasn't going to work any more.
"Stand behind me. Don't think I want to protect you because you are a girl. I was a girl once and no one was protecting me. But If it is who I think it is... It's time for me to confront it."
He slowly moved towards the place where a girl was looking. He felt finally free. If it was her there was really nothing she could do. At least it seemed that way to him. He had guts!
"If it's you, come and talk to me. I'm wearing pants now what do you say about that?"

 

[celestialdragon]

Alexa stood behind Durcet, hearing his words and feeling confused, but still scared. And her being scared wasn't good.

please let the meds kick in please let the meds kick in she repeated silently to herself.

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

It wasn't his stepmom. A place is not so cruel after all. It was a cat. No wander hi didn't see it. It was small. He grabbed it and started petting it.
"It's a kitten." He was happy. "Look. Isn't it adorable." He started talking in a funny voice. "Bad little kitty. Scaring us like that." Finally something remotely good happened. He loved cats. He had tendency to roam the streets and share his food with them. Most of that strange green stuff the cats ate. "We should name him."

 

[celestialdragon]

Alexa felt stupid. Here she was, afraid of an itty bitty kitten.

"It IS adorable," she agreed. "Hi there, you little cute thing you," she started petting its ears, hearing it purr.

"What should we name it? Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked, looking at him.

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

He looked down to see.
"It's too young to tell."
The cat was purring.
"Something that goes both ways should be good."
The girl was really happy. He was at ease. This little thing really came in the right moment.
"I'll give him some of the green stuff, it's probably hungry."

 

[celestialdragon]

Alexa nodded, and grabbed one of the green things and she held out a bit to the kitten. "Here you go, you little rascal," she said softly, giggling at the kitten eating it out of her hand, licking her palm clean.

"No collar," she noted.

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

He now notices that.
"Heh. Really. Little thing must have wandered in somehow."
He starts petting it under the chin.
"Why would you come here little buddy?"
The cat lets out couple of purrs and soft meow.
"How about we name it Hope? It works both ways."

 

[celestialdragon]

"I like it," Alexa replied happily. She looked around and saw a small opening in the window.

"Looks like Hope jumped in through here. . ." she said, going over and examining the window. She ran her hand along the windowsil. "Phew it needs to be dusted in here. . . OUCH!" she had ran her hand over a piece of glass and it had cut her hand. Crimsom blood was spilling out. . . .

"DURC!" She said in a voice full of panic. "Blood. . . lots of it. . . dear Christ. . . "

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

"Calm down."
He reached for bottle of alcohol, ripped a bit of his sleeve off and put alcohol on it.
"Just be calm. This is going to hurt a little. I'm sorry."
He applies alcohol on her wound.

 

[celestialdragon]

She couldn't help but let out a scream of pain. She looked away from the blood, the memories flashing back more than ever.

The blood. The knife. The dizziness. The screaming. The feeling of the floor. The terror. The elation. Doctors calling for help. Her parents crying. Durcet looking helpless, crying. Tears running down her cheeks. . .

She began whimpering as the images flooded her mind.

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

The girl looked away from the blood. He could see she was upset.
He hugged her and gently petted the back of her head.
"Breathe in. Take a deep breath."
He was surprisingly calm. With the sunglasses he couldn't see her eyes and they were the thing that made him nervous. When he would look at her all the courage would go away instantly.
Now his brain lets out couple of information. He always looked at her but he could never bring himself to talk to her directly.
She was shaking just a little bit. Things came back now. She had her episodes, he never knew what to do. Every time he just stood there. Feeling of incompetence reached him but he shrugged it off. He knew he had to try something. He never knew to calm a girl down but he knew with animals. Now he just tried what he knew on her.
"*Dobra mala maca" It was the thing his cleaning lady used to said when she petted his cat.
He starts petting her under the chin like you would do to a cat.
"You are hungry aren't you?" He reaches for the green stuff.

*Good little kitty (but he doesn't know what it means)

 

[celestialdragon]

She felt herself starting to shake, but she listened to Durcet. She started taking deep breaths, applying pressure to her hand to stop the bleeding as much as possible.
She heard him speak a different language-it was one she didn't recognize. Cyrillic, maybe.
He was petting her under the chin, asking her in English if she wanted something to eat.
"No, thanks, I'm fine," she said, trying to get her voice under control

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

She was getting calmer. Her hand bled less than before. He took some more of his sleeve to clean it up. The wound was now relatively dry but the sight was awful. She was calm but he feared that something from that scar might trigger her episode. He hugged her again, putting her head on his shoulder so that she avoids looking at the wound. He didn't say anything.
He tried one last cat maneuver. He pressed his cheek against hers gently. He started acting like a cat and rubbed gently against a side of her face with his face. It was always something that would calm him down. Cats sense unease in people.

 

[celestialdragon]

Unthinkingly, she rubbed her cheek against his as well, finding comfort. She could tell he was trying to make sure that she didn't see the wound, and she was very thankful. She felt herself becoming calmer and calmer.

When he was ready to let her see anything, she looked at him, still not removing the sunglasses. "Xie-xie*" she said quietly.

*Xie-xie: Thank you

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

He looked at her a bit confused. It was a nice moment. He didn't want to spoil it. For most of his time he didn't knew what to do in this kind of situation. Anything impulsive would ruin the whole thing. Not doing anything was just as stupid. Besides, everything that happened up until this moment was probably his biggest accomplishment. No psych ward was ever this effective. He looked at her, time was passing, he had to do something.
He moves closer to her face and starts really slowly and gently rubbing his nose against hers.
Figuring it was a bit odd, but didn't felt weird since the entire situation was a bit off on it's own. He felt little kitten cuddling between legs of the two of them.

 

[celestialdragon]

She didn't know why, but she rubbed her nose against his, feeling a bit calmer. It felt soothing. This was a nice moment. Men usually avoided her because of her outbursts.

The kitten mewled and she had to smile. "I think Hope's trying to tell us something," she said lightly, casting her eyes down toward the kitten.

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

He crouched to the kitten. The little thing was purring and rubbing itself on him. He started climbing him. It was ticklish a bit. It took some time but it reached his head. He stood up and turned over to the Alex.
"An agile little thing. Alex, It seems that Hope wants to talk to you."
He and the kitten looked towards Alex.

 

[celestialdragon]

"Yes Hope?" she asked petting the kitten under the chin. "What is it little one?"

The kitten managed to jump from Durcet's head and into her arms, purring happily.

"I think the little one wants me to hold it," she said, holding the kitten and stroking it softly. "It's okay- I'm good. Miss Alexa just got hurt is all," she whispered to it as Hope started sniffing her cloth covered hand.

The kitten mewled admist the purring.

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

Two of them really looked sweet and cuddly. It almost seemed like a family.

He looked at them and felt soft inside. All the neurosis drifting away. It was there he knew, but it drifted away for now. It was hard to believe that such nice simple things can happen in a place like this.

 

[celestialdragon]

Alexa rubbed her cheek against the soft kitten, feeling the happiest she's been in a long time, since the psych ward.

She looked around the room and her eyes fell upon something and she knelt down, Hope still in her arms.

"OOOOHHHH" she commented. "This is a good find!"

It was a French style dagger. She held it up for Durcet to see. "In case something worse than a lost kitten comes upon us," she explained. It made her wish for her boot knife, a gift from her father. But that knife was long gone now. . .

 

[Alfred_Shelf]

He took the knife reluctantly. Now more than ever knowing that something probably will show up. Thinking back to the few moments back the shadow that the girl saw probably wasn't from the kitten. Something was in the making and time passed as they stood there. Kit could easily be a way to distract us. He didn't really care. If it was little Hope's fault. But he placed a knife in his pants and looked around a bit. He found a drawing. It was of the girl with the kitten. That sounded familiar to him. It was Alex and Hope! Now he was certain there was someone there.

"Alex" he moved closer to her.
First name basis was something he needed to give into. He rarely spoke comfortably with people. He was usually too polite.
"Hope really seems to like you." He figured she shouldn't worry her with nothing. The only thing that mattered is that he stuck to her. Now more than ever he needs sane mind and action.
"I could surely see why." He stood next to her and Hope and he hugged her with his right arm. He looked at her and took off her glasses.
Not the sane action he had in mind but the test of courage. This was his moment to look directly at the sunlight. He was nervous, but he moved pass it.

 

[celestialdragon]

Alexa squinted as he took off her glasses. The light was now bearable, but still really bright. Not enough to trigger anything.

She looked around and sighed. "Well, we better get going throughout the rest of the house," she said. She started toward the marble staircase, Hope still purring in her arms