Castle
By TheMacAttack
- 443 reads
The minibus, a small faded green heap, snorted and rattled its way to the main doors of the castle. The driver announced with a gruff voice that they had arrived and sped off spraying gravel and mud all over the new arrivals.
"Lovely start", John mumbled from behind his think mustache as he gazed into his wifes dark brown eyes. The flight and minibus ride had left her blonde hair looking like a bush. As he chuckled at the thought, he placed a soft kiss on her cheek, picked up the luggage and marched up the stairs after the rest of the group.
Lord Saturnine hobbled down the stairs to find another two guests sitting on the dark mahogany bench inside the door. "Ahh", he exclaimed with open arms, "you must be the last of the group". John nodded and introduced his wife Sarah. "To your room", Lord Saturnine shouted, extending his arm in the air whilst marching after his hand.
The stairs wound ninety degrees before reaching the upper landing. The sun shone through the window lighting up the dust in the air like flies. They swirled as Lord Saturnine cut through the light before returning to their aimless hovering. "Your room, I will see you at seven for dinner, it's the chef's special and I'm the chef". He pulled out an old cookery book and winked before slamming the door behind him.
The bedroom was amazing. John ran his hand over the mantelpiece . The fine oak wood was glinting and felt warm in the late afternoon sun. As his gaze wandered over the elaborately patterned carpets he was interrupted by Sarah asking him to move the suitcases away from the wardrobe so she could open it and start unpacking. The dull rumble of the suitcases was followed by the click of the wardrobe unlocking and then by a silence as John gazed, awe struck, out the window where he had dropped the suitcases. He stood looking over a canopy of luscious greens. It was incredible. A few birds hovered under a blue sky where they had just been. It was a perfect circle with paths branching off like arms on either side. A red squirrel scurried across the cocktail of gray gravel.
By the time Sarah had unpacked and they had both gotten some rest it was nearly seven. On the way to the main dining hall, Sarah admired her husbands body. He was tall and muscular with a broad build that complimented his mustache. A few streaks of silver glinted from under his predominantly black hair. They were a perfect match and this night was no exception. Sarah was wearing a white dress with a stream of diamonds running from her back past her left hip and over her right leg. The candle lit corridors created a sparkle in ever diamond.
As they entered the dining room everyone's head turned which was accompanied by a symphony of inhalations. The other guests were well dressed but these two had it mastered like a well rehearsed song. They took their seats at the table only to be greeted by a mouth watering smell that could only be described as heavenly. Then, on a squeaky wheeled stainless steel trolley, Lord Saturnine began to serve his guests the most amazing meal.
Over the following ten minutes, Lord Saturnine assembled a banquet fit for nobility. As the guests and their host conversed through the evening they learned of his unhappy marriage, his depression and how reading kept him from insanity. On hearing this, John and Sarah felt closer than they had ever felt before, their happy marriage of seven years seemed to be even more meaningful.
As the evening progressed, an increasing number of wine bottles began appearing on the table. The great clock in the corridor chimed two in the morning as John and Sarah stumbled back to their room. John who was inebriated, had been thinking about Lord Saturnine and his marriage. "What if he's jealous of us", he thought. "Nah, he wouldn't be, it's just the wine talking John, calm down", he reassured himself.
The clock rang for the fifth time and John awoke. His vision remained blurry but he could make out a movement near the window. Slowly he slid his hand behind him and felt his wife's leg, it wasn't her at the window he thought. "It's that Lord Saturnine" he exclaimed in his head, "I knew it, I won't let him get away with this", thought John as he wavered around the room. He reached out to the blurred obstacle and grabbed, A breeze cleared his vision but before he knew it, he had tripped over the suitcases and flown out the window past Lord Saturnine who had turned into a billowing curtain. John was now heading for the driveway below.
Sarah was frozen to the bone, she stretched and curled up into a ball. Her window was open and John was no where to be seen. As she dozed , a scream sliced through her head. Hardly daring to breath she lay there. Crunching outside and the sound of running feet behind her door filled the air. A quick knock and Lord Saturnine exploded into the room. Still in her underwear, he threw his coat over her, grabbed her hand and practically flung her down the stairs.
Out on the front steps where she had been sprayed by the rear wheels of the mini van only a few hours before, Sarah saw her husband. He lay perfectly still on his stomach, one arm by his side, one arm under him, his head twisted to the side covered in deep rose red blood. His body was white, almost transparent and yet completely impenetrable. It was a strange sight that left Sarah on her knees sobbing beside her dead lover. She turned, looking for a kind face, but there was none. Gazing skyward to the top of the castle, she saw an empty window with a curtain swaying in and out. Sarah thought of her husband. Slowly her shivering body wrapped around his, everything she had lived for was now gone. What could she do? She was nothing without John.
On a cold brisk morning, two figures lay beneath a black coat. The birds sang and the crows cawed. Through it's tiny black eye, the crow observed it's home. It stared at the shaking coat outside the main door. Softly the crow closed it's eye and re-opened it. The coat was still. With the sound of a distant siren he stretched his wings, gave two flaps and glided across the canopy and into the morning.
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