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.
Mitchell resumed his pacing across their path, leaving a faint trail over the late nineteenth century carpet there, which the whole castle had as well as main other modifications that allowed people to live there, which had been added later on – including electrical lighting, kitchens, toilets, proper beds ...
They had found a generator that powered everything, when they had tried to connect the generator that the helicopter had brought in. Yet even with all the later technology the castle remained the same, lost in time and trapped in a warp in time.
Mitchell’s expressions barely ever altered but now showed there was trouble ahead, and some of the time he was in deep thought not quite mentally there.
Bryson wondered if any of them had been confronted with such crimes before, and why they had?
In fact, after a careful examination of all the people there he realized that he and the two psychic researchers must have the most experience, especially from the murders at the last castle! And he realized why they had wanted him there and Merton had taken Mitchell up to get him, and he realized that he could have a lot of problems ahead of him!
They were not experienced enough to conduct an investigation, and the last time it was the police that had been doing things and he had helped.
He was sure that Mitchell had some facts about the killing that he was not revealing, and he tried to think of what he would not say and what he would do! Yet there was little to go at the moment and he left it for later.
There were many hidden facts to it and he would wait until they surfaced, and stopped troubling himself.
The others were mainly discussing the death but knew little, going by what they said. They were waiting for something to occur and come to some conclusion – perhaps even waiting for an argument to occur. Then perhaps they might get some information to enlighten them about it.
Bryson gave occasional shudders from the cold that came through the opened door. His lungs felt as if they had sandpaper grated over them from breathing in the cold in his room.
Merton and Mortimer sat at his sides, silenced by the whole event, glimpsing the window as if they were waiting for something and did not want to say anything.
Mitchell turned and coughed into a handkerchief.
“I don’t understand,” Merton argued, “why someone would want to kill the guy? What did he not want us to find out by being caught in the kitchen ...?”
“You could be right!” Mitchell replied. “Why did he not want to be caught so much?”
“How did a stranger know about this place? Who do you think he was?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll have to make sure it doesn’t happen again! Now knowing this place ... I could imagine him easily as a lunatic ...”
“Are the cops coming then?” Bryson asked, seeing the meeting there was to get everyone informed on what was happening.
“They’ll be arriving later today by helicopter!” Mitchell answered, showing the situation was nothing to do with him.
“It’s going to be really tricky explaining the place and the situation to them ...?”
The police obviously might not accept the full account and of what had happened to them in the wood, and it clearly involved a horrendous crime ...
Mitchell turned his face away from the fireplace and its yellow radiance flickered over his back, and Bryson watched gray wisps of smoke rising up the chimney.
“Anyway, I wanted to ask you all ... Did anyone see anyone near this place?” Mitchell spoke, standing, and watching nobody move in the room, and they all nodded that they never one by one.
If it had been one of them and not a stranger then the person must have been missing when it took place and he wondered about the people that he had not seen, and from what Mortimer told them they had checked up on them and that there was at least ten people there that never came in contact with anyone when it took place, and had been sleeping, and Bryson realized that they had made a mistake by not checking them at their rooms to s
ee if anyone had been missing, and he also realized that they never thought it was them and that they would not have gone to such lengths to carry anything out.
Bryson realized the infernal place now had a killer, who had a motive to kill for, and they and all the evidence had shown that the person could not be in the wood and was hidden away somewhere in the colossal castle, and that they would have to sleep there with him lurking in shadows.
Chapter 17
The Treasure Quest
The entire castle was colossal and dangerous beyond belief, even during the day, and they had checked all the stuff that they had accumulated and found there had been many occurrences and deaths during the day, and nobody seemed to want to go into the unexplored regions, where they also thought the killer lurked.
So when they started their investigations of the castle it was in search of the treasure there and was organized by Mitchell and he brought all his men, with Bryson and the two psychic investigators, and some scientists and archaeologists, who were curious what was in the unexplored regions.
They had been no further than the central region, and region that they slept in on the second floor, so Mitchell’s idea of going to the central region of the top floor was really interesting.
Bryson climbed the stairs studying everything, while curiously watching Mitchell as he followed him up and occasionally listened to everyone else behind him, and Bryson noticed that his surroundings seemed to get dirtier the further up they went and by the time they reached the top they were sweeping giant webs away, which seemed to increase in size, and he started to consider there being dangerous spiders there.
“Well,” Mitchell finally announced, breaking his silence. “We now know that killer has not been here! Though there must be other staircases up here, so we still have him being about as a problem.”
They entered the top floor and it looked incredible to Bryson. It was like another world and like seeing a real haunted place, place where supernatural existed, and he considered it as being either one of the only places like it on the planet or one of the most powerful places on the planet.
The corridor had to be the most ghostly darkest places he had seen, and with freezing cold and snow it was even more still, silent, and empty of life as was possible. Even with the lights on there were strange haunting dark shadows and glows that held secrets and dangers!
Some of Mitchell’s men insisted in announcing their being there clearly to the killer, if he was up there, and they insisted in leaving him until the police arrived. And even though it was one of his men and he had directly attacked them, he had escaped and it was a police matter! Though he was sure most of them actually still intended to do something when they could!
They grouped closely together and wander down the corridor in the one direction with startled and amused faces as they searched its interior, with faint thoughts of what it would be like there at night. The place to everyone there seemed to be the source of all the occurrences in the wood, and it at times was like being in a central area where something existed that was more powerful than anything else there, and perhaps on the planet, and the stuff in the wood avoided going there because of its power and that they were being checked and it had hidden intentions to do things with them.
The treasure being hidden away there was like something were using it to lure people there to their deaths, and he wondered again if he would survive this adventure!
Merton wandered about offering anyone next to him a cigarette, and spoke to them confidently, and they gave startled expressions at their surroundings and what he actually worked as and a famous leading investigator of psychic occurrences.
Mitchell, Bryson noticed, was giving them confidence and his wisdom in carrying out the task ahead, while gently persuading them to do what he wished, and use their powers of deduction to find clues or anything there. There main motivation seemed to be money, and they were all positive that was what motivated the killer there.
As they passed different rooms it became clear that nobody had been there in many decades. Cobwebs and dirt just about shrouded everything they met with!
Nothing showed any clues to what Bryson wanted, and it made little sense.
The killer had to be ruthless and carefree to have done it in the way that it had been done, especially to one of Mitchell’s men. The person had done it under their noses! Yet it could indicate that he never knew them or what they were like?
From the looks that that he caught he knew that the incident had affected them all. Some of them were argumentative when they mentioned the dead guy, and he was sure that they had not found any major clues.
Bryson touched his sore forehead with his fingers feeling if the coldness had sunk into his brain.
He saw that it had still stopped snowing and that there was a good chance, according to a forecast, that the weather would stay that way until the night.
He wondered if the place had actually turned people insane! He wondered if the killer had an interest in anything else and if they were thinking of him as being only after one thing.
A loud helicopter thud gradually emerged away in the distance, and they all grew silent and considered the arrival of the police, and at a window Bryson and some of the others watched it and another three helicopters arrive, making them even change their interest there to below the castle, where they landed, and Bryson watched the faces of all the police and people connected with them get out and looking about slightly amused but mainly very curious, and some actually knowing some things about the place, and he heard some of their communications blaring out as they told of their arrival and what the place looked like.
The police had a hard time realizing what they were dealing with, and Bryson listened to the person he was sure was in charge of everything. He had clearly been communicating with the police elsewhere in his helicopter.
“We can separately look about more,” Merton declared, clearly losing interest with looking out the window. “We can cover more ground ...”
They all split up more and into groups, going into rooms more, and searching more.
Bryson marched away himself straight to where he thought one of the main rooms was, which was larger and unusual, and he was sure it belonged to the owner that had reconstructed the castle, if he had even lived there or had it built for him before his death.
It was incredible how fast Mitchell rushed after him, and he watched Merton follow him, seeing it was the most interesting place to go.
The others mainly agreed to search the corridor and to check paintings and antiques, which were really ancient and valuable looking, especially being there and covered in such dust and dirt.
The door to the room at first seemed locked when Bryson reached it, before the other two had made it to him, and he quickly confirmed it was locked before trying to shove it in.
“Curious!” Mitchell muttered. “Very curious! It’s got a lock and it’s locked!”
Merton ducked and stuck his eye to the keyhole and moved back, and asked, “We could wait and try to find a key, which may not exist, or we could just break in?”
“Let’s break in!” Mitchell quickly replied first. “What’s in there could be of great value! And if we leave it someone else could get here first! This place is getting more and more people ...”
“Alright!” Bryson replied. “The door can be replaced anyway, if it’s of any value ...”
Mitchell immediately left to nearby rooms until he found what he wanted, and arrived with a large log of wood, which had been in a fireplace, and used it to smash in the lock and viciously shove it in, until the door screeched right open and Bryson saw only darkness and then windows that were covered by thick curtains, and dust flew down over them as they moved in and they entered like they were entering a tomb.
The mess was shocking! Webs and fungus had shrouded everything and an ancient bed was left rotted away within the room, with small amounts of ancient furniture around the edges of the large room, and Bryson attempted t
o age it all but never succeeded.
“The owner liked a large bed,” Merton muttered, humorously, examining its remains, watching a dust cloud from their entrance float in beams of light, from streaks of sunlight from the window where Mitchell started opening the curtains, trying not to destroy the rotted remains of them, and looking out at the wood from there with some fascination!
They then crept around the room watching his fascination of the wood, and his drawing all the areas of interest in a vague map, and listening to their creaks and cracks from the floorboards.
Bryson’s attention fell on the bed again trying to imagine what age it was, and he realized it was early twenty-century technology.
When he moved back he saw the humorous side of what they were doing. The place interested him and he liked such places and their history, imagining all the past events and people who had been there, and all the many hours and days and thoughts that they had, and he wondered what the future would hold for it and fantasized being in a time machine shooting through the depths of time. What would the future be? And what would the outcome of their investigations there be? What would the future be now that the murder and all the police were there? Was this the end of the desolation of it? Or could the place become so deadly that they would have to isolate it from humanity?
He saw a small drawer under the legs of the remains of a wardrobe in the corner of the room and saw it had not been seen, and investigated it with interest, while he considered the room from different perspectives. He wondered if the people had just slowly left there or had been forced out by the occurrences there, or had they died there?
The stiff drawer revealed it was full of old clothes and he looked through and man’s clothes considering what he had been like.
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