To be honest the trip there was quite uneventful. Sure some
of us slipped over due to the slimey clay and got their arses dirty. Others
somehow managed to find the deepest part of the bog, sinking past their knees
into the dirty filthy water. Squeamish Maria even managed to convince Randy to
piggy back her across the bog, though me and Matt were really hoping that Randy
would trip, sending them both face first into the bog. I would have loved to
have seen that. Anyways, we all crossed the bog eventually, and after a decent
amount of hiking up the steep inclined hill, we made it. We all stood under the
cover of the manuka trees that bordered the edge of the bush, drinking in the
sight that lay before us.
Perfectly mown grass lawns stretched before us, intercepted
by what looked like to be vegetable and flower gardens, and behind that - the
Mansion. To be honest, it truly was a mansion in every sense. There was a
massive tiled courtyard that surrounded the main entrance, decorated with
tables, chairs and even barbecues in a
perfectly symmetrical design. All the doors and the frames of the windows and
sliding doors appeared to be made out of solid mahogany wood, which in turn
colour complemented both the tiled courtyard and the rest of the house's
exterior walls. There seemed to be so many windows, that I never even tried to
guess how many rooms lay within. All in all, I'd say that the Mansion covered
at least 600 meters squared, if not more.
I remember it was Kate who made the first move. She must
have stepped forth, her feet scrunching the perfectly trimmed grass, but to me
it had always seemed like that girl glided on the air. The way she moved and
turned...a dancing angel in our midst. The way that she flicked her long black
curls, causing the sunlight to frame those deep blue eyes. Eyes that seemed to
dance and smile whenever I saw them. She was my dream girl.
Kate turned around, surprised that no one had followed suit.
"Come on guys" she giggled "Last one there buys next week's
beer!" And with that, she raced off in a sprint towards the Mansion. That definitely
did the trick. Within a matter of seconds we were all sprinting over the grass
lawns, none of us wanting our wallets to be lighter next week.
Out of the eleven of us that sprinted across the imaginary
finish line and onto the tiled courtyard,
it was Hayato and Patricia who tied for last place. "I guess that
means we're having the double the amount of free beer next week!" I
shouted to both of them, giving Matt a sneaky wink at the same time. Hayato
immediately started cursing in Japanese, very unhappy at such a thought - which
only caused us to break into fits of giggles and laughter.
"It's okay Hayato" I called back to him, struggling not to
break in laughter again. "We don't drink that much...". That proved
to be to be the last straw, as we all burst laughing again, the truth usually
being far from that. Laughter is thankfully infectious and it was only a matter
of seconds before Hayato was laughing alongside us, our lungs gasping for air.
"Well, I guess no one is home, or we would know by now
I think" proclaimed Randy, pushing his ever slipping glasses back onto his
nose. "He's got a point, guys" replied Tane " If there was, we
would have been chased off by now by some guy with an air rifle, or some stupid
freackin son of a-"
Tane was suddenly interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream that
came from behind us. We all turned around, startled and freaked out by the
terror that the scream had expressed.
It was Maria.
She was standing rigidly still. Her body frozen in fear. Her
mouth still open, as if her bloodcurdling scream had frozen in her throat. Her
eyes leaking tears. Her right arm stretched out, pointing with a trembling
hand. Pointing at one of the many sliding doors of the mansion.
Time slowed as my eyes followed her trembling pointing hand,
hoping this was all some sick prank. But what I saw still haunts me to this
very day. Leaking down the glass sliding door was two bloody handprints. Two
long bloody handprints that seemed like they had been clawing at the glass.
"Girl...." Maria gasped "There was a little
girl there."
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