House of Dimension

To their left, the boys could see a fireplace at the very end of the vast hall. It was strange though, that the fireplace was undisturbed. There was no brightly lit fire that they had seen earlier through the window of the mansion. In fact, the only source of light was the slight twinkling of the chandelier hanging right in the middle of the hall. Even coated with a layer of dust, the crystals of the grand chandelier twinkled like millions of stars from somewhere far away in the galaxy. The slight breeze that came in when the boys opened the door was what had caused the chandelier to sway slightly, giving off a sound not unlike a wind chime.

As they ventured deeper into the mansion, the feelings of unease grew. However, desperate for help, the boys had no choice but to continue looking for help in the eerie manor. As the four of them climbed up the staircase, they can’t help but notice a melody coming from behind the polished mahogany door that stood at the top of the stairs. Hearts thundering furiously, they pushed open the door.

A gramophone stood in the middle of a hall the size of a football field, playing a piece which none of the boys recognizes. The hall, like the rest of the house, was richly furnished. Bookshelves that reach up to the high ceiling were laden with thick leather bound books, expensive looking leather couches were arranged to face a huge painting of a woman with her face half hidden behind a veil.

“Is that real gold?” Kit’s eyes widen as he stretched out one hand towards the massive photo frame.
“Don’t touch anything!” hissed Ken.
“Hello? Is anyone home?” Long called out nervously, ignoring the bickering of the other two boys.

A slight creak made the boys turned their heads towards the source of the noise immediately. A door stood at the very end of the hall, revealing a room that they had not noticed before. A tall thin man with peppery grey hair emerged. From his slightly frayed black suit and a towel that was hanging from his forearm, the boys assumed that this was the butler of the house.

“What business do you have with the master?” the butler asked. His voice sounded like sandpaper, as though it hasn’t been used in quite some time. The butler wrinkled his nose in distaste, making a face that seemed to suggest that the boys were something highly unpleasant.

“Erm… We got lost in the woods and couldn’t find our way back. Could you show us the way back? We didn’t see any house nearby except for yours,” asked Wayne.

Ignoring Wayne’s request, the butler spoke once more in his sandpapery voice, “This is not my house young one. I will ask the master if he would allow the likes of you to stay for the night.”

“But we just wanted some direction… Please?” pleaded Long.

The butler ignored Long and marched out of the hall. “Do not leave the room,” ordered the butler as he shuts the door.

“Man, what’s his problem?” complained Wayne once the door closed behind the butler.
“Maybe we should look for a phone or something,” suggested Ken.

The boys looked around the hall in search of a phone, taking care not to touch or break anything in the room. However, their searching effort was in vain. Not a single phone or computer was in sight. Just as they finished searching the hall, the butler appeared once more beside them. It was as if he materialized out of thin air as none of the boys even noticed his sudden reappearance. Shocked, Kit accidentally knocked over an antique vase, shattering it into a million pieces.

“Never mind that,” said the butler just as the boys were about to apologize. “There are no telephones or any other means of communications in this house so you boys can stop snooping around. The master has kindly allowed you to stay for the night. You will be brought back to where you come from tomorrow morning. I shall show you to your rooms after you have had something to eat and drink. Follow me to the dining hall,” continued the butler as he led them to another hall.
This hall was slightly smaller than the previous one they’d been. In the middle of a long rectangular room was a long dining table that looked like it could fit about 50 enormous men comfortably. The table was laden with food, which was surprising considering that the boys had just arrived moments earlier.

“Is there someone else who will be joining us for dinner?” asked Wayne, his eyes agog at the amount of food on the table. It looked like there was enough to feed an entire village!
“Only four of you shall be dining,” said the butler, “I will escort you to your respective rooms once you’ve eaten enough.” With that, the four of them were left on their own.

All feelings of apprehensiveness dissolved into thin air as the boys set their eyes on the sumptuous feast in front of them. Chickens, meatloaves, steaks, potatoes, puddings, cakes… one can just imagine the boys’ delight at the delicious meal prepared for them. After stuffing themselves until they were fit to burst, they muttered a contented sigh.

“Phew, I haven’t eaten anything like this ever in my entire life!” exclaimed Ken as he adjusted his jeans which are now digging uncomfortably into his bloated stomach.
“I totally agree man...” said Wayne who tugged at his belt pointlessly, trying to loosen his suddenly too tight pants.

It was as though the butler was just lurking in the shadows all the while when the boys were stuffing their faces silly with food, for he appeared noiselessly at their sides no sooner had the words come out of Wayne’s mouth.

Startled, Kit sputtered orange juice all down his front at the abrupt reappearance of the butler, leaving an orangey streak on his already brown and muddy shirt. As the other three tried to stifle their laughter, Kit glared at the butler angrily.

However, the butler seemed oblivious to Kit’s glare as he led them out of the dining hall and to their respective rooms. They passed through rows and rows of hallways, all lined with ancient portraits of people who seemed to watch their each and every move. More than once, one of the boys would sense some movement behind them. But when they whipped around, there were no signs of any living being around except for the four of them and the butler.

After walking through several hallways, they finally stopped at a wide corridor with at least ten heavily polished mahogany doors lined along the entire hallway, five on each side, not unlike what you’d expected to see at a posh hotel. The butler indicated the rooms in which they would spend the night, one for each of them and started to walk away when Ken requested for them to stay together in one room as they were unfamiliar with the place. Not to mention that they were all scared stiff by the creepy aura of the house.

The butler had an annoyed look on his face, replying curtly that it was the master’s wish that they were to stay in their assigned rooms. Not wanting to cause further trouble, or worse, risk getting kicked out of the house and into the dead forest again, the boys went into their respective rooms without further complains.

As Ken pushed open the heavy doors to his room, he can’t help but gasp in wonder. The room was immense and expensively furnished. It was almost like stepping into a royal suite! The bed was lined with gold trimmings, with big white fluffy pillows that seemed to be beckoning his tired body. A huge walk-in wardrobe stood at the corner of the room along with an ornate dressing table. The bathroom was easily the size of his own bedroom at home! Tired and filthy, he quickly stripped off his clothes and ran a steaming hot bath to soothe his aching muscles after a long day in the woods. When he finally emerged from his bath a good half hour later, he was surprised to see a pile of new albeit slightly musty smelling clothes laid on the bed and his dirty clothes neatly folded in a bag.

In another room, Long was just changing into the new clothes after a long bath. He took out his mobile phone from his backpack to see if he could find a signal to call for help. His parents were bound to be worried sick. At this time, he was supposed to be back at home, enjoying the company of his family after spending three days in the woods.

“Ugh!” to his dismay, the signal remained dead. His anxiety grew as the battery was slowly dying as well. With a sigh, he switched off the mobile phone and put it back into his backpack before going out of his room to find his friends.

As they huddled together at the hallway, the boys discussed how they were going to get home. The house just doesn’t seem right somehow, they just can’t shake off the feeling that their every move was being watched. However, they were not in a state to leave the house right now as the rain seemed to have started up again. After agreeing to leave the house at day break, the boys went back to their rooms and slept.

For several uneventful hours, the boys slept blissfully, exhausted after the day’s events. Suddenly, Wayne woke with a start. At first, he thought that he was having a terrible headache as the room seemed to be spinning around violently. Then as his bed slid from one corner of the room to the other, it hit him that the room itself was spinning. Terrified, he clutched the bed sheets until his knuckles turned white. The room seemed to shake rougher and rougher with each passing minute. When he finally regained some of his senses, Wayne scrambled clumsily over to the door and pulled at it with all his might. To his horror, the handle would not budge. He was locked in.

The room was spinning so fast now that everything is a blur. As Wayne continued his fruitless attempts at wrenching the door open, a flying chair hit his head from behind and everything else went black.