HM Mafia 12:30 AM Mafia Hit #3: A likely story

There’s a reasonable explanation for all of this, I’m sure of it. The water freezing like that…could have been a sudden drop of air pressure. Or would it be a rise…oh, hell, I don’t know, I’m a detective, not a scientist.

Lost in thought, Gus Dario wandered down the halls of the Manor, guided by a small penlight. Gus thought best on his feet, and sitting around staring at that stupid board game seemed a criminal waste of time. At the rate these guests were dropping, time was the last thing they had.

The detective noticed a narrow hallway, one that he hadn’t seen before, or hadn’t noticed at any rate (of course it’s been there the whole time) and decided to investigate, continuing to let his thoughts go where they would.

As my dear mother used to say, before her disappearance, ‘there’s no such thing as ghosts.’

The cold, the strange behavior of the lawyer, the talking portrait…these things could all be explained, and just because Gus was at a loss to say specifically what was happening didn’t make him any less right. Now people, on the other hand…well, there was no accounting for what they would do.

The penlight went out suddenly and left Gus to ponder that disturbing thought it the darkness. He gave the light a vigorous shake, frowning at the sharp flicker of light that vanished nearly as soon as it had appeared.

Typical

Turning back was the only thing that made sense, and so Gus reached out with both hands, feeling for a wall to guide him. Finally his hand made contact with the silky wallpaper. He turned around, careful not to lose contact with the wall, and headed back in the direction he came, waving his free hand in front of him to feel for obstacles. His hand made a zipping noise as it dragged over the wallpaper; the sound was overly loud in his ears. Suddenly his free hand struck a smooth, hard surface.

Well this shouldn’t be here.

Shakily, Gus felt along the wall that seemed to have mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. Of course, it had been there the whole time; Gus had simply been too deep in thought to notice.

You would have noticed a wall that seems to block the entire hall. No one thinks that hard, my friend.

His hands raced over the smooth surface, feeling for a doorway (that’s it, I just wandered to a room and didn’t pay attention), or a corner, something to indicate the end of the wall. In spite of his ever reasonable inner monologue, Gus was becoming frantic. Not because of the ghosts, of course. Simply because this manor was huge; it would be hours before the other guests found him.

Is it colder than it was a minute ago?

“No!” Gus jumped a mile at the sound of his own voice, shouting out in the darkness. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt his blood race through his veins. Then, he let out a shaky laugh. Boy, he had really let himself get worked up. Shivering a little in the cold, he took a deep, calming breath, and reached out his hand again.

And felt the sharp pain of teeth biting down on his fingers.

Gus screamed.

~.~

“Well if no one else will try it…I guess I will.” With that, the planchette was carefully placed on the Ouija board and one of the guests rested her fingers gently on its surface.

Drip. Drip.

“Oh, that’s just great, the ceiling is leaking all over the damn…”

“…board”

“That’s blood…”

“From where?”

“Oh god…it’s everywhere…where’s it coming from…”

“Must be the room above us, let’s go see.”

“Are you crazy! I’m not going up there!”

“We need to stick together. I’m serious now, let’s go, come on.”

~*~

There was an impossible amount of blood surrounding the corpse of Gus Dario, like a red lake that spread on and on down the hallway. Someone ran to his room, presumably to vomit, but returned quickly with several blankets stripped off his own bed.

“We need to soak up the blood. It’s going to get everywhere.” Several of the guests followed his example and went to their rooms, returning with blankets and towels, anything to absorb the mess. At last the worst of it was taken care of, and Gus’s body was shrouded in a reasonably clean white sheet.

“Alright. I guess we have a lot to think about here.” The clean up had actually offered the guests some respite from pondering the horrors of this terrible night, but they realized they would have to face the cold realities sooner or later.

As one, they headed back to the dining room.