100 % Review Forum In The House Of Leaves

            In The House Of Flies By Roman R Rachev                                   In The House of Flies               It had been a long, and tiresome night, and I could finally see the sun peeking over the horizon. We were finally about to arrive at my uncle's estate, after such a long drive. I exhaled a breath onto the fogged window next to me, and with my sleeve rubbed a small circle for my eyes to peer through. I could just see the roof of the manor, with a gargoyle keeping its watchful eye on the dead forest that lay before it.

            When I heard of my uncles passing, and that he left his entire estate to me in his will. I had a much different idea in my head of what it looked like. Not that I'm ungrateful, but the manor looked to be of hell's asylum, a place where those to crazy and insane for hell itself would be locked up and kept.  The woods surrounding the manor weren't in much better shape. The leave-less trees with their jagged branches, seemed to make the outlines of hideous creatures in the clouded sky. I imagined people hanging themselves in the branches and me coming out and wrapping them in Christmas lights for the holidays.  Then I thought to myself maybe I'm dead, and I'm going to hell. I mean, I definitely deserve it. I have this darker side that I can't help but continuously feed.

We finally arrived at a grid-iron gate with two gargoyles guarding either side. The cab driver got out and pushed the heavy gates open, then got back in the cab, ‘and here I thought hell would be a little more inviting.’ The cab proceeded along the drive, until we arrived to the entrance of the manor. The cab driver opened my door, I stepped out and looked up to find a grotesque hideous creature of a woman standing on my new doorstep. “Oh goodie the devil sent me a w***e.” I thought to myself, as I walked up the steps to greet this hideous creature.

“ Hola monsieur” she says to me. She knows Spanish and French I thought; she must be super smart or f*****g retarded, but I'll probably go with the latter of the two.

“We'll good day miss, how are you this fine morning” I say.

“Oh my, quite the gentleman” she responded, if only she knew of the thoughts I was thinking, that would be the last words spoken from those puffy chapped lips of hers.

“I heard of your uncle's death, and wanted to be sure to greet you with the utmost and warmest welcome to our humble town.”
Town!? I thought, looking around at the endless woods that surrounded the manor.  “Well thank you for your warm and friendly greeting.” she quickly shoved a pastry in my hand that looked as grotesque as she did, “and uhh pie”. I quickly walked up to my door trying to avoid any more conversation with this woman.

“Well maybe we could have dinner tonight, I just love making friends with the new neighbors,” she says, as I begin to open the door. Awwww I groan, that's the last thing I wanted to hear.

“Well maybe some other time, I'm really tired from the trip here.” Or never, I think to myself.

“Well if you need anything were only a fifteen minute drive, so don't be a stranger now.”

“Oh I won't” I say quickly shutting the door"

“Oh alright bye bye now.” she shouts at the window on the door. ‘Fifteen minutes away isn't far enough.’ Maybe a deer will run out in front of her car, and then as she’s walking home through the woods, a pack of wolves will devour her. haha that would be great.

I look up and there sitting on the stairs is a beautiful young lady with scarlet hair, bright brown eyes, flush skin and crimson lips. She was wearing a french maid outfit to boot, and who says hell isn't full of surprises, there before me sits the definition of a succubus. I waste no time in introducing myself. “Hello miss my name is Jean Claude Dubois.” I say grasping her hands into mine.

            “My your resemblance to your uncle is striking.” she says looking at my face. ‘Well that's a bit of a turn off, but I’ll go with it.’ “My name is Mary, I am the house maid here at the manor.” she says releasing her hands from mine and looks over. “Geoffrey would you please retrieve Mr. Dubois’s belongings.” and then out of the shadows emerges this tall, old slender man with a slight hunch in his back. He made me jump a little with his sudden appearance, and I watched as he left out the door to retrieve my things. “May I show you to your room Mr. Dubois?”

“Yes Mary, I would love it if you showed me to my room.”  I say with a wink.

 “Then follow me Mr. Dubois.” Yes finally things were starting to look up. “It's right across the hall from your Aunts room.”

 “My uhh, aunt?”

“Yes Mr. Dubois, Mrs. Dubois had requested that you stay here with her until her passing.” Mary then walks me up a spiral staircase to a long hallway. Only one of the doors was open with light peering into the hall, we walk up to the door and Mary stops and points inside. I peer in, and see an old decrepit woman, sitting in a wheelchair gazing endlessly out of her window. I walk up to her with Mary following, and kneel down before her.

            “Hello there, I'm your nephew Jean.” She looks at me and as I look in her eyes, I could sense a sorrow unlike any I've ever known. Her sad eyes slowly looks up at Mary, but when Mary looks at her, she turns her head back to the window. Returning to the endless gaze she had when we arrived.

 “Well, I'll be making up my room if you need anything.” I say as I get up and head out of the room.

Mary turns to me. “She has been mute, ever since your uncle’s death.”

“Oh it must be hard for her.” I replied. The truth is, I didn't even know I had an aunt and uncle. Until I had a lawyer banging on my door two weeks ago, with a will in hand. At first I thought it was the landlord trying to collect back-rent. I was actually halfway through the window when I realized it wasn't him. The lawyer told me that my uncle was a very rich man who owned a quarry in Eastern Europe. I felt as though I had just won the lottery. I quickly packed my belongings and left to collect my new-found fortune, leaving behind the creditors, loan-sharks and of course the landlord.

            I opened up the door to my new room and walked in. The room was very old-fashioned, with an old dusty bookcase in the corner filled with old text books, mostly about geology and precious metals. The bed had a vintage headboard with Victorian carvings in the ancient teak wood. I walked up to the bed and fell onto it, I forgot how tired I was from the trip here. All I could do now was look up at the chandelier, as my eyes forced themselves shut.