The Power in the Dark

Manning Mansion

Three things were incredibly wrong with Emilia. First and foremost, there was a giant hole in her chest, and based off the irregular beat of her heart and the strange texture of the skin surrounding it, she had to say that it wasn't her own heart. Second, she was comfortable, which she hadn't been for quite some time. And, lastly, she had absolutely no idea where she was or how to get away from wherever she was.

All these deductions were done with her eyes closed. Upon opening them, Emilia found herself laying in a king sized bed, staring at a portrait on the ceiling of two people, a man and a woman, holding each other in a passionate embrace. In the background, a giant brain, using long, gray tentacles, is ripping their brains from their skulls. Quickly, Emilia turned away.

Slowly, Emilia sat up. The walls and ceiling were made of mahogany wood, as was all the furniture. The carpet was made of a fine, red substance that felt very much like silk. Adorning the walls and tabletops were pieces of artwork that always included a brain. In one sculpture, a man held his own brain in his hand and observed it. In a different painting, a child is being birthed by a screaming woman whose back was immerged with a large brain. All in all, the room looked as if it were created by a madman.

Two doors across the room opened inward. Not knowing what to expect, Emilia ran and hid behind a sculpture of a child eating a brain. This was not the best place to hide, and it made her want to vomit, but it would have to do. Slowly, she peeked around the corner.

The stranger from the other night walked gracefully into the room, cape billowing out behind him. His slender form and fair face seemed to indicate that he was not used to sunlight, and his sunken in face showed signs of stress and weariness. He walked into the center of the room, slowly, then stopped.

"Emilia, come out from behind the statue."

Emilia held  her breath, waiting for the boy to walk away. If he couldn't see her, then he might think she wasn't there at all. She stayed put.

The stranger turned towards her slowly. Carefully, he walked to the statue. From where she was crouching, Emilia could not see what he was doing, but she heard the sound of stone breaking. Before she had time to even understand what had happened, the statue flew  across the room and smashed into the wall. The stranger knelt down and grabbed Emilia by the neck. He pulled her in close, and , in the softest voice he could make, he said the following:

"Breakfast is ready."

Then he dropped her on the floor and walked out of the room.

...

Emilia wandered the halls of what she could now tell to be a mansion. The walls were tall and luxurious, the halls long and elegant, and everywhere there was artwork that not only contained brains, but other parts of the anatomy as well. She was in the maze of a madman, and she couldn't escape. Every door lead to another room, and the only windows that she could see were the skylights above, easily two stories high. In short, she was in a very comfortable prison,

In her wanderings, Emilia found a dining room. Dozens of antique chairs surrounded a very long table that reached from one end of the room to the other. The only lighting here and in most of the house came from the skylights and the gas lights on the walls. This gave a strange affect on the table, because the light from above and the light from the walls mixed together, making blue flickering shadows across all the furniture. At both ends of the table, a place was set. At the farther end, the stranger was already sitting down and eating his meal.

When she entered the room, the stranger looked up. "Glad you could join me. I was worried you would be antisocial."

Emilia sat down at her end. "Where am I?"

"I will answer all questions after I eat my food. You will eat, too."

"I'm sorry, I'm not hungry."

"I didn't say that you should eat, but that you will eat. In other words, I am giving you an order."

Emilia looked down at her plate. On it, there was scrambled eggs, two sausages, and one pancake. It smelled very good, and before she knew what she was doing, Emilia shoved everything into her mouth. The stranger, on the other hand, took his time, stabbing a piece of egg with his fork and carefully bringing it to his mouth to eat it.

He cut a piece of sausage off and bit into it. "See? Taking an order wasn't so bad, was it? And now you are no longer hungry."

"Listen, you need to tell me where I am. Now."

"Or what? You'll kill me?"

Emilia looked him dead in the eye. "If it comes to that."

The stranger gave her the same look. "Let me give you some advice: don't try anything tricky. I have my eyes on you at all times, and I will not hesitate to kill you should you do anything that displeases me. If you want to kill me, then go ahead and try. But do not think for one second that you will live through the ordeal, because you won't. You don't need to know the details, just know that you will fail." He smiled and stuck another piece of sausage in his mouth. "Don't worry, you'll learn to accept this way of life, and in time you will love it. You'll see."

"And if I run away?"

"Ah! If you run away, I have no control over you, and thus you will die. Don't try it. Just accept your predicament. Now, are you done eating?"

Emilia stared at him. "Yes."

"Good. Now go away and stay out of my sight. Do not bother me, and do not let me see you. Understood?"

"No! Why can't I-"

The stranger stood up and threw his chair backwards, breaking it against the wall. "BECAUSE I SAID SO! OBEY MY ORDERS OR DIE! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"

Emilia hung her head. "Yes..."

"Good. Now leave."

Emilia turned and walked to the door. Then she stopped and turned around. "Will you at least tell me your name?"

The stranger froze, staring down at the table. For the longest of times he stood there in silence. Then, in a voice that Emilia could barely hear, he said, "My name is Markus Manning." And with that, Mark ran away from the room.