Return to Belli Castle (A Haunting Ground Fanfic)

Chapter Three: Welcome to Belli Castle

The marble floor glistened beneath the two girls. As Catherine forced her eyes open, she noticed that the ceiling above them had once been made of glass, but for some strange reason the glass had shattered. She pulled herself up, feeling glass beneath her. Her arm was bleeding slightly. Catherine felt as if she had been thrown to the marble floor.

Beside her somebody growned. "Cathy?" Jenny pulled herself up from the floor and gazed tiredly around the room, wondering where she had been brought to as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. "Am I dreaming?"

"I hope so," whispered Catherine, kicking the shards of glass. "What happened?"

Footsteps could be heard but as they turned around to see the person attached to those feet, they could see nobody. "Ah," came the voice of a middle-aged man. "I see you've both finally awoken to my marvellous home- Belli Castle. Sorry for the mess, I myself, haven't had anybody here in a while and since the maid has... vanished, I didn't think I would have to clean. But here you both are. And even I  didn't expect to bring you here this soon, though, I felt the time was suddenly right."

"Who are you!" cried Jenny, gazing up at the shattered glass ceiling. "Why did you bring us here?"

The man smirked and gave a slight  chuckle at how frantic the girls were. "I am Riccardo, I was once the steward to Belli Castle, until I was left alone with the responsibility of my ancient home. Now I offer you the chance to escape, but I hardly doubt you will have any chance. Be prepared for what is about to come, because when I finally meet you both, you'll finally feel the worst of fear." They heard his footsteps vanish.

For a brief moment Catherine and Jenny stood speechless, thinking over his words. From behind them the door of the wardrobe slightly opened. But it only disturbed them for a moment and then they stared at eachother.

"No, no, no, no, no!" whimpered Jenny, both her hands on either side of her head as she shook. "This can't be real, Cathy. No, no, no, no. Tell me it's a dream!"

As she begged her friend, Catherine searched around the room for a way out. There was a small, arched door. She opened it slowly and poked her head through the door, checking to see anybody was in the corridor. It was clear. "Jenny, come over here," she whispered. "There's a door." When Jenny didn't answer, Catherine looked over her shoulder. "What's wrong, Jenny?"

"The wardrobe," she squealed. "It moved."

"That's silly."

Jenny shook her head. She was never good at hiding her fears. "Look," she whispered, still watching the wardrobe. "The door."

Suddenly, the door to the wardrobe opened and a round shaped head appeared. A large man stepped out of the wardrobe. He had dirty rags for clothes and worn out sandles on his feet. He had empty brown eyes and when he smiled, it was clear to see he barely had any teeth whatsoever. "Fiona, my dolly," he grunted, slowly stepping towards them. His eyes were on Catherine as he said those words. "Dolly!"

He raised his arms in the air above Jenny and as he went to take hold of her, Jenny was pulled away by Catherine. "This way," yelled Catherine.

"Where are we going?" asked Jenny, looking behind her. They could hear him grunting. She watched Catherine push a door open and dragged Jenny down the stairs with her.

The large man was behind them, but as he went to hurry down the stairs, his feet were too large and he began to stumble. He reached out a hand and groaned. "Dol...ly."

Catherine and Jenny hurried through too many corridors until Jenny ran in front of Catherine and opened a door, dragging Catherine inside. They rushed to the bed and hid, exactly how Catherine had remembered.

As the large man searched the room for them, he threw the small television at the other door to the room and rushed out into the garden. "Where is you?" he yelled, almost breaking the door.

"I think he's gone," whispered Jenny, crawling back out from under the bed. She stared at the wall on the other side of the room and let out a gasp. "Cathy," she whispered, pointing at a collage of pictures and newspaper cut outs on the wall. "Look at this."

Catherine gazed at the wall. There were many pictures of a blond woman, and some even with a white shepard dog beside her. On the newspaper articles it explained of rumours said by a girl, rumours of escaping a Castle that nobody could find.

"Hey," said Catherine, taking a picture of the girl walking with the dog. "I know this. Remember ten years ago when that girl disappeared? She returned days later saying that her parents had died in a car accident and spoke of strange people chasing her. This is the place! Belli Castle!"

Jenny began to fall, drowsy. "I feel... I feel." She fell to the floor with a bang.

"Jenny?" asked Catherine, looking at her friend. Suddenly she felt herself began to fall. "Je..." Catherine stared at her best friend. "I... can't...."