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[Keeper]

This is a short story I made for a school writing contest. It's sorta tyed with my series "Faust Fall: Dormant Memories, but I'm sure I can start a new thread for it since it's not completely tyed in with its plot. Well, enjoy. BTW, it's horror. :3
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The Requiem of Palistein Manor

Palistein manor had been the beloved home of a happy couple by the names of Fredrick Palistein and Rosa Palistein, mortal folks whom had fallen into the semi-depressing state of old age. The couple’s bodies had withered from their past glory, now resembling the crippling and decrypted selves that they were throughout that past glory, of which they pleaded back for everyday, expressing that demented avarice within them both. Fredrick, crooked as his attitude towards others of a younger age, always dressed himself within a blackening Victorian suit, always having a persistent squabble with the sleeve cuffs. It would take his equally crooked wife to help him through the annoying task. Rosa, who may have seemed the slightest normality within the bizarre decorations they decked their home with, fashionably presented herself in a rich woman’s wardrobe. The wardrobe itself resemble that of a Victorian woman’s, but ever so slightly modernized for audiences like her afternoon social chat with her other aged friends. At the same time, of which elapsed rather sluggishly, she would then cavil over his unnecessary dressing issues. He would always respond with an equal protest about how her strange taste in interior designing rid their chances of making “normal friends” than the strange ones she brought home. Day after day, night after night, breakfast till dinner; the couple would shatter the silence that lay just, but with a certain duration.

Now how one would list those who suffered because of this crooked couple would be the Roderick family, an isolated British family that kept themselves in a locked state of Purgatory. The family consisted of a young wife with brown, curled hair who eyed anyone with a pair of saddened, blue eyes; an older husband whose figure expanded with muscle, subsiding the stern, brown eyes he possessed and the rugged facial hair that sprouted from his chin and upper lips. Lastly, and unfortunately less, a son who was felt less of and belittled by both the wife and husband. This boy, who wished for nothing more than a friend, held the title of Joseph Roderick. A strictly Catholic family, he would be forcibly taught to pray for the food presented to him every dinner, brought up to believe all who did not romance with the opposite gender would be cast into the fiery pits, and finally, told that good will and worship would bring salvation to his miserable soul. From this Joseph despised his family, no manner how small it seemed to him. These practices were no illusion to the boy, but what could he do? That Purgatory state that held the family by their necks had always kept them at a judgmental state. Luckily, the day came that Joseph got the chance to walk away from these repetitive practices.

The savior came within the form of a delivery, of which had been presented by a passing delivery boy. Mrs. Roderick gripped the wrapped package within her pale hands and eyeballed the youth before her, spotting his approaching hand of compensation. She frowns and slams the door upon the boy’s face, of which tempted the boy to smash the door from its hinges. His actions are stopped though as his body rose from the ground beneath him. The delivery boy meant the enormous figure that gripped him by his blue shirt collar. Before him stood the rugged husband, Mr. Roderick, with his son, Joseph, behind him. Mr. Roderick swung the delivery boy over to his stern eyes, sharpened by the strict rage that flowed through him. “Boy,” he announced angrily, “what in God’s name were you doing just now?” his question warping the boy’s mind with nightmarish illusions, all illustrating what could happen to him. To the boy’s luck though, Joseph nudged the cloth of his father’s brown pants, urging him to let the boy go. His father whacks his son from his path and tosses the boy against the ground, conjuring a burst of dust. “Get out of here boy. You did your job and you’re no longer needed here. For a manner of fact, it would’ve been better if you weren’t here at all.” The delivery boy eyeballs the raging man with great fright, hesitating to rise from the dusty ground. “Get out of here! NOW!” Mr. Roderick finished, causing the boy to run out of the family’s home. Joseph rose from the ground as he watched the delivery boy flee into the clearings. Mr. Roderick walks over to his rising son and smacks him back upon the ground, keeping him restrained to it with the back of his boot. Joseph’s father looks down upon him, causing his greasy, black bangs to swish about his forehead. Joseph frowns to his father’s raging expression and begins to mutter his prayers. Mr. Roderick nods with satisfaction and raises the boy upwards, patting his clothes dry of any dust or debris. “Good, son, you know the only person in this world that’ll forgive is the Lord himself. Remember that boy.” His father ordered, departing back to the house.

Joseph watches his father disappear within the slamming of their home’s door, but not before whispering, “I wish you were dead…” He then made his way back to the house, but upon noticing the howls of his parents’ argument, which Joseph found to be rare among the quiet solitude of their isolated home. The behaved child enters into the house quietly, avoiding the discovery of his arrival from the view of the kitchen entrance, the place he found to be the domain of his parents’ argument. He made his way up the stairs as he heard the finishing scream of his mother and the final outburst of his father, alongside with the shattering slam of the porch door. Joseph hid behind the corner of the hallway as he spotted his mother coming up the stairs. He notices the depressed and angered expressions on his mother’s face, of which tempted him to ask what had happened within the kitchen’s walls. His temptation left him though as his mother discovered him behind the corner of the hallway. He gasps out of shock and flees to his room, locking the door behind his frightened self. Joseph hears the consistent twists and turns of his doorknob as his mother tried to open it. He finally hears one more turn and sighs with relief as the footsteps of his mother mark her departure. Suddenly, though, the turns of his knob are heard once more, but the door opens this time. Joseph yelps loudly as he fell upon his carpet floor. He spots his mother, tearing slightly, holding a picklock in her left hand. She grabs Joseph by his arms and pulls him into her and her husband’s bedroom. There, she gestures Joseph to take a sit on the bed. He does so and looks upon his mother, still perplexed that she had not screamed at him yet. “What is it, mum?” Joseph asked, starting to notice the unfold envelope in her hand. She shows Joseph the envelope, allowing him to peer upon the highly decorative features around its squared frame. Joseph could spot a long, draconic serpent that had corralled into the shape of the envelope’s golden frame, leering upon the boy with its ruby-encrusted eyes. A slight shiver ran down the boy’s spine, causing his hair to prickle above his neck. Mrs. Roderick eases her son as she advised him to read the letter.

Joseph snatched the envelope and opened its golden frame to find a similar framed piece of paper, displaying a pristine feeling as he ran his fingers out the thin material. His brown eyes gaze down upon the letter as he read. “You are pleasantly invited to the Fredrick and Rosa Palesteins’ family manor, Palistein Manor. This invitation is in regards to the dinner party that shall be held at the manor out of celebration of the residence’s 60th anniversary. The party shall be happily hosted by Fredrick Palistein himself and Rosa Palistein as the one who shall set the decorations and delicacies for your fair evening.” Joseph trails off from his reading and looks up towards his mother. She nudges him to continue though. He agrees and continues with, “The following list is towards those who have been thoroughly decided to attend the party. Down the list are the three families invited to Palistein Manor: The Stephenson family, The Palistein family, which of whom are a consistence of grandchildren and past brothers and sisters of the dear Lord and Lady. And the--“ Joseph halts in his words as he gazed upon the following words. “The Roderick… family.” He looks up upon his peering mother, her eyes had too fixed directly upon the following words, leaving the both of them at an unpredictable silence. “Mum… can we go?” Joseph asked, inching his head upwards ever so slowly. No motion nudged from the woman’s body at all within the several seconds, perhaps hinting to the boy that they shall not attend the prestige banquet. Despite her silence, the boy easily discovered the cause. He rose from the bed and discards the letter to the floor, stomping down upon it at the same time. “It’s because of papa, isn’t it?” His mother still laid in silence, refusing to acknowledge the boy’s truth, “Answer me, mum! It’s because of him isn’t?” Finally, the woman’s willpower broke as she replied in a sluggish nod. “I knew it!” Joseph screamed, running out of the room and slamming his door shut behind him. His mother follows his enraged trail back to his bedroom door and could hear him speak within. “Why, mum? Why don’t you ever say different to papa’s decision? You’re in charge as well!” Suddenly, Joseph heard the patter of his mother’s feet, retreating back into her and her husband’s room. Joseph unlocks his door and follows after her, only to spot the relieving sight of the woman packing a suitcase full of glamorous clothing. Joseph’s mother gestures him to do the same as she made her way down the stairs, observing if her husband awaited her descending.

Within Joseph’s room he carefully packs a small amount of clothes: two pairs of black shorts and jeans, a red sleeveless shirt, a black sweater, and two pairs of black socks. He inches his eyes out of the crack of his door, deciding the situation appeared safe, he makes his way done the stairs and rushes out of the house. Unfortunately, upon his action, his father grabs him by his small arm, causing him to disconnect from the ground. His leering eyes met with his son’s as he looks above the concealing dust that shadowed his vision. “What are you doing, boy?” he muttered, forming a slight snarl in his action. Joseph leaves no reply as he leaps from the ground and runs towards the car. His father gives chase as his mother drives into their path, opening the door aside her fleeing son. Joseph steadies himself and leaps into the car, shutting the car door behind him as his father scratches at its outer surface. He looks back as the enraged man tosses his shoe in their departing path, erupting in cursing and roars as he made his way back into the house. Joseph sucks in the oxygen around him and sighs it all out as he fell into the softening car cushions, wiping the droplets of sweat upon his forehead with his shirt sleeve. The boy, smiling brightly, leaps into the front seat and embraces his mother. His mother merely stares at the constant manifestations of concrete as she drives towards their destination.

The two finally arrive at the manor, stopping the car at a surrounding forest of crooked trees and plant life. They exit out of the vehicle and examine their surroundings. Through the constant search for an entrance, Joseph shakes his mother’s shirt sleeve of his finding. His mother walks towards a elongated doorway, gazing upon the phantasmagoric features that splintered from its frame. She grabs the golden serpent-shaped knocker and gives hint of their arrival. Joseph runs towards his mother’s side as the doors slowly release from their locking, gushing a cold chill as seeps of ghastly air brushed against them. Before them appeared Fredrick, as he comes into view with his blackening Victorian suit justly dressed to his crooked figure. He grasps Mrs. Roderick’s hand with his wrinkled fingers, gently presses his aged lips upon her smooth skin and releases his grip. Joseph waves to his grandfather as the fickle man peered below his folded collar, his sky-blue irises within a mixture of content and insanity, observing the motion of the little child. Though, from this horrific illusion, Fredrick breaks from his eerie state and rubs his grandson’s scalp, ruffling his ebony strains to the front of his head. “Come in you two.” He spoke with much enthusiasm excelling from his voice. Joseph and his mother enter the bizarre architecture as Fredrick shuts the doors silently behind him. The entry room resembled that of an enormous opera house. Upon the ceiling appeared several statues of plump rosy-cheeked cherubs with gargoyle-like wings, their midget bodies surrounding the twisting frames of the oval-shaped interior as their two onlookers gazed upon their peculiar, yet fascinating appearance. Their awes burdened their host's progression though as Fredrick gestured vigorously towards the two to continue on.

They had finally made it into the central dinning room, an exquisite interior with ravishing tapestries hung about the towering walls that presided within their serpentine spirals. Both Rodericks gaze towards the elongating dinner table that stood before them. Jospeh could spot the other neighboring invites as they feasted upon the appetizers that laid before their skinny selves. Pushing back the invading strains of black hair, Jospeh examines the family. He could see there were two daughters, a son, a wife, and a husband; all whom expressed a delighted expression. The encouraged boy joins the family and sits in between the son and two daughters. They each greet one another eye-to-eye, allowing Joseph to examine the three further. The two daughters were a small pair, between the ages of four and eight it seemed, with one having short, brown hair and the other having similar hair, but black and had a ponytail in the back that was held together by a ribbon resembling a British flag and a Japanese flag. The two girls greet Joseph with a warming “Hello!” releasing the blush in their rosy, puffy cheeks. Joseph replied with a similar expression and turned his attention to the blond-haired son that sat beside him.

“Nice to meet you, sir.” Joseph greeted, holding out his hand in a just manner.

The blond-haired boy releases a kind grin as he holds out his and grasps the other's, forming a kindred handshake between the two. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lucifer Stephenson of the Stephenson family. We've as well been invited to the Palisteins', though, such an address as that may have been obvious. Hah hah.” Lucifer's dialect proved more sophisticated than Joseph could handle as he merely nodded with a dumbfounded expression.

“Um, my name's Joseph Roderick.”

“So,” Lucifer spoke, removing a tucked napkin from his black hoodie, “what relation do you have with the Palisteins?”

Joseph merely looks on as he watches the boy fix his silverware back into their proper places. “Well, we're actually related and that probably sum up the total reason why my mum and I are here. But, uh ...how do my grandparents know your family?”

Lucifer coughs slightly, nudging his sisters to remove themselves from the table. They nod in reply and leave the lengthening furniture, joining the families that chatted from afar. The blond boy performed a few side glances before turning back to Joseph, addressing the boy with concerned eyes. “I don't really know actually. My family and I were given a invitation back in Tokyo, Japan; and if you ask me that's a rather long distance for one to deliver a invite for a party out in England.” Joseph leans closer to Lucifer's face as he wanted to hear more. “I don't exactly know what is going on here, but I felt uneasy once I entered this building. Please, excuse the misjudgment I'm about to press, but your grandparents don't seem to be hosting a dinner party, but something far more demented.”

“Demented? What? You're being a little paranoid now, Lucifer.”

“Am I now? Well, perhaps a bit of a history lesson may be necessary. Do you see that painting?” Lucifer asked, pointing his finger towards a large portrait of a small English boy that hung from across the table. Joseph nods in reply. “Well, that boy there was murdered in a obscene way. The form of death that child suffered was from having his face dragged against a hallway wall. I looked around the manor already and found that same hallway. There was a discomforting chill that came from that hallway and I could hear the sounds of a small boy giggling, playing with some toy.” Joseph tried what he could to keep the paleness off his face, but to no effort as the blond boy could spot it. “Eh, well, don't allow that to ruin your time here. It seemed it took a lot of effort for you two to get here as your grandparents were phoned by a rather unpleasant fellow”

“Papa, I see...”

“Aye.”

“Well, forget about him. So ...” Joseph sits in silence before speaking again. “would you care to show me this hallway? If I'm going to say you're crazy, I'll need proof first.”

“Uh hah hah, of course.” Lucifer agrees, ending a quiet chuckle.

Both of the boys get up from their chairs and tuck them in before leaving for the hallway. They progress to a cold wooden door as Lucifer nudged Joseph to stop. He turns towards the boy and smirks and back towards the door, causing the eerie click of the knob to shudder his friend. The two enter the misty hallway as the cold chill Lucifer spoke of brushed against Joseph's scalp, feeling as a slithering manifestation crawling across his shoulder and down his back. The frightened boy slaps his back as Lucifer looks on in worry. “Oui, Joseph, don't allow it to horrify you. 'It' seems to like that.” Joseph takes his friends advice as they journeyed on throughout the lament interior. They finally reach the end of the hallway as Lucifer gazed upon a dried stain that had splattered against the wall, though, it had already appeared deteriorated by the passed ages. “Hmm. Well, that's rather uncomfortable, mainly because I never saw this here when I first came in.”

Joseph's irises widened as he heard those creeping words. “B- but how? A stain just doesn't show up out of no where, especially within a old room like this. I- I'm sorry, Lucifer, but I must leave and tell mum of this.” He turns around with a shaking action and begins to run towards the exit, but Lucifer grabs the boy by his collar and pulls him back.

“No, Joseph.” he whispered, pulling back against the bloodstain. “Not when 'it' is here.”

Joseph silences himself as he heard the small patters of a child's feet, causing the floor to creak throughout each disturbing step. The hallway falls into a malevolent darkness as Joseph felt Lucifer's presence diminish with the light. Suddenly, the hallway comes into view and with the small figure staying from a far distance. Joseph's body felt colder and more lifeless as the darkness began to flicker as a half-dead bulb would. The small figure's shadow enlarged throughout each flicker, shaking insecurely as a menacing incarnation of a demon's face appeared upon the seizuring figure. The boy appeared out from the darkness as Joseph could see a old Victorian suit wore around his small frame. His ears listened as he spoke, "'ello sir, would like to play some jacks?" The boy then opens up his hands a reveals the remains of human ears and fingers. A demented smirk erupted from the child's face as it radiated a unholy glow, constantly fixed upon the terrified expression of his victim.

"N- no! Stay away!" Joseph screamed as he ran out of the darkness and appeared back at the dinning room. He runs towards his mother who sat quietly in a corner with her head turned to the wall. Joseph shakes her consistently till he gasped out in fright. His mother's body dropped soundly to the ground as blood trickled from the middle of her throat. Joseph turns about the interior and stopped as he looked on, staring at the dealers of this gruesome display. Within the center of the room stood his grandparents, Fredrick and Rosa Palistein, with blood dripping down their teeth. "C-cannibals?!" he screamed.

Fredrick smirks as he wipes the blood from his cheek. "Why, Joseph, we merely wanted to celebrate the passing of our dear son and luckily for us we had a splendid amount to contribute to him this year." he gestures towards the group of dead bodies that laid ontop of each other within their own formation of cannibalistic wounds.

Joseph fainted as a girding darkness and the vision of the demented child took over his mind, casting him into a unawakening nightmare. The envision of the couple's son came into appearance as the sparkling "jacks" in his hands twirled about in the air. He grips the "jacks" and smirks, portraying a crooked set of razor-bladed manibles and two lower sets that resembled a rat's. The rusty tan coloration glimmered through the darkness as the child spoke,

"Jack, Jack, Oh Jack,
Old Man Jack, Old Man Jack, he's a hack!
Jack, Jack, Oh Jack,
He'll throw you in a sack!
Jack, Jack, Old Man Jack,
His favorite thing do to is to hack!
Old Man! Old Man! Old Man Jack!
You killed me, Jack!
Yet, I'm back, and now,
Old Man Jack,
I am now Jack!"