The Alluring Voice of the Woods Mansion

A NEW BEGINNING FOR JAKE ???

“As the sun shines, so do new life,”

Jack opened the door, and he was immediately taken by surprise at the condition of the room. The room was filled with a musty odor due to being kept locked and there was a formation of fungus and mold in carpets and cloth, etc. There was nothing much in the room apart from a bed, table, chair, and stove, and lavatory. There was a large bag filled with old toys interestingly most of them were in the shape of angels.

                                                              The carpet and the bed linen were in unusable condition as they were filled with mold, the damp fabric caused the fungus. The room stunk and Jake found remains of a dead rat under the bed which he threw out immediately. Jake knew that he had a humongous task to get this room habitable. It had already begun to get dark; Jake decided to sleep outside. But before sleeping, Jake took out his bible and read it for a while. He placed the bible on the table and kept his luggage under the table, looked back at the situation of the room with a concerned face. Jake then decided to take a well-deserved rest after a long journey.

It should be two a.m., Jake was tossing and turning; probably due to the cold outside. As he was going to a deep sleep Jake, saw a dream where he was engulfed by a force. The young man immediately sprang out from his sleep, sweating completely. He kept his hand on the cross he was wearing and was now relieved in knowing what he saw was only a dream.

                                                           He looked outside; it was very dark. Apart from the rustling sound of the leaves, there is nothing else. After the dream, Jake didn’t feel too comfortable sleeping outside, so he decided to go back into the room which was stinking and inhabitable. His urge to sleep was such that all his other senses remained silent and so Jake rushed back to his room, closed the door, and dozed off like a baby.

The following morning Jake got up very early, came outside his room to the portico, light a cigarette, and sat on the stairs of his house and he calmly enjoyed his cigarette. After he finished smoking Jake decided to clean the room. He threw out the whole carpet, linen cloths and cleared all the mold and fungus. It took a lot of toiling to get the room into a livable space. Jake was starving now and he hadn’t had proper food for a couple of days. There was nothing apart from a stove in the whole house. Hence, Jake decided to open his bags to see the remaining ration but could merely find a half piece of bread. Jake presently had no option but to travel back to Anglestown to buy the necessary supplies. So Jake took the money that was given to him by his brother and locked the door and headed to the town. As he was about to leave, he glanced at the woods mansion just to adore its beauty and then continued walking.

                                                             The town was a couple of miles from the village, as he was going towards the town Jake felt a voice calling him, he experienced chills through his body but he did not stop and kept on walking. The voice grew louder and louder, Jake increased his pace. It was almost as if he was running by the time he entered the town. Once he entered the town, the voice disappeared.

Jake was panting after a grueling trip and to his relief, he saw a beautiful house painted in white, the gates were decorated by the sculpture of angels, the same angels that he saw in Woods Mansion. Jake rang the bell and an old woman with a walking stick who wore a white frock with white hair and lots of freckles on her face opened the door with a pleasant smile.

“Hello! May I help you young man?’’ she asked with a pleasant smile on her face.

“Hi madam, I am Jake. I am new to this town, Could you give me a glass of water I had to walk along the way,” replied Jake impatiently.

“Oh! Young man, I will bring you in a minute, please come in,” said the old lady.

While the old lady was busy taking a glass of water, Jake was observing her house. It was extremely odd to observe that everything was painted in white like the frames, sofa, walking stick. It felt like she doesn’t like any other colour on earth. The elderly woman came by a glass of water.

“Here it is Jake, Please sit down” she passed him the glass.

“Do you stay here I haven’t seen you here before,” asked the old lady seated opposite Jake on the painted white Chair.

“Came here for a short trip ma’am” replied Jake.

“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Magnolina. I have been living here in the Anglestown for the past 70 years,” Said Magnolina “I was born and brought up 20 miles away from this place. I came here after my marriage with Glen, my husband who died 25 years ago, and I have been living here alone ever since.”

                                                           Jake felt it odd that Magnolina was talking about her staying alone in their initial conversation itself as it can be very dangerous for the safety of old citizens, especially if they are rich as well, which Jake understood from the beautiful necklace she was wearing. As Jake returned the glass, he casually enquired with Magnolina about angels guarding the gate.

“Oh!!! It is after all angles town, isn’t it? It is like that everywhere here “Said Magnolina with a smile trying to pass the question as if it was of no importance.

“But in Woods Mansion, I saw both demons and angels defending the gate?” enquired Jake.

The body language of Magnolina changed immediately, her pleasing smile turned into a poker face.

Her hands trembled, her face started to weep like a little child although she was trying to control she wasn’t able to. Blood started coming from her nose and immediately got up from her chair. While Jake stood up shocked at what was happening.

                                                                “Where are you coming from? Why did you go near the woods mansion? Who are you? Why didn’t you tell me you are coming from woods mansion? Does anybody go near the mansion?” shouted frightened Magnolina. She felt as if her security had been breached.

Poor Jake could not understand what was happening. Magnolina, who was not interested in knowing the answers from Jake started pushing him towards the front door, she wanted Jake to leave as fast as possible. Jake decided to leave to avoid an argument. As he was leaving through the gate Magnolina shouted “I don’t know who you are!! But you better run away from here before the voice takes over.”

                                                                Disappointed and confused, Jake left the house. Angelstown was not a thickly populated town. People normally depended upon agriculture  and sold cattle products in the nearby town. As Jake explored, the people in the town were looked at him suspiciously as the word had passed in the town that a new man had come to live near the woods mansion. As he walked around, he found a grocery shop named teason grocery, Jake went up to the shopkeeper and gave him the list of supplies he needed for a week. Teason grocery was the shop where people depended for groceries in Anglestown. The shopkeeper looked at Jake with contempt, glanced at the list given by Jake, and passed it to his helper to pack the things.

“How was the night?” I saw you passing on the carriage yesterday,” asked the shop keeper.

“It was fine; went pretty fast,” replied Jake in an uninterested manner intending not to speak further on the topic.

“I hope you know where you are lodging,” said the shopkeeper taunting Jake.

“Is everything alright with the old lady? I saw her throwing you out,” said the shopkeeper with a laugh.

“She was weird,” said Jake.

“What did she say?” asked the shopkeeper.

“Well she wasn’t happy when she heard that I was coming from the house near the Woods Mansion,” replied Jake.

“You can’t criticize her because she lost her husband from near the Woods Mansion. He disappeared near the woods mansion, and nobody has even glimpsed him ever since,” said the shopkeeper suggested that Magnolina was right.

“She also warned me to leave as early as I can before the voices take over, what was that all about?” asked Jake in a confusing voice

“Well, my friend I’m afraid she was right when she said that,” answered the shopkeeper in a sympathetic tone.

“But please tell me how?? Enquired Jake.

The shopkeeper turned around took the bag that was packed for Jake, handed over it to him, and said “You’ll know” with a plain voice.

Jake went back without any idea of what’s in store for him. The shopkeeper called him back and said “It won’t be late before the voice takes over, now leave don’t ask anything else,” warned the Shopkeeper.

Jake went back to his house with lots of questions than answers.