The House Of Pain

I retreated to my room maybe for an hour or two. I sighed deeply thinking about my loved ones and my friends and I felt like such an idiot; even though I felt sympathy for dark themes including Death nothing prepared me for what was about to come.

The storm was calming down and at the same time it grew colder every minute. I fetched my hooded sweater and contemplated myself in the body mirror.

"All I wanted to do was to get some decent sleep...ehhh."

Just then I heard someone knocking at the door and the voice seemed familiar; that was Twigster.

I hurried down to meet to see what was going on and hugged him almost instinctively.

"Hey you! And what brings you here?" I said.

"Duh, you told me, remember?" He took out of his saddlebag a set of demo tapes we were supposed to deliver."Crazy weather we´re having, huh?" he said while he shook the water off his sand-colored coat.

"Yeah! Say, would you like to stay over for dinner? That is if you don´t have other plans."

"Hm, I don´t see why not. I´m just worried about Whirlwind but he´s a big dog now. Is there anything wrong?"

I hesitated a bit, "This might sound silly but I feel scared and I could use some company."

"You? The great Marelyn? Nooooo..."

"Um, yeah. You know how we always told jokes that this house was haunted? Well, guess what?"

"You saw a ghost for real?" he cried as we approached the living room. "What did it look like?"

"I haven´t seen one yet but I have felt and heard it."

"Boy, that´s strange; how can you be sure they are ghosts then?"

"Believe me, I know."

"This house is sure full of surprises! It reminds when my dad took me to the carnival when I was little."

"Yeah, try living in one to see what it actually feels like."

To make the evening more pleasant Mamma offered to make us a nice dinner in the style of New Horseleans which consisted of spicy vegetables with brown rice served in a large bowl as a kind of soup.

"My, I had never seen this before!" said Rosie May.

"For being a creature with different animal parts it is perfectly natural that I have many talents."

"Good; this seems very convenient to stay warm!" I said,

"Not to mention very tasty!" said Twigster.

"It´s rather nice that you´re eating your vegetables now, Marelyn!"

"Um, yeah....not that there´s anything wrong with yours! Sometimes I´m a little picky."

In fact it was so great that it felt like my last meal before I went off to the land of the dead.

Afterwards we went into the large living room. It was all set with a huge wooden round table with a symbol of the Circle of Death in the center. I considered this a wonderful customized item of mine. The time was right to use it.

"I need to warn you before we carry on," said Mamma.

"Okay..." asked Twigster.

"Yes. All of you are not here as a result of accident; you will all play an important role. While the outside world may think Marelyn is still here in reality he is about to enter a different dimension. Once inside time stops so don´t bother about the watches and such."

"I never cared about that," I said.

"So where is he going?" asked Twigster.

"To a place where we can find the truth," Mamma continued.

"Can I go too? I promise I won´t be a bother," said Twigster.

"Only he will be able to choose who can come."

"I can?" I said anxiously, "what about my cat, could she join me?"

"That I cannot predict," said the hipogriff in a more serious tone.

"What if I get stuck in there and can´t come back for some reason?"

"You won´t. Please hold paws and hooves."

As I closed my eyes the voice of Blak echoed in my mind. I went back all the way to that night on Valentine's Day when he said,

"There is no such thing as a coincidence, we just happen to be in the right place in the right time."

Mamma Lyon placed asked to place several white candles around the center of the table. Later she opened up a kind of manual and recited

"As above so below. We stand here before you, oh Great Ones who have fallen in despair! I beg you to guide us through the path of darkness so that together we may find absolution."

"Okay...I don't like the sound of that," said Twigster in a lower voice.

"Lay down the Path of Darkness, oh Great Ones and let your humble servant follow you!"

My heart pounded and became terrified. I felt stiff and incredibly cold. The hipogriff made us repeat this last sentence more than ten times,

"Lay down the Path of Darkness, oh Great Ones and let your humble servant follow you!"

The flames in the candles rose as a sign that the spirits were manifesting; I kept thinking it was a sort of magic show that would soon end followed by a roaring applause.

The sound in the room slowly died; the stiffness was gone and my body felt so light I could almost walk in the clouds. As soon as I opened my eyes once again I floated through the city like in a dream.

The landscape however had changed dramatically; there few buildings and small wooden houses up on the hills. This was Ponywood about two hundred years ago before it earned its flamboyant name. There were numerous farmers and gardeners, very much like the ones I saw growing up in Phillydelphia but more primitive. Everybody dressed in very dull grey colors.

My trip came to an end when I landed in front of the building that would later be my mansion.

The facade was in the style of the Victorian era which came from countries from the other side of the ocean labeled some years later the United Furdom.

It didn't look that different; it was particularly gray and there were more rooms enabled and the gryphon statuettes were missing. Other than that it was very silent.

I knocked on the door several times and I was greeted by a fine unicorn mare; she wore black and her coat was pale yellow like the color of maize and she hid her lavender mane in a cap.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked in a very soft voice.

"Um, no but I wanted to..."

Suddenly I wasn't feeling well; maybe it was the effort that I put making this trip and was very dizzy and my knees shook violently.

"Do come inside! It looks like an emergency."

"Thank you so much, I think I got lost or something."

"I noticed; you don't sound like you're from around here, do you?"

"Really? Does it show that I have an accent or something?"

"Well yes, that and you have the most peculiar fashion," she said referring to what I was wearing, "like a homeless creature perhaps."

"Oh no, I do have a home! It's actually closer than you think."

The house was superbly decorated. It had mainly a wooden floor and there were beautiful wallpapers with ornamental flowers in more cheerful colors like emerald green and light blue.

In the hallways portraits of past members who worked there hung on the walls; none of those seemed familiar anyway.

"And what is your name, if I may ask?" said the nurse.

"Oh; my real name is Bree but I preferred to be called Marelyn."

"My, that sounds like a girl's name, doesn't it?"

"Yes! It's a funny story, and you are?"

"Emily, Emily Nightingale."

I knew I heard that name before; the library had a plaque of her back home.

(continued)....