Chapter Text
Chain clinking, Luca stepped into the manor as the large door creaked to a close behind him. He looked around, the entrance room was coated in light dust. Unable to help himself he ran a gloved finger across the handrail, then studied the density it had collected. ' Had there been more I'd expect this place to be abandoned but... ' Just as Luca was about to consider the letter being a prank, he heard the sound of someone approaching and turned around.
"Mr. Balsa, good afternoon. We are very much pleased to have you here," said an old man, bowing. He assumed he was a butler by how he was dressed and the way he spoke. Luca wasn't not used to this kind of treatment, but it was jarring after so long, especially in his attire. He looked down at the shackle collar around his neck.
"R-right," he chuckled awkwardly.
"The other guests are waiting in the dining room," he directed him to the door on the left. Luca scratched the back of his neck.
"Yes, yes but is there any chance I can meet the owner of the manor?" The man paused.
"Forgive me, Mr. Balsa, the master wishes to leave all contact through me." He tipped his head low again. Luca frowned, not really willing to go through with this whole thing. "However, I assure you all conditions mentioned in the letter addressed to you will be fulfilled." He looked up slightly. "...including what you desire as well, Mr. Balsa," he whispered.
"A shame, I was hoping to meet 'em," said Luca, before turning away and walking in the direction of the door. ' As long as I get what I want it I guess it doesn't matter. ' He stopped in front of the door, then whipped around for another question. "Hey-" but stopped when he saw the butler no longer there. "...shoddy service." ' No wonder this place is so dusty. '
He pushed open the door to a dimly lit room, illuminated by the natural light of the window. There, at the dining table sat a ghostly man; messy, white hair and pale skin contrasting a dark cloak. At the sight of Luca he hunched over and pressed his back into the chair, and hugged the large shovel he held in his hands, as if trying to hide from him. Luca couldn't help but blink. He had read of albinism in humans but never had he witnessed it in person, it was quite a spectacle.
"Heyo!" said Luca in a friendly tone. The man flinched, then nodded, silently returning the greeting. ' Not the friendly type are ya? ' thought Luca, though he couldn't blame him; the sight of him wasn't the most welcoming. Luca made his way to the seat across from him, then plopped down and leaned forward in his seat, elbows on the table and face resting in his hands. "Sooo what's your name?"
"A-Andrew Kreiss..." he said quietly. His voice was softer than Luca had expected.
"Luca Balsa, inventor!" Luca straightened up and stuck out his hand for a handshake. "Andrew" timidly reached out and grabbed his hand, which Luca shook vigorously. "Nice to meet ya!" He finally let go of Andrew, who looked somewhat shaken by Luca's enthusiasm. Luca eyed him up and down. ' He's got a muscular build under those flappy clothes. He could be useful... ' "Have any other 'guests' arrived?"
"Someone came before me," said Andrew, and as if on cue came the sound of erratic shuffling from down the hall. The two looked towards the sound, and in came a cutely dressed dog. It ran under the table and Andrew gasped and stood up, grasping the shovel even tighter in his hands. It sniffed his shoes before switching to Luca's, and Luca laughed and reached his hand down, petting its head. Luca started to wonder if this was the other guest until a blonde young man jogged in, clearly the dog's owner by how he was dressed. ' A... postman? ' The dog returned to his owner, running circles around him until he complied and pet it.
"Hi, I'm Luca Balsa, inventor! And you?" The boy did not respond. "um..?" He kept smiling, then dug into his bag of letters before pulling out one and presenting it to him. Luca took it, but gave him a quizzical look. The boy stared at him expectantly, and Andrew, uncomfortable with the silence, answered for him.
"I-It's a letter of introduction, he gave me one as well," he said and pulled out an envelope with a similar stamp seal to Luca's. Andrew looked at him desperately, waiting for Luca to fill in the blanks. ' So he's a mute? ' He slid a finger under the envelope's flap, then looked up at the postman, who nodded happily. ' How annoying... ' With a quick flick of his thumb he unstuck the wax seal and pulled the letter out.
Inside was a long and eloquently written letter, with neatly drawn leaf decorations running along the perimeter. At the very end of the letter, inscribed with the most beautiful calligraphy, was a name:
Sincerely,
Victor Grantz .
He looked up at the postman again, who waited eagerly for him to read the rest. He could read the entirety of the letter, and he was sure Victor would silently sit through it. However Luca was an impatient man, and a talkative one at that. He'd much rather dismiss the mute and continue pestering his interesting new conversation partner.
"Thanks Victor," he said and placed the letter back in its envelope, before shoving it in his back pocket. Victor's smile faltered, and for a second he wore quite the disheartened look. Luca side-eyed him, studying his face, before Victor returned to the silent smile. Something about that expression piqued his interest. "Andrew." Luca giggled when he jumped when the attention returned to him. "What do you do as a job?" As Andrew fumbled to answer, Victor slowly disappeared out of the room and his dog followed suit.
The fourth guest arrived shortly after Luca did. Luca could tell she was as interesting as Andrew at first glance; an ominous mask was draped over her head, and she was just as quiet as he was-- if not more. Unlike Luca, she read Victor's letter in its entirety, which pleased him greatly. As she entered the dining room, she quickly introduced herself.
"Melly Plinius." Her voice was firm, and familiar. Perhaps they had met before, not that Luca could remember. She took her seat a chair away from Andrew, who quietly introduced himself as well. She was clearly uninterested in them, perhaps she had stated her name unprompted to avoid any more conversation than necessary.
"My name's-"
"I know who you are, Mr. Balsa." He scratched his head. "Your name was in every paper." He had a hunch she had known him personally from before the arrest, but didn't push any further. He looked around the room, and Andrew flinched and hid behind his shovel while Victor just tilted his head curiously. Andrew had told him being a grave keeper makes him quite detached from society, but from the looks of it Luca's "murder" charge had reached even his ears. He looked towards Victor, who seemed unaware of the tense air in the room. Luca was unconvinced someone could be so ignorant; it'd be hard to imagine a postman who knew nothing about his incident. 'They all think I did it. This kind of puts me at a disadvantage.'
"'Mr. Balsa'? What's with the formalities call me Luca, Melly!" he laughed. She didn't answer, seemingly preoccupied with a bee on her finger. Oddly enough, Victor's dog didn't approach Melly at all. Instead, it watched her with fearful eyes. Despite her obvious efforts at creating distance between them, Luca was determined to get a conversation out of her. He got up from his seat in front of Andrew, then sat in the seat in between Andrew and her. She stiffened slightly, but paid him no mind. ' We'll see how long that lasts! ' thought Luca mischievously. He scooted his chair closer to hers, and he heard a quiet groan from under the mask. He watched her prod the insect, perplexed why it didn't fly away. "Fascinating... I'd never thought I'd be able to see one so close." He brought his face closer to it, feigning a deep interest in the creature.
"..when you apply certain pheromones to your fingers they won't fly away."
"Hmm~" Luca hummed. He chatted her up about her bugs for a couple hours- though it was mostly him talking and her giving answers that satisfied him- all while feeling the silent, watchful eyes of the postman. Luca made the mistake of looking back at him, and during the half second they maintained eye contact, Victor smiled even more, dimples showing and made a tiny wave. ' Gross... ' Luca ignored him and kept talking.
The fifth and final guest was very late compared to the others. Many hours had passed, and even Luca grew tired of talking. He had left the dining room and sought to explore the manor. Many things came of interest to him; the strange decorations, the odd statues, the uneven dust.. all were clues to the owner of the manor. Perhaps his most useful clue was that butler, however, he seemed to disappear and reappear at will, and was a tightlipped man. ' Better not waste my time trying to pry him open. ' The dust pattern was quite particular, resting unevenly on the handrail but quite thick in between the corners of the floor and the statues. ' Either the cleaning service is just terrible or this was left here on purpose. ' It seemed quite obvious it was the latter, and it became glaringly clear to Luca that others had lived here before him. Judging by the quantity of the dust not for long, and not so long ago.
"Please thoroughly enjoy your stay at my manor. I'm sure you'll find something intriguing," the letter said.
Perhaps the owner wanted them to find this? He stared at the broken handrail at the top of the stairs. The wood was corroded, but looking closer there were rigid, jagged lines on both sides of the corrosion. ' Even though the wood's rotten, the cuts are too clean to be natural. ' Luca assumed it was by the handiwork of a saw. 'They've been cut to camouflage with the corrosion ...' None of the lines cut so deep as to completely sever it, but enough so that simply leaning on the rail was enough to break it. ' The final tear by the looks of it seemed to be weight being applied towards... ' He looked towards the ground. Wanting to confirm his suspicions, he walked down to the area under the broken handrail, then got on all fours, looking for any evidence of an "accident". He looked under the table, and sure enough there were small wood chips, each varying in size. By the looks of it, the "guests'' who came before him didn't like each other at all.
' I'd better be careful. I'm the least liked here, wouldn't wanna end up like this guy. ' According to the nature of the "game" it'd be pretty bad to be out of favor. And judging by the evidence littered all around the room, there were very little rules as to what they could do to each other. The lack of it was almost barbaric. The best Luca can do is show his usefulness and keep up the good boy act. He got up and stretched, then turned his head to the window. It's well into the evening now, and it's even begun raining. The butler had insisted that dinner wouldn't start until all guests had arrived, but Luca had begun to suspect they wouldn't come at all. Luca walked down the hallway, and into a spacious office. Someone else was already there, sitting on the wooden floor while his dog slept soundly next to him.
At the sound of Luca coming in, he looked up from the book he was reading, golden eyes drawn to Luca's deep brown ones. Victor walked over to the messy desk, and wrote a short note in loving swirls on a piece of paper he pulled out. He then hurriedly presented it to Luca, who read it out loud.
" Hello. " Luca gave Victor an exasperated look. "Right back at ya." Did he really want to talk to a mute? Moreover with such an inefficient way of talking. Victor tilted his head cutely, then began writing more to the "Hello." with his fountain pen. ' Well whatever. I've already exhausted all the information I could get out of the others. ' It wouldn't hurt to get some intel from him. He doubted that the postman had anything useful to offer though.
" Are you interested in this room as well? "
"I guess you can say that." ' What polished language. The formality of it all is suffocating. ' "What are you reading?" Victor held the book up. Romeo and Juliet . Of course Victor would search for the teen romance book in the sea of information. Despite the complexity of the language, Victor's tastes seemed awfully childish. "Shakespeare..?" Victor nodded, then started furiously scribbling in his pretty cursive.
“ Yes! Oh how I adore the Romantic era! ”
' Are you a woman? ' At this point Luca saw no more reason to put up his act around him, Victor seemed like a naive halfwit... and it wasn't like the mute was gonna babble about it.
"Your tastes are like a woman's," he said flatly. Victor blinked, perhaps a little perturbed by the sudden change in attitude, then blushed and hid behind his book. Luca pretended not to be intrigued by Victor's face when it wasn't smiling, and walked towards the bookcase, reading the spines for anything other than fiction. "Hey Victor, why'd you come to this manor?" he asked while pulling out a book on stitching wounds and skimming through it, pretending the question was on a whim. Luca didn't need to work around any defenses like he needed to with the others; with Victor being blunt was the easiest method. Victor picked up his pen, hesitated for a second, then slowly wrote something down and passed it to Luca.
" I'm sure you'd laugh at me. "
"I won't," Luca assured him, and exchanged the book he was reading for a textbook on law. Victor had composed himself to his usual frozen-in-place grin, and began writing an answer. Luca opened the book and glanced back and forth between sneaking peeks of what Victor was writing and the oh-so-riveting table of contents.
" It's embarrassing to admit, I'm sure it'd sound silly to you.
" I " Victor stopped at "I" and Luca whipped his face back into his book so fast he was sure he cracked his neck. Victor didn't seem to notice, and he tapped the end of the pen to his chin, pondering how to put into words. After a few seconds he placed the tip of his pen back on the paper, continuing the sentence.
..." wish to meet the owner of this manor.
The letter he sent me was more touching than any other book I've read;
his words brought out emotions in me I didn't think possible. He shared
a similar love for books as I do, and I had hoped to hear and read
his favorite books. I was terribly disappointed to hear he won't be meeting
with us, but I hope the butler will pass on my letters to him. It may be silly of me
to endanger myself like this for a friend whose face I don't know, but he is one of my first
and I'm sure he is a good man with proper reasons, and so I hope to be of use to him. "
' So he's a man… it seems he also keeps tabs on the participants of ‘the game’. ' Perhaps this conversation would prove to be less meaningless than Luca thought it'd be. Still, Victor's naivety was flabbergasting.
"You're a fool," said Luca, and Victor didn't argue. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. Luca put the book back in its place, before searching through the mass of junk for anything useful. Victor seemed confused by this, but walked back to where he was sitting before and turned his attention back to his favorite part, Act 2 scene 2, engrossing himself in the romantic whims of the two lovebirds.
Luca found a lockpick, some spare gardening tools, a wrench, a broken blowtorch, and a used notepad. The rest was just trash. He looked through the notepad, if anything written down had some kind of information. Instead, he found the irregular scribbles of a crazed person, some notes taking up the full page with words overlapping, other pages simply wrote a date without the year. One singular page in all the madness had one name written down, "Lisa". Luca sighed, the thing was completely unreadable. Most of the pages were blank, so Luca ripped out the used ones and threw them aimlessly, completely losing interest in them. He heard the sound of paper rustling, and turned around.
Victor had picked up one of the pages that were practically scribbled black with all of the overlapping sentences, squinting at it. "There's no point in trying to make heads or tails of it, only crazy people understand crazy people." Victor kept persisting however, then closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of nose and winced. "See? All you did was strain your eyes." Luca walked over to where Victor was sitting, then sat down in front of him. He took the page out of Victor's hands, giving it one last look before grimacing. ' How far gone do you have to be to write this? ' Victor seemed like he wanted to say something, then frantically looked around for another leaf of paper. Luca raised an eyebrow at him, then looked down at the notepad. He wanted to use it to keep track of things, but the impatience he felt when Victor looked at him for help seemed much more dire. "Here." He held out the notepad to Victor. Victor waved his hands in front of his face, trying to communicate something, and Luca grew even more impatient. "I don't understand what you're trying to say, just write it down already." He motioned for Victor to take it, and defeated, Victor obliged and began writing down a response.
" I don't think we should be taking things that don't belong to us. " Luca rolled his eyes.
"Can't you tell? He doesn't even live here, think of it as a crappy hotel." Victor's smile didn't waver, but to Luca he seemed hesitant. "Besides, it'll be easier to talk to you this way." Victor looked up from the notepad to Luca's face, then made a wide smile, his dimples appearing and took the notepad gladly, pulling out his pen to write something down. Luca looked around the office, at the several bookcases and piles of miscellaneous junk and the second floor he had yet to search through. ' There's so much to uncover here, but I doubt I'd be able to find everything in a day. I should explore the rest of the manor. ' "Well, I'm gonna head out." Luca got up and stretched and started walking towards the door. Victor looked up desperately, reaching out to stop him but by then Luca was already out the door.
' Fuckfuckfuckfuck I'm starving. ' Luca heard his stomach growl more times than he could count. He'd eaten practically nothing since he'd left the prison to come here. He was hoping to eat something when he got here, but dinner wouldn't start until the fifth guest arrived... if they ever do arrive. He considered going down to the market, but there were several problems: he had no money, the market was quite a distance from the manor, or any town for that matter, and at this time it'd probably be closed. His stomach growled again, his body trying to override his logic. He finally concluded it wouldn't hurt to try, and before he could reach the handle of the door, it swung open.
The fifth guest had arrived.
"Luca Balsa?!" exclaimed an awfully familiar and pompous voice, blue eyes wide with both surprise and disgust.
"Edgar Valden..." The name seemed to slip off his tongue unconsciously, and Luca couldn't help but make a face at the brunette.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" The question sounded more like a demand for him to leave, and he pressed the back of his hand to his nose, as if Luca smelled disgusting. Most of Luca's memories were quite vague, but that brown silky hair, that tiny stature-- "You look like shit." --that foul mouth, it brought back all too many sour memories of unpleasant conversations with the aristocrat.
"So do you," Luca said, taking a step back away from the sopping wet painter. Edgar rolled his eyes and took off his beret, wringing it in his hands and letting the water drip down onto the floor.
"So what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in prison? I know! Are they making you slave around to pay off your crimes?" Edgar smirked, clearly enjoying the notion of it. He looked around. "If so, you're doing a horrible job." He sneezed. "It's so dusty in here."
"Actually, I'm out on bail." Luca tried with all his might not to lose his temper.
" BAIL ?!" he parroted. The stripes and collar around Luca's neck weren't very convincing.
"Indeed," he said, and began pretending to cry, "For I have committed the heinous sin of seducing another aristocrat, my charm is much too alluring and too dangerous to the public eye! What ever shall I do?" ‘ I wish. ’ Oh if only that mysterious bailer had invested in his invention along with his bail.
"Argh!! I've always hated that about you!" Edgar scratched his head furiously.
"Don't be like that Eddie~ we're friends after all," Luca said in a floaty voice. He spread out his arms and approached Edgar for a hug, which Edgar retracted from with great effort. Then Luca stopped in his tracks, as if remembering something. "Ah. I'd hug you but I don't wanna get wet."
"Why you-!! Shut up! I'd never be friends with a murderer such as yourself!" Luca hated that word.
"Forgive my intrusion, Mr. Balsa, Mr. Valden," said the butler, appearing out of nowhere again. Edgar straightened up, composing himself to a dignified manner, despite his undignified appearance.
"You will address me as Sir Valden."
"My apologies, Sir Valden." Edgar looked around the entrance room.
"...kind of cramped," he whispered in a not-so-quiet voice, clearly intending for both Luca and the butler to hear. Luca rolled his eyes at him.
"Dinner will begin soon, please join the other guests in the dining room."
"Before that, I am weary from the journey and am quite unsightly as a result, might I request a change of clothes?" Luca had always hated how quickly Edgar could switch from crude to elegant, even with mud on his boots and smelling like rain water. He spread his arms out, letting the water drip down from his sleeves, as if demonstrating the need for some clean trousers. "I'd like to look presentable if I am to meet the owner of this manor, surely you understand?" The butler bowed his head.
"Unfortunately Sir Valden, the master has instructed that all communication with him shall be done through me. As for your clothes, while we do provide spares, they are to replace damaged ones. Seeing as your clothes are intact, we will not be replacing them at this moment."
"Excuse me?" Luca could barely hold in his laughter; that was probably the first time someone in service talked back to Edgar, and whether or not that was payback for the condescending comments he made it delighted Luca to the fullest. Edgar looked down at his clothes. "You can't possibly-" Edgar stopped when he saw the butler no longer there. "Shit... some shoddy service," he cursed under his breath. It annoyed Luca how similar they were.
Luca took his seat in between Andrew and Melly, while Edgar, still sopping wet, sat in front of Andrew. Victor shyly sat next to him.
"The time is 11:46 PM, all the guests have arrived, dinner shall begin," the butler announced at the front of the table. Behind him two maids appeared with display carts filled with lavish dishes, each placed on the table for the guests to enjoy. ' Holy fuck I haven't had a meal like this in forever. ' Luca tried to keep his dignity in front of the others, namely Edgar. Edgar paid little attention to him, however, and dug in with a dissatisfied expression whilst Andrew whispered a grace shared by no one else.
"Subpar," he said, as if his declaration of the food's quality meant anything to the others. Victor and Andrew in comparison could hardly keep their composure. Once Andrew had finished his prayer, with twinkling eyes he looked back and forth between dishes, unsure where to start. Victor looked at the various cutlery nervously. Luca could guess what was going through his head; a commoner like him had only used the simple knife, spoon, and fork trio all his life. Seemingly made up his mind, he picked up the soup spoon and took a random plate, lifted the rim to his lips, then used his spoon to push it all into his mouth. Andrew finally reached for a bowl of soup and, following Victor's lead, began drinking it from the rim.
Edgar grimaced and scooted away from Victor, as if his sloppy way of eating would get anything on him. Victor paid him no mind, and continued scarfing everything down. Luca held back a snicker. He looked towards Melly, who sat there silently. ' Maybe I can egg her on. ' he thought while eyeing her mask.
"You can't eat with a mask on, why not take it off?" he asked playfully.
"...That will not be necessary," she said, before taking her plate and getting up from her seat, walking in the direction of the hallway to their rooms.
"Miss Plinius, after dinner I will be discussing 'the game'. It would be preferred for you to stay seated."
"...I will return before then. The letter doesn't specify that I must eat dinner with the other guests," she said curtly and continued on. 'I guess egging her on had the opposite effect. ' Luca shrugged it off.
"See you later Melly!" Luca yelled and waved to her as she disappeared down the hall. Luca felt a pair of eyes on him, and immediately looked to Victor. Oddly enough, it wasn't him who was staring at him this time, he was too preoccupied with the food. Luca looked to the left, and made eye contact with one of the two maids, a smiling girl with green eyes. He hadn't really noticed them until now; they didn't seem very interesting at a glance. Both were pretty, but so bland, it was easy for Luca to imagine them as one of many faces in a crowd. However the more he paid attention to them, the more he felt a creeping sensation up his back.
Something was... off about them. The green-eyed one continued to stare at him, her smile, like Victor's, seemingly frozen in place. However, unlike Victor hers felt as if they were filled with malice. The other was a dark brunette, who stared straight ahead. Luca looked to Edgar, who continued to make faces at Victor, then to Andrew, whose eyes were sparkling as he ate a spoon full of pudding, then back to the two maids. There was an obvious difference in the air around them, but the other three seemed too oblivious to notice. ' Are they... alive? ' Luca couldn't help but question it, despite the two standing in front of him; breathing and well. Luca was a scientist, the notion that a breathing human was "dead" was preposterous, he knew that and yet... their eyes-- they had no light in them.
It was like he was staring at two living dolls.
Soon he became uncomfortable with the way she stared at him, though normally he'd be elated to catch the attention of a pretty girl. "I'm gonna go for a walk," said Luca, bringing his plate with him towards the entrance room.
"Mr. Balsa--"
"What Melly said," he waved with the back of his hand, then left through the door.
He stretched when he was finished eating, then turned his attention towards the door. The rain had stopped, and the manor's location was a good distance away from the city; there was no smog blocking the stars. ' Might as well stargaze. ' He hadn't peered at the stars in a long time, and he was free after all, despite appearances... He looked down at his shackled collar again, feeling the weight of it press into his shoulders and collarbone. He shrugged, then reached for the handle and pulled.
' Hm? It's not opening? ' He pulled again. And again. And again until he was rigorously shaking it. Luca's mind began to panic. ' When did he lock it?? I was with him the whole time! There was no way he could've gotten between me and the door without me noticing! ' So many questions went through his mind, and he felt his back become slick with cold sweat. One thing was for sure, he was trapped. Imprisoned.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Balsa?" Luca whipped around to see the butler, waiting there patiently. "You seem rather pale."
"No... I- I'm fine," he said, breathing out and trying to regain his composure. The butler looked at the door, then to Luca.
"I've come to call you back, dinner is over." He began walking towards the dining room, and Luca followed close behind.
When Luca had come back the table had been cleared, and Edgar had finally dried, though still a little moist.
"The letters addressed to each of you have already discussed the rules of 'the game' in brief but I will go into more detail. There will be five ciphers you will decode, each containing a part of the password to the exit gate. A 'win' is for at least four of you to escape the sectioned off area through either of the two exit gates." He looked at Luca. "Do not attempt to 'hack' the exit gate. It is not possible, and furthermore it will be treated as a direct violation of the rules and you will be eliminated." Luca laughed.
"Of course I wouldn't do that, there's no fun in a 'game' when you cheat," he joked. Luca was more concerned with the vagueness of "eliminated".
"Indeed," he said and continued on, "There will be a 'hunter' pursuing you. Try your best to not get caught, our hunters are rather skilled."
"What happens when we're 'caught'?" asked Edgar with an eyebrow raised. The green-eyed maid seemed to hold in a snicker.
"I'll explain the specifications another day." Edgar groaned out loud with displeasure, and Luca wished he could do the same. "This is Dr. Lydia Jones, she will be healing any injuries you sustain before and after 'the game'." Lydia bowed. "I'll be away for a day's time setting up preparations for 'the game'. Until then," he motioned to the green-eyed maid, who stepped forward and bowed. "Lisa Beck will be answering to your inquiries."
Luca blinked. Lisa . He knew that name. He didn't let his expression show his shock, but Victor in comparison made wide eyes at both him and Lisa. 'Idiot.' he cursed in his head. She took notice of this, and turned to Victor and smiled, making him visibly shiver.
"I'll be in your care," she said.
"Now then, I'll be taking my leave." The butler began leaving towards the entrance room, and the others returned to their respective rooms. Luca lingered for a bit, waiting to hear the door close.
Click.
He breathed out a sigh, and crept to the door. Now that he was calmer, he assessed the situation logically. ' It must've been one of those two who locked it behind my back. ' He pulled out the lockpick from his pocket and began fidgeting with the keyhole.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Luca looked behind him to see Lisa. It seems like both her and the butler were skilled in the art of surprising the shit out of him. "Not that you can."
"I'm not really sure what you mean, Miss," he laughed, scratching the back of his neck. He tucked the lockpick in his sleeve, concealing it from her view. "Is there a reason why I can't leave?"
"It's simple. The master wishes against it." She paused. "You can cut the act too, it won't be necessary."
"Pardon?"
"It's rather tiring to play along with, isn't it tiring for you too?" Luca frowned.
"I suppose."
"Much better, a frown suits you, 'prisoner'." The word "prisoner" felt as if she were labelling him, like some sort of title.
"How did you know I was here?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"You could say I know everything that happens in this mansion, so I'd caution against breaking any rules, lest you wish to be 'eliminated'." Luca scoffed.
"You guys have been throwing that word, 'eliminated' around a lot, what can a little girl like you do to me?" Compared to Luca her muscle build was lacking, he could win against her easily in a fight. She took swift steps forward and closed the distance between them, then before Luca could say something she lifted a finger to his lips.
"Shhh... listen," she whispered. Annoyed, Luca obliged, "listening" for whatever she was talking about. Then he heard it.
A third set of breaths, ragged and dry. His eyes darted back and forth, trying to find the source of the breathing. It sounded like it was behind him and far away at the same time, and the uncertainty of its location made Luca believe he was hallucinating. Lisa, once satisfied, pulled back her finger. " That is punishment. Understand that I'm helping you. Remember Luca," She leaned into his ear, her voice cold and sharp, "... the walls have eyes ." She giggled. "What a funny face," she said. His hand instinctively flew up to cover his mouth, and with a smile, she turned and left. Luca let out a shaky breath. As Lisa's footsteps disappeared down the hall, so did the sound of that thing's breathing, whatever it was. Something else was here, it wasn't a monster though. He heard footsteps creep away from the entrance room. ' By this sound it's... '
"Victor." He heard the person's shoes squeak, stopping in their tracks, then meekly emerge out from the doorway. Luca was a little relieved to see the blonde holding his dog, it seems like he's already memorized the sounds of the others' footsteps. "Were you listening?" Victor shook his head, then nodded, then gasped and shook his head again. He set the dog down then pulled out the notepad, flipping an already used page and writing a response.
" I apologize, it was not my intention to listen to your conversation. "
"It's fine." Luca was thankful it was Victor and not any of the others who was eavesdropping. "You're here because you want to talk about Lisa, right?" Victor nodded. Luca looked around, then grabbed Victor by the sleeve. "Let's not talk here." Luca couldn't forget Lisa's words, though the better part of his mind said it wasn't logically possible.
Luca pulled him into the dusty office and his dog followed after them. Luca looked around, then sifted through the books and behind the shelves for peepholes or some kind of way to listen in. He pressed his ear to the wall, listening for any buzzing of some kind of electric device. ' Nothing. ' Victor seemed unnerved, playing with his fingers and nervously following Luca around with his eyes. Once he was satisfied, Luca returned to Victor's side. Victor held up his notepad to Luca, a message written on it:
" What does she mean by 'the walls have eyes'? " Victor looked anxiously at the walls. Luca took a mental note of Victor's acute hearing, then sighed.
"It's nothing, she's probably just trying to mess with us. I checked, there aren't any listening devices." Victor was relieved by this, but somehow Luca still didn't believe his own words. "Locking us in, those two girls... everything about this seems odd." Victor nodded in agreement.
“ What about that note we read? Concerning Lisa. ” Luca scratched his head, it's not like he could give him a definitive answer. He wordlessly got on all fours and picked up the pages he'd ripped out earlier. Victor timidly did the same, trying to make sense of the writing.
After a long while, Luca finally screamed, "FUCK!", making Victor jump, then fell backwards. He'd reached his limit. "This is impossible! How fucked in the head do youhavetobeto write this bullshit! Goddammit!! Shit!" He rolled around and scratched his head in frustration, then threw his arms out and yelled, "Fuck!!" again. Victor breathed out a sigh, and crawled towards him. Luca snatched one of the pages that were black with overlapping words. "It says 'Lisa' over and over, there's other words too but I can't fucking read it." He slapped it in front of Victor to confirm, then rolled over on his side. Victor looked it over, then wrote something down.
" I can only partially make it out, but the phrase 'I have to find Lisa' is written many times over. " Luca lightly tossed the notepad back to Victor, then sat up suddenly, grabbing Victor by the shoulders.
"That bitch drove him insane, stay away from her."
" Is it really appropriate to label Ms. Lisa in such a way? Perhaps there is more to this, perhaps this isn't even the same Lisa. " Luca groaned.
"You're really naive, you know that?" Victor clenched his notepad the teeniest bit harder. Luca sighed. "There being two Lisa's was probably the smartest thing you've said all day, however, the chances of Lisa whoworkshereneedIremindyouthatisclearlyamanipulatorwhodrovewhateverpoorfellowthatworkedhere insane are high! I wouldn't be surprised if that pretty little thing droveacoupleorahundredotherbachelorscrazy." Victor could only blink. Luca talked so fast, it was overwhelming, Victor just nodded in agreement. After all, Luca was the youngest co-inventor of the sonar, he was a genius, Victor knew that. A postman was always caught up on the news. Luca yawned and rubbed his eye. "It's getting late, we can talk about this more tomorrow." Victor grabbed his wrist and handed him the notepad one last time.
" Does it hurt? " Luca figured it was the black eye he was referring to.
"Oh this?" He touched it gently. "A bit. It'll heal, I've healed much worse injuries, yaknow?" Victor let out a relieved sigh, and softened his grip on Luca. ' His hand is warm.. ' Luca mentally slapped himself. ' Of course it is, how touch starved are you Luca Balsa? ' He pulled his arm away from Victor's hand, feeling quite awkward. "...Night-night," he said while fiddling with his long bangs, quieter than he intended to. He looked back to Victor, expecting him to write a fancy farewell note. Victor instead set his pen down and looked up and mouthed "Goodnight" to Luca, giving him a tiny wave.
Luca nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, quickly leaving to his room. Once "safe", he let out a deep sigh. Something about the air in the room was... strange. It confused Luca. ' Maybe I'm just pent up. ' Prison didn't have any women to "comfort" him, it had been a long time since he had felt the tenderness of a woman's breast.
He looked at his arm, feeling as the memory of Victor's hand tickled his chest. But this was different, it was a feeling that lingered. Luca rubbed his temple. Maybe this was the fault of his accident, it made his head weird. Yes, the arrhythmia he was feeling was no different from the occasional ringing in his ear: a temporary inconvenience.
He placed a hand on his chest, calming himself down. His eyes skimmed the room he'll be staying in for a few days, it was pretty bland. Only the necessities were there: a bed, an empty closet, and a desk. On top of the desk was a blank diary, and Luca frowned as he recalled that one odd rule. He hesitated to open it, but the exchange he had with Lisa made him feel less rebellious, and he quickly picked up a pen and began writing. He didn't write down deep thoughts, mostly miscellaneous things that came to mind; it was enough to look like a satisfactory diary entry. Luca was never the type to have a diary. He wrote a lot, but it was mostly recording data for experiments.
' Well, that's it for day one. ' He closed the journal and eyed the thick amount of pages left. ' How many entries do they expect me to write? ' He had anticipated maybe a week's stay, a month at most. Something about the book intrigued him, and he studied it more closely. He held it in his hand, inspecting it at different angles, including the title-less spine.
"Ah," he said out loud as it finally clicked in his brain. He'd seen this book before, in fact several books like this. He got up with a start and grabbed a lantern and left, running in a tunnel-vision flurry to the office. He sifted through the bookshelf, cursing under his breath at how unorganized it was. He found four books like his, and laid them out on the table. The owner of the mansion must've left them here with a purpose, and it was Luca who was going to put them to use. Each were old and worn, he could imagine the books to be as old as ten years or more. ' My journal was brand new. These must be bought from the same manufacturer... ' If he could find a way out of this place, with luck, he may be able to find out the distributors and records of purchases; not all businesses last so long, or so consistently. He checked the covers of each one. On the inside was a logo called "Dunsworth's", though the date of purchase of each book was scratched off. Perhaps it was on purpose, perhaps pure coincidence, either way it made Luca's job a bit harder.
He took the diaries to his room. If not him then someone else would hog the information, most likely Melly. Edgar was sharp but his ego often served to cloud his judgement; his coming here was what Luca would consider an amazing lapse in judgement, probably produced by his oh-so-precious artistic sense. The Valdens were obnoxiously wealthy, Luca couldn't imagine what he could be looking for here. Oh but Melly was a clever one; he could understand that in the way she quietly observed people and blended into the background despite her appearance. Not clever enough, however, she seemed unable to resist talking about the subject of her studies, and one weakness can lead to many. He smirked.
There were three people playing the game who knew how it worked, and he was the one with the cards. Turns out deception from the start was always the right card to play, he'd learned that the hard way. Yes, naivety would be their downfall, that was just how the world worked. He had to laugh, it all felt so bitter.
He sat in his chair to read them, but jumped as he heard a crumple. "..fuck..." he muttered as he took out the letter he crushed from his pocket. He straightened out the edges as best he could, and let out a sigh: his fuck-up only left a few creases on it. Should he read it? ' No, it's a waste of time. ' He threw the letter in a drawer and closed it.
That interruption in his deduction made him wake up a bit. He looked at the clock in his room and frowned. ' 7:38? Broken? ' He opened the curtains and peered outside, if he had to guess maybe it was around 2 am? It was late, there's no harm in saving this stuff for later. He should get a few hours of sleep at least; it was a mansion , not a prison. There were no drafts and hard beds with no sheets or moans in the night to keep him awake.
He blew out his lantern and flumped into bed. It was soft, the sheets were hefty and warm, he smiled a little to himself and tried to enjoy this little bit of pampering, falling blissfully into sleep.