Hayden Manor

Sir Adam Hayden sat comfortably in his chair, with a nice cup of tea in hand. The sun was right above the head, shining brightly, a rare occurrence in the damp english weather.

Adam was content with his life. He had a tumultuous childhood, which was followed by him joining the British army at age 13 and remaining there till he retired at age 65. He led a very interesting life. 52 years in the army, travelled 7 continents and 57 countries. A man with iron nerves and sharp wit, he was also great friends with noted authors and playwrights of his time, even though he wasn’t very imaginative.

The only thing that he was sad about was that his wife, Sarah, couldn’t see the manor that he bought.

He sat in his chair, looking at the light blue sky and smiling, for he knew Sarah was smiling at him too. He didn’t sit there for long, with all the work that needed to be done. There would be a housewarming party that very night, and all the fancy folks from different parts of Britain were coming. He didn’t care for most of them, but he had to entertain those dignitaries, considering he was knighted the previous week.

Luckily for him, he had a lot of people working for him at the manor. He walked by every room, checking to see if there was anything left to be done. Every room was being decorated, great amounts of food and delicacies were being made, by chefs , of course.

As he passed through his study, his eyes went towards a painting. A very particular one that he had bought about 2 days ago. It was an odd painting. A dark room with only a faint light coming from the window, two kids staring at the light. Both kids would be around 7 or 8. The Painting was creepy and had an eerie air about it, but Adam strangely didn’t feel that way. He could see the horror lurking in the shadows, something that was looking at the children. However, he felt sadness from the painting, sadness of losing something, something dear to you…

The old grandfather clock was another interesting thing that Adam had, this one being made by his father. A very grand piece, oozing of class and taste. Adam always respected and admired his father. He might not have understood his father’s action when he was a small boy but gradually the old Hayden’s actions were making sense. A tough man in a tough business, with a mentally crazy woman as his wife, Adam’s mother.

Adam had two brothers. Both of them were to be at the housewarming that night. Fine chaps, they had no traits of their old man. One of the brothers, Robert, was a professor of physics at Cambridge, a smart fellow. He had a wife and two sons.

The other brother was Peter, who worked at MI5. A very silent and reserved man. He had a lovely wife and a daughter.

Twilight had hardly passed when the guests started coming in. Adam stood at the entrance, welcoming everyone who came in, while his brothers were entertaining guests who were already in.

The glittery of fancy cars, the fine suits worn by distinguished men of the society, accompanied by their lovely woman, this was what you would expect from a high end party in the year of 1973.

After the last invited guest came in, Adam ordered the guards to close gates and he went inside.

Everyone was enjoying, music was being played by a live band, food was being served in huge amounts, and there were kids playing around. Adam called one of the maids and instructed her to take all the children to the playroom he specifically built for children. He loved his nephews and niece. Maybe because he didn’t have a child of his own.

One of the guests was Charles Baker, the famous british historian. He was in the study, admiring Adam’s collection of books when his eyes fell on the painting. He was fascinated, the painting was beautiful. He was used to seeing great works of art because of his line of work, but this was something else.

As he looked into the art, he noticed the details it had. A blonde girl with freckles, maybe 8 years old, looking at the light coming from the window. There was something so lifelike in the eyes , like they were telling something..

And there was also a boy, a small timid looking one, with brown hair and green eyes. He was a bit strange though, he didn’t quite fit in the gloomy and eerie taste of the painting. Everything in that art suggested a lurking horror, something that you know is there, right behind your back but you are afraid of looking behind. The boy, however, was smiling. It almost seemed he was oblivious to the impending danger that he was in.

Charles was so into the painting, that when Joseph, a friend of Peter and a detective with the Scotland Yard, called him out, he shook visibly. Joseph laughed at Charles getting scared like that. He was trying to find him, because Charles always had interesting stories to tell and he was getting bored with the crowd at the hall.

‘It’s interesting”.

“What’s interesting?” asked Joseph.

“This painting. This one is obviously a replica of the original work by Hans Taylor.”

“The haunted painting?” added Joseph.

“Yes. This is, however, a really good one. Almost made me feel lost in its art. The history is really interesting. Hans Taylor was rumored to be a warlock. He made this as a portrayal of his life with his father but people like to think he had some other interesting motives for it.”

“ What motives?” asked Joseph.

“ I don’t exactly know. There is already an awful lot of superstition and legend in my line of work, I don’t wanna add more. This is, however, really interesting. A fascinating replica .” answered Charles, eyeing the painting with renewed interest.

They would have talked about Hans Taylor but Nasrin, Peter’s wife, was looking for them as she wanted to introduce them to a certain group of ladies.

Children were playing around in the room built for them. The windows were much higher, making them inaccessible to the small folks. There were toys everywhere, crayons and colouring books, and story books too. Of course, Adam didn’t mind spending money for kids. He loved children. Maybe God has a sense of humour, that’s why he decided Adam should not be able to have any kids. The one thing Adam really felt sad about was that he had no one carry his name forward, but at least he had his nephews and niece, who he loved like his own.

The kids were playing when Robert’s younger son, Michael, wandered out of the room. Seeing him walk out, Mary, the 9 year old daughter of Judge Lyndon Byron, followed him. Her sisterly instinct took over.

She saw the little boy walking right into the study. She sprinted into the room, as she knew they were not allowed to enter the study. There was, however, a very curious little thing waiting for in the room.

There was a passage, right beside the window, which she found very peculiar for some reason which she didn't understand then. The boy walked right into the dark passage, laughing. She bolted after the boy, as they were not supposed to disturb any other room.

As soon as they went in, the passage closed behind them.

The housewarming was nearing the end, everyone was exchanging pleasantries, when Charles came walking briskly towards Adam.

“ Adam, Michael and Mary are missing.”

“What do you mean missing?”

“Robert’s son and the Judge’s daughter, they can’t find them anywhere.”said Charles

“Surely, they are playing hide and seek and the kids must have hid themselves really well in the house” Adam pointed out.

“ We have been searching for them for over an hour now. They are not here.”

Adam realised what his friend meant by that.

“ Have you told the servants about it?” asked Adam.

“ Not yet.”

“ No problem. You go and tell them to look for those two. Put every other kid in the room. I am gonna go outside and ask the guards if they have seen anything.”

With that started a frantic search for the kids. The remaining children were put in the room with a couple of adults supervising them. The ladies were looking for the kids in the manor, while the men went outside to see if they could find anything.

There were a couple of guys who knew hunting really well, so they immediately grabbed a couple of cars and started to look for trails. Adam’s manor was surrounded by dense woods on every side, with wolves and other dangerous animals on the loose. Others who were not in the cars started going on foot, calling out Michael and Mary’s name, hoping for an answer back.

“They can’t possibly be out here, the walls at the manor are over 4 meters high and you have guards at the gate.” said Joseph, trying to logic his way in to finding the children’s location.

“Well, you could if you were small. There is a gap between the ground and the wall, the kids could have gotten out from there.” said Adam.

They were arguing when they suddenly heard cries coming from their right. Immediately they started running towards the cries. As it seemed, everyone was running towards something bolting at about 100 meters ahead. One of the guys managed to catch the person that was running from them. It was a girl and she was screaming gibberish but her condition was the matter that made them sick. She was thin beyond human limits, and her face had almost shrunk to its skull. There was almost no hair and as she was breathing, her ribs looked like they almost would spring out. She also had almost no clothes

Adam told the guys to switch off the torch lights of her face, giving her his coat, to which she reacted violently at the beginning but Adam’s calm and kind demeanor quickly disarmed her and she wore the coat. Adam was telling the guys to take her back to the manor when Charles screamed.

“ What happened?” cried Adam.

“ Her eyes. By god, her eyes. Look at them, man ! Look at them !.”

Everyone looked at her eyes and most of them didn’t realise what was the matter, save for Joseph, Adam and one of the guests.

“ Oh my! She has the same eyes as the girl in the painting.” cried the actor.

The girl fainted from the sudden outburst from Charles, even though she didn’t look like she would last long. They quickly took her to the car and started for manor.

Adam was driving the car furiously, and even the actor had a serious face, like a man on the brink of war and he is ready to face it. The judge was in the car, so was Joseph and Charles with the girl. Robert and Peter and everyone else was still outside looking for the kids.

Upon reaching the manor, they called one of the maids to take the little girl to some room and have a doctor check her, if there was someone in the manor. If not, then to call the doctor.

After going inside, they heard screams. It was a woman’s scream. They ran towards the scream, it was coming from the study.

Nasrin was the one screaming.

“ What’s wrong?” asked Joseph, fearing the worst.

“ I hear someone screaming from beyond this wall.”

And they could hear someone scream, it was difficult to distinguish but it was there. Charles ran downstairs to grab a hammer to see if there was any room on any side, Joseph sprang to grab the architect, who was at the party, since he might have the blueprint of the manor on him. Adam grabbed his Air rifle and gave a shotgun to the Judge, who was surprised at being given a gun.

“ Things might get ugly.” said Adam.

Charles came running with a hammer, ready to break the wall if he heard the scream again. At that same moment, Joseph came in with the architect, blueprint in hand.

They all looked at the blueprint, which didn’t show any secret room or passage. So where was the scream coming from, who was screaming.

Charlie, out of frustration, hit the wall with his fit, on which the painting fell to the ground. Joseph went to pick it up when he gasped.

“Look, it’s the kids! In the damn painting!.” exclaimed Joseph.

Everyone in the room looked at the painting closely, it was the children. There was no mistaking it, there was Mary with her auburn hair and blue eyes, Michael with his wavy long hair and smile. Nasrin fainted, the judge was taken back, Charlie and Joseph stared blankly at it. Adam was the only one who was able to keep his wits about, there was no question about the painting. it was as clear as a modern day photo. Adam picked it up and put on the mantelpiece when suddenly, on the left side of the mantelpiece, a passage opened.

That would have surprised them on any other night but that night, for they already had seen some strange things. The pitch dark opening that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, surprising the architect of all the people, since he knew there wasn’t supposed to be any opening like that.

Adam, being the military man, decided to venture into it. Joseph had his pistol, Charlie took the hammer, the judge grabbed the shotgun. Armed and ready, they walked right into the passage, disappearing in the darkness. They left the architect behind in the room.

It was a strange place they were walking in. It was dark at first but after a moment, they felt a little light coming from the walls. After walking for about a minute, they came upon a spiraling staircase. With the strange, faint blue light showing them the way, they descended down the staircase.

A long descent it was, it seemed to never end. They kept going down and going down, with stair walls coming closer and closer. Charlie never liked small, contained places and the stairs were making him feel uncomfortable. He was claustrophobic.

But soon they heard something. As they were going, they could hear someone cry. Adam ran suddenly, followed by the others. The crying was getting louder, and nearer.

At last, they reached the bottom of the stairs and a weird sight welcomed them.

They were in a huge chamber, so huge that none of them could see the top or if there was anything at the top. On their right were huge windows, through which the sky could be seen. It was night but a moonlit night, and the light was shining through the window, giving the entire room an ethereal feeling. One could almost feel for a second that they were in a fairytale, a fairytale where everything is happy and sunshine but behind the words you could feel the impending horror.

Adam and the rest stood silently for a while, looking around at this otherworldly place. The Judge let out a cry and ran towards the corner of the stair. The children were hiding out in the corner, their eyes closed, obviously these kids saw something that scared them out of their wits.

It was only after hearing the judge’s voice they opened their eyes. They ran towards the judge, crying out of fear. The sort of cry that children give when they have seen something horrible, something that has the potential to not only scare them but scar them.

Right at that moment, from the other side of the chamber, something was dashing towards them on all four limbs. Joseph was ready to shoot it but Adam raised his hand.

The thing that came running towards them was the boy from the painting. He hardly resembled a human being but the eyes gave it away. He came towards Adam and embraced him, crying while doing so.

At that exact moment, they all heard a loud thud, followed by another loud thud, followed by another and another one. Both Adam and the judge had hunting experience in the plains of Sahara to recognise those loud thuds. Something huge was coming towards them, something really big, bigger than a wild elephant. All the way to the other side, there was a door, a mammoth of a door and it opened.

Something darker than the darkness that surrounded it, something more fearful than any fear any of them had ever faced. An abomination that no words created by men could describe, nor would he want to ever create such words. It slowly crept towards, gliding in the air, enveloped by the darkness with the moonlight showing it’s abhorrent, sickly structure only partially. It wasn’t like any creature of flesh, it didn’t have any limbs or face, or anything that would be similar to a living organism.

The portal to hell must have opened, and from it’s darkest pits rose that terrible creation.

Everyone was taken back by this ghastly arrival, and all their hopes were getting crushed. They all forgot if happiness ever existed, if they could ever see the sunrise or the smiles of their loved ones. Every happy memory was getting diminished. Charlie saw his love, Marionne Levi, leaving him for another man. The judge saw his family getting killed by someone he punished. Joseph could see himself getting kicked out of MI5, disgraced and dishonored.

Adam looked at the Shadow. Fear was creeping into his heart but suddenly the boy, who he had just met, clenched his hand. Hope, the ray of sunshine that comes even at the darkest hour of the night, sprung in his heart. Maybe he did have a reason to live, maybe he did have someone to give his manor to.

Adam took out his gun and shot at the abomination. That rang through the entire chamber like an earthquake. It broke the spell that everyone was in. The sun was rising, at last, in the hearts of everyone in the chamber.

Adam walked forward, gun in his hand, eyes glinting like the stars in the sky. The thing let out a spine chilling roar. It made the entire chamber shake. The glass in the windows broke. Everyone fell down, only Adam lay standing and he kept on walking forward, saying words that he didn’t know he knew.

” Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”.

“ I fear no evil. Even though I have made mistakes and god knows I am begging for them, I have led my life to help people and my country. I will take these people with me to my world and you won’t do anything, hellhound.” cried Adam.

The Thing let out another roar, even fiercer than the one before. It crept closer to the group.

Adam still didn’t back down. He looked straight at the beast.

“ By God! I have never prayed for anything in my entire life until now. I will not die at the hands of this devil servant, nor will I let my people suffer the same.”

“ Go back! Go back from the fiery abyss you came from. You feed on fear and tragedy but you won’t have any from me. NOW GO! By bloody god, we are gonna walk through this alive.”

And with that he shot, that time creature moved away, as if the shot did hurt him. Adam ordered the group to start running towards the stair.

The stairs were shorter, way shorter, than before. They all went through the passage and back into Adam’s study. Adam was the last one to come out of it.

As soon as he came out, Charlie took the painting in his hand to destroy it. There was nothing in it, a blank paper stared at him. Nevertheless, he broke the entire thing with his hammer.

The aftermath of that incident turned out to be far better than anybody could have hoped for. Mary went safely back to her father and family. Michael was as happy as ever with his family.

As for Adam, he had a son and a daughter. He named the boy Bret and the girl Anne.

Some time had to pass before they could return back to normal, for the time that they had spent in the Chamber drained every bit of humanity from them, until they were left primitive.

Adam never asked them about that chapter of their life. Both Charles and Joseph tried their best to find any record of the two but they failed. Adam didn’t mind that, of course, because from then on, they were his children and they would bear his name. Anne Hayden and Bret Hayden.

Every once in a while, Charles, Joseph and Adam would have tea together and talk about the incident, with the sun shining over their head.