The Castle Lupine

As I drove the car to Castle Lupine, my anxiety-ridden fragile heart began to hammer and thump like a drum. My pale, slightly malnourished hands began to sweat abundantly, and my eyes narrowed in fear of that godforsaken place. As I, trembling with fear, stepped out of the familiar comfort of my car, I found myself resisting the urge to vomit onto the blood-soaked ground.

I still vividly remember the promise that I made to my grandfather aeons ago, about how I would never set foot in the Castle Lupine, heaven help me. Yet, now I was reluctantly breaking that firm promise. I took a moment to apologise to my dearly departed grandfather, and then I continued, never imagining the awful things my all-too human eyes would gaze upon.

For one month, exactly one month, I was going to stay in Castle Lupine. Despite the rumours, despite the pleas, the begging of thousands of people, not to stay in this unspeakable place, I wasn't heeding their warnings. To me, they were just overly paranoid, it was just a conspiracy theory, a load of baloney, if you will. How, oh how I regret that now!

I had heard various rumours about Castle Lupine, and how its inhabitants, no matter how well-meaning and mentally stable, are soon driven to madness and insanity by the unknown, yet malicious forces at work.

According to them, anyone, no matter how sane they were, would go insane after a while of staying inside the castle. Fortunately, it seemed as though the curse only affected those who didn't believe in the supernatural, so people like me who were avid believers in the paranormal were unaffected.

As I finished recollecting my memories about the curse upon Castle Lupine, Oh! Horror upon horrors! I arrived at that place. That hellhole, from which demons and ghouls would rise, and begin their spree of torture, blood and death. And I was standing in front of it.

I walked as softly as I could, but with every step I took, I heard the screams and cries of various souls. Souls who were unable to leave, souls who were trapped forevermore inside this unfortunate place.

I shuddered to think about what ghastly things might be happening inside its mould-ridden walls.

The very forest around me was dark and gloomy, with trees that had mouths carved into the bark, and leaves that swayed to and fro', giving the impression that they were alive. 

Suddenly, lightning struck the dark blue, starless sky itself, causing me to supress a scream. A long, seemingly endless noise, akin to banging steel fences with a stick, appeared out of nowhere. On my neck, the hairs began to stick clean up in fright. 

An eerie silence began to descend upon the atmosphere, broken only by the irritating creaking sounds of a tarnished, rusty gate. My heart, already anxious and fearful, began to thump harder. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. Once that was over and done with, I hesitantly took my first look at Castle Lupine.

The Castle Lupine was quite gruesome, to say the least. The obsidian-hued walls, as I mentioned, were covered in sea green mould. This was no ordinary mould, however. As I reached forward to touch the mould, it moved slightly and a single, bloodshot eye protrude forward from it. It blinked at me, and I instantly recoiled in fear. Then, it retracted back, as though nothing had happened.

Quaking in terror, I nonetheless continued my inspection of the castle. The windows were grimy, and planks after planks of rotting wood were placed upon them. I knew then and there that the owner, if he or she was still occupying the castle, was anti-social to the core.

What stood out to me the most, however, was the sheer height of the castle. It towered over my feeble, average height in such a way that I felt like David confronting Goliath. The Castle was so gargantuan in height, it could've been viewed from a NASA space vessel. 

The roofs were dark grey, and full of huge, gaping holes. They were so massive, I could've stuck my hand in them, if I was on the roof. Again, an unnerving silence filled the mansion, causing me to tremble uncontrollably. Then and there, in the height of my apprehension, I decided that I wanted to leave, drive away from this place and forget everything I saw.

Before I could move or do anything, a sly cough mercifully broke the hopelessness of the situation. I turned my head towards whoever coughed, and just then, the gates opened with an ear-splitting groan. Out stepped a most peculiar fellow.

He had long, red hair styled in a mullet-like fashion with a slightly unkempt fringe. His eyes were a piercing red colour, with cat-like slitted pupils. It was as though someone had drawn a line to represent his pupils. 

He had apricot skin, and nary a trace of a beard or stubble, thus giving a baby-faced, youthful look to him.

For clothing, he was wearing a bright red long-sleeved u-neck shirt and a bright yellow long-sleeved leather jacket. 
This, combined with his orange long-legged jeans, bright yellow crew socks and bright red Velcro-strap trainers, made him resemble an extra from Grease. This, of course, begged the question: What was he doing here? Was he the baron of this castle? If so, then why was he wearing such, well, uncouth attire?

The youth smiled at me, revealing canine fangs instead of normal teeth. It unnerved me slightly, though I tried to stay calm, nonetheless.

"Well, uh, hello there." I said, speaking in a gentlemanly manner. "Are you, by chance, the owner of this castle?" I inquired.

"Are you stupid or somethin'? I am the owner of this place, thank you very much!" The youth exclaimed rudely. "Oh, by the way, the name's

Tony Baloney. Nice to meet cha, Mr..." He trailed off, clearly not knowing my name. "My name is Sir Reginald Von Maestro." I said, bowing politely as I did so.

Tony huffed slightly. "Anyway, I'll arrange a room for yah, but it'll cost ya. £1000 pounds, cash or credit." Tony said, obviously full of narcissism. "WHAT?! I-I don't have that much money on me!" I exclaimed, shocked at the outrageous price that Tony was offering me. 

"Listen, pal, you want to sleep in that car of yours, or you want to take your chances in this castle? It's your choice." Said Tony. 
I thought for a second. He did have a point: it was either sleep in my broken down car, or stay in a gothic, albeit luxurious castle. Making my choice, I paid him as much money as I could muster, and then we both walked into the castle.

On the way, I casually took out a cigarette, and lit it. I wasn't a smoker anymore, but time and time again, I would occasionally relapse. This was one of those relapses. 

Before I could put the cigar in my mouth, Tony recoiled in fright, reacting as though he had seen a dead body. "Woah, woah, woah! What do yah think you're doin'? Don't yah know I hate the smell of cigars? They smell putrid. Hastily, I apologized, and threw away the (now put out) cigar. Little did I know how vital that information would become later on.

As soon as both of us were inside the castle, I heard a loud, resounding clang of the gates closing behind us. Startled, I nonetheless continued following him, all the while glancing at the interior.

While the outside was bleak and pessimistic, the inside was despair-inducing, but in a different way. Everything, the tables, the chairs and the carpets, were a bright red colour, making the interior resemble the aftermath of a murder spree. It hurt my eyes just looking at them. 

"So, uh, here's yah room, mister. Yah know, usually this is the part where I'll say, uh, enjoy yah stay or something along those lines, but whatever, just relax, I guess." Said Tony, causing me to jump back in fright. Hastily, Tony apologised, and led me to my room.

The room that Tony had prepared for me was, in one word, gorgeous. In stark contrast to the rest of the castle, which was gothic-themed, my room was vibrant and colourful, resembling a technicolour rainbow given physical form. Every single piece of furniture, the chairs, the bookshelves, the tables and even the bed, was coloured in multi-coloured hues from all across the spectrum. It resembled what would happen if someone ate a rainbow, and then puked it out.

I was so entranced by the room, that I was startled by Tony coughing sarcastically. "So, uh, about my... payment. Yah know, I'm not a butler, all obedient and loyal." He said, staring at my wallet. I reluctantly handed it over, and he then took out all the money inside it.

When that was over and done with, I walked towards my room, and I slept quite comfortably. After a while, however, I was presently woken up by a most horrifying howling noise. Shutting my eyes and groaning in annoyance, I covered my ears with the pillows. Still, I could hear the howling.

Muttering to myself, I got out of bed and changed into my business suit. Walking out of the castle was surprisingly easy: I just pressed my hands lightly on the gates, and they instantly opened.

However, as I was walking to God knows where, I began to feel tension in the air. Glowing eyes, presumably belonging to owls, were staring at me while they perched on trees. A silence was upon these woods, only broken by the twit-terwooing of owls and the howls of nearby wolves. The ground itself was feeling like quicksand. To make things even more stressful, I thought that, for a moment, someone or something had grabbed me and was trying to suffocate me. Although it was untrue, I still found myself thinking that there was, indeed something in these woods.

Presently, I saw a wolf. It was not like any other wolf, however. It had bright red fur that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Its eyes were a similar red hue, with unnatural cat-like slitted pupils. Growling at me, I soon saw that its mouth had yellow canine teeth. Grandma, what big teeth you have indeed.

Just then, I had an epiphany. The red fur, the red eyes, Tony's aversion to smoking... Oh! Oh heavens upon me! Oh God save me! I realized then and there that this wolf and Tony were the same person, for Tony was a lycanthrope. A werewolf, if you will. 

The wolf, or rather, Tony, growled at me once more, before speaking to me in human tongue. "Well, well, well. Yah realized my secret. And, well, I hate to break this to yah, but, well, I don't want yah blabbering on and on to the public about me being a werewolf and all, so... sayonara, mister."

Before I could run away, he was upon me in seconds, tearing and disembowelling my body. Helpless, I stared at Tony, who was chewing on my still-beating heart. Blood was oozing out of it like a fountain. The last thing I ever heard was Tony muttering, "Tastes like chicken." Then, I died.