Hey guys, I am trying to write another short story and posting it on the blog for you guys to read. I was really nervous, since this was much longer than the last one and I did not know how all of you would react. I hope you guys like my story about a person who is trying to get to his town to visit his ill sister and has to spend the night in a castle which feels gloomy and haunted. It is also raining outside so he has to stop for the night. This is also written in a first person form. Rate the story and comment for any improvements or changes. Also tell me if you would like me to post any more of these stories. The story is named The Castle of Fears. Hope you enjoy it!
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Most of us have faced a time in life where we experience what many call “The silent fear”. It is not something you can touch, see or hear as a matter of fact but you can certainly feel. The process of going through a silent fear makes you feel different not only in a physiological way but also physically. It makes your breath quicken, your heart beat faster, a change in the atmosphere around you and the paranoid feeling of fear sets in and shrouds your mind. The fear takes away all sense of judgement or sense, the basics of survival. It is hypnotising, enthralling almost- so much that it makes you freeze in a spot wondering what will happen next. For someone going through this feeling, it is even harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel and if an individual can it is even harder to get there. It can take weeks, even years before someone gets over their fear. And for those of us who have gone through this, we know it is not a matter to laugh upon.
That is what i am going through as I walk through this castle. There is a silence all around and the occasional creak from the wooden floorboard as I walk over them that scares me. No, those two things do not bother me. However, it is the almost pure darkness that surrounds me from all around that scares me even more. There is small steam of moonlight entering the room I currently am in and it is not helping much in terms of lighting the room. Even the occasional roll of thunder and the pitter-patter of the rain that I had witnessed mere moments ago before entering the castle does not reach my ears as I am standing in the middle of what I take to be the living room. I had entered this construction of fear with only one goal in my mind- a place to sleep for the night, away from the rain and thunder that I would have to drench myself in outside. It was quite simple in my mind- I had to get in, find a room warm enough (preferably the owner to ask them if I could bunk there for a night) and leave in the morning when the rain might have stopped.
The living room was rather large with a fireplace by the side filled with only coal maybe from many previous fires that might have lit the woods in the fireplace. There is a portrait on top of the fireplace, perhaps of the owner which I haven’t been able to find yet. There are large victorian armchairs facing each other and another victorian style couch in the middle. A piece of furniture by the side with beautiful carvings has pieces of the most beautiful drawing I have ever seen. Below it drawing supplies such as pastels, pencils, paints and brushes. The paintings makes me appreciate the artist’s great taste in colour. By the side in a glass display case are some book titles, many I have read being an English professor. For those of you who are wondering, I am out on a rainy night because my sister fell ill and my mother has asked me to come there as soon as I could. I started sometime in the afternoon but could not predict the possibility of getting stuck in a thunderstorm as it is peak summer right now. The adventurer in my heart was pushing for me to explore the rest of this retched castle but the fear in my mind took over any other sense and I chose to stay in the living room, a space I had explored and deemed safe and secure. I can tell from when I was walking through the hall that this place is made out of brick- what type and colour, I cannot tell. However, they are rather coarse to touch and have a slightly cooler temperature than the room, all adding to the eerie aura of the castle.
With my goal clear in my mind and my brain finally sending signals of the necessity to sleep, I see the couch is comfortable and using my overcoat as a makeshift blanket, settle on the rather large couch. I did try and make an effort to start the fireplace but have not been able to do so even after my repeated tries. Sleep comes soon to me with the slight effect of fear in mind but the constant presence of darkness nearby and even more constant presence of silence lulls me to sleep in a matter of few minutes. I finally wake up in the morning to a scene very different from last night. There is sunshine entering the room and lighting up everything in its path. The living room which seemed beautiful in the night now seems even more lovely. My fears from the previous night have now flown off and forgetting my sister’s illness I decided to spend a few minutes exploring this construction of beauty that I had detested last night. After exploring quite a few rooms, the library and the dining room my opinions had changed significantly. I however still dreaded what the castle might look like from the outside. Will it be the dark, gloomy almost gothic castle I thought it would be or will it surprise my stereotypes completely? With that in mind, I took my overcoat and went through the hall and reached the large, oak wood gates that served as the castle gates. When I stepped outside the crisp morning air with the slight smells of fresh rain and grass hit me. I turned around and was surprised by what I saw. The castle can only be described as something out of a fairytale. With high towers surrounding the main building from all sides, a grand scale garden with tulips, roses and orchids, a small pond by the side and the random placement of ivory statues all over the lawn it does contrast the image I had created in my mind and I am glad about that.
Perhaps it also proves to us that beauty can be in anything and darkness in anything beautiful. This trip to the castle was never in my mind nor had I ever seen this place but while it ate on my fear of darkness and silence at first it is now forever ingrained in my mind as the event, the place that changed my view of the world and moreover my fears. In the last I did make it to my town and met my sister, she is quite better now. I told her about my experience and what I had learned from there while my mother was in the room. My sister laughed it of saying I was silly but my mother agreed with me in more ways than one and I am glad for it.
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