The Mansion of Sins

We had recently moved to a mansion in the northern suburbs. It was a pretty large house for a couple. I chose this mansion after careful research. However, lately I was feeling a mysterious presence in the house. I was very stressed because of my workload. I always blamed myself for being tired.

“I was seeing him damaged, losing the meaning of his life. When I moved to this mansion, I lost the meaning of life, too. Time didn’t touch me at all. I had only feelings; I was like a feeling which travelled in space. Neither the mansion nor the workload and easy money were responsible for my situation. The sickness was in my mind. A woodworm devoured my insides and made me a slave of ambition and greed.”

At midnight or at dawn, I was hearing creaks on the parquet. If I didn’t know that the house was old, I would swear that they sounded like steps. Occasionally, I was checking if my wife was in her chamber, because, sometimes, she was sleepwalking. This fact disconcerted me, because it put her safety at risk. When I was sleeping deeply, I started to see bad dreams. This didn’t happen when I lived in my old house. Perhaps, they were messages from my subconscious to warn me for some reason. But why?

“Every night, when the couple was sleeping, I entered my old office. I smelled the leather of the chair, the money which was locked in the drawer. All these reminded me of the age of happiness. I should not be distracted. As a stockbroker, I had to know. The nostalgia will always haunt me!”

I jumped out of my bed. I heard a noise. I was dreaming that I had been robbed. Strangers invaded my house and took all my fortune. I went to my office. The door was slightly open. Was my dream real? I think at once. A shadow slipped from the near corner and disappeared at the end of the hall. I turned on the lights. There was nothing… I noticed that the key for the desk’s drawer dangled from another peg than it usually was. I thought that my wife was wandering around the house at night.

“As I was bonded with this house, I was seeing the same story: detriment and absurdity. How much time was left for this downtrodden person…? Every day, suspicions began to take over his soul. It was my duty to warn –at the same time, to save– him. I couldn’t stand other victims on my consciousness. I left a newspaper on the desk, opened to the page where the crash of 1929 was written.”

Did you read any newspaper? My wife didn’t answer. She was still sleeping… My suspicions about a strange presence in the house didn’t fade. The voltage across the lamps changed during the day. Tapping came from the walls. I couldn’t find the keys for locked doors. My wife started to take sleeping pills. My suspicions overgrew… Because I was at work all day, I couldn’t keep an eye on her. I was forced to hire a security guard for this.

“What more was left for the hapless woman to suffer; she was so beautiful, but at the same time so weak! Her characteristics reminded me of my old love. I will never forgive myself for what happened to her. The mansion must not engulf any other people.”

The guard kept me posted daily. He didn’t notice any unusual actions of her. Although I wanted to believe that nothing was happening in our house, I didn’t stop hearing those creepy noises… Disturbia started to overwhelm me. In the mornings, I found myself lying on a couch staring at the ceiling.

“I didn’t meant to scare him. He had to understand that he and his wife would be safe and happy, if they went away from this house. It would engulf them, as it also did to me… As he was lying on the sofa, I opened the door which led to the kitchen. When he saw that, he stood up, surprised. He grabbed a candlestick and approached carefully. I followed him, observing the horror and the agony in his eyes.”

With a candlestick in my hand, I walked carefully into the kitchen. I was hiding behind the wall and I took a glance into the empty space. That moment, I thought that an eerie force was guiding me to become a martyr of a tragic, violent vision: a man, holding a knife, insulted aggressively a woman. She was crying desperately and was begging him not to harm her. After a few seconds, he stabbed her three times in the chest, while he was shouting and crying. I jumped forward to stop him, but they were pauperized both at once. Their form looked unrealistic. I was lying on the floor beside the drawers and I was wondering if it was an illusion or a warning message.

“Their necessary things were already loaded in the trunk. He kissed her and helped her sit inside the car. Only I could live in this house, with the flame of oblivion burning inside of me. There was no place for others.”

I went to the other side of the car, I opened the door and I took a look at the mansion without mourning. I was still trying to figure out what I had seen as a vision. The security guard sealed the huge outdoor. We left it as we found it. However, I observed that a blind was left opened on the second floor.

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