Midnight Manor

It was December, December 14th to be exact. John, a 29 year old man was in good condition and had a job at a mansion. He was in charge of cooking for the mansion’s inhabitants. It was a steady job for John since he wasn’t exactly legally allowed to be in the country in the first place. The pay was actually pretty good. He had this gig for about three years now.

The owner of the mansion often had parties to celebrate certain events. Tonight was the Lunar Eclipse. The owner always had a huge celebration every time a lunar eclipse occurs since it was a rare occurrence.

While cooking at 11:45, John noticed a strange smell emancipate in the air. John ignored the smell and kept working. At 11:55 John left the kitchen to go to the bathroom. When he came back out of the bathroom, he noticed one of the guests near him begin shaking uncontrollably. It was 11:59 with 20 seconds till the hour changes. John stared in horrified fascination at the shaking man as he began to grow claws and his teeth deformed. 15 seconds to midnight, the man began to grow bulkier. 10 seconds to midnight, the man’s face began to contort. John watched, completely frozen, as the man’s face continued to grow uglier and the seconds ticked by. At midnight, the beast began attacking everyone in the room. John was still frozen when he was pushed out of the way by another guest shouting, “Move! Get out of here!” Finally, John snapped out of his stupor and bolted for the door amid all the chaos and screaming guests.

After John got to the door, he told the stranger that had told him to move, “Go! As soon as everyone’s out of the room or it gets too dangerous, I’ll shut the door.” The stranger looked at him for a moment.

“Go,” repeated John.

“You're crazy to just wait here to die”

“I just want to save as many as I can, you go and save yourself”

“I’m not going to get you to escape with me?”

“No, you won’t. It won’t do you any good to risk yourself here as well”

The stranger hesitantly nodded and ran off.

After a few more guests ran through the door, a big burly man came through and ordered, “Shut the door”

“No, there are still people trapped in there”

“I said shut the door!”

“I won’t unless I have to”

The big burly man punched John knocking him to the side before forcefully closing the door while he held John to one side. As the burly man held John, a banging noise could be heard on the other side. Once the door closed, the panicked people behind the door began banging on the door. The burly man bolted away after knocking down a heavy bookcase to blockade the door. John grabbed the bookcase and tried to lift it, but it was too heavy. The glass behind John broke, making John jump and begin running down the corridor. Before John got to the end, a familiar voice said, “Wait”

John stopped in his tracks and looked back. “I thought I told you to run”

“I saw what you did and I didn’t want to leave you behind”

“Thanks but you didn’t have to worry about me”

“Let’s get out together now. There’s nothing you can do for the others”

“Unless there is another way out for them”

“You want to go back?”

“Yes, to save as many as I can, and to find a way to stop that beast.”

The stranger turned his head. “I saw a ladder outside that’ll get you up to the roof”

“Thank you”

“After that I don’t know”

John went outside and climbed up. He walked along the roof till he reached the glass. When he got there, the stranger popped his head up. “I didn’t ask you to follow me” said John as he was stomping on the glass skylight.
The stranger walked over and looked down before saying, “It doesn’t look like there’s any survivors in there anymore”

John looked down, “Only that monster is left. There’s so many dead bodies but I can’t see anyone left alive”

“Wow, if I didn’t see this with my own eyes, I would never have believed it!”

“This is tragic”

“I’ve come to every one of Nick Shine’s parties for twenty three years and this has never happened before”

“Something must have changed between the last party and this party then”

Ever since that fateful day, nothing about that very mansion was the same again.