The Manor

By: Suckerforaslowsong

Chapter I: Ambitions

Introduction

Sometimes in life, strange things happen. Something odd and mysterious happens to everyone at least one in their life. My occurrence came far too quickly for my liking. And my occurrence was far too elaborate for my liking as well. I only thank God that I had someone to share this occurrence with. Things like this shouldn't be witnessed alone.

XxXxX

"I'm going to buy a house." I said, taking a sip of my Cappuccino. Peter looked at me oddly, then set down his mug,

"You mean to say, you dragged me down here to tell me that you're buying a house? You could have called me." He said exasperatedly, and sighed. I took another sip of the frothy drink, and pulled out a sheet of paper. It was a picture of said house. I handed him the sheet,

"It's not just any house, Pete. It's a manor."

He stared at the paper, his eyes scanning over the picture. "Oh, I'm sorry, a manor. Do you know how big manors are? How much work it'll take just to keep up with the cleaning? Besides, it says here no one's lived in the damn place for fifty years! Where the hell is this thing anyways…" He began to read the paper again. I bit my lip ferociously, as I saw his eyebrows fly up into his hairline,

"Hertfordshire, England? England? England! She wants to move to England. Oh dear, GOD. England!" he threw his hands up as he spoke, making wild gestures about England. He went on for about two minutes about the ridiculousness of moving to England, until I had finally had enough,

"Peter! Peter, enough! For God's sake! It's only England, not Communist Russia! I take it, by your reaction; you're not too keen on the idea?" I asked him calmly. He had set down the paper, and returned his hands to his mug of coffee. He sputtered loudly, projecting coffee a few inches in front of him.

"Not keen? Of course I'm not keen! It's freaking England! It's an ocean away! What about your job? Your family! Me?" he whispered angrily, leaning forward. I sighed heavily,

"Then I guess you won't like what I was going to ask you."

He stopped muttering to himself, and looked at me with interest. "What were you going to ask me?"

"I was gonna ask you if you, maybe, wanted to come with me? I'll buy the house, you won't have to pay, but I don't wanna go it all alone. And we can rent out some of the rooms, make a profit? Like an Inn!" I suggested all this, and the look on his face did not change. He looked at me pitifully, and patted my hand,

"Well, I don't know…I mean, I have a good job here,"

"You'll have one there too!"

"I have a home here,"

"You'll have one there too!"

"And my family lives here,"

"They can come visit!"

"Well, you've pretty much covered all of it. There's no reason for me not to say yes."

I looked up at him hopefully, "So you'll come?!"

"No."

"What?"

"Ok, I lied. I'll go. On one condition."

I raised a questioning eyebrow, "What's that?"

"I get the window seat."

I smiled thankfully, and hugged him. This was going to be fun.

XxXxX

I don't regret that decision. I never will. I only regret bringing Peter with me, dragging him into a whirlwind of mystery and despair.

Despair. That's all that ever came out of this occurrence.

I am going to tell you how this strange occurrence continued. I am going to tell you about how it affected my life, and the life of Peter Harland, who at the time, was my best friend. But before I tell you any of this, about what happened or otherwise, I am going to tell you that reading this may very well change your life, too. So read on, but read on with caution, because strange occurrences lurk behind every corner.