Are you afraid of the dark?
A young man inherited a stately manor from his uncle after his untimely passing. The man's uncle was in reasonably good health but was found dead in his library. His body bore signs of poisoning, but there was no one else with him the night of his death and no poison was found in his system or on the premises.
The manor sat isolated atop a hill overlooking a quiet town. The winding road to the manor was steep and the path ill-maintained. Most of the townsfolk avoided the place altogether, as it was said to be haunted by a terrible ghost whose curse took the life of the young man's uncle.
Nevertheless, the young man wasn't going to turn down his inheritance and decided to move there. On his first day there, the young man began exploring his new abode and stumbled across a room filled with books in countless languages, some more akin to obscure hieroglyphs than words. Countless baubles and curios in the room greeted his curiosity.
Foreign coins whose faces appeared faded with the passage of time laid in a box upon the mantle. Strangely colored stones veined with metals the young man couldn't identify sat upon a desk next to a magnifying glass. Manuscripts depicting seemingly arcane alchemical recipes in hastily arranged piles were stacked by differently sized vials and jars, various sinister looking specimens suspended therein.
As he continued, his gaze rested upon a golden figure of a snake, coiled and poised to strike, eyes transfixed on his own. Then the truth of this room dawned upon the man. It was the very same room in which his uncle was found dead!
The impenetrable silence in the room was shattered by the phone ringing loudly on the desk. Hesitantly, eyes skeptically glued to the snake, the young man reached for the phone, cleared his throat and stammered, "H-h-hello?"
The voice on the phone sounded haggard and sickly. "I am The Viper, and I will see you in one hour..." to which the young man hastily jammed the phone back onto its receiver. He ran for the door, his mind racing! After catching his breath and deciding he was merely imagining things, the man had several drinks, settling his nerves and lulling him into a light sleep. The phone rang again, rousing the man.
"I am The Viper, and I will see you in 15 minutes!" The man was not imagining things! He looked out through a layer of grime on the window as the Sun threatened to set, amber light skimming bare treetops shifting to a deep red. The man called the police for help, explaining his predicament and was informed that help would arrive in 15 minutes.
15 minutes passed, and again the phone rang. Expecting the police, the man picked up the phone. "I am The Viper, and I am here to see you!" The voice was accompanied by a KNOCK KNOCK Knock from the front door. The young man, terrified for his life, glanced feebly through the peephole, silently praying for officers at his door.
Instead, he saw an old, gaunt, red nosed man with several buckets and squeegees, lit cigarette between his thin lips.
The man opened the door and was greeted with "I am The Viper, sir. I vent from town to here to vipe your vindows! Vere should I start?"
Image: Didier Chanfray
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