Dark Rapture Read Online Free Page A

touched a hot stove. “Oh, my goodness!”
    “What?” Gary rushed to her side. A swarm of shiny black bugs skittered toward the corners of the drawer to flee the light.
    “Well, if we’ve been cast in the latest horror movie, I don’t like the set.” Gary shook his head. Then he laughed, invading the grayness with a positive note.
    He took Scarlet by the arm and strolled her into the next room. They found Vince ripping down dusty coverings from the massive windows that stretched from floor to ceiling. The musty smell was almost unbearable. It was as though all the windows had been left open during a storm and then closed immediately afterward to allow the water to mildew and rot.
    “And through here we have the grand room,” Gary said majestically as he led Scarlet over to where Vince stood. “Oh, don’t mind all that dust and dirt, after all—” he smiled devilishly, rubbing his hands together with an evil grin, “—we like it that way.” His sinister laugh made her giggle as they had when they were kids.
    “Yeah,” Vince halfheartedly joined in as he walked over to the staircase. “I like the fact that when you go upstairs, you can take a chunk of railing with you.”
    Splinters flew as he grasped and pulled out a thick spiral dowel from under the railing with such ease one would have thought it a balsa prop from a movie set. He whipped the rotting wood into the darkness behind him, where it landed with a dull clunk . A split second later followed the crisp rustling of tiny feet.
    Vince laughed sarcastically. “I guess we can’t say that this place has exactly been uninhabited since my great-grandfather disappeared.”
    Scarlet couldn’t help feeling sorry for Vince as he stared into the dark recesses of the room, his head hanging heavily, his hair veiling his disappointment. But this place did have hope, she thought as she looked around and was awestruck by the massive size of the grand room.
    Thick velvet curtains of a dark forest green, dirtied with years of dust, hung two stories down to the floor, with long gold braided fringes dangling lifelessly around the edges. Underneath were graying white sheers that subdued the bright streaks of lightning that now flashed continuously in the sky.
    Although the furniture had, for some reason, been removed, she tapped her toes on the faded hardwood floors and her mind carried her to a lush party buzzing with pretty maidens and handsomely dressed princes. She imagined herself layered in the finest taffeta and lace, dancing a waltz with a dashing stranger, her feet barely touching the ground as her prince swirled her across the expansive floor. She could almost hear the music singing out from an invisible spinet piano, until, of course, her two left feet sent her crashing back to reality.
    “Vince, I see a lot of wonderful things in this mess.” She spun around and looked at him. “Don’t be such a pessimist.”
    He merely nodded and headed up the stairs to explore the rest of the house. Gary beckoned and they followed the lanky blond, carefully tiptoeing up the fragile steps that creaked with the weight of their bodies. At the top of the staircase stretched a wide walkway carpeted with a threadbare Oriental rug, once a dark majestic burgundy, now faded to a light pink.
    Glancing around, Scarlet noted that Vince had stolen ahead, now very interested in his surroundings.
    Gary pried the wood away from the sills to reveal large double-paned windows all across the upper level. Through flashes of lightning, the two could make out the lavish gold trimmings and the ornately carved plaster on the walls that Gary estimated was over a hundred years old. At the end of the hall a dingy suit-of-armor stood guarding the long-forgotten mansion, and past it were the bedrooms.
    Gary snuck up behind Scarlet while she examined the steel suit, running her fingers lightly over the dust. “So, can you tell yet that he likes you?”
    “Not really, but I have been thinking about