Tamatha Robertson

Eventually it turned into a thunderstorm, and Tami could hardly see where she was going, which didn’t make much difference, since they were lost in the middle of no where.

Tami stopped the car. There wasn’t any point in continuing to drive; they were just getting more lost all the time. Tami was frustrated and very fed up, she started to sob, bumping her head on the steering wheel and making it beep continuously. Her parents would be worried about her and there was no way to make contact with them, or anyone else that could help them. Tami didn’t care about her essay any more; all she cared about was going home. Akari looked concerned. Tami turned the engine off, and in doing so, also turned off the headlights. Everything became pitch black; they couldn’t see a thing, not even their own reflection in the rear-view mirror. Tami sat still for a moment, listening to the noises of the night, trying to calm herself. Somewhere an owl hooted, and Tami could’ve sworn she also heard a wolf howl. But it was just her imagination playing tricks on her. Her eyes opened wide, and breathing heavily, she turned the headlights back on again. Very suddenly, she felt a hand clap her heavily on her shoulder. She screamed, turned around swiftly to try and get a glimpse of the offender; then realised that it was just Akari, who was trying to point out to Tami that just ahead of them was a giant mansion/castle of some sort. Sighing with relief, Tami turned on the engine of her car to drive the short distance to the castle. Once there, she turned the engine off again, and got out leaving the car door unlocked. It was quite windy and blew Tami’s hair out behind her. The castle looked kind of creepy, and Tami had a strange feeling in her stomach, as if there was something very wrong with this picture, that there was something very wrong with this place. Shaking this feeling of fear off, she walked up to the front door. Once Tami had looked at the bright side of things she smiled and forgot all about her worries; shelter, warmth, a telephone…and she didn’t have to worry about research for her essay anymore, since she was actually at an old-fashioned castle.

Tami knocked on the door and to her surprise, she didn’t have to wait long, someone answered the door straight away, it was almost…almost as if they had been expecting her…but no, that couldn’t be the case…could it? The person who had answered the door was a man, a tall, dark-haired, pale-faced man. Nothing unusual there. Pale, white skin; bloodshot, slitted eyes; rose-red lips; greased, jet black hair; slightly pointed teeth; evil-looking grin on his face…yep, a nice, ordinary, average man. Tami was almost going to run away screaming, but the thought of shelter was just too overwhelming; besides, Akari was standing right behind her and would have gotten knocked over.
"E-excuse me," she stammered, "We’re l-lost and urgently need to use a t-t-telephone, that is, if you have one…" Tami gulped, trying hard not to stare at the man’s scary complexion.
"Of course - do come in." the man’s tone of voice sounded like that of a butler’s and sort of hung in the air, misty and dripping. Tami stepped cautiously into the darkly-lit front room of the castle, looking around with curiosity. Leaning against one wall there were suits of armour, an old grandfather clock hung on another. The air was musty and smelt something awful. Just then the man spoke.