1 - Into The Castle

A low, but heavy breathing noise could be heard under the blanket of darkness that covered the inside grounds deep within the castle. Not even a small ray of light could be seen, almost as if it was forbidden.

A head turned, reacting to the sudden sound of water splashing. Veins popped out as blood rushed and the beating of a heart became more rapid. The creature opened its mouth, letting its tongue slide over its lips, leaving drool and saliva dripping from its chin as it bared its teeth to the uninvited visitors.

More sounds of water splashing came as different kinds of footwear stepped on puddles. There were about three or four, the creature could tell, as it counted the number of steps taken at a time. It exhaled the same heavy breath as before, but a little louder now, excitement getting the better of it. It hadn’t eaten in almost four days and hunger was all that it could decipher from the world.


Asher took a deep breath in, then let it all out. He repeated this exercise until he was sure he was calm. His nerves never usually got the better of him, but as he read the newspaper, his eyes wandering left to right, following the words, Asher felt a little part inside of him jumping and screaming with excitement. It was rare that he ever lost his composure, so he didn’t know what to do at first. But the classic breathing exercise surely worked.

He laid the newspaper down gently after reading and rereading it twice. The headlines were written in big bold letters, the article that made Asher jump being on the front page. The story that everyone read and possessed almost everyone; the mystery of the disappearances in the castle.

It had been going on for a while now. Especially people from different countries; tourists and visitors. They all came to England from all over the world, curious and intrigued by the mystery of the castle. Some thought arrogantly how they were intelligent enough to solve it or had enough endurance and strength to check it out without disappearing themselves. Of course these were only their own thoughts. Anyone who’d dared to go in the castle had all went missing. It was said, after all, that no one could come back.

Asher glanced at the article once more then looked away. He didn’t know what he was thinking. He knew that it would be a stupid idea to go in and explore the hollow abandoned structures of one of the biggest architectures in Europe, but he felt so drawn to building.

Just forget about it, he kept thinking, Forget it all. But the problem was that he couldn’t. He didn’t know why or what it was, but it was as if the castle had possessed him as well.

Maybe tomorrow, he thought. He’d take a closer look, but he wouldn’t go in. Just a look and maybe it would be enough to make him get over it. He wanted to believe that idea, but doubt filled his head.

Tomorrow would be his eighteenth birthday. Not usually would he willingly celebrate his birthdays unless his foster parents would insist on it, but luckily for him, a phone call had been made requesting their presence at a different city.

It wasn’t that Asher hated his foster parents or even disliked them. The boy was just never accustomed to too much attention and whenever times like birthdays came, it seemed as if he was bothering them to do so many unnecessary things that he’d preferred not to have done.