The Manor
It was late summer of 1928, brimming with love for my craft in chemistry, I was invited to the secluded manor of the most famous scientist, doctor Letout, who resided in Louisiana.
I arrived at the New Orleans train stationin the middle of the day and instantly felt different humid air. A tall man with a pale face was waiting for me, he simply introduced himself as the butler. I wasn’t surprised that doctor Letout didn’t come. For one, he was obviously a busy man, but also, if the rumors were true, not many people have seen him in person, in fact I knew none that have. He would always send representatives to show his discoveries, and probably this butler and servants to collect payments and products.
The butler attached my baggage to a black car, which looked like none I’ve ever seen before, then he opened the door for me. His face was constantly dull and emotionless.
The first part of the drive consisted of going through New Orleans and it was exciting for me to observe the culture. On one of the corners of a street a young black lady ran out, she was holding a doll in her hands and was waving at me, her face looked rather worried, by the time I rolled down the window she was too far away.
Further away from the city and going through the outskirts I saw several people sitting around a fire and talking, but the moment they saw us driving by they all stopped talking and stared at the car, few shook their heads.
The final part of the drive took us through a road surrounded by the swamps and tall dark trees, finally we arrived in front of a massive black manor. The butler took my baggage and lead me inside without saying a word. As I entered I observed that the interior was rather dark and there was a huge staircase leading up and splitting towards two sides. The butler tugged at my shirt and I followed him to the right side of the manor, where my room was located. He put my luggage there and simply walked away. He explained nothing to me. My room was small, had a tiny table, a mirror, a painting of an old man and an aging bed. I closed the door and organized my belongings. As I changed I had a strange feeling that someone was watching me,my eyes constantly drifted towards the painting, I felt like it’s eyes moved each time I looked. I tried to suppress the feeling and laid in bed, gradually I was able to fall asleep and nap.
About an hour later a knock on the door woke me up. I was excited to meet doctor Letout and hastily opened the door, but alas, it was the gloomy butler again. He led me to a long dining table. Half of it was totally covered in darkness and someone was sitting on that end. I was placed on the other end. Another gloomy pale looking servant brought me my dish, it was grilled fish. Who ever sat on the other end, in darkness, seemed to have a hat and a coat on. Finally a calm slow voice spoke to me, introducing himself as doctor Letout. He told me where my experiment room was located and he said that instructions are all in the room. After I complete all the experiments he will come to examine it all and see if I can be beneficial to his research. I nodded and thanked him. The butler came to collect me as soon as I was done. It was all so strange.
At night I tried to fall asleep, but I kept hearing some sort of scratching sounds in the corridor. Finally, I lit a candle, put it into a holder, and went out of my room. At the end of the corridor I could see that one servant standing and scratching the wall with one hand. Goosebumps ran across my body as I chose not to move. He noticed me watching and quickly walked out of sight. There was no way I was going to sleep anytime soon after that, so I ventured further into the manor with my light. Every statue I passed felt alive, as if their eyes were following me, same was with the paintings. I found a passage that lead downstairs, bellow the first floor, but I turned around and went back to my room, I was too taken by fear to do anything else. I got a few hours of sleep.
In the morning butler brought me coffee and eggs and made sure I knew where my experiment room was, it was filled with books, equipment and on a table with the directions on sheets of paper.
I slowly began my work. I spent all day in that room conducting experiments. I felt like perhaps it wasn’t the best I could do, so closer to night time I left for my room. I was once again summoned for dinner. It was the same fish meal. Out of the shadows the doctor spoke again, he said that he checked on the experiment room and he wasn’t impressed. This was all he said. I went back to my room rather down.
Once again in the night I heard sounds, this time it sounded like whispers. I came out with the candle, but saw no one in the corridor. I proceeded to go downstairs, following the spiral staircase. I opened a black door and entered a dusty room, on a table there lay several journals. I closed the door behind me and sat down. I began to read one of the journals. I quickly realized that this was a journal of one of the previous apprentices. They all were and when I skipped to the end of each. they all had a strange ending, as if something interrupted them, and why were these journals here in the first place and not with them? Chills ran down my spine as I remember what the messenger from the doctor told me in my home town.
“You’ll be doctor’s first apprentice.”
My hands shook as I quietly left the room, put out the candle, and tried to walk to my room without making a sound.
Next day everything went similar, with exception of me performing even more poorly out of fear and horror.
I sat at the dinner table with great discomfort, but when the servant came, this time there was no dish. The butler and the servant grabbed my hands. I struggled vigorously and was able to knock the butler over, the servant just froze in place, I saw the car keys fall from butler’s pocket, before I grabbed them I saw something crawling out of the darkness, but it was only for a split moment for I ran outside and drove away.
Half way the car ran out of gas and I ran the rest. At the station I begged others for money to help me get a ticket home, I must have looked like a madman. Finally a rich looking gentleman took pity on me and paid for my ticket.
For the rest of my life I have not been able to take part in any scientific projects, for the horror it brought upon me each time I tried was overwhelming.
Instead, I became a butler
.