Chapter 1
March 24th, 2000. 11:30 PM.
"Damnit, give me the map. You are the reason we are lost. If you hadn't claimed you were an expert at reading this thing we wouldn't be lost on this dark deserted rather poorly paved road!!!" Kelly shouted at her friend Kimberly. "Don't you yell at me. I carefully went over the map before we started and gave Laura, who is somehow sleeping through all your carrying on, the detailed instructions." Kimberly retorted back at her keeping her eyes on the road ahead of her. "I swear if I hear one more person yelling heads will roll. This is supposed be vacation and I don't want to have to listen to you two bickering the whole freakin time. Look we had a long flight and a few delays at the airport. But look on the bright side we are in Sweden and I heard there are some pretty cute guys here." Laura said glancing out the window.
Flash back to March 10th, 2000.
"Oh my god!!!!!!! I can't believe it. We are going to Sweden for our spring break!!!" Laura said jumping up and down hugging her friend Kelly. "Just wait a minute we haven't heard the final word yet from Kimberly. Remember? She is suppose to call in a half hour?" Kelly said glancing at her watch. "CALL HER DAMNIT!!!" Laura shouted. They both sat there watching the time. When the phone rang they both lunged at the phone. "Give me that!!" Kelly said snatching the phone from Laura's hand. "Hello? Kimberly?" Kelly spoke calmly into the receiver. "Yes, Kelly, well if you guys want to still go, we leave on March 23rd and return on the 6th of April. My friend Darryl secured the house for us but there is one little condition. He is having some friends of his stay there while they work. He says they shouldn't be of any bother. We will be in the west wing and they will be in the east wing." Kimberly said tapping her pen on her leg. "Wings? How big is this house?" Kelly asked. "It's about 14 rooms. The West wing, at least according to him, is more plush. We do have our own little kitchen but the main kitchen in the center is supposedly breathtaking. We will have to share the rest of the house with them and he sees no reason why we won't get along." Kimberly finished waiting for her response. "GOD DAMN!!! We are going to be livin in the lap of luxury. You are, well damnit I love you!!!" Kelly replied jumping up and down. "WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Laura screamed in the background. "Kelly would you please tell Laura the story, I have to go and finish making the flight arrangements. You two will meet me in San Francisco and we'll fly to Sweden from there. It's going to be a long flight, and please don't forget your passports." Kimberly giggled and said goodbye hanging up the phone.
Kelly and Laura both went to school in Southern California and it was their sophomore year of college and both, due to their loads and jobs, were feeling a bit burnt. Kimberly on the other hand was the oldest of the group at 31 and had recently been asked to take a leave of absence from work due to circumstances that were out of her control. Kimberly had known Kelly for almost 2 years and Laura for about a year. Kimberly's friend Darryl begged her to take a vacation preferably out of the country. When she heard that Kelly and Laura weren't doing anything she jumped at the chance to ask them. Darryl loving Kim the way he did, obliged her and told her they could go. She couldn't wait to have two weeks of relaxation.
March 25th, 2000 12:17 a.m.
"TURN LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Laura screamed pointing to the sign they had been looking for. Kimberly yanked the car to the left and heard the wheels peel beneath her. All she wanted to do was get into a nice warm bed and sleep for about 10 hours and pray she didn't feel too jet lagged when she woke up. "Laura, thankyou for that lovely direction but you scared the hell out of us." Kimberly said looking at Kelly who still had her hand clutched to her chest. Kimberly drove slowly up a path that led to a enormous iron gate. She retrieved the code out of her purse and punched it in, watching the gate slowly creak open. "Ok that was eerie." Kelly said making sure her door was locked. Kim drove up the long winding path. The trees seemed to bend towards the road creating a blanket like effect. "Are you sure this is the place, it looks pretty deserted to me?" Laura asked leaning forward. Kim nodded and kept going and let out a sigh of relief when she saw the house in the distance. As they got closer each of their eyes got bigger. "Holy shit! This place is a freakin castle." Kelly said slightly raising her voice. She saw some lights on and wondered if the other guests were there. Kim saw a sign that said west wing and followed it. She pulled the car and turned off the ignition. "Ok we're here, lets get inside it looks like it is going to rain." Kim said grabbing her purse and popping the trunk. Laura noticed that the house was completely isolated. She saw iron fences in the distance lining the property. She was curious as to how the place looked during the day, because it was giving her the creeps the way it looked at night. Kim slowly turned the key and the door swung open. "Good evening!" A large creepy man said stepping out of nowhere. "I am Hans, and I've been expecting you for a while. I am glad to see you made it safely. I am sure you want to get to your rooms and sleep." Hans said taking some of their bags not really paying attention to the scared expressions on their faces. "Hans? I was wondering what exactly is your role here?" Kim asked hesitantly following him up the stairs. "Well, madam, my job is to see that the house is running smoothly. I supervise what few are here. There is a cook and a house assistant. Whatever you do don't call her the maid she'll be very upset. We will do our best to remain out of sight. We want you to feel at home." Hans said not looking back. Laura muttered under her breath, "Like hell this feels like home. More like a haunted mansion if you ask me." Hans slowly turned his head, "What was that madam?" Laura smiled at him and continued following the rest. "Madam Kimberly this is your room. Mr. Darryl requested that you specifically have this room." Hans said opening the door and placed the bags inside. "Sleep well." He said nudging her into the room. Kim felt her eyes become extremely heavy right after he said it and waved to Kelly and Laura as she closed the door. "Miss Laura this is your room, and directly across is yours Miss Kelly." He said opening both doors and placing each of their bags into their rooms. "Hans, I was wondering are the other occupants of the house here?" Laura asked leaning on the door. "Yes Miss, they are but they are working and should be home momentarily." Hans replied. He waited until he heard the door closed and thought to himself, "Sleep well, if you can that is."
1:30 am.
"Dude I swear if that Hans guy comes out of nowhere and scares me again I am going to deck him." Aj said pulling his coat on before he got out of the car. "Bone, he just seems creepy, he's probably just a nice guy. This is only our second night in the house lets give it a chance. We are going to be here for another two weeks give or take a few days." Howie said patting his friend on the back. "Brian, look I see a car!" Nick said pointing off in the distance. "Very good Nick, you can identify objects." Brian replied a bit annoyed. "No, no, I know that. Don't be an ass. They are probably here. The other people. I wonder if they are women? Hmm?" Nick said slightly wandering off only to be yanked by Kevin. "This is our wing, that is their wing. If we run into them well then we'll introduce ourselves, otherwise we should respect their privacy." Kevin said pushing Nick in front of him. Nick threw his arms in the air, "Where is your sense of adventure?" The guys just gave him a look and pulled Nick inside and shut the door behind them, wandering up to their rooms.
Kim was the first one to wake up. She glanced at the clock and saw it was 11 am. "Oh my god. I must have been tired." Kim said stretching her arms and noticing the décor of the room. The bed was a cherry wood canopy bed. The walls were painted in a warm mauve color. She lifted herself up and saw a fireplace directly in front of her nestled in black marble. She glanced to the furthermost right corner and saw an oversized black sofa chair with an ottoman to match. It was positioned towards a large entertainment center that she assumed held a TV. Kim glanced to the left and saw two dressers, side by side. She saw the opening to the bathroom and slowly got out of bed and threw on the robe that was at the end of the bed. Midway to the bathroom she realized she wasn't wearing her robe and stopped and glanced down at it, "I don't recall seeing this when I went to bed." She resumed walking and stepped into the bathroom that was almost larger than her apartment at home. "Holy Moly!" She exclaimed noticing the amenities that it held. She ran her fingers along the countertop and opened a few of the cabinets. She smiled when she saw the sunken Jacuzzi bathtub in the corner and the double headed shower that could easily fit three. She disrobed and hopped into the shower emerging a bit more awake and refreshed. The only thing she needed now was to get some food. She was putting on her clothes and heard a stereo click on and blare "I want it that way" by the Backstreet boys. "Doesn't that girl know moderation?" Kim asked herself brushing her hair. She opened her door and heard a whoosh of air go right through her. She gasped and stood frozen in the hallway. "You ok there? Jet lag that bad?" Kelly asked rather perkily. Kelly got no response. Kim snapped out of it and smiled, "Good morning, um yeah I am ok, just, oh nothing. You going to get something to eat?" Kelly knocked on Laura's door but figured with the music being so loud that she probably didn't hear her. "LAURA!!!! NICK CARTER IS OUT HERE, AND HE WANTS YOU!!!!" Kelly yelled while pulling Kim to the side. No sooner than she finished the sentence Laura came bounding out of her room panting and primping at the same time. "WHERE? DAMNIT KELLY DON'T DO THAT!" Laura said shouting at her. "I'm going to get some breakfast and explore the house a bit. Anyone else coming?" Kim asked slowly walking towards the stairs.
"I swear this place is freaky. Can't you feel it?" Aj said to Howie as he was finishing the omelet that Howie had made. "Aj, you are imagining things. I think this place has real character, we have the day off today I am going to explore the grounds a bit." Howie said clearing his plate and picking up Aj's as he scooped the last bite into his mouth. Both Aj and Howie ran out of the kitchen when they heard their cell phones ring.
Kim walked into the kitchen and saw the dirty dishes piled up on the counter, "Damn you think they would clean up after themselves. What pigs!" The cook quietly stepped into the kitchen nodding to the ladies and began cleaning up. "Good morning. And you are?" Laura asked walking right up to him. "Felipe, miss. I am the cook but I am afraid I was a bit late this morning. What would you like for lunch?" Felipe said rather shyly. "Lunch?" Kelly asked rather confused. "Miss, if you would like I could fix you some breakfast but it is almost noon and that is technically lunch." Felipe said furiously washing the dishes. "Well, um if you want to fix us lunch that would be ok I guess. Not really use to someone um." Kelly replied drifting off feeling rather uncomfortable. "What I think she means, is we aren't really use to have someone cook for us. What did you have in mind?" Kim said pulling a chair out and sitting down. "Well, I could start off with a light salad, and then fix a turkey croissant sandwich and to top things off some fresh fruit on the side." Felipe said rather effortlessly. "Sounds good to me." Laura said rubbing her rather empty stomach. Kelly had opted for just the sandwich. She stared out the window and saw a horse and immediately got excited. "Excuse me Felipe, are there horses to ride here?" Kelly asked hoping he would say yes. "Yes Miss there are. Daniel manages the stables. There are about 8 horses. He is always happy to have a hand with them." Felipe said grinning at her. Kelly quickly finished her sandwich and ran outside to find the stables. She wandered around and finally after walking down and endless trail she saw the stables. Kelly slowly approached the stable calling out Daniel's name, "Hello? Daniel? Is anyone here?" She felt a chill go down her spine and wrapped her arms around herself trying to rid of it. "You must be Kelly?" Daniel said making her jump back a few steps. "Is it tradition to make people jump around here? How did you know my name?" Kelly said trying to steady herself. "I well, those who work here make it their business to know the guest's names. I didn't mean to frighten you. Did you come to ride?" Daniel said smoothing his jet black hair back. Kelly noticed how remarkably handsome he was. She thought he must be about mid 20's. She didn't see a ring on his finger and tried to keep herself from smiling. "This must be my lucky day. Two people helping me out with the horses." Daniel said leading her into the barn to get some equipment. "Two? There is someone else riding them this morning?" Kelly asked a bit curious. "Yes, a nice guy. Real tall. He just went out on the Bordeaux trail not to long ago." Daniel said handing her some chaps. "Oh I don't need those. I'll be ok with my just my jeans." Kelly said politely. Daniel nodded and led her to the horses. She walked by each one and found herself fond of the cream colored palomino called Bongo. Daniel helped her up onto the horse and followed her while she walked him around warming him up. "Well you have three trails to chose from. The Bordeaux trail, the Lacrosse trail and the " Daniel said seeing her take off towards the Bordeaux trail. Kelly started off with a slow trot and then gently coaxed Bongo to a run. Fifteen minutes after she embarked on the trail she came to a crystal blue pond with a few white swans treading about. She pulled Bongo to a halt and jumped down. She kneeled at the edge of the pond and ran her fingers in the water drawing a figure 8. Her head jerked up when she heard a series of cries in the distance. She looked around frantically and saw no one. She called out and got no response. She looked up to the sky and saw dark clouds directly above her, " Damnit, it better not rain." Just as she said that she heard the cries again and the sky opened up and began to rain. "Ok this is freaky, I am so out of here!" She shouted. She turned to mount Bongo and saw he was no where to be found. "BONGO? HELLLOOOO!!! BONGO!" Kelly called out. She stood underneath a tree and hoped Bongo would come back soon. "Were you looking for him?" A man called out. Kelly turned around and saw Bongo being led by a man who had a hood practically covering his face. "Yes I was. Thanks so much." Kelly said feeling a little unnerved still. "He must have smelled Lola and wanted to see her. I was told they are quite an item." The man said laughing at his own joke. "I'm Kevin, and you are?" He said slowly pulled back his hood. "I am, oh my god." Kelly clamped her mouth when she saw who it was. "You are Kevin Richardson?" She asked trying to maintain her composure. "Yes I am, and you are?" Kevin asked again a bit amused. "I am Kelly, nice to meet you." She said stretching out her hand and shaking his. "You ready to go back or you going to take your horse further on the path?" He asked stroking Lola's mane. "No, I am ready to go back." Kelly said mounting her horse effortlessly. They rode back in silence. Kelly kept trying to think of something to say but everytime she went to open her mouth nothing came out. She dismounted her horse and led it back and when she turned to talk to Kevin he was gone. "Oh that is good Kelly, you scared him off." Kelly said chastising herself. She jogged back to the house and frantically searched for Kim or Laura but found no one. "Damnit where are they?" Kelly asked stepping in her room.
