Chloe and Ophelia entered the spacious, well-decorated apartment a few minutes later. Ophelia smiled as she observed every piece of furniture and every carpet in the room. Her friends had always had superior taste and this much excited her 24-year-old mind. The feeling of the room clouded over her thoughts of sorrow and she felt completely at home. She could be a child again.
“You have a lovely home.” She remarked with a small grin on her lips. “Your parents used to be such perfect decorators...I see that you two are no different.”
Chloe shrugged. The compliment didn’t necessarily interest her; it was more of her brother’s concern. “It’s all right.” She said. “Nick puts a damper on it though.” And she grinned, making Ophelia laugh and smile.
“Hey!” Nick came in, greeting the girls.
“Hello! Long time no see.” Ophelia smiled and gave him a small hug. “I’ve thought of the both of you so much... Oh, it does feel very pleasant to be in the company of my two most reliable friends.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your father, Ophelia.” Said Nick, a frown on his handsome face. “He was a good man, your father.”
Chloe nodded in agreement, saying nothing, but bowing her head as if she were going to pray for the dead man’s soul.
Ophelia sighed, with a sudden misery, never seen by the Angelis’ in all of their life as her friends. “Yes, he was...but now he is no longer suffering...consumption is a terrible thing.” Wiping tears from her eyes, she managed to put on a smile. “But everything will be all right. Now I am with the both of you.”
“Yes. And enough of this dreary topic.” Chloe announced, sickened by the thought of consumption. Coughing up blood was not considered a pretty site in her mind, nor anyone else’s. “Ophelia, we’ll show you around if you would prefer. It will feel like home in no time.”
“Oh, yes! That would be perfect. I’d love to see the apartment.”
“Well,” Interrupted Nick. “The apartment is not very large, but there are plenty of places to explore around the Inn.”
“Where shall we journey off to first? I would dearly enjoy seeing anything that is of your interest.”
“Hmmm, how about the dining hall? Besides, it’s almost dinnertime.” Chloe offered, her stomach suddenly growling at her as the aroma of delicious foods entered her nostrils.
“That would be just ideal. I am quite famished myself. The journey had been very rough.”
“Perfect. So it is off to the dining hall then. Ladies.” Nick offered each young woman an arm. Chloe smirked at her brother and Ophelia giggled, and all three of them retreated from the apartment and out to the hall.
“Please, do tell me about your neighbors.” Ophelia begged with a grin. “Are they all very sweet and handsome as the both of you?”
“I wish.” Muttered Chloe.
“Chloe! Shame on you.” Her brother scolded, giving his sister a glare and then turning to Ophelia with a quick smile. “Actually, we have wonderful neighbors. Though most do tend to keep to themselves.”
“Yes, Nick. Especially that new bloke who has the finesse of a bullfrog. He just moved in next door.”
“Oh, do tell me of his story! I shall love to hear it!” Ophelia looked at both Chloe and Nicholas, curiosity twinkling in her eyes.
Nick rolled his soft brown eyes, but smiled at her request. “Well, he arrived a few days ago. He’s a musician, I believe. Not very patient...a real character.”
“Yes, and he bangs away at that blasted piano at all hours of the night!” Chloe cried, becoming upset with the thought. “I cannot sleep!”
“Oh, he must be very perfect to keep you awake at all hours of the night.” Ophelia laughed.
“Yesterday, he threw out one of the housemaids who had been hired to clean up a bit. Scared the poor girl to practical death.” Added Nick.
“Yes...and she was only doing her job; straightening the sheets and such.” His sister announced. “He could have at least asked her to leave appropriately, instead of yelling at her in a fury.”
“That’s not the worst of it, Ophelia.”
“I would love to hear the WURST.”
“All right..." Nick thought for a moment until a perfect example popped into his head. "At dinner last evening, he threw a glass of wine across the room and almost hit the server because it was not to his liking.”
“An arrogant slob that’s what he is. Looks like a madman too.”
“Yes, he does.” Laughed Nicholas, surrendering to Chloe’s discourteous remarks.
At that, a loud bellowing could be heard from behind them and violent shadows on the walls around them. Startled, the three friends turned around.
Nick stared at the topic of their discussion with a raised eyebrow. “Uh, hello sir.”
The man did not seem to acknowledge the friendly hello, or the young eyes staring in his direction. He went along with his bellowing and gesturing, a violent tune escaping his strange mouth.
“And here he is.” Chloe whispered to Ophelia so only she could hear.
Ophelia gulped. “That is the man? He’s a composer?”
“Yes, I do believe so.” She answered, grimacing at the older man’s bellowing.
“Are you quite alright, sir?” Nicholas asked, but the man still did not seem to hear. He stopped at the at the stair behind the three friends and bellowed more of the childish tune at the top of his lungs.
Ophelia shuddered. “I’ve often heard that composers are very unique, but this is out of the ordinary.”
“Ladies, why don’t we let this pleasant gentleman pass us?” And Nicholas stepped aside, pulling the two girls along with him. The man charged passed them, without a polite showing of gratitude or a small gesture of hello.
“Oh, my. He seems utterly insane...”
“I told you, did I not?” Chloe mumbled. “Completely insane! He’s like an animal.”
“I did not believe you...but now I do.” Ophelia shrugged. “Oh, let’s forget of it.” She announced, agitated and hungry. As they all stepped into the dining hall, the shouting had ceased and the man sat alone at a table in the far corner of the room.
Nicholas' eyes panned the room for a free table and he found that the only spare table left was the closest to the strange older man. He shrugged his shoulders at that, and ushered the girls over to the round-oak table.
“What are they serving for dessert?” Inquired Chloe.
Ophelia laughed. “Always room left for the good things, I see.” And Chloe nodded with a smile, and sat down.
Before sitting down, herself, Ophelia quickly glanced at the disgruntled composer sitting behind them. She wondered why the man had no friends to accompany him, but then remembered the stories that Nicholas and Chloe had been so kind as to share with her.
Noticing her staring, the man abruptly looked up at her young face with his small reading-glasses and gave her a smile, which made her blush. Then, with a clearing of his throat, he finally glanced back down at the papers in his hands. Surprised, Ophelia sat down hard into her seat and turned her focus to the Angelis’.
“I saw that!” Chloe accused, pointing a finger at her friend’s scarlet cheeks, while smiling.
“Whatever did you see? I saw nothing...”
Nicholas snickered and gave his younger sister a wink of the eye.
“My God, I’m just teasing you, Ophelia.”
“Oh...well I don’t find it the least bit funny...” She paused, giving one more look at the wild man behind them. “It’s frightening actually...”
A few moments of silence ensued, until a loud crash of good porcelain, sent all eyes in the dining hall towards the table in the corner. The man stood up towering over a young servant with a seething mouth. “THIS IS NOT WHAT I ORDERED!” He roared, making the small man back away from him in utter fright. He threw his glass of wine to the floor and it smashed to many tiny crystal fragments at his feet. “And this wine! IT DISGUSTS ME!”
“Oh dear...” Murmured Chloe, putting her elbow on the table and a hand on her forehead.
“You got your wish, Chloe. He did make a scene.” Nicholas reminded her. He turned to Ophelia. "The real man is shining through...Enjoy..."
“How terrible...” Added Ophelia, sinking low in her chair, listening to the roaring of the horrible beast behind them.
“You are all idiots! FOOLS!” His eyes wildly darted from one person to the other, focusing on all the aristocrats with anger. “What are you all staring at? You crazy asses!”
“He’s a very angry man.” Chloe commented to her friend, with casualty. Ophelia covered her mouth with shock and anger herself. It was no business of anyone else’s to watch him, she thought.
“None of you can follow a simple request! Is it really that hard to get a meal correct for once? Is it so terribly hard to keep my temper to it’s bare minimum!” And he stormed out of the dining hall, grumbling up the stairs, and slamming the door once safe inside his apartment.
Chloe looked back at her brother and friend, a small smile gleaming on her face. “So, I’m guessing we shouldn’t order what he did.”
“Oh, Chloe! Shame, shame! The poor man...really...now he shall have no food.”
“I’m sure that there is enough junk in his room to satisfy.” Nick mumbled, taking a sip of wine.
“He sounds so very upset! Perhaps someone should try and speak to him...you know, try to make him feel at home...perhaps we should.” Ophelia glanced from Chloe to Nick, a half-smile on her face. “He cannot be all too bad.”
“No, thank you.” Protested Nick. “I don’t like that man and I’d prefer that the two of you stay away from him.”
“Oh, don’t be an ass, Nicholas. Chloe doesn’t have to come with me. I shall go alone. Maybe I can calm him down.” She paused a moment. “Yes, I shall try to make him feel welcome...He probably just needs a friend.”
“Or a padded room.” Whispered Chloe, playing with her fork as dinner arrived.
“Oh, please! You two are so terribly horrible.”
“I don’t know about Nick, but I, myself, take that as a compliment.”
The man arrived once more, but with an arm full of dirty plates from the night before. He shoved the plates at a server. “AND one of your maids did not clean this morning!”
“He cleans?” Chloe giggled.
“Chloe! Shush! He might hear you.”
“Straight to hell, Chloe. Oh, shut up.”
She rolled her eyes and smiled at her brother. “What did I do?”
The tiny voice of the servant could be heard, fear in his voice. “I’m sorry Herr van Beethoven!” He apologized. “It shan’t happen again.” And he took the plates from the wild man, leaving in a hurry.
“Beethoven? Never heard of him before...” Ophelia whispered.
“I’ve HEARD him! Next door, remember?”
“Chloe, please do be quiet.” She answered as the man once again stormed out of the dining hall and out into the lobby, his sudden movements, weak and he held his side. She watched him, confused. “I do believe there is something wrong with him.”
“You think?”
Nicholas gave her a stern look and she hushed. Ophelia rose from her place at the table with a frown at her best friend. “Seriously, Chloe. He seems in pain...I am worried.” She paused a moment as the man reached the first step and stopped in his tracks. “Excuse me, my friends.” She pushed in her chair and silently made her way out to the lobby. Chloe rose from her seat to keep an eyes on her friend.
The man had his back to her, while quietly looking out of the window at the violent rain and stormy skies, and Ophelia could not believe how misunderstood he had to have been. Nobody else seemed to have enough decency to ask him if there was anything wrong and this made Ophelia’s young face show a frown.
Lingering behind him for a few moments, she finally touched his arm with kind gentleness and he turned to her in surprise.
“Sir, are you all right?” She asked with worry straining her voice. He smiled.
“Ah, Madam...how are you this dreary and lonesome July evening?” He questioned, as if ignoring or not knowing she had asked of his own well being.
She sighed. “I am fine...” And smiled. “But are you well? I fear there is something wrong.”
“I am well too.”
She was not convinced. “Are you sure that there is nothing wrong?”
“Oh, I shall be staying here for another month of so, if you can call that long.” He replied, as if answering a different question.
Ophelia glanced back at her friends with a puzzled look. Chloe also looked puzzled and Nicholas only shrugged. Without any answers from the Angelis’, she looked back at the man and gave him another smile.
“I should be going back to dinner now.” She said, quietly. “Would you care to join my friends and I?”
He studied Ophelia’s face for a moment as if struggling to read her thoughts, and then answered. “I shall have to say good evening to you, Madam.” He shifted his body towards the next step. “Goodnight, Madam. Have a lovely rest of the evening.” And smiled at her once more, bowing, and leaving her alone at the bottom of the grand staircase.
Chapter 3
Fan Fiction Main
Home
