The Great Serpent's Manor

No matter who you are or what you are, if you enter this manor you will not make it out…

How scary could it be? I questioned myself laying on my bed submerged in my unusual but nearly useless thoughts. Turning to my side I saw the huge manor situated at the top of a hill. Far away from the neighborhood, yet people still think each full moon, it releases bad omens upon the village. 

My parents were ghostbusters, they travelled from country to country to hunt down ghosts but never dared to even talk about the ‘Great Serpent’s Manor’, yep, that’s the name of that strange place. The name was probably given by some good old, ancient lunatic. My mind drifted to what people would say if I went into the manor and made it out alive, so far no one succeeded in this task, I’d be known as the hero of the village, I can just imagine it. With that thought and a new mission set in my brain, I went to sleep.

I woke up to the sun shining at my face, “ugh”, I groaned out of annoyance. My parents were not home like always. I forced myself out of bed and dragged my feet towards the washroom. I freshened up and made my bed. I’m a teenager but exceptionally organized. I've always wanted a girlfriend but my mother always told me to focus on my studies for now. It was still early so my aunt and uncle had not woken up yet. I made myself a quick lemonade and cycled through the whole neighborhood. After coming back I took a shower and started going through my biology notes for my next biology exam.

After I was done studying I went downstairs to have breakfast. I saw my aunt sitting on the counter working on her laptop and having some pancakes. “Morning”, I said in a monotone. “Oh, good morning dear. Listen, me and your uncle were invited to dinner at my boss’s place-" "I don’t wanna go”, I replied sitting a few chairs away from her. “oh, but don’t you think you should focus on your social life? You know, his daughter is very pretty.” she  said, wiggling her eyebrows. “I don’t want a girlfriend”, that’s a terrible lie I thought. “Oh come on when your father was at your age he would sneak out of the house just to meet his girlfriend”, she said smiling, I gave her a cold stare, ”do I look like an idiot who has a table full of options on job taking and chose to be a ghostbuster, I think not.” I snapped at her. “Woah, easy there bud”, my uncle walks in and plants a kiss on his wife’s head. I got off of my chair, “where are you going”, “ I’m not hungry” without waiting for a response, I headed to my bedroom. I sat down on my desk, put some music on and started making flashcards for my biology exam.

“Michael, dear we’re leaving,” I just hummed in response, “I made some dinner for you, it’s in the fridge-” “ okay I understand, now please let me concentrate,” I felt really annoyed, “okay then, we’re leaving. It may be past midnight when we arrive,” with that she left. I usually don’t get mad, but I absolutely hate it when someone compares me with my parents. Other people are awed by the fact that I have such cool parents, but they’re not cool. They are almost never home and even when they are they get called to a new mystery. I used to make a lot of friends in high school and I always thought our friendship was genuine but later I learned that they just used me for clout. This is also one of the many reasons why I can't get a girlfriend, trust issues.

I must show everyone that I’m better than my parents but how am I supposed to do it? My eyes went to the window, which showed the great manor, that’s it. This is how I’ll show everyone that I am capable of doing even more than my parents. I walked to my ‘Parent’s room’ which is completely useless as they rarely come to visit. I asked my aunt to turn it into a library but she said no and told me to think about how hard my parents are working,  as if. I opened the door which let out a creaking noise. It was very dusty here. The walls cobwebbed which had harmless spiders sitting on them. I walked to their closet and opened the door to a very filthy place. As soon as I turned the light on, many bugs crawled to places where they could hide. I ignored all the commotion going on on the floor and walked towards one particular cupboard. When I opened it, it released a cloud of dust which made me cough. I took out the huge box that was innocently sitting there. There was a thin layer of dust on the box which I rubbed with the sleeve of my sweater. I opened it and grinned, “perfect”.

Sitting at my desk I started making a full plan on how I can sneak into the manor without anyone noticing and how I will solve the mystery. I’m not going there to bust ghosts down, I’m going there to prove that they don’t exist, and that ghost busters are completely useless. I worked for nearly 2 hours and still didn’t have a proper plan. I was extremely tired and very hungry so I called it a night and went to the kitchen to have dinner. It was 8pm already, even on weekends I head to bed at 9pm, which is weird but it’s good for my body. I completely ignored the dinner my aunt made for me and made myself a salad and grabbed a pre-made smoothie from the other day. After that, I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and headed to bed.

After nearly a whole week I had a proper plan. I have to sneak into the manor at the dead of night when everyone is asleep. I lay in bed revising my plan in my head for the third time. My eyes itched with tiredness but my mind was full of energy. I got everything ready today, my mission starts at midnight tomorrow. I somehow managed to convince my aunt and uncle to go to Hawaii for the weekends and that I will make it just fine. They hesitated at first but later agreed when I explained to them that I’m an 18 year old college student who is capable of taking care of themselves. After about an hour or two I managed to fall asleep with dreams like a giant snake trying to eat me up.

I woke up to the sound of my aunt yelling. I was extremely tired but somehow managed to brush my teeth. It was 6am, their flight was in an hour. They hurriedly got ready while I made my lemonade and called an Uber. My uncle and the Uber driver shoved the luggage in the trunk of the car and got in. My aunt kept on telling me to be careful and to take care of myself. When they left I headed out for my cycle ride around the neighborhood. My day went on  as usual but after sunset, the real operation started. I prepared everything and had a heavy dinner to keep myself full during the mission. At exactly 11.50 I made my way towards the manor.

It was a full moon thus everyone went to bed early, so this was perfect. It took me 15 minutes to reach the hill and another 15 minutes to climb the hill. I made it to the top of the hill, rubbing sweat off my face. I looked at the giant manor standing in front of me. It was ten times bigger than my house. I sighed, “well, here goes nothing”, I muttered before opening the gates of ‘horror’.

The giant doors creaked as I opened them  and slammed itself close when I entered. “This is creepy,” I said in the darkness before reaching out for my flashlight. When I was about to turn it on all the torches lit themselves up illuminating the darkness. I gulped before taking  the hall to my left. It would take more than a year to memorize the twists and turns in this manor. I found myself in a particular hallway surrounded with armor of knights that guarded this place many centuries ago. I held my breath the whole journey when walking through the creepy hallway. I relaxed after that hallway ended and I entered a new hallway. Finally, I found a door which opened to a magnificent library. It had shelves that went as high as 18 feet. I walked through the library taking in the smell of old books. There were books from all the way to the early 1800s. My hands brushed the binders of books carrying titles like ‘American Civil War’ ‘Battle of New Orleans’ and many more.

I got distracted when seeing a book called ‘A History of Great Britain’, I always found books about the British Empire very interesting. I sat down on the floor with the thick book lying on my lap as I went through the contents. I sat in that position for almost an hour before realizing how much of my time I wasted, I hurriedly put the book in my bag which made it twice as heavy than it was a couple of minutes ago. I exited the library and continued my stroll around the manor. After walking for about 15 minutes, I realized that I returned to the front doors. My legs could not take the weight of my bag anymore so I took the book out and placed it in front of the giant double doors.

I proceeded up the stairs, my legs aching with every step I took. I breathed in shallow panting breaths. Finally, when I made it to the second floor, I leaned against the railings trying to catch my breaths. After my respiratory system gained a steady pace I walked to the hallway on my right. It was already 2.30am, my eyes were itching out of tiredness but I didn't stop. I was determined to unravel the secrets of this place. After ten minutes I found myself in front of a massive door made of heart pine with marble framing. When I entered I found myself in a huge luxurious bathroom. 

It was an old style, dirty bathroom which smelled terrible. Under a large, cracked mirror were a row of chipped, stone sinks. A fancy toilet sat at the opposite of the sinks and a huge bathtub, the size of a swimming pool sat in the corner. The room was damp and reflected the dull light given off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders. I went forward to one of the sinks and for a split second, instead of my reflection, I thought I saw a man, wait, he can’t be a man, he can’t even be a human. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes, and a nose that was as flat as a snake’s, with slits for nostrils. I blinked multiple times only to see myself in the mirror with a horrified expression. I took my flashlight out to examine the sink only to find a snake engraved on the tap. I started turning the tap, but instead of water , the floor under my feet gave away and I started falling into a void of nothingness.

After what seemed like hours, my legs finally made contact with the floor. I somehow managed to stand up, my whole body was shaking from the sudden event that took place. I saw my flashlight laying a couple feet away from me lighting up the darkness forming weird shadows on the wall. With every step I took towards my flashlight, I heard a loud ‘crunch’ that echoed in this enclosed area. I must be thousands of feet underground. I grabbed my flashlight and pointed it at the floor. My gasp echoed around the chamber, as I saw piles of bones laying on the floor. I started moving forwards with wobbly legs towards a hallway that led to nothing but a black void.

 I made it at the end of the hallway to find myself in a giant chamber filled with statues of snakes on each end. I held my breath as my eyes fell on a giant slimy, thick, green snakeskin innocently lying on the ground. It was about 50 feet long. I touched and scanned it when someone or SOMETHING grabbed my feet and pulled me to the ground. I was being supported by about hundreds, no, thousands of venomous cobras, my scream for help was barely audible over their hissing. Just then I saw a 50 foot large snake uncoiling itself. I was nearly sobbing as I continued to scream for help. The gigantic snake brought its face really close to mine with its eyes closed. 

Before I knew it, a pair of bright yellow eyes stared back at me and...