Something caught the corner of my eye as we stood in the entry area.
I dismissed it as I took in the area. There was a large wide staircase directly in front of us and it branched off to the right and to the left onto the nest floor.
Then I saw something moving again just to the side of me and I turned around quickly just in time to see a dark shadow dart behind dare green velvet curtains that were hanging across what looked like a doorway.

I turned to my two companions and saw that they had also seen something. Their faces were white, eyes like saucers and mouths open - but no words were coming out.

As we stood there looking at each other a very large man accompanied by a smaller one came in behind us carrying our luggage and without a word motioned us to follow them up the stairs to our quarters.

The one thing that was really spooky was that even on the parquet wood floors there was no noise from our footsteps - the only noise was the sound of the waves and the wind outside.
Then the big doors behind us shut with a thud that made us jump and we quickly followed these two men up the stairs to the left.

This is certainly not what we expected. What was it that we saw? The chill that ran down the spine tells me it was an "other-worldly" or ghost phenomena. This place is so isolated getting help here would take forever.

The two men showed us our suite of rooms...which were extravagant, to say the least. Just as I was about to ask them some questions, they slipped out of our rooms before I could recover enough to speak. Then I heard a loud "click". Oh dear, it sounded like they locked the door. That chill came back as quickly as the thought crossed my mind. Only now it wasn't confined to my spine.

We all quickly ran to check and sure enough, we were locked in like prisoners. We ran through all of the suite rooms and found no signs of any other exit. I could feel the panic growing more with each passing moment.

Suddenly a tiny woman came through the door that had been locked. She said "here are the rules you will follow".

1. There are no phones here and you will not attempt to contact anyone on the outside;

2. You will dress for dinner - formal.

3. You will NEVER be late for a meal;

4. You will say nothing about your host's appearance;

5. You will ask no questions as to why you are here.

She told us that we were here for our own good and we would understand why we were brought here soon.

She then disappeared through the door and again locked it. We were stunned and began to whisper to each other - "what is going on?" We heard a loud voice say "I TOLD YOU TO ASK NO QUESTIONS!". We went silent and began dressing for our evening meal.

OK -

We are sitting at the dinner table and our host comes in - tap dancing and wearing a clown mask. We are a bit stunned but start laughing thinking this was being done for our entertainment. Our host snaps "shut up" - I'm practicing for the circus and I don't want to be distracted.

We can hardly hold our laughter in as he continues to dance around the table - doing terrible clown tricks which he is apparently very proud of. We're waiting to see if the rest of the guests will arrive packed into a clown car.....

As our host seats himself at the table - he sits on a buzzer which sent him into gales of laughter. Should we laugh too? We didn't know - this guy seems to be a bit of a whack job.

When we were dressed the door clicked again and we cautiously opened it and as there was no-one there we went onto the hall which was very long, and in fact we couldn't see the end of it in either direction. but mindful of the "rules" we walked down the stairs to be met by one of the men who had taken our luggage up to the rooms and he motioned us towards the door to our left and then silently harried away in the opposite direction.

The only sounds we could hear were the continual wind and the sea pounding on the rocks below. Even our footsteps make no noise as we walked across towards the door, a double wood one which was carved with many different sea animals, both real and mythical - with large brass knobs. As we entered we saw a long polished oak table with matching chairs. At one end there was a place set with a large padded armed chair and at the other were six places set, three on each side, with straight backed chairs with plain wooden seats and backs. at each place there was a name on a silver platter as we found our own and took our seats. We had a chance to look around at the room which was ........

just as we were about to say something another group of people arrived silently and took their places at the same end of the table. They had obviously been here before as they didn't even look for the name but took their seats, folded their hands in front of them and made no eye contact either with us or with each other.

I looked at my friends and was just opening my moth to ask these people who they were and why we were all here when two men appeared - the same ones who had met us when we arrived.
Now they had formal suits and black bow-ties on. We watched as they glided - well that is how it looked to us - over the one set of drapes at the other end of the room and drew them back to reveal a door that was slowly opening.

As we watched in the flickering candles as the breeze came through the door the person whom we guessed was our host arrived. The two men bowed and closed the door and the drapes leaving as silently as they had some.

We now got the first glimpse of our host as he sat at the head of the table.
It was quite a surprise as he..................

Time to bring the games back to page 1

Hat - what does that mean?