Ch.1 A Trip to the Country

[peper757]

Mathew decides to step into the house and call out again. "Hello!?"

[Philulhu]

There was no response to Mathew’s call. The music from the radio continued.

[Techstar]

Walt follows Matthew through the doorway, looking carefully around him. This feels odd and Walt is a little uneasy, keeping still for a moment or two he will try and get a sense of whether there is anybody else in the house besides his companions.

[Philulhu]

From the direction of the phonogram, there was a scratching sound like a needle skipping across a record, then the lyrics of a new track could be heard.

”I saw the harbor lights
They only told me we were parting
The same old harbor lights that once brought you to me...”

[peper757]

Mathew decides to head further into the house to find the phonogram, continuing to call out as he does so.

[Philulhu]

The entrance hall is lined with dark wood and, with Mathew casting his shadow from the front door, it is dim, close and not especially welcoming. The music appears to be coming from the first door on the left, and there are other doors to the left and right down the sides of the hall.

[peper757]

Mathew walks up to the first door on the left and opens in, peering inside.

[Philulhu]

Old, heavy furniture and dark wood panelling gave the room a dull and tired feel. The only thing that was modern was the phonogram, which stood on the wall opposite the door.

As Mathew looked in, the phonogram issued a squarking noise as if it were being re-tuned and the golden voice of Frank Sinatra rolled for with his latest hit record...

“You're much, you're too much
And just too very very
To ever be, to ever be in Webster's dictionary
And so I'm borrowing a love song from the birds
To tell you that you're marvelous
To tell you that you're marvelous
To tell you that you're marvelous
Too marvelous for words...”

[Techstar]

Walt will move further down the hall to the next door, and pause outside it, listening and smelling the air in the passageway.

[Philulhu]

The air in the corridor was stale and old, as if the house had been locked up for a long time.

There were no obvious noise from the door by which Walt was stood, although the phonogram was drowning out any low level sounds. As Walt listened by the door, he could swear that the volume from the other room had just increased...

[Techstar]

Using the increased sound from the other room as cover, Walt will slowly open the door to the next room, but not yet enter it.

[Philulhu]

The door opened about a foot or so and then stopped. From where Walt stood, it appeared to be some sort of storage room, with tea chests, storage boxes and even a couple of old radiators propped against the wall.

[peper757]

Mathew walks over to the phonograph and takes the needle off of the record.

[Philulhu]

The gramophone record continues to turn for a few seconds before it slows and gradually comes to a halt. The house is eerily quiet for a moment or two, then there is the sound of wood scraping on wood, as if somewhere else in the house, furniture is being moved.

[peper757]

Mathew calls out again, as he starts to walk back into the hallway.