Into The World

#3 - Timeout

"Damn it!" Eliza lunges from the corner she had crammed herself into, rubbing her sore, broad shoulders.

             The chandelier at the center of the foyer dangles, barely held by a few unsteady screw collars. Eliza senses her wobbly legs as she dashes across the exceptionally extensive foyer, toward the fallen figure below the swaying chandelier. Subsequently, a screen materializes before her, displaying her decreasing heart rate.

                Just a few meters away, Jason writhes in pain as he flips on his back. He stiffens upon viewing the precarious chandelier above him, which hangs on to its ceiling mount through its last screw collar. Jason crawls backward but his hands slide on the slop spilt from the vase he tripped on earlier, causing him to fall on his back.

"God!" Jason rubs the back of his throbbing head. As he turns his head, he squints his eyes to see a pale Eliza, who clomps slowly toward him, her face scrunched up in anger and fret while her legs tremble.

Eliza sees Jason amidst her darkening surroundings, gesturing him to move as she collapses forward. "Move!" She says, when Jason continues to stare at her. She rubs her cold hands as she begins to succumb to her fatigue.

Snap!

The frail wires connected to the chandelier break, making Jason crawl faster in terror as the chandelier accelerates to the ground.

Bang!

The chandelier stops mid-air. Jason gasps as the chandelier's  just a few inches above him.

"M-m-move!" Eliza says, trying to keep her heavy eyes open.

Jason inches backward but suddenly freezes. Baffled upon seeing this, Eliza tries to move but realizes she's frozen too.

What is happening?

              A man, dressed in black, enters the well-lit Hall, a wide wearable wraps around his right hand, emitting a blue glow. A small bag swings in the man's left hand as he looks at the portraits that would be dangling if not frozen now. His gaze then falls on a fallen Eliza, just meters away from the frozen chandelier, her eyes half closed.

              With a snap of his long fingers, Eliza unfreezes. She concedes to the unusual warmth of the floor, unable to recognize the man, who rushes toward her, with her hazy vision. Darkness blinds her before the mystery man reaches her.

...

It was a stormy December evening, throng of lightning cracked the dark sky. The downpour entered its fifth hour, a cold biting wind howling against the cobblestone walls of Pearl Manor. The forest and lake on either side of the wide, waterlogged compound were barely visible, for a blanket of thick fog covered them.

            The Manor windows portrayed either faces that viewed the thunderstorm in awe, figures that were busy working on their scheduled tasks or the corridors that were well-lit; all except for one. This particular window on the first floor of the manor was covered with dense, black curtains. Behind it was a young women seated on her bed, her back against the wooden headboard while her legs stretch to the edge of her small bed.

             Eliza clasped the cup of hot cocoa in her small hands as she listened to the tunes through her headset, that was connected to a walkman beside her. Dark bags were found underneath her bloodshot eyes. Eliza hadn't slept for three days as she was too energetic to sleep: her first week as the Owner went smoothly and as planned.