Huxley Manor is not a manor at all. It is like a palace. It is big and wide and and grey and filthy and uninteresting. But suddenly everyone seemed to take interest in it. A passerby had seven ways to the town, but they prefer the way where they can see the backside of the Huxley very well clear. There is only one way to the sports field and that by the Huxley Manor that falls on Griffiths Street. Griffiths Street is placid, calm even at times except when the drunken widow (who claims to have married the fourth ...Read More

‘Sir is not in the best of the behaviours. Beware,’ Beatrice lifts a little and mutters in my ear. means that he must be angry, with us or our performance or simply our mistake. ‘We will be Miss McNaughton.’ I whisper in her ears and we pass at the front door. Bailey has grabbed my hand so tight, blood could hardly be seen. She sighs, ‘Moment of truth,’ She is perhaps happier than I am. She opens the door, and there he is. Mister Cooper is sat on the lounging chair; Priscilla is just behind him stroking his hair. ...Read More

We planned this on the 3rd of December. After an overwhelming hour of crying, maybe it was her who this. No, maybe I did that. Candice told me how I could do that. We were in the middle of killing Ignatius during those days so I did not have many hours to spare with her but she told me them in brief. Then I left my room in middle nights discussing for long hours of how we could do that. She had the solution and I had more problems. For a time I thought I should shred this plan ...Read More

In the front parlour, Hannelore Ensley was playing the grand piano. Priscilla sat in the front sofa, while her maid stood next to her talking about something. Priscilla was not at all indulgent. She said it as she had been forced. As I appeared, she stopped, ‘It appears as if you’ve come from a long way.’ She said without glancing at me, probably spying over me from her tea saucer. ‘N-No, Ma’am; it is just the garden lawn,’ ‘The garden lawn seems to have outgrown from the tiger grass. Plenty of weeds there too, has not Ishmael cleaned ...Read More

Cooper is quite infamous around the house. He is not the best of house masters around the county. During plague, they said, he discarded Dr William’s proposal. Thought that is quite what all could expect from him. Dr Willaim is our family physician. Well, he was my father’s dear friend. And he was the one who got around our house during the harder times. Today, he also became the one to pronounce Bailey dead. He said he came by the Abbey’s Local Hospital, they say Schubert would die. He is not yet dead, they say. But of course, he ...Read More

It was during the evenfall, at the dining to be precise, when Cooper, with his head, bowed and lines in his skin paused. We all had to pause just the moment for the master. The master. Moore was the first to speak, ‘Do you need something-’ ‘I need answers.’ There was a pause. From the corner of my eye, I could see Mrs Linton, the housekeeper, trembling at the door. She stood there for a second, ‘Lord…’ ‘What is it?’ Priscilla asked with her voice raised by this incoherent interruption. ‘Your Ladyship, Miss Bailey, they left a… note, under ...Read More

Bharathy stood in front of me. Between us, was the fire, literally. Sean’s body was burning before my His eyes were wide open, as if he laid, staring out at this misbegotten sky, all so filled with smoke & dust, or the likes. Sean was my paternal uncle. He had been my Grand Perè’s second son. He could’ve been the Estate Heir, he was entitled to, actually. Though Cooper now held the power, I wonder if why he must consider him a threat. Sean suffered from a mysterious lung disease that could have been fatal if he inhaled arsenic. ...Read More

Moore had always been an ace. He had been an ace speaker, an ace detector, an ace actor, an person. His love for Bailey had been - as the Americans say - a ‘bluff’. A falsehood. He always followed my mother. He was very faithful to my mother, that I can say. On the Good Friday of 1934, my mother talked to him alone in the courtyard. Since then, he has been drawn to us and what we do and what we know. At first, no one could trust him. He was just so despicable. His aura on Bailey ...Read More

Candice looks at me, then looks at Bharathy. We cannot tell if she is confused, heartbroken… or angry. But certainly isn’t happy by our arrival for she snarled just as the door opened, revealing us. ‘So this is your wit, Ascendant Stapleton? Turning me to an asylum, saying I have lost my mind? What a way to rid your enemies… and indeed, enemies, for I cannot ever forget this day. Indeed…’ ‘I suppose you will not be interested in hearing my honey tone say why must you do this to me, and let me tell you this, I am ...Read More

Auxil stood at the doorstep. ‘What does it mean Ascendant?’ ‘It means that your doom awaits you, Sir You surely don’t want to get imprisoned for these charges.’ I eyed the photographs in his hands. They showed him and Cooper. Cooper is the representative of the Sociologists Union. If Auxil Lullaby agreed with him, the only resort of the people would lie in the despised Cooper’s hands. He carried the responsibility of several hundred ballets. And with Cooper, if he agreed, there would come a much awaited doom. ‘What do you want?’ ‘I want to know.’ ‘What?’ ‘Who the ...Read More

I Bharathy walked through the traffic at the railway station. She observed the people carefully. Even if Cooper his appearance, he would get caught by her hawk eyes. That she knew. Someone said that the 6 o'clock train was about to depart. She rushed after them and found Cooper quite easily. He was sitting by a window. He was looking out, as if gloomy. And then, she saw the brother. Christon Hunt. But just as soon as she spotted him, she climbed another train. The train was opposite to that of Cooper’s. That Auxil, she thought, such a liar ...Read More