chiaroscurist

The initial salvo of The Banquet Hall (Mansion) Vol. 1is like watching a feel-good and a horror film at the same time with its comedic twists and turns. 

Our protagonist, Isabella, had a new baby after eighteen years of marriage with Aaron, a business tycoon, and was rumored seen with a man at the Lee’s mansion. The gossip mill rolled until Josh, Isabella’s son, Jan, and Fr. Robert took interest to find out whether the rumor was true. They were surprised with what they discovered in the end. How it came about is a revelation in the next volume of this book.

The Banquet Hall (Mansion) Vol. 1

The light slowly flickered, then, it totally went out. Then, it went on again. Suzy and Isabella held their chest out of nervousness for a while. Fr. Robert was smiling.     


"… riddance," he said. He had always looked at the bright side of things. 


Yuri was looking at Suzy. Josh and Jan were looking at each other. Eleanor and Zen went out of the baby's room to ask what happened. Isabella assured them that everything was fine and that the blackout lasted for only a few minutes. 


"This town is changing. We never had blackouts before," she said.   


Isabella assigned each one of them a room. Jan and Fr. Robert were in one room. The brothers Evan and Yuri were in another room. Josh had his own bedroom, and so was Suzy. Eleanor and Zen were in the baby's bedroom. Isabella was also now in her own bedroom. But that was what she thought because when she turned her back, Josh and friends almost simultaneously ran out of their bedrooms.


The rain stopped. The group moved to Jan and Fr. Robert's bedroom.  They did another trance. No one could access the so-called altered consciousness stage. Jan said he felt a strange presence. He was not only sure what it was. Fr. Robert said he felt a presence, too. Slowly, they agreed to move to the balustrade, where a man or a ghost had "allegedly" been seen with Isabella. 


There was no one in the balustrade—not an entity. They went down the stairs to the ballroom hall.  


But, wait. Something or someone was moving along the poolside. Or was it only a shadow? The group quietly marched to the poolside. 


They found Aaron swimming alone. He had just arrived, he said, and he wanted to relax for a few minutes. The quiet presence of Aaron could be discomforting to Isabella, yet soothing at times. Good their friends were giving her company.


"Looks like everybody's around," he noticed Fr. Robert and Jan.  Fr. Robert was a little embarrassed. They talked a little but didn't stay long because he was tired, he said, and he wanted to go to bed. 


When Aaron left, Fr. Robert was disappointed. Jan urged him to stay. He would have left were it not for Josh.        "


He prevailed upon Fr. Robert and Jan to stay. 


                                                                    xxxxxx


The night was cold and the guests were all in bed, but Jan and Fr. Robert were up. They wanted to make an observation of the mansion. Ghosts didn't appear where there were many people around, they thought, so they planned to wait until all was asleep. 


Then, from where they were hidden, they were looking at a shadow of a man standing behind the golden railings. He appeared to be a transparent celluloid figure covered by a white cloud. He was there in a few seconds, gone the next. Did he sense there were people around looking at him? 


Jan and Fr. Robert decided to find out more in the next days to come.


17 A night in the mansion