Lord Of The Manor

A short story.

               
Lord Of The Manor


The mansion stood elegantly in the grounds.  From afar people stared at it in awe.  It was owned by a Lord who was always on holiday, so no one from the nearby small town ever saw him.  But there were so many rumours about him circulating the place, it was clearly unbelievable.  Maybe a lot of it was jealousy, or maybe he was the vile man that a lot of people didn’t like, because of his leery looks at the local young girls as he passed them in his sports car.  
One man by the name of Steve had grown interested in the rumours, which were spreading fast about this rich b*****d who lived only up the road from him.  He needed to seek out the truth, because living in such a dreary place bored him senseless.  The moment this chap had moved in, life seemed to become more interesting over night.  
It was the first week of October and from the place loud music blared out, waking Steve up almost instantly.  He rubbed his eyes knowing what he needed to do.  Maybe the rich tosser was back from another holiday in the sun, partying by the sound of things, which wouldn’t impress many that lived close by.  To him this was an opportunity that he couldn’t miss.  And he couldn’t wait.  Recently he’d been laid off, so work in the morning wasn’t an issue.  Grabbing his digital camera he put some clothes on, then headed out of the door, excitement running through him.  He’d always been a troublemaker, even at school, throwing rubbers at the teachers, stuff like that really.  Nothing too serious, but silly things which amused him at the time.
At the end of the dark road with only a single lamp light he proceeded cautiously into a small woodland, which would take him to the back of the property.  Once there he could sneak into the premises undetected.  Years ago when the place was being renovated, him and a few mates would break in at night to drink beer, this is how he knew the best way in without being seen by anyone.  Trees surrounded him, but luckily he carried his small torch, pointing it towards the little path he made his way through carefully.  Countless lights were observed through the growth as the house was getting nearer.  Slight nerves were felt, knowing what he was doing was reckless.  But if he proved to the police that the Lord was up to no good, he would be known as a hero, then he could sell his story to the papers and make loads of cash.  Happy days.  Since he’d lost his job he didn’t have much money for the important things in life, like beer and takeaways.  Also on the crappier side of it all he was getting harassed by his landlord because he hadn’t paid his rent for a few weeks.  But hopefully tonight he will take some good photos of something incriminating, involving a man of such power, even the Queen would pee her pants at the thought.  He couldn’t wait.  Steve knew there was security at the place, but breaking in there as a kid, he knew exactly where to go.
Easy.
Finally he’d made it.  Brushing a thin branch away from his face proceeded cautiously onto the front lawn.  At the front of the building stood a guard on patrol.  He knew there were cameras about, but he also knew where to go so they wouldn’t pick him up.  On the left of him was a stable where the rich b*****d kept his horses.  He was a betting man you see.  Horse racing was a very profitable business for the Lord since he’d retired from politics.  Steve knew that catching this bloke doing anything dodgy would cause such outrage, it would bring down the houses of parliament, but Steve was penniless.  He just wanted to be rich himself, and enjoy some of the things these people with their massive houses enjoyed on a regular basis.  Steve wasn’t selfish, just bitter and twisted about the whole thing.  
He kept to the edge of the garden, crouching as low as he could.  His camera whacking him in the balls, which was starting to piss him off.  He’d made it to one end of the lawn, now behind the stables, then taking his time walked towards the mansion with only one thing on his mind, the money shot.  Looking again he saw the guard with the most glum look on his face while he licked his lips, probably wishing he was down the pub sinking pints, instead of being stuck here protecting this prick.  Steve giggled seeing the funny side.  Twenty metres from the building he decided to go the rest of the way on his hands and knees.  And while he did this he felt very silly indeed.
Happy days.  Not.
In front were a couple of steps, and staying as low as he could he climbed up them.  His knees began to hurt, as a few stones on the ground had dug in, causing him a little pain.  But with determination he carried on until he was a yard from the window, peering in he noticed a massive kitchen with two guests, a man in his fifties and a woman of similar age, drinking a glass of wine while they chatted about something.  He hated these b******s.  
Time to move on somewhere else, he thought.  
The guard must’ve gone in for a cup of tea, because he was no where to be seen.  Going in the opposite direction Steve made his way round the side of the building, until he reached another window, which was bigger in size.  With excitement rushing through him he peered through the glass, wishing an orgy was taking place involving the Lord and many naked young girls.  No such luck.  Reluctantly he carried on to the next bloody window, apart of him thinking this was a bad idea after all.  Finally reaching it with gritted teeth, he raised his head and peeked in.  All in all there were about seven people in the spacious living room.  The Lord with a smile on his face held a bottle of champagne while everyone clapped.  
What a tosser, Steve thought.  
He got his camera ready.  The cork had been released and the Lord poured all his guests a drink.  All of a sudden he heard a noise behind him.  Turning his head he realised with utter relief no one was there.  Phew.  He rubbed his eyes as they ached a little.  Lack of sleep being the reason behind this.  Since he hadn’t worked he had trouble nodding off at night.  And this was another reason why he was here doing this.  Because spending hours in bed staring at the ceiling, didn’t feel him with much joy.  He scratched his balls, then looking back through the glass noticed something rather disturbing.  All the people in the room began to take their clothes off.  What the hell?
A minute later the three blokes, including the Lord who had the smallest pecker you could ever imagine, and the remaining women, were completely naked, while they sipped from their glasses.  Moving the camera into position he waited patiently for the sex party to begin.  Then a butler appeared from a door which faced the window.  Then Steve saw something that scared him very much.  The servant who was a man in his older years with the whitest hair you’d ever seen, pushed a wheelbarrow to the centre of the room.  Laying in it was a girl no older than eighteen.  She was fully awake, but her wrists and ankles were tied with thick rope.  
“Please leave me be,” she screamed.
Steve’s heart sunk.  There was nothing he could do to help her.  
The Lord seemed to laugh at the girl’s plight.  The rich b*****d proceeded towards her holding his glass with delight.  The other guests laughed while mocking the girl.  The Lord raised his hands to his face, and clawing at his skin furiously, the worst thing happened as Steve watched with utter disgust.  Flaps of skin fell to the carpet.  Steve couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.  What the hell was going on?  Peering back up he noticed the Lord now had a green scaly head, and with that terrible sadistic grin on his face bent down down to the teenager’s throat.  Teeth sunk into her flesh as she lost all consciousness.  Steve needed the shot.  Focusing on the small screen he pressed the button on his camera.  The flash shone through the window, because he’d forgotten to turn it off.  He winced at his mistake.  With complete horror all the people in the room stared at him with awful looks on their faces, realising what he’d seen.  With haste he stuck the camera into his trouser pocket, before getting up to make a run for it.  It was already too late.  From behind him the guard appeared throwing him to the ground.  Then everything went dark.

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He came round completely confused by the situation he faced.  With complete shock he found himself in the Lord’s living room, standing a metre away stood the green b*****d.  “What the hell are you?” he asked.  On the Lord’s chin was dried blood.  Then Steve remembered and puked onto his lap.  “What the hell are you, you sick f**k?”
The man who now resembled a tall lizard, came closer.  He brushed Steve’s face with his sharp finger nails.  “Do you like spying on me, you sick f**k?  What gives you the right to invade my privacy.  Because of you, my guests have now left.  They’re scared of what you might say, but I told them I knew exactly what to do with you.”  
Steve’s balls began to itch again.  Realising his hands were tied with thick rope, he shouted, “Everyone will find out who you really are, because I’ll go to the papers, unless you pay me handsomely.  When I say handsomely, I mean a lot of cash.  Do you understand, you prick.”
The lord found this extremely funny.  “You’re an utter hypocrite.  I’ll pay you nothing.  Do you understand.  But I have something else in mind.  Would you like to know what that is?”
Steve didn’t know what to think.  Looking round the room for any chance of escape he saw the most horrific sight.  The girl was still in the wheelbarrow.  Her lifeless eyes staring at him from afar.  Her skin white as can be.  The blood drained from her body.  He began to cry.  “How could you?” he sobbed, unable to feel anything apart from utter terror.
The lizard giggled, enjoying every moment.  Steve heard him call out to someone.  Before he realised what was going on he was thrown into an empty wheelbarrow which the butler pushed.  Then taken to an unknown location.  “What’s happening?” he screamed.
The servant glanced at him with bemusement.  “The Lord is going to teach you a lesson.  And tomorrow morning you’ll know all about it, Steve.”
“How do you know my name?” he yelled.  At that moment he fell into a heavy sleep.

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He awoke, but something seemed different.  The thought of fried eggs on toast made him want to be sick.  What?  Last night then flooded back, and getting out of bed searched for his camera.  After many agonising minutes of searching everywhere, he found it sitting on top of the cabinet by the bed.  So if last night occurred why the hell was he back in his bed dressed only in his boxer shorts, maybe he was losing the plot?      S**t, this isn’t good, he kept thinking. 
Nothing made sense, until he saw a spider.  With no control he picked it up and stuck it in his mouth.  It tasted lovely, like the best steak in the world.  The thought of a juicy steak caused him to puke all over his legs.  In it was the dead spider.  
God, what the hell was going on?
A terrible feeling entered his mind.  What if the b******s in the mansion had done something to him?  To teach him a lesson for prying into their business.  He noticed his heart beating more than normal.  Even though the dead, squashed spider lay in the puke he couldn’t help himself.  Using his fingers he fished it out and stuck it back in his gob.  For some bizarre reason it tasted beautiful, like dining in the best restaurant and ordering the finest meal.  His skin felt different, it was hard to explain.  Because he had no mirrors in the bedroom he proceeded quickly to the bathroom.  Once in, Steve stared at his face for ages.  Thankfully he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.  A fly landed on his forehead.  Usually when a fly appeared he would whack it with the newspaper, but for some odd reason he watched it with interest.  Then with utter shock he heard its thoughts.  
“Yum, yum.  Tasty flesh to feast on.”  
With that the fly began tearing little bits of skin away.  Underneath a new skin appeared, dark green in colour.  Steve screamed louder than he’d ever known.  He tore the insect off and threw it to the floor.  With his hands he began taking the loose skin off his face.  
Within seconds a scaly face stared back at him.  All of a sudden he realised what had happened.  The b******s had changed him, turning him into this awful creature.  He tried to cry, but the fly laying dead by his feet entered his mind.  
Food.  
He picked it up, then swallowed it.  Lovely.  What the hell was wrong with him.  Steve needed answers.  Halloween was soon, so slipping on a monster mask he made his way to the Lord’s mansion, needing an explanation why he woke up this morning as a tall lizard man.  The more he thought about it the less he believed it.  At one point he stopped at the end of the busy street laughing hysterically at the whole affair.  It was clearly ridiculous.  Then it dawned on him how terrible this situation was, but somewhere in his brain he found it hard to truly believe this was happening.  Then the tears came, people walking passed him gave him strange looks, some muttered to themselves seeming disgusted by his behaviour.  Steve couldn’t handle it any more.  By accident the mask fell to the path.  One child nearby at first seemed amused by this.  Even the mother giggled by how good the make up was, until they came closer.      Steve couldn’t take any more, and stood up, while shouting, “Just leave me f*****g alone.”  
The mother was horrified as she grabbed her son and ran as quick as she could to get away from the monster.  Suddenly screams were heard everywhere, as other people had seen the monstrosity on their street.  Some came closer, anger on their faces.  Steve punched two or three blokes hard in the nose to escape them.  And while he ran the road disappeared quickly away from the horrified crowd.  Fear rushing through him he carried on running to a place he used to visit as a child.  A place of wonder and magic.  
Minutes later he made his way through the trees, entering a large forest.  In the near distance police sirens echoed everywhere, causing him to stop.  
Are they after me?
A rabbit appeared sniffing his trouser leg.  
Food.  
He picked it up.  The cute animal stared at him with its cute eyes.  A moment later it was dead.  Blood ran down his chin.  The problem was he was still hungry.  He needed something else to feast on, because the pains in his stomach was driving him up the wall.  He ventured in even further.  As a boy he would come here regularly and play with some mates.  Then he remembered a place close by where he could hide, giving him some time to work out what the hell was going on, and how to fix it?
Fifteen minutes later the cave appeared through the growth.  He crept in tired and confused.  Laying his head down on a boulder, he tried to workout exactly what had happened to him last night.  
How was any of this possible?  
The faint sun shone through the opening.  All of a sudden it was blocked by something or someone outside.  He stared nervously at the mysterious figure in front.  Hoping it wasn’t the police to arrest him.  A deer peered in, not even noticing him lurking in the shadows.  
Food.  
With enormous speed he flew towards the animal biting its neck before it could make a run for it.  The deer fell to the ground.  Steve then feasted on its flesh.  
Back in the cave the lizard fell into a deep sleep.  Outside darkness had consumed the entire area.  And for a little while the creature had forgotten the dilemma it faced, as pleasant dreams came into its mind of hunting and eating.  Slowly the human side was fading.  And while Steve screamed in the fog, the animal was taking control.  

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After a while only silence.  The lizard preferred this.  It would spend its days hunting the little animals which lived in the place.  To this being it meant nothing more than survival.  The cave made a nice shelter for when it rained.  Also another good thing about this certain area was, no one ever came through here as most people liked the smaller forest on the other side of the town.  Steve was long gone.  His memories now a haze amongst animal instinct.  In the day times the creature would hide in its home, sleeping, mainly to preserve its energy for when the sun went down and searching for food would begin.  To this terrible animal nothing else mattered, apart from sleeping and eating.  Then one day when the rain fell down with a fury causing flooding in the cave for the first time.  A voice came to him.  It knew what it meant, the master who’d created him was calling out to him.  “Come to me, servant.  As time has come for you to join the family.”
The creature sick of laying in puddles, stood, listening to this voice with interest.  After all this time alone, the master finally needed him.  Sniffing the air it made its way with great speed through the forest and windswept trees.  Thankfully it was night time, so staying in the shadows and keeping an eye out for anyone else, proceeded to its new home.  Finally at the gate the creature stared up at the huge mansion covered in lights.  The gate opened and a guard came towards him.  “Come with me, Steve.  The Lord wants to see you.”
Inside the grounds both walked to the front entrance.  And standing in the doorway stood the Lord with a big smile on his face.  “Welcome home,” was all he said.  Then all three entered the building.  And after all this time Steve finally felt like he belonged.


                         The End