InterActiveNovels: The Castle Of Otranto

 

The tourist guide showed me the interior of the Otranto Castle. I asked to show me the trapdoor described in the gothic novel The Castle of Otranto, and with a haughty voice told me that such a trapdoor existed only in the novel.

At this point I decided to immerse myself in the novel, and behold, I was in front of a painting of Saint Nicholas.

I looked at it very intensely, and at some point a friar told me if he could explain the painting, I accepted.

The friar was Jerome, in his eyes I saw a staunch devotion, he told me that Saint Nicholas, he was the bishop of the catholic church. Being rich he gave three poor girls his money, to pay the costs of a marriage.

The church smelled of incense and wood, there were lots of lit candles, and what about the drafts? which, playing with the shadows, created disturbing geometric figures.

In a calm voice I asked the friar to confess to me, very kindly he pointed me to the confessional, and here is the trapdoor right under my feet.

After the confession we stayed outside the church to chat about the weather, on my left I saw the gigantic statue of Alfonso with his enormous helmet with feathers moved by the wind.

He told me that Alfonso was the ruler of the castle, then whispering to my ears told me that his marble tomb was empty.

I said to him where his body, with his eyes he pointed out the trap door to me.

After a while Jerome told me that under it there is a secret passage which leads to the castle, haunted by spirits and humidity. In addition it is impossible to keep a candle lit, due to smelly drafts very similar to bad breath.

Jerome opened the trap door, the tunnel was completely dark, There were wet iron steps on the wall, I was afraid to go down, my curiosity won over my fear.

On the floor I turned right, the tunnel was wet. On the walls there were very small streams of water almost frozen.

My shoes were completely immersed in the mud, so I walked very slowly to avoid slipping.

I walked for at least three hundred metres. The trap door above my head was open, once out in front of me was the castle of Otranto. I crossed the drawbridge and found myself in front of a huge wooden and iron door.

Jerome rang the bell, it sounded to me like some sort of morse code. After a few minutes Matilda opened the door.

The eyes of Matilda shone like the light of a lighthouse in the middle of the night, they were of a blue colour that I never saw, her clothes were refined, her hair was long and blond, and then her words sounded like a melody.

Matilde told me to clean my shoes, Jerome walked barefoot on a very cold black marble floor with shades of white.

In front of me there was an immense staircase, because of the darkness I saw only part of it. On its sides there were two suits of armour, with their arms folded.

I had the feeling that both of them were welcoming me, surely I was prey to an illusion.

Once on the second floor Matilda told me that my room was at the end of the tunnel, that on the right.

She gave me a very heavy iron key.

I found some difficulties opening it.

I raised my head, above my door there was a bi painting, the frame was decorated with flowers, on the canvas was painted a nobleman dressed like a general, on his head there was a helmet with feathers and a sword that seemed very sharp.

His eyes were like those of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, who were watching my movements, everything was normal except that I seemed to hear a faint laugh because of my clumsiness.

After some difficulty I managed to open the wooden door, my room was immense, in the centre an immense bed with a canopy, on its four sides there were lit candles, the flames seemed synchronised, then I noticed a painting with the same person depicted in the previous painting, but here he was dressed as an orchestra conductor with his baton that seemed magical to me since it was also synchronised with the flames of the candles.

Suddenly a fire lit up under an immense fireplace, its shadows dancing with the flames, I seemed to hear the moonlight of Beethoven.

I was too tired, on the bed there were pajamas that fit me.

On the nightstand I noticed a pile of papers, the first draft of the castle of Otranto.