‘Ey kid – good to see you back. Sorry about the weather – it’s turned a bit foggy and misty out there, ant it? It usually does around this time of the year – it’s with the island bein’ in the middle of the Mersey Estuary – in our little Mersey Triangle. It’s more an oblong but the Mersey Oblong doesn’t sound nearly as good. Amy Brock will be along later to give a bit more information about the island , and I believe she’ll ‘ave the correct name for the Triangle or whatever it really is.
Ooh, sorry – if you’ve just come to this post, an’ not the first one, you’ll be wonderin’ who the heck I am. I’m Agnes Ontario, and I will be your ‘ost for the evenin’. Tom ‘as very kindly given ‘is blog up on ‘allowe’en (of all nights!) so we islanders can provide a bit of Mystic Springs magic. Well, a few snippets that may be interestin’. I’ll be providin’ my own post a little later on, but from now, and until then, I’ll be appearin’ in italics! I always thought that was an ancient civilisation, like the Incas, the Mayans and the Italics, but I was told early on I was in error. I sometimes am. None of us are perfect, but it’s our imperfections that make us special.
I’ll see you in a bit. For now, we’re goin’ across to Number Seven, where the Grumbellses are playin’ a little game…
ARCHIE: But mum! I wanted the strawberry ice cream and she had it!
TULIP: I thought you gave it to me, Archie. I didn’t just take it!
ARCHIE: You did! You just took it. She just took it, mum, she did.
TULIP: Archie, you don’t normally like the strawberry one. You normally have blood orange.
ARCHIE: I wanted strawberry tonight. It’s not fair! Mum!
MAUDE: Children! Enough! We’ll settle this later. Our guest has arrived, and look at the racket you both are making. Archie – have the blood orange one and apologise to your sister. I saw you give her the strawberry one earlier.
ARCHIE: But, mum!
MAUDE: Enough! Now run along, the pair of you, to the living room where Dad and Xavier are. I’ll be with you in a moment.
TULIP: C’mon, Archie. It’s OK. I told you you gave it to me.
MAUDE: Sorry about that. Just another normal evening here at number seven. Please come in. I hope you don’t mind the candles, we haven’t had electricity since the 1970s. We much prefer the darkness you see.
Do you like the decor? Gravestone Grey with a craquelure effect on the walls throughout the house. My favourite room is this one, the hallway, and the living room. We had the arch ceiling put in last month and the hallway looks lovely and ominous. We’ve had the shelving built into the walls so that they trap quite a lot of the light from the candles here, and sometimes, especially when we use the large candles, they look like torches on a dank cave wall. We also had the running water feature added along the wall as well at the same time as the ceiling, which gives a soothing echo. I love it.
The outside of the front door is plain black, but inside, as you can see is blood red. We made it look old especially. We like old things.
Speaking of old, wait until you see the chandelier in the living room. Fifteenth Century true Gothic styling. We don’t use it, it’s just there for the ambience, and it shows the cobwebs off remarkably well. That’s another thing we all like. The spiders know how to make their mark on the decor. I swear they all moved in once we’d finished decorating. There’s a wolf spider up in one of the bedrooms, and Archie has his own tarantula. He’s made quite a few nice wall hangings from the shed skin. He’s quite the artist.
We’re going to play a game of Statues tonight. We love it. Hallowe’en is always Games Night here. With Statues, one of us leaves the room to make a blood fruit cocktail or something, and the others get themselves into the oddest positions. Then, we take out the dusty old furniture covers, and cover everyone and everything in the room. One person remains uncovered as the umpire – although we call them the vampire! – and the person who left the room goes back in, and without touching anything has to say who or what is under the cover. The one with the most correct guesses is declared the winner of the game – but in our game we have a twist, the loser wins. The one with the least correct answers gets the trophy. And the vampire’s decision is final.
ARCHIE: Mum!!! We’re ready. Xavier is the first vampire!
MAUDE: Ooh, it’s time for the fun to begin. I’ll take this tray of blood fruit cocktail in for after the game, it’s better once it has been warmed slightly by the candles. Come through, if you’d like to join in. The last guest who joined us is still here – they literally turned into a stone statue in the corner, and they look as though they are enjoying themselves so much it’s a shame to turn them back.
I’m sure you’ll have f—oh. Our guest has gone. I knew I should have locked the door. Ah well. Another guest will be along soon, and we can play Snap. With real bones. We really like that game.
TULIP: Mum!!!
MAUDE: Coming children. Just locking the door. For now…
The Mansionic Perspective 
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