I.
The man at the gate told me that I've come to the wrong place. I shook my head and said, "That's not possible. I took a very long drive here." He looked at me from under his hat, with his hands folded together in front of him. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," he said. "There isn't anything for you here."
Behind him, I looked passed to see the estate beyond the gates set ablaze. Flames towered over the roofs and a fat woman wearing a hat with a tropical bird made a run for the gate, screaming a horrible scream while the train of her floral dress was caught by a small fire, chasing her.
"GILBERT!!!!" was the sound of her dreadful scream. She reached the gate and grabbed two bars, smiling at us calmly yet wild-eyed. As if the man was a fucking receptionist. "Has anyone seen Gilbert?" she asked steadying her voice. But she was failing. The shakes had her now and I knew she'll never sound pleasant again, if she ever had before. Her eyes were on us then up at the sky. "Oh Gilbert..." she wept quietly, her shoulders nodding. By now, you should know that I took a moment to contemplate shuffling back to my car and leaving behind this disorienting ordeal. But the man in the hat suddenly steps closer to the woman with his back facing me.
"Get back to the party," he said to her. "You're going to miss the party." Now his hands were folded together behind him. "Gilbert is inside with the rest. He's waiting for you."
She then suddenly stopped crying. Instantaneously, her eyes glazed with the reflection of the man's face and expression. The ugly man. Lines creased on top of another. White stubbles of hair covered most of his face and his white brows pointed in all directions. Strands pointed toward the estate, the woman, the gate, and me. This very ugly man. I felt my own teeth fall out of my mouth when I saw the yellow and purple rotted things in his mouth. Dots of saliva formed at the corners and decorated his face sodden and perverse. I couldn't leave.
The flames on the woman's train had the skirt of her dress now. She didn't make a sound apart from the grinding of her teeth, still fixed on the ugly man. "Run on back in," he said. "And your dress," he paused and stroked her index finger that still clutched on the metal bar. "...looks tasteful on you now."
Almost immediately, she turned around and ran screaming Gilbert.
...
