824. The Train (Seeking Monthly Votes at the End of the Month)

Train

Storm Manor.

In the middle of the night, Mary woke up.

Clang! Clang!

Amid the silence, only the long pendulum of the grand mahogany clock continued swaying back and forth, producing faint sounds.

She had grown up on this estate and knew that her parents loved mechanical objects such as clocks.

In the manor's main hall, along the corridors, and inside the master's collection room, what was displayed were not valuable antiques, but one mechanical object after another.

And mechanical clocks of every kind were the couple's greatest passion.

Dong! Dong!

The clock struck twelve.

"Nanny! Nanny!"

Mary called out several times, but no one answered.

She climbed out of bed, wearing her nightgown and rubbing her eyes.

Orange candlelight shone through the crack beneath the door.

Clutching her teddy bear, the little girl quietly slipped out of her bedroom. Perhaps she merely wanted a novel adventure, or perhaps it was simply an unconscious stroll.

The nannies, maids, footmen, and butler in the manor... They've all seemed a little strange lately...

Thinking this, Mary reached a corner.

She saw the butler Bob slumped there, expressionless, his eyes wide open like a puppet.

The little girl was instantly terrified.

Only after a long while did she grit her teeth and step forward to push Bob's shoulder.

Crack!

At that touch, Bob's head fell right off, and gears, bearings, and springs popped out from the joint at his neck.

"Ah!"

Frightened out of her wits, Mary raced down the long corridor, wanting to find her mother and father.

"Miss..."

On the way, she saw a maid.

The woman moved with unnatural stiffness, as though she were merely a wound-up doll. Her joints creaked as she moved. "Wandering about at night is not the behavior of a lady."

She reached out, seemingly