Continuation of a fantasy story
Given text:
The day had been warm and sunny; and, in the cool of the evening, the whole family went out to drive. They did not return home till nine o'clock, when they had a light supper. The conversation in no way turned upon ghosts, so there were not even those primary conditions of receptive expectation which so often precede the presentation of psychical phenomena. No mention at all was made of the supernatural, nor was Sir Simon de Canterville alluded to in any way. At eleven o'clock the family retired, and by half-past all the lights were out. Sometime after, Mr Otis was awakened by a curious noise in the corridor, outside his room. It sounded like the clank of metal, and seemed to be coming nearer every moment. He got up at once, struck a match, and looked at the time. It was exactly one o'clock. He was quite calm, and felt his pulse, which was not at all feverish. The strange noise still continued, and with it he heard distinctly the sound of footsteps. He put on his slippers, took a small oblong phial out of his dressing case, and opened the door. Right in front of him he saw, in the wan moonlight, an old man of terrible aspect. His eyes were as red burning coals; long grey hair fell over his shoulders in matted coils; his garments, which were of antique cut, were soiled and ragged, and from his wrists and ankles hung heavy manacles and rusty gyves.
`My dear sir,' said Mr Otis, 'I really must insist on your oiling those chains, and have brought you for that purpose a small bottle of the Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator. It is said to be completely efficacious upon one application, and there are several testimonials to that effect on the wrapper. I shall leave it here for you by the bedroom candles, and will be happy to supply you with more should you require it.' With these words the United States Minister laid the bottle down on a marble table, and, closing his door, retired to rest. For a moment the Canterville ghost stood quite motionless; then, dashing the bottle violently upon the polished floor, he fled down the corridor, uttering horror groans, and emitting a ghastly green light. Just, however, as he reached the top of the great oak staircase, a door was flung open, two little whiterobed figures appeared, and a large pillow whizzed past his head! There was evidently no time to be Lost, so, hastily adopting the Fourth Dimension of Space as a means of escape, he vanished through the wainscoting, and the house became quite quiet. On reaching a small secret chamber in the left wing, he leaned up against a moonbeam to recover his breath, and began to try and realise his position.
Never, in a brilliant and uninterrupted career of three hundred years, had he been so grossly insulted. He thought of the Dowager Duchess, whom he had frightened into a fit as she stood before the glass in her lace and diamonds; of the four housemaids, who had gone off into hysterics when he merelygrinned at them through the curtains of one of the spare bedrooms; and of old Madame de Tremouillac, who, having wakened up one morning early and seen a skeleton seated in an armchair by the fire reading her diary, had been confined to her bed for six weeks with an attack of brain fever. All his great achievements came back to him again, from the butler who had shot himself in the pantry because he had seen a green hand tapping at the window pane, to the beautiful Lady Stutfield, who was always obliged to wear a black velvet band round her throat to hide the mark of five fingers burnt upon her white skin. And after all this some wretched modern Americans were to Come and offer him the Rising Sun Lubricator, and throw pillows at his head! It was quite unbearable. Besides, no ghost in history had ever been treated in this manner. Accordingly, he determined to have vengeance, and remained till daylight in an attitude of deep thought.
Credits: https://freeditorial.com/en/books/the-canterville-ghost/downloadbookepub/pdf, https://www.owleyes.org/text/canterville-ghost/read/chapter-ii, https://www.weblitera.com/book/?id=72, https://www.rasfoiesc.com/hobby/diverse/The-Supernatural-Answers-from-52.php, http://mywriterssite.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-canterville-ghost.html, http://www.logoslibrary.org/wilde/ghost/2.html, https://www.stevenseducation.com/canterville-ghost.html, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_Canterville_Ghost.djvu/42#:~:text=Right%20in%20front%20of%20him,heavy%20manacles%20and%20rusty%20gyves., https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-canterville-ghost-wildes-reverse-opposites-725590,
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_Canterville_Ghost.djvu/42#:~:text=His%20eyes%20were%20as%20red,heavy%20manacles%20and%20rusty%20gyves., https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_Canterville_Ghost.djvu/42Continuation:
For the next week, the Otis family saw my absence, for
I was planning all the atrocious ways in which I could avenge my brutal insult.
Clamp-thump-clamp-thump, in the basement, I moved with
the cumbersome armor on my body, in an attempt to petrify the Otis family. To
my bewilderment, my knees buckled, my body trembled, and I collapsed under the
immense pressure of the armor.
Dazed, the twins walked towards the basement and started
slinging rock pellets at me. In my annoyance, I passed right through them and
flew towards Mr. and Mrs. Otis’s bedroom.
“Boooooo…” I let out a series of ghostly moans to
terrify them. To my astonishment, Mr. Otis emerged from his room, with a bottle
in his hand which appeared to be a medicine.
“You look gruesome”, he extended his hand, “Take this
medicine and recover quickly. It is said to cure all fevers within three days.”
Furious, I instantly vaporized and went back to my
secret chamber.
I spent innumerable days trying to terrify the Otis
family, only in vain. They kept infuriating me with incessant traps like water
patches on the floor and constant offerings of health remedies, which I think
was caused due to my ghastly appearance.
At last, I accepted defeat and let the Otis family
live in peace. All of my encounters with the Otis family led me to conclude
that they were distinct and a deviation from the ideal mindset regarding
ghosts.
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