[Prompt 1] You mysteriously inherit a mansion from a long lost relative. You and your family move into the house and come to find out the house grants immortality as long as you never leave the premises. If you leave, you die.
[Prompt 2] You wake up after a night of drinking out with your friends. You don't remember much. The first thing you notice is that your hands were bound and you're on a moving carriage. Suddenly a person in front of you says "Hey you. You're finally awake"
Present day, 2020
This figure appeared by the gates again. It would be nice to touch her for once, I can't even remember how many decades, maybe centuries since I've been trapped in here. I yearn to see what the outside world is now but I don't think I could bare disappearing now.. not when I'm this old already and not when I've recently started making short exchanges with her. I do enjoy her stories and at times I even let myself slip with the world I knew of. I could well be over a hundred, maybe two hundred years old now, me and my family that is... We should have left this accursed place as soon as we found the chance a hundred years ago. That was probably one of our biggest mistakes. One that would definitely linger in my memory for as long as we remain alive.
***
1881
It was a Friday night, last day of classes and I made sure to ring my parents through the public telly to tell them that I'd be coming home late since a boy's night out was a much needed event after all the papers the university had assigned to us. Or so we all thought it would be. I wasn't even sure with the time nor how many pints we'd finished. The table was still in high spirits yet something felt odd. Like something or someone was watching me from the corner of this pub. Or maybe I was just beyond tipsy and paranoid. Didn't matter. Tonight should be a blast for tomorrow would be the start of the winter holidays and it would be a while before I would get to see these goons I call friends. Anyways, I was about to go to the bar counter again when I felt a sharp sting on the back of my head then all that followed was pitch black and a loud thud.
Had it not been for the swaying motion that made me feel like I was moving, I probably would have stayed unconscious until my arrival to god knows where they planned to take me. I wanted to sit up and rub where that lingering pain came from but to my surprise I found my hands bound, so were my feet. I had tried wriggling around, hoping to get a feel of what container I was even in. It was still dark, pitch black but I was certain I was moving. I could hear the tip tap of horse hooves on concrete. I groaned, making whatever noises I could despite my muffled mouth but I seem to be in a tightly sealed box or they were simply ignoring me.
My guesses were both wrong when a small slit of light came into view, there I saw a pair of eyes that were peering into my so-called cage "Hey you. You're finally awake." Again, I resumed my struggle and he only laughed. Were my attempts this futile?
The remainder of the trip was spent in silence, of course besides the fact that i still struggled to get out of my constraints but none seemed to work and i only gained a few scratches from all that friction on my skin. It stung but not as much as not knowing where or what I was up against. As soon as the movements stopped, two doors flung open and I could faintly make out the figures reaching for me. It was still night after all. They didn't seem to care about their hostage with how roughly they had grabbed me but what surprised me was that there were other carriages. I saw my parents, my younger sister and our dog, a few of our belongings in another carriage then gates. Huge ivy adorned gates and walls that seemed to have been there since the 16th century. The gates were still so magnificently well kept and surprisingly, so was the inside of it.
The gates opened and what I could only call as a castle stood tall and proud, it was opened too, as if welcoming us inside. We walked (more like got pushed inside by these hooligans) and there stood a man. Someone I could only say is one of the family's most respected ancestor. He who had started the wealth of the Knightly family. He who should have been dead since the end of the 17th century yet there he was, welcoming us in all youth and good health. This is too unreal.
"Welcome my descendants" His smile was that of pure ecstasy. It seemed like he was beyond pleased to have come face to face with his descendants. That or this man was just crazy but he looked like the spitting image of the man in the painting at home. The family home that is. What was he doing here?
"I know you have questions but I called for you here to offer a deal. I want your family to care for this house as I have for so many... years. But be warned, You can never escape this house... not until you find your next successors that carry the Knightly blood"
That years part, he was kidding about that, right?
"Sadly this house hates being lonely" I noticed how he seemed to be caressing the closest pillars and how he did so with much affection, as if caressing the woman of his dreams. "And also hates strangers... You people will simply live here. That's all we ask. The lands are as wide as the walls that surround this place. Make use of it. Do what you want. For now you may go out but for the next few years do take care when you do so. I do think I've extended my stay here in this house... It's time for me to travel. I was never allowed to as a child but now I do think i can"
We were all silent. He doesn't look like he would cater to our questions about this house, much more about what exactly he meant with his words. After his little monologue we were asked to unpack our items while he packed his. By dawn the next day, his carriage was ready and he was bidding the family adieu.
So this is what it's like to combine prompts @Ozzyy @Leo_kitti
Nice article