Elizabeth: Part XX

(Story begins here.)

The plan that began as something viable started to quickly lose its lustre the more he thought about it. He did not have to do any work of any sort other than keep house at the manor, which made the need for a satellite-based Internet connection something that was very hard to justify. That in itself is already the biggest stumbling block of the whole matter. Moreover, even if he could get a satellite connection to the Internet, there was no guarantee that he could easily obtain line-of-sight with the dish kept indoors---he had no idea how large those were also, which added to the overall difficulty. That made his plan of direct communication trying to say the least.

As he walked in the woods, Anton kept on thinking over and over again ways and means of overcoming the problems that he had been seeing. Outside communication was clearly of paramount importance; it seemed that the reasons why the other previous masters of the manor had what appeared to be unlucky endings was likely because they did not have outside communications access, which meant a severe limitation of the ability for fact-finding, and more importantly, access to reuly objective bystanders who could never be a part of any charade. Anton started to wonder to himself if anyone had attempted to leave the county on a trip in a bid to get outside access---it sounded like something that could have been considered and done even during the time when the Internet was not the predominant means of communication. He made a mental note to look that up among the journals to study the outcomes of that particular endeavour.

The more he thought of it, the more it felt like something was terribly amiss. The biggest question on Anton's mind was not the nature of Elizabeth---she could be a real ghost or some kind of optical illusion, it did not matter to him---but the nature of the entire situation that he was placed in, or rather, the intended outcome. Was it to be that he be left alive but humiliated in some manner, embarassed perhaps, or was he to be killed off the way the rest of the masters of the manor allegedly went through? The final outcome was probably the strongest factor behind the time pressure that Anton was facing, and it was the question that he knew would be near impossible to get an answer for. He could probably try to beat the housekeeper for an answer, but somehow he knew that he would get nothing at best and incur the collective wrath of the county folk at worst. But to be on the safe side, Anton decided to make the assumption that there was indeed a real threat to his life and safety, and as he made his way to the centre of the woods he made the decision to find a way to leave the county and get some outside research done as well as to keep in contact with his friends to get more support.

(Story continues here.)