- A Month Later-


Rainsford was startled when he woke up to a horrifying screech that ended in silence. This had caught him off guard at first, then brought a devious smirk to his face once he recognized what it was.
"Ha," he chuckled to himself, "I guess the job's done for me today."
He looked over at the clock on the nightstand. It read 9:07 am. He decided he had slept long enough, so he got up, and went to pick out his outfit. For today, he felt like dressing up, since he was expecting company, so he picked out a navy blue suit, with a white button up shirt to go under, along with a maroon tie, and of course, his favorite black loafers. He stumbled down the long, bellowing staircase and into the kitchen. He was about to get out a piece of bread to make some toast, when he heard a knock at the door. He mentally prepared himself for what he knew was going to happen. He confidentially walked to the door, took one last breath before putting on his "nice guy" face, and opened the door, to see someone he thought he'd never see again.
"...RAINSFORD?! IS IT REALLY YOU?!" the man exclaimed, looking dirty, and roughed up.

At first he didn't recognize the annoyingly high spirited man, until he stared at him for what seemed like years. Then it hit him; it was his long lost friend, Whitney.

Rainsford was shocked, and speechless. All the sudden his stomach turned into knots and he started to break into a sweat. What was he going to say about this? Who's mansion was this? Who's clothes was he in? It was all a big whirlwind of thoughts that made him more and more petrified as each second passed by.
"IT IS YOU! OH RAINSFORD, I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER THE PLACE FOR YOU! MY SHIP EVEN CRASHED LAST NIGHT, AND I HAD TO SWIM HERE TO THE NEAREST LAND I COULD FIND! WELL, IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT. I THOUGHT I'D NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN!" Whitney shouted with all of the energy he could possibly muster from his exhausted body.
"Me neither..." Rainsford thought to himself.

Rainsford was about to say something, he didn't know what, but got cut off as he saw Whitney lunge towards him, to where all he could see was Whitney's jacket in his face. He had embraced him like he had found a lost puppy.
"It's so good to see you. You have no idea." Whitney said, as he pulled away and studied Rainsford's face and fancy clothes. He seemed disappointed Rainsford didn't return the excitement back to him, but he just blew it off. Finally, Whitney came back to reality, and asked, "Wait, why are you wearing that? Who's house is this?" The excitement on his face drained away, and a look of confusion replaced it; his eyebrows pushed towards each other.
"Uh, well, when I fell off the yacht that night, kind of like what happened to you," Rainsford stated 'ironically', "I swam to the nearest land I could find, and I found this island, and this house. And a, um... kind gentleman let me stay here until I got my feet on the ground again, but then I realized I didn't know how to get home, so I've just been staying here. The gentleman isn't here at the moment, so I'm watching over the house."

Whitney simply nodded his head, still looking at and around Rainsford in disbelief.
"Well, let's go! I finally found you! We can go home!" Whitney said with a sincere smile, trying to reassure to Rainsford that Whitney was still the good friend he was a month ago.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold your horses. You just got here. Come in." Rainsford said politely stepping aside, gesturing for Whitney to walk in first. Whitney did so, and as he did, admired every square inch of the house. The high, vaulted ceilings, the expensive paintings that danced along the walls, the crystal chandelier that hanged in the middle of the foyer. There was no way around it: The man Rainsford was staying with was a rich man. Little did Whitney know, this was no longer occupied by General Zarroff.

Rainsford pulled out 2 of the 14 chairs placed around the long, elegant dining room table.
"Go ahead, pick one." Rainsford said.

Whitney chose the one nearest him, adjacent to the chair at the head of the table, and sat down, sinking his limp body into the cashmere chair. He sat there for a minute, letting all of this sink in, but his thoughts were soon interrupted by the thick aroma of eggs and bacon being prepared. As soon as they were done, Rainsford put them evenly onto two separate plates. He served the plate in his left hand to Whitney, and the other he daintily rested upon the table in front of him, barely making a sound. As soon as Whitney got the opportunity, he dove right into the food like it was a swimming pool.
"My goodness, this is the best bacon I've ever tasted!" Whitney exclaimed.
"Well, that's good to hear. It's my new recipe. Glad it turned out well." Rainsford said, with a wicked grin.

Whitney found this quite odd, but the growling of his stomach soon distracted him, and he began to eat again.
"When ever you're done, I'll take your plate for you, and I'll show you around outside a little bit, okay?" Rainsford asked, basically telling Whitney to hurry up. Rainsford was very anxious.

Whitney took a couple more bites of what tasted like the best breakfast he had ever had, and then sacrificed the dish to Rainsford. He put the dishes in the shiny metallic sink, then walked towards Whitney.
"Alrighty then, follow me." Rainsford said, as he walked in front of Whitney.

* * *



After walking for longer than he intended to, Whitney asked, "So, what are we doing out here?" Looking at the ominous forest that lay ahead of him.
"To hunt, my friend! Remember? We always used to hunt together." Rainsford replied with a heartless grin. This started to make Whitney regret coming to find him. What had happened to him?
"You know we should really get go---"
"WE'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Rainsford scowled.

Whitney pressed his lips together, and held back his words. After a long moment of silence, he finally intervened and said, "Well, what are we going to be hunting then? I mean I don't have any gear."
"Hmm, we. That's interesting." Rainsford added sarcastically.
"...What do you mean?" Whitney asked hesitantly.
"Don't you mean I? What am I going to be hunting?" Rainsford replied. The remainder of sanity was gone from his demeanor. All that was left was dark eyes, and a violent, corrupted mind. All that was on Rainsford's mind, was game.
"Wait WHAT?" Whitney seemed to squeeze in, before Rainsford pulled out a pistol from his pocket and shot up towards the sky. Whitney instinctively flinched and knelt into a ball; the echoing of the shot ringing through his ears.
"Good reflexes," Rainsford said, impressed. "That'll be useful. Oh, and by the way, that bacon wasn't made from pork."

Before Whitney could get up and reply to his 'friend', Rainsford was out of sight. What Whitney could not see was the glint of dominance in Rainsford's eyes as he walked away, knowing what he was going to be hunting tonight.