Matthew, the boy, repeated, "the Octagon House." The boy looked confused. Gregory observed the boy and he looked like he was going to tumble out with a bunch of questions, that quite frankly, Gregory did not feel like dealing with. He would hand him over to Emmeline, after he was bandaged and dressed. He would wait for Emmeline for further instructions, which no doubt he expected from her.
"Are you hungry Matthew?"
"I'm starving."
"Okay." Gregory moved toward the door and called out, "Emmy, the boy is awake, and has completed bathing, prepare the food? We'll come out after I finish bandaging him up."
Who is Emmy? thought Matthew, he was sure he would be figuring out soon.
"Okay, take him to the dining room table, it is already set, I'll have the food out in a moment. " Emmeline called back.
Matthew hesitated at the sound of her voice. Her voice sounded familiar. Was this the one that was calling to him when he was unconscious?
Matthew watched Gregory meticulously bandage his wounds. When he grabbed a bottle of whiskey, Matthew was confused, until he realized that was what he was using to clean the wound. He hissed. Gregory blew on the whiskey covered wound, Matthew felt relief for a moment before he would do it to the next wound. He disinfected and wrapped each wound. He then exited the room and returned walking over to him.
Gregory came over and handed the boy a pile of neatly folded clothes. Matthew held the clothing staring at it.
He snapped out of it when Gregory asked, "Do you need help getting dressed?"
"No, no, I can do it." Matthew could smell moth balls on the clothes. "Where are my clothes?"
"Your clothes are being laundered and eventually stitched and repaired. They were in pretty bad shape, we thought it best to give you something clean to wear. Matthew unfolded the clothing, thinking it was a linen shirt. He held it open, it was a Linen dress. Gregory expected him to wear this? A dress?"
Gregory watched at the boy was staring at the nightgown, "is there something wrong with the nightgown."
"Yes, its a night gown."
Gregory was confused, he didn't understand what the problem was the only thing he could think of was that it was a little old fashioned, from the 1880's. He understood that some men would wear pajama pants, but the night gown was still 'in fashion' when he had died he expected it to be the same now too. "I apologize, I understand it is a bit dated."
"You wear a night gown?" Matthew questioned Gregory.
"Yes, I did."
Matthew furrowed his brows at the answer, what an odd way of saying it. Matthew nodded and looked at the nightgown. Maybe it was a joke, maybe it wasn't. He couldn't go around naked. Matthew opened the buttons at the top and slipped it over his head. He tried to stand up, but struggled. He felt like he was holding onto the chair for dear life.
Gregory assisted Matthew to the table and sat him on the end of the table with the only place setting. There was already a glass of water on the table.
Matthew accepted his help and looked sheepishly at this clothing, and the place setting in front of him. He took a sip of the water, guzzling it down quickly, he didn't realize how thirsty he was. When he set the cup back down it was empty.
Matthew turned his eyes and noticed a young woman entering the room, she had a tray of food. She set it on the table, noticing the empty water cup, "Gregory, will you bring a pitcher of the water in?"
Gregory nodded and exited the room only to come back seconds later with a pitcher of water and poured it for the young boy.
"Hello, My name is Emmeline," she smiled.
"Matthew." Matthew couldn't help but feel as if her smile was warmest he had ever seen.
"Well Matthew, I realized we don't have a grand feast for you, we weren't sure when you would wake up. We have salad with a simple fruit dressing, wild fruits." Emmeline turned to the man, "I think tomorrow you should hunt something. We can cook that tomorrow."
"Of course." Then he left. Gregory had no interest in listening to the boy and all his questions.
"Ar- are you hungry."
Emmeline smiled, "how thoughtful, but no, you eat up."
Matthew nodded. and he dug in. He had no experience with formal place settings, what the different plates or utensils meant, he used the same fork and the same plate the entire meal.
When he couldn't eat anymore, when he was satisfied, he set the fork down and he looked over at the woman that sat across from him, Emmeline. She didn't laugh at his clothing, she didn't even brother looking at it, other than when she first entered the room. It probably had to do more with his wounds he thought. This was the first time he had really seen her, but she was wearing a weird looking dress, nothing that he had ever seen before. Her hair was piled on top of her head that looked like something out of a history book. Wait! that was it, her dress was historical. He thought about the tub and his bath and the night gown he had received.
Did I go back in time? Matthew asked himself. Everything was off and odd. There didn't appear to be electricity in this room, there were candles and lamps that were illuminating the area.
Oh crap, how was he going to get back home? He definitely couldn't tell them. He had to pretend it was all normal. Matthew found himself getting a headache, "Thank you for the meal."