The House and the Lake (Prelude)

"If there was anything i could do..."
"There is nothing you could do..."
"Maybe not now, but, who knows, maybe in the future..."

We had a fight like this once in a while.
It was just too hard for us both to accept that she wouldnt be around in a
short amount of time.
We were aware of the fact that everybody dies, nobody is free from their duty
towards the grave. But her case was different.
If someone died in their sleep from a heart attack, it was a shock for
everybody, but it couldnt be helped.
But if someone was slowly being eaten away by a sickness with no possible
cure, then the situation changed.
We tried our best to live every single day as if it would be her last and as if
she would live forever, but sometimes we got blown away by reality,
impossing itself on us, forcing us to look to its way. There wasnt too much
time left.
She didnt play the violin anymore.

"Why waste time on that?"
"Because art has never and will never be a waste of time"

Sometimes i convinced her with that simple statement. She would get up
from the bed and get the old, yet beautiful and heavenly sounding Stradivarius
violin out of its case. She would play enthralling music, making me loose
myself in its wake, completely possesed by the magic of each note.
Slowly dripping on me, the melody made its way from the violin to infinity.
That sound would always be there, no matter if she would not play anymore,
no matter if she were to fade away. The memory remained and thus she
would live on with me, no matter what, no matter when.
While i listened to her i gazed at the old willow that poured its branches into
the lake.
A lake full of life.
And our house would remain as full of life as the lake as far as we would
make it toghether.
And time played no role no more.
We had to life each day through. Nothing mattered more than her, her well
being, her everything...

Unbroken silence would hang in the air after she finished playing.
She would then put the violin back in its case, sadness stricken picture
painted on her face, a lonely tear rolling down her cheek.
It had become a habit for me to collect that tear and put it in a jar with the
rest of her sisters, so they would stay toghether and keep company.
I would do the same for her as long as i could.
Laying on the bed, her breath steady for maybe not too long, her head on my
chest. I would stare at the ceiling watching time pass by, not giving us a
spare minute to enjoy toghether...

The Slave

We are all slaves, children of darkness.
Sentenced to the world of fairy tales.
As slaves we are condemned to live
together in the darkest tales.
And when the moon glides on us,
high above on the star spread ceiling
in the unique experience
that is every single night,
we shall seek out the heart
that we desire most.
And nights go by,
and notes are played,
yet the music remains the same,
every time the melody
that lures us out of our hiding,
out of darkness
to witness the moons beauty one more time
to search for what we long for
what we once had, but no more.
And if the day were to come
in which the music ceased
we would go out hunting for the notes
scattered around the world they would be
lost, frightened, maybe even forgotten
our duty it will be to put back the piece
restore the melody that keeps us awake

That was the oath sworn by the ghosts once they were reawakened.
Death itself made us swear on its scite that we would, if there ever was the

need, restore the music.
The music that kept us alive. If it stopped playing for too long, our existence

would fade for ever from this world.
What created that music?
Where did it come from?
I can just tell that i hear it every night, when the moon reaches the peak.
The notes sound as if they were being poured into my ears slowly, like a

think liquid, into my head.
I can just hope that the music never stops...
I dont really know what i would be supposed to do if that were to happen.
I gaze up at the nightsky.
A beautiful night it is, but the dawn may bring sorrow upon me.
It may not go well, it may fail miserably.
I can just wish for everything to turn out for the best, as there isnt much more

i can do.
If he were to get out alive, where would he go anyway?
The nagging feeling of guilt wont leave me on this night.
I put him in this situation, yet i havent concerned myself with thinking what

could happen once he got out.
I remember there was a village near here, one in which there were still some

of the living. Maybe he could find shelter there...
The moon bathes me in its light.
I feel better now, the moon gives us ghosts some kind of energy i guess.
Dawn is approaching and i should be on my way...

The Daemonion

The night ended, as ended a chapter in my life.
From that sunrise on a new light would shine for me.
Everything lived before i would have to carry with me, not as a burden, but as a reminder of where i came from, as an experience i would treasure.
*I have good and bad news* she whispered softly into my ear.
"Bad ones first at this time of the morning* i muttered, still half asleep.
*Escaping from here is far from easy*
"I could have expected as much"
*No, you cant imagine...*
"Try me"
*The food comes from a vent...*
"Nothing strange about it"
*But i cant really tell where it ends, its a labyrinth, as if they expected that you would try to flee*
"So? you could guide me..."
*I cant...*
"How come you cant? You are, please forgive my bluntness, a ghost, there is no wall that can block your way"
*But there are ways to prevent ghosts from entering certain places...*
"What do you mean?"
*Ghosts must have become something usual in these days. I havent had the luck to find them, this does not mean there arent more like me. In fact, the labyrinth is protected by a web of charms*
"You mean like those asian charms that prevent bad spirits from entering the houses and such?"
*Precisely...*
"So i would be on my own then?"
*I fear so...* she said as her gaze met the ground
*May I interrupt?*
"Now thats a surprise, you showing up"
*Yeah whatever, this aint no time to start with sarcasm. I got an idea*
"Lets hear it then"
*I can help you through the labyrinth*
"And how is it that you plan on doing so?"
*By scouting it beforehand and then showing you the way out, if there is a way out that is*
"I love how you always have to smash me when i am down"
*My pleasure, as usual*
*But... you cant go in there either*
*What makes you say that, lady?*
*Well... i mean, you are a ghost, too*
I turned my head to face him. I hadnt realized up until now that i hadnt seen him in all the time i had been locked up. As soon as the light lit i was busy writting and the rest of the time the room lay in darkness, so trying to see him would have been quite futile.
He was indeed quite translucent.
My eyes shot open and my mouth hung open.
*Surprised?* he asked, irony covering his words.
"..."
*Ill take that as a yes. Now to you, lady. I am no ghost whatsoever. I am a projection of your little friend here. Im his projected alter ego. Whenever he is happy, i am sad, whenever he is sad i am happy. We complement each other, we are the same but in two different forms*
*I didnt even know that this could be possible*
"You tell me... i have been living with him for the past months"
*Thats where you are wrong. Technically we have always been together, from the moment of your birth. Its just that one day i found a way to actually break free from my own imprisonment. What i didnt know at the time was that if would be a quite limited freedom. I cant be too far away from him and if he were to die,  would follow suit.*
*So you are some kind of... daemonion?*
*You could say that*
"And you are not a ghost?"
*As i said before, no. I am a physical projection of a spiritual part of your being.*
"The world is spinning too fast, i wanna get out"
*Too late Alice, now you have thrown yourself face-first into the rabbithole.*
*We should try to make a plan. Food is brought here at least 2 times a day usually, so you have just one chance, for the moment when you fail they probably wont let you try again.*
"Agreed"
*Agreed*
*Id say we do it when they bring breakfast*
"What do you have in mind?"
We sat in a triangle and discussed what would be the most important plan i would have to go through and perform in my life until that moment...

Emotional Wasteland

I could get accustomed to being woken up by that dim glow.
"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead"
"Yeah yeah, give me a break" I murmured, still sleepy.
I got out of bed and sat in the middle of the room next to her.
"So, any news?"
"Not much really, the usual ghost stuff"
My stomach roared fiercely. I hadnt had anything to eat in a long time, so it wasnt surprising.
She gave me a confused look.
"I havent had anything solid to eat in some time, you see, have been sleeping all day long"
"Oh, i see..."
"Would it bother you if i had breakfast while being with you?"
"No, not at all, please, i am the intruder, you shouldnt worry about me"
"But i do,mind lending me a hand?"
"How?"
"Just follow me, with your glow it will be much easier to locate the tray with food"
"So, you are imprisoned here, yet they care for you and feed you?"
"Yeah, strange, isnt it?"
"I guess..."
We searched the room for the missing tray. It was in the far end corner of the room, fruits, bread and water in it.
I took a big bite off an apple.
"Hmm, juicy"
She looked down.
Maybe i shouldnt have made that comment, she couldnt enjoy the taste of the apple and i should have known better.
"Sorry"
"There is nothing to be sorry about"
We remained silent while i finished the apple with quick bites.
"Oh, by the way, may i ask you a favor?"
"Tell me"
"Could you tell me what is happening in the outside world?"
"uhhh... i dont know..."
"Why not? Please tell me, i have been locked in the dark for months now, I need to know what is going on outside. Besides, i dont know when they will release me, so it could eventually help me to know what is happening so it wont be that much of a shock once Im free"
"You may be right... how could i put this..."
"Is it really that bad?"
"Well, i dont know, how were things right before they locked you up in here?"
"Uh" i didnt really know. I hadnt cared about what happened in the outside world when i had the chance to care about it.
I searched in the back of my mind for bits of information related to the worlds situation back when i was free.
The situation wasnt too bad, sure the world economy was going through a rough phase, but everybody was confident that, with the proper economic policies, the situation would stabilize and everything would turn to normal in no time.
There were minor wars around the globe, nothing unusual, people who were hungry, people who were suffering.
I told her what little i could remember about how i viewed the world, she listened and then remained silent for a minuto or two.
"Lets say... the world has changed..." she began "quite much actually... what year do you think it is?"
That question caught me off guard.
"What do you mean?"
"Well..." she looked down as if searching for the proper words "time may have passed... it could well be that it isnt the year you think it to be"
I couldnt really say anything...
"As far as i can tell... its either 2012 or 2013... i dont really know how much i have been kept in here, so..."
She looked up, sadness reflected in her tearing eyes.
"What is it? What year is it? I need to know now!"
"Its... 2024 already..."
The look on my face must have been quite shocking at that time.
Emotions i thought long gone came back to me.
Longing for the few people i knew, for my family, for my friends. What had happened to them?
"It cant be..." was all i said.
"But it is..." she answered, pity in her voice.
I slumped on the floor and lay still.
She lay down next to me.
Despite her condition, it conforted me to know she was with me. She couldnt touch me, but i felt as if she held my hand.
I dont exactly know when i did, but i fell asleep.
She probably left some time later, still, the thought of her kept me sane, her company, whatever she could tell me.
*Are you going to make a habit out of it?*
"What?"
*Sleeping on the floor instead of in bed*
"Who knows... better to sleep on a floor than on a barren wasteland for instance?"

Reading the life

Once again i was woken up by a dim light in the center of the room.
"She came back after all" i thought to myself, smiling.
I couldnt show my happiness to her however.
The way she left the first time, i just didnt want her to flee as soon as she saw me.
It took me quite some time to adjust my eyes to the gloom, but what i saw when it happened was totally worth it:
She was reading one of my writtings. She seemed inmersed in the pages, but i wouldnt sneak up on her just like the last time.
I coudnt take that chance. Id wait till she finished reading whatever she was reading and would then get her attention somehow.
I waited for what to me seemed like an eternity.
She looked up and then turned her gaze at me.
I closed my eyes and pretended i was asleep.
The light grew brighter through my closed eyelids.
Was she getting closer to me? No, that was absurd, it couldnt be. She fled from me the other day, now she couldnt be approaching me, it made no sense.
"Open your eyes" she said softly.
I did as i was asked to.
"Oh, am i dead?" i asked, acting as if until then i had been sleeping.
"No, why would you be?"
"Because i have been awoken by an angel"
She backed off and looked away.
The color of the light emaning from her head turned from white to pink.
Was she blushing perhaps?
I didnt even know if ghosts could blush.
"Hey, you alright?" i asked.
"Yes... everything is fine, its just... it caught me off guard..." she answered "I took the liberty to take a look at your writtings, i hope you dont mind..."
"Not at all, glad somebody else can see them besides myself" i gave her a smile, trying to comfort her.
She smiled back.
"So... did you like what you read?"
"I did enjoy reading some of them, others were either too sad or too depressing for me to take right now"
"Yeah, life is bittersweet and so are my writtings"
"Afterlife isnt much better either"
"Tell me about it"
"About what?"
"About the afterlife, or even better, forget the afterlife, tell me about your life, who you were, what you did, i would love to know more"
"I am not sure i am ready to talk about my life just yet... but i can tell you about the afterlife, that would be no problem, i have gotten accustomed to it.
"That will have to do i guess... then please, tell me every single thing..."

The night flew by quite quickly.
Us both inmersed in our little conversation about the afterlife, me asking questions, her being patient and answering them

"Daylight is almost here" she said looking up to the ceiling "I have to go"
"And why is that, how do you even know its daytime yet?"
"I just... know, dont really have an explanation for this.
I will be back, fear not."
"Then i will wait for you"
She ascended like smoke: slowly, majestic.
And went through the ceiling, just like the first time.

I didnt know at that point, but she would be like a little wild pet cat, coming and going whenever she pleased, sometimes because she felt lonely, others for me to tend to her wounds and other because she wanted company.
Either one of these reasons made her come to my dark room, light it up a bit, and for me that was what mattered.
I liked her company... and i probably liked her.

The house and the lake

I looked out of the window.
The lake offered a dazzling look at this time of the year. The autumn leaves slowly falling from the trees and onto the lake itself, the fish swimming as if in slow motion, and the willow pouring its branches into the lake. The lake was truly the main source of life here.
Only a few dim rays of light fell into the room.
The dusty furniture reminded me of the old days in which we used to spend afternoons together, just watching the lake, not caring about the rest of the world.
She was the rest and the only thing in my world.
Laying on the shore, skygazing.
The clouds could become anything we wanted them to, there were no boundaries, there were no limitations, only our imagination as the only barrier. And her imagination was one of the most colorful and brilliant i ever met. Not a single cloud remained without turning into something never seen before. From trees to animals, pieces of furniture, sweets, fruits...
Anything she could paint on the clouds, and anything i would give right now to see her one more time, to feel her warmth on my shoulder, to hear her give birth to new clouds.

...

But life isnt that easy, those were words spoken by her while in her deathbed, still, you must carry on. You have to do it for yourself, but in times you may not find the strenght, then do it for me, for all the things we havent done yet, for all that life still owes me.
Keep living for me, for my memory, for as long as you life, i will live within you adn shall not die.
My body may have become fragile but my mind is still as bright as the first day we met, wouldnt you agree?
I could just nod while i held my tears back.
It wasnt fair, we had barely even met...
What is two years in the life of a man?
Nothing...
From that time we had met in the park until this day only two short years had passed, and that wasnt time enought to enjoy a persons company. I knew her, but i didnt fully know her, and that had been my only desire.
I had made my vows despite us not being married.
I had promised myself that i would keep her from harm,  that through any kind of weather id want us to be together, that id get to know her entirely, every inch of her skin, every corner of her mind, be for her a shoulder to cry on...
And there were many things i would not be able to do...
Her illness made her condition worse every day. The doctors said that her lifespan shortened every hour.
I couldnt bear the thought of losing her, thats why i remained by her side the entire time.
Are you ok, honey? she asked.
What could i tell her? I was in pain, but the suffering she had to go through made my misery seem... so little.
Yes, yes i am ok. Was all i could say.
I grabed her hand tightly and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled weakly.
That night she passed away.
It was like in one of those books she liked to read. Peacefully, silently...
After she expired her last breath my eyes started cascading uncontrollably.
Now the pain was on me.
I lay on her and cryed my entire being out on her.
All our shared memories coming back to my mind, all the times spent together, the good times, the not so good times, in which she would just storm out of the room and lock herself up.
At that time i thought it bitter and cruel of her.
Now it seemed so feeble and unimportant.
Everything did.

...

The sun had set.
Time had passed.
She had told me that one time that i had to live on for the both of us and her wish i would fulfill.
I turned my gaze from the window.
The violin case in the corner of the room, just where she had left it.
I took some steps and hesitantly stood in front of it.
I had never had the courage to open it without her permission, but it felt as if it would be allright to do now.
I carefully lifted it from the ground and with it i went to the kitchen table.
That table used to be full of vegetables and fruits, now it was empty, as was the vast majority of the house.
I put the case on the table and undid the locks.
One of them shriecked, as if refusing to be opened.
I backed off.
Maybe it wasnt such a great idea, but it was open now, there was no turning back.
I lifted open the case.
There it was, her violin, untouched, uncorrupted, damned to be alone for all time now that nobody could play it, unable to cry...
I carefully took it out of the case. It was truly a work of art, to craft something so delicate.
It had her smell on it.
A solitary tear escaped my eye. I put it back to where it belonged and made my way to the doorway.
Just before i locked the door, i took one final peek inside.
Everything was where it should be, i could leave in peace.
I closed the door, took a deep breath and started walking with no direction, with no purpose yet.
I would find it though, i was sure of it.

The ghost...

A ghost visited me tonight.
I dont know how it got into the room or how it escaped afterwards, but not that those things matter.
I was sleeping soundly, not aware of my surroundings. I heard someone sobbing, so i slowly woke up. I felt the dim light in the center of the room even before i opened my eyes.
"Strange" i thought to myself "the bulb had never been lit while i was sleeping as far as i could tell"
I opened my eyes and there it was:
A ghost as white as a snowflake was floating in the middle of the room, crying its heart out.
I didnt know what to do at first, never having encountered such a being before, but i gathered all the courage i could muster and slowly slipped out of the bed, trying not to awake my companion. I slowly approached the ghost.
As i came nearer, i noticed it was a woman.
"lets hope its not a banshee" i thought to myself.
Whenever i remember this, i think of how foolish that thought was at that moment. Had it been a banshee, it would have left me deaf the moment it entered the room with its howling.
When i was right behind it, her, i didnt know how to address her at that time, i cleared my throat in order for her to notice my presence, in case she hadnt before.
She slowly turned to me, fear, anguish and terrible sadness in her eyes.
I was petrified. Never had i seen such a sad expression. She began to ascend in slow circular movements.
"wait, please dont go..." i told her, a crack of fear in my voice "i am lonely myself, i could use some company, so please, dont leave"
She looked down at me, confusion painted in her face along those sadness stricken eyes.
Time stood still while we looked each other in the eyes. She was probably pondering whether she should or shouldnt stay, i was hoping that she wouldnt choose to do the latter.
The confusion slowly faded from her face as did a little of the sadness and she descended back to my chamber floor.
"Arent you afraid of me?" she asked in a sweet voice, distorted by the tears and the fear of rejection.
"Why would i be afraid of you?" i asked back
"I am a ghost, an unholy being, untouchable, incorruptable, damned to walk the earth in this state,  crying..." her voice trailed off.
"I see neither unholyness nor damnation in you. I see..." i had to stop.
What was i going to say, that i found her beautiful? That i hadnt seen such precious eyes in a long time? That i had the irresistible feeling that i wanted to hug her, confort her?
I couldnt just tell her that, could i?
She would probably just vanish into thin air and i would be left alone again in my silvery cage.
"I see a spirit in distress" the words that left my mouth.
"That is mostly correct i am afraid to concede" she admitted and looked at the floor.
"May i ask what is the source of your sorrow?"
"You  may, and i may even answer..."
"Then, what is it that causes you this much pain?"
She looked up at me, right in the eyes. A solitary tear escaped her right eye. She put both of her hands on her chest and looked back down again.
"Oh... i see" was the only thing i could bring myself to say at that point.
"It wasnt too long ago either" she murmured.
"Heartaches dont go away that fast i guess... it takes time to close up some wounds. Especially if its pain stricken hearts..."
"It hurts so much..."
I got closer to her and tried to hug her, but it was futile.
My arms went right through her.
She noticed what i had wanted to do and backed off a little, terror painted in her eyes.
"I didnt mean to, i mean, i wanted to, but i didnt remember, i..."
"Sorry" was all she said before she started to vanish.
"NO" i almost shouted "please, let me explain, dont leave" hopelessness pouring out of my mouth "please promise you will come back another time"
"Maybe..." she murmured before the went through the ceiling into the outer world.
And so i was yet again left alone in my dark room.