Daze
1094 Words
Suddenly, images of the beautiful girl laughing freely against the sunrise, the green field where he had lain entwined with her, and then her pale body soaked in blood flashed in his mind that he jerked backwards, his back hitting against another effigy in fright.
"Whoa," he gasped as he tried to control his breathing. "What the hell was that?" he asked out loud as he grabbed the edge of the statue behind him and pulled himself up.
He was patting his jeans, removing the dirt from his clothes when he glanced behind him and came face to face with a statue of an angel cradling two people who were entwined in eternal slumber. His curiosity winning again, he looked for an inscription and blinked several times when he saw it.
"Hélas ! vers le passé tournant un oeil d'envie.
Sans que rien ici-bas puisse m'en consoler,
Je regarde toujours ce moment de ma vie
Où je l'ai vue ouvrir ses ailes et s'envoler !"
"This is…" His voice trailed off as he remembered the words his brother read from an old piece of paper they found when they first arrived.
Jerome said that it was a part of a poem, and now that he read it on a tombstone, he guessed it must be for the dead.
He looked at the owner of the tomb and wasn't surprised that there were two. The effigy, after all, suggested that of lovers. Johann de Lancret, born February 6, 1818 – died July 1, 1843, and Jessica Miller, born January 26, 1818 – died July 1, 1843.
"What's with these people?" Austin wondered why Jehan and Johann died on the same day as their wives.
Deciding he'd had enough, he walked back to the trail going back towards the mansion. As he did so, he read the rest of the tombstones that he could see on the way and was dumbfounded as he read July 4, 1843 on most of them as the date they died.
"Was there an epidemic?" he wondered out loud.
In those early years, after all, vaccines were rare so people could die with simple colds and pneumonia.
Returning to the main footpath going back to the mansion, he wondered if Jerome was already awake. He'd been gone long so he probably was.
He was about to walk up the steps to the house when a movement from the direction he came from caught his eye. He turned around and saw a young man, probably around sixteen or eighteen, standing at the end of the footpath looking wistfully at him.
The young man wore European fashion that although looked centuries old, yet, didn’t seem out of place. He had dark longish hair that was a far contrast to his fair skin, and starched white collar.
"Hey!" he called out to the boy who seemed to be startled and quickly looked behind him to see if Austin was calling another person.
"Hey," Austin called again as he walked towards the boy. It's the first time he saw another person in the estate and he felt happy to meet him.
The boy, on the other hand, didn't move as he watched him approach. When Austin stopped in front of him and was face to face with him, the boy stared back at him wide-eyed.
"I'm talking to you," Austin chuckled, and the boy, finally realizing that he was talking to him, broke into a run. "Hey!" Austin was so surprised that he wasn't able to run after him immediately.
"What the hell? What are you running for— hey!" he called as he ran after the boy who was way ahead of him back into the footpath away from the house.
The boy ran farther into the path than Austin had been earlier, but he didn't care. He would like to apologize to the boy if he scared him. The poor soul was probably thinking he would get angry because he came to the estate without permission.
"Hey!" Austin called again.
He was out of breath when he had finally reached the end of the straight path. He bent his knees, his arms supporting his body as he caught his breath. He straightened up when he recovered and looked around for the boy, but he was nowhere in sight.
All thoughts of the boy vanished however when he smelled and heard water.
"Huh?" Looking up, a few feet from where he was standing was a stream. The clear water, flowing against the smooth stones glinted like jewels under the sunlight. His heart then raced not from running but from a different kind of feeling upon seeing his surroundings.
The place looked very familiar. It was only a week ago when he had first seen this site in his dream, and he had been seeing this place every night since.
Swallowing hard, he turned to his left where he knew he would see the boulder where he sat with…her— and he was right. Covered with moss and wild grass, the rock sat there at the edge of the water.
"Oh my God," he whispered as he felt something cold enveloping him, making him tremble and his body moved on its own.
Slowly, he raised his arms with his palms open, positioning them in front of him as if he was carrying something precious. Then, his feet moved and he found himself walking slowly towards the boulder.
"Oh my God," he whispered again as he felt tears run down his cheeks.
What's going on? He wanted to scream but couldn't. It was as if his body was being controlled by something or someone else.
Austin wasn't able to stop himself from climbing the boulder, and then finally sitting on top of it. He just realized the huge rock was near a cliff, and from his seat, he could see the rest of the estate beyond.
His arms which were still positioned as if he was carrying something suddenly felt heavy, and when he looked, she was there.
"Oh," he inhaled sharply as he noted the pale and lifeless body of the beautiful young woman in his dreams.
She was completely naked underneath the blood-soaked blanket and Austin couldn't understand why instead of being scared, he felt terrible grief in his chest and he began to sob.
Hugging the body tightly, he felt something hard and cold against his head. Austin’s eyes widened in horror upon hearing a clicking sound of a latch. When he realized it was the end of a gun, it fired.
BANG!
- Writer
