The Secrets of Darkling Manor

Thirty-nine: Aleksander Morozova

Thirty-nine

Aleksander Morozova

The two of them got up in the morning and they went to the groundskeeper's house. As Aleksander stood in the doorway, he found it difficult to go in.

Alina held his arm. "Are you alright?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I don't know if I can do this. I couldn't do it the first time, you know."

"I know," she said, "but it's alright. You've got me for that."

"Her parents couldn't clean out their things. When she died, they just left. At that point I don't think they wanted anything more to do with me or my family. I can't blame them. I treated them and Luda terribly," he hung his head, and he ran his fingers through his hair, "I was a selfish asshole."

"A selfish asshole," Alina replied, "you still are."

He laughed. "Well, the difference is that I've got you to keep me in check."

"That is the difference," said Alina with a smile.

The two of them stepped inside. The place was covered in dust as if it hadn't been touched in ages. The last time Aleksander had been in there had been on the day that Luda's parents had left. It had been after the funeral.

"You're leaving?" he'd demanded.

"Yes," said Luda's mother, "there's nothing for us here, and George has a job in the next village over..."

"But what about the estate?" he said. "This is Luda's home."

"Luda isn't here, Aleksander," she said, "Luda's dead. We've accepted that, and you've got to accept that...."

"I can feel her," said Aleksander, "sometimes it's like she's in the house with me. In my bed...."

"She's dead, Aleksander. I know it will be hard. But you've got to move on. And I don't want to remember Luda the way that she was during her last bit of life. Us holding onto those things won't bring her back either."

"Well," he said, "I'll keep them for you. If you ever want to come back----"

Her mother shook her head. "We won't be coming back. Our time is done here, for good."

The last he saw of them was the two of them driving away in the little, green work truck that they owed. They had taken very little with them. Then, Aleksander had been left alone at the house. That was when he had bought the penthouse in the city. He had tried to stay away from the house. It was how he had gone so long without being haunted. And then...Harshaw and Tatiana had happened. And he was left with Genya.

Aleksander had so many memories in the house. He used to spend his time in there with Luda, in the kitchen with her mother baking cookies or painting. He remembered sneaking into Luda's room, and sleeping with her.

"You look.... pardon the pun.... like you've seen a ghost," said Alina, "I can do this for you, if you would like."

Aleksander shook his head. "I've put you through enough. The least I can do is help you clean up the mess that is here."

Alina smiled at him. "Where should we start?"

"How about you take the kitchen, and I'll take Luda's room."

"Are you sure you don't want me to go in there with you?" Alina asked.

"I'm positive," Aleksander said, "I need to be the one to do this."

"Okay then."

Aleksander made his way down the long hall. He went into Luda's room. It was still exactly the same way that it had been. He started going through her dresser drawers, pulling out her clothes.

"Getting rid of me, are you?" a voice said from behind him. "Do you really think that this has anything to do with why I'm still here? You know why I'm still here. You just won't admit it."

He froze. A chill had overtaken the room, and he turned to see Luda, sitting on the bed. "It's got to stop, Luda."

She laughed. "This isn't going to stop things, you know. Anton is the only one that can stop everything. He's got the one thing that you need to get rid of me."

"What are you talking about?"

"My body," she said, "you never got my body from the pond, Aleksander. Or anyone else's. Well, except for your fathers. But there wasn't much left of him, was there?"

Aleksander cringed.

There was a knock on the door. "Aleks, do you want to get lunch? I thought that since we'd been doing this for a few hours----"

"Aleks?"

He turned and looked over at Alina.

She was leaning against the door jam, a curious look on her face. "Is everything alright?"

"The bodies," he said, "I never...I never did anything with the bodies."

"What are you talking about?" Alina asked.

"My fathers body, the car wreck it...damaged it completely, there was nothing left but my mothers was in the pond....and Luda's....."

"You think this is because the bodies are still in the pond?" Alina asked. "Please tell me we're not going to have to put cement in the pond. There's a lot of weird things about this house, I really don't want to add another one."

He shook his head. "No. I don't think we're going to have to add cement to the pond. I think we're going to have to do something much worse."

Alina winced. "Find bodies?"

He nodded. "A lot of them."