Coffin Scent: A Testimony

Chapter One - The Beginning

The BEGINNING
To the cry of one baby born to I.
⚜

"It all started when my daughter, Adrianne, was born. I remember it all very vividly: the last few breaths Florence had taken, her chest rising in abrupt motions while Adrianne's umbilical cord was cut and she was forcibly handed to me. I didn't want to take her; instead, I was desperately trying to keep myself close to Florence as the doctors tried to revive her, but it was too late. In the chaos, my mind couldn't register any sounds. I saw Adrianne open her mouth and close it, held upside down as she was, her face blue and suffocated. With the beep from Florence's heart echoing in the back of my head, I remember stumbling away from the hospital room, the world shrinking into a very tight space.

"After that, time passed by in hazy flashes and long intervals of static. I took care of Adrianne as best I could, the memory of Florence haunting me all the while. I developed claustrophobia, finding myself short of breath whenever I enter a closed building, especially if that be a hospital. Consequently, I took Adrianne and started living in a cabin far from the city. I gave up my job as a nurse in a mental facility and started working as a graveyard keeper on the outskirts of the city. To release the stress that kept building up inside me, I took up hunting as a hobby, something Adrianne learned from me growing up. We occasionally played hide and seek together, and since the woods were too big, I would leave Adrianne hints on how to find me. She learned that, too.

"At some point, I enrolled her in school and started dropping her off there. However, the older she grew, the more she resembled her mother. Seeing her mother's reflection only ignited my sorrow, until I eventually crawled into a self-made cocoon and isolated myself from any living beings. Adrianne started going to school on her own more frequently, hitchhiking rides, going very late at times. The school soon stopped calling me to let me know because I rarely picked up. Sometimes, our lines didn't even work because of the accumulated bills. In middle school, Adrianne started a part-time job and began to look after me: cook and clean. I, on the other hand, took up drinking. That life was fine had it not been for what came after.

"After Adrianne's last day in high school, we were broke. I didn't have money to buy any drinks and I was very irritable. Once, as we were having warm milk and oat grains for breakfast, and I was flopped in the seat opposite Adrianne, not touching my bowl of food, I wondered aloud, 'don't you have any friends to lend you money?' She didn't answer, so I leaned towards her, asking with a rougher tone. 'Anyone who drinks? Anyone who is any fun at all?' She didn't react to my words, so I kicked her seat. She flinched then, straightened her back as her eyes watered. 'I do,' she said. 'I know some people.' And she did. At my insistence, she brought home a friend: mocha-skinned, beautiful Lisa. Her body was fit - slightly muscular, even - and curved at the same time. She was slightly older than my daughter. We drank together, and soon after, we started kissing. I didn't notice when Adrianne left; neither I nor Lisa checked to see when we went further. After that, she would leave the house as soon as her friend came over again. Looking back, that just might have been her breaking point.

"A month went by without much disturbance. One day, as I was watching a family approach a grave, wondering with amusement whether they knew that the body buried there had been moved elsewhere, she came about. 'Father?' The light that'd been in her eyes when she'd been born was now gone. 'Adrianne,' I croaked. 'What do you want?'

"She hesitated. 'I was looking for you. Lisa just came.' I looked from her to the family then back at her. She kept eye contact for some time, looking at me, into me, even as I walked away. After midnight that day, having taken my dose of both drinks and sex, I took to walking and breathing in some fresh air. That's when I heard the sound of Florence calling my name. 'Alan,' she whispered. My face dropped, my eyes bulged out. I turned in circles, trying to find the source of the voice. 'I have been watching you,' she said. 'And I'm very proud of you for looking after Adrianne for so long. But it seems lately you've forgotten about me and her. Why did you betray us?'

"I stood rooted under an oak tree, waiting for someone to wake me up, for the nightmare to end. 'You're a mirage, a nightmare. You always come, but you never stay. You don't exist,' I said. Then, she came out, wearing a white flowy dress striped with red. Her black hair fell straight down her back. She looked exactly as she had the last time I saw her, except for the fact that her hair wasn't cut uniformly and her feet were dirty. She didn't move until I stepped onto the empty patch of grass under the tree. I closed the distance between us, my hand trembling as I reached out to her. I felt my fingers come into contact with her hair. It was so soft. I caressed it. 'Welcome home,' she told me. 'To the Tree of Life.' Under the shadow, away from moonlight, I got lost in her black eyes, the eyes that had no need for anyone or anything but me. 'We can be happy together again,' she whispered. 'You're here,' I said. 'You're with me again.' She didn't move, so I pushed her head up and pressed my lips against hers. And, right as I did, I heard it again. Florence's voice wasn't coming from her. 'Alan,' she whispered again. I took some steps back. 'I have been watching you.' I looked at the woman in front of me. She wasn't my wife. Not even that voice was. 'Adrianne!' I realized. 'What have you done?'

"As I took another step back, Adrianne's face crumpled into a rage and she pushed me back. I stumbled and fell. 'I was afraid this would happen,' said Adrianne. 'You left me no choice.' Face up on the ground, I realized we were not alone. A girl was looking down at us from a high tree branch: Lisa. Around her was a rope tied fastidiously. I pushed myself up to confront Adrianne, but then I saw a blur of color and everything went black."