Lovers Beyond Death

Chapter 2: Words were never just words

As all of the memories and words of her husband start to come back to her, Lucinda is eager to know if this boy is really her husband who died and has rebirthed two hundred years later. She was hesitant to let this boy stay for the night, because her intuition is telling her she needs more proof since it could all just be some bizarre coincidence.

But she felt pity for the boy and let him stay, maybe just for a while. "You're welcome to stay, Stefan," She said. Stefan felt warmed that Lucinda let her stay even if it's just for the night. "Thank you...Madam," He said. Stefan still felt hesitant since he will stay with a vampire for the night but he just told himself, "maybe she isn't so bad."

Lucinda guided Stefan to an available space in the castle. "You can stay here," She said. The room looked quite clean for an abandoned castle that's starting to crumble. Stefan then noticed something from the corner of his eye. A big painting of a man that looks exactly like him is hanging on the wall of the room.

"Whoa... Was he the one you were talking about? Your late husband?" Stefan asked. Lucinda nodded and said, "Yes, that's him. The love of my life". Stefan continued to look at the painting and examined the person on the painting. He's very fascinated by how they are very similar in appearance. "Your clothes are dirty and ragged," Lucinda said all of a sudden. "Yeah, I just found some old clothes that people threw away," Stefan said. "You should wash up and I'll give you some new clothes," Lucinda said.

Lucinda led Stefan to the bathroom. She proceeded to fill up the tub with water from a big jar. Once the tub was filled, she let Stefan take a bath while she prepared his bed. After a while, Stefan stepped out of the bathroom. He's now clean and the dirt that covered his face and body is now gone. He covered himself with a towel and proceeded to go back to the room. Stefan said, "I'm done bathing, madam."

Lucinda glanced at Stefan and she was speechless. She looked at Stefan up and down and remembered her late husband. He looked even more like her late husband after he took a bath. His eyes, nose, lips, and facial structure mirrored the appearance of her dead husband. The only missing resemblance is the hair. "Let me fix your hair," Lucinda said. Stefan gladly agreed to let Lucinda fix his hair.

Lucinda started to fix Stefan's hair with a comb. The comb she used was her husband's comb before he died. All the memories came flooding back at her since she always used to fix her husband's hair. After fixing Stefan's hair, Lucinda was stunned. Stefan is the spitting image of her husband. She cannot help but admire this boy who spat the image of her deceased husband.

"Thank you madam," Stefan said. "Please, call me Lucinda," She said in response. Stefan obliged to call her by just her first name. Lucinda's heart skipped a beat after Stefan called her by just her first name. She cannot help but gaze into Stefan's eyes and mutter the words "my love." Stefan then asked, "What was that?" Lucinda says, "Oh, sorry. You should wear some clothes now. Here you go."

Lucinda gave Stefan the clothes her husband used to wear. She left the room for a moment to let Stefan wear the clothes. Once Stefan was done, he looked exactly like Lucinda's late husband. Lucinda entered the room after Stefan told her he was done. Lucinda still continued to give Stefan a mesmerizing stare. Stefan asked, "Are you okay?" Lucinda then responded "Yes, I'm okay. My husband and I used to sleep in this room before he died. I never slept here ever again after he passed. I just cannot bear to wake up every morning without him by my side. Now here I am in this room with a boy who looks exactly like him."

Both of them were speechless for a moment. Lucinda broke the silence by saying, "I'll be leaving you now. It's your time to sleep, and not mine. Good night." Stefan then said, "Wait! When it's your time to sleep, you can sleep here. This is your castle and I would feel terrible if you, the owner, would not even be sleeping in her own room." Lucinda responded, "No, it's fine. I told you, I haven't slept here for a really long time. I'm used to it. Good night." Lucinda then left the room, leaving Stefan alone.