Hidden Mysteries: Soulforce

Chapter 25

                                                     Chapter 25:

                                                       Alexa

“I do not want horses or diamonds – I am happy in possessing you.” – Clara Schumann

‘The place has been untouched for centuries,’ the voice narrated as I stretched my hand out to touch the glass which was specked with the drizzling rain.

‘No one heard her creep down to the shack…’ the feminine narrator kept going. I sat up from my bed, tossing the sheets off of me as I unclasped the lever connecting the window to the rest of the house and pushing the glass up so I could stretch my arm outside it. Opening up my palm, I closed my eyes and felt the fat, wet raindrops splash against my white arm as the smell of rain rushed to me. In that moment I knew what I had to do.

Climbing out of my bed in my long, white nightgown, brown hair pushed in an elaborate ponytail over my head which was a little too good for sleeping, I silently walked to the door. Holding a candle for light, I made my way to the front door, one story down without waking up any sleeping inhabitants of the house. I took a deep breath and with a quick, decisive push, the heavy wooden door adorned with iron – or another kind of metal – swung open wide in front of me.

I stepped barefoot out onto the stone walkway and looked around. Trees and bushes, almost as thick as a forest, shook and rustled in the rain followed by the wind. I cupped my hand over the flame, enjoying its warmth as I hurriedly followed the stone pathway until I was face to face with a small house, more like a shack, made only of glass and a screen door.

I stood there, staring at the door, the flame flickering dangerously in the wind.

‘A lone spirit lives here,’ the mysterious voice kept talking. ‘The girl with the pure intentions listened to it.’

I gently opened the door with an awfully loud creak and went in. As soon as I was in, the wind blew the door shut with a bang, shutting off all sound. Calmly, I looked around. The shack was made up of two stories and everything was wooden except for the glass walls and screen door. The first floor, which I was on, had nothing. It was just an empty space. Looking around, I found an old wooden ladder leading up to a square opening. Setting the candle down on the floor after blowing it out as to not light anything on fire, I put my hand on the ladder. I bent my head backwards to look up through the square, but I saw nothing except the rafters.

Sighing, I heaved myself onto the first step and climbed all the way up, holding my excessively long night gown in one hand and almost falling a couple of times due to it. Upon reaching the square, I hauled myself and sat on the edge, legs and nightgown dangling over the ladder. It was half a floor. A banister ran through the middle of the whole house, marking the end to the second floor – or just to serve as something to hold on to while looking down. To my right, facing the wet, rain-streaked window was a desk with a withered rose on top of an open notebook. Behind me was a small straw bed – more like a cot – covered with old, moldy blankets.

‘He loved her very much,’ the narrator started up again as a man appeared climbing up from the ladder. I tried getting up, but I wasn’t fast enough as the man went through me. ‘He came up here every day, hiding her away from the evils of this world. He loved her very much      .’

I turned and followed the man with my eyes as he walked over to the bed which was now occupied with a sick woman. Her skin was extremely pale as her black hair fell in uncombed knots and tangles around her face. Her deep, chocolate brown eyes gazed lovingly at the man who had light brown hair and gray eyes.