Midnight Wine

Midnight Wine - Complete Story

I moved to St. Asaph, England about 7 years ago, in search of a better life. I lived with my big brother, Desperaux, and Grandmother, Elaina Marie (who was too sickly to care for herself). We owned a cottage in the deep valleys of England. I spent long days at my dairy ranch, milking one cow after another, and then selling their milk to corporations who turned it into other products such as cheese and yogurt. Life had been continuing smoothly since I moved here and seems like it will continue that way for many more years to come.

It was a cool, crisp night in St. Asaph. The time was merely creeping up on 1am. Grandmother and I were sleeping quite well in our snug little cottage, but Desperaux was having sleeping troubles. I heard Desperaux tossing and turning all night long, but he finally awoke around 1:21am. He walked into the kitchen taking gentle steps on our wood floor to make sure not to wake Grandmother. While flipping the switch for the kitchen light, Desperaux peered at our clock above the kitchen sink. As he saw that the time was nearly 1:28am, he longed for more sleep. Most people have other remedies to try to fall asleep, but Desperaux always had his own.

Desperaux opened our cupboard and took out a wine glass off of the second shelf. He put it on the counter, then opened the ice-box and got his bottle of red wine. (I remember very clearly from my childhood when Desperaux would drink red wine in the middle of the night, when he could not sleep. I recall when one of my parents would say "Alas, Desperaux is lacking slumber again!" The other parent would usually reply with something along the lines of "He is going to the the kitchen to pour himself a glass of 'Midnight Wine'" (by a glass of 'Midnight Wine,' they mean a glass of wine that Desperaux would drink really late at night. Not necessarily Midnight, but rather rather late at night). meant a As my parents layed in their beds half-asleep, Desperaux would be nearly wide awake in the kitchen drinking wine to try to make him woozy, or sleepy.) He got a corkscrew, unscrewed the cork, and layed it on top of the ice-box. He gently poured the wine into the glass, being careful not to spill any on our wood-furnished counter. Desperaux took the wine to the window in our den (which was merely cracked, letting in a crisp breeze,) and looked out at the gigantic, empty valley and thought about life.

He finally finished drinking the glass of wine, and took small steps through the hallway. He walked into the door of Grandmother's room, which is the second room on the right of the hallway. Desperaux patted her head softly and whispered "Sweet dreams Grandmother, sweet dreams..." He finally walked across the hall, entered his room (the second room on the left,) and layed in his bed. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

I recall a long time ago, during my free time, I was sitting in the kitchen. Desperaux's wine bottle was out on our kitchen table. I couldn't help myself and read the paper label that was glued on the glass bottle. It said "This wine will make dreams strangely seem like reality." That night I pondered about the odd sentence that was printed on the wine bottle. I thought it was just a cheesy catch phrase the company put on the bottle to attract buyers, but I later realized it was probably not.

It was now about 1:37am. Desperaux was awake once again and he was very antsy. He walked quickly into my room and woke me up. He said "I seem to have had a very bad dream! Please come into the den!" I followed jittery Desperaux into the den. He told me, "I was dreaming about one of my old high school friends, Persefony. I remember clearly how Persefony was fairly obsessed with me. She would always want to go to the school dances with me, and she even asked me to the school prom. Sadly, every time I would turn her down, or try to change the subject. I never did that to be mean, or rude, but I just never felt the same way as Persefony did. As we got older, in about our early 20's, Persefony would come to my old house to visit me. I was fine with us being friends, but I always had the feeling that Persefony loved me. Sadly, when Persefony was about 27, she was driving to work early in the morning. She got hit by a careless driver and unfortunately died. I attended her funeral, and missed how Persefony would visit me. But, even then, after her death, I still never felt the way she did."

He finally told me about his dream. He seemed to have calmed down. Desperaux said, "At the beginning of the dream, I was standing in the graveyard that Persefony is buried in, Maple Cemetery. A hand came out of her grave, and I could hear someone's voice saying 'Desperaux, Desperaux, Help! I never wanted to die this way!' She came out of the grave as a ghost, floating in mid-air. After about 10 seconds, she turned into a ugly, green witch. She stroked my head and said 'Desperaux, I love you! Do you love me? DO you love me?' I suddenly woke up and then jerked out of bed. Then I ran to get you so I could tell you my horrible dream."

It was now about 1:50am. We suddenly heard the ground rumble very loudly. A grim figure rose out of our wood floor in the hallway. She got closer and closer and me and Desperaux stood there in fear. As she got closer, I could see her green-ish skin, and big black eyes. She had warts all over her face and arms. Her hair was grey and very coarse and tangled. She screamed very loudly "DESPERAUX! DESPERAUX! ALL I WANTED WAS FOR US TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER! I JUST WANTED YOU TO LOVE ME LIKE I LOVED YOU!" She snapped her fingers and a old wood broom popped out of now where into the mid-air. She said the words "Alacazam! Lacazoom! Put these peasants on my broom!" Desperaux and I were screaming in terror at the top of our lungs. She flew us to the cemetery where she came from, Maple Cemetery.

As all this was happening, I wondered: Why on Earth would all this be happening to my brother and I?! I suddenly remembered Desperaux's dream, about the witch. I also recalled the label on his red wine bottle that said "This wine will make dreams strangely seem like reality." I then pieced all of this together and figured out that I was trapped in Desperaux's dream! Or was I? I also realized that the "witch" was Desperaux's high school friend, Persefony.

When all of us (the witch, Desperaux, and I) arrived at the cemetery, we walked to the witch's (Persefony's) grave. We finally got to her grave and she made us face her, as she stood besides her grave. She said "Try to run and I will use one of my spells to turn you both into a frog!" She seemed to get more and more emotional as she looked at Desperaux. She said, "All that I wanted was for you to love me Desperaux!! Why did you never love me back?! ANSWER ME!" She was a mix between furious-ness and sadness. Desperaux replied "Look, Persefony! I knew you loved me from the day I met you, but I never felt love towards you. I tried and tried again, EVERY TIME you asked if I loved you to try to not hurt your feelings!"

Persefony said, "Desperaux! Do you know how everyone thought I was driving to work when I got hit and killed by a careless driver?!" Desperaux said, "Yes, I remember." Persefony replied, "I WAS ACTUALLY DRIVING TO YOUR HOUSE TO SEE YOU, DESPERAUX! I WASN'T DRIVING TO WORK!" Desperaux looked very shocked. Persefony said, "I LOVED YOU SO MUCH, AND I STILL DO! IF YOU DON'T LOVE ME BACK, THEN THERE IS NO POINT IN ME BEING HERE!" Persefony said, "Zire, Mire, Oakiniver, give me, give me, give me FIRE!" A candlestick appeared in mid-air and Persefony took it and lit her old, rotted skin on fire. Since her skin was old and rotted, it was flammable, and Persefony screamed in a high pitch as she burned to the ground, "I WILL LOVE YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER DESPERAUX!" She melted and after about 2 minutes she was a pile of dust.

Desperaux was still in shock and now sad too, about this horrible experience. Desperaux cried a lot as we walked home from the cemetery. When we made it home, it was about 2:29am. We were exhausted and we both went to sleep very quickly.

We woke up at about 9:34am that day. Grandmother was sitting in the den. When she heard us start the coffee brewer to make our morning coffee, she said, "Why did you boys wake up so late? You normally rise early to go to work on the dairy farm." We told her about Persefony, and all that had happened. Desperaux told her how he felt about what had happened. Grandmother replied, "Well, honey, there is no need to be sad!" Desperaux said, "Really?! Why is that?" Grandmother said, "Persefony will go to Heaven, an old rumor says that when you go to Heaven, you will find your true love that will last you the rest of eternity. Persefony will find her 'Mr. Perfect' up in Heaven now!" Desperaux now felt very relieved.

7 years later (right now, at the time that I'm telling you this story,) Desperaux and I still think about Persefony and what happened that night. Desperaux never seems to have sleeping troubles anymore, and never needs any "Midnight Wine" anymore. Desperaux also has been going out with a charming lady, Rebecca, for about 6 years now. They are now planning to get married! Life is going smoothly and we think (and hope) it will continue to go smoothly for many, many more years to come.