Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Befreiung

Match Twenty-Five: Befreiung:

The woman in the red coat turned and hissed. A light swung around in the darkness.

"Harel!" an old lady's voice called. "What holds you here?" The ghost could see a face in the darkness. The tired eyes locked on her. Ludwig looked up from his small cage in the ground.

"Mother?" he asked. Lydia growled.

"Who are you?" she asked. The face revealed itself to belong to an old woman dressed in a brown cloak. She held out her light in front of her. The ghost started to shy away from it.

"Get away from me!" she cried. "Stay away! Stay away!"

"Why are you haunting this man when you know that he has apologized for wronging you?" the old woman asked. "Please leave him alone or you will kill him." Lydia Harel hissed.

"You know nothing!" she said.

"I want to know," the old lady said. "Talk to me." Tears filled the ghost's eyes.

"You don't understand!" she said.

"I want to," the old woman said. She took a step closer, but Lydia stepped back. The ghost shook her head.

"This has to be done! I can't stop it!"

"Is something holding you here?"

"Yes."

"Who are they?"

"I cannot say."

"Tell me who it is."

"I can't!"

"Is it her?"

Silence ripped the air. Time never existed it this place. Ludwig could barely see anything from the hole his past lover trapped him in. He only saw Lydia and the light inches away from her. The German man couldn't see the old woman. Meanwhile, the ghost trembled. She appeared to be shrinking away the closer the old woman came. The light seemed to be hurting her. The old woman gave her a look of pity.

"I release you," the old woman said.

"No," Lydia said.

"I release you."

"No."

"I release you!"

"No!" Lydia's body went stiff. The old woman could see inside of her heart.

Lydia had everything. She loved her family. Her parents' bakery flourished. Poland was poor, but peaceful at the time. The old lady's eyes searched around through the darkness of Lydia's heart. She didn't flinch at the smell of blood. Either did she flinch at the smell of burning, rotting flesh. The screaming rang around her ears. The wailing floated behind her head. Clouds of smoke couldn't stop her.

Get out! Stop! Stop!

"No. We are almost there. I will release you. I will release both of you!"

No! You can't!

"Hush!" The old lady felt the darkness closing in on her. She didn't pay it any mind. For her attention was directed towards a locked wooden door in the middle of this wailing darkness.

"Oh, I see," the old woman said. "It's in here, isn't it?" She took slower steps towards the door. Lydia's pounding heart ripped through the air. The old lady reached out for the wooden surface.

No! Don't go in there!

The old lady put her hand on the door knob. She could hear the sizzling from the surface. The whole door turned black.

"You will not turn me back," she said. "I am releasing you!" The old lady forced the wooden door open. Lydia began to scream.

No!

The door clicked open. Cold air hit the old lady in the face. She would not turn back. She stared down the black void in front of her. Lydia wasn't screaming anymore. The old lady took slow steps inside. There was no sound around her. She couldn't smell anything either. The old lady held out her lantern.

"Come out and show yourself," she said. "I will not hurt you. I only wish to release you." The old lady saw something standing in the distance. There. She couldn't run over to it. Sudden movements could have her trapped inside of this limbo forever. Instead, she held up her lantern.

A skinny man stood inches away from her. He looked so pale, almost white as snow. He was naked and the old lady could see the bones through his skin. His eyes... well... he had no eyes. They were just empty pits in his head. His mouth looked stitched closed. Scars covered his body. It didn't take long for the old lady to figure out who he was.

"It's not your fault," she said. "You fell in love, but it wasn't meant to be." Tears rolled down from the empty eyes.

"I know," the old lady said. "I feel your pain." The man didn't move. She reached out to touch his cheek.

"Give me your burdens," the old lady said. "I will release you." Her fingertips touched his sullen cheek. His body broke down into light and dust.

"Yes," the old lady said. Little particles of dust sprinkled down onto the darkness. Her lips curved into a smile. Everything broke down around her. All the old lady saw was light. Ludwig and Lydia Harel stood before her. He was in a soldier uniform from World War II. She looked much healthier with a fuller body in her long red coat. The young couple held hands.

"Now do you see?" the old lady asked. "He never betrayed you. The war was what tore you apart. You died while he was in a coma." The soldier pulled Harel into his arms.

"She's right," he said. "Can you forgive me?" Lydia lowered her head.

"Yes," she said. Young Ludwig kissed her on the forehead.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she said. They shared another kiss. The old woman smiled as she waved her lantern. Ludwig and Harel faded away into white butterflies. She lowered her lantern.

"I have released you," she said. The old woman herself vanished into thin air.

At 4:55 a.m., present-day Ludwig awoke in his hospital bed.