That night Linette dreamed. She was outside a large elegant house, its many windows reflecting fractions of the sunlight. She sat in the garden, its intoxicating aroma surrounding her and putting a hazy veil over the image before her.
A family, because there was no doubt of what they were, sat inches from her. There was a small blonde girl with perfect ringlets surrounding her face. She looked to be about four and sat in between a man and a woman presumably her parents. The man was young, his face clean-shaven but with dark circles under his eyes and the semblance of a person old and weary. The woman was dressed in a beautiful yellow dress and wore a hat over her long auburn hair. The hat cast a shadow over her face and combined with the blurriness of the vision Linette could not make out her face. The little girl spoke but, the thick air muffled its sound and all it sounded to Linette was like a series of cadential rising and falling in a sequence of emotion. The man laughed, a low rumble that brought smiles to his eyes. Hearing this, the woman chimed in her laugh mellifluous and full, finally the child followed suit adding to the sounds the tinkling of bells. Linette watched them, her mind flashing to the scenery and the people, taking in everything until gazing at the scintillating windows something clicked.
Linette gasped and bolted to a sitting position. Tears trickled down her face and stained her cheeks. She wiped them away wondering why they had appeared in the first place. Puzzled, she put the thought aside and focused on the more pressing realization. She had recognized the building, it was The Ruin. She had dreamt of The Ruin before it had burned and had awoken the memories of questions asked long ago with need of answers.
Her musings were cut short by a tapping from the window. Rubbing her eyes, Linette sighed and gazed at Isabella’s empty bed. Linette went over to the window and opened it up, allowing Isabella to tumble from the tree branch outside to the floor of the room.
“I’m exhausted,” Isabella said happily. “That party only ended an hour ago. You should’ve been there. It was so fun.”
Linette took no notice of Isabella’s ramblings and instead cut her short, she had heard it all before, and curtly expressed her disinterest. “I’m going downstairs for breakfast then I’m going out for the day.”
Isabella fell silent, her eyes cast downward and that is how Linette left her, she was not in the mood for Isabella’s antics.
“Good morning Linette,” her mother greeted her with a smile. She had her hair up in its usual bun.
“Good morning,” she replied. “I was thinking that after I eat breakfast I’d go out for the day. I feel like I need time for myself.”
“Oh!” her mother looked surprised and slightly panicked. “Who’s going to watch Alice?”
“She’s going to Remy’s remember?”
Instantly her mother calmed down. “That’s fine then. Right Remy’s, how could I forget?”
Linette searched through the kitchen and organized a breakfast for herself. While eating, Alice awoke and ran in to give Linette a hug and say good morning but Linette was too preoccupied in her thoughts to fully be enthusiastic about Alice waking.
After eating she quickly dressed, Isabella was asleep by then. Linette looked at her, sprawled across the bed, her clothes askew and hair a mess and shook her head. She looked around the room they shared and saw how Isabella had claimed it as her own. Scarves and shirts and socks littered the floor, none were Linette’s, various instruments and colors used to alter and accent pretty features were scattered across the vanity table that Linette had never touched. The walls were a light pink and even the air smelt like her perfume.
“Look out world, or she’ll claim you too.” Linette said to herself.
She rushed out bidding adieu to the few people in the downstairs region of the house. Once she was outside she breathed in deeply, pleased by the blue skies and balmy air.
Linette suddenly felt an irrepressible feeling of unrestraint. She smiled and walked through the neighborhood, eager to reach her destination.
Urchins ran throughout the streets, their exulted moods brightening the dusty roads as they ran through out it, their feet bare and hair uncombed.
Linette laughed at them as she turned the corner and reached the town’s margin where civilization merged with the wood.
She pushed back the barring twigs and leaves and stepped inside the cool welcoming woods. Springy ferns tickled her ankles while vines and efflorescent foliage tangled her limbs and blocked her path. But this was home. This was the familiar wood she knew better than the town and undoubtedly, herself. She relished the challenge of the precarious walk and extricating herself from the snares of vines that beleaguered her feet and legs.
A cynosure light beckoned from a clearing several feet away and Linette, drawn to the asylum it provided from the persistent snags of the vines, moved forward.
Linette stepped into the clearing where, in the absence of trees and shade the sun had dried and burned the grass until it was a flat expanse of lifeless remnants of plants. She sighed and looked at the cottage. Memories flooded her mind, the raiding of this cottage, the infectious laughter pouring from its windows, the clouds of dust permeating the air and the sudden solemnity when uncovering a forgotten person’s lost possessions.
The heat caused droplets of swear to appear on her forehead and a slow burn in her throat. The morning was wearing off and heading into the insufferable heat of midday. Linette ducked into the ramshackle cottage, happy for the reprieve of the elements before continuing on her journey.
Inside the cottage was unexpected tidiness. The sheets had disappeared and all surfaces dusted. Curious, Linette continued into the house, in the back was a spotless kitchen; a tall pitcher of water sat on a counter next to a variety of fruits and a loaf of bread. The next room explored was upstairs, a bed, unmade but clearly recently vacated dominated the space. Articles of boys clothing lay across the backs of chairs and on the floor. This room was much more disorganized than the lower floor. It looked human, less pristine and forced.
Linette was shocked by what she saw. There was no doubt in her mind about what this meant. Someone was living there. Living in one of the cottage ruins. A sense of stupefaction overwhelmed her, it was as if a stranger had walked into her childhood, adjusted her life. This person, whomever he was, was an obstruction in the way things were supposed to be. This place was meant to be untouched, Linette was sure of it. It was hers, that strange belief backed up by nothing whatsoever except her strong unexplainable feelings about it held fast in this stranger’s appearance. This place was not his, certainly not his but yet he lived there. A veil of confusion lifted and she realized he was hiding. Why else would he be in a ruin? He had a secret to keep and deciding with quick determination to not rest until all secrets were told, Linette turned on her heel and made her way downstairs. She was positive these answers would not disappoint her.
Linette left the cottage and looked east, The Ruin was a half an hour walk from there but the inspection of the house had taken some time from her. The call of the horn would sound soon, it called early on Mondays, signaling the end of work and the time of domestic comfort and socializing.
Realizing she’d ought to be home by then, Linette turned around and headed back into the Penser wood and to home, expecting to visit The Ruin the following day.
Mania about The Ruin, The Stranger and the disturbing feeling of forgetting something important, something vital to this whole equation, the link from the from The Fire, The Ruin, The Letter and the appearance of The Stranger to Linette’s life consumed her. What was it? She could not say, but Linette knew that somewhere in the depths of her mind she knew the answer.
Linette didn’t return to The Ruin the next day, nor the day after that, her sister Alice needed looking after and so she was confined to her home instead of traipsing through the wood trying to find out things about the place she loved and the one she hated.
