Nightmares

The Ancient Castle

We had been planning for weeks, my mother and I. From the coach to the sites; everything was settled; all decided so that nothing could go wrong. We are both adventure freaks but with our strictly routine life, we never got a chance to go out. This was the first time. It had to be perfect. 

We sat on the coach full of crowds and crowds of tourists. The sky was grey with clouds lying so thick that not even a streak of light could penetrate through. My heart longed for the sight of the sun, of the moon or even of a lightning. Just any light! But none came. Regardless of the gloomy day, my mother's face shone with bright cheerfulness, her shining teeth bejewelling her face with a nonchalant smile.

What could I do? I just sat there admiring it.

After a long and tiring journey, the conductor finally announced the arrival of the ancient palace. Stepping out, I saw the biggest, most ruined spiral of a cylinder that I had ever seen. The wall was covered with thick, green layers of algae making them turn almost black. So black that the tarantulas just camouflaged in their densely built cob-webs, meaning you didn't even get a warning when one was coming towards you. It was hard to tell whether there were cracks in the walls or the walls were made of cracks. All I could say was that the place had surely not been cleaned in the last century. Hence, the faint reek of dead bodies hung around the place. Even the reek was dying out. I could hear the dripping noise far away in the corner and I turned around to check where it was coming from but I could not catch the real culprit amongst the echoing twins. I turned round and round until my head started to spin. I was dashed out of my daze by a voice.

"That is the king's room", the tour-guide said, pointing to a door half-eaten by termites. "That's all right," my mother commented, "but where's the toilet?" "Up the stairs, ma'am", he replied, pointing up the spirals of labyrinth that spun so sharply that it made me feel dizzy just to watch them. "If you follow me", he gestured courteously and they left.

Right next to the king's place was another room. 'That must be the queen's room!', I thought to myself, and slowly started walking towards it. It was the most beautiful door with gold embroidery and dark blue mosaic patterns. The handle was made to look like a brass snake eating it's own tail, but it was the loveliest thing with its colourful studded beads and my hands were attracted towards it. I did not even realise that I had turned the handle and the door was open.

The magnificent room was covered with paintings. Most of which had withered away over time but one remained as vividly colourful as if it was painted yesterday. The jet black hair and the cream colour of skin with the rosy touch on the cheeks made the painting look so real that I almost felt the woman was standing in front of me. Her eyes were a deep blue and so eloquent that you could stand there for hours in their company trying to work out the story they told. Looking downwards, I noticed that the label read "The Late Queen".

There was another door through the room. A back door which lead to the balcony. Through the stained glass, I could see the figure of a woman standing on the other side. Hoping against hope that that would be a servant who could tell me more stories about the queen, I opened the door, and that was the biggest mistake of my life.

Standing on the other side was the most elegant woman with a gold and dark blue embroidered dress and a waist so thin that made her the envy of the prettiest girls. Her face was as grey and ashen as the skies above and her hair floated above her head like aquatic weed, only black, jet black, darker than the deepest black I had ever seen. My eyes felt blinded, like they would never be able to see colours again. Never be able to see light again. 

Nevertheless, what decisively arrested my attention were its eyes. The deep blue eyes with streaks of black spun around her black pupils like a spider-web. I could not tell whether it was only me but I could see her eyes dilate. They visibly grew, right in front of my eyes and seemed to invite me in. To plunge deeper and deeper and drown into their delight and sorrow. I could not control myself. I gave in.