I should have treated this sudden strike of tiredness with more care. As people keep living their lives, I crept and shall forever creep in loneliness and pain. It had all begun at the sound of the bells...
Church bells to be exact:
The twelve thunderous strokes fill my head with dull pain and a buzzing sound in my left ear. Last night, I had drunk way past my share and fell asleep five hours into my normal bedtime. And now, these damned church bells keep pushing their cloudy racket into the inmost depths of my mind...
At last, the church bells terminate their deed and silence befalls upon the outside world. As I struggle to rise and shine, I hear a loud knock on my door. "Who is it?" I yell, perched on my bed. On the other side of the frame, a raucous and deep voice utters an unintelligible sentence. I decide to stand up and open the door. But as I am about to turn the handle's lock, I decide to ask: "I didn't get what you just said, could you please tell me who you are?" I hear no answer and decide to open it...
My eyes strain at first. Deciphering the messed up picture that lay exposed before them was no easy deed. A pale and wrinkled face, a black top hat, a white mustache and a gray goatee, a long black cloak covering everything underneath the neck, white gloves on his shaky hands and a gnarled, mystical walking stick. A frail old man stood before me. It is not his being that prompts such an uncanny fear in me but how he merges with the hallway behind him. It is as if his faintness, in the stead of contrasting with the corridor's bright lighting, dimmed down the latter into an abominable and horrific state of lifelessness...
He hands me a letter. "I am a testament executor. As of yesterday, your uncle Yaroslav is no more. In his will, he left his house to..." My body twitches as he speaks my name. "Why me? So many sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, descendants and other family members! Why me?" The pitiful look of the frail old man's face tells me everything : it is not a choice, it is an accident. Pure lucklessness that will shatter my life. How? You shall understand...
It is a long ride until Yaroslav's house. He, a rich yet infamous writer, lived in seclusion. His house is far out of my small hometown and as I am way too poor to possess a car, I am getting there by bus. As the sky gets darker and darker, I glance outside through the window. A soporific and colorless forest is spread alongside the bus' path. As lifeless as it is, it is a beautiful sight. It seems eternal and grand. Suddenly, the bus stops. The driver glances at me and gestures "get out". As I set foot on a pebbly path I see it for the first time of my life. The eternal forest ends right where the terror begins. The horiffic house stands tall and mighty, and it's powerful ardor is calling me...
I step inside and shut the front door behind me. I can only describe the house as dimly gray and mysteriously familiar. It is, of course, a giant house. So many rooms and floors, I cannot count them all. As I explore the house, I step into a small and quiet bedroom. For no apparent reason, the room is cooler than the rest of the house. My attention is seized by a closet. I hear a whisper coming out of it. Strangling both fear and reason, I swing the closet doors open. No living creature, simply a twisted game of my confused brain. Yet, there is a hole. A small, negligible hole. I look behind me: the bedroom door is slightly open. I take a deep breath and look into the hole...
In the hole, I can see the adjacent chamber, another bedroom. It is unlit and empty, and as I stare at it, vigor is drained from my body at an incredibly fast rate. I glance at my watch: 9:38 P.M. I am hungover, hungry and exhausted. I lay myself upon the cold, hard bed and close my eyes...
As my eyes open, morning lives outside. But the bedroom remains gray and sad. Again, whispers come out of the closet. I get up and swing it's doors open. Nothing. I put my eye close to the hole and I see...
The frail old man. He stands there in the middle of the previously unlit room, which is now starkly bright. My heart barely stops pumping and a dizziness strikes me. My legs support my body only by a hair. The horrid, spontaneous sight makes me whisper an unintelligible sentence. The frail old man swiftly turns his head towards the hole. His eyes...
I let out a deep, short scream, turn around and run towards the door. I can't dare to look behind. I was on the second floor, so I run downstairs and as I am about to kick open the front and final door, run outside and never enter this horrible house again...
A young lady grabs me by my arm. She wears a purple dress and is of a much beautiful sight. My body is vacillating between heart attack and total relaxation. Smiling, she says: "You can't go outside. No more. You can go outside no more." I ask her why and she answers: "Everyone who enters this house must die. You knew that before you came, didn't you?" I silently nod. I feel the frail old man standing behind me. I am awaiting a sudden death. The fear is too great for me and as for a couple of seconds nothing seems to happen, I decide to grab my destiny by its horns: with all my remaining strength I jab the smiling lady on the cheek, jump out towards the front door and look behind me. The frail old man. His face and its everlasting memory still incite a fearful creature to chase me in the darkness of my dreadful, unspeakable nightmares...
Outside, I run. I run towards the forest. In this peaceful sanctuary I shall always live in safety, yet my desire to live shall be drained each morning as I shall remember...
As I enter the gray and lifeless abyss, I feel miserable and loathsome. My ear buzzes, my head is on the verge of exploding, the distant sound of bells remains a vile reminder of how this day began, my heart aches, my youthful strength is gone and my life lost its previous meaning. I shall rove in this forest in constant loneliness and pain. I shall creep away and draw my final breath in solitude and contempt for life. As I turn around, I see no beginning, no end, only gray trees. Nothing moves, everything is dead. I am here, imprisoned in the eternal forest, for good.