The last door is before me, the thin
wood separating me from the topmost attic room of the house.
Picturing some horror on the other side, with the insane old man from
all the pictures torturing something - or someone, I enter the room.
There's a woman inside. A young, dark haired woman in a red dress with a sheer cloak around her shoulders. She looks something like one of the guests, but softer somehow, a great tiredness hanging over her. I stand staring at her in shock, thoughts fleeing my mind at the fact that she is all that is behind the door. A woman in a small, empty room.
She looks up at me and the world springs back into life. I see her. I smell her perfume. I feel the press of the floor beneath my feet. I hear the sound of her breathing. And I am suddenly aware of the sound of my own breathing. A sound that I haven't thought of through my explorations of the house.
"You're here," she says, her voice mellow and alto and reaching my ears like nothing has in the past hours I've wandered aimlessly through the memories of that fateful night. "I've been waiting for you." She holds her shawl across her shoulders with one hand and points out the door I've just come through. "Bring in the body."
I turn to do her bidding, still not understanding what's going on. There is a body just outside the door. I haven't noticed it until now and that seems strange. I should have tripped over it when entering the room. I bend and turn the body to lift it, part of my brain screaming at me that something is wrong. I don't want to listen to it, mind almost blanker than it was at the beginning of the evening, but then I see the face.
The body I'm lifting has the same face as the woman in the room. I drop the body, leaving it sprawled across the doorway again and rise, turning back into the top room.
"Why won't you bring it in?" the woman asks.
"I won't do your bidding," I surprise myself by answering. The words come straight to my tongue without conscious thought. I won't bring the body in. I can't bring the body in. To do so, I somehow know without knowing why, will destroy everything I have been trying to put right.
She sighs and pushes her hair away from her face, captivating me with the gesture. "Then bring me...." She pauses, and I suddenly am wary of her pauses. "Bring me the birdhouse."
"I will bring you nothing," I say, certain that this is right, that nothing should come into this room or near this woman. This wolf in sheep's clothing.
This Stauf in guest's clothing.
This Stauf!
I step closer, unsure how I know that Stauf is the one in front of me, unsure how Stauf came to be wearing this form, and how he seems tired of it when it was what he was trying to do so hard. "You," I say, my voice holding more venom than I understand.
The Stauf-woman sighs. "You begin to remember," she says. "Before it goes to far do something for me. Quickly!"
I feel compelled to nod and agree to what she wants, but I stop myself. I step closer again. Perhaps I can hit her - him - it - this woman - Stauf - and bring an end to this. I take another step and pass a bend in the wall.
There is another body lying behind it. It is a smaller body than the one outside the room. There is a hat lying near the body, an arm stretched out toward it as if even in death the boy was trying to get his hat back.
I see the body, and suddenly I know.
My gaze snaps up to the Stauf-woman again, recognizing how she came to have her body, knowing also why I can enter the room without killing her.
"How many times, Tad?" she asks me, meeting my gaze. "My spell went wrong. I cannot leave here until I die, and I cannot die unless you kill me. You know how. Why won't you do it?" There is anguish, ancient and unchecked, in her dark eyes, and I am drawn to it. My life essence connected to hers.
I should be dead, as dead as my body on the floor. She took my life as she took the body she now wore. My life was to make her live forever in her new, young form. Even still, despite her failure, we are linked. I can roam this house while she remains stuck here, but my life and hers are one.
"No," I say again. "I will not do your bidding." I feel the knowledge come rushing back into me. The memory of that last night of life, of the final fight here in this room, with this woman. I remember how she tried to seduce me in her new body, and how close she came to succeeding before I fought back and pushed away from her the one last time that left me dead on the floor and separated from my body.
"I have breath," I say to her. "I am not wholly dead."
"Only while you are in here," she responds, eyes flashing. I find it hard to resist the fire in those eyes. "Even your spirit has flesh here because of our connection. You were more of a phantom to the guests than they were to you. They couldn't even see you."
"I will not give up while I still have some life. Not while there is even the smallest chance to defeat you. I won't let this happen," I say, backing toward the door. More knowledge pours into my head, backwash from our connection. His knowledge. I begin to recite the words that will bring me back to the beginning, to where I can stop it.
"You fool!" she screams at me, rushing forward to try and stop me somehow. "That won't work! Don't you understand? You've tried that before! It never works. DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE AGAIN!"
Her final wail diminishes to a whimper as the walls spin around me. I feel my weight and breath vanish as I am taken away from the one place I am solid. I won't fail. The six can be saved.
I find myself in front of ornate doors. I examine them closely, noting how thick they are, how old they seem.
And suddenly, something that had seemed so clear only a moment ago is missing. I try and figure out what it is, but all certainty is gone. I knew something - I think I did. Perhaps I didn't.
I remember... nothing.
Disclaimer: I don't own 7th Guest.
There's a woman inside. A young, dark haired woman in a red dress with a sheer cloak around her shoulders. She looks something like one of the guests, but softer somehow, a great tiredness hanging over her. I stand staring at her in shock, thoughts fleeing my mind at the fact that she is all that is behind the door. A woman in a small, empty room.
She looks up at me and the world springs back into life. I see her. I smell her perfume. I feel the press of the floor beneath my feet. I hear the sound of her breathing. And I am suddenly aware of the sound of my own breathing. A sound that I haven't thought of through my explorations of the house.
"You're here," she says, her voice mellow and alto and reaching my ears like nothing has in the past hours I've wandered aimlessly through the memories of that fateful night. "I've been waiting for you." She holds her shawl across her shoulders with one hand and points out the door I've just come through. "Bring in the body."
I turn to do her bidding, still not understanding what's going on. There is a body just outside the door. I haven't noticed it until now and that seems strange. I should have tripped over it when entering the room. I bend and turn the body to lift it, part of my brain screaming at me that something is wrong. I don't want to listen to it, mind almost blanker than it was at the beginning of the evening, but then I see the face.
The body I'm lifting has the same face as the woman in the room. I drop the body, leaving it sprawled across the doorway again and rise, turning back into the top room.
"Why won't you bring it in?" the woman asks.
"I won't do your bidding," I surprise myself by answering. The words come straight to my tongue without conscious thought. I won't bring the body in. I can't bring the body in. To do so, I somehow know without knowing why, will destroy everything I have been trying to put right.
She sighs and pushes her hair away from her face, captivating me with the gesture. "Then bring me...." She pauses, and I suddenly am wary of her pauses. "Bring me the birdhouse."
"I will bring you nothing," I say, certain that this is right, that nothing should come into this room or near this woman. This wolf in sheep's clothing.
This Stauf in guest's clothing.
This Stauf!
I step closer, unsure how I know that Stauf is the one in front of me, unsure how Stauf came to be wearing this form, and how he seems tired of it when it was what he was trying to do so hard. "You," I say, my voice holding more venom than I understand.
The Stauf-woman sighs. "You begin to remember," she says. "Before it goes to far do something for me. Quickly!"
I feel compelled to nod and agree to what she wants, but I stop myself. I step closer again. Perhaps I can hit her - him - it - this woman - Stauf - and bring an end to this. I take another step and pass a bend in the wall.
There is another body lying behind it. It is a smaller body than the one outside the room. There is a hat lying near the body, an arm stretched out toward it as if even in death the boy was trying to get his hat back.
I see the body, and suddenly I know.
My gaze snaps up to the Stauf-woman again, recognizing how she came to have her body, knowing also why I can enter the room without killing her.
"How many times, Tad?" she asks me, meeting my gaze. "My spell went wrong. I cannot leave here until I die, and I cannot die unless you kill me. You know how. Why won't you do it?" There is anguish, ancient and unchecked, in her dark eyes, and I am drawn to it. My life essence connected to hers.
I should be dead, as dead as my body on the floor. She took my life as she took the body she now wore. My life was to make her live forever in her new, young form. Even still, despite her failure, we are linked. I can roam this house while she remains stuck here, but my life and hers are one.
"No," I say again. "I will not do your bidding." I feel the knowledge come rushing back into me. The memory of that last night of life, of the final fight here in this room, with this woman. I remember how she tried to seduce me in her new body, and how close she came to succeeding before I fought back and pushed away from her the one last time that left me dead on the floor and separated from my body.
"I have breath," I say to her. "I am not wholly dead."
"Only while you are in here," she responds, eyes flashing. I find it hard to resist the fire in those eyes. "Even your spirit has flesh here because of our connection. You were more of a phantom to the guests than they were to you. They couldn't even see you."
"I will not give up while I still have some life. Not while there is even the smallest chance to defeat you. I won't let this happen," I say, backing toward the door. More knowledge pours into my head, backwash from our connection. His knowledge. I begin to recite the words that will bring me back to the beginning, to where I can stop it.
"You fool!" she screams at me, rushing forward to try and stop me somehow. "That won't work! Don't you understand? You've tried that before! It never works. DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE AGAIN!"
Her final wail diminishes to a whimper as the walls spin around me. I feel my weight and breath vanish as I am taken away from the one place I am solid. I won't fail. The six can be saved.
I find myself in front of ornate doors. I examine them closely, noting how thick they are, how old they seem.
And suddenly, something that had seemed so clear only a moment ago is missing. I try and figure out what it is, but all certainty is gone. I knew something - I think I did. Perhaps I didn't.
I remember... nothing.
Disclaimer: I don't own 7th Guest.