Whisper (13 page)

TWENTY-NINE

Escape

The warm sun is glowing into my room when I wake up. I snuggle into the blanket basking in the feel of the comfort. A cart is sitting next to my bed. Steam wafted from a bowl, the smell of soup hits my nostrils. I remove the china bowl lid, picking up the ladle. I poured soup into a bowl.

“Oh you’re awake,” Bethanne gleams. She set a tray on the cart. She opens the lid of the teapot, stirred in a couple teaspoons of honey with a little milk and served me some tea.

“Here drink up it is a bit strong an old tradition, which is why I added a little milk. You will love it though.”

“Thank you Bethanne.”

“Mind if I…” she gestured toward the bed. Shaking my head, I scoot over give her room.

“Any memory about what happened. We were all sure we had another Luken Vandersen disappearance on our hands.

You did have another Luken Vandersen disappearance on your hands.
I couldn’t tell her without having to explain about the shadow. I don’t want to be responsible for endangering another person’s life.

“I was on the balcony. Then I woke up in the woods. How I got there, I don’t want to think about that. It is a fog and I am not certain what happened before.”

“Avaya,” Bethanne sat uncertain “are you sure you were on the third floor balcony?”

“Yes I am sure, why?” Bethanne perplexed gazes at the curtain. “It is simply, when morning came and I discovered the room empty. The curtains were closed and the doors locked. I believe you miss, it just does not make much sense.”

She stood pacing. “Bethanne do not worry, it is not worth the headache of attempting to piece it all together.”

I watched her silently commanding herself to relax. “Sounds complicated, forgive me for asking.”

“Miss we shall leave it at that.” Bethanne collected the dishes onto the cart and wheeled it out of the room. I didn’t stay in bed for long. I had to figure out a way to find Luken and rescue him.

Livia caught me escaping outside alone. She followed me insisting we stay together. It is encouraging to know people here care. However, if anyone tries to prevent me from doing what I plan to do tonight, they will be sorry for trying to get in my way.

I headed to the garden to see if my aunt Dana was there. I made Livia wait at the outer edge of the woods. The place was empty. I went to the chapel, well the cemetery. Livia stood back as I entered the mausoleum. I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket, walking up to Luken’s plaque bolted to the wall. It stuck, with the date of his 1884 death. I bent my head silently mourning.

About to leave I hesitated. There is an odd sensation about this tiny cemetery. It suddenly feels like a prison wanting to lock me away. “Livia we should go to the garden.”

She nods, “okay is there a particular reason?”

Nobody can know my plan. I wanted to go to the mansion’s visible garden. Luken will be angry I didn’t let him go, but I had to do something. Even if it meant being in the face of a dangerous spirit. If that is what he is? If I told Livia, she would try to sabotage me and Luken would be gone forever.

“The wheels are turning in your head Avaya. Whatever you are planning miss, it is best to let it go now before endangering your life or someone else’s. This is not okay. I know you love him. Avaya he is a spirit a mystical figure. Luken doesn’t exist anymore, let him go.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking. I just want to go to the garden.”

Livia tries relentlessly to talk sense into me. I guess she can see right through my exterior. Walking to the garden, we walked down a small stairwell hidden behind a hill. Through a maze and passed a statue bird bath. The garden sat beyond a four foot fence wall of white wood with an entrance gate. We headed straight toward the roses.

“Avaya is there a particular reason we are here?”

“You think my uncle will mind if I pick a few flowers?” Livia shakes her head. Snipping a few flowers here and there, I take them back to the cemetery setting them in the mausoleum.

I would already be searching the woods, if Livia had not been with me. Stretching my legs for another hour, I head back inside. The inkling of the shadow figure stirs me to peek outside my window.

My heart jumps out of my skin when the knock came at my door. “Knock, knock…mind if I come in?” Becca says.

“How are you?” I asked her.

She sat at my bed side. “I should be asking that question. I am well. If only my mother were here it would seem less…dark. I really miss her.”

“Becca do you remember the accident?” She nods. “I don’t want to talk about it not yet.”

As dusk settled in the mansion felt darker than usual. Orange and yellow candle light brightens my room. “I have not seen Luken in a while. Avaya help me understand.” She fidgets and kept taking small breaths. “I don’t know where he is. Luken he is great, a real dream come true.”

“Avaya he isn’t real. Luken is a spirit.”

Becca laughs, arching her eye brows. “We’re in love Becca. I guess he is my boyfriend. We have not really made any specifications though.”

“I understand, but Xavier is a catch too. A bit arrogant, but he is handsome.”

“Don’t get me started. Luken and Xavier have it out for each other over me. I don’t want to discuss it.” It left me wondering if maybe Becca is interested in Xavier. It would help the jealous feud between them.

Before Becca walks out of my room, she turns to me. “By the way, be careful.”

Pulling my covers back, I slip on my jeans and sneakers. I am already wearing a camisole tank top. My coat is light and weatherproof. I grabbed the candelabra from my room sitting near the bathroom. Peering into the hallway I check both ways before sneaking to the maids’ corridor to sneak out the back.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I spun around. Celia is leaning against the wall on the main floor. “Celia do you enjoy scaring people.” She pushes off the wall. “Of course I do.”

“I don’t have time right now.” She starts to follow me. “Well…if you’re going to find Nate or Luken whatever he wants to be called good luck finding him. I could use a little less competition around here.” I ignore not looking back.

I make it passed the edge of the woods. The light of the mansion fades away the farther into the trees I go. Unsure which way to head, I close my eyes. Spinning around I stop, pointing in a direction. My finger is directing me off to the right. “I’m coming Luken, hang in there.” I say aloud.

A light breeze passes through the trees, extinguishing my candle. Navigating in the dark my sense of direction fades. “I knew you would come.”

A whisper sweeps across my ear. Frantic I turn in a circle trying to find the source of the hissing. I felt it carried in the wind, to reach me. Taking a deep breath I pace one foot in front of the other. This shadow will not consume my fear.

I heard a ragged whisper about a mile into my blind walk. “Avaya, run get out of here.” Luken’s voice booms.

Following the direction of the voice I am led to Luken bound by thick shadows from the trees. His pale skin is close to pearly white. Running to him I manage to break him free.

“Go get out of here, this is not your fight Avaya.”

“It is now I am not going to live without you, not now, not ever. It is us together.”

He takes a relinquished sigh, “I love you Avaya this is not going to be your fight, run.”

Luken is pulled away from me, bound in shadow. His head, legs, and arms are the only parts of him not covered in blackness.

“Isn’t this touching?”

THIRTY

Shadows

“Avaya, I know who the shadow is…run. My fate is already sealed yours is not.”

“Who is it?”

“Quiet,” the shadow says tossing a shadowed vine around Luken’s mouth.

He steps forth from the shadows. This man’s identity is hidden behind a shadowed cloak. Two black coals stare into my green apple caramel swirled eyes. A muffled scream echoes through the woods.

Facing Luken he is hung suspended in the air, his energy waning. His usual bright eyes are now a dull blue. Luken’s corporeal form is being forced on him. This shadowed figure laughs at his triumph.

“You are no match for me. Luken was no match for me.” A bitter taste fills my mouth. His laugh is haunting and menacing. His two black coals for eyes glint in the moonlight. The willowy shadows gently flap against the ground.

Luken shouts through his shadowed gag choking as it enters his mouth. I barely hear him tell me to run again, it is his only chance. I am grabbed from behind, facing me to stare at Luken.

Shadowed fingers clench my face. “What a beauty,” he hisses, “isn’t she Luken.”

His cool icy breath eerily hits my shoulder. I couldn’t move. An arm with hands covered in shadow wrapped around my waist. His chest pinned against my back. I could feel darkness pressing into me.

“Shall we make watch as I take you away? Hmmm, this will be quite entertaining. Would you like a show Luken, your beloved lost for all eternity. Actually…I have something else in mind.” He snickers.

Luken struggled to free himself. The shadows just contained me further. It hurt me to see him being squeezed away to nothing. I felt him let go, his shadowy figure stepped away from me, vanishing into nothing.

I shouted, “Luken!”

He disappeared from my eyes struggling. The air surrounding me heckled. He was having too much enjoyment through my being taunted. “Let’s play a game,” he bellows. “Find Luken and I will set him free Avaya.” He spoke my name with pure disgust.

Swallowing, I walk deeper into the woods. A familiar blue glow catches my attention.
Abigail
, I thought she had deserted me. “You stayed.” Her smile twitched. “Barely, how could I leave my precious Luken here. A man yet he is still so young. I was not ready or able to face him before. He must have been so worried about you. Tell me he stayed. Wait a minute, where is Luken, why are you out here alone?”

“He took Luken and I have to him. Luken is danger. A figure covered in shadows captured him. This dark figure is responsible for Luken’s disappearance. I can’t lose him…losing him would rip me apart. Please help me. He needs you.”

“Luken doesn’t know what happened to him?”

I shake my head. “No. If I don’t help him, he might not ever remember. The chance of not seeing him is too high. If you want to be reunited with your husband, I will help do that. First I have to do this.”

Abigail turns a fiery blue. A shade brighter and more luminous than a few minutes earlier, her rage flames. She takes a deep breath until her sapphire glow dulls into nothing. “Nobody shall harm my son. This creature is not going to prevent him from finding out how he met his fate. We have searched for so long. It did not occur to me to check in the one place I hadn’t, at home.”

Abigail and I agree to meet near the graveyard tomorrow night. She disappeared leaving me alone to stand my ground. If only I had known sooner, this isn’t a game at all. Searching for Luken isn’t the intended idea for this shadowed figure.

I walked right into a trap.

THIRTY-ONE

Revealed

A shadow vine flew at my wrists, trapping my wrists to my sides. His black cloaked shape came inches from my face. Horror movies are not my favorite and I did not want to see any creepy contorted faces. Black pupils entranced me. I saw an evil soul lurking within the shadows for those eyes.

He slithers away from me on two feet. “Stupid girl, you actually thought I would let you be with him. That was almost too easy.”

Luken faced me from a distance. “I love you,” I mouthed.

“I love you,” he says with his eyes. The fight was taking hold of Luken. His coloring is duller almost lifeless. Luken’s head drooped forward. “Luken, fight it.” I shout at him.

No response.

Glancing at the shadowed figure, adrenaline takes over. “I’m not scared of you anymore.” The shadows dropped to the ground blending in with the night. “You will be.” He seethed.

Running up to him I catch him off guard. Pulling at his head until the black cloak fell and he turned revealing himself to me. My mouth gapes, my hand flies to my mouth. It couldn’t be…he is related to Luken.

“I have seen you before.” His smirk is malicious. Terror seeps through my body, raging against my nerves. I fought to stay composed, strength radiated through the core of my soul.

“Why would you do this to him? How did you do this to him?” I ask baffled.

Blackness engulfs me until Luken dims from my vision. When I find my ground, the man and I stood in a wooded area. Sprays of sun light cascade in various directions. “Come,” he hissed in a whisper.

I followed him until I realized my surroundings aren’t the same. We stand at the edge of the woods in view of the Vandersen Manor. There is a young lady sitting on a rock where I used to watch Luken. There is a young man, an older boy possibly standing behind her. Movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Another older boy stood in the shadows of the forest watching them. His face contorts with disgust and jealousy. The boy sneers at the couple on the rock.

My gaze reverts back to the couple. She admires the view not even twisting over her shoulder to look at the boy with her. I watch her shoulders shake gently.
Is she crying?
I asked myself.

A shadow approached from behind me. Trying to move forward the same former person stood beside me gripping my arm, “the past cannot be undone.” He says pleased. The other boy, saw the shadowed figure coming, he stood smirked eerily, then turned his back and walked away casually.

She didn’t even acknowledge anything is amiss. The boy with her lifted his head. Slowly turning in our direction, he is in a trance. “Luken,” I say to myself. A black cloud consumes him, when it clears away he is gone. Luken really did vanish into thin air.

The shadows around me swarmed in circular motion. When it clears away I am in the middle of a rural wooded area. Luken is lying on the ground in front of me. “Watch,” the shadowed man whispers in my ear.

Something isn’t right, I realize. His paranormal body awoke in the woods. How had he been separated from his body? I was so close to learning Luken’s fate only to be left with another question. Where is his body? 

I am standing in the same place, trapped in the present. Luken is gone. “Now you see, he had it coming.”

Stepping backwards my back hits up against the trunk of a tree. “That wasn’t your call.”

He smirks, “my son made the call. He is around here somewhere maybe if you survive he shall introduce himself to you.”

Not wanting to listen, I say to him, “How could you do this to your own nephew?”

Fuming, steaming smoke blew out my ears. Luken’s uncle had been responsible. It still didn’t answer how he died or where his body lies today. Charles must have secretly loathed Luken or he was simply too self-inclined to notice.

Jefferson Vandersen had died a few years prior to Anabelle and Luken meeting. Jefferson a spiteful, jealous man had been Jonathon Vandersen’s brother. He haunted the mansion grounds, until he learned of Luken and Anabelle being engaged. “My son Charles should have married Anabelle. Luken could not resist the attention of another girl. Even while his heart pined for you, he still womanized. Charles did not handle losing Anabelle to another. I had to watch my son in pain for too long. It was one day in the evening when he saw me outside our home that I learned of his pain. He wanted Luken to pay, I wanted him to pay.

Luken didn’t notice me watching from the woods. That melody he wrote was easy bait. It worked out my dying from an accident. Otherwise I would not able to have helped my son exact revenge. Anabelle got her what she wanted. The young heathen still married a Vandersen. I am proud my son Jefferson Vandersen III married Anabelle.”

I spoke up to ask the questions I needed answered. “If Luken was out of the way why didn’t Charles marry Anabelle? And, Jefferson married her I thought a George Vandersen became her husband.”

He sneers. “My son was too distraught he took his life because Anabelle would not return to him. She married my son Jefferson, who by some preferred to be called George.”

Jefferson continued on. “Though of course Luken had been doomed the minute he interfered with in the affairs of the heart. It was rather interesting when I found out Luken was making insane claims about a girl who did not exist. Then she showed up here and now. For a while I watched the other one thinking it might be her, but she was a bit different from the drawing, she did not fit the correct mold.”

I hadn’t seen any drawing. “You will not get away with this.” I say to him. I would have time later to wonder about a drawing.

“But I already have. I got away with Luken’s demise. It is possible to let allow you to live. How you managed to find your way back. I have no idea. The entertainment in watching you search to find Luken’s remains would be rather humorous if I let you live.

Jefferson boiled me the wrong way. For a moment I wonder if Anabelle is here in spirit waiting for Luken. I let the thought leave my mind. She had married his cousin and must have been happy with him.

Jefferson’s white hair and black irises are surrounded by white pupils. It is too menacing. Cold eyes and tight stiffened skin made me wonder, had wealth been his fortitude in life? His skin barely wrinkled at the forehead. Frown lines etched into his skin, I had seen before. He must have been a strict father with no emotion.

“Jefferson what have you done?” A breathless voice gasps.

Abigail. She must have been watching and waiting. Seeing her brings joy to my vibrating body buzzing with pure energy.

“Ah. Abigail, I should have known you’d show up eventually. This does not concern you, be gone.”

Abigail glowers. “Do not speak to me in that disrespectful manner my Luken never did any wrong to you. Anabelle chose him. He did not have to steal her away. Maybe Charles should have spent more of his attention on that sweet girl instead of ignoring her with his wandering eyes.” Jefferson’s howl vibrates the air in the woods. A haunting tone swirls through the branches, the leaves, and shadows. My feet became glued to the ground.

Jefferson opened his mouth. I saw blackness as dark as his irises with white gleaming teeth, the only light within him. He wore a black button down shirt underneath a waist coat with black trousers. Shrouded in black Jefferson blended in with the night.

“Where is my son now?” Abigail spoke sternly.

I remember her speaking in the same tone to Lizabeth when I witnessed her in my dream. “Luken is right where I left him. He will not be moving any time soon.” He radiated with strength and unseen power.

“Luken will soon fade into vapor, a spirited shell of himself. Even worse for him, he will be a spirit nobody can see or hear.”

Panic rose in Abigail’s bright energized blue eyes.

I wanted to run.

“Here is your last chance to let fate take its course. Luken should not have been waiting a spirit for his true love. I should have damned him then, but I had to wait and see if the girl he spoke of would one day be real. Clearly now that you are here it is a grave issue.”

Jefferson comes so close to me I smell foul breath. Death lingered leaving a stench within his cold black spirit. “If…you can find Luken before I do, I will leave you in peace. Should I find Luken and you do not…you will pay the price.”

“Avaya do not listen to him. Please do not toy with my son’s spirit for the sake of your own. It is trickery.” I had almost doomed us both for an eternity. Jefferson, I realized would have reach Luken first. My plan played against me.

“No, return me to where he is trapped. I am not able to help him you know that quite well. Let me say goodbye.” Jefferson smirks with satisfaction, “very well.”

Abigail hesitates, but follows. We returned to Luken. He is hunched over. His skin is blue gray and translucent, an unconscious spirit, dying from any form of existence.