Story: Blurred Reality

It was a dark and stormy night. Not one of those seasonal thundershowers but something beyond. The whole week had sunny days and peaceful nights, but not this night. Something was not right about this sudden downpour. A chill ran up my spine. I had goose bumps on top of my goose bumps. It was just………………………………eerie.

A shadow crept up on the wall beside me as I stared across from the open window. I jumped. And so did the cat. A flood of relief and rushing blood turned my white skin red. I picked up the cat. “Meow!” it said. “Meow back to you, little adorable thing” said I.

I walked up to the fireplace. It was the only available light source in the study. The candles had been blown off by the wind and I was too lazy to light them again. As I sat by the fireplace with the cat on my lap, I felt strange. A sixth sense, as you may call, that I wasn’t alone in the room. The cat was there too but I felt the existence of another.

The crackle of the fire rose. It was as if it was being fed. I looked up and there was a handsome gentleman standing by the fireside. He looked as though he was from a different era as he wore clothes of kings and noblemen.

“Good Evening, Mademoiselle”
“Ahh, French, I See” I thought as he continued.
“Forgive me if I startled you but I must do something of utmost urgency now. Ahhh. There you are” saying so he walked up and picked up his hand from armrest of my chair and fixed it onto his arm.

A silent gasp was the only outcome of the horrifying scream that built up inside me. “Sorry mademoiselle but it was not my intention to scare you”

He looked real enough but must have been dead several years ago. “Are you dead?” I asked and he replied “Yes Mademoiselle! I am a dead Count, not as famous as the Count of Monte Cristo but a Count nonetheless. I am buried twenty feet under where we stand right now and it does get a little stifling inside. So I get up and walk about once a week or so.”

So he was dead and I must be close to the edge if I didn’t find that frightening enough. But I wasn’t frightened at all. Well not at all would have been an exaggeration but I was quite thrilled and amused to have the company of a French Count. Call me old-fashioned but “I was very charmed by his charms” as they say. We talked through the night and I was loving every minute of it.

The rain had stopped an hour ago and a chilly breeze had taken over the proceedings for the night. I put on my coat and we walked around the estate side by side. I heard the sound of a horse trotting and looked up to see an old fashioned coach pull up beside us. “How pretty and cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…..” before I could finish my statement a hand grabbed me and took me inside. The door shut behind me and the coach began to pick up speed. I tried to look out, at the hazy figure of the Count, in the distance.

to be continued...