Him & Her

Darkness. Nothing else but darkness. Wood. There was also the feel of wood. All around. What is going on? Blackout.

Headache. Confusion. Darkness. Blackout.

When he had finally regained consciousness, Tyler started feeling around him. He could feel the very prominent veins of the wood that was surrounding him. Wood? He hadn’t been dreaming then, there really was wood … and he was trapped in it!

Frantically, he started running his fingers all over the wood looking for a chance for escape. As it started to dawn on him that there was no way of getting out, his breath started to come in short gasps and he was rapidly starting to run out of air. He didn’t know where he was or how he had ended up there. All he knew was that he had to get out. Tears started forming at the corner of his eyes as he realized he couldn’t free himself. After a few more –useless - trials he tried to calm himself down and think of an explanation to what was happening to him. What was the last thing he could remember? The girl by the lake! What about her? She was beautiful … but …

Before he could get to the end of his thought he heard a creaking noise. He looked up and he noticed that he wasn’t trapped anymore. Whatever it was that he lying in, had been opened. Some light entered the wooden prison, not a lot, just enough for him to be able to make out some shapes, but not to identify their colors. Slowly he sat up and looked around. He was in an enormous room. To his right there was a king-size bed with three sets of pillows and a warm duvet that covered it completely. Surrounding the bed there were curtains made of a very thin material that resembled tulle. The bed’s frame was made of a dark wood, which contrasted with the seemingly light-colored covers.

To his left there was a dressing table in the same wood as the bed. There was a mirror, which in size, fit with the proportions of the rest of the room and on either side of it there were drawers with golden handles. Straight in front of where Tyler was, was the window. He hadn’t noticed it earlier because there were really dark curtains blocking the sunlight. What time of day was it actually? Tyler had no idea.
He decided it was time to get up and see what would happen. Slowly, he rose to his feet and stepped out of his wooden jail. He turned to face it to try and understand what it was. It didn’t have a regular geometric shape. He looked hard at it. He had known what it was the second he had laid eyes on it but his brain was not accepting this possibility.

“It’s a … it’s a …” he stuttered, not really sure who he was speaking to.

“A coffin, yes”

Tyler spun around 180 degrees to see where this voice had come from but he was alone in the room. He looked all around the room, however, there was no one to be seen.

“Are you looking for me?” said the voice.

He looked at the door which he was sure was closed a few second ago. Now it was open, although he hadn’t heard it open. It was a heavy and apparently old wooden door, so how come he didn’t hear it open? And in the doorway, there was a woman standing there, with one hang hanging down her side and the other on her hip. She snickered, “What? Don’t you recognize me?”
Suddenly, it all came rushing back to him; the girl, her lips on his neck, the pain, the death … and awakening once again. He reached his up to his neck where she had bitten him and there were two circular scars but they were already disappearing. I must have stayed unconscious a while if they are already healing he thought to himself.

“Not really actually, all this happened last night”, she said still standing in exactly the same position.

Thousands of thoughts started running through his head. He didn’t understand what was happening. Maybe on some level he didn’t want to understand. He didn’t even stop to wonder how she had known that he had been thinking that, since he hadn’t said anything out loud. Slowly, she approached him , her heels making a hollow sound on the marble floors at each step she took. When she was still a few feet away, she turned and faced the direction of the window. She went towards it and pulled open the curtains. The brightness of the moon immediately submerged the room, momentarily blinding Tyler, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened them again he looked at the woman he realized he knew nothing about. She was standing with her back to the window, looking at him with a mixture of desire and pride. Tyler thought he also caught a glimmer of menace and defiance in her gaze but when he looked again it was gone, making him unsure if he had really seen it in the first place.

“Come”, she said.

It was just one word but it meant so much more. She wasn’t just telling Tyler to come to her. She was inviting him to her world of darkness. She was beckoning him to her. She was offering to show him things that he could never imagine and to teach him the true meaning of her purpose. She was luring him, making him take the step. The one which he could never take back …