Curtain Down

Chapter 27 - A Ghost?

Author's Note: I'm sorry it has been such a long time. 3 weeks and 1 day. *Sigh* Homework, hikes, exams, birthdays, kittens, voluntary work and other events seem to have been taking over my life and I have had little time to read or write. I can only hope things will improve from here but I can't promise anything. Anyway, thank you all for your patience and I hope this has been worth the wait :)

*****

Only a dusting of frost remained from the previous night’s snow. It reminded me of icing sugar, sweet and powdery. Bags lay heavily under my eyes, pulling at my skin, making my eyes droop. I stifled a yawn, hoping the crisp air would wake me. Up until now, it didn’t seem to be working. The city was strangely quiet, just the odd passer by strolling past, warming their hands as best they could while their breath floated about them in clouds. It was for the best really, the quiet city, I really couldn’t be doing with meeting anyone. I needed to think. To walk alone. It felt as if I had a ton of weights pressing down on my shoulders, closing in on my lungs so it was difficult to breathe. Why did this have to happen? Why? I sighed softly, my breath mingling with the air.

“Anna?” Oh no. Please no. I thought as I carried on walking. Not now, please. I need time... “Anna?” Came the voice again. My name still a question. Then “Anna!” Footsteps. I counted to five, shut my eyes and opened them. “Anna, you have no idea-“ I looked up. Ryba stood there, her cheeks rosy from the cold, even though she was all bundled up in winter clothes.

“Ryba.” I said, flatly. I didn’t want to be mean to my friend. I didn’t want to push her away. But, at that moment, I barely remembered how to talk, let alone smile.

“You have no idea what has happened to me.”

“Can’t be anything worse than what happened to me.” I said.

Ryba was about to continue saying whatever it was had happened to her when she stopped, he eyebrows furrowed a little. “Why? What happened to you?”

“Oh, nothing much.” I laughed dryly.

“Anna, what’s wrong?”

“It’s only the fact that, last night, I was out and almost got killed by some puppet with a knife. I’d have been dead now if Otto hadn’t slapped me. Then, we went to see some magician who fed us stories about magic.” I spat bitterly.

Ryba gawped at me, her mouth hanging open. I don’t know whether she thought I was joking, or whether my story really happened. She must have decided on the latter because she said “but that’s horrible! What are you going to do?”

“What am I going to do?” I said, grimacing “I don’t know, Ryba. If I knew what I was going to do, I’d be doing it. I wish I knew what to do, then I wouldn’t be in this mess. I don’t have all the answers and I can’t be strong forever. I need to walk, to think.” My voice cracked and I looked at Ryba “I don’t know what to do.” The last part came out as a whisper, my voice too weak to make any other sound.

“Oh, Anna.” Ryba came and put her arms around me “I don’t know what to do either. There’s a ghost in my house and-“

I pulled back “a ghost? What’s a ghost got to do with any of this?”

“Nothing but that doesn’t change the fact it’s there.”

I sighed, that was all I needed. A ghost, of all things. “Ryba, are you sure-“

“Of course I’m sure! What happened last time you asked me that, Anna? What happened with the puppets? We know they’re moving on their own so please, believe me about this ghost.”

“Ok, ok.” I said, holding my hands up “just checking.” I paused “I don’t know what to do about a ghost, Ryba. I’ll come and check it out sometime, but not now. Right now, I have a lot of other things on my mind.”

“Can I walk with you?” Said Ryba. I nodded and we set off together in silence.

“What’s the ghost done?” I said after a while.

“It left a message on my window...”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Well what did it say?” I said, exasperated.

“Leave this place.” A chill ran down my spine as I recognised the words. “It’s what was on that note I told you about-“

“And what was scratched in that boy’s arm.” I said “what do you suppose it means?”

“I don’t know but it can’t be something good.”

“You’re sure it wasn’t the puppets?”

“Yes. I saw the ghost. A woman, I think, in a long flowing dress.”

I looked down the road and squinted in the harsh light. I could see black figures and a carriage and...I looked a little more closely. A funeral precession. Erik. It had to be. I thought about going a different route so we didn’t walk right through the middle of it but...the puppet. What if...? “Come on, Ryba.” I said, gesturing to the mourners.

“Anna, I think we should go round.”

“No,” I shook my head “I think Erik is there...I have to tell him about the puppet.”

“At a funeral? Can’t it wait?”

“No,” I said, looking over at the funeral again “I have to see him after it. We have to take the puppet to Alexandur.” Ryba still seemed reluctant so I said “come on, we’ll only be a minute.”

*****

A dark carriage stopped on the outskirts of Prague, the horses were black, their coats gleaming from care and attention. Smoke rose from a house next to it, trailing into the gloomy sky, merging with the clouds. A dog barked some way off and a woman reeled in a washing line from her balcony. The houses were tightly cramped together, as if all of them were trying to fit on the same alley. The woman from the balcony yelled down at the dog that had come running around the corner. “Naděžda! Blasted animal!” Or something of the sort. She muttered to herself as she went down to open the door.

Now I’ll turn your attention back to the carriage and the figures getting out of it. A woman, wrapped in black furs, her dark cloak almost, but not quite, trailing on the floor. She wore a large hat with several dark feathers in it. “Goodness knows why we couldn’t be dropped off closer to the city instead of in this run down place. I might catch something,” she looked at the ground in disgust “will you hurry up?” A man got down, his patent leather shoes instantly becoming splattered with mud.

“You know we mustn’t be seen.” His voice was deep, quiet. He, like the lady, was dressed in black. A long coat and dark hat. He had a cane in his left hand, silver topped.

“Yes, well, we’d better get going if we want to be in the square by nightfall. Come along,” the woman set off, her heels click-clicking on the cobles. The man pulled a wad of money from his pocket and handed it to the driver before following the woman, his cane tapping out a tune as he walked.

Author's Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed this and I'd love to hear what you think. I'm really going to need encouragement what with being busy and all. I don't know when you'll get the next chapter but I hope it's soon :) Thanks for reading!