Things I Almost Remember: A Selection Story

One Last Light

Kate woke up and felt a strange heaviness in the air. The last thing she remembered, she was in the back a van with Johnny...

"Johnny..." she whispered frantically looking around for him. "Johnny? Johnny!?"

Kate pressed her fingertips to her lips and felt the linger of Johnny kiss on her lips. She frantically looked around for him and took in more of her surroundings. She was in a dark large room. A crystal chandelier with a few candles still dimly lit hovered above. Part of the chandelier had been smashed leaving glass all over the white tile floor. The room was nearly surrounded by windows on all sides. Kate saw a looming dark forest expanding endlessly across the land in the distance outside the window. 

At first, the only light Kate could see came from the chandelier, but suddenly, she saw a glowing candle in the distance.

Kate squinted and made out an elegant dark-haired woman dressed all in white carrying an elaborate golden candelabra. 

"Who are you?" Kate managed to squeak from her position on the ground. She scrambled backward as the candle drew nearer. It was in that moment that Kate realized there was a large stain of red stained across the woman's chest.

"Kerttu, you know who I am," the woman said as she reached Kate and stretched out her hand to help her up. Kate cautiously took it and rose to her own feet. She realized she was still dressed in her worn and tattered coat, frayed pants, and scuffed and dirty boots.

At first, Kate wanted to object to the name, as she had when General Leger, but this place somehow felt different, a place where she had been before and was still attached to, where she had an identity that was not Kate. 

She stared at the woman, and then, without even thinking, she instinctively let out a whisper.

"Mother?"

The woman reached out her hand to touch Kate's cheek. The hand felt cold and icy. The woman then looked to something beyond Kate, and she turned to see what had caught the woman's attention. She saw another woman, older than the first, dressed in white with bright red curls that nearly blended into the red stain that ran down her face and onto the collar of the flowing white dress she wore.

The woman walked to Kate and gently placed her hand on Kate's cheek.

"My brave girl," the woman said, her clear blue eyes watering. "You must return to us."

"But you're gone," Kate whispered, feeling tears coming into her own eyes.

"We are alive beyond," the woman replied. "Our return will be alive in the hearts of the people upon the true heir becoming known.

Suddenly, a man came out of a dark corner in the the far edge of the room. 

"Nappula," the man said, reaching out his hand to her. She reached her hand without thinking, and his hand grasped her's. Like the first woman, his touch felt icy. Though dark red streaks covered his handsome face, Kate did not notice. Her gaze instead instantly noticed her very own navy blue eyes looking out at her.

"Papa?" Kate whimpered, falling to the floor and causing her hand to slip from his grip. Her eyes welled, and she buried her face in her hand. 

"How? How do I make the true heir known? How can you be alive when you're gone from the world?" Kate croaked out in heaving sobs. When no response came, she looked up and realized the ghostly figures were gone. The room again was dark as it had been before they had arrived, but she realized there was a new ember glowing from outside one of the windows. 

Kate walked over to the window as she wiped away the tears from her eyes. She peered out and realized there was a fourth person in this strange place. Holding a single candle and dressed in a warm, and rather expensive-looking coat, a man stood. He had golden blonde hair and warm brown eyes. He seemed to be searching for something.

"Kerttu?" he called. "Kerttu, where are you? Please come home to us! Kerttu?"

"Uncle Ahren," Kate whispered as she stared out the window. Unlike the previous figures, he was dressed in warm rich colors, and not a streak of bright red covered his skin or clothing. 

"Uncle Ahren!" Kate suddenly screamed. "Uncle Ahren, I'm here!"

The man looked around as though he heard the sound and was trying to distinguish where it came from. 

"Kerttu?" he called again a bit louder.

"Yes! I am here!," Kate shouted as she began to bang on the window. 

The man continued to look around frantically as though he could not determine where the her voice was coming from. He turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction from the window into the darkness of the forest.

"Uncle Ahren, please no! Come back!" she pleaded sliding down to her knees.

Suddenly, a loud crash broke out as the large double doors across the room burst open. Men dressed in the uniform of Marid Illéa's royal guard burst in the door and were making their way toward Kate, their guns draw. 

"No! No please!" she screamed backing up against the window and shielding her face behind her hands.

"Kate! Kate!" a familiar voice called out from a distance. Kate looked around trying find the source as the guard moved closer to her.

"Johnny?" she murmured in the faintest whisper.

Suddenly, the room began to shake as the floor started to crash into itself. The guards fell in screaming as they went. Kate tried to scramble further back, but she was already against the furthest back window.

"Kate!" the voice called again. 

Kate looked around frantically as the floor continued to collapse. The last thing she saw in the room as the tile fell out from under her was the faint glow of the chandelier above. It moved further and further away as she fell deep down into darkness. She saw one last gleam of light before everything went black.