Phantom Child

15. At the cementary

In the middle of the night I was woken up by the sound of footsteps. Erik was here. I felt shivers running down my spine. Not giving any sign, that I was awake, I opened one eye and watched his actions. He put on his vest and coat. Then covered himself with one of his thicker capes and grabbed a hat with feathers before walking out. He hadn't looked at me once.

When he was no longer in the lair, I sat up and began to process what had happened. He went out. Why?

I needed to know.

I quickly got on my usual clothes and ran out behind Erik, careful not to be seen. He left the building and walked around it to where the carriages were kept. A man was guarding them.

It took one good hit and the man was lying on the ground, not moving at all. When Erik walked off for a while, I ran over to the numb body. The man was breathing, he was just unconcious. I sighed with relief.

Not for long though, as Erik came back and took the place of the carman at the nearest source of transportation. Literally a few seconds later a hooded figure walked up to the carriage. The hair falling from under the hood told me it was Christine. She entered the carriage and closed the door behind her, unaware of the jeopardy she was putting herself in.

The wehicle took off. I made the quick decision and seized upon the back of it. I was holding tightly as we were driving out of the city in the direction of a destination unknown to me. This whole time a haunting melody was ringing in my ears. Was it someone's voice or was it just inside my mind? It was hard to guess.

"In sleep he sang to me
In dreams he came..."

We were passing trees, sticking out from the mist, that looked like terrifying figures, all at once preparing to jump in our direction. After a couple minutes ride, the carriage stopped. I looked around me and, with fear, found out that it was a cementary, dark and cold forrest of stone crosses and depressed sculptures of saints. Christine walked out and entered the cementary. Alfer a while, the black shadow also left and disappeared between the gravestones.

I jumped off and stood for a while, confused. I didn't like at all whatever was about to happen. All the books that I had read and stories I had been told in my entire life taught me that nothing good ever happens at cementaries at midnight. But I had to be there. For them both.

I took a deep breath and immerged into the fog. The ground was covered with a thin layer of snow, so were the graves. It was a rather dismall sight. The low temerature was really getting on my nerves, feeling like I was being pinched on every single uncovered surface of my skin. But all my concerns were washed away when I heard a voice.

"You were once my one companion
You were all that mattered
You were once a friend and father
Then my world was shattered"

It was Christine. I recognized that tone of grief in her voice -  she was singing about her deceased father, her care-giver, family and friend, who had left her in her time of need, though it was hard to blame him; none of us get to choose when of how we die. For me though, the words had a different meaning, as I also related to them, thinking of a different person, who was dear to me and it felt like he had left me.

"Wishing you were somehow here again
Wishing you were somehow near
Sometimes it seem if I just dream
Somehow you would be here"

Christine's voice was beautiful as always, even though she was trembling from cold and stirred by emotions. She had a way of staying in tune, despite the circumstances. And that only proved the skill of her teacher. I walked almost behind her back, but always staying to the side and hidden, using techniques of that very same tutor. Why did all the trains of thoughts had to lead me back to Erik?