Death's Captive: Will she escape eternal confinement?

CHAPTER 2

I like to think they go back to that river behind her house, but I think it's different for every person. I wish I knew what was beyond.

"Mary slipped on a mossy rock, fell unconscious into the water and drowned. Dying at the tender age of fifteen. Isn't life just heartbreakingly cruel sometimes?" There's a sneer in his voice followed by a snide chuckle.

"How nice of you to pop in at this tender moment, Niklaus." My voice is brimming with sarcasm as I address the tall, dark-haired man standing by my side. I look up into his face, which seems cool and sculpted like a marble statue.

Niklaus looks towards me with an intensity that is hard to interpret: "You never love anyone like your first. Some people spend the rest of their life trying to recreate it. Such a shame that only in death one can acquire it."

"Why are you so cynical? That man, Michael, is happy with his wife. They had a family together. He asked me if he could stay just a little longer so he could say goodbye to them..."

Niklaus raises his hand to cut off my sentence. I stand silent. His face comes close to mine. "Everybody always asks to stay a little longer – there are few exceptions."

I look back down the corridor where the bright light was. It is true what he said. I can feel Niklaus move behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. I try not to stiffen. I can hear him breathing as he says gently in my ear, "Besides the real question you've got to ask yourself is how happy was Michael with his wife? You saw just as I did, Michael walking off into a beautiful portal of light with another woman."

Niklaus lifts his hand and pulls my brown hair over my shoulder and brings it up to his face. I can hear him breathing in its scent and rubbing the strands over his cheek. It seems odd to me how and why he does this, but I let him have his moment. It could be worse; his behaviour around me used to be more presumptuous.

Once he was so brazen I pushed him off me, slapped him hard across the face then ran away crying. After that incident he disappeared for many months, possibly a year, and I was lonely; I hadn't realised that Niklaus was my only company. I used to try to keep spirits with me after I pulled them from their bodies, but I couldn't keep them with me for long. Once they see their afterlife they don't acknowledge me, I guess I cease existing for them.

When Niklaus left me here alone for several months I started following nurses around, trying to figure out what was going on. Occasionally I would hear that distinctive 'ting' and found myself being drawn towards the sound. Always it led to someone needing help to leave their body behind. One night I was hurrying after a bustling nurse and when I turned a corner Niklaus was standing there, leaning against a wall, looking down at his shoe, but taking furtive glances towards me. A surge of emotion rushed from my heart to my head and every part of my body as I hurried over and hugged him, basking in the comfort of not being alone. The resentment I felt toward him for the presumptuous grappling momentarily forgotten because of the torture of being surrounded by people who won't acknowledge me. Even his presence is preferable to nothing.

When I hugged him Niklaus was a little shocked, but after a beat he put his arms around me and apologised. He said he'd been alone for a long time and just wanted to be close to someone. I told him I hated him, but I needed him to keep me sane. He accepted that and promised he'd keep himself restrained so long as there was common ground between us. From then on we would talk and I'd let him touch my hair, any skin that's exposed in what I'm wearing, and kiss my cheek sometimes when we part. I don't know where he goes. I assume he has to go and help a spirit from its body. I don't know why he can leave and I can't.

I still have to fend off Niklaus's advances occasionally. He'll try and push the boundaries of our relationship further, and I know it's not enough for him. But I shrug him off and he stops.