It was the sound of a door being slammed shut as well as the scent of old dry timber that'd eventually pull you out of your unconsciousness & cause your weary eyes to fling open, the realization that something wasn't right already more than present despite your confusion. It took your vision quite some time to adjust to the brightness, a brightness that was not nearly as overwhelming as that from earlier but still enough to blind you for the moment while you were simply lying on your back, face turned towards the sun.
Wait…
The sun?
You blinked several times to erase all doubt over the sight provided, caught in utter disbelief as you finally felt how the golden beams slowly but surely began to warm your face, eliciting a sigh of relief from you. However, it did neither bring peace to your still troubled mind neither would it answer any of those questions that were storming through your head; in fact it would only add more.
Lifting a single hand to shield your now fully opened eyes from the light you carefully glanced to the left since something there had caught your attention, something that looked oddly familiar yet bewildered you nonetheless:
It was an ordinary small wooden bookshelf, positioned right next to an open window through which - as you could finally see - the sunbeams entered the room you had woken up in for some bizarre reason. A whiff of cool autumnal air caressed your face. Eyes curious yet filled with confusion traveled further around to explore the new environment, somehow unable to properly adjust to the brightness after all. It felt as if you had just woken up from a really long sleep & a bad nightmare at that, trying to comprehend the current situation as well as all the previous events.
While observing everything as good as your blurred vision allowed you to you attempted to sit up, your joints screeching in pain with every single move. Dizziness befell you, making it nearly impossible to grasp a proper thought for what felt like an eternity, but once those blurred patterns formed into contours & also the numerous colours became much clearer you pushed your still weakened body up with both hands pressed flat to the floor, slowly lifting your head in the process.
“ What on— ”
Clearly, this was not a dream either; the pain in your head as well as in your arms & legs was simply too convincing. Though everything around you appeared to be spinning even faster now you finally came to the realization that you were in some kind of room, a wooden hut or cabin perhaps judging by the walls & the rather old-fashioned interior. The scent of pine filled your nose once you took a deep breath, the old floor tiles creaking mercilessly beneath your feet with each step. Half-burned candles ornamented the shelves & tables, posters & pictures of quite familiar musicians the walls. During your observation you turned in your spot several times as though attempting to remember this place, taking in as much of the environment as possible, but it was in vain. You had never been here before, that much was for certain.
A few seconds in an upright stance & the dizziness started to wear off at last, allowing you take a look outside the open window into what appeared to be a garden; all run wild & thus bountiful with weeds, with ivy gnawing at the outer walls of the house. In the not so far distance, a forest, & behind it a line of tall grey mountains. Birds were singing in the peacefully swaying branches of the pine trees, filling the very air with life; the entire opposite of that other place you had been to before.
Just what was going on? And where was —
Another loud noise ripped you out of your thoughts, similar to the one that had woken you up several minutes ago: a door falling shut with force, literally causing the walls to vibrate for a moment. Then footsteps, fast-paced as though someone was making their way down a set of stairs in sheer panic, followed by a gut-wrenching scream filled with agony & the sound of glass being shattered. You flinched, your back pressed against the wall, eyes fixated on the door in the opposite corner of the room.
However bewildered, for some reason you couldn't help but think that that scream sounded very familiar…
Driven by a beast called curiosity you immediately gathered all your courage & moved towards the door with slow & thoughtful steps, ignoring the tiles that were constantly screaming under your weight. Not a second was wasted on either pondering or second thoughts, the door slid open while emitting a gentle squeak as soon as you leaned against it & peered outside through the gap. What you saw was a long empty hallway, most of it cloaked in absolute darkness due to the lack of windows & lights, nevertheless your eyes soon espied what appeared to be a staircase on the other end, leading down into an even greater darkness.
From downstairs, lucid moans & sighs; not of satisfaction, but great pain.
Could this be….?
“ Pelle? ”
You fell silent almost immediately, covering your mouth with a single hand. What on earth were you even thinking? At this point in time anyone could've been down there, whether they were friend or foe was a complete mystery still.
Lips sealed tightly, hand still in place, you moved deeper into the darkness & towards the staircase, your breath rattling audibly since your body was trembling with fear again.
If only you knew what it was that unsettled you so strongly...
You didn't even bother to take the time & peer down into the darkness, already aware that you wouldn't be able to see a single thing anyway. You were however, once close enough to the edge of the staircase, able to hear that voice from before, though this time it was not a scream that penetrated the silence but words, spoken with an aggrieved & the most saddened of voices:
What will be left of me when I'm dead?
There was nothing when I lived…
A familiar voice to strengthen you in your belief, words to make you tremble even more, yet it was no longer because of fear but instead what you'd describe as nearly overwhelming joy & relief.
“ Pelle! ”,
you gasped when, in spite of the dark & unknown, you suddenly lunged forward with the determination of a lioness primed for the hunt, almost stumbling & falling down the stairs in the process. You reached the last step way faster than expected, hands soon making contact with a wooden wall across from the staircase as you came to an abrupt stop, holding your breath for a few seconds before your widened eyes drifted to the right. There, two or three steps away from where you stood, another door; left ajar, allowing some of the light inside to escape.
And together with the light came even more words of despair & frustration…
What you found was eternal death.
No one… will ever miss you.
Nothing else was needed, for you had heard more than enough at this point. Sighing softly as a response to those all too familiar, gut-wrenching words you stumbled towards the door & literally threw yourself against it, entering the room behind it with a loud thud. In less than the blink of an eye you were already standing right in the centre of the room, the quite unexpected & nauseating stench of decay crawling into your lungs with the first breath, immediately causing your eyes to fill with tears. A coughing fit forced its way up your throat; first a weak, then a heavy one, preventing you from observing your environment any further. That was until Pelle's voice rang out, clear as glass yet so cold, devoid of any emotion -
No one… will ever… miss you…
As though on command your teary eyes drifted upwards, with a vision so blurry, it took you several frantic blinks to finally see anything at all. Once the veil had lifted & the violent coughing fit come to an end a human figure became visible, back turned towards you as if he hadn't noticed you at all. Of course, as predicted by your heart, it was none other than Pelle himself; his tall athletic frame, his black jacket as well as his long blonde hair gave that much away. He wouldn't move an inch, not even when you finally found the courage to raise your own voice:
“ Pelle… It's me. I'm back…
Do you still remember me?
I've come back to make things right again… To /fix/ what has been broken.
I've come back… to save you. ”