You silly man…
Something hot and wet tickled at Victor's cheek. Opening his eyes, they focused on a small white skull of a dog. Its head quirked to the side and licked Victor's face again.
"Scra-" started Victor, but before he could finish the name cold water gushed up from his throat and splashed to the floor. Kneeling down, his head bowed over the shiny cobblestones, he coughed up the river water and let it splash against his white hands. There was a flickering streetlamp nearby and Victor watched as the liquid reflected the flame.
Something scratched at the back of Victor's throat. Picking up a shaking hand, he reached with slender fingers into his mouth and pulled a rather prickly oak leaf. Tossing it away, Victor slowly picked himself up and nervously smoothed out his hair which immediately became disheveled again. Small droplets of water dripped from the ends of his hair and absorbed into his already soaked overcoat.
The skeleton dog ran around his legs and yipped excitedly. Bending down, Victor patted him on the head, a slight smile on his lips. After taking his hand away, the dog barked again and ran ahead of Victor. Scraps ran to the streetlamp and wagged his tail.
Victor followed the dog along the empty streets until they reached a large hill. He wondered why he hadn't seen anyone yet. Scraps tugged at his pants collar and urged him on to a long pathway to the top of the hill. There was a building at the top that towered over Victor as he knocked on a side door.
"Come in," said a soft, withered voice.
As Victor stepped inside, Scraps refused to enter with him and lied down near the doorjamb. Walking around shelves of large volumes of books and mysterious containers of preserved animals, Victor managed to find himself in a small clearing. A tall podium stood in front of him and he could barely make out the top of a cracked skull behind the dark wood.
"Do you know where you are?" asked the top of the skull.
"No," said Victor, water slipping down the side of his mouth.
"Do you know what you are?" the skull asked.
"Well, um. I think I am Victor," he said, wringing his tie, a small stream of water escaping the cloth and landing on the wooden floor.
"It is true that you are Victor. But it also true that you are dead. And you now live here in the Land of the Dead," said the skull.
Victor could see its eyeholes and slowly he started to remember the he had once lived. He had lived in a small town in England up until his twenty-third year when he drowned in a river on a rainy night. He had a wife and she had birthed a child that had left them for this place. He also remembered white butterflies and a blue smile.
"Emily," Victor whispered. His breath almost felt warm as he exhaled the name into the dry air. He peered up towards the now visible skeletal man. "Elder Gutknecht."
"So you remember now, eh?" the skeleton said, his jaw contorting into what Victor guessed was a smile. "It usually takes longer. The journey between the living and the dead is not so easy, but you have done it before so that might explain it."
Victor stared down at his black shoes. Wiggling his toes slightly, he could feel them squish against the wet socks.
"I'm sorry to say that the water will never go away. You are going to have to get used to it, I suppose," Elder Gutknecht said, falling away from view and then reappearing at the side of the podium. Limping forward, a bony finger slid against Victor's coat sleeve. "You went down very deep."
Shaking his head slightly, Victor cleared his throat, water sputtering through his hand covering his mouth. Suddenly, a question entered his mind that would have made his throat dry had it been possible. "Is…" he started, his black eyes staring into the empty pits of Gutknecht's skull, "Is Charlotte here?"
A sigh slowly escaped through Gutknecht's jaws and he rested his hand on top of a low wooden cane. "Infants and children of innocence are taken to another place. It is true that there is only one Land, but there are many realms. We are in the realm of the Unrequited. Ones that still have ties to the living world. I am afraid you will never see her."
The harsh sound of water tapping on the floor echoed throughout the room. Victor looked down to hands. He had not noticed before, but the skin had turned the colour of living veins.
"Where is Emily?" Victor's lips felt numb as he used them to form the words.
"This is not your best of days, Victor," said Elder Gutknecht. His empty sockets almost looked saddened as they watched Victor's face. "She is gone as well."
"The butterflies. She flew into the sky. Where was she taken?" stuttered Victor, unable to get complete thoughts through his mind.
"She has gone back to the living world," the skeleton said.
"But…how is that possible? I thought she was released from the living and this…place," Victor strained to say. His chest felt tight, it was the only thing he could feel.
"It was thought by you that she would have been released from this place after the dead walked the earth that night? Victor, are you so unaware? It is true that she had let you go to Victoria, but that did not mean that she stopped her feeling for you. When one tie was cut, another formed," the skeleton leaned heavily on his cane. "Emily was in love with you."
"So, why isn't she here?" yelled Victor, his lip trembling. His quiet demeanor forgotten, Victor felt like screaming at the top of his lungs. "Why is she gone?"
"Victor, please," whispered Gutknecht, his bony hand reached up and rubbed the side of his skull. After Victor breathed in a few gulps of air and quieted down, Gutknecht continued, "Time does not often matter here. Although it does happen, we do not notice it. One moment you will see skin and muscle on your hand and then the next…" he lifted his cracked fingers up for Victor to see. "I had been working on a potion for as long as I can remember. In one of these many books in this study, I had found a recipe for life again. It was called Redivivus Serum. The liquid reincarnates your soul into a newborn child that would have otherwise died. The only catch was that you would not remember your past life…or death. It took centuries to concoct but by the time it was finished…there was Emily."
Victor looked out of the windows behind the podium. Grime covered the glass; it was almost impossible to see through.
"Emily would come to me and talk to me through the nights. Even being dead for so many years, she was still full of life. A bright energy. I cannot even remember when I lived, Victor. The Serum would have been wasted on a dead thing like me. It is only a matter of moments of time unwatched that I will begin to crumble to dust. I explained the situation to Emily and she agreed to take it after many nights of discussion. She is gone, Victor. To a world where there are no ties so tangled that you cannot get out of them. A new life."