Welcome to one of my writing experiments where I play around with style and word choice. This story just came out of nowhere, so I had to write it. It deviated greatly from the starting image, but here we are. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
"You seem familiar."
The voice is almost a whisper.
Hugo stops. Turns around. Pinches himself.
On the other side of the church, a ghost girl shimmers.
He blinks. "I — sorry? Did you say something?"
She glides over, crystal shoes skimming the floor. The satin of her dress susurrates.
A foot before him, she stares back. "You seem familiar. I was looking for something." Her voice is symphonic, lilting as she speaks. "Looking for someone."
Up close, her eyes are butterflies, fluttering and alive. Light refracts through the stained glass behind her, reflecting in her eyes, syzygetic. An echo of himself is mirrored in them; his body is contorted, zigzagged.
"Wait," he says. "I think I've seen you before."
"I recognize you too."
"Sofia." A shadow of a memory slips from his lips.
"Hugo," she whispers, and it's the most beautiful thing he's ever heard. "We knew each other, once, in another world. Another lifetime."
"Why are you here? Aren't you — aren't you, well, dead?"
She laughs; the echoes reverberate off the stone walls. "I've been waiting — waiting for something. I think I was waiting for you." She offers her hand, sunlight glinting off her painted nails. He takes it.
"Something tells me this was destined to happen."
She leans forward, and her lips pass through his. Their souls coalesce; the kiss tastes iridescent. It feels like plunging into an infinity mirror.
It could have been seconds, hours, years, an eternity, but eventually they separate.
She looks into his eyes. "I've found what I was looking for. I think — I think I'm ready to move on."
She steps back. The light behind her shines like a halo.
"I'll miss you, but I'm glad you found it," Hugo says. "I think I've found something of my own as well. I hope we'll meet sometime again."
"I'm sure we will." The light envelops her, and she dissipates in a shower of sparks.
Hugo stands alone in the church, staring at the spot on the floor where she vanished. He smiles, feeling lighter than he has in months.
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