Chapter 7: "A Song to Remember"
-"They both gave you something, expecting nothing in exchange, but the thought of having your love for the rest of eternity. I even dare to say those words are as exquisite as the best of songs. And yet, here we are again repeating the old story of the queen and her loyal chevalier."
Ultramarine nights changed into crystal clear days, over and over again, waving a constant and never changing pattern. And silence, would rule the place, making easier to hear the rhythmic lullaby of monotony, which was made of all those common noises; that ranged from steps to bird chirping, all the way to clock ticking and people breathing, excluding their voices but not their sighs. It was a fact, that monotony of sound was what they faced day after day, after the imminent storm of reality that had transformed a peaceful sunny day into the aftermath of chaos, which always turned out to be disastrously confusing.
When they walked through the halls, when they went in and off guard, when they waited for the results, just to find that nothing has changed, at all; that lullaby, that bears its name pretty well, would be heard more than ever. Her hearth beat and breathing were no exception to the lullaby, as a matter of fact; they were the tempo that the lullaby solemnly followed, never changing, always constant.
Although, her status did not change, neither for good nor for worst, fresh pink roses were brought in her room every day, and people would come in and out of her room, always hoping for her to get well and wishing for the best. The swarms of people that would constantly step in and out of her room, would always wondered what mysteries, which had yet to be uncovered, laid in her dreams.
Yet, her dreams were no unsolved mystery, but the door to a complete and alternate reality, where time could flow as fast as lighting or as slow as human gait, but never the same, never constant, always changing. And always illustrated in a bright Technicolor and harmonized with beautiful songs and lullabies she new by heart, but no voices could be heard, only her own voice.
Behind her eyelids and deep in her mind, everything but the far end was in shadows. She was nowhere she could easily recognize, but yet it had something, unnoticeable what made it so familiar to her. She stood in the middle of darkness, and looked around; it was a hard task to find anything in that incredible absence of light, and yet she kept looking.
"Where am I?" she said as she stood in the middle of the darkened hallway, in a distant land she could now only visit in the wildest of her dreams.
"And what's that song?" she said, but no reply was heard, maybe the echo and the soft and almost unhearable lullaby she know she has heard many times before, were her only reply.
She had heard that song before, she knew it, she was absolutely sure about it; but there was something about it, its low tempo which impeded her from hearing it to perfection and to recognize its player. And even though the poor volume of the lullaby, her curiosity made her keep walking towards the light at the end of the hallway, and find the mysterious player behind that beautiful song. Every step she made was a step closer towards the light and the song, which became more audible as she walked. As the weak sun rays that danced at the end of the hall, lighted the floor, and then she realized she was standing over a large stone hallway and that at the end of if, there was what seemed as a large rose garden; or at least a courtyard covered in roses of all colors.
She stepped out into the light and realized that the garden seemed as if it had been untouched for many years, with its surrounding walls full of vines and moss, all weathered by the past of time. She passed her hand through the cold and stony walls, which left a funny and tickling feeling at her touch. Everything felt and seemed so real, so vivid, and at the same time so surreal, so dreamy.
"This place, this courtyard, it is so familiar." she said as she looked around, and as she did a fast moving shadow caught her eye.
"What was that?" she wondered as she now saw the speeding shadow more clearly.
"Who are you?" she yelled, but the shadow kept running through the courtyard.
No one answered, her question only bounced in the walls, making an echo of thousands of voices yelling the same question. At the same time the echo was heard, the beautiful roses turned into dried, dead ones and the shadow vanished from the garden and ran into the halls of the courtyard toward the manor.
She kept walking now at an incredible rate, it seemed as if she was almost running. As she tried to follow the shadow that moved across the courtyard and into the main house, her speed increased and her steps where no longer heard, only the song; which tempo has speed up as she reached the gates of the house. As her hand reached the green door knob at the front door, which might have been a bright copper-like gold many years ago, the song stopped for a moment, and the shadow moved rapidly behind her and into the house. She decided just to follow the shadow, wherever it might take her.
As she walked, and the song kept playing, and the lobby of what seemed like and old and maybe over decorated manor, it suddenly turned into the icy trail of a distant snowy forest. The chilling wind of the forest made her body shake with cold. The forest was covered in a white cloak, the ground was frozen, marking her trail and leaving visible footsteps of someone else besides her. Snowflakes were falling, melting in her fingertips, hair, and cheeks as she looked up at the sky, but she ignored them and tried to follow the footsteps; now ignoring the shadow.
As she followed the steps marked in the snow; she entered a rural village, with some tiny houses, which were also covered in white blankets. The song started to become faster and faster, and as it did, the shadow appeared behind the threes and into the forest; yet again she followed the shadow, running as fast as she could.
"Wait!! Why are you returning to the woods??" she yelled, but it seemed that the shadow did not care returning to the woods.
After all the shadow had taken her there and it was its job to lead her back into the forest. As she followed the shadow back into the forest, she realized she was not on a different path, but the one she was before she entered the village.
In the distance she could see a large wooden bridge and the shadow approaching it. She followed it, and crossed the wooden bridge in the middle of the icy forest, which looked strong. She slowed as she crossed, hearing the lullaby and the sound of the wood crunching beneath her feet. As she took a step forward as crossing the bridge, with no apparent cause, it suddenly broke, making her fall in to the night of some place else far away.
The frozen bridge had melt into a soft, muddy ground; and the chilling breezes had changed into a warm, humid and musty weather. The weather now resembled the one you are much likely to found at a jungle with dense vegetation. She stand up, cleaning her naked legs and hospital robe from the mud, an realized she was in the middle of tall grasses, totally disoriented.
Now her only chance of finding her way out in the night was to follow the path of burning grasses, tiny bamboo huts, and tents from what seemed to be military camps. All which burned in the dark night with the intense glow of the orange fire.
It was not long that after walking a few steps through the tall grass, the shadow appeared again, and as it did the lullaby would speed up and mixed with the sound of the waves that crashed in the shore. She turned around to see to what place the shadow had now taken her and to look for the shore where the waves crashed, but the sound of waves ceased, and she found herself in a slightly lighted alley, with a pavement floor and large windows at both sides. Suddenly the music stopped and the only thing she could hear was the familiar voice of the queer chevalier, that by far she hated the most.
"They both gave you something, expecting nothing in exchange, but the thought of having your love for the rest of eternity." the queer voice said sighing, "I even dare to say those words are as exquisite as the best of songs. And yet, here we are again repeating the old story of the queen and her loyal chevalier."
"This can't be possible, I thought I could only hear my voice," she said as she walked through the pavement streets looking for the source of the voice. "And yet, I'm hearing him, again."
Her frustration could be easily justified, no matter where or when, she could hear his annoying queer voice even in her dreams. It seemed to be that he only would appear in the most awkward and inopportune situations.
But what she did not know was that in the world outside her own inner realm, the blond chevalier would sat in the darkness of her room, paying her a visit, an amazingly, undetected visit. Always a mystery how could he possibly pass unaware and undetected, by the higher standards of security the Red Shield was using, probably even higher than military or government together.
"So, farewell my queen." he said as his voice started fading, "Until we meet again, which is not that faraway of a visit, I might hope."
The same way the voice would appear, the same way it fades with the alleys, turning the pavement streets into the night of a city lighted by the neon lights of the many buildings that made up the city. As far as she knew, she stood in the rooftop of a building from were all the city could be seen with so beauty and perfection.
"Where has the shadow gone?" she asked herself, and as she did it appeared behind her rushing to the midnight sky and turning into a blue blur in the city night.
She took a step closer, intrigued by the blue blur; as soon as the blue blur jumped from rooftop to rooftop another blur appeared. It seemed as if they were fighting each other. She took a step closer, realizing the floor disappeared and she was falling. She closed her eyes, feeling an incredible rush of adrenaline as she fell; which made all those strange places quite comprehensible, together with thousands of other thoughts. She kept falling, her heart beat raised and so did the lullaby, both with an incredible volume and tempo; but as she was about to touch the ground, something warm embraced her, which at the same time it comforted her and made her heart beat faster. She slowly opened her eyes as she fell gently, realizing she was awake back in her room, panting and sweating. She looked around, it was morning again, and the rose with the pink ribbon was in a vase in the night table, together with a blue rose. Through her eyes one thousand million images passed in a fraction of a second, making nights and days of unclear events, now comprehensible.
The blue rose was the father, and alleys where the place.
It was all clear now, the key was found, the memories unlocked and the prisoners were once again free and absolved of the terrible fate they where confined to.