Storytime: Helena and the Ghost - A Gothic Tale (Part 4)

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I was certain my idea of a quick wedding was the right thing to do. My belief is that, when people feel pressed, they make better choices and let go of doubt easier. Somehow, I had managed to strike a nerve on Mr. Terrance, the same one that had been feeding my mother’s doubts. For better or worse, doubt had diminished, conflict escalated, and Simon’s and Helena’s possibility of choosing happiness and freedom over fear and sorrow had increased.

Filled with bravery as I was, I hesitated no longer on confronting Helena over what I had seen that morning. I had seen her pacing on the orange fields near noon, and decided to go after her so we could discuss this secret of hers.

I found the girl on top of an orange tree. She would’ve remained invisible to me, had it not been by the white little foot dressed in elegant stockings that lay where a fragrant orange should be. I tickled her foot and she almost fell off the tree due to surprise.

“Whatever did you do that for?!” she asked, half angry, half amused.

“Rule number one of the Barrys!” yelled my brother’s voice, not too far away from us. We both turned to see him looking very bright and walking towards us. “Always be on guard” he said laughing, almost at our level. “We are the feisty type”.

Simon helped her down the tree. I thought it was most unfortunate he had appeared, since I meant to speak to her alone. I didn’t think I could tell my brother what I saw, or even discuss the matter in his presence, until I had spoken to Helena about it.

“Fancy a walk in the forest?” asked Simon. Helena, still in his arms, nodded willfully. Both looked at me expecting my answer.

“I was actually hoping to talk to Helena by myself” I replied. “We must discuss some girly things” I added, sticking out my tongue towards Simon in jest.

“What could you two possibly have to talk about without me?”

At that moment, a pair of loud voices called our attention. Mother and Mr. Terrance were arguing in the second floor landing, right in front of the window. Their discussion seemed very heated.

“I changed my mind” I said quickly, for I saw Helena’s face turning dangerously pale. “Let’s go”.

We spent many hours walking in the wilderness. At one point, Simon left us in order to hunt rabbits and Helena and I were left to our own, sitting on the large roots of an ancient tree.

“I must speak to you” I said, without ado.

“What is it?”

“I saw you this morning inside your bedroom”

Her face turned chalky white and her palms, which rested with mine, began sweating uncontrollably. She tried to break my grip but I held on very tightly.

“I will not tell a soul” I assured her. “But I am worried. And I know it has to do with the secret you spoke of. Please, if you love my brother, if you want to be happy by his side, tell me. What is that strange occurrence I witnessed?”

Helena remained sternly quiet for a while. I decided to give her all the time she needed. Had it been me, I’m not sure I’d discuss the matter with anyone other than a medical doctor. Finally, after long minutes, a gunshot brought her back to the present.

“It’s my mother” she said simply. “She wanted to see how the stockings fit. She said I had three; I could spare the one pair. She said I’d look so lovely with them on, I should try to please her.”

“Your mother…”

“It’s very hard to explain… It has to do with my father’s laboratory. Maybe tonight you will understand things better.” She let go of my hand suddenly. “You shouldn’t peep into other people’s bedrooms, you know?”

She was angry, but it didn’t matter to me at the moment. I had gotten a straight answer out of her. She might have been deluded, but not lying, and that spoke very well of her.

As I delivered on whether to try and make her fall into reason, a strange man came running towards us, red faced, a large gun at his side. His eyes were wide and troubled.

“Goodness! Ladies! Please, call for help! A gentleman has been murdered!” he said in a rushed and tired voice.

Helena leaped to her feet, I followed suit. She looked at me with wide, scared eyes and I knew she was certain it was Simon this man spoke of.

“Please, ladies, call for help!”

“Go, Sarah!” she urged.

Helena followed the huntsman, I ran with all my might back towards the manor. The sun was high still, visible although the afternoon was very cloudy, dusk maybe two hours away still. Within a few minutes I entered the large oak doors and, against all my good manners, yelled to the top of my lungs.

“HELP! HELP!”

Lizzie was the first to appear, followed shortly by my mother and Mr. Terrance who came together. Their faces demanded my explanation. When I made to open my mouth, I felt the lights of the world dim and almost fell unconscious on the floor. Mr. Terrance luckily caught me, but as his hands touched my waistline, I felt the most horrible electric impulse running through me. I jumped back and away from him, clutched my bumping chest and stared at the man, demanding an explanation.

In the short silence that followed, I came back to my senses. “Someone has been killed in the forest” I said. “A huntsman called for help. Helena followed him. She thinks it was Simon”.

Mother let out a yell and grabbed her heart. Lizzie caught her before she hit the floor and, with unexpected strength in relation to her apparent age, led her towards the couch.

“Lizzie, call Dr. Ruther and tell him what has happened, make haste. Miss Barry, please remain here with your mother, Lizzie will bring a physician. I’ll go to the woods”.

The party arrived after sunset. Mother had been resting her head on my lap, attempting to calm her spirits, praying silently and feverously. I played idly with a lock of her hair, as I have done since I was a child whenever I felt anxious. When the doors flung violently open, we both jumped to our feet.

It was indeed my brother whom Mr. Terrance carried in his arms; his clothes were a bloody mess, his face depleted almost entirely of blood. Behind him was the huntsman who had called us, he helped Mr. Terrance carry the legs of the wounded man. Behind them, Helena looking frail and tearful, held closely by an elderly man with a long beard, and Lizzie in the rear looking flustered.

Mama couldn’t hold back an agonizing cry. I held her hand trying to communicate her all the strength I didn’t feel, but it seemed to help.

Mr. Terrance ordered Helena to remain with me, but instead called my mother to his aid, arguing her presence would be most helpful. Mama agreed and followed them upstairs.

“He was shot by mistake” said Helena, trembling. “The man who shot him ran away in fear of prosecution. Oh, Sarah!” she collapsed in my arms and sobbed uncontrollably in a fashion that led me to believe she had been holding it back ever since the huntsman called our attention inside the woods. She cried and cried for a full hour with a force I wouldn’t have believed possible for someone her size and constitution. It wasn’t in my heart to cry, I was far too troubled to waste an ounce of my energy on actions that could by no means help my brother’s state, but in reality, I wish I had cried and relieved some pain.

After her tears subsided, we both lay huddled on the floor and waited. Lizzie came down a sometime later, but ran straight to the kitchen without wasting a glance upon us. She came out soon after, rolling her tray, and poured us three cups of tea.

Helena looked upon her in expectation, but her eyes did not meet ours. Lizzie sipped her tea in two large gulps, poured four more cups which she set upon a tray and took it upstairs, leaving us as she found us, still without news of my brother’s state.

“If someone doesn’t tell us soon about him, I’ll go up and find out myself” she said.

Her words brought back the memory of the other distressful events of the day. “I’m sorry I looked inside your room, Helena, I shouldn’t have done it”.

“It’s alright, Sarah” she replied, although she still looked angry. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I think I couldn’t have kept the secret any much longer”.

“Were you going to tell my brother?”

“No” she said curtly. “I preferred him not knowing, so I could forget about it myself. I still hope I can…” her voice broke painfully and she returned to crying for a brief period of time.

I left the floor to take the cups onto the cart and back into the kitchen, but as I made to roll it towards the other room, I saw Mr. Terrance’s figure coming down the stairs.

All the hairs of my body stood on end. His face was grim.

“Papa?” asked Helena.

He opened his arms and she ran towards him. He held her tightly. I approached the scene with cautious gait.

“He still lives” he said, looking in my direction. “But not for long, I’m afraid”. His tone decreed he was sincerely afraid, as he said. My spirits sank to the ground. “His life energy is very low. Unless he regains consciousness, allows himself to be fed, he has very little hope.”

Helena held tight to her father’s neck, he in turn caressed her hair in a soothing manner, looking at me all the while. I held his glance without knowing what to do.

“There is, however… Another way” he said suddenly. “Helena, I advise you to go upstairs and help Lizzie and Mrs. Barry, who is in a very delicate condition. The storm will some soon and I will need Miss Barry’s aid in my laboratory if that is alright with you”.

It seemed most odd that he would still think of the storm and of showing us his electric experiments while my brother lied agonizing in his very bed. He must have guessed my thoughts because he immediately added, “I think I can save him”.

Helena and I exchanged a quick glance, hers spoke of total trust upon her father’s words, and that was enough for me to agree to follow his plan. She left us and went to his father’s bedroom, where my brother was being taken care of. Mr. Terrance and I were left alone at the feet of the stairs.

“The storm will rage full force in one hour” he said to me, “will you come with me?”

I nodded. He turned and walked upstairs. I followed suit.

It took us ten minutes to arrive at the entrance of the tower, partly because our step was slow due to the gloomy and ersatz lighting, but mostly because I had to rest for a while before my brother’s resting room. I stared at the closed door, watching the shadows moving under the gap: large skirts swaying back and forth. The sound of glass and metal instruments made my blood curl.

Mr. Terrance waited patiently. He said nothing until I was ready to move forward, at which point I looked up at him and said, “I’m afraid”.

“We all are, Sarah” was his reply. After those words, we continued our way upwards in silence.

Mr. Terrance’s laboratory was preceded by a strong static. When his hand moved towards the heavy curtain that covered the threshold, there was a cracking sound and the tiny fibers of the fabric stood on end. Every hair on my body was equally aroused, the touch of my light silken dress sent back small electric impulses through my fingertips. As we entered, we heard thunder for the first time.

“We must hurry now” said Mr. Terrance, disappearing behind the curtain. It took a large amount of strength to follow.

“Once the rain begins” he continued, “the experiment must stop, or else we might be in grave danger of electrocution”.
I heard his voice as if from a long distance. My attention was withheld by the various glass instruments that covered the walls of the large room, which was crowned by an arched window, open to the wild icy winds that blew outside. At the very center, on top of an Arabic carpet, lay a large crystal ball, as tall as my waistline, with a diameter as large as my own height. The glass was spotless, the center was empty but for what I thought was a wire sculpture.

As I studied my surroundings, I heard a loud thump and suddenly a thin electric line lit the wires inside the glass ball, causing me a large amount of confusion. I was grabbed at the elbow by Mr. Terrance’s gloved hand.

“If the night goes well” he said, in a serious tone, “I will personally acquaint you with each of the instruments I posses and their proper function. For now, please, wear these” he handed me a pair of gloves like his own, thick and very large. “Have you ever threaded yarn on a spinning wheel?”

I was confused. “Yes, when I was young”.

“I will need you to do the same tonight” he pointed towards a large metallic spinning wheel next to the wall. “You will be the electric decoy”.

“What does that mean?”

“You will see soon enough”.

A long succession of thunder made it impossible for us to communicate any further. The last thing I heard him say, or saw him say for I read it on his lips, was ‘spin fast’, and so I did. I held the device, which was connected to the crystal ball through a long metal bar, thanks to a collection of poles which helped me push it downwards. It was not as heavy as it looked, and my feeble arms could manage a good enough speed. Mr. Terrance had placed himself on the wall opposite, in front of a panel full of sticks and buttons which flickered like the electric light bulbs of the house bellow. I saw his gaze fixed upon the storm outside, at the same time counting something with the movement of his head, as an amateur dancer would when learning a new tune.

At some point, when the storm was heaviest, he looked at the clock on his working table and yelled “NOW!” At this, he pulled a large lever on the panel and pressed a succession of buttons. Following this, the large glass ball at the center of the room lit most brightly, with a white light that normal light bulbs could not reproduce. The storm outside seemed to subside.

I was about to utter a word, yet he stopped me with a cautious glance. He beckoned me to come closer to the glass ball, where the light was dimming yet cloudy shapes began to appear.

Mr. Terrance placed himself very close to me and spoke in whispers. “What do you see, Sarah?”

I remained silent and watch the ethereal shapes dance. The air coming in from the window was freezing; my breath came out as smoke. After a minute I could make sense of a shape. It might be the shock, I told myself quickly, but the truth was that Simon’s face was looking up at me from among the gassy interior.

“It’s Simon” I said finally. As I uttered these words, other shapes came to my vision, a woman, an elderly couple, a child, then turning all into a faceless crowd.

“Ask him” said Mr. Terrance, “Ask him to stay, before he joins the others”.

I glanced back at the strange man; he saw my incredulity and pointed back at the ball with a movement of his head, urging me to do it.

So I did. It took a big effort to see the gassy shape in the eye and, had it not been for it looking back at me, in a most lively fashion, I wouldn’t have been able to utter the words. “Helena is waiting for you, brother”. The gas shape smiled; for a moment it glanced back at the faceless crowd, then at me again. Finally, it dissolved.

I looked back at Mr. Terrance and found him staring at the woman inside the glass ball. His eyes were veiled by tears; she didn’t look up at him. Instead, she swirled back and forward inside the perimeter, as if escaping an invisible hand which tried to clutch her.

As the sound of rain began to take over my thoughts, the electric device inside the crystal ball faded, along with the figures inside it.

“That was Helena, my wife” said Mr. Terrance.

“Is Simon…?”

“I hope so. Helena… Sadly, my wife was lost to me before I had built this machine. By the time I managed to… Contact her, she was away from my grasp. I tried… I tried every night. Sometimes I was the cause of the storms, I’m sure. But her soul found no vessel.”

“Who were the others?” I asked.

“My mother and father, my child brother, others who have lived and died around this area… They remain, you see? Their energy remains, for a while at least. Their time is different from ours, a day to you and me seems like a blink of an eye to them…”

“Your wife…?”

“I trapped her.” He sentenced, chilling me to the very bone. “Unwillingly… And yet… Who knows. I have stopped her from achieving eternal peace, It seems. There are no words to express how… how sorry I am”.

Seeing this grown man, in his weird robes, surrounded by his alchemical toys, sobbing in such desperation, was more than my heart could bear. I could not refrain the impulse to bend down on my knees by his side and hold him in my arms, so profound and childlike was his sorrow. As I held him I felt that same estrange current flow inside me, touch my very heart and exit again through each and every one of my pores. I withheld this situation for a few minutes, then he seemed to come back to his senses and, with a terrified glance, pushed me back.

“No!” he yelled, staring at me with his eye bulging.

“What is it?” I asked, for his temper made me uncomfortable.

“Oh dear Sarah… It has happened to you as well.” He said, his frame turning sullen and defeated. I remained quiet as he paced slowly towards the window, picked up a metallic club and smashed it into the crystal ball, sending small bits of shattered glass in every direction. I covered my face and crouched on the floor until the crystal shower was over, by which time, Mr. Terrance had approached me carrying a mirror in his hands.

“I’m sorry, Miss Barry” he said, still pale but more calmed. “If I can do anything to repay…”

I gasped at the sight returning my glance at the mirror. My hair had turned completely white, like an old woman. Suppressing a gush of tears that would soon flood my face, I remembered Lizzie, not yet forty but elderly looking, and realized that, for so many years, she had been up there, in that tower, helping Mr. Terrance in his experiments.

“If Simon is well, it was well worth it” I said, feeling a lot less brave than my words sounded. Deep inside, I knew it to be true.

“Is there anything I can do to…”

“The first day we came” I asked, not caring anymore about being too bold of meddling, “You said you could not touch me. Was this the reason?”

“Yes” he replied. “I was charged, so to speak. You see, and forgive my utter sincerity, as I laid eyes upon you I felt very attracted to your person. Your face, your tranquil countenance, your… Lips, everything lured me. I felt inside the equivalent of what you were doing with that wheel. I could not have suppressed the animal urge to attract you to my person, to woo you, to attract your energy so it might join with mine. But, alas! Whenever I do that…” he grabbed a loose strand of my hair, “this happens. Poor Lizzie has been the victim for long years of this process. However, I have never been attracted by her in the same manner, nor she by me. It has been the constant abuse of this… Devilish engineering. I’m very sorry you had to witness this, and I cannot believe I had devised to show you and your mother the contents of this torture chamber. I can see now, I was out of my mind.”

“Could I see my brother now?” I ventured. Even after all I had seen, I was terrified to go down to my brother’s chamber to see the results. I lacked faith and, at the same time, feared success, for my heart still could not believe the whole of the situation.

“You should de-charge first” he replied. “Lie down, eat something. I usually roll in the dirt inside the forest to go back to normality… Well, what normality is in my condition. There’s no saying what could happen if you approach Simon with lightning bolts running inside your body at high speed.”

“What will you do?”

“I will remain here, cleaning up” he said, but something in his tone led me to believe tidiness was the least of the issues inside his mind.

End of part 4.

(Only one more to go :o) )