Spirit; Part Two

 The kink in the wind that used to be a little girl decided to go into the house and get warm by the fire. Perhaps the mother might comfort her too, she knew this was not possible but her hope burned bright. The house was shut up tight, all the doors and windows closed against the cold night air. Spirit went round the house twice to find a way in but without success. She had made her mind up and was determined so she had no choice but to knock on the door. It was not easy to interact with solid objects but it was possible if she was determined or angry enough. Things that were already dead or had never lived weren’t too much of a problem. Living things though had a reverse polarity like a magnet and the natural life force pushed her away as if shunning her back to the darkness she came from. She had touched animals and people in the past but it took a tremendous effort and hadn’t provided the comfort she had hoped for so she didn’t bother much now.

     Spirit gathered her thoughts, sucked the energy from the air around her and hurled two stabs at the painted wooden door which rattled in its frame at the impact.

‘Jesus Christ, what the hell’s that’ grumbled a man’s voice from inside the house as footsteps pounded down the stairs. He yanked the door open and stood there in the open doorway, tying his dressing gown cord around him and scowling out into the night. His scowl turned to a look of confusion then a flash of anger as he scanned the high street and realised no-one was there. He mumbled under his breath and turned to close the door behind him shaking his head in frustration. Spirit slipped quietly passed him on a breath of cold night air into the living room. He stomped angrily back up the stairs still muttering and cursing to no one in particular. Spirit followed in his wake and drifted slowly into Lily’s room. The mother had replaced the quilt back on the bed and was tucking Lily in staring down into her eyes.

‘I’m sorry Mummy; I didn’t mean to make Daddy angry’ said Lily, her head poking out of the quilt cover.’

‘Shush honey it’s not your fault, Daddies not mad at you, he just wants to get some sleep. Now it’s time for you to go back to sleep, I’ll leave your bedside light on, is that okay?

Lily nodded and queried ‘Who was that at the door.’

‘No one Sweetie, it’s just the wind.’ The mother gave her a final peck on the cheek and stood up ‘Sleep now honey and I’ll see you in the morning’ then Mother left the room, closing the door softly behind her. Lily turned on her side and waited for sleep to take her. Spirit watched from the corner of the room thinking to herself that it was true, they could have been sisters, perhaps twins even, they were the same age, had the same long dark hair and big brown eyes. Spirit thought of her own mother, the memories were very dim now and she couldn’t remember her name but she could remember her own. She had been Fabienne, Fabienne De Sauveterre. She had been born in October 1785 in Lyon France, Papa owned a silk mill and was very prosperous. She remembered being told by her mother that she was a privileged child and she shouldn’t look down on the servants just because they were poor. She should treat them with respect and kindness; she was nearly a princess after all.  She knew she had once had a younger brother although she couldn’t picture his face anymore. She also knew she had died two days before her ninth birthday.

She had watched her parents led to Les Brotteaux for their execution by the firing squad. For years she had wandered around Lyon but, with her whole family dead and her house burnt to the ground, there was no reason to stay. For the last 200 years she had been carried by the wind to every corner of France and Spain looking for an end to this existence, She had tried unsuccessfully  to kill what was left of herself many times. She had finally given up trying and instead tried to find a way to ease the crushing loneliness and despair that was with her every moment of every day and night but there was no escape from her sorrow.   She had decided to try and cross the sea to a new place. She had heard England was only few miles away but was wary of crossing an ocean in case she got lost and spent the rest of eternity wandering the open seas at the mercy of the elements and with nothing to look at except an endless expanse of water. Spirit thought that she might be able to cross the channel by following one of the ferries to Dover so she picked the biggest one and trailed it across the churning sea to the English port. Feeling quite pleased with herself she had allowed the wind to take her exploring in this new land and it had brought her eventually to this little girls bedroom. Maybe she would find salvation in this new country. She had tried to make friends with little girls before but it had never worked. Perhaps this little girl who looked so much like she had once looked might be the one, perhaps it was time to try again. Spirit had never had trouble with languages or dialects. It was as if they were speaking with gestures and movements or a look in their eye. It was the inflections in the voice that carried the message to her. The words themselves were just music in the background. She couldn’t read people’s minds; she just knew what they were saying.

Lily made a small cough and turned over under the quilt. Spirit moved forward and looked down at her peaceful sleeping face lit by the glow of the bedside lamp. The door was closed so spirit was trapped in the room but she didn’t mind. She had been trapped in all kinds of dank holes in the past and this was a lovely little room so she waited patiently, she waited for morning to come as she had done every night for as long as she could remember, lost in her thoughts and hoping that, maybe at long last, this little girl might be her friend.

Spirit

SPIRIT

BY

STEVEN MEAD.

I

     Spirit didn't like the cold and damp. She had no more substance than a puff of smoke but she still found it chilled her and made her melancholy.  There was a thin sliver of moon this cold, October night but the sky was clear and sparkled with thousands of stars like twinkles in friendly, mischievous eyes. She thought of the stars as her friends, they had been her companions for countless nights and she had made up her own constellations to remind her of things she deemed it important to remember. These days though, she found herself recognising some of the constellations she had named but couldn’t bring to mind the reason. She had forgotten what she had tried so hard to remember and it made her sad.

     It was easier to drift with the breeze than move against it and besides, she had nowhere to go so let the wind carry her.  The streets were empty of people and the village was hushed. All the windows where shut against the cold night air, while the secret nocturnal drama of the animals played out in the deserted streets. The rats scavenged in the bins while the cats hunted them from the shadows. Spirit watched it all as she had done thousands of times before. Neither the Rats nor the Cats were aware of their audience of one. She was just a gust of wind.

     The gentle breeze blew down the main thoroughfare taking Spirit with it, lost in her thoughts and indistinct memories. The street lamps spread their yellow light and all the houses were in darkness apart from a small, pretty looking cottage where a warm glow burned from an upstairs window.  As Spirit was carried past it caught her eye. Perhaps it was the cosy yellow glow that looked so inviting and homely, perhaps it was just good old fashioned curiosity either way she moved towards it and peered in through the glass.

     It was a child’s bedroom with pink painted walls and a princess quilt cover thrown on the floor. The white shelving on the wall contained books, brightly coloured ornaments and many cuddly toys of different shapes, colours and sizes. There was a large, painted dolls house in the corner and a desk in another corner with a pink laptop sitting on it. A dozen dolls were in the middle of the room laid out as if interrupted in the middle of a game. On the bed, a young girl of eight years old with long, brown hair sat clinging to her mother, her child’s eyes red with crying and her face stained with tears. Her face was screwed up in anguish as she wailed uncontrollably into her mother’s shoulder and crushed herself into the safe embrace as if to hide.

‘Lily, Lily calm down, it’s only a dream, I’m here now, no need to make such a fuss’ the older woman cooed rocking her back and forth. They shared the same long chestnut hair which matted together as she pulled her closer into her body.

‘Shush Lily quiet now, god your making enough noise to wake the neighbours, that’s a good girl shush. You don’t want to disturb daddy do you? He has to go to work tomorrow and he’ll be mad if you wake him.

‘Too late’ a man’s voice chipped in thick with annoyance.

‘I’m sorry mummy, I’m sorry, I can’t help it’ Lily grizzled into her mother shoulder.

‘Never mind honey, never mind. Try and calm down. Was it the one about the monster with the big teeth again’ asked the mother. Lily nodded as if too frightened to say it out loud.

     The mother rocked her terrified daughter unaware of the presence outside looking on. Spirit was overcome with a sense of loss as she remembered her own nanny comforting her. She had no eyes to cry but was weeping into the wind from the bottom of her soul. She longed for the comforting touch of a human being, to feel the warmth from a roaring fire and the satisfaction of a full belly. She wanted to be that little girl on the bed being embraced. She would gladly suffer the most horrific night terrors if it meant she could be comforted like the girl before her. The child was about the age spirit was when she ceased to be, and she had looked like her. Spirit had had similar long, dark hair that had been her pride. Nana used to brush it a hundred times every night before bed. She had possessed the same dark eyes that Papa had said would steal all the boy’s hearts when she got older. They could have been sisters, spirit and this little girl Lily.  The ageless spirit decided to go and introduce herself although she knew in her heart of hearts it was a very bad idea. 

                       ****** Part 2 Next Week *****