Nastya in limbo

Not only was everyone from the dorm enthusiastic about my idea, but the word also spread among the other students and faculty so fast that I could no longer take my idea for a dorm ensemble back. As a matter of fact, after a couple of the other dorms had copied the idea of a dorm ensemble, the school board had even implemented dorm ensembles as the start of a tradition. So now I was stuck with the horrendous task of winning Tobias back over. But whatever happened, there was no way on earth that I was going to apologize. If anyone should apologize, it would be him!

I felt my blood pressure rise just thinking about the notion of apologizing to that arrogant idiot. I realized that if I tried to do it right away, I would probably just throw even more oil on the fire. So, I decided to put my time into practicing in solitude until curfew. Usually, the feeling and the presence of Lise made me calm down and put things into perspective, but this time my mind remained unsettled. Lise and Rosalinde also didn’t come to talk to me, but I could feel they were doing their best to soothe me through the music.

It wasn’t the whole ensemble fiasco that I had created that was upsetting me. It was the fact that Aleksei was in the hospital and the fact that I knew that Nastya was dealing with things on her own. I wanted to let her know that I would be there for her if she needed me, just like any good friend would. She had been there for me when I needed it several times now, it was time to return the favor, but I had no means to get in touch with her. All I could do was wait. So, when later that night I heard sounds coming from next door in Nastya’s room, I got up to go and talk to her.

After I knocked on her door, I heard some stumbling and after a minute or so, Nastya opened the door. She looked a bit bewildered. I could see she had been crying and that she had trouble keeping up her prim and proper appearance.

“They told me what happened since he’s my teacher. I came to see how you are holding out and if you could use a friend.”

Nastya pulled me inside of her room and closed the door behind me before she started crying. I immediately held her and let her cry on my shoulder.

“I really thought he was going to leave me too. Everyone always leaves me.”

I gently patted her head while saying softly “There there, I am here for you.”

“You won’t leave me too?” Nastya gazed at me with big eyes. It was hard to describe the sensation of seeing the otherwise proud Nastya looking at me with the eyes of a small kid.

“Of course, I am here for you. Just like you were there for me.”

That put a soft smile on her face. That smile confirmed to me that I was right to come here the second I noticed she returned. We were friends after all, and that is what friends do. She seemed to be really scared of being left behind. She tightened the hug for a second before letting me go. Then she started to apologize.

“I’m sorry for being such a mess. It’s just hard to watch my grandfather going crazy just like my father. I hope he still recovers. You wouldn’t believe the things he was saying.”

“What do you mean just like your father?” This might be a chance to find out more about him.

Nastya looked like she was measuring me up and then said. “I will tell you if you promise not to laugh.”

“Sure. I promise.” I mean this was about her dead father and Aleksei who got hospitalized. I doubt I would start laughing.

Nastya sighed and said “My father believed he could bring back my mom, and when he started to realize that would not be possible, he killed himself so he could be with my mother again. Now grandpa believes he summoned the ghost of my father and that my father attacked him. He claims my father caused his stroke because he refused to answer some questions.”

“Wait, what?” This was urgent news. “Tell me everything he told you in detail.”

Nastya had clearly not expected that I would take this so seriously. “The only other thing he said was: Protect her. Tell her to protect Lise. Whatever that may have meant. The doctors told me It’s probably someone he knew when he was younger. Apparently, it often happens after a stroke that memories get all jumbled up. I don’t even know who this her that I need to tell something is supposed to be.”

My mind was racing. If a wraith could be this dangerous that meant I really escaped through the needle’s eye last time. But if it had attacked Aleksei, that meant Nastya was in danger too. I needed to tell her everything that I knew. I hope she would not take me talking about ghosts too bad.

“Listen to me. Your grandfather isn’t going crazy. Lise died in a car crash a couple of years ago, but I brought her ghost back with my music. I did not realize Aleksei knew though.”

Suddenly Nastya looked at me angrily. “You are making fun of me now?” I could see she was about to become really angry with me, so I immediately took her hand and said, “Since there is no other way, I will just have to show you.”

I dragged her to my own room and took out my cello that hosted Lise and Rosalinde. She was looking at me with weary eyes.

“Both Lise and Rosalinde are bound to this cello. Aleksei helped me on this path because he was scared that I would turn out like your father. I will ask them to show you. That way you can stop looking at me like that.” I took my bow and started playing and whispered “Aleksei was attacked by the wraith; we need to protect Nastya. Please show her that the two of you are real. I am really worried something bad will happen if we don’t help her.”

+++++++

Nastya’s POV

Fleure was going on a madman’s rant about my grandfather not having gone crazy. I wanted her to stop it but the fire in her eyes told me she really believed what she was saying. I remembered how grandpa told me that she was going down the road papa went, but I had not realized she was this far gone. Then, she took my hand like it was just the natural thing to do and led me to her room telling me that she would show me.

She picked up her cello and whispered something to it before she started playing. I remembered seeing this kind of psychotic behavior from papa before he killed himself. Why did everyone that I care for start to go crazy? I wanted to go and stop Fleure and tell her it was okay when suddenly the room grew completely dark.

What was this? What just happened? Where am I?

I could see a Frozen image of Fleure and me outside what looked a little like a window.

A girl in a 19th-century Victorian dress danced around me checking me out with big eyes. I noticed that I was not able to move, and I started to get scared. “So that’s what the dangerous one really looks like. I told you that there would be a difference when we don’t see her through Fleure’s eyes.” She said, before giving me a slight tap. I still could not move, but I immediately felt less scared. A second later a tomboyish girl that was the spitting image of Axelle, just a little younger, walked over staring at me with a strict look, “I can see why she likes you so much. But that will have to wait.” Her gaze quickly turned uncertain. Then she looked at the other girl and said “Now that I see her up close, I am not sure I can do this. You know Fleure likes her and asked to help her… If Fleure finds out we hurt her, how do you think she is going to react?”

Wait? Hurt me? Fleure sent me to people that wanted to hurt me. I tried to move again but couldn’t.

I started to panic. The fear was overwhelming me as I noticed the girl in the Victorian dress sighing and walking up to me. She gave me a slap “Fine!” She said disappointed and snapped her fingers. “We could have solved the whole wraith problem in an instant you know. Who cares what happens to her? There are other options for Fleure, aren’t there? She isn’t part of our pact.” The panic had left my body and I fell to my knees. I could move again.

The tomboyish girl shook her head showing that she vehemently disagreed with what the other girl just said.

“Let’s just try and talk things through. Maybe we can find another way together.” The tomboy said.

“Please just tell me what is going on. Where am I, who are you, what is happening?” I asked while getting back up.

“You are in limbo. A place where you can interact with ghosts. Fleure asked us to show you we existed.”

“Ghosts? Does this mean I can meet anyone here? Are my parents here?”

“Ah, it does not work like that. You will have to make do with us but you might meet your father sooner than you expect.” The girl in her Victorian dress said in a tone where I could sense some anger underneath. "Not that I really recommend meeting with him, after hearing what happened to your grandfather." It seemed she also believed that papa was behind my grandpa's stroke. Papa, what did you do?

“You’re only confusing her. Let me tell her.”

The tomboy turned toward me and said “I am Lise. I am Fleure’s girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” The girl nodded proudly. I felt a deep sting in my heart. If she had a girlfriend, why didn’t she tell me?

“You died 2 years ago. So, you should say she was your girlfriend. You’re having just as much trouble letting go as her. The two of you really make a pair.” The other girl said with a disdainful face that clearly showed her disapproval of Lise's statement. She made a face like she was hurt.

Lise looked a bit dejected and said, “That’s right. She was my girlfriend until I died.”

“Y-You’re dead? You are ghosts?”

“I would have thought that part would have been clear after all we already went through… Didn't Fleure just say that she would show you?” The girl in the Victorian Dress said cynically. She was mocking me. I gave her a stare to let her know I did not appreciate it.

“Hmph! As if a Fjodorov’s stare could still move me…”

The girl then walked up to Lise and hugged her and whispered something in her ear while looking up into her eyes with a sheepish look. I could see Lise’s mood become brighter again and see her find resolve again. The closeness of their interactions and all the little gestures… If Lise had just introduced herself as Fleure's girlfriend, I would have assumed they were a couple that had known each other for ages.

The girl in the Victorian dress walked up to me with a smile and said “I am Rosalinde. We will tell you the entire story, but this will not be for free. In exchange, I want you to make a pact with me.”

I was told the story of how Fleure lost Lise and her parents. Of how she could not deal with the loss and found a way to bind Lise to her cello. If it had not been told to me by the two ghosts right in front of me, I wouldn’t have believed a word of it. Things like that only happen in fiction after all.

Then, they told me about papa attacking Fleure… I could not believe my ears. Why would my father ever do something like that? She even called him uncle at one point. Okay, he neglected me in his despair… but I could not believe he would willingly harm others. So, I told them my father’s story.

“So, your father really killed himself?” Lise asked concerned.

I nodded.

“They probably turned him into a wraith. From what I got from your story he has most likely indebted himself to do their bidding in order to get reunited with your mother… Only those deals are dangerous. The debt will only grow bigger and bigger every time he uses the wraith powers, and those powers will only corrupt him more to do their bidding making him use them even more. The debt only keeps piling up more and more turning him into the vicious wraith Fleure encountered.

That sounded a bit like a pyramid scheme. So even after death, we were not rid of those…

“Can’t we help him?”

Rosalinde sighed. “Why is everyone bent on helping a bloody wraith? We should just make it fade.”

Rosalinde held a pact in front of me. “We’ll help you with your father if you promise to help me with Fleure’s pact and do everything in your power to make her keep her end of the bargain.” I signed the pact. If Fleure already promised, I did not see any harm in helping her keep her own word. I was sure Fleure would not go back on her word anyway.

“This pact is binding. A fate worse than your father’s awaits you if you don’t keep it!” Rosalinde said with a threatening voice.

After signing, a glow came over the three of us, and then just as quickly, it disappeared again. Lise and Rosalinde laid out their plans to me. I noticed again how perfectly attuned they seemed to each other. Sometimes they even finished each other’s sentences like an old couple.

Afterward, the implications of everything I was told started to hit me.

“So, my father wasn’t crazy?” I felt like a heavy burden had just left me, but at the same time, I felt deeply betrayed. “So, he really didn’t want me. He really made the choice to leave me behind.” The feeling of abandonment never struck me so deep as now… I saw Rosalinde hurry toward me with a worried look on her face as I felt myself fall into the abyss of loneliness.

But then, at the pinnacle of my despair, I faintly heard a cello play, calling me back. Telling me that I’m not alone.

“Fleure!” I called out while reaching to her.