Written by Veluan, Sat May 30 9:54:30 US/Pacific 1998
Part 1
The present- 1975- Danielstreet
Mack leaned against a lamppost. The lamp shone a sinister spotlight and Mack was in the middle. The street was dark, but Mack could see a vague reflection of himself in the shop window on the other side. The rest of the street was too dark to see. He coughed and a little cloud of air escaped from his mouth and vaporized. His body jerked, it was cold. He clutched his collar of his long coat and pulled it more tighter around his neck.
"You picked one hell of a night to end it all." Mack mumbled.
Mack looked at the big, white moon which hung above a roof at the far end of the street, it gave the street a pale look. A moth circled around the lamp, it touched it and fell beside Mack's feet. He shook his head and suddenly he turned it to street again, he heard a soft rattle. He listened, recognized it and lost attention. From the darkness a coach appeared, two pale, blue horses ran down the street. A coachman sat on top of the coach, from time to time the man yelled something to the horses. When the coach passed Mack he saw a quick reflection of himself in the window of the coach door. The hooves made a clapping noise and the coach shook over the rocky street. The coach disappeared again, swallowed by the dark. The street was silent once more. Mack looked at the moon again it frightened Mack a little, the moon gave a repulsive, pale look to New Orleans.
"Time to go." Mack said and he walked away from the lamppost, out of the light. His silhouette was briefly lit by the moon, but was soon swallowed by the shades.
25 years ago-The Johnson estate
Seven year old Mack looked out of the window. He saw a young girl playing on the lawn of the next estate. It was Helena, his mother told him. Mack wanted to play outside but he didn't knew anyone to play with. He could ask...naw, she's a girl, she wanted to play stupid games, like mother and father, it wouldn't be fun, this is what he thought when he went out of the house and to the lawn of the Gedde's.
"Hi, do you want to play with me?" the girl asked.
"Sure." he answered. Time was lost and when it was found again it was time to go home and have dinner. He walked to his home with a smile on his face. She walked to her home with a smile on her face.
The face of an old woman stared at the abandoned spot on the lawn. The woman looked down from behind a window. The old and wrinkled face started to smile. A friend how nice, finally someone to play with. No, it is vital that Helena doesn't have a friend, she must have full concentration for my study, she has a very important task. I know but, a friend can do no harm, she often is very alo...No!
The brown eyes of the old woman went red with every word of the second personality in her. The smile disappeared and a sad expression appeared. She stopped staring and her eyes focussed again. She turned around and looked at herself in the mirror. She touched her face. She had grown old, she heard quick footsteps on the floor below. She never really wanted a child, when she was younger she didn't have the time, when she was too old, it needed her, she searched for a man and got pregnant, it said that it was going to be a girl, it was right, it always was.
The door went open and Helena came in. She climbed up the canopied bed. "I made a friend!" Helena said exited. The old woman smiled.
"His name is Mack." Helena said.
"You know that you can't have friends." the old woman said.
Helena lost her excitement, "No, I don't understand. Why can't I have friends? Everybody else can have friends."
The old woman sighed "You can play with Edward, our butler."
"I want to play with other children."
"You just can't. I can't tell you why, yet. But it has got something to do with the study. You do want the study don't you?"
The old woman lowered her voice a bit. The little girl nodded. "Good, now you understand why you can't have any friends."
Helena bit her lower lip. She jumped of the canopied bed. "I hate you!" she yelled while tears rolled over her cheeks. She opened the door and ran to her room. The door hit the wall. The old woman bend her head and sighed.
If you have any comments, you can email Veluan at gjvdmeer@tref.nl.
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