Heavy smoke gradually filled up the hallway, which made it harder to breathe. I covered my nose and
mouth partially while leaning into the side of Teddy’s arm. He was immovable, however, perfectly still as
he waited for the presence of this fiendish ghost. If it was in fact his mother that haunted the house, it
would explain a lot about his behaviour over the last several days. His tiny mentions of his mother, and
the way the house was set up in a way that would please her. I suddenly recalled the conversation that
he must have had with her, realizing that she was defensive of me being in the house with him from the
very start. Was she jealous of his affections for me? Or was there something darker, and more rooted
in evil than that? Was it her voice that I heard from the cellars? Was it her that was calling him from
upstairs? I stood there absolutely flabbergasted, stunned with the knowledge that a ghost had been in
his house all along. I could picture the sketches he made in his secret book, the self-portraits of him
throughout the room with a shaded patch of grey always beside him. Was that the reason he often
looked over his shoulder in worry? The reason he was so determined to not have me in the house for
too long? The very reason he feared to touch me or kiss me, because she was somewhere in the
house the entire time?
“Teddy,” filled the air all around us, like a soft gust of wind. “You said you would protect me.”
Her son stepped forward with a great heaving of his chest. “And I will.”
“Protect me,” sounded from upstairs to drift down to the hallway where her son stood. The narrow
hallway was steadily becoming darker, my hand pressed tighter against my nose and mouth because
the smoke was making it so hard for me to breathe. If Teddy and I stayed here any longer, we could
suffocate to death.
“I will protect you,” Teddy reassured her, after he bravely took a step forward. “But I have to live my life
too. I can’t always be here.”
“You must stay.”
“I will stay,” he stated with a firmness to his voice, while looking straight ahead of him as if she was in
front of him all along. “But my father is dead. He cannot harm us anymore.”
The chains to the door shook heavily from the kitchen, a grave reminder that the ghost in the cellar still
wanted to be set free.
“He died,” Teddy articulated in a clear voice. “He cannot harm us. I’ve done my share of protecting you
and bringing your house back to its former glory. I’ve done everything for you!” He stepped forward with
more determination this time, letting go of my hand in the process. “But now it is time for me to live my
own life!”
The hook next to the cellar door broke free with a violent blow, following with the clattering of chains
that crashed to the floor. Teddy stepped back defensively and immediately grabbed a hold of my hand.
“Run!” he yelled over his shoulder. He sprinted down the hallway with me close at his tail. I looked over
my shoulder to see a shadowy grey form whizzing in my direction with a deafening scream. I ran as
fast as I could into the cloud of smoke, following the ominous glow of the back of Teddy’s white t-shirt
that shined in the density of the smoke. He dove to the left, and I soon followed, crashing into his back
immediately with a hard stop. “Move!” he roared, and used his hand to shove me aside before I heard
the door violently shut behind him. “The window.” He ran over to it, and found that it was tightly shut as
well, but that did not dissuade him. “I need your help.”
I joined his side and grabbed the end of a wooden bench that he kept under his desk. “What now?”
“Hit the corner of the glass where it’s weakest,” he instructed in a breathless voice. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
He hurled himself forward and I soon followed, until we struck the heavy object into the glass. There
was a sound of cracking instantly, a good sign since this part of the room was being filled up with
smoke as well. “Again!” We moved backwards slowly, for we were exhausted at this point. “Now!” he
yelled out, and then we ran forward to bang the hard edge of the bench into the glass yet again. The
crack rang more clearly into the air, a hopeful sign that made a smile spread across my face. “Maybe
one last time,” Teddy pondered aloud. “Let’s move further back.”
I was just stepping back even more, when I felt something wrap around my legs that made me scream.
A hard yank succeeded, sending me into the air and hard upon the floor with the flying bench just
nearly hitting my head. “Teddy!” I cried out in terror. Something was wrapping around my leg, growing
tighter by the second. I looked down at my legs to see something resembling rope tightly wrapped
around my ankles in the moonlight. “Teddy!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, because the thing
around my leg was quickly growing in strength to the point that it was starting to hurt.
“Oh my God,” he uttered out in disbelief, and quickly lowered his end of the bench to come over to me.
“Hold on!”
He was just reaching out for my hand when the rope pulled me backwards, slipping me out of his arm’s
way completely. I screamed aloud while dragging my nails into the wood, trying to find anything to stop
me. Teddy ran after me, hands outstretched to take a hold of my hand, but thankfully my feet slammed
right into the studio door. I recoiled my legs upwards, bending myself enough to try and untie the rope
around my feet. The material felt so real I was certain none of it was my imagination. Teddy took a hold
of my waist and hoisted me off the ground, taking this small window of opportunity to pull me away from
the door.
“Stay here,” he urged, and ran back to his desk to my surprise. A small wooden stool was lifted above
his head, and with all his strength he crashed it against the glass. Shards flew everywhere, scattering
across the outside lawn to leave Teddy mostly unharmed. He tossed the stool out the window for extra
measure, before sprinting towards me. He reached for my waist to tug me away, knowing that he
couldn’t go far before the rope would yank me back to the doorway again. He looked aghast as he
uttered: “It’s rope.”
“I think it’s real,” I lamented in a shaky voice.
“She used rope for a reason,” he hushed out with despair. “It’s a message for me.”
“For you?”
“She doesn’t want to let you go,” he uttered from the corner of his lips. “But I have a say as well.”
He yanked at the rope to my surprise, fighting back with this unseen being that held the other end. “Let
her go!” he yelled out in anger. “Please!”
The rope was tugged on the other end, slipping me across the hardwood floor at a quickening pace. I
could hear the roaring of the flames on the other side, like the deep caverns of hell that awaited to
consume me. Charcoal grey smoke slipped through the narrow crack underneath the door, billowing its
way over to me until my eyes began to sting.
“Please!” Teddy screamed at the top of his lungs. “You have to let me go!”
The tug was so tight around my leg that I began to grit my teeth in utter anguish, it felt like she was
trying to squeeze the life out of me.
“I am sorry I wasn’t there that day,” Teddy bellowed. “I wasn’t there to stop him. You were alone, and I
know I should have been there. What could we do?” Teddy stepped forward to stand right in front of the
door, letting the moonlight from the open window illuminate his tall form. “He beat you,” Teddy spat out.
“He beat me too. What could we do? There was no one there for us. We were alone, just the two of
us.” He laid a hand against the door, as if he was touching his once alive mother. “Always the two of
us,” he added in a broken voice. “But you have to understand that I love her. I can’t let you do this.” He
banged his fist against the door, for rage had suddenly consumed him. “She will never come in
between us!” he roared out. “Please, let her go. I won’t let her come here anymore. She didn’t know
about you. Honestly!” He bent down on his knees, with his hands braced over the door that must have
been hot in temperature because of the fire that was steadily engulfing the whole house. “I never told
her about you. I was afraid. I know you don’t like others around here, but I couldn’t help it…” He looked
over his shoulder at me with glossy eyes. There was pain radiating there, a world of sorrow as if he
feared that this would be our last time together. “Mother, please,” he continued, once he turned his
head to the closed doorway. “I can’t live here alone with you for all my life. At some point, you have to
let me go.”
For half a second I thought his sincere pleads would be enough to save me. The rope began to loosen
around my legs, enough to let out a relieved sigh to gather Teddy’s attention.
“She listened to me?” he muttered out in disbelief. His eyebrows lowered suddenly, and then he
stepped closer to me with a look of distrust. “Or did she?”
The end of the rope suddenly darted at my face like a viper ready to strike, and it nearly wrapped
around my throat before Teddy snatched it in mid-air.
“Run!” he ordered, which immediately sent me off the ground. I poked out the last of the shards of glass
with the blunt end of a brass lamp before tossing it to the ground as well.
“Teddy!” I yelled, while signalling with my hand that the area was free. He was fighting hard to be rid of
the rope that was now trying to cling to him as well.
“Go!” he roared, while the end of the rope slithered across the floor like a venomous snake behind him.
I immediately ducked forward and slipped through the large crack of the window to get out of the
house. I fell into a flower bed where the sharp scent of gardenias instantly flooded my nose. I crawled
out of the thick bush, brushing the glowing white flowers aside to make enough room for Teddy as well.
I heard a deep groan once he landed in the bush next to me, a painful one that made me think he was
hurt.
“Teddy?”
“Keep moving,” he grunted, while pulling himself upwards. He was the first to rise off the floor; a slick
wet hand reached for my arm to pull me upwards, and when I caught sight of his hand in the moonlight
I realized it was covered in blood.
“Teddy?” I shrieked out in alarm, for I was fearful of the amount of blood dripping down his arm.
“Let’s go,” he warned, before he looked over his shoulder at the open window that still meant we were
in danger. Steadily he walked backwards, taking in the sight of his home that was now engulfed in
flames. Once we were at a safe distance we simply hastopped and stared, watching the wooden roof
that was now beginning to crumble downwards. Teddy was too stunned at the sight to move any
further. “My home,” he uttered in pure sorrow, as the creaking of the wood signalled the end of his
estate. “My work.” He took a step forward, almost tempted to save it all. “My mother,” he whispered
under his breath, as he realized she would finally be gone forever. We stood there in silence for several
minutes, watching Teddy’s entire world crumble and burn away under the churlish flames. He
eventually looked downwards to see his once white dress shirt completely soaked in blood. He must
have been cut at the side by the glass, for most of the blood was on the right side of his body.
“Teddy,” I hushed, which made him turn his head in my direction. “You need a doctor.”
He nodded his head stiffly in silent response. “I’ll call the firefighters,” I informed him, before I stepped
away with slow, lethargic movements. It would be a long night for Teddy, and none of his haunting
childhood memories would go away anytime soon, even if the last of it was being scorched by fire.
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