On this day of Halloween, let me share with you another strange dream, which forms an actual story. This one had a very special ghastly atmosphere, and although it could be understood as a nightmare, I liked it very much. However, I have to apologize that I will not try to explain any weird details, for there were too many. So just imagine that it is set inside my head where everything is possible. I think the dream was inspired by many movies and books I love. I spotted a bit of Jane Eyre, the Handmaid’s Tales, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Gormenghast, some of Zola’s “La Joie de Vivre”, and, last but not least (or maybe even most importantly), the novel “Wolf’s Den” by the Czech author Jarmila Glazarova. But now enjoy a little chill.
Victoria
It was an icy cold night. It could have been around midnight, I was not so sure, it was certainly not a great time to come to my new home. But there I was, in a dark room, lit only by a kerosene lamp or two. There were two women sitting at a table. The first was a middle aged lady in her night cap and a warm night robe, and the other was a young, not very beautiful girl wrapped up in an old-fashioned shawl. They both smiled at me, while the girl jumped up, closed the door behind me, pointed me to an empty chair and poured me a cup of hot tea.
“Welcome, darling,” the woman said with a wannabe sweet voice. “Feel at home here. You can call me Mom, for that’s what I will be to you from now on.” I only let out a shy smile.
It was only recently, after the tragic death of my parents, that I learned I had an aunt. She was my closest relative now and agreed to take me in. She was living far away in the countryside, in a strange little town, which felt like it was stuck some two hundred years ago. There was electricity in the streets, but likely not at my aunt’s place, and apparently there was no tap water either, because I only saw a big, old-school ceramic basin on a little stool in the corner of the room. So this is where I was going to live. It came as a shock, for I had just left a big thriving city, where I lived in a nice, modern apartment with my parents. But there was not much I could do, so I tried my best to accept the reality and show my gratitude.
After I finished my tea, I wanted to help putting the dishes away. I grabbed my cup, the saucer, and the sugar bowl, but the girl jumped to me and took it all from my hands: “Watch out, you don’t know it here yet, the floor is slippery, what if you break all these precious things!” So I had to let her take care of it, while my new Mom lead me up a wobbly staircase to my room.
I learned that apart from my aunt, I also had two cousins. One of them was Marta, the girl who was having tea with us. And she had a brother, Mark. I had not seen him yet because he was already asleep, he had to go to school in the morning. Marta was not attending school anymore, and it was expected that I won’t do so either. I was sad about it because I wanted to go to college, but I had to accept my fate and just do all I could to help in the household.
The building we inhabited was in a really bad state, so it was keeping us busy pretty much all the time. And it was also too big for us, many parts of this rural palace remained empty. There were even two or three small towers, which Marta said were haunted. And we had animals, too – I specially loved the horses. I assumed that an extra helping hand, which I tried to provide in no time, was more than needed.
Soon I became friends with both of my cousins. At times, we visited the one bar in the town center, where I would always order a delicious, ginger beer based long drink. The black plastic chairs and the strong electric light reminded me of our times, so even if the place wasn’t anything special, I loved it. However, the town itself was full of beggars, who would always come far too close to us when we went out. At first, I feared them much, I was even hiding myself behind Mark, but later on I learned to ignore them, just as my cousins did.
One night, and it was already spring, we were returning home from the bar with Marta. It was nicely warm, but a strong wind was howling, as if a storm was about to come. We smashed the main courtyard gate shut and fastened it with some chains.
“That bloody thing would never close properly, no matter what we do!”, exclaimed Marta. “Now let’s quickly get inside before the thunders get us!”
Strangely enough, the wind brought a distant sound of bagpipes. “Do you hear it?”, I asked.
“Yeah, it is just that silly Yulek practicing. He does it at times, that he plays in the middle of night,” my cousin explained.
Yulek was a local bagpiper, quite a simple but nice man. However, this did not sound like him at all to me. The melody was far more elaborate than anything he could ever come up with, and also it was played way, way better. I expressed my thoughts to Marta. “Well, I don’t know, maybe he is just shy in front of people,” she shrugged, “but I am sure it is him.”
I pretended I was happy with her answer because I knew she wasn’t going to tell me anything else.
We walked through the open courtyard, our house looking even more desolate than usually. When Marta struggled with the front door, I noticed the sound of bagpipes was accompanied by wind chimes, which were hanging somewhere near one of the towers, or maybe even inside of it.
“I didn’t know you had wind chimes,” I said while we were entering the building.
Marta turned to me, looking scared: “Don’t even mention that thing ever again!”
“But why? It is just a couple of bamboo sticks in the wind!”
“Just… don’t,” she said. And then, shaking a little, she pointed at a picture of a beautiful woman in the hallway. “Because of her,” she whispered, “she brought it in ages ago”.
That left me rather curious, I wanted to know more about that strange lady.
Marta leaned closer to me: “It’s Victoria. It is she who haunts this place.”
What a cousin I had, she was afraid of wind chimes and a nice picture of a woman! Just for fun, I started to speak to the painting of the tall, black-haired lady in blue dress. “Hey Victoria, please, stop the wind, so my dear sister isn’t afraid of the noises anymore!”
When Marta saw I was talking to the painting, she shouted at me and ran away.
Things went quiet in the hallway. However, even though the door was closed, I could hear the wind and the bagpipes, which seemed to come from much closer now. “Victoria, what kind of secrets do you hold here? Who is playing the bagpipes?”, I asked myself, for I did not believe in ghosts or anything similar. I approached a small window near the front door, from where I would see the entire courtyard, were it not pitch black outside. Did I think I’d see the bagpiper? Or did I just need a little rest before I’d go to my room? But then I thought I saw something, no, I really saw it. There was a silhouette of a woman, glowing a little in the darkness. I didn’t want to believe my eyes. Was it maybe Mark playing tricks on his little sister?
“No need to worry, my child,” I heard a low female voice coming from somewhere near. But there was no one with me in the hallway! My heart was racing fast and I felt cold sweat on my forehead. I was expecting something terrible. However, nothing more happened. Soon even the strange woman disappeared from the courtyard. And then the wind really stopped, alongside with the bagpipes, and it started to rain.
I had not told anyone about my little night adventure. Maybe I was hallucinating, maybe I was just too drunk and made it all up. But I started to be really curious about the painting in the hallway. Who was this strange lady named Victoria? And why was Marta so afraid of her?
After a couple of days, I saw Mark coming home from school. I waited for him by the door to ask him how his day went. After we exchanged a couple of lines, I pretended to notice the portrait. “Who is that?”, I asked casually, “she looks awesome.”
“Yeah,” sighed Mark. “It is just a woman who used to live here. She was a lunatic, you know. She ran away to the woods, where she built a hut, and there they found her dead after some time. Marta thinks she turned into a ghost.”
“When was that? And how did she die, do you know?” I couldn’t pretend anymore that I wasn’t interested.
“Nah, I know nothing. It was long before I was born. It’s just a dead woman, right?”, he concluded.
I certainly wasn’t satisfied with the little that Mark told me. But when I asked my aunt, she was very strict with me. She only repeated what I already knew, and she added that it was none of my concern.
I could feel a dark mystery here. Who was this Victoria? Whenever I had little free time, I tried to explore the manor to find anything that belonged to her, a diary or at least a couple of photos. I found nothing, only the old wind chimes, which were hanging under the roof of one of the towers. Since then, the tower was my hideaway, my secret little place where I had some privacy. I liked to listen to the gentle bamboo sounds, wondering what had happened to the strange lady. I admit I became obsessed by her story and I promised myself I’d try finding the remnants of her hut.
Not much more was going on, the days were one like all the others, and I was getting more and more bored. My cousins were still nice to me, but I felt a growing distance between us ever since I learned about the existence of Victoria. Our visits to the bar in the town were becoming less and less frequent, so soon I was left just with the dream world in my tower and with Yulek, the bagpiper. He had a crush on me so every now and then, he invited me to the bar. He wasn’t very smart and we didn’t have much in common but I appreciated anything that would lead me out of the ordinary, at least for a while.
Once I found us sitting on those black plastic chairs just outside the bar, it was already warm enough to do so. There was a long, embarrassing silence, which Yulek tried to fill with large sips from his beer glass, and occasional burps, too. Then it occurred to me. He was local, so he may had heard something about the strange lady from the portrait. I gathered my courage and asked.
“Oh, that Victoria, your family ghost! So you have finally learned about her too! But I guess they haven’t told you much, have they?”, he asked.
So he really knew! Maybe everyone in town knew about this strange lady, which was, for an unknown reason, kept secret from me. I told him Mark’s version.
“Yeah, that’s what they say,” nodded Yulek, “but did you know she was Beryl’s little sister?”
I gasped. Beryl was my aunt! And my father… So Victoria had been another sister of my father! She, too, was my aunt! I couldn’t believe it. That strange lady I only knew from the painting was my aunt. Yulek was obviously enjoying himself over my confusion, and an old, toothless crone sitting nearby started to laugh.
“Victoria!” I heard her screechy voice, “oh yes, the dear old Victoria!”
I literally darted to her table, even when Yulek tried to hold me still. “Don’t listen to that old witch!”, he screamed, but it was too late.
The crone was laughing on: “So now you are curious, little one? Look at you, you have her eyes!”
I was more and more puzzled. “You… knew her?”
“But of course I did! What a sweet girl she was, far too sweet, maybe! What an unfortunate creature, and that Lucien, poor, poor man! He was her lover, you know. What a handsome boy, and so rich, too! All the girls wanted him! He was to marry Beryl, their parents agreed on it, but he fell for Victoria instead. Of course he did, she was far prettier, and she was sweet too, you know? So Beryl arranged it that everyone thought Victoria went crazy, and drove her out to the woods. But Lucien did not want to give her up, what a cute couple they were, and how much he loved her! So one night Beryl and her brother, those snakes, went to Victoria’s hut, and they killed her, you know. People said they did it with a cushion while she was sleeping. Then they hanged her body. After a couple of days, Lucien found her there, and out of despair, he jumped off that tall rock in the woods. Poor boy! And they say that sometimes you could still hear him playing his bagpipes for her.”
As she was leaving, her toothless laughter was still resonating in my ears. What if she had been telling the truth? What if… my father… a murderer…
“I told you that you shouldn’t be listening to her,” Yulek came back to me.
“Did you know that?”, I looked at him in a strange mixture of rage, sadness and hope.
“Yeah, but it’s just what the old beggars say. She simply hanged herself I guess. Don’t worry about it. Here, have a sip,” Yulek tried to comfort me when he brought my glass.
As if one ghost wasn’t enough, now there were two. A mad woman, who had been my aunt, and also her lover. Was she really a lunatic though? Or was I living under the murderers’ roof?
I tried not to think about the crone’s words and just go on, helping in the stables, in the kitchen or anywhere else needed. The truth was never going to be revealed and it was in my best interest to settle with my family’s version anyway. There were no more strange stories, my life was as ordinary as ever. From time to time, there were some bagpipes in the middle of night, but I could tell it was definitely Yulek trying to impress me. The wind did not bring the strange, enchanting melody to my ears anymore.
Days were passing and soon our household was getting ready for a Midsummer celebration. Apparently, it was a family tradition to invite everyone in the town who meant something for lunch and an afternoon dance, which could easily run all the way to late night. My aunt did her best to impress all the neighbors, that was for sure.
In the morning of the party, she told me to decorate my hat with flowers. I was very happy to do such task, I loved decorating! She pointed me to a large wooden wardrobe in the hallway. There were several bags with old artificial flowers, roses and many other kinds, and a couple of hats mostly made of straw. Before I managed to pick something for myself, my aunt asked me to help her fasten a dark green felt hat with some white, pink and purple blossoms. When I had finished, I put my hands on her shoulders, looked her straight into the eyes, smiled and said: “Awesome! You look astonishing, Mom!”, and this time I really meant it.
“Thank you, dear,” she replied. “But before the guests come, I got to have a quick word with you,” she continued with a chilling voice. My wide smile froze. I really did not know what to expect.
“You know, darling. I noticed you are very close to the piper boy. He is such a nice man, what a good choice you made! So I think the two of you should get married as soon as possible. Our family has a little house by the woods, we will have it reconstructed, so by fall, the two of you will be able to move in. It is for your best, trust me!”
I couldn’t believe my ears. So she wanted to get rid of me, while only a couple months ago, she asked me to feel at home there? I could only stare at her.
“I am all doing it for you,” she continued, “you will love it there! And you will have everything your way! And of course, every Sunday, we will be expecting you for tea!”
I just kept looking at her in disbelief. Wasn’t I working hard enough? I did all I could to earn my living at my aunt’s manor, even if I inherited some means from my parents that, however, my aunt took as the cost of raising me.
“Look, my dear,” she tilted her head, “understand me. I need to search a groom for Marta, too. And with such a beauty as you are, it is close to impossible. You have already chosen, so now please stop being selfish and allow your sister to enjoy her big time.”
Now I finally got it, so it was all about myself being more attractive than Marta! I bet my aunt had already chosen a rich man for her, and she did not want the story of Victoria to repeat. Reluctantly, I nodded.
“What a nice little girl you are!”, exclaimed my aunt, “I have already talked everything through with Yulek, you can’t imagine how happy he was!”
That’s how she left me there. She had already organized everything, my entire life. Liking it or not, my fate had been decided – I was to become the wife of a man I did not even love. I wasn’t eighteen yet and my aunt administrated all my belongings, so I couldn’t just go wherever. I was penniless, so at least for now, I had to move to that little house by the woods.
The celebration was pure pain. I had to suffer significant looks from both Yulek and my aunt, so I was just sitting down, drinking, and observing Marta enjoying herself in her cute white dress. Was this how Victoria was feeling when they made her run into the woods?
Nobody really talked to me, because Yulek was busy playing. Only late in the afternoon, Mark came to me, he was already quite drunk. He let out a sarcastic smile. “Don’t ever listen to the beggars,” he hissed and started to laugh. Of course, I didn’t get a word of what he was trying to express.
“So you don’t know? But your dear hubby-to-be amused the entire town with your little story! Don’t you remember? I told you to leave the dead woman alone. Fortunately, Mother is smart. Now you have what you deserve.” He turned and left me there, all by myself. So that was it. They wanted to get rid of me because I discovered what was supposed to kept away from me. Little by little, I started to actually believe the old beggar’s story.
We moved at the end of summer. My aunt and Mark only gave me a cold goodbye but Marta promised to visit me as often as she could. “I am so sorry you have to go, you were a real sister to me!”, she said when I was leaving. “But beware, let the dead be, and don’t go to the woods. Believe me. I fear for you, you know. It is all her doing! Be well, my dear sister.”
The small house where I was about to live with Yulek was standing alone at the very end of the town, almost in the woods, where the paved road gave way to muddy pathways. Nevertheless, there was electricity, and that pleased me much. But there was no tap water, we needed to fetch it from a nearby pump. I didn’t bring much with me, only some clothes, dishes, duvet and pillows, and so on. But I took the old Victoria’s wind chimes, and I hung them near the entryway. There was a little wooden terrace there, where I could sit in a rocking chair, knit, and listen to the calming sounds.
Soon I became incredibly bored because Yulek was at work all day long and he always came home late because he was going to the pub with his friends. I felt lonely, I missed the horses and all the other animals, I missed people. There were only the occasional visits of Marta (before which I always had to put the wind chimes down), and the Sunday tea in my aunt’s manor. I did not try to venture into the woods, for I did not want to end up like Victoria, so I just decorated our few rooms and knitted and knitted.
However, I started to have nightmares. Several times I saw Beryl and my father, both in their teen ages, chasing me with a huge cushion and a rope. Those dreams were often accompanied by the enthralling bagpipes music of Lucien. Yulek always tried to calm me down when I woke up at night, covered in icy cold sweat. But I never told him what the nightmares were about, I didn’t want him to gossip in the pub. He didn’t mean it bad, of course, but he was too simple and did not see the consequences. The family needed to get rid of me because I had a suspicion of their potential crime, but they had to do it in a way the town would love. So Yulek served them well. I had to be quiet and pretend I had forgotten everything.
It was a beautiful October day, the tree leaves shone with gold, as if they wanted to bring back the long-lost summer. I was sitting in my rocking chair, knitting a shawl, and my wind chimes were gently tinkling in the wind. Then, suddenly, I heard the very distant sound of bagpipes. At first I thought it was a dream, but the music was coming closer, my eyes were open, no, this was not a dream anymore. I was awake, holding my unfinished shawl, I felt light, warm wind in my face, the fabric of my clothes, the leather of my shoes. This was too real to be a dream. But the melody was approaching me, I was sure about it! And then a handsome man emerged from the forest, long black hair framing his beautiful face. It was him, who was playing the bagpipes!
“Lucien?”, I whispered.
“Just follow me, my child. I will show you a secret.”
My body got up from the chair, dropping the shawl on the wooden floor. I was thrilled with fear but I couldn’t stop myself, I had no control over what I was doing. We entered one of the barely visible pathways leading into the woods. He was playing and I was carried by the music deeper and deeper into the forest, I got lost between the magical tunes and the silvery trunks. I wanted to return but I couldn’t, I was a puppet hung on the enchanted strings of the bagpipes sound. Something started to tell me I was going to my real home, far from Yulek, far from my aunt and Mark, far from the murderers who smothered the town’s Juliette, causing the Romeo to…
The ground below my legs disappeared. I was falling. I saw Lucien and Victoria high up in the air, smiling gently.
“Now everything is as it should be, my child,” I heard Victoria’s soothing voice, “you are coming to your rightful kin.”
At the foot of the cliff, I saw my lifeless body among the autumn leaves. Victoria and Lucien were gone, and I felt I was beginning to dissipate. I should never know whether I was the only victim of their lost love.
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