The Agate Lamp Within Thy Hand
Since his mother's death a month ago, William Levett lived alone in the house of his adolescence. Though years had passed since laughter last filled the halls, the recent silence was especially cutting, and as he walked from room to room there was a continuing echo of his memories. His sister Caroline arrived that afternoon, with her husband Eli, and sensing the abject melancholy that had taken her brother, she had stayed.
After a silent dinner, Caroline retired to her old bedroom, while William went up to his study and worked late into the night. Tiring about half-past three, he went downstairs to fetch himself a drink before sleep. In the blackness at the bottom of the stairs a green light flickered from the drawing room. The colour was not unusual in the house, since William's father had purchased a pair of antique lamps of highly polished silver with distinct emerald green glass bowls. Yet William was certain he had extinguished it before he had gone upstairs.
From the doorway, William saw Caroline standing before the lamp on the mantlepiece. She was wearing her nightclothes, a long white gown that hung close to her body.
'Caroline, my dear?' spoke William as he approached, 'what are you doing awake at this hour?' She turned, her face in silhouette, edged in a brilliant shimmering aura, and kissed William wholly and passionately on the lips. At first he resisted, but he felt her hands holding him tight, and gave in, falling against her body. He closed his eyes for a moment and felt her warmth leave him. Opening his eyes he found himself alone in the room.
Taking the lamp he went upstairs and looked in on her bedroom. The door stuck for a moment but he forced it open, the room was untouched, the bed was made, and a thin dust had settled on all surfaces. He searched the whole house and found no sign of her anywhere. Her coat was not in the hall, in the dining room his plate was empty but hers was still full.
With the lamp lighting his path he went to his car and started towards her home, desperate to know where she was, desperately hoping to hold onto his sanity. A red light ahead caused him to slow, but as it became overpowered in green he accelerated into the junction, crashing into another car head-on.
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The windscreen was shattered with pieces everywhere reflecting into his eyes. The cars had joined so utterly that there was no visible join where one ended and the other began. The crumpled bonnet was an umbilical line from driver to driver. He crawled out and found the body of the other driver, a woman. He picked her up and studied her features. Her shallow breathing whispered against his face. She clung to life with lessening determinacy. Unable to support her any longer she fell towards him and he kissed her apologetically.
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Eli came out to the site directly from the Arrivals lounge. The detective had been selective with his details, only that there was a crash and his brother-in-law was believed to have been killed. Dawn was breaking, rendering the spotlights over the cars pointless. Walking over to them his shoes stuck to the tarmac. The bodies of the two drivers were on the ground, covered loosely by a single white sheet. The Medical Examiner pulled it back.
'Well Mr. Reed, is this your brother-in-law?' Tears fell to the ground and mixed with the blood. 'We've not been able to identify the woman yet either.'
'I can.' Eli murmured 'She's my wife.'