Within These Walls

"I don't understand. How could a house ask me a question?" Siobhan asked.

"Oh, my girl. I thought you had an open mind. The Count was imprisoned, and the house was enchanted. It is the house which is forced to keep him immortally in this other realm. It is the house which is forced to make sure he can never find true love again. It is the house though which found a way. The enchantment told how the Count could never find true love in the mortal world, but it never said anything about not finding love in this alternative realm, so the house makes it its purpose to bring love into its very walls... and..."

Siobhan blushed as she suddenly realised why she was here. A question from the previous night now made sense. When she asked the Count if she would see him again, his reply was that it depended on her answer.

"What about you?" Siobhan asked, deflecting away from the real thought on her mind.

"I was where you are now, all those years ago. I met the Count. I fell in love with the Count. I let the house ask me the question, and I gave my answer. So now I spend my life in this house, just like him... but unlike the Count, I am mere mortal. I will die one day, and he will live forever. I will not be able to satisfy him one day, but his desires will never wain. Do I need to say more?"

Siobhan shook her head. She knew why she was here. She knew what was expected of her.

"So, my darling Siobhan. The house will want an answer. You have two choices. If you decide to stay, you will be saying goodbye to your human world, and hello to the most wonderful love you could ever imagine. If you decide to leave, then you are free to return to your human life, to continue to chase after your beloved ghosts. It is your choice, my dear. There are two doors."

Siobhan looked around and, yes, there were two doors. She didn't know why she hadn't seen them earlier, but now they were there.

"The one on the right will take you back to the bedroom from where you came. The one on the left will take you to the Count. Now, I'd better be going. This is a decision you need to make for yourself."

As Victoria opened the door on the left, she turned and added.

"Think carefully, my girl. Once chosen, there is no going back."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Jack returned later that afternoon, there was no answer from the house. Thinking Siobhan must be out of earshot, he let himself in with the spare key.

"Siobhan," he called out. "I'm back."

There still was no reply, so Jack went in search of his intrepid adventurer. What he found though was not the redhead he was expecting.

In the bedroom, curtains still closed, he found her discarded clothes, and even more surprisingly her mobile phone. Siobhan never went anywhere without her mobile phone. Jack rushed downstairs and ran through the rest of the house. Something was obviously wrong.

And then he found it.

There, in the portrait gallery, was a new painting. It was a painting of a twenty-two-year-old young woman... a young woman with the palest of pale skin tones... a young woman with the fieriest of red locks... a young woman who... god, had she?

If he didn't know better, the woman in the painting had just smiled at him. As he stood there, staring, a young woman's voice whispered in his ear.

"One day I knew I would, and last night I found what I was looking for. Don't worry... I am where I always wanted to be, and I am happier than I could ever imagine."

Jack spun around, but there was nobody to be seen.

When he turned back to the painting, the smile had broadened.

The End