The Party That Sealed My Fate

I cannot speak. At least, not in a way that you would understand. If only I had declined that cursed invitation, she could have stayed out of my life. Forever unknown. Oh, but fate wanted me to know. And that knowledge of her existence meant an ending to mine.

It was the middle of June and I had been invited to Mr. Terrent's first party of the season. My fingers were itching with annoyance as they held the thick, rich material of the letter. It had come in an eye-catching crimson envelope. A bad omen in all its glory that, unfortunately, held no power over me. Despite my growing disdain towards good old Terrent (time and time again he had managed to snatch the finest of business deals away from me), I deemed it necessary he would see me, as if unshaken by his nasty actions. And thus I settled for the most foolish of decisions to go to Terrent's lavish summer party, not in the least aware of what horrors would await me there.

His outrageously grand manor found itself near the forest that appeared as a deep green smudge from the window of my hotel room. It was but a half an hour drive to get there: not nearly long enough for me to change my mind along the way. The sound of gravel meeting with the wheels of my car resonated with the grinding of my teeth (that darned Terrent, messing things up for me so badly and then inviting me to his party!). I got out, marched towards the entrance, was stopped by a line of people and thus stood there, waiting. Somewhere further along I thought I spotted Claire with her sweet Tom. (Surprisingly, she still had not taken notice of his lacking degree in loyalty. Maybe she did not want to see it.) I was dressed in a striped grey linen suit and was wearing dark brown dressing shoes. One of those shoes started tapping on the stairs in a progressively more erratic fashion as I neared the doorstep, the growing wave of people pressing in behind me.

'Mr. Brehner? Let me see...' While the doorman was busy searching my name on the list, I took the liberty to peer inside the manor. My eyes sailed through the continuous stream of people that were flowing into the main part of the manor after they had lost their coats in the hallway. Faces everywhere, but no Terrent. Good. Or...no, not good at all! I wanted him to see me, right? That was why I had come there in the first place. My mind began sketching out our meeting. Oh, such joy it would bring me if I were the one to trap him in a sly agreement for a change! What would he be doing, I wondered. He was not welcoming his guests personally this time. An oddity. Business elsewhere in the manor must have been keeping him busy, I thought. Dancing around with every woman he could find? Proudly recounting his ways of making all his riches? He always had had a way of keeping people listening, and then, like magic, they found themselves proposing a deal that was beneficial in his eyes only.

'Sir?' The tone was urgent, slightly impatient. The now furrowing doorman had been trying to catch my attention for quite some seconds already it seemed. I gave him a quick nod and a ghost of a smile: he let me pass. Inside, another man took my coat and then gracefully dragged his hand through the air by means of pointing me to the door that led to the space where the party was bubbling and simmering. 'Refreshments and appetizers are served everywhere in the manor. Mr. Terrent wishes you an enjoyable time.' The crowded mass of guests easily swallowed me whole, leaving me with a faint feeling of anxiety somewhere in the pit of my stomach. A man in suit and tie, carrying a tray with glasses of champagne, found his next stop to be in front of me. 'Could I offer you a drink, sir?' He could. 'Excuse me...,' I called out to him when he was about to leave again. 'Excuse me, but...could you tell me where Mr. Terrent is?' The corners of his mouth drew upwards into a thin, polite smile. 'I'm afraid I cannot answer that question, sir. Mr. Terrent could be everywhere.' And with that he spun around and whirled through the other guests, handing out champagne.

Glass in hand, the golden liquid still untouched, I arrived at the porch where gay chatter filled my ears and smiles, real and fake, were freely thrown around. A flash of brown hair and a light green dress almost succeeded in causing my glass to shatter into a million pieces. As I regained my balance, Tom came into view. He was chatting with a woman in white who was not Claire in any shape or form. A faint blush had settled on her cheeks, which could have been blamed on the champagne, if Tom was not so overly obvious flirtatious in his way of talking with her. She was in the middle of her sentence, when he caught sight of me: 'Brehner! How nice to see you here, old sport!' His toothy grin was met with a tight curved shape of my lips. He stood up, left the stunned woman behind. 'It's been, what? Three months? Three months! Since we had that uh, fine deal together, eh? A lot has happened since then, Claire and I got...' He bestowed a swift glance upon the deserted place where the woman had been. '...engaged. Is that not something you should be thinking about, too?' He patted me on my back. In the spot Tom had left behind were now a man and a woman: he gave her a flower, she smiled and decorated his cheek with a print of her bright, red lipstick. 'Have you seen Mr. Terrent?' His brows furrowed together. 'Mm? Who?' 'Terrent, the gentleman who's hosting all this.' He let out an unsure 'Ah', angled his head to the right and then went on: 'No, haven't seen him, not even a glimpse!' He let out a chuckle that pierced my ears, placed his arm around my neck. I was growing more impatient by the minute. (Why, at that moment, didn't I just leave?) Terrent had stolen my golden opportunities. He had invited me to his party. He did not dare to show his face. What was the meaning of all this?

Not a soul had seen him. Some, like Tom, had even forgotten it was his party. I retreated from the gaiety of the party and found myself in the now quiet hallway. The doorman was turned away from me, staring into the setting sun. In my hand I was still carrying the full glass of champagne. I did not feel the need to empty it. Its new purpose, I decided, would be to decorate the cupboard next to the flight of stairs leading to the first floor. As I placed it there, I got the idea that proved to be my doom. Again I could have just given up. Could have driven home. Gone to bed. Forgotten about it all. Alas, I did not get to act out any of those things.

The dim lights next to the door of each room were the only sources of illumination the first floor was receiving. For a moment, I was doubting my actions. Downstairs they were jolly and merry, while I was acting as if I were a detective! My feet, cursed feet, were already carrying me further through the corridor, until... 'Marlene, please...I...you cannot take all of their lives!' It was his voice. As I quietly approached, I caught a glimpse of a woman in red with long black hair through the small opening into the room the door allowed me. 'But of course I can...Mr. Terrent. We, made a deal. If it weren't for me, you were still sleeping under the stars, still being spat at, still-' He came into view now as he threw his hands into the air, pacing the room erratically. 'Yes! Yes, yes, I know!' He let out a grunt of frustration. 'You don't need to keep telling me that! I mean, I'm sorry...There has to be another way?' She let out a soft sigh, dragging her long, elegant fingers along the smooth, deep sea green patterned wallpaper. 'Another way...would be an end to our deal. But such a thing, it will take from you that which you do not wish to loose.' He gingerly looked away from the window, found her blue eyes, like sapphires they shone: cold and blinding. His voice was small, like a child not knowing what his punishment will be. 'I have got a terrible guess...' She nodded. 'Will you take my offer?' He bit his lip, shook his head. 'I have been a selfish man for too long...' And with that he enveloped her long, thin fingers with his rough, sturdy ones. My breath, it drew in with a sound I should have not made. Streaks of a vibrant red decorated the dark shades of the wall. Leaning against that wall was the man I had despised. There was a knife in his hand and a gash in his chest. His eyes saw the ceiling, but his mind would never know.

She had heard my gasp and now we were face to face because of it. I could not move, even if I wanted to. Her gaze was stern and impossible to look away from. 'You will tell on me.' The image of the gruesome scene behind her flashed through my mind, but with me fullfilling Terrent's role. 'I won't! I swear!' She gave me a sweet smile. Her right hand rose, fingers spread evenly in the air. Her blue eyes had lost their shine and were like two pools of dark, deep water. My body grew heavy, and I began to drown—sinking deeper and deeper into those pools of doom... When I slowly emerged from my daze, I regarded her not from above, but from below. 'There you go.' A melodious giggle escaped her crimson lips as panic washed over me after confusion had faded away. I was sitting on the ground on all fours. I screeched in dismay, my tail writhing in the air. She was like a giant, looming over my furred form. 'Now you shall speak in my tongue no more, the sounds you produce never heard in a way that will make you feel truly understood.'