Empress

They waited for the thunderstorm to pass under the eves of an old mausoleum. The thing was built to look like some sort of Greek temple or maybe a miniature government building. It had a dome on the roof. There was even a little porch with smaller versions of the columns at the Parthenon. 

Frank and Lisa got under the porch roof to shelter from the sudden rain. The rain came in from the gulf and it lasted for hours, drenching the New Orleans cemetery. Occasionally, lightening flashed and thunder cracked and rumbled loudly. The sun went down while they sat there. They watched the rain. They watched the full moon as it traveled upward from the horizon, casting a pale glow into the dark and heavy clouds. There wasn’t any hurry to go anywhere. Frank even slept for a short time. 

“When you’re dead broke with no place to call home, a dry porch on an old grave is like the Ritz Hotel.” Frank had said. 

The rain lessened but was still coming down in a miserable drizzle when Frank awakened from his nap. He paced back and forth a few times on the little porch. Each time he had to step over Lisa’s legs. She got up too, expecting that Frank would be ready to move on, rain or not. He stopped pacing and pointed above the door.

“Lisa, look at this.”

“What? What is it?”

“There’s words carved above the door. I remember reading this in college.”

Lisa stood next to him and read the words out load “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

“That was in some old-time play or poem or something.” He said. “I can’t remember.”

“It’s from Dante’s Inferno. It’s was on the gates of hell.”

Frank tried the door. It wasn’t locked. It swung stiffly on heavy bolt hinges and creaked from rust and long years of neglect. It had sagged in its frame and now it scrapped against the floor. Frank put his shoulder against the door and shoved hard, using his legs. The door moved another two inches and stopped.

“Frank, let’s go.” Lisa said.

“Nah. Rich people.”

“So, what?”

Frank stopped trying to push the door. He stood there looking at her for long moments. “Rich people might want some of their precious stuff, jewelry and whatnot, buried with them in their fancy little death-mansion. I knew you were stupid when we got married. I married you anyway. That makes me stupid too, I guess.”

“I’m not stupid. You’re the one who got us in this mess.”

The old argument between them was never settled. Frank took one too many risks in his business. He played too much poker and lost too much money. He made some mistakes and had some bad breaks and he felt like she would never let him forget that.

“Don’t start in on me now, Lisa. Give me a hand.” 

Frank leaned on the door again. She saw the look in Frank’s eyes and she knew he would never stop. She might as well help him. She added her effort to his and the door moved another few inches.

Frank rubbed his shaggy beard thoughtfully. “I bet you could squeeze through, as skinny as you are.”

“Nope. I don’t wanna go in there by myself. Who puts a warning like that on their own tomb? It’s weird. It creeps me out.”

“It’s fine. I’ll be right here. Go in and pull from that side and I will push from this side. If we can get it to open a just bit more, I can get in there with you.”

Lisa knew that when Frank got like this there was no talking him out of it. He would argue with her relentlessly and, eventually, she would give in. She decided to avoid all that and just do what he asked.

Frank’s plan worked. The door opened just enough. He had to suck in his gut and wriggle around some but, he managed to force his way in.

Once inside, they both turned to face into the space and were startled to see two people standing at the far end of the space, opposite of their position by the door. Frank let out a little yelp of fear and stretched his arm out protectively, in front of Lisa. She screamed in fright. Then they both realized that they were looking into a mirror.

Frank walked over and looked at the mirror closely. It had a yellowish cast to it. “This isn’t glass. It’s some sort of polished metal.” 

“I think it’s a sheet of bronze. I remember reading that they used to make mirrors that way in Egypt, or maybe somewhere else, in ancient times.”

“Yeah. I guess your useless history degree is finally paying off. Look at all the junk carved into the frame around the mirror.”

She ignored his remark about her degree. “They’re symbols of some kind. They look like ruins of some sort.”

“Look at these.” Frank said. He was touching a small black disk which was mounted in a recessed hole in the stone frame around the mirror. “It’s like a black mirror.”

Lisa touched another one on the opposite side of the frame. “I think these are obsidian mirrors. They’re used in witchcraft. What was it I read about that?” Lisa stared off into space for moment trying to remember distant knowledge. “These are used as scrying mirrors and in black magic rituals. This is really weird Frank. Let’s get out of here.”

“What’re the symbols below the mirrors?” Frank asked.

“Step back from the frame and look. There are six mirrors on each side the frame. The symbols are zodiac signs.”

“Zodiac?”

“Yeah, you know, Aries, Capricorn, Sagittarius and so on. And you call me stupid? Come on, Frank let’s get out of here. I’m really getting creeped out.”

“Why?”

“Look at this place. Every inch of every wall is carved with ruins. Even the crypts have ruins on them. And these black mirrors are bizarre.”

“So?” Frank asked.

“Did you notice the words carved above the mirror?”

Frank stepped back and looked up. He read the words out loud. “Oh, Luna! Empress Of The Night Sky! The stars pale in the power of your brightness.”

“Now look down at the floor. That mirror is framed and there is a threshold stone. It’s like a doorway.”

Frank looked down at the sill and read, “Nothing is hidden from the gaze of the Sky Empress when the she enters her high gate.”

“If it’s a door, its a strange door. If you try to walk through it you get a nose bleed from smashing into that yellow mirror.”

“Whoever these people were, they believed in witchcraft or black magic or something like that. Come on, Frank, let’s get out of this place. I don’t like it.”

“They believed in bullshit. There’s nothing here but us and two people who died a long time ago.”

There were two stone crypts with heavy looking lids, one on each side of the mausoleum. The space was cramped. Frank and Lisa could stand shoulder-to-shoulder between the two crypts with only a few inches to spare.

Frank ignored Lisa’s remarks and her desire to leave. He put his hand on one of the two crypts. “If we try hard and work together, we can probably work those lids off the crypts and have a look at what’s inside.” Frank said.

“Why on earth would we want to do that? I’m Serious Frank, let’s get out of here. Now!”

“I bet these rich people were laid to rest in here with their gold necklaces and rings. Look at the dates. They both died in the late 1800’s. Rich and probably loony too with all this occult crap. Who knows what they might have wanted in their tombs with them?”

Frank pushed on the side of the crypt’s heavy lid, thinking it would slide sideways and give him access to the contents. It didn’t budge. He tried grasping the edge of it and pushing it up but, it was too heavy.

“I need a pry bar.” Frank said.

“I don’t have one of those. Let’s go now. Please.”

“Yeah, I guess we should. We can comeback with something to pry these open.”

When they went to the door, they found that it was closed.

Frank looked at Lisa and asked, “Did you push the door shut?”

“Of course not. Why would I have done that? Besides, I’ve been right next to you the whole time.”

Frank grabbed the handle and hauled back on the door. It didn’t move. He put one foot on the wall and, using both hands on the handle, he leaned back, putting all of his weight into it. Lisa tried to add her weight to the effort. The door never moved.

“Oh God, Frank! Now what are we gonna do?”

“Calm down. Rest a minute. We’ll get it open. It’s just stuck.”

After few minutes, they tried again. But the door was firmly closed and it refused to budge. Frank was sweating from the effort when they stopped again.

“We have to get out of here. I can’t stay in here. I can’t.” Lisa was crying. Frank leaned back against one of the crypts. Lisa buried her face in his chest, her body was trembling. He held her and stroked her hair.

“It’s alright. We’ll get it open.”

“Why did you have to come in here? Why? The rain was almost gone. We could have left.”

“I know. It’s alright. I love you, Lisa. I’ll get the door open. I promise I will.”

“I love you, too.” Lisa said quietly. She nuzzled her face into his neck and her breathing evened out and her tears stopped.

Frank looked up into the curved dome of the ceiling as he held her. He noticed that there was a skylight in the center of the dome. The rain was gone and the sky looked clear. The moon was centered in the round skylight, looking in at them. Why would anyone install a skylight into a grave? He looked around and saw nothing but deep shadows and softly glowing surfaces, illuminated by the light of the moon. The ruins and strange symbols, carved into every available surface, were cast in stark relief in the greyness of the stone.

Frank didn’t know what made him say it but, as he looked up at the moon he said, “Oh, Luna.”

Lisa looked and saw where Frank was looking. She looked there too and said, “Empress Of The Night Sky!”

Then they noticed the utter silence of the mausoleum. Fear gripped them as they clung to each other and stared at the moon framed in the skylight above.

Lisa said, “She enters her high gate.”

The silence was broken by a small sound like the snick of twig breaking or the sound of a mirror cracking. They both looked toward the mirror. They saw themselves reflected in the yellow surface of the bronze mirror. There was long a crack in its surface that went from the top all the way to floor. Two figures, a man and a woman, dressed in Victorian clothing, stepped into the view behind their reflections. 

Now the fear crystallized into terror. Startled, they both turned and looked to where the man and the woman should have been behind them. There was nobody there. The mausoleum was empty except for them.

They looked back at the mirror. The man and the woman were still there, behind their reflections. They stepped forward. Instinctively, Frank and Lisa, cringed away from them and stepped closer to the mirror. The couple each raised one their arms and pointed. They both said in unison, “Behold!”

Frank and Lisa now saw that the mausoleum was gone from the reflection. They were both there and the man and woman were there but, the mausoleum was replaced by a gigantic throne room. Upon the throne was a huge female figure in pale gray robes that glowed with white light. She wore a crown of bleached bones and her eyes were large and dark.

The couple took another step towards Frank and Lisa. They moved away from the couple and were now just inches from the surface of bronze mirror.

The man and the woman reached forward and put their cold hands on Frank’s and Lisa’s backs and said, “Behold! Nothing is hidden from the gaze of the Sky Empress.”

Lisa and Frank looked into the black eyes of the Sky Empress. In those eyes they saw stars and nebulae and galaxies spinning wheeling into the infinite expanse of the universe. 

They saw storm clouds and lashing rain. They saw huge waves on the high, open seas swallowing men in their puny ships. The saw good people and evil people, in equal measure, rise to power and fall again. They saw civilizations spring into existence only to crumble into dust. They saw warfare fought by men in the blackest of nights. They saw blood, flowing in black rivulets, on a thousand battlegrounds and in the light of a thousand moonlit nights. 

They saw the sun eclipsed by Her over and over and again. They saw Her bearing witness to everything since the earliest moment of eternity past. They saw Her peering into the future. They saw Her knowing everything and they knew that She was more than merely Luna, Empress of the Night Sky. They did not understand how they knew. They just knew that She much, much more.

The strange couple said again, “Behold!”

Frank and Lisa saw that their reflections were nude. They saw the pitiless effect of time and poverty on their ugly bodies. They saw ribs visible through thin shrouds of pale skin. Lisa saw her breasts flat and sagging with nipples pointing at the ground. Frank saw the dark bags under his eyes and the smallness of his shrunken manhood. They saw the mottled spots of age blooming on their faces and the wrinkles of decades appearing in their skin as it sagged under the force of gravity in mere moments. They saw their flesh drying and shrinking and then falling off in wispy, almost insubstantial shreds. 

They saw the welcoming, small, almost kindly, smile on the visage of the Empress.

The couple behind them still had their hands into their backs. They shoved hard. Frank and Lisa felt themselves propelled forward. They felt the surface of the bronze mirror, cold and hard, for a the briefest moment, and then they felt no mirror at all. They stumbled into the throne room, and fell down to the floor.

When they stood, they could no longer see their reflections. They looked up at the Empress on her throne and saw the stars in her eyes and they also saw understanding and, perhaps, love too. The Empress pointed behind Frank and Lisa. They turned and saw the strange couple through the surface of the now silver mirror. The couple turned and walked to the door of the mausoleum. The door swung open easily for them and they walked through it and were gone.

###

Boudreaux “Bud” Leblanc finished pouring gasoline into the push mower and put the gas can down. He stood up and raised the bottom of his t-shirt to his face, using it wipe the sweat from his brow. When he dropped the shirt he looked across the old cemetery and noticed that the doors of the largest mausoleum were standing open.

“Damned kids! No respect for the dead. Why can’t they find some other place to hang out?” Bud said to himself as he walked over to look inside.

The walls of the of the mausoleum were smooth, white marble except for the blue spray painted graffiti that said “Pink Floyd Rules!” The place was a mess and it smelled moldy. Leaves had drifted in and there were crumpled beer cans and broken wine bottles. 

“Son of a bitch!” Bud said when he saw that the two crypts were desecrated. The lids had been shoved back One of them was cracked in half. Part of it was on the floor. He looked into the crypts. 

They were both empty.

He heard a rustling in the leaves. He felt something brush against his pant legs and saw the swift motions of a dark shapes scurrying toward the sunlit door.

“Rats!” he said “I hate rats.”