Letter from Nowhere

Should I nock or should I go?

Those were Nadine thoughts while she was in front of the house she was sent in. And what a place to be sent! It seemed like only ghosts lived in there. It was not a random situation, the letter she was nervously holding in her hands made it clear.

The letter was sent from a lawyer who apparently knew her father. Nadine grew apart from her parents. Her mother died when she was a little girl and her father left her in an orphan for a reason she never knew. What was she doing there then if her father left her?

The letter was delivered to her a few days after she turned eighteen. Her adoptive parents couldn't keep the letter from her, Nadine was capable to make her own decisions. At least she thought so until she got to her father’s house.

She never wanted to know the story about her father. She always knew she was adopted and she loved and was grateful with her parents. But the letter stated her presence was needed in that house for the reading of her father's will. A letter told her that her father died a few years ago.

Nadine's father died and she didn't even meet it. It was confusing not to grief for her father, but Nadine couldn't grief for someone she didn't know. She could not put her feelings together, not even after her father died. Those feelings only got more confusing being in that creepy ancient house that belonged to her father, but it looked abandoned. She noticed there her father was a rich man, then why did he decided to forsake her when she was his only child? He never loved her?

Those questions made her hesitate nocking at the door because her father was more like a stranger. Even though the letter from the lawyer stated she was needed in that house, Nadine thought there was nothing she would want to know from the will or anything related to her father. Thus, she decided to step back and return to her small house with the parents she grew with, she was convinced there was no good for her in there.

She walked down the stairs of the porch. In her way back, she saw a guy walking straight to her, or was it straight to the house?

The guy saw someone walking away from the house, but he thought she was a seller. He didn't pay attention to Nadine and he was also looking for the key of the house, Nadine noticed it. She immediately knew the guy was going to the house and wondered why did he had a key of her father's house.

He was about to pass by her side, but he was looking away to the keys on his hands. She was still nervous holding the letter on her hand, debating about who the guy might be, she needed to know. Without thinking first, she just asked, "are you the lawyer?"

What a stupid question! She thought right after. Of course the guy was not a lawyer, he probably was her age.

For first time, he raised his head and looked straight at Nadine. For an instant, he was confused recognizing those eyes of hers. They looked just like her father's eyes and for him it was like seeing a ghost, but Nadine was real. He noticed there was something even more familiar about the girl, he would have sworn to have seen her before.

"No, sorry, but I don't think I'm aspiring to be one." He said hoping she might smile a bit for the joke, but he saw she was a bit embarrassed for the question she made. “I-I used to work here, just came to pick up some stuff of mine... I'm Ace, by the way."

Nadine didn't say a word immediately, she was leaving behind the second thought she had about the guy being related to her father, but in a way, he said he wasn't. Yet for her it was hard to believe someone else was closer to her father than herself.

"Uhm, I'm Nadine." She introduced herself.

"Nadine?" Repeated Ace.

He knew it was Nadine when he first saw her, but he was still processing the fact that he was actually meeting the daughter of the man he worked for. But Nadine was confused, the guy was a stranger for her, how did he know her?

"Sorry," he immediately said realizing how unusual it was for her. "When I worked here, I remember hearing your name a few times. I'm just surprised you're here."

"I see," she said wondering if Ace was hiding something. Due the situation, it was hard for Nadine to trust him, "may I ask why are you picking up your stuff now? I mean, I thought no one lived here."

"Well, yeah, no one lives here anymore..." His voice slowly vanished as he looked to the house getting lost in his thoughts.

Ace seemed off guard getting lost in that way, as if he felt safer somehow. Nadine wonder what was in the house that made him feel like that. If she could only see through his mind...

Back to reality, he said, "I know how this might sound, but considering you're the daughter of the man I used to work for, maybe I can walk you in the house and show you why I am here for."

Ace was being polite. After all, she was the daughter of his mentor, he was not just the man he used to work for.

Just when Nadine thought she had nothing to do there, Ace was inviting her in. Although she would rather to leave the place, at the end she chose to go with Ace. She didn't really trust him, but she secretly wanted to know what has inside the ancient house of her father.

Once in the house, Nadine thought it was creepier than from outside. No one lived there, she wondered where the lawyer might be. The light in the room was coming from the outside, otherwise the house would be lost in the dark. Nadine saw old portraits all around the walls, she wondered who were that people from centuries ago. The red wallpaper was falling down, every furniture in the place had dust on it, no one even bothered to cover them.

Once Ace closed the door, he walked in remembering every inch of the house, so he immediately went to the spiral stairs in front of them.

"Wait, are we allowed to be here?" Nadine asked before following him.

"You are allowed and I'm the only one who has the key," he said, but she still wavered. "Come on, I will just show you why I am here for, then we both will leave."

If that was the deal, then she was in. She followed Ace and realized how familiarized he was with the house. Nadine didn't think he just worked for her father to know the house so well, there was more. In the second floor, he knew exactly where to go through the many doors Nadine saw, but she didn't ask how he knew the place so well.

They went to a room full of paintings. Unlike the rest of the house, the paintings were protected by dusty sheets. Ace uncovered some, Nadine saw most of the paintings were landscapes, but they all looked surrealist. She felt her dreams were embodied in those pieces of art that didn't belong to her.

"Most are your father's, of course," explained Ace walking in the room as Nadine admired some of her father’s paintings. "I worked for your father helping him with his greenhouse, but he also was giving me painting classes".

"Was my father an artist?" It sounded like a joke, but she knew nothing about her father.

"No, he was actually a botanic, but the time I worked for him, he had free time. These paintings were only a hobby of his, yet he agreed to help me improve my abilities."

Thus, Nadine understood why he was there. "So, you're here to take your paintings with you."

"I am, there are some pieces I wouldn't like to lose." He said nodding.

"Then why are you taking them now?" Nadine had no intention to sound mean, but she thought there was something suspicious about Ace who had the key of her father’s house. "I know my father died a few years ago, why are you here now?"

Ace knew what Nadine thought of him just by looking at her. Nadine's green eyes were as challenging as her father's, but he could easily read them. He wondered what would have been like if her father were alive and next to his daughter. He knew Nadine wouldn't change her mind about him if he didn't tell her the truth, but it was not easy for him to openly speak about his feelings.

"I'm taking them now because back then I thought it would be best if I left them here," he admitted trying not to express too much. "It is hard to explain, but I worked with your father here for too long and many of the paintings I made here mean more than what they are. I used to think they belonged here, so I decided to leave it all here."

Nadine understood Ace’s feelings, but there was something unclear that made her get mad.

"How long you worked here?" She asked before thinking of anything else.

"I've been in this house since I was ten."

Nadine tried to hide her feelings too, but Ace noticed she would look away to avoid the feeling and tense her lips when she was upset, just like her father used to do.

It used to be unclear for Ace, but ever since he first heard of Nadine, he wondered what she might be like. In the same room with her, he believed everything he thought of her somehow help him to understand her. Ace knew the reason why she was getting angry was her father.

"Your father was a good man." He immediately said.

"Your perspective is different to mine," said Nadine a bit mad and surprised, "he didn't leave you in an orphan."

"He never told me why, but I am sure there was a reason to-"

"Did he told you to justify his decisions to me?" She interrupted him.

Nadine didn't know it, but Ace knew what it was like to grow with the feeling of being forsaken by a familiar. No mother to show him love, no father to rely on. Ace was always on his own. Only Nadine's father, without hesitation, opened his door to Ace when he needed it the most.

"Your father never told me to tell you anything, I don't even think he believed that you and I might meet." Admitted Ace. "I’m just telling you what I think because I remember your father talked about you. The times he said your name, he usually pictured you on his mind and he would tell me what you might look like. He was never capable to actually paint you, but with every description he ever said, I tried to do so."

Nadine was confused. She was about to ask Ace what he meant, but immediately he uncovered other paintings and looked for one in particular. He showed Nadine a portrait of herself, the house couldn’t be creepier. Although Nadine looked younger in the painting, the resemblance with her young self was almost identical. She was impressed not only by Ace’s talent, but the fact that he actually painted her without seeing her before.

"It is weird that you actually look identical," he was impressed as well, "never thought I'd be capable to picture you. I made it based not only with the descriptions your father gave me, but also in his physiognomy and your mother's, he had pictures of her. I think I only got wrong your nose. It looks like your mother's, but yours is a bit smaller."

Nadine admired the picture as Ace was talking, but suddenly her eyes looked back to other paintings behind the one she was holding. She wanted to tell Ace how impressed she was about the portrait, but other painting stole her attention.

She saw the painting of the front door of the house. She recognized the stairs and the red walls pictured with more color, perhaps it was painted when the house was alive. But that's not what got her attention. In front of the stairs, there was something, it was a creature.

It was a frighten thing, looking like a shadow. It was way too tall and covered with a grey long tunic from head to toes. She was not even sure if the shadow even had legs because it was floating in the center of the room and no human parts were recognizable. Yet, through the tunic the shadow showed its crimson eyes.

"What is that?" Nadine asked forgetting almost immediately of the portrait of herself.

Ace followed her eyes to the painting, then he felt a bit embarrassed. Only a few people saw his paintings with that shadow in it, but from different places around the house. He started painting that creature since he was twelve and never felt really proud about it.

"Oh, that. It's- it's silly, uhm- do you believe in ghosts?" He asked looking at her again.

Nadine thought the question was out of place.

"Not sure I do." She answered.

"I thought so, but I asked because that's what I thought they were when I painted them." Explained Ace, "I actually saw those things multiple times in my dreams. For a long time, it was a recurrent dream with those creatures in it, but in different places around the house, so I portrayed them".

"How strange!" exclaimed Nadine.

"Sorry?" He asked confused.

"You might think you sound strange, but it is stranger the fact that I have dreamt with those creatures too!"

Ace looked at her with surprise. For a moment he thought she was just joking about it, but she was being serious. Was it even possible for two people to have the same dream?

"Really? How- I don't even know what to say, since when?" He asked a bit excited trying to understand.

"Ever since I was ten, I still see them sometimes." Admitted Nadine.

Ace was about to ask her what happened exactly in her dreams with the shadows, he wanted to know if she had seen the same, but he could not ask. Ace was interrupted by a sound from downstairs that both heard. It sounded like a vase fell from somewhere and crashed into the floor, but Ace was sure he closed the door and the house was empty.

They shared a mutual thought by looking into the other’s eyes, but no one was capable to explain it. Ace was not surprised to see Nadine was the first one who left the room, he went after her right after. Both went down expecting to find whatever that fell and broke downstairs, but they didn’t even get to the floor. The two of them stopped only a few steps reaching the floor. Right in front of the main door there was the shadow both knew so well, arising from the ground in front of them and looking straight at the two of them. There was no time to react, both were paralyzed by the shadow until it continued raising to be vanished in the air. While it was fading away, Nadine noticed something fell into the floor.

"Was that-? That was the shadow!" Exclaimed Ace without being capable to actually explain how it was possible.

Nadine heard him, but she didn't answer. She went to the floor to pick up the letter that fell from the shadow when it vanished. Once in her hands, she noticed the letter had no remittent.

"What is that?" Asked Ace walking next to her.

"I don't know, it fell from the shadow," she said without opening it yet, she was wavering. "It's weird, I can almost swear this paper it's the same one as the letter I received from the lawyer".

Trying to understand, Ace remembered Nadine accidentally asked him if he was a lawyer. He was back in the house that day because lately he kept seeing his paintings and Nadine's father in his dreams, that's what made him come back for his paintings. He never imagined he would find Nadine there, but he was starting to think it was not a coincidence.

"Why did you say you're here, again?" He asked.

"I never told you, but I received a letter from my father's lawyer." She answered.

"Your father's lawyer? He left the country a few months after your father passed away, no one has seen him since then."

Nadine probably should have never walked in the house. For a moment she regretted for not having followed her instincts and for not having walked away from there. She had a bad feeling holding the new letter on her hands. With Ace at her side, she opened the letter and the first thing she realized it was that it was written with the same handwriting from the letter of the false lawyer, but she didn't mention it right away.

Her attention was at the beginning of the letter, the same one that Ace read himself because he was next to Nadine. Then he realized maybe both were there for that letter, a letter that somehow came from both of their dreams.

Nadine got stuck in the beginning of the letter. It was too late to walk away from the house because unlike the first letter she got, it was telling a different story. She read the letter again.

Dear Nadine, it began. Your father is alive.