The Cemetery - XVII

Part 1

Amelia

cont.

After the second dream I felt it was important that I did not return to the graveyard to speak with my brother’s statue. This all seemed to stem from that place of death and decay as the oppressive influence I first felt emanated from there. I was sure though that the force had followed me but I couldn’t be sure if it was the only one. I did not want to tempt more evil upon me be spending more time in the cemetery than wholly necessary. Margaret agreed with this assessment. Her home was only a three blocks away from my own so the short move was easy and expedient. Margaret allowed my steward to attend to me in her home but she did not seem it important to inform him of our machinations. The deeds during the night would be our own and would be kept secret, for if news were to come out that a prominent young unmarried lady of Westknell was battling a demon in her sleep, then no good would come of ever stepping foot in this town again. We could not have that, and my reputation would not suffer such a blow.

                Margaret wrote more letters to Geoffrey, urging him to return to England to help with the rituals she set out to perform but his responses were few and far between. We could not rely on him and I could feel in sleep that my time was running out.

                I had failed to mention thus far what these dreams had started to do to me physically in the waking world. I am now a young woman of twenty-three years old, still unmarried, but not wholly sullied by the ways of the world to not be unmarriable. However, after the months of dreams and the oppressive inclusion of this entity pulling at my soul I was aged rapidly. One morning I awoke to grey strands falling from my head and wrinkles growing deeper on my brow. In the first month my friends assured me it was simply the stress of losing my brother but after the dreams I knew it was the demon. I was growing weaker and weaker in constitution with each passing night, each encounter with the creature. It was whittling me down, weakening me so that I would acquiesce to its demands.

                I felt that if something weren’t done soon that I would be too feeble to say no as I had done in times past. So Margaret and I set out to monitor my sleeping patterns. I mentioned to her that as the days progressed towards a vivid dream I would become restless. My steward had reported to me that for three days up until I awoke in a screaming fit, as I did after each vivid encounter, I would murmur, then speak fully in dreams. He first reported this to me after moving in with Margaret.

                Margaret said we would use that as a basis for observations. My steward would stay with me at night and report on my actions in the morning. The night I began to speak full words Margaret and I agreed that the next vivid dream when I would tempted would come in two days. Margaret wanted that I should keep him in the dark but I felt it important to inform him of what has been going on so before sleep I pulled him aside and spoke softly to him.

                “I know that this is all very strange but know that what we are doing here is to save my life.”

                “There is no worry in my soul ma’am that what we are doing is righteous. I see the pain in your eyes and I will not waver in my protection of you. That is one mission your brother made very clear to me in his passing. That I will never let befall you any danger or ill becoming. I will stay with you all night through all nights if that keeps you safe from danger. Though you have not and need not explain the dangers you are in, I will be by your side.”

                “Thank you. I feel at ease having your ever-watchful eye upon me in my most vulnerable of states.”

                “You needn’t worry miss.”

                Elsewhere Margaret was preparing the ritual she would use to expel the demon from my presence. In her books she found a spell and runes to ward off the creature. However, neither I nor she knew exactly what expelling it would do. If we did, I’m not sure I would have gone through with it.

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