Short Story: Part 5

“I--” The girl started, “I think someone’s broken into our house. I hear noises coming from Eliza’s room, and the door is locked!” The little girl’s face was full of panic, her breathing shallow, and her hands were trembling. “I’m sorry I scared you. I just thought-”her words were cut off by the sharp sound of glass breaking.

Her father instantly broke open the door, turned towards the window and froze. The little girl and her mother were huddled together in the corner of the hallway, ready to run at the slightest sound. But the little girl’s father remained motionless and silent.

“Papa?” the girl squeaked. “Papa what is it?” the girl noticed that her father had tears streaming down her face. But he didn’t look sad; he looked untroubled by all the stresses he had been previously worried about.

“Are you alright, David?” her mother asked quietly. “What’s wrong? Answer me David! For goodness sake! You’re scaring both of us!” But her words fell silent on deaf ears. David wasn’t paying attention to them.

The little girl and her mother inched forward slowly, steadily, silently. To their astonishment Eliza’s room had transformed completely. Instead of blue based wallpaper patterned with vines and doves, the walls were only blue and patterned with vines. The doves that were once frozen in time had become real, living and breathing animals that now surrounded the section of the floor where a picture’s frame had shattered. The picture that was once in the frame was of Eliza.

“What happened?” the girls mother demanded. “Who was in the room?” she was now at her husband’s side, clinging on to him like the morning dew clings onto its new found petal. “David, what did you see? Who was it?” again, her questions went unanswered.

“She’s alright, Lillian,” David whispered. “Our little Eliza’s alright.” His voice railed off and mixed with the sound of wind that came dancing in from the outside. The room was silent save for the chime of the clock downstairs. The silence remained unbroken for five long minutes when a familiar melody slowly filled the night air.

The little girl recognized it within seconds and joined in its melancholy tune. “Lilacs and lavender, fields full of trees, the dove will come and sing with me, carried in the breeze. Don’t you worry I am fine, God has taken me, home to lie upon His lap, and please don’t cry for me. The dove will leave you with my love, he’ll sing to you each day, and when you’re lonely hearts do stop, the dove will save the day.” The tune ceased for a few seconds and began again. This time, David and Lillian joined their little daughter in singing the song Eliza loved so dearly.