I couldn't believe my own heartbeat when I heard a knocking coming from my daughter's coffin...
- Unknown
"Throughout this world and the ones beyond, there is a universal chain that connects all souls together - that is Love." This I told my daughter Dansi every night before she went to bed. Often, Dansi would give a weak smile and reply with a faint voice "There is no greater feeling than to love and be loved" - a quote by her favorite writer Aurore Duplin or as we all call her- Madame Sand. But at other times, Dansi would just sit quietly on her bed and stare at me. Heaven knows that every time she did this, I felt as though I must die. Oh... how I feared for her life!...
Many a night, I would fancy myself watching Dansi sleep. The nocturnal sounds of the night combined with her breathing serenaded my soul. Oh, how very attached I had grown to this little creature!..
Nervous I was and am , every time I listened to her breathing. Impossible thoughts and fears would consume me whenever I, seemingly, seized to hear her breathing. At night, during regular intervals, I would simply rest my head on her bosom just so i may assure myself that she was, in fact, still alive!
Ahh.... possessive I was of her, but could you blame me? Ever since I lost my beloved wife – Clara – to that dreadful illness, i have never for once stopped fearing for Dansi's life. Unfortunately, it will seem that Dansi had also inherited the same illness her mother once endured. The same curse that took her way from me....
Even the physicians themselves had no knowledge of this disease and therefore, could not help us. Sometimes, I would ponder why this almighty God has forsaken my family so...For what right does he have to punish an innocent girl?!!! Tell me! For what right?... Why her?... Why Dansi?...
Ah... months passed, and Dansi's condition worsened. She could barely walk or eat. She just mostly spent her time conversing with people I could not see. People whom were supposedly there with her. . Oh... it terrified me when she once mentioned that she was speaking to her mother! But what could this mean?.... Was she nearing closer to the shores of death?... Perhaps...
Ahh... on a very peculiar night, I had carried Dansi with me for a stroll. She was feeling very restless and stuffy at home and so I took her out of the old house for a change of environment. I won't lie, i was very skeptical about taking her with me. I feared heavily for how the cold shores of the night might affect her health. But she insisted on her leaving and I could not deny her that wish....
During our walk back home from the stroll, I started to feel just how light Dansi was becoming as i carried her on my back. My God... she was so light! I couldn't even believe a living human being could be as light as she was! Lighter and lighter her body became so much so that I feared she might be fading away!... Immediately, I removed her from my back and rested her on my arms. But she was still fading away!...
The night was so cold that i could feel it's harshness right on my bosom's core. I had never felt so nervous before, so nervous that I could feel my insides freezing. I called out to my daughter. "Dansi! Dansi! My dear! What's happening?!! Speak to me!!" but no reply, she was fading away!.. Oh I screamed and screamed for help but the streets were empty and not a soul could hear me! There was silence for a moment. A brief terrifying silence until her voice whispered "Father am I dying?"Nervously but calmly I replied "No my dear...you're just very cold". She was still fading away!! Oh I shrieked to the heavens, in pain! in tears! "Save thy daughter!" i raised my voice to the night sky. "Don't you dare take her away from me! If you are truly the one true God you claim you are then save my daughter! Save thy daughter!!" Alas nothing happened. She kept on fading away!...
Oh... i cannot express to you the horror it was to watch my daughter fade away from me like that. For as her skin out shined even that of the pale moonlight's, my soul still could not escape the turmoil of beholding my world crumble down into the deepest pits of nothingness!... Dansi was going away and I couldn't save her...
In pain... yes! this i am sure... She must've been in helpless pain when she said those words and yet I couldn't do anything about it..."Please help me father I am hurting. Not because of the pain but because I will no longer be able to live with you." She spoke lowly. "But i promise, if you wait for me....I will come back to you. I love you..." she assured me these words before fading away completely...
Ah... I fancy you must be imagining the sorrow I felt now. The sorrow that comes with watching your most beloved die right in front of your very eyes no?... Well no. I did not cry neither did I say anything. I could not move nor could I feel anything. Oh how could i have possibly felt anything when my life had left me...
Hours had passed, yet I still remained there waiting!...Waiting for her to return back to me. Not lamenting, not sorrowing but staring - staring at her!... But she never came back...
There I sat motionless with her corpse in my arms by that lonely road, by that pale moonlight. In that moment, neither her nor she were alive anymore. We were both lost- far gone...
Some funeral it was... in attendance were so many friends, families, and other acquaintances I could not stand. In all honesty, i despised them all, but no more than I despised their pity! I wished for them all to be gone!! I did not at all care for their pitiful condolences - No! For even if sorrows were the last few memories i had of Dansi, then I will wholeheartedly accept them all...
Ah... it seemed like a dream when the final prayers were said by the priest and the coffin was laid into the hole that was dug for her - my own daughter! However, that vile act vexed me no more when the queerest thing happened. Something very unusual. Oh, you wouldn't even believe me if I told you... Was i mad? Was i dreaming? Was it a Mirage of some sort? One driven by my ever so longing for Dansi? Oh!!! why was I hearing this sound?!! This knocking!...
My God! I couldn't believe my own heartbeat when I heard a knocking coming from my daughter's coffin. "Surely this must be God's doing now?" I thought. Yes!...He has decided to punish me with this vile sound! He wants me to suffer her death! He wants me to suffer!!! I mellowed within myself in denial. But the knocking grew louder! Louder! And Louder!!!
It was impossible now to dismiss the knocking as a fantasy for I could see now that people around were also becoming aware of the sound. The funeral music stopped, the men had seized their shoveling of sand; the cries of women and children had passed and so did the knocking. There was just silence. Dead silence right until the preist yelled "Continue the burial! For it is no more than the devil that has possessed her body!" And the men continued shoveling the sand unto the grave. I, however, torn between my state of denial, desire, and curiosity, could not make any sense of what was happening. But one thing was for sure: if there was a small chance my little girl was in that box, then I had to save her...
I tore through the crowds, fighting my way passed the shoveling men and the priest until I finally shrieked out "Leave me alone! Leave us alone!" Ha!... it was funny to see the masses(including the priest) run away when I opened the coffin to find a pale and conscious Dansi lying down in the casket. I'll be quite honest - I was a little terrified to see her but my love and longing for her succumbed very single fear I once had. And so, I immediately embraced Dansi like never before. She was light and cold. Very cold...
It is still very unknown what truly happened on that day of Dansi's funeral. Many Physicians remarked that it was a rare condition called the Lazarus Effect and psychics and other orthodox practitioners claimed that she was not in fact Dansi, but something much more ominous that has resurrected in her form. Honestly, I could care less about all these assumptions for I was here once again with Dansi and we were both very happy. So instead, I would remark the whole thing as some form of a gift from.... well... him.
Me and Dansi have continued living peacefully for 5 years now and we will live like so for many years to come. However, I am frequently reminded of the thing she said to me when she first awoke from that coffin on that dreadful day. Words that still echo in my heart : " I was brought back to you because we love each other so..."
I am not sure about many things but I am sure of one thing: no words, thoughts, or actions, can ever dissever the eternal love that I feel... for my beautiful Dansi.
Thanks for reading and keep exploring!...