“Dad, can you tell me the story about the house down the road?” The man tilted his head down to his son who was lying in his bed, tucked snuggly under his sheets. He nodded his head as he kneeled down on the bed and put his back against the wall, clearing his throat.

Long, long ago lived a humble duke. The duke lived in a comfortable, ancestral house on Livingstone road, in the kingdom of Idoryn. The rooms were commodious and elegant, filled with antiques. The ceilings were tall, and covered with grand windows that overlooked the vast forest in front of the house. In this quiet, opulent home, the duke lived with no one's company but his own. In the past 40 years, every family that moved into a home on livingstone road seemed to have been cursed after an incident with one of the owners of house 112. Nobody knows what happened, but it’s known by everyone in the Kingdom that something went wrong.

As he returned to his home from the castle, the duke strolled through the garden behind the house. Everywhere you looked there were overgrown vines, thorn bushes, and beautiful flowers of all different colors. If the duke said he didn’t like the flowers, he would be lying. He slowly wandered through the garden, avoiding the puddles of mud from the rain the past day as he looked for any flower that caught his eye. He stopped at the group of light pink carnations at his feet, slowly kneeling to their level. A small grin spread across his face as he began picking them from the ground, gathering them into a bouquet. Although his smile quickly faded as he saw a swarm of flies just outside the vines of his garden. On the livingstone road, flies were usually the first indication that someone had died. 

The duke stared at the swarm, thinking of what he should do. Is it just a coincidence? Is it what he thinks it is? Is it nothing to be worried about? Thoughts clouded the Duke's head as he stared. He slowly lifted himself off the ground, and hesitantly stepped towards the edge of his garden. In the yard of the house next to his own is where he saw him. Through the vines lay what the duke recognized as his neighbor, lying lifeless on the ground. His long white hair was tangled with dirt, and his beard was sticking out in all directions. His clothes were in shreds, and his arms covered in bruises. The duke stumbled backwards, not knowing how he should react in that moment. 

He turned his body before carefully running through the garden, panicking as he met the front door to his house. He quickly opened the door before slamming it closed behind him, pulling the chain lock across the wooden surface. The duke paced back and forth in the entryway of his home, contemplating what he should do next. He rubbed his shaky hands together, attempting to calm his nerves; but to no avail, he couldn’t relax. Thoughts constantly popped into his head, should he report it? Should he keep it secret? What if someone thinks he killed the man? What happened to begin with? The duke didn’t want to think about it; he couldn’t think about it. There were so many possibilities, and the duke didn’t want to think of any of them.

Before he could think about it anymore, the duke kicked off his shoes before stretching out across his bed. He grabbed a rather large book from his bedside table, and opened it to where he last left off. Maybe if he continued reading his book, his mind wouldn’t be so full of thoughts he didn’t want to think about. Soon after lying down, the duke dozed off into a deep sleep. However, maybe that wasn’t for the best. 

The duke blinked a few times before fully opening his eyes, being met with the brown walls and tall windows of his home. Although the brown walls that were once carefully and neatly done, were now torn and ripped apart; with holes varying in sizes scattered throughout. The windows that were once bright and open allowing the sun to shine in, were now covered in black cloth, blocking out all chances for light to be let in. As he looked around his once fancy and comfortable home, a woman entered the room through a large doorway connecting the kitchen and living room. The woman looked to be in her 60s; she had gray hair mixed with bits of white and old fashioned clothing. Her eyebrows were narrowed, and it looked as if she had been crying. Her jaw tensed as she heard footsteps coming towards her. She tried backing away, but all she did was trip over her own feet. 

As the duke tried reaching his arm to her, he realized he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do anything but stay still; his body wouldn’t move. “Please don’t take away my home, I’m begging you!” The woman pleaded, “Please let me stay, I’ll give you anything, just don’t take away my home!” The lady gritted her teeth as she waited for a response, sitting timidly on the floor. As the duke moved his eyes to who the woman was speaking to, his eyes were met with a tall figure of a man. The man seemed to be wearing a uniform of sorts, with his shoulder-length hair in a short braid. The only thing that put the duke off about the man was that his face was gone. Just, gone. The duke’s eyes widened in confusion. He closed his eyes, before reopening them. To his surprise, the man still looked the same as when he first saw him. He thought that he was just imagining him not having a face, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“This is the only thing I have to remind me of my mother, and I can’t fo-” The woman was cut off as the man kicked her in the face, knocking her unconscious. The duke watched as the man grabbed the woman tightly by her ankles, and dragged her out of the room. As the duke kept his eyes on the lady, he noticed a large patch below the woman’s knee. A birthmark maybe? One moment he was watching the man drag the woman from her home, and the next he awoke in his own bed panting and covered in sweat.  He put his hand on his chest, catching his breath. He glanced at the room around him and sighed in relief; everything was just as he left it. Although in his 35 years of living, never had the duke had such a vivid dream. 

The following day, the duke contended to the opposite side of his garden from where he saw the swarm. As he glanced across the garden, the flies still lurked behind the vines. He turned his attention to pulling a weed from the ground. He tried his best not to think about it, but the only thing on his mind was his neighbor, deceased behind his garden and the dream. The dream. The duke’s hands moved aimlessly through the dirt as his eyes stuck on the spot he dreaded to be near. Not only that, but was it just a coincidence that the duke had such a strange, vivid dream the same night he saw what's been haunting his mind? He furrowed his brows as he came back to reality, gritting his teeth as he saw the large hole he unknowingly dug in the ground. He let out a sigh of annoyance as he stood up and made his way out of the garden. If anyone had seen the duke in that moment, they would have been able to tell instantly that he had something on his mind, and that he was irritated beyond compare. 

As the duke reached for the front door to his home, his ears twitched as he heard quiet sobs from the woods across the road. He hesitantly reached for the front door and pushed himself inside; no way was he dealing with even more than he already was. As he locked the door, he couldn't help but feel guilty. Why was someone crying so hard, and out in the woods of all places? The duke unlocked the door not even seconds after locking it; his thoughts getting the best of him. At this point, what worse could happen? He swifty stepped down the stairs leading up to the house, and treaded upon the long road in front of the woods before coming to a halt. As he stood perched in front of the tall trees, he realized he lo longer heard the sounds of crying. After a moment of hesitation, he slowly began wandering through the healthy green trees and bushes that littered the ground, looking for any kind of person that may be what he heard. He constantly look to his left, to his right, even above him; but to no avail, the only thing that caught his eye was a pile of ants on the ground below him and a snake that stopped him in his tracks for a good two minutes. As the duke continued observing the woods around him, he began doubting what he heard. Did I just mishear? Was it just an animal? The duke thought of multiple possibilities, staring at the passing nature to the left of him. Although what took up most of his thoughts was: am I going mad? He scoffed at the thought before tripping over his own feet, falling on his hands and knees. 

The duke scowled; one thing leads to the other and this is what feeling guilty led the duke to. He brushed specs of dirt off of his jeans, ignoring the slight rip on the knee of his pants, to continue onto brushing his hands together, revealing small dots of red under the dirt. He raised himself off the ground, stumbling as he almost lost balance for a second time. To his luck, he caught himself before he could fall face first onto the ground. As he lifted his vision from his feet to in front of him, the bright blue of the ocean through the trees caught the duke's attention instantly. Out of the multiple years the man had lived in his house on livingstone road, never had he known there was an ocean behind the thick forest. He staggered through the large bushes at the height of his knees and the branches that occasionally found themselves blocking the duke's vision. His eyes widened as he limped to the edge of the forest, being met with thousands upon thousands of grains of sand at his feet. 

He sauntered towards the water, occasionally limping. He kicked a long piece of driftwood to the side of him, and kicked the sand at his feet. He took note of the various flowers that were scattered throughout the beach, and he counted how many seashell fragments he saw on the ground below him. Before he even realized it, cold water brushed against his ankles, causing shivers to run down his spine. 

One could say life is like the ocean. The sea moves us, shapes us, and has countless possibilities. The water making up the ocean is strong yet calm, steady and yielding, subtle yet beautiful. Waves will try to knock you down and push you back to where you started but once you fight through them, you could be met with the feeling of serenity. Never once did the duke think of the ocean, never once did he wish to go to the sea. But there he stood, water continuously hitting against him, wondering how the ocean never crossed his mind even once. As the duke stared off into the endless water, he couldn’t help but feel a feeling of relief. 

He rolled up his jeans before kneeling in front of the shallow water, carefully scrubbing the remaining dirt from his palms. He flinches at the sting on his hands from the salt water, before proceeding to splash the same water onto his knee. Not only did he rip his jeans when he fell, but small rocks across the ground scraped his knee as well. The duke grimaced as he rose from his knees to his feet. He strolled a bit deeper into the water, being careful not to bend his knee too much. He ignored the water soiling his shoes and how they would probably be ruined by the time got home, he ignored the setting sun across the horizon, and was instead mesmerized by how the small waves just barely lifted him up in the water, and brought him back down in seconds.

As he began feeling drops of water hit the top of his head, he began slowly strolling towards the shore through the water. As he took one last look at the ocean behind him, a figure in the distance caught his eye. They were laying in wet sand, with water pushing and pulling right at their feet. They lay with their arms spread wide and their legs bent, not moving an inch. The duke glanced around the beach, was anybody else there besides him and that person? By the time he turned his attention back to the figure, it was gone. Just as soon as he saw it, it had disappeared. He took slow steps towards the direction of where he once saw the figure, ignoring the rain falling harder against his head. To his surprise, no matter where he looked or how hard he looked, he couldn’t find any trace of someone who had been there. This confirmed it. He was going out of his mind. 

Two days passed and the duke hadn’t experienced any more strange occurrences, yet he still kept his guard up whether that was while working, while in the garden, or even in his own home. The duke was clearly paranoid, anybody could tell; he could be read just like a book. Maybe it was because he prevented himself from getting full sleep every night because the idea of having another weird dream terrified him, and maybe it wasn't. All he knew was that he wasn’t taking any more chances

As the duke lay in his bed reading a book titled, Ghosts and Strange Occurrences, he felt a sudden feeling of fatigue. The past day he had been quite sluggish and felt drowsy, yet he forced himself to stay awake. Now that he was lying in bed and not moving his body, his eyelids began feeling heavy and he felt sluggish. As he fought the sleep taking over him, it was proven as ineffective as he fell into a deep sleep for the first time in multiple days. 

As the duke awoke, he knew exactly what was happening, and what was going to happen. He recognized the torn and ripped brown walls of his home from the last time he slept. He recognized each and every hole in the wall and the black-out cloth covering the windows. He rewatched the woman enter the room in a distressed state and trip over her own feet. He remembered the patch below her knee and how anyone could tell she had been crying. Although this time, he noticed a mole on the right side of her face under her eye, and a shiny ring on her left hand ring finger. As a shadow of a man appeared above the woman, he shifted his vision to the same man he once saw in his last dream. He had the same soldier-like clothing and braided hair, yet his face was still not visible. As the duke ran his eyes over the figure, he noticed 3 moles in a line on his hand, and as he moved his eyes further down, a ring. his ring was placed on his left hand ring finger, and was the exact ring the lady was wearing. Coincidence? 

The dream went just as the last one did, the man kicked the woman unconscious and dragged her by her ankles outside the room. This dream was a bit different compared to the other one though, as this time the duke's legs moved on their own. He moved after the two without any control, and watched as the man dragged the lady out of her home. He watched as he pulled her down the front steps without being cautious of her head hitting each step of concrete, and he watched as he kept dragging her towards the area where the duke’s garden lay. The rain was hitting the ground hard, almost hailing. To the duke's surprise, he didn't get wet as he stepped outside the house. As the duke kept following close behind, he noticed instead of the caramel-colored house in his memory, it was a forest green with white trim. Instead of the garden being full of flowers and plants, there were weeds scattered throughout the yard and the grass was clearly dead; the only sign of life in that garden was a small group of pink carnations. The duke frowned at the sight, disappointed with what his garden once was. 

As the duke's eyes returned to the two people in front of him, he watched as the man picked up the woman carelessly and threw her in a gray wheelbarrow that he took from a corner of the yard. The duke kept his eyes on the man as he pushed the wheelbarrow with the woman out of the yard and towards the road, stepping on the group of carnations in the process. He followed behind as the man walked swiftly through the forest; the same direction through the same forest that brought the duke to the beach. Not to his surprise, the duke soon saw the sun shining through the tree leaves and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. 

Suddenly, just as the duke was about to step in the sand, he stopped. Just like the last dream, he had no other choice but to stand still and watch. The man pushed the cart towards the water, stopping every few steps to pick up a rock until he got to the water. Not even seconds later did the man throw the woman over his shoulder and begin pushing his way through the water; with the rocks he picked up shoved in her pockets. As he kept going further and further into the sea, the waves became more and more aggressive. As soon as water reached the middle of his chest, the man stopped dead in his tracks and let the woman fall from his shoulder and splash into the water face first. Within a second, the man grabbed the back of the woman's shirt and began shoving rocks into her pockets. 

The duke widened his eyes in shock, what on earth is he doing? With one last kick against the woman, the man swam through the water back to the shore and ran. He didn’t run, but sprinted as fast as he could. As soon as the man passed the duke, the duke jerked awake in a cold sweat. Before the duke could even fully wake up, a countless amount of questions flooded the duke's mind. Why did he have that dream again? Why was he having the dream to begin with? Were the rings a coincidence? What happened to the woman? He buried his face in his palms, once again not knowing whether he should be confused or scared. Just like the last time, his hands shook violently and he was panting for breath. The duke didn’t want to admit it, but he was scared. Terrified. He was more terrified than confused; and he knew that wasn’t exactly a good thing. Did that man do what the duke thinks he did to the woman? What was the reason? He clenched his eyes shut before he could give his mind a chance to think of any more possibilities. 

11 days. 11 days passed since the duke's last dream, and to his surprise, nothing more had happened since. Every day he told himself something would happen, everyday he stayed on high alert and kept his eyes open when in his garden. Maybe it was because he avoided going anywhere near a certain part of his flower-filled yard, but he felt as if he had no other choice. However, this all changed on one rainy day in the middle of may. 

The duke rested on his soft, incomparably luxurious sofa, lounging as he read his book. It was a new one he recently bought titled The Ocean in a Drop. It isn’t what he usually enjoyed reading, yet he was confident to give it a try. Sun shined through the high, arched windows behind the couch, giving the duke the perfect lighting  for his reading. As he turned the page, a shadow moved across his book. He glanced out the window for his eyes to be met with dark clouds invading the sky and multiple tree branches shaking violently from the wind; it was most likely going to rain. The duke sighed in relief, after over a week of hot weather, the rain finally arrived. Unknown to the duke, the rain wouldn’t bring what he was expecting. 

The duke awoke from a loud knock from his front door, his book open against his chest. Although he hadn’t been having any more dreams, he still limited his time for sleep to very little; and this moment was one of them. He groaned in exasperation, who was knocking on the door? He looked to his right towards the window, it was pouring. Out of the time he lived in his home, this is another thing he could add to his, “Never seen before list.” Sure he had seen it rain, but he could tell it wasn’t ordinary rain. He raised himself off the couch and onto his knees, observing from the warmth of his shelter. He watched the swirling mass of dark clouds in the sky he had looked at earlier, and watched the trees as the wind picked up even more speed. As he was watching a leaf drop a big splash of water to the ground, he jumped at another loud knock; he had completely forgotten someone knocked. 

He arose from his spot on the sofa and sauntered towards the entryway; his shoulders bent forwards in a slouching position before extending his arms above his head, stretching out his sore muscles. As he reached to unlock the door, he stopped momentarily. What if someone saw his neighbor and thinks he did something to him? He shakes the idea from his head immediately, why would someone think the duke did it just because he is the guy's neighbor? He hesitantly clicked the lock and pulled the door open. To his shock, there stood a lady. She seemed to be around five feet, and her short, gray hair was bunched up in her sweatshirt hood. She had wrinkles under her eyes, and a scar across the side of her face. Her clothes were drenched, and the bottom of her dark jeans were covered in small patches of mud. The duke hesitates before asking the woman, “Do you need something?” 

“I..” She paused before continuing, “I need help, please,” She whispered. 

“I didn’t quite catch that because of the rain, could you say it again?” The duke remarked, confusion present on his face. 

“I need help, please!” Tears swelled the woman's eyes as she spoke louder to the duke. His eyes widened as a tear fell down her red cheek. Her hands were shaking as she held them together tightly, with her leg slightly bouncing with stress. What was the duke supposed to do in this situation? Considering everything that had been happening to the duke lately, he wasn’t too surprised with the woman's appearance at his door. She clenched her eyes shut as she continued, worried about how the duke was reacting. “I.. I just need a place to stay until the rain is over, that's it! I’ll pay you back, I just..” The woman began mumbling as she cut herself off, leaving the duke in confusion. 

“Do you live around here?” He questioned, avoiding answering her plea. 

The woman avoided eye contact as she spoke, “Not necessarily..” she replied, “I was on the beach, since it seemed like it would be a nice day.” She moved her eyes to the dukes, “The rain started pouring so suddenly, I ran into the woods from instinct  in search for at least a little bit of shelter,” She gestured down at her soaked clothes covered in dirt before continuing, “One thing led to another..” He shifted his eyes down for a moment, before looking straight into her eyes. At this point, nothing could be worse than the things that have already happened to him; it wouldn't hurt to just help her for a small amount of time. 

He smiled at the woman, before nodding his head. “You can stay, as long as you need; as long as you promise to wear something else besides those mud covered clothes,” he joked as he opened the door for the woman. She looked at the duke in surprise; she hadn’t expected him to accept her into his home. She gave the duke a grateful smile before walking up the concrete steps leading to the front door. As she passed him through the door, a frown crossed the duke's face. He was ready to face any possible outcome. 

After the duke closed the door behind him, and motioned for the lady to follow him down the hall. The light in the hall was dim, and the walls were quite bare. As the woman followed close behind, she took notice of the neatly done wallpaper, and how there was nothing whatsoever on the walls. Not even pictures? She glanced at the walls around her as the duke turned to the left and stopped at a closed door. “Everything you need should be in here, just make sure you don't get mud everywhere,” He states, turning the knob and opening the door. Her eyes widened as she looked into the most fancy, exquisite bathroom she had ever seen. As she stepped inside, the duke closed the door behind her. Looking up, the ceilings were high and there was an ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling. She wandered to the opposite side of the room towards the tub, which was to no surprise, quite lavish. She turned the handle to the right, letting the water run into the bathtub. 

She turned around and made her way to the cabinets under the sink, letting the water warm up as she did so. She kneeled down before pulling the cabinet open, shocked with how much was there. There were an abundance of toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, clothes. If you were to name something, it would most likely be under that cabinet. She reached for a dark blue towel, raised herself off her knees, and closed the cabinets. She hung her towel on a rack next to the tub; even that was fancy. She bent down in front of the tub, dipping her hands in the now lukewarm water. She closed the drain, letting the tub fill with water. 

The duke lay comfortably on the sofa in front of the window, which was slightly open letting cold air blow through the house. His eyes move across the pages of his book, reading over each page before flipping it. As the woman opened the door to the bathroom, she could hear the sound of rain from the open window. Her eyebrows twitched at the sound, before she closed the door behind her and walked back down the hallway to the living room. The duke glanced up as he realized she had came out of he room, forcing a soft smiling at her, “The clouds are still quite dark,” he gestured to outside the window, “If you are waiting for the rain to stop, there's probably somewhere in this house you can stay.” She widened her eyes at his statement, why was he helping her? She was just an old woman that showed up on his doorstep covered in dirt. 

“Ah..” she exhaled, “Do you have something I could write your house number on?” She moved her eyes from her feet to the duke's face, “I could send you something as a thanks once I leave.” She finished. If the duke was being completely honest with himself, the only reason he was helping her ws for an ego boost, not that he wanted her in his home. 

He pointed towards a cabinet on the opposite side of the living room, “there’s paper in the second drawer under that cabinet.” She nodded as she strolled through the large living room towards where he pointed, pulling the drawer open and grabbing a sheet of paper and a pen. She made her way back to the other side of the room, kneeling in front of the coffee table. “112,” the duke said.

“What?” She said in confusion. The duke looked down at her paper to see she had already written it down before he had told her what the house number was, did she just remember it from when she was at my door? 

“Oh I was just telling you the house number in case..” He paused before finishing, “..you didn’t know already.” He brushed any concerns he had out of his mind, maybe he was just paranoid from everything that had happened lately. 

She looked at the duke before opening her mouth to speak, “I really do appreciate it,” She smiled, “If it weren’t for your help, I don’t know what I would have done out there.” The duke observed her face, noticing that by her gestures, she was being completely sincere. 

“What’s your name?” He questioned the woman. “Or what do you want me to call you?” He added.

She stared for a moment before responding, “Thalia.” She watched as the duke nodded at her response, returning to his book. “What's yours?” 

He stared at his book for a moment, before looking up at her. As she asked her question, he realized he couldn't remember the last time he spoke his own name. He hesitated for a moment before replying, “You can just call me Sirus.” 

Later that night, Thalia lay in the one of many bedrooms in the duke's home- or, Sirius’s home. When he said there was probably a place to stay in the house, he meant to say that there is most definitely a place to stay. When he first showed her to the room she would be staying in, it wasn’t a shock when her eyes were met with the luxurious interior. The room was large and open, with a large bed against the middle of the wall; this room in particular, was also filled to the brim with antiques. The bed frame was an antique, the nightstands were antiques, the lamps around the room were antiques; anything she looked at in the room was most likely an antique.. The moment Thalia saw the room, she couldn’t help but let a grin spread across her face. She herself used to be an antique collector and considered them all to be her treasures. She smiled at the memory before closing her eyes, and turning the lamp on the bedside table off. 

The ocean. Sirus shot his eyes open at the familiar sound of the ocean and waves crashing against the shore, the sound he still remembered after weeks. Although the question was, why was he at the ocean? Wasn’t he in his bed just two seconds ago?” He glanced around his surroundings before taking a step forward. As he looked down to see the sand he stepped in, he was wearing a pair of flip flops, a bright Hawaiian shirt, and swim shorts that didn’t match the top whatsoever. As soon as he saw what he was wearing, he knew he was dreaming. 

He wandered through the sand towards the ocean, watching as the waves started off large and were small by the time they hit the sand at the shore. He stepped through the wet sand, looking behind him at the footprints he left. He turned his head back in front of him and stepped into the shallow water. To his surprise, he couldn’t feel the water against him. Was it because he was in a dream? His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice, one that he didn’t necessarily recognize but one that he knew. He turned just enough to get a glance at the familiar voice, and widened his eyes in surprise as he saw the woman; the one he saw in the strange dreams; except she looked… younger?. What was she doing here? He thought to himself, but he knew he shouldn’t have even been surprised. What put him on edge was the voice. Sure, he had heard her speak in the dreams but this was different. The voice was calm, almost soothing. As he glanced at who she was talking to, he recognized who it was. The braid in his short hair, the three moles on a line on his hand. He still couldn’t see the man's face, but that wasn’t a surprise. 

“I’m sorry,” The lady started, “I didn’t mean to run into you.” She grumbled, pulling her wet hair behind her ear. 

Although the duke couldn’t see the man's mouth, he could hear him talking like any other person. “It's alright, don’t worry too much about it,” He shrugged before adding, “I wasn’t watching where I was going either.” Although sirus couldn’t see his face, he could hear the smile in the man's voice. The duke turned his head back to his feet, listening to the two as they began a conversation. It seemed like they were talking forever; one moment they were talking about one thing and the next they were talking about something completely different. He couldn't help but cringe, when on Earth would they just stop talking? Sirus turned around one last time and watched as they pulled their flip phones out of their beach bags, exchanging each other's phone numbers. They soon parted ways, leaving the woman staring at her phone in awe. Suddenly, the duke opened his eyes, back in his bed staring at the ceiling above him. He put his hands over his face, groaning in annoyance. When will this end?

When awaking the next morning, the first thing the duke noticed was the sound of rang banging on the top of his roof. He could hear the wind blowing aggressively right outside his window; it was as if the wind was threatening him. He tiredly arose from his bed, stretching his arms out above his head as he wandered around the perimeter of his bedroom, opening the curtains of every window. As he did so, he remembered the woman staying in his home. He told her he could leave once the rain stopped, but he was only now really thinking about what he said. Sure, nothing could be worse than what's already happened, but how long would she have to stay in his house? The rain didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. As he left his room and headed towards the living room, the first thing he laid his eyes on was Thalia standing in front one of the many large windows in the duke's home, watching how the leaves on the tall trees blew aggressively, and the drops running down the grand windows. She turned to face him at the sound of his footsteps, showing an expression of…disappointment? She replaced the somber look on her face with a slight smile, “I’m sorry, Sirus,” she paused before continuing, “I didn’t know it would still be pouring by the time the sun rose. “

He glanced outside the window behind her before replying to her apology, “Don’t worry about it, I said you could stay until the rain stops and I keep my word.” She looked away from him after hearing his response, not knowing what to say. She didn’t know the last time someone had shown her as much kindness as this man was. She was definitely grateful, but at the same time she didn;t know how to feel. As he noticed her sudden hesitation, words left his mouth before he thought about what he was saying. “There's plenty of room here, so don’t worry about it.” 

For the following five days, the duke was woken by the rain banging on the roof above him. Everyday he left his room for the past five days, the woman was always in the same spot. Everyday he would leave his bedroom and find her infront of one of the windows; she was sometimes sitting, sometimes standing, sometimes she was reading a random book from the many shelves in the duke's home. If the duke was being completely honest with himself, although they only exchanged very few words each day, the duke found the company quite enjoyable. She hadn’t caused any trouble, and happily conversed with the duke about books. 

On the night of the fifth day, the duke picked up books one after one; putting them in their designated spots on the tall shelves of his living room. As he stepped off of his stool, he took a quick glance around the room; his eyes landing on Thalia laying in front of the window, her eyes closed and breathing slowed. As he moved his eyes down, that's when he saw it. Her pants were rolled up to her knee, with her hand resting right above. His eyes widened in shock, not knowing what he was supposed to think. Below her knee, in the exact spot he remembered, was a patch. A birthmark? As he stared, he tried recalling the dreams he had been having. He remembered the man dragging her from her home, he remembered her head getting scraped as she was dragged down the front steps of the house. He recalled when he first bought his home, and how he was told nobody wanted to buy it since it was supposedly cursed. 

“I’ll buy it.” The duke said as he glanced around the entryway. 

The woman across from him widened her eyes in shock, “Are..” She hesitated before finishing, “Are you sure?” 

He looked at her in confusion, “I mean it's quite cheap, it's a nice house, and I’m in need of something affordable.”

She looked at him dead in the eye, “Have… have you not heard about this house?” At the look of confusion that spread across the duke’s face, the woman began speaking once more. “Ever since something that happened 43 years ago, every family that moved into this house..” She paused. “Or any house on this road in general, bad things have happened.” The woman turned her attention to her feet, “People have been hurt, people have died. People think it began after an incident involving one of the owners of the house.”

“What happened?” Sirus asked, not even seconds after she finished her sentence.

She looked him in the eyes once again, “Nobody knows.” She whispered, “Honestly, I’m scared to even be in this house. I especially don’t want to sell a house to someone just for them to end up getting hurt or… dying, just like the previous owners of homes on Livingstone road.”

He smiled at the woman, “Thanks for informing me, but… I’ve made up my mind.” 

When the time came for the duke to move into his new home, he spent most of his time moving the furniture around, and decorating his new home with antiques. The home had come with furniture already in the house, which wasn’t exactly a surprise considering that it was cursed. As the duke went through a dresser in the corner of one of the bedrooms, the duke opened the bottom drawer and found multiple picture frames, some of which had cracks running through the glass. He pulled them out in curiosity and laid them out on the floor in front of him. 

As he observed all of them, he noticed the date that was written on each photo. 43 years ago. He suddenly remembered what the woman had told him when he first saw the house, “Ever since something that happened 43 years ago,” Were these photos of the owners? The ones that cursed the house? There were a few photos of a couple on the beach, one was of them at what he assumed was their wedding. One was the couple standing in front of the home he was currently standing in, and he recognized multiple photos taking place in different areas of the house. An incident? What kind of incident could have happened to a couple that seemed so.. Happy? As the duke looked over them once more, he changed his mind. He looked closely at both people in the photo, noticing what he hadn’t noticed the first time he looked. In one of the photos, you could tell the woman was smiling out of pure joy, while the man’s expression seemed forced. Fake. As Sirus looked at all of them that closely, every single one was the same way. In the wedding photo, the woman was smiling widely, while the man almost looked disgusted. He stared at the pictures for a moment, before wondering why the photos had been kept there for so long. Was it that nobody had found them? Did people really believe the home was cursed? He placed the photos back in the drawer before pushing it closed, ignoring the sound of something falling in the drawer. Unknown to him, it was the lock that had been holding the drawer closed.

As the duke came back to reality, he realized something. He ran to the bedroom he had let Thalia stay in, kneeling down in front of the dresser against the wall. He pulled the bottom drawer open, looking for a specific photo. As he found the one he was looking for, he quickly held it up to his eyes, looking at every little detail. The woman was the same one he had seen in the dreams, and he remembered the braid the man wore in his short hair. He quickly closed the drawer before standing up and rushing out of the room with the photo still in his hand. He began tiptoeing as he went closer to Thalia, who was still fast asleep on the floor of his living room. He looked at the woman's knee in the picture, before looking at Thalias. It was in the same exact spot, it was the same shape, even the same color. He recalled what he saw in the second dream; how it began raining while the man dragged her out of her home. Every single detail came to his mind immediately, leaving him no room to think about anything else. The day he found his neighbor dead was the day after it had been raining for quite some time. The reason why he recognized the woman's voice in his last dream was because it was Thalia's voice. If he had declined her to stay while it rained, what would have happened to him? Is he going to die just like his neighbor?

The duke stared unintentionally at the woman, not noticing as she slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times as she adjusted to the light. “Sirus?” She mumbled, still half asleep. Before he could think about what he was doing, he kneeled down and wrapped his arms around her. He knew he was right, he knew what he was thinking wasn’t wrong, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Thalia.”

Her eyes widened in confusion as he tightened his grip around her. He realized what he had done, quickly letting go and backing away. She kept her eyes on his, observing his expression. He hesitated before saying, once again, “I’m sorry.” he shook his head nervously before adding, “I…I know who you are.” He clenched his fists. What was going to happen to him? He remembered the second dream he had, how she was dragged from her home and drowned by her husband; and before he knew it, he was hugging her. Her eyes widened ever so slightly at his statement before they locked eyes. Somehow, the duke felt like crying. “A few weeks ago..” He started, “I began having dreams about a woman with the same exact mark under her knee.” He moved his eyes from her to the mark he was referring to, “The first one took place in this house… but the walls were ruined and the windows were covered completely.” He looked back at the woman, and instantly knew he was right. “I saw what happened, and I just…” He was interrupted by her arms carefully wrapping around him in a gentle hug. 

“Thank you,” She whispered, “thank you for letting a complete stranger stay here.” She said, just loud enough for him to hear. 

As she let go of the duke, he took a close look at her. He hadn't realized it, but she had always looked similar to the woman he saw in his dream. Looking back on it, he was surprised he hadn’t realized sooner. 

The woman watched as Sirus looked away and avoided eye contact. She could tell, with barely even looking, that he had something on his mind. That he was thinking about something. “If you want me to tell you anything,” She began, “I’ll tell you.” He looked up at her in confusion, “If you have anything you want to know, I’ll tell you. It’s the least I can do for what you’ve done for me.” 

He looked at her for a moment before replying, “Who are you?”

Growing up, I lived in house 112 on Livingstone road. I lived with my mom and dad, my older brother and baby sister. At the time, we felt as if we had everything at our fingertips. We had a huge yard, a forest that we could play hide and seek in, a beach right through that same forest. My family and I hadn’t known about the beach until about a year after living in the house, and after we found out about it; it became our second home. As an eleven year old girl, running through the forest barefoot wasn’t the best idea. 

“You won’t be able to catch me!” I yelled to my brother behind me, being careful to dodge the thorn bushes and rocks on the path. As a beam of light shined directly in my eyes, I couldn’t help but clench my eyes shut; however, as soon as they closed, I felt myself falling. I had hit my foot on a large tree root sticking out of the ground, and had never opened my eyes faster. 

As I looked ahead of me, the pain I felt in my knee suddenly numb as I watched the waves crash against the shore. “Thalia? Where did you go?” I ignored my brother shouting for me in the distance as I lifted myself off the ground, dusting off my knees and hands. Without even realizing it, I stepped forward into the sand. “Thalia, why did you..” I turned at the sound of my brother's voice behind me, laughing at how similar our reactions were. 

“We could have been out swimming this whole time!” I laughed, kicking the sand in front of me as I wandered towards the water. After that day, my entire family and I went to the beach almost everyday. Sometimes we would swim, sometimes we would make a fire and roast marshmallows, sometimes we would set up a tent and camp. I thought that things wouldn’t change, and that me and the people I love would spend our time together on that beach, but how wrong I was. 

A few months after my eighteenth birthday, I was told the worst news of my life. While I was in the house working on work for school, my parents and siblings got into an incident. They were going on a trip that I had said no to going on. The moment I heard the news, I didn’t know whether I should have been happy I hadn’t joined them or regretful for not joining them. What was I supposed to think? What was I supposed to do?

The day I received a letter on my front door was the day I felt as if the whole world was crashing down on me and shattering my heart to pieces. I later gained ownership of the house; but the home I once lived in with my family and made memories in, was now empty and quiet, silent. All I had left of the ones dearest to me was the house and the memories I made with them. 

Around two years later is when I felt as if my sorrowful life had been flipped upside down. “I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to run into you,” I stopped my hand from pulling my hair behind my ear as I turned and looked up, my eyes connecting with the most beautiful pair of blue eyes I had ever seen. As we locked eyes, I immediately knew that I would love him more than there were grains of sand on the beach, fish in the sea, and waves in the ocean. What I didn’t know was that he would break my heart, yet I would put the pieces back together time and time again, and keep loving him with all my heart.

When I got to the house after meeting the boy with the blue eyes, I pulled out my flip phone and immediately dialed the number he gave me. I smiled as I heard him greet me through the phone, a wide grin spreading across my face as I greeted him back. That day, we talked to one another for six hours. For six hours, we talked about what we liked, what our hobbies were. We talked about our memories of the ocean and experiences; never once not having something to talk about. Thinking about it now, maybe I was just talking about myself. Maybe I didn’t know as much about him as I thought I did. Even though that may have been the case, I fell in love with him and we began dating.

On one random rainy day in April, he proposed to me. He knelt down on one knee as I got out of bed that morning, and I didnt even hesitate before accepting his proposal. I thought I had known everything there was to know about him; I thought that I knew him more than anybody. However, unknown to me, I didn’t. In reality, I knew nothing about him. Nothing at all.

On the day of our wedding was when I started coming back to reality. I cleared my throat before reciting my vows to the love of my life, “I am proud to be your wife and to join my life with yours. I vow to support you, inspire you, and love you always. For as long as we both shall live, I will be by your side; whether that's for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer. You are my one and only today and every day. You are not a drop in the ocean, but an entire ocean in a drop.” I stared at my hands before looking up at him. As the priest announced the groom could kiss the bride, I moved the hair out of my lover's blue eyes, to find our love in the midst of the ocean, far gone. If you’ve never felt your soul being torn apart, you’ve never loved anyone with all your heart. I have. My heart sank as his eyes and my own connected. Something felt… different. That was the moment I realized we were on the same chapter, but reading different books.

Growing up, I had always thought getting married and being wed was the best thing to ever happen to someone; but as I experienced it, it was nothing like I imagined. Maybe I didn’t know him very long, maybe he was lying to me the whole time, maybe I created my own vision of him in my head. Whatever the reason was, I will never know, but the moment our wedding ended he wasn’t the same person he was the day before. 

His, “I love you” turned to “I never wanted you from the start.” His kisses and hugs turned to cold glares in my direction. Never would I have thought when looking into his eyes for the first time, that those eyes were the last thing I would look at before my life would be gone.

The house I once laughed in with my family, and the same one I loved the one I thought was my soulmate, was soon filled with yelling and memories I never wanted to have. The walls I once watched my parents paint and decorate were soon decorated in holes and scratches instead of picture frames. The windows I once stared out of as it rained were now covered, blocking any light that could be let into the house. 

The bed I had slept in my whole life, became the bed that I got burned in. It became the bed where my lover poured boiling water all over my knee and told me it was just an accident, that he meant to pour it in the cup on my nightstand but it spilled before he could. Although he told me it was an accident, he told me it was hideous. He told me no other man would want me besides him if they saw the scar. And of course as someone in love, I listened to every word he said, even if it was all lies.

“Why were you gone today?” My husband asked, anger apparent in his voice. 

I stared at my feet before responding, “I was getting you a gift for your birthday,” I mumbled, beginning to slowly tap my fingers together.

“Speak up!” He yelled, “I can’t hear you when you're looking at your feet like that.” As I began to speak, I was interrupted by the loud voice of the man, “I bet you were out with another man, weren’t you? Are you seeing other men?” He screamed at me, taking a few steps towards me with his fists clenched tightly.

I widened my eyes at his accusation before replying, “I could never do that to you, you're the only one I love!” When him and I locked eyes, the only thing I could think about was what was going through his head. When he looked at me, what thoughts ran through his head? What made him assume that I would do such a thing? 

“Don’t try making excuses. Get out of my sight, I’m tired of looking at you.” I looked at my feet once again, holding back the tears in my eyes.

I began turning my body to walk away, but turned back to him midway. “Where did you go?” I whispered, letting the tears fall down my face. “Where did the man I was in love with go? Who are you?” I said it louder. For the first time, I raised my voice at the man and regretted it immediately as I felt the slap across my face.

“Don’t speak to me like that,” He yelled, his face turning as red as a tomato. “And stop crying, its disgusting,” I turned around and began walking away because of his comment, before pausing as he said, “I mean, no man would want you because of that scar to begin with, its honestly repulsive” I stood still for a moment, before rushing out of the room. How could he say that?

I thought maybe if I stood up to him, maybe if I told him how I felt he would come to reality and realize what he was doing. Instead, that's when I learned that he knew he was hurting me. He knew he was hurting me, yet somehow that didn’t stop him. He knew I was fragile, yet he dropped me anyways. 

I began thinking of relationships as glass. Sometimes it's better to leave them broken than to put them back together; and once I realized that, I gave up on the two of us. 

One day, a day where dark clouds covered the sky, he came home with bloodshot eyes and a flushed face. He looked at me from across the room, before stumbling over to me, swaying his body back and forth. “What happened to you?” I hesitated before asking, “Were you..drinking?” He laughed in response to my question before sapping me across the face.

“Don’t accuse- don't accuse me of things.” He slurred his words as he moved his hand to hit me again. I moved my body as he swung his arm, dodging his hit. 

“You know…” He started, watching as I stepped backwards with his bloodshot eyes. “I really never- never loved you, just your money.” He laughed, stepping towards me. My eyes widened as he continued, “I had heard about you on the news. About how your whole family died and you got to keep everything.” I listened as he rambled about what had been going through his head during our whole relationship, and how he just wanted to steal my belongings from the beginning. I stared at him for a moment, before quickly turning and running towards the door. As I reached for the handle, I felt his hand grab my arm and push me away from the door. 

The last thing I remember was tripping over my feet before I watched him kick me across the head. I remember what felt like my life flashing before my eyes. I watched all my memories, both the good ones and the bad ones.

Even though we had no future together, at least I got a glimpse of what we could have been. You taught me a lot about love, even if you couldn’t give it to me. I learned how to love someone with all my heart, even through our mistakes. Maybe that was for the best, and maybe it wasn’t.

“Thinking back, I can’t even remember his face. I remember the line of moles on his hand and how he always wore his hair in a braid; but nothing else.” Thalia sighed, turning her attention back outside the window in front of her. “After I realized I was dead, I just…” She turned back to the duke before finishing, “I felt more angry than ever.” 

I swiftly stepped up the wooden steps of house 111 on Livingstone road, attempting to avoid the rain. I clenched my fist before knocking on the door and waiting for a response. As I reached to knock once more, the door flung open in front of me. I looked up at the tall man in front of me; he had long white hair and a thick beard mixed with gray and white. She watched as he grimaced at the sight of her, before grumbling, “What do ya want?” 

“Ah..” She sighed before quickly responding to his question, “By any chance do you know somewhere I can stay until the rain stops? I just-” 

She was interrupted by his loud voice, “Go find someone else and get lost, scram!” He slammed the door in her face as he finished. She listened as he laughed behind the door, his loud voice echoing through the walls. She scoffed before walking back down the steps and towards the back of the house. 

The duke watched as she looked down at her hands, thinking about what she should say next. “I wanted to have my home back, to relive my memories. I guess all I really wanted… was for someone to show me they cared, even if it was just a little bit.”

Sirius looked at her for a moment before saying, “Thank you,” he looked away, feeling a bit of embarrassment. “If I’m being completely honest, I got used to the company of another person here. Even if we barely spoke to one another, even if you were a complete stranger. I’ve come out of my room every morning to find someone enjoying the same things I enjoy, whether that’s books or the way I decorate my house.” He slowly looked back at her, watching a tear fall down her cheek.

“Thank you,” She said.