Anton

Wrote this for my creative writing class last year and I'm pretty proud of it.

The streets of New Orleans were steeped in magic. The scent of Mardi Gras as it came and went, the sinister stench of the Shadow Man, and the sense of love was found everywhere. Among the many throngs of masqueraders was yet another pair of star-crossed lovers. What with a harbinger of such infamous proportions near by, how else could it possibly be described?

   The city was bustling with excitement, every street was being decorated for the coming night. Lights and streamers were being strung from roof top to roof top, encircling pillars, and draping down from balconies. The insides of restaurants being transformed into party rooms, dripping with purples, greens, and golds. Mardi Gras beads strung everywhere. At homes, people putting finishing touches on their costumes for the night. Grandiose gowns (some covered in feathers, others glistening with sequins, and all of them tied off with ribbons) being put on by their owners.
   As evening fell, the streets grew more and more crowded. The party rooms were bursting at the seams, and almost no one knew who the other was. Bizarre masks served as the temporary identities of all who attended, the only way to differentiate between one another. With masks being the only way to tell one from the other, it is probably safe to say that everyone was more faceless than anything else. When you don’t know who someone is, and they don’t know who you are, whats to stop you from being yourself, or someone else?
   Anton De Padua was a nobleman's son, dressed in the finest costume money could buy. In greens, purples, and golds from head to toe. His father had been adamant when it came to his attending social events. So, whether he wanted to or not, he was there, among the faceless and unfamiliar figures of the night. It wasn’t something new, he had been to many parties before, but in body only. In the matter of mind, he was elsewhere, thinking of his future plans of possibly leaving his family for a much less showy life.
   He was in the middle of his usual routine of sitting in the back corner, when a figure that would change his life forever made an entrance secret to all others but the timid wallflower. A woman with the same elegance and beauty the full moon takes as in climbs into the night sky. Even while wearing the same colors as every other soul in the room, he could follow her with his eyes as if she were the only other in the room. Therefore, just like every other person in the room, she was faceless. He could not know whether she were a duchess or a pauper.

Yet none the less, he followed after her, hoping to come away with something. A name, an address, something, and when he finally reached her, she told him that her name was Alice Drake. Never yet had a name been so much more than a just title. Now there was a name with meaning, a name that made his very heart flutter with happiness.

Alice Drake was a daughter of the working class, a poor merchants daughter. Yet, being a merchants daughter, she could still attend parties wearing beautiful gowns borrowed from friends of her father’s. She however, was very popular at parties. She could go up to someone she didn’t know and speak with them as if they had been old friends.

But of course, Anton had not known this until they had begun talking to each other about one another. In doing so, they became more and more fascinated in the other. As the night heighten, so did their love for the other. At the climax of the night, they stood up in front of the whole town, and announced their undying love for each other. This had not gone unnoticed by their families. Both families knowing that the other was not of the same status, both were against it.

Anton’s parents believed that he was being tricked, that Alice was only after his wealth and good name. Alice’s family believed that he was just like the nobles, afraid that he would disgrace their family and leave her for some rich little miss.

The only way they could continue seeing each other was to sneak out late at night and meet at the place they left off. They would walk through town, exploring the different areas, and learning more about the other as the night wore on.

One night, as they came to the towns cemetery, they came across a very peculiar sight. A scarecrow ,that could easily be mistaken for a corpse, sitting amongst the rows of graves. It didn’t take long to find a reason for its presence, for sitting next to it was a being of such utter distaste, that a corpse would have made a preferable companion. The Shadow Man was known for many things, little to none of them being anything good.

They hadn’t noticed him; but if he had seen them, he certainly wasn’t going to give them any acknowledgement. He was going about his business as if there wasn’t anyone but  himself; well, ‘himself’ and the scarecrow. It looked as though he was talking to it, nodding as if it was talking back. When he finally stood, he turned and walked down the rows of graves and disappeared into darkness.

When he returned so did the ominous feeling of evil and unease. He was carrying something, a small, swirling fire that was glowing purple. As he threw it on to the scarecrow, a horrible sound, like all the sounds of hell, came from the lips of the scarecrow itself. When the sound had finally ceased, the creature leaped to its feet, towering above the Shadow Man, hunched over in a way that only put fear and the thought of running away from it into the thoughts of any who saw it. As they did so, they could hear the horrible scream and terrifying laughter of the scarecrow as it closed in behind them. When it reached them, it had sent Anton flying into a brick wall, knocking him unconscious, they were finished. When he opened his eyes, the sun was beginning to rise and he was in bed at home. Had it all been a dream? He decided that it had and refused to think about it. Until the next night when she didn’t meet him at the fountain. He had shrugged it off that night, but as more nights passed and she didn’t show he grew more and more worried.

He decided he would go explore the cemetery for any sign of the Shadow Man, and he found him, standing in front of a newly made grave. It was spotless, but smaller than most of the graves, perhaps a poor man. The Shadow Man placed his hand on the middle of the grave and lifted, almost instantly. Out of the top of the grave came a purple, swirling fire. It hadn’t been a dream. When the Shadow Man had begun walking away, disappearing from sight, Anton walked toward the grave the Shadow Man had been so interested in. As the headstone became visible to him, he could feel his heart wrenching inside his chest, fighting to deny the fears that had been brought into such a bitter light. Upon the headstone was inscribed the words:

“Here Lies Alice Marie Drake,

Dearest Daughter and Loving Sister

1846-1863”

How could a woman of such radiance be destined to leave this world at such an age of 17? At the same time this thought crossed his mind, there came yet  another blood curdling scream, but this time, a woman’s scream. Another scream sounded out followed by laughter, but not the laughter of the previous encounter, this was a woman’s laugh, and it was close. When he turned, ready to face a monster, what he found standing there was the last thing he had imagined would be there.

His beloved Alice was standing right before his eyes, looking exactly as she had when he last saw her. She started walking toward him, he couldn’t move, all he could do was fall to his knees and stare into her beautiful eyes, eyes that looked as though they could forgive anything. When she stood just in front of him, she bent over, kissed him on the forehead, and whispered, “Follow me.” With these words, he stood and followed. As he did, he heard, what sounded like a body, fall to the earth behind him, but he didn’t dare turn away or take his eyes off of her, in fear of losing her again, of waking up to find it was all a dream.

As he continued on, he felt like he was being pulled somewhere. The pulling dragged him along the cemetery, by the hand of the Shadow Man. Then he saw a flash of purple light and felt a breathlessness overcome him, gasping, screaming for air. When he felt a calmness come over him, he feared to open his eyes and wake up in his bed. When he chanced it, he was relieved to see he was still in the cemetery, but horrified to be looking down into the eyes of the Shadow Man. The Shadow Man leaned toward him and spoke in a horse kind of whisper, ”Go live as you will.” Those two words had never sounded quite as wonderful as right now.

Behind him stood Alice, and the most comforting eyes in the world as far as he knew, or cared. She was all he needed, she was his very air and lifeblood. But what he didn’t know, was that her flame was already dying, merely glowing embers, which would last her less than a year. His wouldn’t though, he never died, and this bore deeply on him. Yet, from time to time, he would feel happy, he would feel the same way he felt the first night they met, so he knew she was still there.