Ophelia's Odyssea

The demon I was following stopped in front of a small house. He had been leading me for quite some time, but now he was motionless. Confused and getting tired, I stopped too and started to look around.

“I don’t understand,” I said exasperatedly. “You told me that my family is here. Are you lying?”

The demon turned his head slowly towards me and opened his mouth as if to talk, but instead he let out a long sigh.

“No, I am not lying. This is where your family lives,” he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

I decided that I could not take this anymore. I sighed myself and said: “You have been leading me for hours and you have never talked to me! Please, tell me why we are standing here outside the house of my family when we could be inside enjoying the company?”

The demon took another deep breath, then turned around and faced me again. “It is better if you go in alone, Ophelia. Your family does not know about you yet; they will start to ask questions… If you need my help, call me. You should not be surprised if I do not show up immediately after your call though; demons are very busy creatures and we might have other things to attend to before we can get to you. Now go on inside! Your mother is waiting for you!” And with that, he disappeared in thin air leaving me alone on the street with no idea what just happened.

I put my hands on my hips and looked at the house once again. It was a small house made of stone with a little garden in the front; it looked like an old cottage from outside but it had all the modern comforts inside: central heating, hot water and electricity! My parents were always against living in such a comfortable environment because they had lived through the war when there was nothing left for them but their own strength and courage for thirty years straight! They believed that living with such luxuries would make them weak and soft! But about ten years ago something changed in my parents and their view on life changed dramatically! Suddenly they stopped everything they were doing outside the house and dedicated themselves entirely to taking care of our estate!

I could no longer stand there contemplating whether or not to go inside so I went up the stairs towards the door of the house and rang the bell twice before stepping back nervously while starting to fidget nervously with my hands behind my back.

After a few minutes passed by without hearing any sound from inside, I was getting annoyed by how slow my parents could be sometimes so I rang the bell once more then waited impatiently for an answer until my patience reached its limits!

The door suddenly opened abruptly and standing before me was my father looking as imposing as ever! His face showed no emotion whatsoever until he saw who was standing there on his doorstep; then his eyes widened in surprise while his face underwent a drastic change from its default expression into one of pure happiness! He walked past me without saying anything while pulling me into the house by my arm then closed the door behind him loudly while saying over his shoulder: “They are all here Ophelia, they are all here! We can finally stop running now... Tell your mother that she can start cooking dinner now that you are back home safe....” Then he left me standing there while walking quickly towards another room shouting something along those lines as well while letting out howls of joy at every step taken!

Confused by what just happened, I looked down at myself then at where my father had left only moments ago; he had been pulling me by my arm and yet there were no marks left on either of us... Stranger still was the fact that he did not say anything about who was waiting for me inside... These thoughts occupied my mind for a few seconds before I decided that there must be some sort of explanation for all of this so I tried calling out: “Father?! Where are you? What is going on here?! Father...? Father?!” But nobody responded to my calls so I started walking around aimlessly until I came upon a door which stood partly open; intrigued by what might lay behind that door, strange voices talking excitedly in low voices coming from within guided me towards it quickly before stopping right next to it while listening carefully... At first nothing could be understood but then one sentence made its way through clearly: “Is it really her father? She looks just like her mother did twenty years ago... Oh thank God she is back safe! The nightmare is finally over... Is she really here or am i dreaming?” The voice speaking these words belonged to none other than my mother but even she sounded different somehow.. As if she had gone through immense hardship.. Her voice sounded full of relief mixed with little bit of sadness.. But why? What could possibly have happened? And what about those words about being able to stop running now? Stop running from whom exactly? Why did they seem so determined to stay hidden from everyone else?! After hearing enough strange things from their conversation to fill up an entire encyclopedia volume, curiosity overtook fear - fear which grew stronger every second - so I pushed gently on door until it opened slightly more than it already was... At first all i saw were some strange metal contraptions which appeared hastily thrown together everywhere around the room but then i looked towards where those voices were coming from... My jaw dropped when i saw them sitting there.. In front of them laid a large book filled with names written down neatly on each page.. On each name were two dates indicating birth date followed by death date.. They were flipping rapidly through pages containing death dates while staring intently at names written down underneath them... Sometimes they both sat wordlessly staring at each other while mumbling under their breath occasionally before resuming their searching rituals once again.. Occasionally they would look up briefly at people walking past outside or look at each other with excitement written all over their faces when they found someone's name among those who died recently.. Then suddenly i heard *thump* *thump* footsteps approaching just outside that room.. My heart skipped a beat when i recognized them as belonging to my mother.. My eyes darted everywhere trying to find somewhere safe where i could hide before someone spotted me peeking inside.. They must have known everything already because if they did not know who i am already then surely seeing someone spying on them would make them suspicious enough for them to ask questions about who i am.. So i pressed myself against wall opposite from where i stood earlier hoping that whoever walked through that door earlier would feel too lazy or too exhausted from whatever brought them here earlier today to walk further into room looking around everywhere but at most would only glance briefly at doorway itself before heading downstairs again.. That hope proved correct when soon after hearing footsteps rushing downstairs mum walked into room breathing heavily carrying something heavy under her arm; after placing whatever she carried down onto ground she started unbuttoning her jacket slowly allowing it to fall off eventually revealing her beautiful silk dress underneath it.. When she rose back up she grabbed her chest with both her hands while taking a deep breath before facing two people sitting across from her daily routine activity calmly saying: “Ah finally done with all this work outside.. Let us celebrate tonight since we finally managed get hold of this person's soul successfully tonight so our lovely daughter can finally join us instead being stuck somewhere out there alone instead!"