(I'll recap to refresh your memory...Lorelie had just been taken over by another woman from the nineteenth century who was reunited with her lover, the caretaker Mikhail.)
...."Oh my darling Mikhail!" Cora exlaimed, racing to close the gap between them. "I have missed you so much!" She stretched her arms to encircle his neck as she inhaled his warm, familiar scent.
"I knew you'd come back to me," he breathed, holding her in a tender embrace. "Oh, I've waited so long. This castle became a dungeoun the day you left. Life has been sheer misery without you!" His heart was bursting with love he couldn't contain. He had missed her so much..he had not truly realized HOW much until this moment.
In the midst of this joyous reunion, Lorelie was struggling to reach the surface. If Cora remained in her body, where would SHE go? In her heart she knew what she had to do. A mental war was waged between Lorelie and the foreing spirit. She could feel herself slipping farther away into the dark abyss known as limbo. She pushed and shoved; she fought with all her might. She could not let herself be overcome!
Cora let out a scream, and tears began to gather into moist puddles in her eyes. What agony to think that she could again be separated from her love! She WOULD NOT let that happen. She braced herself against the old stone wall as Mikhail stood helplessly looking on. He could recognize what was happening..yet he knew of no way to help her. It wasn't supposed to be this way..hosts should be docile, sedated. Like his...not like that. He had never experienced a battle of this sort and had no way of knowing how to best fight it.
Lorelie mentally pushed and prodded until finally she gained control. She didn't know how she managed, could not explain even to herself what had happened. But she'd forced Cora out. She cast away the wretched soul that had overtaken her body. And yet suddenly she had lost power again. Cora had regained her place in LORELIE'S body. How could this be happening?
"Cora, what on earth has happend to us?" Mikhail gazed at the monster before him. One moment, she was calm and serene..the next she was outraged and violent. His sweet love was not like that. She had never been tempermental. Rather, she was as gracious to her enemies (very few in numbers as they had been) as she was to her dearest friends. He stared on in puzzlement, wondering how everything had come to this chaos.
Finally, after what seemed like hours but must have only been minutes, Cora (or perhaps Lorelie) began to glow with an iridescent light. Lorelie could sense that something amazing was about to happen...something beyond anything she could fathom. Even after this experience.
The first to separate were her fingers. One set was transluscent like a stained glass window while the other was as tangable as the floor upon which she stood. Next came her arms and legs, continuing slowly until two identical bodies stood where there had been only one. The only variatioin between the two was their attire. One woman was in the same white lace dress, but the other was now clothed in denim blue jeans and a cranberry sweater.
Cora glanced down to examine herself. It was like she was made of tinted plastic wrap! Gazing into the mirror, though, she realized what had happened. After years of being inside her reincarnated body, she'd been cast out! That wasn't what she wanted at all. Mikhail was HER lover, and she'd seen teh way he looked at Lorelie. That witch would not take him away from her!
Lorelie stepped back as the spirit lunged at her. Although Cora's skin was transparent, it was solid. As Lorelie struggled to push her away, she was able to see Cora's eyes very clearly. Those fiery emerald orbs told of hatred and the most deadly emotion of all: envy. Cora was JEALOUS of Lorelie! Stunned at this revelation, Lorelie stood still for a moment. Taking full advantage of it, Cora used her long fingernails to claw at Lorelie's face and neck. The moved all aobut the long passageway in a vicious catfight.
Unable to stand by and watch anyh longer, Mikhail grabbed the fallen candela brum from the floor. Holding it upraised he shoulded, "Cora, stop!"
Cora immediatelyh halted, but she kept her hold on Lorlie firmly in place. "Mikhail don't you miss me? Don't you want me to live again?"
"No, Cora. Not like this. We can't do this." He shook his head slowly, staring her deeply in the eyes with all the love he had to emphasize his point.
"'WE can't do this?'" Lorelie questioned. "You mean you're in this too?"
"Be quiet!" Cora commanded, tightening her grip when Lorelie would have struggled to free herself.
"No, Mikhail, don't listen to her!" Lorelie pleaded, knowing he was her only hope. She could not battle with a force she knew nothing about. She only prayed her hunch about him was right. "I know you don't really want to hurt me."
Suddenly, Mikhail began to undergo the same changes that had occurred in Lorelie. He was shining from the inside out. His separation, however, was not the violent struggle hers had been. Rather, Mikhail was very serene and peaceful, simply stepping to the side in one smooth fluid motion. Like Cora, one Mikhail was translucent, and he retained the formal attire while the other was dressed ore casually in blue jeans and a red polo shirt.
Cora ran to the arms of her beloved, instantly forgetting about her former competition. Mikhail held her clo0se and gave her one last kiss as they began to fade away and twinkled into stardust. Just like that, the spirits were gone. But somehow, Lorelie knew they had truly achieved what they wanted. Whever they were, they were together. She was just glad they were together somewhere that she would never be!
She stared over at the raven-haired man across the passage. "Mikhail?" Lorelie questioned after a moment had passed.
"Jonathan," he spoke with a gravelly voice that made it obvious he'd not used his vocals recently. "My name is Jonathan." He walked over to her and helped her to her feet.
It was only then that Lorelie realized how much friendlier her surroundings were. The huge oak door behind her was no longer threatening, and the hallway was much brighter.
"What just happened here?" was all Lorelie could think to say.
"How about we get out of here?" Jonathan replied. "I can explain on the way." Lorelie didn't even think of objecting.
He pulled open the massive oak door and stepped across the threashold onto the lovely, plush carpet. "You see, I've been trapped here for months," he spoke as they rounded a corner and began to approach the lobby. "Mikhail was a part of me, juas as Cora was a part of you. Actually..Mikhail IS me, and I AM Mikhail. I suppose I only understand that more from having spent so much time with him."
He stopped and turned to face her, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Eternity is a long time to be without someone. And they did truly love eachother you know. They only wanted to be together, the way they were meant to be."
Lorelie stared at him open-mouthed. "You're not DEFENDING them? In the process of THEIR happiness they tried to ruin OUR lives!" She was beginning to doubt her immediate trust in this stranger.
"Well, now that I've met you, I can understand how they felt. Afterall, should history repeat itself as it always does...you and I are meant to be one." A shocked Lorelie gave no response. She couldn't explain why she felt that he was right. But she did. "You sure know how to keep a guy in suspense!" This evoked a grin from her tired face. "Would you like to get a cup of coffee?"
"Yes, I'd like that very much," Lorelie replied as they walked hand in hand to her red Toyota Camry.
THE END ~CaseyGirlie~
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