Chapter 33
“I…I had become a boy?” I whisper.
Arthur nods.
“You know, I had a dream about my father telling me that I carry my brother within me. I didn’t understand his meaning…but now…who am I?” I say, talking to myself.
“You are Iris, and you are a woman,” Arthur replies.
I shake my head no, and I feel tears pooling in my eyes.
“Why are you crying?” Arthur asks.
I cannot get myself to answer.
“You haven’t heard the end of the story,” Arthur objects.
I look at him expectantly, hoping for a new turn.
“When I leaped to the room on top you saw me, and stopped short for a moment. Then you looked down, and it was then that you saw the little boy. He saw you too, and gripped you with his pleading eyes. His eyes resembled yours and yet they didn’t, they were defenseless, and with their lost expression they sought comfort in your determined gaze. The man beside you told you, “If you jump down, your life will change forever.” And as soon as he said so, you jumped,” Arthur tells me.
“What happened next?”
“You became the little girl I left in the old room before exploring the parallel world above,” Arthur says.
“I did?” I ask, relieved.
“Yes, you did. You took your brother’s hand and looked at the man in defiance. “My life will change forever, and so will yours,” you told him. When I called your name your eyes filled with sadness for an instant, but then you smiled and said we’d meet again,” Arthur says.
“And I was right,” I reply, smiling.
“I didn’t have the time to answer you because the man grabbed my wrists, and pulled me away from the crack. I tried to break free, but his hands clamped my wrists as if they were made of steel and he dragged me to a room I hadn’t noticed. In a corner, on the floor, there was a trap-door and he pushed me down with a strength that was unhuman. It was dark inside. I thought he’d dump me in there and lock the door, but instead he stepped in, and closed the door behind us. There was no light at all, and I don’t know how he managed to lead me down the stairs as I kept stumbling and falling. After walking downwards for an indefinite amount of time we reached a level,” Arthur remembers.
He pauses and shakes his head for a moment, as if attempting to clear his mind.
“What is it, Arthur?” I ask.
“He called Ludwig’s name, and your uncle appeared,” he continues.
“My uncle…I dreamed about that too. Uncle Ludwig…” I whisper.
“It’s not a dream, Iris,” Arthur tells me.
I am about to ask a question, but he raises his finger.
“Wait, let me finish. I don’t understand the whole picture, but I am starting to see a pattern. So Ludwig appeared, carrying a torch, and a dim light spread in the room. We were in a library. Do you remember the library?” Arthur asks me.
“Which library? The one we reached from the cemetery?” I ask.
“Exactly. See, if it was nothing but a dream we couldn’t have the same memories,” Arthur reasons.
“You’re right…” I nod slowly, trying to makes sense of what is happening.
“Ludwig told me, ‘You’re here to re-write to book.’ I couldn’t understand his meaning, and I sat silent. ‘I was born second, after the king, and that was utterly unjust,’ Ludwig continued. I shrugged, and he smiled bitterly at my indifference. ‘I studied ways to defy the destiny,’ he went on, and the man who dragged me there nodded, then looked at me and added, ‘You spoiled it all, but now you’ll correct the damage you’ve made.’ I asked what damage they referred to. Ludwig shook his head, as if he could not conceive my forgetfulness. The man beside me had momentarily released his grip, but suddenly he pushed me down on a chair. Ludwig placed in front of me the book we’ve been after all this time. ‘Now it’s the time to read it,’ Ludwig told me, ‘And to change it.’ He opened it and, at the same time, the man laid his hands on my skull. I felt a shock run through my whole body, and convulsed, and suddenly I found myself in front your naked body, holding a surgical scalpel in my hand,” Arthur tells me.