# Disappeared: Chapter 6 Part 2 (Read up)



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

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It was nearly pitch black, except for lights in the streets, and the stars. No other souls were around. We could see her white dress glowing softly. But there was another. They glowed too, a faint white similar to her dress. Elena opened the door, and stood outside. We were all silent. A figure followed her, and stepped in front of her. We could tell who it was now. It was Sergei. But unlike we had ever seen him! He was nearly transparent! He wore a suit, and yet was not cold. Elena had only her dress on too, and yet seemed to feel nothing.
They shared a one-way conversation. We saw Sergei's mouth move, yet there was no voice. Elena said, "yes," softly a few times to his questions, and finally said, "lead me."
He said something to her, and she moved toward his voice. We could see now that her eyes were in fact closed. This was some test of faith between them. We followed with out eyes as they walked over the roof, and came to an edge of the building. We prepared to sprint in case she thought to jump there, but she didn't. To our amazement, Sergei picked up her hand, and led her over the ledge just like a gentleman. They were looking for a different spot.
We got up and followed them very slowly and silently. Elena occasionally would say, "yes" to something, but we would never hear the question. Once, she said, "cold," to which Sergei smiled and commented something back.
They traveled almost 2 whole blocks, and got to an edge that lead down to a tight, dark alley. Here, Sergei embraced her softly, and kissed her. But this is were things turned bad. He held her hand, and directed her to step on the ledge to jump. She turned around, planning to fall backwards.
This is where we made our move. Quickly in the dark, without making a sound, we ran and were nearly upon them, when Nikolai cried, "Elena!"
The figure turned to us. Elena's face was ashen, and her eyes still closed. She had a numb look all about her. She would easily die of hypothermia, if not by some other method tonight, if we didn't get her away from there.
But the other figure soon took all my attention. He looked into my eyes, and had a sense of recognition. And so did I. It was indeed Sergei. And he was furious with us.
Sergei started speaking, but no sound came from his mouth.
"You!" Elena translated for him. She opened her eyes in surprise. But Sergei turned around and said something to her angrily, to which she closed her eyes again.
"Anna, you came to my house some months ago! You spied on me. Why?" she said.
"Elena! What's going on?" Nikolai said.
"It's all over Nikolai. My destiny is set. I am to marry tonight in eternal love."
Sergei started towards us menacingly. We backed up, because we had no idea what he could do. His eyes were lit up with rage. Who knows what an angry ghost could possibly do.
"Sergei, what happened to you?" I asked.
He scoffed at us, and approached me directly. He threatened to choke me, and I cried out as he reached for me.
Victor came to my rescue. He stepped right into Sergei's way, and Sergei went right through him! He stood there perplexed, and tried to hit Victor, but realization of his transparency struck him, and I saw him yell silently in vain. He could hurt neither me, nor Victor. But why did this happen?
Here, Nikolai approached Elena. Sergei ran to him, trying vainly to hit him and pull him away. Elena opened her eyes in surprise. Nikolai took her hand.
"Elena, come with me."
"No!" she pulled her hand away swiftly, and ran to the edge of the building. But she looked down, and suddenly cried out in fear. Sergei ran to her, and pulled her away. Not only could she hear him, but he could actually touch her, and not us! How was this possible?
He dragged her away from us, but Nikolai grabbed Elena's other hand. They pulled her both ways, but Nikolai got more control, and pulled her body toward him. Sergei stepped away and clenched his fists.
"Sergei! What are you doing?" Nikolai cried. "What's your point in bringing her here?"
Sergei started speaking in frustration. "She's mine!" Elena translated. "That's what he says. And I am his! I will become like him, and we will be together forever!"
"But this is madness! You can't kill yourself!" Nikolai turned to Sergei, "Have you any right to take this woman away from life? She can't marry you! What's in the past is passed! You think you are being kind to her. No! You are being selfish!"
Sergei gnashed his teeth at him. But Elena started coming to her senses.
"Nikolai, what do you mean?"
"Elena, I love you. I always have. But throwing your life away isn't how you find love. Death is forever. You will leave everyone who loves you, friends, family. It's not worth it."
Elena looked at Sergei, and an expression passed between them. Sergei suddenly frowned, and despair came over him. He mouthed, "no.. no.. no" over and over.
"Sergei," Nikolai said. "I will take care of her. I will love her as much as you did. I'm sorry for what happened to you... I have missed you terribly..." Here, his voice began to break.
Sergei started speaking desperately to Elena alone. She stood there, but I saw her face turn resolute. She stepped toward him. "I'm sorry, Sergei, but he's right. I see now. He's right. I love Nikolai too. I never could tell you, but it's true. I can't leave this world without giving them all up too," gesturing to us.
Sergei started mouthing "No! No! NO!" again and again, and began to weep bitterly, but he couldn't shed any tears, being a ghost. I felt pity for him. Elena started flinching painfully, holding her ears. "oh, his cries," I heard her whisper.
Sergei fell on his knees and began to speak very desperately to us. Elena translated what he said.
"You don't know what it's like to be me! I have no contact in this world! And she was the only one to give some stability here! I needed her! I couldn't leave her!"
He put his face in his hands for a minute and said nothing for a while. But he continued, "I'm sick of this living death! I can bear it no longer... I give up. Forgive me, Elena. I cannot give you what you deserve."
He got up and stood by the edge, and looked down.
"I fell here by accident... one year ago. The wind made me lose my balance. And so I will fall again. Farewell. Where, I fall, you will find me. Bury me. Give me peace."
He turned to us, and gave Elena a profound stare. "I love you," was his final words to her, although Elena didn't translate for us then. It was a very sorrowful moment. I then realized what it all truly meant: Sergei really was dead, and had been, and we would never see him again.
Sergei looked to us all. "Forgive me." I nodded to him. His despairing expression lit up a little. "Farewell..."
He closed his eyes, and fell backwards off the building. We all ran to the edge, and saw him go down farther and farther, and finally land in a hole that was in the ground right at that spot. Suddenly, Sergei vanished, like a candle snuffed out. We never met him again.

Nikolai carried Elena down the stairs back to her room, and I and Victor followed. In the light of the lamps, we could see that she was very ill. Her lips were blue, and she shivered terribly. But surprisingly, she was not so pale as she use to be. We helped her recover by giving her and new change of clothes, and many blankets. She lied silently on her bed.
Victor and I stayed for a while, but we moved to the living room and went to sleep. We were way too exhausted to even think. But Nikolai stayed up through the night to watch over Elena.
In the morning, we woke up to find Elena quite recovered, and talking, but still very thoughtful. She had actually slept in the night for the first time in perhaps months. She began to explain everything from the very beginning, and this is what she described:

Last year in April, Elena was in a deep depression, and in remorse began to flee to Sergei's home and stay there, hoping that he would return everyday. But when he did not, she would leave for the night. However, one night, she decided to stay there. And that's when she met Sergei's ghost, when it was pitch black outside.
She couldn't hear or touch him, but they communicated with nods, and she discovered the truth about his death. The reason why he was a ghost was because his body was not found, and so he was not buried in peace. They used a dictionary to make sentences with other words. Sergei made her promise not to tell anyone about himself, and he wouldn't tell where his body was, because if he did, he would disappear.
So Elena and Sergei renewed their relationship, but it was hard to communicate. Most of all, it pained Sergei that he couldn't touch her. But one night in August, he discovered that he could, because Elena's love had grown so strong for him. Eventually, she could start to hear his voice too. This all happened because of great sacrifice she made to become like him (hence, the paleness was of supernatural origin).
That Winter, they made an agreement that Elena would go all the way, and become a ghost herself. This would only be possible if she died in a way that would make her impossible to be found too. So, she would fall in the same spot he did. It was about to be done that very night. If we had waited, she would definitely have gotten her wish, and would have disappeared forever too.
"It was all so real... so very real..." it was all she could end with.
Elena was now very ashamed to have told it all. But it was all so strange and amazing that we could hardly not take it seriously. We all swore never to tell anyone about this.
"Forgive me... please," she said to us. We embraced her warmly.
"We do. It's all over," I told her. She smiled. It was good to have her back with us.


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