The Dead Man’s Palace
IV
Three months of her new life
left Havana grateful but apprehensive everyday.
Her new master was unpredictable and unnerving,
one minute laughing and touching Havana,
fascinated by her skin.
Other times she was cold, harsh,
snapping orders and watching critically
as Havana went about her tasks.
Once she commanded her to wash
the dead man, observing with a strange hunger
as Havana carefully removed his clothes
and began washing his unsullied skin with a cloth.
His chest was unnaturally still for his complexion,
appearing healthy and peaceful instead of dead,
Miss Cecilia giggled as she watched,
her eyes fever-bright, following
Havana’s movement with open curiosity.
‘I’ve never been alone with a man before this year.
I’d be ruined if people knew of this.’
She laughed, not averting her eyes as Havana
washed his male parts.
‘Is marriage really worth all this?
If I was someone like you, I could be
alone with a man and no one would care.
Maybe I am like you.
It’s been over a year
and no one has come to find me.’
She lapsed into silence as Havana
redressed the dead man,
his body a little warm under his touch.
‘Maybe none of this is real.’
Cecilia narrowed her eyes, swaying
as she gazed at the corpse.
‘He moves sometimes.
His eyes flutter, his fingers twitch.
I even saw him breathe once,
and I felt my own being sucked away.’
Havana made a choice then
to fight her natural reaction
of meek obedience and speak up.
‘Miss Cecilia, maybe you should rest.
I can keep watch for a while in your place.’
Cecilia blinked at her, slow and confused,
before a laugh bubbled out.
‘Yes, of course! I should have thought of that!
I’m so tired, and there’s still a week left.
Three days. Just give me three days of freedom.
That’s a good girl.’
The first two days nothing happened.
Havana saw no movement,
felt no chill,
and spent her time humming to herself.
But the third morning, before dawn
when the world was still coated in shadows,
she felt a stirring that changed everything.
She’d been dosing in the chair
when a fierce shiver ran down her spine,
bolting her awake.
A shape loomed in front of her,
a blurred figure in the moonlight.
Are you the one who’s watched over me?
The question was whispered straight into her mind,
freezing her limbs at the other-worldly intrusion.
I’m so close.
Just a little more.
Give me more, and I will reward you.
A hand caressed her neck
and still she couldn’t move.
The figure bent to kiss it,
beginning to suck, gentle at first,
but soon increasing the pressure.
The piercing of her skin was more
painful than the small wound should have been,
but the sucking set fire through her nerves,
the feeling of her very life being violently
torn from her.
She woke at noon, dizzy and confused.
Food was already set out, waiting,
but only she and the dead man were present.
He still lay in the centre of the room
but his chest was gently rising and falling,
and though his eyes were closed,
a smile had settled onto his features.
Havana briefly left the room
to check on Miss Cecilia, sleeping next door,
but her mistress was still in an
exhausted slumber.
As always the palace was empty,
the food preparers a mystery.
Havana went back to the room and ate,
tasting nothing but eating all the same,
her eyes never leaving the sleeping man.
This time she was awake when he rose,
his movement silent but fast,
grabbing her before she could think of struggling.
Good, good, you’re still here.
Offer your life to me again, my sweet saviour,
and I will reward you with a wedding.
She woke the next day feeling weak,
beginning to understand the deterioration
of her new master.
Just being near the dead man had
been enough for him to suck away
her life energy, allowing him
to grow stronger over the year.
Now he was able to move and
steal the life-force he needed directly.
‘I can’t wake her up,’ Havana said,
her voice shaky but determined.
‘I won’t let this monster hurt Miss Cecilia.’
The cycle continued for four more days,
and Havana wondered if she’d live to see the morning
as she grew so weak she couldn’t move.
But that final day she awoke to see
the man alive, a triumphant smile
fixed in place as he looked at her.
‘You have lifted my curse
and so, as promised,
I’ll reward you,
by making you my bride.’
Scribbled Thoughts 