Night Music

If I were going to write a ghost story, or horror movie, the first thing I would do would be to set the mood.

One dark night as the wind blew the trees and the moon began to drown in a torrential rain, thunder rattled the apartment windows and she snuggled down deeper into her quilts and sheets until only her nose stuck out.

Next I might add a bit of tension.

Telling herself that the pitch black darkness of the room was only because the windows were shuttered and the bathroom door closed, not to mention she had just turned off her reading light, so her eyes had yet to adjust, the woman rolled over and grabbed her teddy bear. She told herself she didn't believe in ghosts and even if she did her bear would keep anything bad at bay. That's what teddy bears were for.

After that I might ease up and allow a false sense of security to take over.

Closing her eyes, she dozed off. Teddy bear clutched under her chin, pillow too. Snug as a bug in a rug she allowed the storm outside to become a lullaby that carried her away.

But then the shock!

Nearly sound asleep, she jerked away as something lifted her sheet and quilt and flapped it back down on her back. She tried desperately to recreate that with no luck since her sheets and quilts were way too heavy and too long, but perhaps she dreamed it.

And then the lull that leads into the climax.

Awakening, she listened to the beautiful voice, a high, rich, soprano, smooth as syrup on warm pancakes and backed up by the most emotional music played on sitars and sarods, sarangis and flutes. It seemed to wail and trill and tell a million stories in a million voices until it occurred to her that it was nearly three AM and everyone should be sleeping. It grew fainter.

She got up and thought if she turned off all three of her fans and her air conditioner she might be able to hear it again. And then she thought maybe it had been a trick of her sleeping mind. Hearing the fans and air conditioner and thinking it was music. She heard nothing more, so she turned everything back on and went back to bed.

This happened twice in one week minus the thunderstorm the second time.

Beautiful. Heart rending. Lovely music that slowly fades away into the night.