The Mistletoe
Chapter XVI

After slowly regaining consciousness, I could feel a warm hand by my side. I turned around, and there was Laura. Her dark circles were evident; she hadn’t slept well, and surely, after sabotaging her passionate night with Carmilla, she probably couldn’t sleep. It surprised me that Carmilla was also there, standing in pajamas with crossed arms, looking at me fixedly, with a kind of expression I couldn’t decipher.

Seeing me open my eyes, Laura shouted to the others nearby. “He’s awake, Miguel has awakened!”

The doctor arrived quickly with Laura’s father and asked to leave us alone. He checked the bandages and with wide eyes said to me, “Incredible. No broken bones, and your wounds seem almost completely healed; I’ve never seen anything like it. How do you feel, young man?”

“Fine, sir, thank you,” I replied bluntly. Nothing mattered to me anymore; I didn’t have the mood for anything or anyone.

The doctor looked at me while changing the bandages and asked, “You were quite lucky. The peasants said your body was almost unrecognizable, seems like they exaggerated a bit. Don’t you think?”

I just looked away towards the table, where the two books Laura had lent me were alongside my backpack.

“Ah, I think I recognize that expression,” he sighed and continued, “Sometimes it’s not the body that kills people, but their spirit. I imagine losing to that wolf must have wounded your pride. Look, young man, I suppose living with two beautiful girls must have felt like you had to prove your worth, but real life isn’t like in chivalric novels. Bravery without prudence can cost lives.”

I wasn’t going to tell the doctor the real reason how I felt. Imagine telling him that the first two girls I felt closest to turned out to have a romantic relationship between them. I horribly misinterpreted my closeness to Laura and thought of something more than just a simple friendship when she was just a good person.

“Well, kid, I think you’ll be fine, at least in terms of your body. Shall I tell the ladies to come in?”

“No, I need to rest, thanks, doctor,” I said.

“Sure? Laura seems very concerned...”

“Nooo!” I yelled.

“Alright,” the doctor finally said.

As he left, I heard him speaking with the others, especially with Laura, who insisted on knowing what was going on. The doctor simply stated that I needed rest and that I had explicitly asked for it.

As the afternoon passed, I began to ponder everything that had happened and tried to find some meaning in all this. “What would dad say about all this? Will I ever get out of here?” For a moment, I just wished to go back home, sit at my desk, and distract myself from the world.

I don’t have the axe anymore, and it was clear that any weapons I used wouldn’t be of any use. But what hurt me the most was how naive I had been. I knew Laura’s situation was too good to be true, and I ended up mixing everything up. My sentimentality also ruined the only chance to defeat the creature. It was more than evident that the pain inside me was clouding my vision, and I needed to get rid of it; otherwise, I would never leave this place.

“How I miss you, dad, how I miss my grandparents, why is this happening to me? Why do I have to go through this? I didn’t ask for it; I just want to go back home, I just want to go back,” I thought over and over again. Sitting on the bed, I turned on my smartphone and looked at the last photos I took before getting stuck in the past. I cried and smiled while seeing the photos of our last barbecue at home, the photo on the plane, and the landscapes where the inn was located.

“What advice would my father give me at this moment?” I tried to reflect once and again. Then, I looked at the window, and there was the raven, staring at me and circling around. “I curse this damn creature that brought me here,” I wanted to scream in anger and helplessness towards the sky, but then I remembered what my father used to say whenever I found myself in such a situation:

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, just as a person cannot be perfected without trials.”

I took another breath...

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.”

I sighed again...

“The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory in overcoming it.”

It was clear that no matter where I go or what I do, I couldn’t leave this place. I don’t need regrets or screams; I need solutions and, above all, patience. I must navigate through relationships with moderation and detachment, keeping my mission clear. Remember, don’t forget, I am the intruder in this place, and as such, I must mend what I have done. I don’t know if I can see my father or my family again, but it was clear to me that my priority is to deal with the beast and find an effective way to destroy it. The only one who seems to vaguely know what I should do is this raven by my side.

But I had to go out and stop worrying people; they will surely think I haven’t been feeling very well. I heard a slight knock on the door.

“Come in...” I said.

Carmilla had timidly peeked in. She carried bread, meat, and a cup of tea.

“Good afternoon, Miguel,” she said, forming a shy smile. “I hope I’m not disturbing. After what happened a few days ago, I thought that maybe... it would be good for you... to eat something, you know... so I took the trouble of bringing you something, but I wasn’t sure if you were in the mood.”

I looked a little puzzled and said, “No, it’s no problem... you can leave it there, thank you very much.”

Carmilla elegantly walked in front of me, almost imitating a feline’s manner, and placed the tea cup with the food on the table. Then, she knelt in front of me and asked, looking straight into my eyes, “May I?” pointing towards my bandages.

“Of course,” I said.

She slowly began to remove the bandages, one by one. As she saw my healed arms, she caressed the area of skin that had been injured and said, “Wow... Not even a scar, it looks like a miracle.”

Usually, we weren’t so close, but being close, I had time to notice a very sweet scent emanating from her skin, and even though her skin was quite pale for normal standards, she could blush.

“May I?” she asked, pointing to the bandages on my face. I actually didn’t know what to say; everything was quite confusing to me, but I thought she really meant well. I didn’t want to assume anything; I wasn’t going to make the same mistake I did with Laura.

She started touching my face and slowly removing the bandages, and as she tried to remove the bandages on my neck and head, she wrapped her arms around me from behind, and her face was too close to mine, the scent was stronger this time, and I started sweating as she whispered, “Pardon my intrusion, but are you wearing some sort of fragrance?” I could feel that she was genuinely agitated. I really couldn’t understand anything at all.

“Not that I know of...” I just said.

“Done. You look as good as new, my dear Miguel,” she affirmed after finishing removing the last bandage.

She took the tea cup, blew on it, and handed it to me with a smile.

“Drink, my dear Miguel. Laura hasn’t been feeling very well lately, and she would be very happy to see you, and for that, you need to regain your strength.”

I drank the tea. It had a rather sweet aroma, and I noticed it had a reddish color, it was some kind of black tea. After drinking it, I took a piece of bread and ham; Carmilla watched me with a smile and waited for me to finish.

“I’ve been quite rude to you, and after valiantly risking your life, facing that monstrosity for us, I thought it was necessary to thank you. From now on, I will be more polite with you. Will you forgive me?”

Carmilla widened her eyes, and they reminded me a lot of the pose the cat used in the inn when I tried to get her out of my room. I let out a small laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

“No problem, don’t worry; I just did what I had to do,” I said.

“I would like to ask you a small favor my dear Miguel, if it is not too much trouble” She asked.

“Tell me.”

“Laura is not feeling very well, and it would be very good for her health if she could see you safe and sound, that would make her very happy.” He smiled.

I deliberated for a moment, but I thought it had been too hard and decided to get up and see her, after all, that’s what friends are for.

She took my hand and led me to the study where Laura was, looking a little pale. Laura showed a radiant smile when she saw me and reached out her hand, shaking mine. After holding it, she squeezed my hand and said:

“Miguel! I’m so happy that you’ve recovered. Seeing you standing strong makes me feel much better; we were so worried about you. Isn’t that right, Carmilla?”

“Oh! Absolutely, my dearest friend,” affirmed Carmilla. “After the crisis we went through, it seemed like the monster and your misfortune made us fall ill. But surely, now that you’re well, we’ll feel much better in the coming days.”

Both seemed eager to tell me something, so I settled in and let them speak.

“Do you want to tell him, or shall I, my dear Carmilla?” Laura asked.

“I yield the pleasure to you, my friend,” Carmilla confirmed with a smile.

They told me a bizarre story of how Carmilla seemed to wander at night. It turned out that she was a sleepwalker and didn’t usually remember anything she did during her nights.

Some servants had also seen her wandering around. There was one especially strange night when Laura had a dream, about which she didn’t want to give me details. Due to that dream, they strengthened Carmilla’s room, but they didn’t find her there. They tried calling her, and realized she was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until noon when she suddenly appeared in her room as if nothing had happened, while I was unconscious.

“Ah!” said Laura. “While you were unconscious, we heard some very good news from my father. It seems that whatever plague was afflicting the town is now disappearing. My father told me that many girls were already starting to feel better, and the doctor was able to confirm it after examining them. He will still come to see me in a couple of days, but Carmilla and I have faith that everything will turn out fine.”

“Well, that’s fantastic!” I said to both of them, thinking, “That’s good, one less problem to deal with.”

Carmilla, with a smile, made a joke. “Perhaps the evil spirit that has been haunting this place finally found an infinite source of peace and tranquility.”

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