literature

Amanda Jones meets Monsieur La Mort

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Amanda Jones, Hannah Duffy, and Katrin Weber sat together in their room at the Vintage Boutique Hostel, 73 Rue de Dunkerque, Paris. They had only known each other for a couple of weeks, having met for the first time in Milan, Italy.

 

In the days they had spent together, they had become closest friends. The girls were very different, but shared a love of adventure that bound them together.

 

Amanda was the youngest girl in the group. She was 18 years old, and had just graduated from high school in America. She saw every problem as an opportunity to save the world. Her constant drive to solve mysteries had gotten her into many dangerous situations.

 

Hannah, from Ireland, was the oldest of the three at 20 years of age. She wanted to save the planet – literally. Her dream was to work for Greenpeace and save the world from itself.

 

Kat was 19 – right between Amanda and Hannah. She was a student of art and fashion in Berlin.

 

As the weeks had gone by, the girls taste in clothing had rubbed off on each other. Inspired by Amanda’s unique look, Hannah had started wearing tights with her short skirts. She loved the look and feel of the soft nylon material on her legs. Kat had convinced Amanda to try on some high heels in place of the sneakers she usually wore. She said it made Amanda look taller, and more mature. Amanda wasn’t too sure about the heels, though she did love the way her feet looked when she was wearing them.

 

The girls had taken the train from Milan to Paris for a week. They had been there three nights. Hannah was eager to spend their next night in Paris doing something fun.

 

 “Okay, ladies – this is our fourth night in Paris. We’ve been to the opera, seen the Eifel Tower, and been to the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. What do you think we should do tonight?”

 

Amanda thought for a moment. Her face brightened as she had an idea about something really different to do.

 

“Why don’t we go for a walk in the Paris Catacombs for a couple of hours and see what we can find?”

 

Kat couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

 

“That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard of! You want to spend a couple of hours in an underground cemetery?”

 

“Sure! The Paris Catacombs are supposed to be one of the ten most haunted places on earth. We might get to see a ghost.”

 

Kat shook her head. In the short time she had known Amanda, she had learned that anything Amanda planned was probably going to become an adventure before it was all over.

 

“No! I’m not going anywhere near there – especially at night.”

 

“C’mon, Kat – it’ll be fun!”

 

Amanda had that look of determination that said she was going to visit the catacombs, even if it meant she had to go by herself. The idea of visiting the Paris Catacombs actually appealed to Hannah, and she wasn’t going to let her young friend go there alone.

 

“Amanda – I’m going with you! But just for a couple of hours. Then I want to go find some chocolate!”

 

“You got a deal! Kat – come with us. Please?”

 

Kat stared at Amanda and Hannah. Cemeteries scared her. But if Amanda was leading the group, everything could turn out okay.

 

“Alright. I’ll come along. But just for a couple of hours. Then chocolate. And then boys!”

 

Amanda smiled broadly.

 

“This is going to be great! You’ll love it.”

 

“I already hate it, so it will have to really be something.”

 

The girls ate dinner together and walked across Paris to the entry to the catacombs in the western pavilion of the former Barrière d'Enfer city gate. They went down a long flight of stairs, through a hallway of mortared stone, and eventually reached a stone portal with an inscription engraved above it.

 

“What does it say up there?”

 

“Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort.”

 

“What does that mean?” asked Hannah.

 

Amanda answered.

 

“Stop! Here lies the Empire of Death."

 

Hannah and Kat stared at Amanda. Finally Kat found the words to say what they both were thinking.

 

“That’s it! We’ve seen it. Now let’s get out of here!”

 

Amanda was surprised that her friends wanted to give up so easily.

 

“If you two want to leave, go head. I’m going to go inside and look around…”

 

Kat poked Amanda on the shoulder and whispered quietly.

 

“Shh! I hear footsteps! Somebody’s coming out of the catacombs!”

 

“We’re not doing anything wrong. We’ll just wait here until whoever it is has gone, and then we’ll go in and look around.”

 

“I think it’s a ghost!” said Hannah.

 

Amanda looked at Hannah and smiled.

 

“Then our search is over – and we can go looking for that chocolate you wanted.”

 

The girls stood together in the darkness as a shadowy figure drew closer to them. What had first appeared to be a ghost to Hannah was actually a man wearing a black cloak. He paused as he encountered the girls, obviously upset that anyone had seen him coming out of the catacombs.

 

Amanda could see the man’s features as he stood beneath the torch on the wall beside the portal. He was tall, handsome, very thin, and incredibly pale. The man turned towards the girls and spoke.

 

“You should not be here tonight! You should go back to wherever you came from and stay away from this place.”

 

He started to turn away, and then returned. He pointed a finger at Amanda.

 

“Amanda Jones – let it go! Remember the words of Hamlet - There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

 

He turned and walked away before any of the girls could say anything. They watched him disappear into the hallway. Amanda was the first to speak.

 

“I think we ought to follow him. He’s hiding something!”

 

Hannah looked at Amanda in disbelief. No wonder she had gotten herself into so many adventures! She tried to talk Amanda out of following the man.

 

“He said we shouldn’t be here! And we all heard him tell you to let it go. That’s all I need to hear. I want to go back to our dorm and spend the rest of the night there.”

 

“What about the chocolate you wanted?”

 

“It can wait until tomorrow.”

 

“Well…you two can go on back…”

 

“Yeah – and let you follow this man by yourself? Someday you’re going to get yourself into trouble that you can’t get out of. You’re not getting into another adventure without taking us with you. Right, Kat?”

 

Kat stared at Hannah.

 

“Umm…No.”

 

Amanda was thrilled to have company.

 

“Alright! He can’t be far ahead of us. Let’s get moving, but stay quiet. We don’t want him to know we’re following him.”

 

The girls ran quickly down the hallway and up the stairs into the warm Paris night. As they emerged from the blackness of the catacombs, a distant flash of lightning illuminated the street ahead of them. In the flash of lightning, they saw the man as he turned up an alley a block away.

 

“There he goes. Let’s stay close enough that we don’t lose him.”

 

Amanda started running up the street. She was glad to have chosen to wear her low-cut sneakers. Kat’s high heels made a sharp clicking noise on the pavement as she tried to keep up. Her shoes hurt her feet, but style was more important than comfort. Hannah wore delicate ballet slippers with a bow on the toes. They were comfortable, but kept slipping off her heels.

 

The girls ran up the street and around the corner into the alley, following the path the mysterious man had taken. As they rounded the corner, they almost ran headlong into a very handsome young man wearing black pants and a leather jacket. Kat spoke immediately.

 

“Well! What do we have here? Look girls – Forget that old guy! We found a man worth finding!”

 

The young man looked from one girl to another before speaking.

 

“Miss Weber, Miss Duffy, Miss Jones – my uncle asked me to stop you. You are not to follow him any longer.”

 

Kat stared at the young man. She couldn’t resist the urge to flirt with him.

 

“How about if I stay with you, and these two go find your uncle?”

 

“I’m sorry. You do not know my uncle, nor do you want to know him.”

 

Amanda wasn’t about to be stopped by this young man.

 

“Actually, you’re wrong. I do want to know him. He spoke to me and called me by name. Who is your uncle? Why doesn’t he want us to go in the Paris Catacombs tonight?”

 

The young man stared at Amanda for several moments before speaking.

 

“You saw him in the catacombs?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“What did he say to you?”

 

“He told us to leave. Then he quoted something from Hamlet to us. And then he told me to ‘let it go’ – whatever that means.”

 

“It means you should never have seen him. He’s protecting you from yourself.”

 

“I don’t need protection. I’m going to find your uncle if it takes all night. Where does he live?”

 

“Look. I’ll be honest with you. He isn’t really my uncle. He hired me to run errands, and bring him things he wants. Other than that, I really don’t know him. But I can tell you this - there is something terrible about him.”

 

“Terrible? In what way?”

 

“I dare say no more. You saw him tonight, which is more than anyone ever gets to do. It is too dangerous to try to see him again. I’m begging you – go have fun in Paris and leave him alone.”

 

“Thanks for your concern, but you never told us where might find him.”

 

“He lives in a town house located on the Left Bank in Paris' 6th arrondissement.”

 

Amanda, Kat, and Hannah looked blankly at each other. None of them knew Paris well enough to know where that was.

 

“How about leading us to his town house. If you get us to the house, we can take of ourselves from there.”

 

“Truthfully, No, you can’t. But very well. And remember I warned you not to go.”

 

The girls huddled together as they followed the young man through the streets of Paris. As they walked, the storm in the distance was getting closer. They could feel the wind and smell the rain in the air. From the frequent flashes of lightning, they knew it was going to be quite a storm.

 

They finally came to an enormous town house. The young man led them through the main entrance and into a library on the first floor.

 

“Wait here. He will be with you shortly.”

 

Hanna and Kat sat on a sofa in the middle of the room. Amanda immediately began looking at the books on the shelves, and the artwork on the walls. The more she looked, the more amazed she was at the value of the collection before her. She could hardly contain her excitement.

 

“Hannah! Kat! Look at the art collection this man has! There are paintings by Picasso, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Monet, sculptures by Donatello and Rodin, and there’s a hand-written music score on the piano with the something written in German on the cover. Kat – what does this say?”

 

Kat stood by the piano, read the writing on the musical score, and shook her head.

 

“This can’t be real! It would be worth a fortune.”

 

“Look at this room and tell me what isn’t worth a fortune in here. What does it say?”

 

“To my dear friend, Monsieur La Mort, I am, with all of my Heart, my dearest Friend, your most Sincere Friend…

 

A rich, baritone voice cut her off and finished the dedication.

 

“W.A. Mozart.”

 

The girls turned around and discovered that the mysterious man they had seen in the catacombs had entered the room. He was standing near the door to the library, holding a glass of brandy. Amanda had never seen anyone more self-assured and obviously in command of his surroundings. He spoke again, getting right to the point.

 

“What were you doing in the catacombs tonight?”

 

Amanda wasn’t going to answer any questions until she knew who it was she speaking to.

 

“Before we tell you anything, why don’t you tell us who you are? And how did you nephew know who we are??”

 

“Forgive me. It has been so long since I had guests, I forgot my manners. You are, of course, Amanda Jones. Your adventures, and your wonderful choice of outfits, have always intrigued me. The tall young lady standing by your side is Hannah Duffy, and Katrin Weber is the young lady standing by the piano. By the way, Miss Weber – your translation was excellent. It really isn’t so far from Berlin to Salzburg, is it?”

 

Amanda began to have an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. The mysterious man knew her, and knew Hannah and Kat. She was certain she had never met him before.

 

“You still haven’t told us who you are,” she said.

 

“Who I am is not important. However, you may call me Monsieur La Mort, if that would make you feel better.”

 

“Monsieur La Mort? That’s the name of the man Mozart dedicated the composition to. Are you related to him?”

 

He nodded and smiled, as though he was enjoying a secret joke.

 

“More closely than you could dream. Now – what were you ladies doing in the catacombs tonight?”

 

Kat walked across the room and stood in front of the man. Something about his eyes made her uneasy. She tried to sound flirtatious and cute as she spoke.

 

“It was Amanda’s idea. She thought we might see a ghost in the catacombs.”

 

“And did you see a ghost?”

 

“No. All we saw was you. And then Amanda said we should follow you, and now here we are.”

 

“So Amanda makes all the decisions for this little group?”

 

“No! She…I mean we…wanted to do something different, and she…”

 

Kat’s voice trailed off as she felt a chill run down her spine. The man was staring at her, but in his eyes was a darkness like she had never seen before. He took a sip of brandy, sat in a chair, and spoke.

 

“Ladies, please – make yourself at home. Sit anywhere you like.”

 

Amanda and Hannah sat on a sofa facing the man. Hannah modestly crossed her legs as she was suddenly aware of how short her skirt was. Kat moved behind the sofa and stood, wanting to keep a barrier between herself and this strange man.

 

“Tell me, girls – you are so young, so beautiful, and so full of life. Why this fascination with death?”

 

Hannah answered.

 

“We’re not really fascinated with death. Amanda wanted to go to the Paris Catacombs to try to see a ghost. And then you came out of the catacombs, and she decided to follow you. And we couldn’t let her go by herself, so…”

 

“So here you are. Yes. Yes. That’s what Katrin told me.”

 

“Well…yes.”

 

The man turned to Amanda and looked deeply into her eyes. Amanda noticed the same darkness Kat had seen in the eyes now staring at her.

 

“Amanda, I long for intellectual conversation. I know you have a keen mind. Let us speak seriously together.”

 

“Yes, sir. What would you like to talk about?”

 

“Tell me, Amanda – are you afraid of dying?”

 

“I’ve never really thought about it.”

 

“That’s not really true, is it? You have faced death many times in your young life, whether you realize it or not. You have always come out of your adventures alive. Somewhere, sometime, you must have wondered what it would be like to die.”

 

“I’ve been lucky. I’ve been scared before, but have never thought about dying.”

 

“Everyone thinks about dying. It is part of life. I told William this before he wrote that great line in Hamlet - To die, to sleep--To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil.”

 

“William? Shakespeare? How could you have talked to William Shakespeare? He died centuries ago!”

 

“April 23rd, 1616. He was a brilliant man. Great thinker. Great writer. He was to literature what Mozart was to music. The score you found on the piano is from his Requiem. Such beautiful music. And so sad…”

 

Amanda’s mind was racing. The man sitting across the room from her was talking about a conversation with William Shakespeare as if it had happened yesterday. Shakespeare? Mozart? Picasso? Who was this man? She began to believe he was insane. The alternative was unthinkable. Kat had listened to their conversation and couldn’t take any more.

 

“Amanda, Hannah – let’s get out of here. This ‘Monsieur La Mort’ as he calls himself, is crazy. He scares me.”

 

The man put his glass of brandy down on a mahogany table beside his chair and stood. He was no longer smiling as he turned his attention to Kat.

 

“That’s the first sensible thing you have said tonight! I should scare you. I should scare all of you.”

 

Kat became defensive at what sounded like a threat.

 

“Are you threatening us? I’m warning you – we can take care of ourselves.”

 

Monsieur La Mort laughed out loud.

 

“Warning me? You are so naïve. You have no idea who I am, or what I am.”

 

“Tell us who you are, and we’ll leave you alone,” said Amanda.

 

“You and your friends should never have come here tonight. I am not of your world, and yet I am part of your world. I am older than time, and younger than your next heartbeat. I am the end of everything you know, and the beginning of everything you will never know. I am feared by most, welcomed by some, and finally experienced by all.”

 

Amanda listened to him speak, and realized that if what Monsieur La Mort was saying was true, she and her friends would never leave this townhouse alive. Still, he had offered no proof of what he said.

 

“Monsieur La Mort – if you are who you say you are, why are you taking the time to talk to us? We’re just three young women on summer vacation – surely not worth the time you are spending with us.”

 

“Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.”

 

“Emily Dickinson.”

 

“Good for you! You were paying attention at St. Hilda’s Boarding School. Amanda - you have come so close to me, so often, and never realized how close we were.”

 

“I’m sure I would remember you. And how do you know I was a student at St. Hilda’s school?”

 

“I’ve told you all you need to know about me. Perhaps too much. But what you know won’t matter in a few minutes. The three of you will never leave this town house.”

 

The man turned and fixed his gaze on Kat.

 

“Katrin Weber – fashion student from Berlin. I know you have heard of Sensenmann, and the legend of Giltine. Have you ever wondered what reality leads to the formation of mythological legends? Have you ever considered what it would be like to actually meet Giltine?”

 

Kat’s face filled with an expression of terror. When she was a little girl, her cousin from Lithuania had told her of the legend of Giltine – the Lithuanian goddess of death. Monsieur La Mort’s eyes burned into her very soul. She started backing away from the sofa.

 

“Oh my God – Amanda! We’ve got to get out of here! Now!”

 

Kat ran to the door of the library and tried to open it. The door was locked. The girls were trapped! She strode across the room, directly at Monsieur La Mort. Half-way across the room, she suddenly grabbed her chest.

 

“Amanda! My…chest hurts….I…can’t….breathe…I….feel…..”

 

Kat’s voice trailed off. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the floor like a rag doll. Amanda and Hannah leapt from the sofa, ran to Kat’s side, and shook her. Kat didn’t move. Amanda’s curiosity about who this man could be was replaced with rage.

 

“What have you done to her? What’s the matter with Kat?”

 

While Amanda was talking, Hannah felt for Kat’s pulse and found none. Kat’s heart had stopped.

 

“Amanda! I think Kat is dead! I don’t know how he did it, but I’m sure he killed her…”

 

The man turned to Hannah. Outside the window, lightning flashed and thunder shook the entire house.

 

“Hannah Duffy – St. Kevin, the founder of the monastery at Glendalough - knew the Dullahan.”

 

Hannah’s eyes were wide with fear. She covered her ears with her hands and crouched on the floor beside Kat’s limp body.

 

“NO! Amanda – if this is the Dullahan, he is not a man at all! This is…”

 

Monsieur La Mort called out one word, and Hannah stopped talking mid-sentence.

 

“Hannah!”

 

Hannah’s mouth opened as if she was about to scream, but no sound came out. She tried to stand. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor beside Kat. Her delicate hosed legs twitched violently. She slowly stopped moving and lay quietly on the floor.

 

Amanda knew without even checking that Hannah was either dead or dying. Amanda could hear her own heart beating in her chest. She wanted to run away, but something kept her from moving.

 

The man walked to a huge doorway, opened the curtain that covered it, and then opened the door. Outside, the raging storm was the worst Amanda had ever seen. He turned away from the window and stood with his back to the storm.

 

“Amanda Jones, come here.”

 

Amanda walked towards the man, feeling more helpless than she had ever felt in her life. She stood beside the man, looking out the window.

 

“Listen to the storm, Amanda. What do you hear?”

 

Amanda listened.

 

“I hear rain…and thunder…and wind...”

 

“Listen to the wind.”

Amanda forced herself to focus her attention on the wind. At first, all she could hear was the howling of the wind through the trees. Slowly, she became aware of voices in the wind. They were saying the same thing over and over again. Something in the storm was calling her name!

 

“Ahhhmannndahhhh! Ahhhmannndahhhh!”

 

A bolt of lightning stuck the ground directly outside the door. The flash was followed instantly by thunder that sounded like the pounding of horse’s hooves. She backed away from the door and spoke in a voice that didn’t even sound like hers.

 

“I have to know. Who…are…you…?”

 

The man pointed at a book resting on a pedestal beside the door. The wind had blown it open to a page with the text highlighted.

 

“Read the Book, Amanda.”

 

Amanda felt like she was going to faint. She stared at the book, trying to make her eyes focus on the words. The thundering of horse’s hooves and voices in the wind filled her head as the page came into focus. She read out loud, in a voice that seemed very far away

 

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”

 

Amanda looked into the face of the being standing beside her. The eyes were no longer human. She found herself staring into the void of an unknown that no creature had ever seen and lived to tell about. The impact of what she was seeing drove her to her knees. She swayed back and forth, staring at the floor and clutching pitifully at her silken thighs with her fingertips.

 

Death stood over Amanda, ready to end her existence with the touch of his terrible hand. Somehow, Amanda found the strength to look directly into his eyes. In slow, broken speech, she expressed her last plea from the depths of her gentle, loving heart.

 

“Let…Hannah…and…Kat…live. Take…my….life…for….theirs….please…..let….them…..live….”

 

Her last thought was not for herself. For the first time in a millennium, Death paused to listen to the prayer of a beautiful soul. He heard, and her words touched him. He held back the fury he was about to unleash on Amanda’s shivering body. She could hear him talking as her world began to fade into blackness.

 

“Greater love hath no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends.”

 

He placed his now gentle hands on the sides of her head and spoke.

 

“Amanda - Your curiosity may someday be the end of you, but that end will not be tonight. Tonight is not your time. It is not Hannah’s time. It is not Kat’s time. I am the keeper of the gate between life and death. You shall not pass tonight!”

 

Amanda moaned softly and passed out. He lowered her limp body to the floor and stared at her. He owned a priceless collection of art and music, but for the moment, none of it could compare to the inner and outer beauty of the young lady he saw lying at his feet. She was even more beautiful lying unconscious and helpless than she had been while she was awake.

 

He walked across the room to where Kat and Hannah lay sprawled on floor. He touched each of them on the head and spoke a brief phrase in Latin.

 

“Restituere animam istis virginibus!” (Restore life to these girls!)

 

Hannah and Kat gasped. Their eyes flew open wide for a moment, and then closed as they sank into a deep sleep.

 

He walked back to Amanda and knelt beside her. He unlaced her sneakers and gently slipped them off. With hands that could have struck her dead in an instant, he softly caressed Amanda’s delicate, hosed feet.

 

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings - Isaiah knew what he was talking about. I’m going to keep your shoes as a remembrance of you – a special young lady who was willing to give up her own life so that her friends might live. Someday we will meet again. Until then…Sleep. Amanda Jones, Hannah Duffy and Katrin Weber – You will sleep and remember nothing of this night.”

 

The next morning, Amanda woke up with a splitting headache. She couldn’t remember anything about the night except that Kat, Hannah, and she were going to the Paris Catacombs to look for ghosts. She rolled over and looked around the room. Kat was asleep. Hannah was sitting up in bed, reading a brochure from Greenpeace.

 

Hannah looked over the top of the brochure and noticed that Amanda was awake and looking at her. She put down the brochure and spoke.

 

“Good morning, pretty girl! Sleep well?”

 

“I think so. When did we go to bed?”

 

“I don’t remember anything about last night, but I know I slept like the dead. I must have been really exhausted – I’m still wearing the clothes I had on last night.”

 

For the first time, Amanda noticed she was still wearing her blouse, shorts and tights.

 

“That’s strange! Me, too.”

 

The sound of Amanda and Hannah talking woke up Kat.

 

“Gosh – can’t a girl get any sleep around here?”

 

“We were just talking about last night. Neither of us can remember anything, but we both slept in our clothes. It’s strange.”

 

Kat looked beneath the covers and realized that she had also slept in her clothes.

 

“Me, too. Well there’s a mystery for you to figure out, Amanda.”

 

Amanda heard a voice inside her head say “Your curiosity may someday be the end of you…”

 

“It’s a mystery, but I don’t want to think about it today. Today - Let’s have fun!”

 

Amanda got up and took a shower. She put on a fresh blouse, shorts, and a brand new pair of black tights. She looked all over the room for her sneakers, but couldn’t find them anywhere. There was another mystery to be solved. But not today.

 

She grabbed a pair of flats out of her suitcase, slipped them on, and ran out the door to join Hannah and Kat for another day of adventure.

 

Meanwhile, in a town house located on the Left Bank in Paris' 6th arrondissement, a solitary figure was seated in a large leather chair beside a priceless mahogany table. On the table was half-full glass of brandy, and a pair of dark blue, low-cut sneakers. The sneakers seemed out of place in this room full of treasures. He lifted one of the sneakers and sat quietly for several minutes, holding it. He remembered. He would always remember. He remembered, and smiled.

 

“Be safe, Amanda Jones. I don’t want to meet you again too soon.”

© 2014 - 2024 ThePHantom52
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Deamand's avatar
really she was not wearing her high heels as mentioned in the beginning of the story