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“Hill House, not sane, stands against its hills holding darkness within. It has stood so for a hundred years and might stand a hundred more. Within, walls continue upright, bricks meet neatly, floors are firm, and doors are sensibly shut. Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House. And those who walk there, walk together.”
.
.
The house on the top of the hill was illuminated tonight, like it was on October 31 every year. Warm yellow light spilled from every window and the sound of music and laughter echoed through the trees of the forest below.
On every other night the old mansion stood dark and imposing at the edge of the hill, an unwanted shadow in the tight-knight community that accommodated it, the source of many tales and whispers, the main presence in the nightmares of children and dares whispered in the lips of teenagers.
The Stark Manor, as the people in town called it, had only one resident: The hauntingly beautiful and reclusive Sansa Stark, the eldest daughter of the family that once called the place its home and the only survivor of the wretched fire that ate up the mansion almost to the ground.
The red-haired woman was a girl of only seventeen when the flames licked almost every nook and cranny of her home, the heiress of an endlessly obscene fortune and the grand prize to be won by the boys in town. But she would have none of that because Sansa Stark had loved only one man her whole life and he had perished among everything else that was dear to her in the fire that changed her life twenty years ago.
Shortly after leaving the hospital Sansa Stark vanished from the small town of Winterfell, only to return three years later with a goal in mind: to restore her old family home. For the money she was willing to pay constructors from all over the estate came to her help, wood was chopped and bricks were pilled until the old Stark Manor was once again standing tall, its imposing figure looming above everything from its spot at the top of the hill.
Soon enough the only living Stark locked herself in her safe haven with no one but her housekeeper Mya Stone as company, at first the smallfolk did their best in trying to visit her, some out of pity, some out of curiosity and some out of true concern but she turned them away every single time until soon they stopped bothering.
So the house soon became the source of legends, a dark looming figure that remained dead for most of the year, except on Halloween when the lights made the place come alive and the sound of joy warmed the air around it.
That particular night Sansa Stark stared at her reflection in the mirror with a blooming smile on her face, a slight rosy tint adorned her cheeks as she twirled in the gauzy white dress she had chosen for the occasion. Mya had gone home quite a while ago after helping her to create the intricate braids in her hair and leaving her alone once again like she was every night, except for today when for a brief period of time she was able to experience joy for one more time.
The young girl spritzed her favorite floral perfume on her wrists and neck before taking the tube of lipstick resting on her dresser and applying a fine coat of the coral pink color to her lips, once she was done, she smiled to herself in the mirror and her eyes filled with the tears at the hopefulness that reflected in them.
Her face had transformed through the years, lines had appeared around her eyes and on her forehead, features had thinned, her skin wasn’t as soft as once was and the fullness of her innocent youth was left behind but there was no denying she was still a beautiful woman and that every year on this particular night she felt eighteen once again.
The quietness of her solitude was interrupted by the soft deft sound of a knock on the door, her heart fluttered and her stomach quivered at the anticipation that followed the sound. The young woman took one last look at her reflection before turning around and heading towards the door.
Her cold trembling hand rested on the knob and twisted it gently, the heavy wooden door parted to reveal a pair of sharp dark eyes, a mane of curly black hair, and the crooked smile that managed to leave her breathless even now twenty years after she truly saw it for the last time.
“It is time my love”
His voice was music to her ears; the lonely girl felt the weight of her solitude falling into her like a thousand heavy bricks at the sound of it, her clear blue eyes filled with tears as she threw herself into his comforting embrace. He breathed her in like he did every time he held her and sank his hands into her long auburn hair; she shivered in his embrace, in the feel of his cold body enveloping hers.
“I’ve missed you so much” She told him the words that were repeated each year, the words that pierced his cold undead heart.
They were supposed to spend the rest of their lives together, in love since such a young age, a bond so strong Sansa felt half of herself dying when his heart stopped beating after the fire took him away. A dream crushed, a girl abandoned and the promise of eternal love slipping away from her fingers, but she was granted small mercy, because on the night of October 31 each year the young girl was able to live among the dead and to share one night with the family she still loved so much.
The lovers pulled away from their embrace, his soft fingers swept away the tears that now stained her rosy cheeks before he grabbed her hands and looked at her appraisingly “You look stunning” She seemed to bloom under the force of his stare “You always look stunning” He squeezed her hands before kissing her forehead gently and placing her arm in the crook of his elbow “Come on dear, they’re all waiting for you”
Her heart soared as she walked with him and the undead house that made her feel so empty every day came alive, where once it was cold now it was warm, soft yellow lights illuminated every corridor, and the sound of laughter and soft music echoed in the otherwise silent walls. Sansa Stark had suffered so much pain at such a young age and twenty years later she wasn’t sure she knew how to be happy, except on days like today, when everything she lost was given back to her.
Clear bittersweet tears shone in the blue eyes of the young woman as they settled on the parents she had loved so much, in the mother who braided her hair every day when she was little and the father who loved to tell stories every night before going to bed. Their cold limbs circled her body and she never felt warmer, she allowed herself to be comforted by the familiar feel of love around her.
One pair of arms became another, she was swept away by Rob, her favorite brother who always used to steal lemon cakes from the kitchens to give her, then she was in the arms of Arya the sister with whom she constantly fought and for who she had cried the most, then it was the turn of Bran and Rickon, the young kids who had followed her everywhere and who were too young to be separated from this world.
With each person Sansa allowed herself to be swept away she felt parts of her broken heart being put together, the parts that will always belong to this house and the ones who made it impossible for her to leave. The tears that stained her face dried on as she laughed among her family, as they shared stories and reminisced about old happy days, minutes became hours in between loving words and touches exchanged.
The time was moving so quickly as it often did on nights like this, dread settling on the young woman’s stomach with the promise of a tomorrow as lonely as yesterday, sensing her distress his hand found hers and he led her to the center of the living room where he pulled her into his embrace and made her sway slowly to the tune of the music leaving the old record player.
“You seem sad” He commented as he spun her around gently.
She fixed a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and looked at him from under long lashes “I am not, I could never be sad when I am with you”
He gave her a kind but somehow pitiful smile before pulling her closer to his body “You’ll be happier with more friends”
“I have a friend” She was quick to add, though she paid Mya a salary for managing all of her affairs regarding the management of the house she considered the young woman a friend, given she was the only one aware of her secret and had managed to keep tight-lipped all this time.
“I know”
She sensed there was something else he wanted to discuss, twenty years had gone by since the last time she truly saw him but to this day Sansa Stark still knew Jon Snow like the back of her hand. She huffed in frustration, her limbs going stiff in his arms “Why do you always try to ruin our night?”
“Because I love you,” He said as he dropped his forehead into hers “Because it pains me to see you like this because you should have moved on”
“I can’t” The words were a choked whisper leaving her mouth.
Sansa Stark had known Jon Snow since she was a little girl when he came into their lives as his mother came to work as the housekeeper and she had fallen in love with him when she was thirteen and never stopped since, he was as part of her life as her own blood, it was impossible to ask her to just forget about him and everything she loved so dear, to forget about all the hopes and dreams that remained in the old bones of the house that nearly burned to the ground.
“Yes you can”
She shook her head stubbornly, her chin jutting out in a defiant mannerism “If the goal was for me to move on they wouldn’t have let me see you all once a year” She told him “How do you explain that… how can you expect me to forget about all of this”
Frustration took over his features, his strong hands grasping her cheeks as he pulled her face closer to his “Because this isn’t right, it isn’t normal” He said fervently, painful tears clouding his eyes as he looked down at her “You don’t belong into this darkness, the house has tricked you. And trapped you in its walls”
Somehow in the back of her mind she knew his words were true, that she was never meant to remain in this place. A miracle survivor the firemen and doctors had told her and yet she never felt miraculous at all, and she did try to move on, she went to live with her aunt right after the accident but she continued feeling incomplete, the ashes and the stone kept calling back to her, asking her to put it back together, to ensemble the rest of her heart.
So she did, and in return, the house gifted her with this, the chance to experience joy once again even if it was only one day each year, it didn’t matter, she could take anything that was giving to her.
“Why can’t I be trapped, if you are?” She answered truthfully; she couldn’t understand why he would want her to be anywhere else but here in his arms.
Jon closed his eyes as if in pain and dropped his head to rest in the crook of her neck, his nose inhaling her scent, relishing in the chance of holding her in his arms once again. His days were filled with pure torture, wandering the empty halls, seeing her but unable to touch her, watching her whiter away in the house that refused to let her go. “Because you belong in the sun, in the light”
“I belong wherever you are,” She told him fervently as her hold on him tightened “Please, let’s not fight. Not tonight”
Jon allowed the sensation to wash his body, the feel of her warmness next to his coldness. When he was alive Sansa had been the light of his days, he always thought their fate was to be together for eternity but life had gotten in the way and robbed them of their chance at happiness, now he was doomed to wander these empty halls for eternity, waiting impatiently for the chance of holding his lover once again “I love you” He whispered to her, thinking that perhaps she was right and this was a gift rather than a curse, in some way they were still together and perhaps will be for eternity.
The frown that had marred her forehead seconds earlier disappeared from her face and was replaced by a wide smile, white straight teeth peering at him from in between her soft coral lips “I love you more Jon” She threw her arms around his neck and brought him down for a kiss.
The rest of the family remained around them but for that moment it felt as if the world had shrunk to only them both, nothing else existed but their bodies meeting each other for as long as they could “We would have been real happy Jon” She murmured against his lips when their kiss subsided, the music had changed and an old favorite played now.
Jon released a tired sigh as he started moving his body to the tune of the music, her gracious body following his lead with quick ease “I know we would” He told her before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead “We are. I am happy whenever I am with you”
The two lovers swayed in each other’s arms until the first rays of the sun signaled the morning, a weight grew in the young woman’s chest as he led her down towards her bedroom, clothes were shed and kisses were shared and their bodies connected in the truest form of love.
When her eyelids closed and her lips rested in tender content, the young man leaned down to touch the tender skin of her cheek and realized he could no longer feel her warmness, the magic was gone and the hours wouldn’t trickle back soon enough for him to hold her again.
So he moved away from her and observed her, so peaceful, so pure. Another year would pass before he had the chance of holding her in his arms once again, long hours of watching and waiting until it was time to be enveloped in his warmness, but he would wait as he always did.
Patiently.
In love.
For all eternity.