The Bond

Prologue

This is for Kenny's spooky fiction challenge and Mike's Octoberon challenge.

The bonds of love can bind too tightly.

1. Grief and Memory

Mara’s living room echoed with laughter, but only of her distant memories. It resonated with whispers of a future that would never be. her fiance, Evan, had gone for three weeks now, taken by an accident that had ripped him from her grasp, one of Fate’s cruel jokes. She held his pillow and stared at the empty space that he had left on the couch, a faint smile on her lips as she recalled how he had held her as he teased her about her favourite rom-coms.

Shadows darkened the living room as her reverie deepened, leaving her with a greater sense of solitude. The light of the lamp felt dim, unable to brighten, as if unable to fill the void Evan had left. The soft sounds of the favourite song played in her mind, like faint whispers of their past.

“Mara…”

His voice sent queer shivers throughout her body. She shook herself, telling herself that she was dreaming and that it was only her cruel companion - grief. She walked about the home they had only recently purchased, feeling a tug towards their special spot - behind the bookshelf where they had kept love letters.

Her breath hitched as she opened each one, and gazed at Evan’s familiar handwriting-too neat for a guys’. He had scrawled promises of total devotion to her across the pages. She didn’t remember them; confused, yet strangely comforted, she clutched the papers, tears of grief pouring in a never-ending stream.

“Evan.” She said his name softly, a dull ache in her heart.

As the sands of time dropped, the occurrences were more frequent. The whispers of his voice filled the house, and the faint echoes of their shared laughter shattered the silence. Letters multiplied the bookshelf. It was as though Evan was reaching out for her, trying to bridge the other-worldly gap between them.

But Mara was unaware of a truth that would consume her- that Evan had delved into research on life after death before he himself died, in particular communication.

The passionate Evan had wanted to create a bond between them that would transcend the grave.

2. Reality Unravels

Evan had woven invisible threads round Mara’s mind. The haunting became more vivid as she mourned. Her reality became warped, and their effect on Mara more and more visible. Friends and family whispered behind her back, slipping away and becoming no more than memories.

“Mara, Evan’s not coming back. You need to move on.”

Mara shook her head in resolute denial. “You don’t understand, mum. Evan is still with us.”

“Is he?” The underlying doubt behind her mother’s question was lost on her as Evan’s presence began to envelop her, satisfying her loneliness.

Darkness started to cover her, isolating her further. She began to lose herself, the line between her soul and Evan’s merging, becoming indistinguishable. She barely recognized herself as she glimpsed her hollowed eyes in the mirror.

“Mara!” She heard the insistent voice.

Mara grasped vainly at the shadows. “Evan!”

The house seemed to pulse with Evan’s undeniable heartbeat. She glimpsed him in the corner of her eye as she wandered through the rooms - his red hair, boyish smile. But every time she tried to touch him, he vanished, leaving only shadows and whispers behind.

Evan’s reach seemed to grow - more lights flickered, and more letters piled behind the bookshelf.

In a moment of truth, Mara had a revelation that crashed over her like a rogue wave. It wasn’t Evan at all; it was her love for him swallowing her. The letters behind the bookshelf were chains that bound him to her. She was an embodiment of his will.

3. The Awakening

“Evan,” The weight of realisation hit her, but a little too late.

She felt herself unravel completely as her voice entwined with his, a mere whisper. “I am Evan…I am Evan…”

Vanishing into the shadows, Mara was no longer a woman; she was a whispering ,drifting echo undone by Evan’s love.