Missed Connection - Part III

Story So Far:
Missed Connection - Part I
Missed Connection - Part II

Have you ever been to a new place that seemed oddly familiar? An uncanny feeling that you had been there before but still couldn’t remember when.  My brain was still very wooly. The drug had clearly not worn off. But in the very dimly and flickeringly lit room, as I slowly cast my eyes around to acquit myself with my surroundings, as I saw every new thing, it seemed I have always known it would be there. It is difficult to explain, it is almost like a cloth being pulled over from a collection of your childhood toys. Until the cloth is removed you don’t know what is underneath, but as progressively the cloth is pulled back what is slowly revealed you know intimately.  

The statue of Buddha on the right side of the big hall, just by the side of the big wooden crucifix hanging on the wall, wasn’t it always so? The small wooden table where a few candles flickered disturbed by the draft as I entered, a blazing fireside on the other side with the seating area, the stairway on the far side from where I stood.  Why did this place look so familiar? Why?

As my eyes slowly got accustomed to the dark, my heart froze.

There were a number of people in the room.  Standing silently, without word, without movement.

The door behind me closed and I felt Alexendra go past me and melt into the crowd.  I couldn’t see any faces only dark outlines.

On some invisible command, they seemed to start moving toward me all at once. I estimated that there were perhaps twelve to fifteen people. Slowly, noiseless moving toward me.

 

A few hands reached out toward me as I broke into a cold sweat. It was perhaps the most terrifying moment of my adult life.

“Otto.”  A disembodied voice seemed to come out from the group. “You are here. Finally”. 

As the hands touched me I realized one of them was Alexendra’s.  She moved to my left side and put her hand around my waist. Another man took hold of my right elbow.  Slowly they propelled me towards the stairs.

“We knew you would return”. Suddenly they whole crowd noiselessly fell behind me as Alexndra and the man on my right slowly took me up the stairs.

I stammered, “Wha..What is the meaning of this?”.  

My voice sounded different. Deeper, gruff.   With sudden sense of shock, I realized that I had just responded back in German!   A language that I had never learnt.  

How?

The staircase felt familiar. As if climbing them was something I did everyday.  Even in darkness I could anticipate the spacing and when the flight ended.

On top of the stairs there was a small landing that led to a corridor that ran perpendicular to it. One both sides there appeared to be rooms, but only one of the doors was open and some light came out. I was taken toward that. 

The party including Alexendra stopped near the door and pushed me inside.

This room was better lit but still with candles. Thankfully there were many of them. Inside the room was a big bed. Again that strange feeling that I was in a place that was very familiar. Was I going mad? Was this some crazy dream?

I moved forward slowly toward the bed. In it lay a lady, at least mid-fifties, perhaps more. Clearly ill.

And then  I saw her face.  Beautiful, pale and tear streaked. I screamed in the same voice that was not mine. “Mein Gott! Helen!” 

I can never explain how or why. I just knew that I was looking at Helen Schnee.  Wife of SS-Obersturmbannführer  Otto Schnee.

No.  

There was Something more.  Something deeper.   

  

I was no longer the person who had entered the mansion.  I had turned into someone else....

I was Otto Schnee and woman that I beheld was my wife!!!

Even as I gazed at Helen, the thought that crowded my mind was of Alexandra. 

 

Alexandra - the love of our lives.  Our darling daughter.  

I was lost.  She had found me and brought me back home.

An involuntary gasp escape my lips as I feel violently shaken from behind...