After a minute with my thoughts , I was brought back to focus with a noise . It wasn ’ t anything loud or startling , more of a pleasant humming , like a singer warming up for a performance . It was sweet and high and melodious . It reminded me of something , but of what I couldn ’ t recall . “ Hello ?” I said , my voice like a bark . Nothing . I stood up and peered harder into the dark auditorium . “ Is someone there ?” No more humming . “ Victor ?”
I decided that lingering in darkness was preying on my nerves . I needed to go to the booth and figure out how to turn on the damned house lights . It was silly that I hadn ’ t done so when I arrived . It was only as the thought occurred to me that I heard it .
“ Almost … I can almost see it …” whispered at me from somewhere , perhaps all around me .
I couldn ’ t have imagined it . The humming returned and my mind was awash with memory . Lara , my love . My whole world . Her death haunted me these past five months . It was Lara I now heard reaching out through her labored last words and the humming ( how could I have forgotten ?) she would intone absently throughout any given day . Her absence didn ’ t get any easier , but time lessoned the pain . Memory was now like a melting landscape painted by a painter whose mind was going . Shall I paint her eyes open or closed when she said “ Almost … I can almost see it …” as I held her in my arms when she passed from this world ?
“ La … Lara ?” I babbled , my tongue heavy , my heart like a skipping stone .
The humming stopped again but I could see her eyes in the darkness . They shone like an animal ’ s , hot and hungry . In my painter ’ s mind , they had always been gentle and smiling . These eyes , though unmistakably hers , were tortured with a fever I couldn ’ t comprehend . Was this a nightmare come to 6