( december 11th )

[firegap]

The housemaid overhears them and relays every word to the villagers who don't know what to believe and thus, believe the worst as is common in these parts.

"She is here, Erik," says Caroline Becker over breakfast, touching none of it, not even the hardboiled eggs that have been made to her specifications.

Erik Becker is not an easy man to unsettle. He eats his daily bread graciously, gets to his feet and replies, "then tell her hello from me, my darling."

Nearly an hour, she sits alone by the table, staring into space, pale as the dead she is said to awaken. Once she rises, the housemaid takes out the food quietly, hardboiled eggs still unshelled.