horror effect

At the beginning of February, almost all the people in the town received invitations to the Bouilly couple's wedding banquet, and a small number of them also received invitations to the wedding. Of course, they were specially selected by Mr. Officials with ties or figures in the financial world.The Brymontrosts also received the wedding invitation and were very happy about it. Almost at the same time, Stephen received an unsigned and unaddressed letter. When he opened it and read it, he knew it was written by Anna. He immediately got into his room and avoided his parents.

At the beginning of the letter, Anna talks about the upcoming wedding.Her tone was calm, but Stephen could vaguely feel a trace of sadness and resentment between the lines. "...I think I'll be serious about going through the whole ceremony...the wedding will definitely be a big event in town..." Ana never used any of the bride's favorite words when referring to the wedding—happiness, joy, anticipation , as if she were talking about foraminifer fossils between ancient Permian strata.

And then Anna began--very strangely, unexpectedly, about her time with Stephen. This part was in stark contrast to the previous indifference, and the vocabulary and language used were so rich and beautiful that Stephen, who was reading the letter, could almost see The green ivy and the sweet-smelling kabra trees surrounded it, but the more he read, the more disturbed he was. The beautiful and elegant young woman seemed to be hiding something and expecting something.

At the end, Anna writes - "I like you, Stephen."

Stephen touched his forehead like a person with a fever, and he stood up, walking up and down the room, rubbing the letter paper with his fingers.How is this going?he thinks.

He approached Anna to find out the secret of Mr. Bowai, but in the end Anna fell in love with him.

incredible.

Stephen read the letter again.

"I like you" - the end of the letter, their result is as unalterable as the ink-soaked letters.

"Oh, hell, hell, I don't want to be like this..." He kept muttering, "The lover of married women, the third party who destroys other people's families, this is not me... Ah! But soon Anna will get married It's over, it's time for us to end..." He relaxed a little, but then became anxious again.

"Wait, wait. What was I thinking just now? Marriage? A ceremony, how could it cut Anna off? It will be worse when she is married, and maybe I'll have to get out of here, after all, for myself and For the sake of my parents' reputation... no no no!" He suddenly yelled. "Stephen, how can you only think about your own reputation! Anna is more painful than you! God, you are so selfish, isn't it all caused by you? In the end, you have to let a poor woman bear the blame! You shouldn't be doing this! No, no..."

For the first time in his life, Stephen fell into an inextricably chaotic situation. He hoped that everything would pass peacefully, and Anna's feelings might just be a temporary impulse.But how could he predict the future?

He wanted to use logical reasoning to figure out the causal relationship of the whole incident, but his rationality, which was sufficient to examine ancient cultures and analyze the context of history, would collapse weakly when it encountered the wall of emotion.

He was getting more and more confused and needed someone to help him, and he thought of Julian Raymond, the British journalist who had been through so much.So Julian, struggling to write his manuscript in his hotel room, had to stop working reluctantly and come to Stephen's house.

After reading the letter, Julian raised his eyebrows and said with a smile on his face: "Congratulations, Stephen, you have a mistress."

Stephen understood that Julian was mocking himself. He gave Julian a look and said, "I didn't ask you to come here to listen to your cynicism. I want you to help me find a way."

"A way?" Julian sneered, "What way? A way to end your relationship? A way to make Anna no longer love you? I'm afraid you understand that love is a nervous and scary little thing, it has two faces , one black and one white; two bodies, one clean and one rough; it even has a black tail. You kick it, pierce it with your sword, but it's still alive. I don't know if you want Any way, anyway, in my opinion any 'solution' will only make things worse."

"Then you mean to do nothing? Wait and see? Or just sit and die? I don't want to keep our current relationship after Anna becomes the real Mrs. Bouilly."

"What are you-what are you afraid of?!" Julian said in a word.

"Fear of what others say or fear of M. Bois' wrath. Anna is not an adolescent girl who tells you she loves you because she is sincere. Stephen, Stephen, you are wrong. A woman like Anna says 'I like you' is not easy, and you should not think of the consequences, you are doing it with sincere contempt for her. No, Stephen, do you love Anna? Just one question—do you love her?"

Stephen hesitated, he opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything.

It's a pleasure to be with Anna, but is this love?How can a man love a woman, how can a man love another?Something hot as lead dripped into Stephen's brain between thoughts, making it ache heavily, and his thoughts were as confused as cars on two tracks, although they were going in the same direction, God knows they would go separately. to where.

As if understanding Stephen's pain, Julian put a hand on his shoulder, as soft and gentle as autumn spider's silk.

Finally, Stephen said in a low voice: “I don’t know…”

Irina Theoros's first thought when she received the invitation to the Boys' wedding reception was to rip it up.

Unhappy people always hate the happiness of others from the bottom of their hearts.Unfortunately for her, the factory closed down, the last bit of money was used to pay off debts, a sick husband was by her side, and all income came from the meager salary of her stepson Nikolai.

It is especially unfortunate that such a woman has a charming figure and a proud character.Irene didn't want to see Anna Bouilly get the life she envied. She wanted to tear up the invitation, but suddenly a thought came to her, so she quickly smoothed the crumpled invitation and walked into Theoros's room. Room.

Yosif Theoros lay straight on the bed in a corpse-like posture, and the folds of his clothes and coverlet seemed to be carved out of cold stone.He raised his eyes to the sky, his fixed gaze penetrated the ceiling, and he turned his eyes only when he heard the sound of the door opening.

Elena walked over and sat on the chair by the bed.Without saying anything, she stuffed the invitation into Theolos' palm.The latter slowly turned the page, he grinned, showing a silent, cold smile, and then he straightened his upper body as if suddenly alive, and began to pull the invitation with both hands, trying to tear it apart.Seeing this, Elena swooped over, broke Theoros' fingers, and snatched the invitation.

"No, don't tear it up, we need it now," she told him. "This is an opportunity for us, you must come to the wedding feast, Yosif, and Nikolai and I will also go, and we will ask Boai at the wedding feast to borrow some money, quietly and unknowingly begging He. Anyone hates being unhappy at a wedding. He will give us money just to get rid of us as soon as possible. We told him that the loan is for your medical treatment. He will definitely agree. Do go, Yosif ,must go."

Theolos sat listlessly at first, then his lips quivered, and finally, tears rolled from his eyes to his chin.Irena was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "I know you're uncomfortable and don't want to go. But we must seize every opportunity, Yosif!"

Theolos looked at Irena with hostile eyes, like an enraged snake, but when he opened his mouth to speak, his voice was so distant and hoarse, like lumps of earth thrown into a grave. "I'm going to die..." he said.

"No, no, I just want you to attend a banquet. It's nothing. Although you are not in good health, it won't kill you."

"I'm going to die!" he growled loudly, a creepy grunt coming out of his throat, like a suppressed cry, or something crying deep inside.Elena was stunned by the shouting. She couldn't believe that the man she had always despised could make such a terrible sound. It was not a human voice at all, but the howling of a monster from another world .She stood up from the chair and slowly retreated to the door, where she dared to speak.

"Okay...you don't have to go, let me go with Nicholas..."

"I'll go," Theolos said.

Elena suspected that she had heard wrong, and stood at the door staring at her husband.

But the latter's mind seems to have left the room long ago, and his eyes are focused on the front, looking far, far ahead, to the deepest place of endless space, and in his daunting eyes On his face, there was a smile, which spread along countless wrinkles, illuminating his whole body like sunlight shining into a deep pool.

At that moment, Elena realized that she understood Theoros a little bit.He was no longer the former Yosif, and he was no longer even from this world.

Irene stepped out quietly, gripping the handle very firmly as she closed it, as if she had shut a stone wall that could never be opened again.

The wedding of Mikhail and Anna Boai took place in the church as scheduled.The weather was fine but very cold that day, and the wind from the mountain pass was blowing violently, making the thinly dressed ladies who attended the wedding cry inwardly. The bride Anna also had to temporarily find a white fur shawl to cover her bare breasts.

Before the ceremony, many guests had been talking about the weather. They heard that there would be a snowstorm for several days. Judging from the strong winds of the day, the snowstorm was not far away.

Julian Raymond was huddled in the corner of the church with several reporters who came to cover the wedding. He wanted to take some photos and put them in his report.But there was something else on his mind: the love revealed by Anna's letter to Stephen.Julian wanted to see how Anna would behave at the wedding, so when Anna appeared on his father's arm, all his attention was focused on the beautiful bride in her jewel-encrusted and handmade lace gown.

Anna had a graceful smile on her face, behind which you couldn't see what was in her heart, and her smile didn't falter when she passed Stephen, she didn't even look at him.

She hides it so well, Julian thought, which makes it all the more obvious how deep the pain in her heart is.There are many people like this. When they smile and are happy, the soul in their body is crying, and the heart is burning like an altar. This kind of pain is invisible to others, and therefore cannot be understood. No one, no living being will respond to their pain, so this pain will last for a long time, until death.

Julian slowly moved the camera away from his eyes, he stared at Anna, watched her follow the priest to say the vows, watched her put the ring on the finger of the old husband; then Julian looked at Stephen, the young man's face Serene, eyes downcast, Julian thought at first that he was afraid to look at Anna, but then he suddenly understood that Stephen did it in a way deeper than the guilty gaze.

After the wedding ceremony, the guests will go home to change their overly formal dresses and prepare for the wedding banquet in the evening.Julian went up to Stephen, dragged him away from the Brymontrosets, and whispered to him, "Are you all right?"

Stephen was silent for a while, and then said: "I finally found out——I don't love her."

Julian slapped Stephen on the shoulder with such force that he almost fell over, "You are so slow, it took you so long to figure out this problem."

"What about you? How long did it take you to figure out your feelings for Liddy?"

This unreasonable questioning made Julian's smile disappear, and he felt that many little beasts called "sorrow" that had been driven far away were running towards him.

"A long, long time," he replied, "and until now I don't know whether I love her or not. Or if I love just a part of her. I know how beautiful and rare Liddy is, but I am more Clearly there is something missing between us, something essential to love..."

Hearing this, Stephen shrugged and said, "I didn't expect you to be a sentimental person."

Julian smiled, looked at the gradually gloomy sky, thought that the storm was coming, but said in his mouth: "Everyone will find a small, sentimental 'me' deep in their hearts."