The Theatre of the Puppets

Budapest, 17th century

It was Christams Eve. Everyone was on the way to the Theatre of the Puppets. There was this, really big, Christmas show, a really great spectacle. I was on my way too. It was a cold, dark night, thick clouds were covering the sky and snow was lightly falling from the sky. So many people were waiting in line.

The Theatre was dark inside, gas lamps were lighting the stage, people were seated in their sits, me in the first row, and the curtain rose. Then the puppets came on the stage... thare was one... two... three! Three puppets were coming  on the stage, the Puppet Master held their strigns high above. The puppets were almost human sized. Their skin looked like old, sick human skin. What a magical, mistery feeling was to see them dancing on the end of their silvery strings! The Puppet Master pulled one string, up went the leg, down went the head, he pulled one more and then, he let them all down. But the puppets were still standing. Suddenly they started to move - all by themselves! I looked at the little drummer boy... I looked in his eyes, I can swear he looked at me! And suddenly he started to play on his drum, which scared me a little. And when I took a look at his hands I saw a small but on his arm... and it was bleeding! Everything here was not what it seemed, and I was uneasy... but soon the show ended and I left the hall in a hurry.

As I was waiting in line to get out, I saw a girl, standing in the crowd, and our eyes met. I stepped towards her and greeted her. We talked for a bit, her name was Victoria, and when we were outside we took a seat on the stairs at the entrance we continued our talk. We both knew that what we saw in the Theatre was, had to be, magic, that night was full of it. We talked all the night long, and as I was looking in her eyes, her beautiful blue eyes, I saw magic in them... all the people were gone, but we were sitting there and I felt cold, as if one of the ghosts from the Theatre was next to me, and I heard a whisper in my ear: "Kiss her now!". And I did kiss her and that kiss was a magic seal of our eternal love.

A year has passed and Christmas was here again. I was occupied that night so she went to the Theatre alone. But when she didn't come home by midnight I got worried and went to look for her. I went to the Theatre first, it was a dark and cold night, much like one year ago. Behind the Theatre I saw some stairs leading down, in the cellar bellow. As I was about to go down, someone opened the door. It was a big, fat woman. I knew her. She was the Puppet Masters wife. I hid behind a bush and saw her carrying a big, butchers knife in her hand and she was pulling a cart behind her. I decied to follow her. Trough the streets, dark and old, I followed her for some time when I saw someone lying on the floor. It must have been a homeless man. Suddenly her hand with the knife rose... and, oh no! went deep in his chest. He barely made a sound before he died. She left the knife in his chest, all that blood had to stay in its nest, and wrapped him in the sack she brought and put him on the cart. I followed her again trough the streets and when we came to the Theatre she pulled the body of the cart and carried it in to the cellar bellow. I followed her down, trought the ancient hallways, hiding behing corners, when suddenly, she was gone. I saw a light coming from the door ahead of me and I decided to look there. And as I opened the door and looked through them, I wass terryfied! Oh, such a horrorshow! But then I felt a blow on my head, I fell to the ground and my vision went black...

To be continued...