STRKNG Photography Blog

(A trans tale)

Prince is an experienced urban explorer. He visited old townhouses, closed mines, abandoned hospitals and other kinds of lost places, all over the county, always aligned to the urban-ex rules: 1.) Don't change anything. 2.) Don't destroy anything. – And now, he wonders if the place he's looking for, really exists. – This path in the wood, is pure wilderness, some lumberman seems to block the trail intentionally. Ruined the old tracks, fell trees here, without moving them out of the way, let the nature grow, and it seems they covered the initial track, from the main road to this path.

Prince follows this old trail for three hours, his mobile phone is disconnected, only his compass is still working. But he's convinced, if this old townhouse will be there, as a stranger told him, this will become one of the best expeditions since years, with wonderful photos in the end.

Some minutes later, Prince spot's contours of an old stonewall. Invisible between the wild hedges and the mystic ivy, but not invisible to his experience. He looks for the old entrance, and find it 100 meters in the north. The wooden gate is dilapidated since years, he stops and take the first pictures. It's beautiful. In the background he spots mountains with snow, and on the old stony chimney, there is a bird's nest.

The front door is closed, he tries to push, but as he doesn’t like to damage anything, he follows the path near the mosey walls to the backdoor. Gosha. It's open. He steps back, and take more pictures. Changes the lens, breathe deeply, and enters the building. – And, as the stranger man told him, the kitchen is completely arranged! With a table and chairs, an old coal stove, tools, as someone seems to left in the past, to come back in near future. A menu was prepared on the desk, with white porcelain. Huge plates, elegant glass from crystal, a knife and spoon, covered all-over with dust.

Prince takes more photos, detail for detail, and suddenly he notices, that he spent over one hour only in the kitchen. And he needs to decide, how to proceed this expedition. – Going back for three hours, this old path in the darkness, even with his flashlight, would be dangerous. – So, Prince needs to come back tomorrow for explore this place in detail. – So, he stores his camera in his backpack, and opens the door to the living room. As a reflex, he grabs for his camera, but remembers his decision, to make a quick tour, and come back tomorrow. – He spots the bathroom, with the old hot-water heater and the bath tub out of metal, covered all-over with dust. – Prince goes upstairs, where he spots four closed doors. He decides for the right one, push, and frightens. In the bed … there is a corpus. Under the blanket. A corpus from a human. A woman. A sleeping woman.

He steps closer, one, two, three. Prince heart starts to bump. A woman sleeps here. Three steps towards the bed. A sleeping beauty. – She opens her eyes. – Prince blood freezes, his mouth shouts out loudly. But the woman stares on him in silence, and demonstrate Prince not to fear. Lays her demonstration finger on her lips, and stands up. – And looks like a ghost with her nightdress out of white satin.

"Where are you?", she asks him.

Prince needs some minutes, to understand, that this is real. A sleeping beauty in this lost place, far away from any civilization. He doesn’t believe in witches, he doesn’t believe in magic, Prince tries to get the situation clear. Concentrate on the facts. That there must be a reason, for all this dust covered furniture and this beautiful woman, who sleeps here, like a figure in an old tale.

"I'm Prince", he stumbles.

"You find this place, even by the curse?", the asks him curious.

"What do you mean?", Prince asks.

" You don't know the curse?", she looks into Prince eyes.

"I even don't know your name.", Prince says.

"Oh. Sorry. Sophie. I'm Sophie.”, her head goes to the dusty windows. “And you have to leave now Prince. It's getting dark. The way to the main road is dangerous in the night, and maybe it will start to rain later."

"I know, I know. I plan to leave during the day light Sophie. But I can't leave you here alone."

She points Prince to keep silence.

"Please go Prince. – I'm here for 1000 years. Please go. It will be dangerous in the night. Never underestimate your nightmares. This wood is filled up with them. Trust me."

Prince isn't sure, if there have been some strange mushrooms in the old townhouse. Some strange substance, which operate like LSD or something else by anyone who breathe it into the lungs. There was a woman. Sophie. For 1000 years? – He takes his camera, and check for the pictures. And yes, the old walls are there, the kitchen, the porcelain plates. He arrives by his car in darkness, and decides to come back tomorrow.

On the next day, Prince starts much earlier, to arrive in the morning. And as Prince knows already about the feral trail, and where to go to, the way on the damaged trail is much easier today. And Prince knocks on the backdoor, but no one answers. – So, he slides in carefully. Nothing has been changed in the kitchen. Also, the living rooms looks the same. He goes up, and stands again in the front of four closed door. – "Sophie?", he shouts out, "Sophieeee?"

But no answer at all. – Prince knocks on the right door, waits, knocks again, and steps in. – And spots the sleeping Sophie again. – He whispers: "Sophie? It's me, it's Prince!", and she opens her eyes, slides to the edge of her bed, sits up, looks on him, and Prince assumes a little smile in her face.

"I have more time today. I like to listen. I like to understand what happens here."

Sophie looks on him. Demonstrate Prince with her hand to wait, and left the room with any further comment. Silence. Completely silence in the room and the house. – It takes some time, but Sophie comes back. In a long colourful satin dress.

"Do you really like to hear?"

Prince nods his head. Both go downstairs, and Sophie opens a door in the living room, which Prince haven’t notice yet. And they enter a park. With old oaks, a fountain, mowed lawn. And they have a walk.

"You will not believe me Prince. But there is a curse on me. I'm here for 1000 years, and I'm also a little bit older than 1000 years. But I stopped to live. So, I'm going old here, without dying."

"I believe you!", Prince says, and Sophie talks about the mirror, she looked in, 1000 years ago. And that she saw herself in the mirror. – But even it was herself, it was another person. – And Sophie understood by this picture into the mirror, that something is wrong with her. – And some voice in the mirror whispered: "Come due me. Step via the glass to the other side. Go to yourself."

Sophie smiles to Prince.

"And do you know, what I did?"

He whispers No, without any word, and Sophie continues:

"I jumped through the glass surface of the mirror. To the other side. And the crushing glass caused a lot of scars on my mind and body. And the misfortune, which is caused by the glass of a broken mirror, began. The curse on myself began. I survived the jump, all the bleedings, the loneliness and pain, but my life stopped here in this old, beautiful villa. – And it doesn't matter, what I'm doing, how much things I'm touching. Everything will be covered with dust immediately. Because I’m alive, without a life. Like a ghost."

And Sophie reports more and more from this time. And Prince listens in silence, listen to all the strange magic. Later Prince observes, how everything covers with dust again by magic, after Sophie touches it.

Prince visits Sophie now for every day. – And every time he forgets to ask about the curse. But one time, he asks and Sophie answers:

"If I tell you about, you will not be able to solve the curse. – I can tell you how to solve the curse, if you like. But maybe, you will never see me again afterwards. Please decide."

Prince thought about this sentence again and again. And he notices one strange change, since he attended the old townhouse for the first time: The track become with each new week much more comfortable. And he sees tracks of himself in the house. Steps in the dust on the floor. Things he touched with his fingers, a few days ago, haven't been covered with dust anymore. And the park begins to fill with flowers, like in spring. And every time they have a walk, new butterflies in amazing colours guides them. The sun shines, and they love to rest on a glade, near to a small river. And they laughing together, and sometimes, they also had hours, filled with an intimate silence, far away from any expectations, filled with peace and balance.

And Prince comes back, again and again, and Sophie stopped to sleep in her bed, she waits for him on the front door. Smiles to him, every time he arrives.

And during one day, the sun shines in the park, Sophie places a chocolate cake on the picnic blanket, and she says: "You are my most lovely guest today. It's my 1018 birthday." And she smiles on Prince and lightens a candle. – And Prince starts to look on her, and he starts to do something, he is afraid of, afraid for the last weeks. But he hugs Sophie. This sleeping beauty. And she hugs Prince back. And after some minutes of cuddling, their lips come closer and closer. And Prince starts to kiss Sophie. He knows, he didn't ask, but he kissed Sophie. And for a moment he had the feeling, that the curse, Sophie talked about weeks ago, was dissolved now.