Stories

It’s the Year 1810. Somewhere near Vienna, in a dimly lit room with a single candle, Beethoven slouches over a desk, scribbling notes onto a faded parchment. Thinking about a certain Elise, he writes each note with love and tenderness.

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But, something feels weird. He starts to feel drowsy, and soon slumps over at his desk.

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The candle flame is no more. The real world fades, as he enters a dream world.

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Dazed, he finds himself in a forest. Strange shadowy creatures drag themselves across the pine needle strewn ground, only stopping when they come across a living creature which they extinguish before continuing on their way.

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In the distance, Beethoven spies a poor soul they’re holding captive.

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He creeps closer and sees the prisoner’s face. ‘Elise! Do not despair, I shall free you,’ he whispers.

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Elise sinks down, her grubby face glistening with tears, the shackles binding her hands and feet clatter against the cage’s bars.

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The sound startles the creatures, they look around - one catches a glimpse of Beethoven and bares its long, blood-stained fangs.

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Before he has time to ready himself for battle, Beethoven has to dodge the fangs that threatened him seconds earlier. As he fights for his life, lightning shoots from his extremities, striking the beast that’s attacking him.

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Beethoven’s love for Elise has imbued him with a special power.

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And yet, his love proves not to be strong enough. The beasts match him shot for shot. Encircling him as they did Elise in her cage. When one foe is beaten, three more come for him. He’s unable to match the intensity of their charge.

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As has always been the way in matters of love, Beethoven is defeated. He collapses, his body broken. He should have known he could not have won, he thinks, there is always a man who is bigger, stronger, better than Beethoven.

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‘Oh, Elise. You were the only one who gave me a chance…’ he cries.

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The creatures drift back towards her. Beethoven closes his eyes, unable to watch what comes next.

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The only woman who ever noticed him. The one he promised to always protect, to care for, to love until eternity.

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He cannot allow this to be the end.

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No, every other woman he has loved rejected him, made him feel small, found his love a nuisance and not a treasure. He will not allow these nightmarish beasts to harm Elise.

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His body tingles, the electricity within it building, his power increasing as his belief in himself and Elises’s love does. He is ready to do whatever it takes to keep Elise safe.

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The beasts return, their attacks less brutal than before as if not thinking him worth the effort. He takes great pleasure in the shock on their faces as he begins to fight, his shocks killing whomever they hit. A pack of them retreat, scrambling to get far enough away from his powerful beams of light.

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The greatest brute of them all charges at him. Beethoven harnesses the power he felt when Elise said ‘yes’ to him, when thousands of other women had told him ‘no’. It creates a force that overpowers the monster with ease.

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Beethoven looms over the injured beast who, in between heaving breaths, asks to be spared. Beethoven has never received the pleasure of mercy from his tormenters, the men who mocked him for his short stature, who went out of their way to steal his prospective sweethearts. He knows now that he did not deserve such barbarity but this beast does - Beethoven delivers a final blow.

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Leaving his enemies’ bodies strewn over the forest floor, Beethoven rushes towards Elise and frees her from her shackles. In his arms, her eyes are no longer wet with tears but sparkling with love. ‘I’ve been waiting for you my love’ she tells him.

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All of it, all of the pain and the hardship is worth it for this moment, finally Beethoven is going to be with his sweetheart. He leans down to kiss her, desperate to finally feel the lips he has longed for on his. Millimetres away from her mouth, Beethoven is startled to realize she is not breathing - she is dead.

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The bleakness of the forest eases as sunlight permeates the branches. Suddenly, he wakes up in a cold sweat, eyes wide open. He grabs a pen and writes, “My dearest Elise. You won’t believe the dream I just had…”