11. ShorT StorY

THE RETURN OF ABEL

Once, there were two young fishermen named Abel and Eric. They were both close friends and lived in a small town near the sea. At the age of fourteen, Abel had once saved Eric’s life. At the time, the two boys went fishing. That morning was very nice and the sun shone brightly. But the weather suddenly changed. It became stormy. The sea became so rough. The wind blew their boat toward the huge rocks. Abel jumped from the boat to the rock. He held a strong rope tightly in his hands. The boat began to sink but Eric could not jump. Abel threw the end of the rope toward Eric who then caught and held it. Abel pulled him slowly and managed to save him

Since then, their friendship grew stronger. But six years later, their friendship was broken because of their jealousy of one another. They both fell in love at the same time, with the same girl, Sarah. The worst thing was that Sarah also loved them both.

Actually, she wanted to marry one of them, but she did not know which one to choose. Sarah was torn between two lovers. Sarah did not know what to do, so she came to her mother, asking for her advice. “What shall I do?” she questioned her mother. “I have an idea! Let me talk to them. You just wait here”. Then she opened the door and talked to the two young men who had been waiting outside her house. “Listen! You two might want to marry my daughter. But you have to realize that you are poor. So you must toss a coin. Afterward, you must put all of your money together. The winner will take all of the money and buy goods. The next thing he has to do is sell them in foreign countries. In this way, he will be rich. After he is rich, he may return and marry my daughter.”

The two men agreed. “Here the coin”, Abel said. “Head or tail?” he asked “Tail! Eric answered. Eric tossed the coin in the air. He caught it with both of his hands. He then slowly removed his right hand and immediately found the tail faced down. Abel won !
“You are not my friend anymore! I hope you will never come back! I hope the devil take you!” Eric said angrily. “Please, Eric ….. please let us stay friends” Abel said. Eric did not listen to what he said and went away without saying goodbye to him. Meanwhile, Abel stayed and talked to Sarah. “I will wait for you until April the 11th next year” Sarah said. “During you absence, I will not marry anybody else” she promised. Abel left on the ship at the end of April.

She waited and waited. Months passed by, May, June, July, but there was no news from Abel. Soon it was January the following year. Sarah became unhappy. She began to see Eric everyday. Eric, who had fallen in love with her, kept on asking her the same question. “Will you marry me?” Abel will never come back”. “No! But if Abel is not here on April 11th, I will marry you” Sarah replied. However, Sarah saw Eric so often that she began to forget Abel. She made a decision, “I will marry Eric on April the 11th”. Then Sarah started to make wedding-dress.

One night, in the first week of April, There was a terrible storm. Suddenly Eric heard someone crying in the water, asking for help. “I will help the person” Eric said to himself. Eric climbed carefully on the wet rock. He held a strong rope in his hand. When the lightning flashed, Eric saw a man’s head in the water. Eric threw the rope toward the man. The man caught and tied the rope around his body. Eric began to pull the rope toward him. When the lightning flashed for the second time, Eric saw the man’s face clearly. How surprised he was when he discovered that it was Abel. “I will marry Sarah” he thought angrily. “No”, he shouted out loudly, “I will marry Sarah!” Eric let the rope loosen so that it fell and then slipped into the water. Abel sank. Eric came back in horror. He remembered Abel’s face.

Then, it was Sunday, the day of the wedding. Eric got up very early in the morning. He dressed in the wedding clothes. “This is my wedding day”, he said. “Abel cannot take Sarah from me now. He cannot come back”. The wedding ceremony had begun. Now they were husband and wife. They walked together toward Sarah’s house in the town. All of their friends walked behind them. They walked slowly down along the edge of the shore to town.

Suddenly, Sarah cried. She pointed at the shore. Everyone stopped and became dumbfounded. There as a body lying on the shore. Its eyes seemed to be looking at Eric and Sarah. Some men ran down and looked more carefully at the body. Then one of them turned and shouted to everyone. “It is Abel”. Sarah looked at Eric in horror. She did not move. Abel had promised her that he would return. And this was the return of Abel. He had come on the wedding day. Sarah fainted and fell to the ground

THE END

From tales of horror by Bram Stoker
Taken from Dialogue Magazine.