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Chapter 17

Sobotka
(August 2001; Prague)

When the police questioned him, he said that he


couldn't remember anything about the reading seminar. But
afterward, his memory returned bit by bit, until he was
sure that his life at age 10 was indeed the nightmare he
had
always suspected. Now, he is 30. As the youngest of the
subjects Agent Suk interviewed, his experience at the Red
Rose
Mansion's reading seminar was cut short when Bonaparta
disappeared. He wished to remain anonymous, so I have
used the
alias Sobotka here. He had a handsome face that was thin
on emotion, and he said he was an automotive engineer for
the
largest industrial company in the Czech Republic.

- During police questioning, you said that you hardly


remembered anything about the reading seminar. Can you
even
remember a reading seminar at all?
"No, you're a bit off. Actually, I went to the Red
Rose Mansion once a week to 'learn things.' I do remember
plainly that this took place as a book reading. But I
never really thought about WHY I was doing that, and what
I was
supposed to be learning."
- But now, you think of it as a nightmare.
"Yes. We were brought into a compact, comfortable
sitting room, six of us to start with. Two years I did
this, and
it was always the same people."
- Six to start with?
"Yes, one of them stopped coming at some point. I
feel like there was a rumor among us that he had died,
though
nobody made sure."
- Do you remember all their faces?
"No, no faces or names, those are gone. Oh, and we
never introduced our names to each other to start with."
- Now, turning back to the "nightmare," what kind of
things happened at the seminar?
"He just read. He had a very... deep and pleasant
voice. He would select readings from storybooks or
novels, or
sometimes just told us a tale off the top of his head.
Sometimes he would order one of us to do the reading, but
for the
most part we just listened to him read."
- Do you remember his face?
"No, just the eyes. They were terrible eyes."
- Do you remember these books? "The Nameless
Monster," "The Man With the Big Eyes, The Man With the
Big Mouth,"
"The God of Peace."
"Yes. But don't you dare bring them out around me.
I've realized that I can quote them all from memory. But
it
brings a sense of nausea to my throat. After he finished
reading, he would always ask us, do you understand the
meaning of
this story?"
- And was that the nightmare?
"Well, do you know how, when you come down with
particularly bad fevers, sometimes someone else's voice
or words
burrow into your mind and you can't avoid thinking about
it? Well, that 'do you understand' is this exact type of
terror I
feel."
- And did you understand the meaning?
"Yes, I did. But don't ask me what I understood."
- By what basis were you selected for the seminar, do
you suppose?
"My parents died 12 years ago, so I'm not entirely
sure, but..."
- But you have remembered something about that?
"Y-yes, just faint memories... I was in some sort of
laboratory place, and a man in a white coat showed me a
sort
of design. He asked me what it looked like."
- Somewhat like a Rorschach test?
"Y-yeah, I think."
- What did it look like?
"Well, I think... I saw a monster."
- A monster?
"Yes, with ten horns and seven faces... A-a m-
monster, before my eyes."
- And after that, you were taken to the Red Rose
Mansion. Did you ever think of not going back?
"I don't think so."
- Were you afraid that if you quit, something would
happen to you or your parents?
"No. Forced to participate or not, I don't think
there was any concrete threat keeping us from quitting if
we
wanted to. However, I interpreted it as a duty to which I
was bound by honor to fulfill."

[Picture] (sketch of a man's profile as he looks away)


Mr. Sobotka, graduate of the Red Rose Mansion reading
seminar. His wife and son are the greatest joy of his
life, but if
he wishes to display love, he must intentionally force
himself to show those signs.

- And in 1981 or 1982, the seminar came to an end.


"Yes, it was '81. I went there as usual, and the
mansion was closed. It was like no one had been living
there for
years."
- The seminar fell apart once Bonaparta... "the man"
you speak of, disappeared. Looking back, was there
anything
you could point to as an impending sign of that?
"Not at the time... But now, I do recognize one
thing. One day, after he had told the story, he asked us,
'do you
understand?' like he always did. The others all nodded,
but for some reason I wasn't really paying attention, and
I did
not nod. So he turned to me and asked me again, and that
time, he spoke my name."
- He called your name?
"Yes, though I wasn't surprised at the time. That was
because I had never even noticed that he never spoke our
names."
- I noticed that you just said that he "told" the
story, Mr. Sobotka. Why did you choose that word, rather
than
"read"?
"Oh. Did I say that? I wonder why. Now, what kind of
a story was he... Well, I guess he wasn't actually
reading
from a book. It was like he would just create a story on
the spot and tell it to us..."
- Can you remember what kind of a story he told you?
"Yeah... Yeah... Like, a door... A door that
opened... A story about opening a door that should never
be opened."
- Can you remember anything more than that?
"...Yes, yes I can. It was a story of the King of
Darkness and the Queen of Light... Darkness and light
were
always fighting, but in fact, the King of Darkness loved
the Queen of Light. When she lies down to sleep one
night, he
kidnaps her and brings her to his castle of darkness. But
the Queen of Light begins to lose her shine, and is on
the verge
of death. The King of Darkness realizes that this is
because of the darkness, so he calls together all his
servants to the
'Room of True Darkness,' and puts them in an eternal
sleep. Next, he releases the Queen of Light from his
castle, and the
queen's light returns bit by bit. So the King of Darkness
comes out into her light, growing smaller by the moment,
lamenting his crimes and professing his love for her. The
instant he speaks his last word, he is nothing but a tiny
black
spot. The Queen of Light forgives and accepts the King of
Darkness, and ever since, the Queen of Light's body has a
little
piece of darkness in it... The darkness has disappeared
from the world, but if anyone should the 'door that must
not be
opened,' which leads to the 'Room of True Darkness,' it
would bring back the dark, and spark another terrible war
between
light and darkness... That was the story he told."
- The story you just told me, Mr. Sobotka, is a very
valuable piece of information in solving what happened at
the
mansion in 1981.
"Great. Too bad I'd have been happier not remembering
it."
- Any other memories? Anything at all you can tell
me.
"I... I don't think so. I just listened to what he
read. Oh... But sometimes he would make us think up
stories, on
the spot."
- He made you... create stories?
"Yes, but none of the children could do it as well as
he did, so I could tell that he was always disappointed
with
the results. I think he ultimately wanted a pupil that
could make up those stories."
- Was there ever a student who satisfied him in the
past?
"I don't know... Though I remember that once he did
tell us a story that had been created by one of his
pupils."
- That is fascinating. What book was it?
"It wasn't a book. Just a story."
- Do you remember the story?
"It was... it was about... a monster that sleeps... I
just can't remember."

At this point, Mr. Sobotka took some time to remember


what the story was about, but it simply didn't work. What
could this story about a sleeping monster be? And who
created the story?
Sobotka was only this proactive in recalling this
nightmare of his because he felt that a personal family
tragedy
that he had experienced was rooted in the Red Rose
Mansion. He married a co-worker when he was 25. She said
that she was
attracted to his hard work ethic. They had their first
child when he was 27, but it died at just a year old. The
cause of
death was unknown. At 28, they had their second child. He
prayed that this one would be raised healthy. When the
boy was
age one, the same thing happened. The boy stopped eating
and fell into critical condition. Sobotka rushed to the
doctor,
and the son was barely saved, but still the cause was a
mystery. The doctor said it was as if the boy wanted to
commit
suicide.
At this point, his wife revealed that she wanted to
leave him. She said that their first child died because
of
him, and her answer to Sobotka's shocked query was that
he didn't know how to love. He didn't know how to smile.
Have you
ever seen your children smile, she asked. They're trying
to kill themselves because they think you don't love
them, and I
don't want it to happen again...
So Mr. Sobotka moved away from his wife and son, and
began a painfully lonely existence. His parents had died
when
he was a teenager, but he had never felt the loss at the
time. He knew that he was different from other people.
He struggled to learn how to smile, how to love, all
to get his wife and son back... After waves of loneliness
threatened to crush him, he finally went to beg his
family to take him back. Upon seeing his son again, the
tears flowed
out of his eyes, but his son was smiling, smiling like an
angel at his father. And so he and his wife decided to
live
together once again.
At this time, a thought had run through his head, the
memory of the police questioning he underwent a year
before,
about the Red Rose Mansion. He had to remember... He had
to recall what had happened to him there.
Facing my nightmares -- this is what I had to do to
get my life back, he said. I registered the resolute
expression on his face. This is a man who is capable of
reclaiming his own life, I thought, and hoped.

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