As has happened before, such will happen again. The only thing humans learn from history is that they cannot learn anything from it. Decay or Preservation, either lead to the same inevitable outcome.
Jacob coughed a few times as he watched the fire dance under the ashen chimney. We did not know how long we had been watching it, but time didn't matter here anyways. It was not like it would ever get warmer… the only thing that changed as time passed was Harmonia's appearance, somehow she seemed to grow ever more beautiful. My vision twisted slightly when I turned my head, the nascent flames merging into their surroundings, as if trying to spread; To devour the rest of the house.
When will Harmonia return?
"Soon," Jacob answered. "It should not take long." He blinked slowly, like thawing from sleep. "Tiffany should also be here soon."
"Who's Tiffany?" I asked curiously despite the name sounding vaguely familiar. "Is she that girl you've been hiding from me?" But I never got an answer. Only his hollow stare. He tried to bend his fingers, but they moved slowly, stiffly… and when one of them cracked backward, his expression didn't change. He held his hand as though it belonged to someone else.
"Jacob," I whispered, "your arm…"
"It's just the cold," he said. "It doesn't hurt anymore."
I nodded, and an increasing desire to let the gentle repose of Pasithea to embrace me forevermore was building inside me. A knot had formed in my stomach, slowly making its way toward my throat… The food must have been poorly cooked. I'll pay more attention next time.
I wanted to sink into it, into her, into the softness pressing against the edges of my thoughts. A knot tightened in my stomach, churning upward toward my throat. The food must have been poorly cooked. I'll pay more attention next time. I took a breath, then another. Each one felt thicker, sweeter and more enchanting and harder to pull.
Jacob leaned back against the wall, his gaze drifting lazily to the ceiling.
"Tiffany… she said she'd come," he murmured. "She promised she wouldn't leave me again." His lips twitched into a smile, though his eyes remained naught but two entries into the abyss. "She used to get so cold. But Harmonia kept her warm. Harmonia keeps everyone warm if they just listen."
A faint breeze brushed the back of my neck, one that I hadn't felt in years. I knew who it was, I wished I knew who it was. Harmonia was standing behind me. "You shouldn't be breathing this," she said.
Her voice was calm, but the floorboards trembled beneath my feet. The fire guttered low, shrinking into itself as though bowing to her.
Jacob lifted his head. "Harmonia," he rasped. "Finally."
"It is carbon monoxide," she said. "It is filling the house. You are dying."
The knot in my stomach tightened into a fist, that's what it had been. The decadence of them had not been in vain, alas their fate would not change. A low groan rippled through the walls as the flames climbed higher, licking at the rafters. By now, clusters of embers had begun forming beyond the gentle confines of the fireplace. A lachrymose tune spread through the house, or maybe it was Harmonia.
"We must leave," she said. "Now."
As the frigid mist consumed my world and the ephemeral tranquility of the stillness vanished into the jaws of the world, I knew that there was nothing in this world that did not want to consume the heat hidden deep within. Indeed, the carbon monoxide might kill me… but the cold will. Jacob's skin grew increasingly pallid as the storm battered the unclothed parts of his skin.
Behind me, he fell to the ground. Others tried to help him stand up, but it was of no use — he was not moving. We had no choice but to abandon our futile attempts. And soon, his corpse was left alone, to be swallowed by the haze of the blizzard, disappearing from view forevermore.
Far behind the veil of trees, the lonely house blazed like a raging fire against the dying light.