My Last Duchess .. Short Story

Ellen Moysons 10th Grade 11-19-2009

My Last Duchess : Short Story

Sometimes people do things in life that they would have done differently afterwards, that they would just like to change. But I believe that everything happens for a reason, that every decision you make was the right one on that moment. I have never had regret of the things I’ve done in my life… Let me introduce myself; my name is Romano, Antonio Romano and I’ve been working for 8 years for the Duke of Ferrara as a servant. Dark and sneaky businesses happened in front of me all the time, but my job was to keep them silent and not ever talk to anyone about them. In the end I was only a servant, just one of those on the background. That’s where I’ve always been. As the oldest of 12 children, parents both dead since I was 16, my youth wasn’t what you can call enjoyable and I grew up very quickly. Most of my brothers and sisters wanted to leave the house as soon as possible, but I stayed until the last one left, I took care of all of them. And none of them ever thanked me for that. In the meantime I worked at the main house of the Duke, where I saw the Duchess almost every day as well. Every day she seemed to look prettier. Her skin as smooth as peaches, her hands more elegant than I had ever seen in my life. Sometimes, when she smiled, I wondered if this world, that moment was real. But she was unreachable, and I knew it. I’d never hold those hands, never touch those lips. I’d give a lot to just smell her hair or flirt with her, just like all the painters to whom she exposes herself. If I’d be one of them, one of those painters, I’d make hundreds of drawings of her, one every day, every time just a little prettier. It’s funny how 2 simple minutes can change your life forever, and as far as I remember, I could feel it in my stomach that day. Nothing had changed: I woke up at 6, got to the castle at 6.30, just like every day, but something was in the air. That day was a Thursday, which meant for me as much as cleaning the attic of the castle. Complaining was no option, with in the back of my head the fact that I needed the money to care for my family, I didn’t really need money myself, as long as my family was happy I didn’t need anything more… While I was cleaning the upper floor, I suddenly heard the closing door echoing through the whole room, followed by approaching women’s shoes. The Duchess ran like an animal on high heels over the squeaky floor of the attic. I suddenly saw a tear rolling over her white and silky but this time furious face. She ran by like I had never seen a woman running, hysteric but elegant though, without noticing me of course. I could hear her sobbing from where I stood and listened to it as it was a song. Following the sound, I walked to the tears that I could hear flowing over her cheeks. I found her with her beautiful crinoline sitting in a dusty corner. For a second I could feel her despair going right through me as I sat down next to her. I said silently that she shouldn’t be here, here in the dust, next to her servant. But she couldn’t stop crying and didn’t say more than “They.. Emh.. No.. He.. Hit me.” I tried to calm her with my voice, but that only had the opposite effect. So I took her face in my hands and whispered that she had to be

strong, that everything would be okay, although I didn’t know what was wrong yet. Her desperate look changed into calmness and hope now. She looked into my eyes and I could see a whole story into hers. The whole world disappeared around us and I suddenly could feel her cold but still warm lips on mine. Afterwards she never told me – and I never asked her – why she was so desperate, it didn’t really matter. From that moment on, Eleonora – because that was the Duchess’s first name – and I saw each other every day. I knew it was wrong, cheating on the Duke, but I didn’t try to stop it. For the first time in my life I had the feeling that someone was there for me, to please me, and that was a total new feeling. Getting used to it wasn’t very hard. But that one evening my world collapsed for a moment. The Duke showed me the painting were the Duchess was lying on the bench with only a cloth draped around her naked body, with next to her me, her servant, offering a plate with grapes. The smile she wore there on the wall reminded me of the one she gave me after the first time we made love, the one that made me lose myself every time again. The Duke’s only comment was strange enough that he didn’t like that smile. He told me with confidence that he had the feeling that his Duchess was cheating on him with the painter… I knew better; she laughed because she was half-naked and she knew I was looking at her, because she loved me, because soon we would be together in a painting. I felt my heart beating in my throat, but I kept a tight face. It was essential to be subtle at that moment, no strange behavior. Suddenly the Duke told me to do the most impossible thing that he could’ve ever asked me. I was given the assignment to finish it, to deal with her. Breathless moment. How could I kill the woman I loved, my precious, my everything? Her face on the wall was still smiling at me, only this time it had a totally different meaning. In my head nothing made sense anymore; I couldn’t get my thoughts organized. After the Duke gave me the order to leave the room, I was already scheming up a solution though; being a surrogate father to 11 children made me a quick problem solver. After 2 days of plotting my plans, I exposed them to the Duke: I would take the Duchess in the woods and kill her there. To prove her death, I would tear out her heart and bring it to the Duke. What the Duke actually agreed on, when he approved of my plans, was to take her to my house in the woods and to live the rest of my life with her. For the heart, I would kill a deer and cut out its heart. The Duke wasn’t smart enough to see the difference, that was for sure. When I revealed my plans to my dear Eleonora, she was euphoric and kissed me until my mouth was all red. “You make me happy”, was what she whispered in between two kisses.