Creative Writing: The Baron Armand De Valfort's Death

The Baron Armand de Valfort was dead! No one among those who were present when his body was discovered, could understand: why? Why, indeed, was he dead?! Although, I must say, all of them showed a great deal of restraint, - including Amandine Valloix,- it was, however, obvious, looking at their twisted lips, and protruded eyes, that they did not comprehend what had happened. It was a terrible shock! Evidently, the Baroness was most affected by the death of her husband in such horrible circumstances, but as her heart sank, her spirits rose, and she kept an admirable poise that impressed her small entourage. Even Dame Chaboix, was so moved by her friend’s composure under this assault of ill fate, that she did not indulge in reenacting one of …show more content…
Oh, yes! I had been hypnotized by the tiny bloody hole, this lamentable entry point of death. And now, all of a sudden, I was struck by an evidence that had escaped me. It was, as a matter of fact, a ‘non- evidence’ because after all, in all logic, what could I have possibly expected from a corpse? If not, what I was actually observing with an incomprehensible interest: He had his eyes closed. His face was at total rest. Shining. Reflecting the tranquil quietude of the inner peace that anyone would have envied him, if it were not for the eternal nature of his slumber. He looked like he was sleeping. ‘Perhaps dreaming’. Not one part of his face showed any sign of having been twisted, nor distorted by fear, or any kind of emotions that only imminent death can inject in the human heart. I realized now, why I had been struck by the fact that his eyelids were shut. I had seen corpses lying in morgues and battlefields, and none of them, after having faced death, had the serenity I could observe on the Baron’s visage. There could have been only one reason for such incidence. When Armand de Valfort met his Death, he didn’t see it coming! He went directly from one sleep to another, without waking