The Turn of the Screw(Henry James)
I rewrote the short story based on Henry James's masterpiece, 'The Turn of The Screw'.
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The little, indiscreet Flora has fallen asleep like a log,
whereas I have not slept well for a few weeks after coming back to Bly.
It certainly got bright all around me, and I am happy
as if even my dark past which I can never reveal becomes solitude for this moment.
This is the unbelievable sense of happiness.
I saw her for the first time a few weeks ago.
She was my governess who came to meet me when I went back home in Bly after quitting school(p161).
She was the young lady, in the great glow of freshness with her extreme beauty.
When she cuddled me as a greeting, I felt a pain as if I were pricked all over.
It was a rapture!
Her beauty made me awake again.
It took some days for me to realize that we, in effect, were supposed to study together.
What I have been worried about was the ghost Quint, who followed me everywhere.
He had haunted at all times when I was at school.
At all events, I was afraid that Quint would commit invisible violence to her by reason of my love for her.
Except for that concern, Bly became a heavenly place because of her angelic existence.
At a certain moment, her attitude was different.
I took advantage of being a ten-year-old child and kissed her freely, and she never doubted my behavior.
Instead of asking about the reason of my expulsion from school,
she argued with Mrs. Gross seriously in a deserted place.
I had no idea what they were talking about, but it must have been about my school stuff.
Nevertheless, how can I say my past to her?
I tried as hard as I could to disperse her attention because I hated her sudden curiosity about my past.
I read her passages, told her stories or pounced out at her
in disguises as animals and historical characters.
I loved her bewilderment when I recited the pieces from some poems,
so I tried to get them by heart in my spare time(p193).
Quint's apparition showed up more frequently,
and I wanted to give him a piece of advice before she would notice it.
I was impatient because Quint,
who was changing more and more grotesquely, could have done something to her.
In addition, she kept strictly watching over Flora and me instead of falling asleep at night.
It bothered me that she wandered about in the house in the middle of the night.
One night, when Quint was at the top of the tower, I got out of the room and tried talking to him.
I had no choice but to do that in order to stop him from getting inside the house.
Unfortunately, I was caught by her on the spot(p201).
Under such circumstances, making a silence would be the wisest thing.
I came to her as straight as possible, and she took my hand without a word and led me,
through the dark spaces, to my room(p203).
That was a short moment but I felt it was like an eternity.Simply I couldn't explain it to her.
Whatever I said, I could not resolve her suspicion.
When she opened my chamber, she found the bed had not been slept in at all
and she dropped, sinking upon the edge of the bed(p204).
I hesitated to lift her up.
"Miles, you must tell me now - and all the truth.
What did you go out for? What were you doing there?"
I made a pause instantly.
Should I confess everything to her at the moment?
I tried negotiating with Quint in order to protect her, because I loved her.
But I had to be brave to actually talk about Quint.
I took my breath and said, "If I tell you why, will you understand?"
When she frowned and nodded, I decided to hide Quint's stuff.
"Well,"
I bent forward and kissed her.
"Think me - for a change - bad!(p204)"
At her blank look, I explicated Flora's and my strategy(p205).
Unexpectedly, she believed me and I was filled with joy,
saying "How otherwise could I have been so bad ?" and embraced her.
Then I brought up my uncle's story to change the awkward moment.
At that precise moment, I came to know it.
Looking at her suddenly, strangely beaming eyes, I came to realize it.
She had been happy to be a governess for me and Flora
because she loved my uncle, which I could not acknowledge it.
It was painful. I was shocked when I saw my loved one fell in love with another man.
I had never experienced such things so I couldn't stand back.
"Look here, my dear, you know.
When in the world, please, am I going back to school(p215)?"
She was shocked by the expression, 'my dear' and looked at me blankly.
Now I´ve set about it, there's no turning back.
"You know, my dear, that for a fellow to be with a lady always."
"Of course she's a jolly 'perfect' lady; but after all I'm a fellow, don't you see?
Who's - well, getting on(p216)."
I murmured. "I want my own sort!"
She laughed.
"There aren't many of your own sort, Miles! Unless perhaps dear little Flora!"
I was mad at her invidious remark.
"You really compare me with a baby girl(p217)?"
All I could do to resist was this; "Does my uncle think what you think(p218)?"
Though I knew her true feelings, I clung to my first love.
I wanted to talk to Quint about this.
I could not simply talk to little Flora about this grown-up topic.
In a restless night, I knew that she was standing in front of my chamber.
"I say, you there - come in(p225)."
She asked me what I was thinking of without sleep, and I said honestly,
"What in the world, my dear, but you?"
At that moment, I nearly fainted while looking at Quint's sudden invasion.
It's fortunate that she could never see Quint, I thought.
I tried to be calm as hard as possible and went on talking.
Suddenly, she huged me, but I was not delighted.
In a serious moment, Quint raised a disturbance and put out a candle.
I pretended to have put it out myself.
I hated Peter Quint at all times.
Nobody knows that Peter Quint died because of me.
He never left me even after his death.
Finally, she came to see Peter Quint, and she resisted him by drawing me closer to her breast.
In the end, I finally realized that Quint's ghostly existence was necessary for our certain relationship,
and I squeezed energy to express appreciation to him.
"Peter Quint - you devil(p261)!"
I could not see anything rolling into the deep abyss.
