回归horror剧集本色。很喜欢这集的plot twist！

道连·格雷的自白:

The Confessionsof Dorian Gray

2.1 The Picture ofLoretta Delphine   女魔残像

听写：  @Kay_Lembas 

翻译：樊川景明

译校： @两斤氯化钠 

Synopsis

Florida, 2012. Summoned by the daughter of anold friend, Dorian finds himself confronted by the actions of his past… and afamiliar picture that holds a dreadful secret. But can he stop history fromrepeating itself, or is it already far too late?

2012年的佛罗里达州，应老朋友女儿的召唤，道连发现自己必须面对自己过去的所作所为，一张熟悉的照片隐藏着可怕的秘密。他能阻止历史重演吗？亦或是已经为时已晚？

Note: TheConfessions of Dorian Gray contains adult material and is not suitable foryounger listeners.

Written By: Gary Russell
Directed By: Scott Handcock

Cast

AlexanderVlahos (DorianGray) 道连·格雷

KatharineMangold (KaylaGrant) 凯拉·格兰特

LorettaDelphine 洛芮塔·德尔芬

Aisha 艾莎

 

Florida,summer 2012. I don’t like America very much these days. 70 years ago it wasexciting, exhilarating, full of adventure and novelty. It was like a living, breathing thing. 

Now asthe years have passed, familiarity hasbred contempt both in me towardsthe country and the country itself towards the rest of the world. America hasreplaced enthusiasm and optimism with cynicism and self-righteous arrogance.The last time I stood on its soil I swore I would never return but, here I am, again. Although to be honest Idon’t really feel that I’m on its soil at the moment, more accurately itsswamp. 

I findmyself back in the Florida everglades, a hot, sweaty place full of things thatfrankly want to eat you, insects, alligators, you name it. Even as I tried tosettle down on a small veranda away fromthe noisy bars I could still make out amovement in the waters, the smallest, most delicate ripples. And I shuddered.I do not like alligators. 

Ofcourse I wouldn’t be here at all if it hadn’t been for the letter she sent, aletter not an e-mail, text, tweet ormessage on Facebook, but an actual ink-on-paper letter. Quaint, but telling, I thought, because it suggested it was fromsomeone who knew me, or knew what I preferred in life. But then that’s KaylaGrant for you, wiser than her 25 years wouldsuggest, the smartest cookie, like her mother.

 

2012年夏天的佛罗里达，我不喜欢这些年的美国。70年前美国既激动又振奋人心，新奇又冒险满满。它像是一个活生生的东西。多年以后，熟悉孕育了我对这个国家的蔑视，同样也孕育了它对其他国家的蔑视。美国用愤世嫉俗和自以为是的傲慢取代了热情和乐观。上次我站在这片土地上时我发誓再也不会回来，但这回，我又来了。尽管老实说我并不觉得我正站在土地上，准确地说应该是在沼泽上。

我发现自己回到了佛罗里达的沼泽地上，一个炎热的冒着湿气的地方，充满了坦白讲真的想吃掉你的东西——昆虫，鳄鱼，只要你想得到的这儿都有。甚至当我试着在一个小阳台安顿下来远离喧嚣的酒吧，我仍可以辨认出水里的运动，极小极微弱的涟漪。我不寒而栗，鳄鱼我实在不喜欢。

当然，如果没有收到她的来信我绝对不会来。是一封信，不是电子邮件，不是短信，也不是推文，更不是脸书上的留言，而是实实在在手写的信。不符常规，但能说明问题，暗示着信件来自某个认识我的人，或者知道我偏好的人。但凯拉·格兰特就是这样的人，二十五岁的她有着超过她年纪的智慧，机敏过人，像她母亲一样。

 

Kayla Grant

Mr. Gray, sir, may I join you?

格雷先生，我能坐下来吗？

Dorian Gray

Hello, you’ve grown since we last met. The uniform suits you.

你好，上次见面之后你又长大了不少啊。这制服真适合你。

Kayla Grant

Done withthe Tampa PD a couple of years now. It’s not exactly localbut it keeps me busy. You haven’t changed much.

这几年都交代给坦帕警察局了。上班不怎么近，还好能让我忙起来。你没怎么变。

Dorian Gray

Unlikely I’msure, after all the last time I was here you were just a girl, I’m surprisedyou even remember me, Sergeant Grant.

我敢肯定不可能，毕竟我上次来见你的时候你还是个小女孩。我很惊讶于你居然记得我，格兰特警官。

Kayla Grant

Oh Kayla. Please, I’m off duty! Do you smoke?

哦，叫我凯拉吧，我下班了。你抽烟吗？

Dorian Gray

Not these days, sorry. 

这些年不抽了，不好意思。

Kayla Grant

But you don’tmind if I... It’s a bad habit I knowbut, Florida’s one of the few states we’restill allowed to smoke near bars.

那你介意我……我知道这不是好习惯但是，佛罗里达也是少有的还允许人在酒吧附近抽烟的州之一了。

Dorian Gray

Be my guest.

你随意。

Kayla Grant

Thanks. I don’t suppose you have a lighter or a match? Mine’s in thecar.

谢谢，你有打火机或者火柴之类的吗？我的在车里。

Dorian Gray

I… I’m afraid not.

恐怕我……没有。

Kayla Grant

Then theslow destruction of my lungs can wait till later. I guess you want to know howI tracked you down.

那我可以过会儿再继续慢性摧残我的肺。我猜你想知道我是怎么追踪到你的吧。

Dorian Gray

The thought had crossed my mind.

我确实思考过这个问题。

Kayla Grant

The Internet’s a wonderfulthing, Mr. Gray.

多亏了因特网这个神奇的存在，格雷先生。

Dorian Gray

I try to cover my tracks.Even the net can be... Manipulated.

我一直在掩盖我的行踪。就连网络也能被……操纵。

Kayla Grant

I’m very good at my job! Plus I had a little help.

我很擅长我的工作，而且我还得到了一点儿额外帮助。

Dorian Gray

Oh? 

哦？

Kayla Grant

My mom gave me this a few years ago, so I’d know what you look like.

我妈几年前给了我这个，好让我知道你的长相。

Dorian Gray

It’s a nice photo. 

这张照片不错。

Kayla Grant

Happier times. She told me that you’d be here. 

过去的幸福时光啊。她告诉我你会在这儿出现。

Dorian Gray

The Hotel Delphine? 

德尔芬旅店？

Kayla Grant

It has... a history, a cursed legacy,they say.

这儿有一段……过去，一个被诅咒的传说，人们都这么说。

Dorian Gray

I feel we all have one of those.

我觉得我们都有这么一个故事。

Kayla Grant

Apparently the original owner wasin league with the devil. 

据说，原先的旅店主人和魔鬼结盟了。

Dorian Gray

Huh.

唔。

Kayla Grant

She get that a lot around these parts. 

这一带的人经常这么说她。

Dorian Gray

LorettaDelphine is rumored to have been a great many things, Ms. Grant, but an idiot?I suspect not, because making packs with devils, demons, even Lucifer himself,always comes with a price, believe me.

洛芮塔·德尔芬的为人究竟如何，说法是有不少，格兰特小姐，但我猜没人会说她蠢。因为和妖魔鬼怪，甚至路西法本人做交易，都是要付出代价的，相信我。

Kayla Grant

Devil or not,after what she did, I certainly thinkshe’s pretty evil.

不管有没有恶魔。知道她的所作所为后，我是觉得她挺邪恶的。

Dorian Gray

Evil is avery powerful word, Kayla. Corrupt, immoral, just plain bad, but evil? That’s awhole different level of humanity.

邪恶这话重了，凯拉，可以说她道德败坏、丧尽天良、或者就是单纯的坏，但是邪恶？那说的完全不是同一种级别的人性。

Kayla Grant

Oh yeah? Mymom told me the stories, told me how mistress Delphine herself was in leaguedwith the crime gangs in the 1920s, played them off against one another, well,all the while pretending to help them. Any pointers, noadvantages, that Delphine could give them over the other, well she gotrewarded. Soundskinda romantic in a way.

真的假的？我妈妈给我说过那些故事，告诉我20年代老板娘德尔芬是如何和犯罪团伙结盟的，如何挑拨他们互相对立，却一直假装协助他们。德尔芬给他们提供能帮他们打败对方的提示。因此她也得到了回报。听起来还挺浪漫的。

Dorian Gray

But it wasn’t, was it? It isn’t. 

但其实不是，对吗？确实不是。

Kayla Grant

I guess not.They reckoned Delphine’s price was herinsanity. One day, the police entered the hotel and discovered that about 20 ofthe top bosses, people allegedly magicked away, werein fact in a secret dungeon stashed away behind the kitchen.

大概不是。他们估计德尔芬付出的代价是神经错乱。有天，警察进入酒店，发现了大约二十个那会儿的大佬，据说他们消失匿迹，像被施了法术一般，其实他们就在厨房背后隐藏的地牢里。

Dorian Gray

Mmm.

唔。

Kayla Grant

Most weredead, few were alive, all had been tortured, and I mean... really sadisticallytortured. One man was still alive, his intestines wrapped around his stomach,like a belt. Another was left drooling in the corner because Delphine haddrilled into his skull, and then poked his brain with a drinking straw dayafter day. Delphine claimed the devil did it, or at the very least made her doit.

大部分都死了，几乎没有活口，全被拷打折磨过，我的意思是真正的虐待狂式的拷打。有一个人还活着，他的肠子像腰带一样缠着他的胃。另一个人在角落里流口水，德尔芬用钻头钻开了他的头骨，每天用吸管戳他的脑子。德尔芬声称这是魔鬼做的，至少是魔鬼驱使她做的。

Dorian Gray

Your mother had an interesting take on bedtimestories.

你母亲讲起睡前故事来不走寻常路啊。

Kayla Grant

Haha.

哈哈。

Dorian Gray

And one imagines the policeweren’t exactly satisfied with Delphine’s excuses?

警方对于德尔芬的借口大概不甚满意？

Kayla Grant

You think?The thing is, Delphine escaped from jail before they could even try her. No one knows how. Secret lover on the force perhaps? Or one ofthe surviving crime bosses who felt theyowedher for all her work.

你以为？问题是德尔芬被起诉前就越狱成功了。没人知道她怎么做到的。或许警察里有她的神秘情人？或者有个幸存的罪犯头子觉得他们对她的帮助有亏欠？

Dorian Gray

No doubt some said the devil reclaimed her, yes?

肯定还有人说是魔鬼回收了她吧？

Kayla Grant

A few.Either way no trace was ever found. I reckon she must have tried to get back here, and gotten swallowed up by a gatoror something.

有些吧。不管是哪种原因，现场都没找到任何蛛丝马迹。我估计她肯定是尝试回旅馆，结果被鳄鱼吞了什么的。

Dorian Gray

Back to the scene of the crime. Andso here we both are, almost a hundred years later.

回到犯罪现场。几乎一百年之后，我们也来到了此地。

Kayla Grant

The old place is still going strong.

老地方生意还挺好。

Dorian Gray

So I cansee. I remember your mother telling me that quite a few owners have made asuccess of the hotel, bar a couple.

看得出来。我还记得你母亲告诉过我，这旅馆的好几任业主都经营得不错，除了那么一两位。

Kayla Grant

Yeah, theones whotried to take down Delphine’s picture. They have a photo, over the fireplace,see it? Just see there? They say it’s been there since the day she left.

是的，那些试图取下德尔芬的像的人。他们有张照片，在壁炉上方，看到了吗？看到那儿了吗？他们说自从她失踪后照片就一直在那儿了。

Dorian Gray

She seems to be staring at us too. How...Disconcerting.

她看上去还像在盯着我们。真是……令人不安啊。

Kayla Grant

Creepy, isn’t it? “Try to take this down and your business isfinished”, so they say.

够瘆人的，对吧？大家都说，“你要是试着把这玩意儿拿下来，你的生意就完了。”

Dorian Gray

More likely,it’s the story that keeps the touristscoming here. Keep the photo up, let the story spread and people will flockfrom miles around to see the face of the she-devil. Well I believe that’s whatthe current ownerscall her.

她的故事持续吸引着游客造访旅店什么的，真相多半是这样。让照片挂着，让故事流传，这样人们就会从数英里外慕名而来看这“女恶魔”的脸。我记得旅店现在的主人好像是这么叫她来着。

Kayla Grant

Yeah, I saw the brochure, too. So, you likethe photo my mom gave me? Her, you and... baby me. She said she had a real heapof trouble getting you to be in thephoto with us.

是啊，我也看到那些宣传手册了。那，你喜欢我母亲给我的照片吗？她、你和还是婴儿的我。她说她费了老鼻子劲儿才让你和我们合照。

Dorian Gray

Well, I don’t like being photographed.

这个嘛，我不太喜欢拍照。

Kayla Grant

She said,same way she told me to invite you here, on this day, at this hour, this hotellobby staring into that room...

她跟我说过，就像她跟我说了要请你到这儿来一样，约好这一天，这个时候，在酒店大堂，正对着那个房间…

Dorian Gray

Looking at that picture of Loretta Delphine.

看着洛芮塔·德尔芬的照片。

Kayla Grant

Yep, just asshe did every day she worked here. “Keeping an eye on it”, she always said. I guess she was guarding it? For you?

没错，就像她在这儿上班时一样，那会儿她天天看着她。“我在盯着它”，她过去总是这么说。我猜她是在为你看守它？

Dorian Gray

Sharp woman your mother. How is she? 

你母亲很厉害。她怎么样了?

Kayla Grant

She passed, 6 years ago.

六年前她去世了。

Dorian Gray

Oh I’m very sorry to hear that, Kayla. I tried to keep abreast of her the best I could.

凯拉，听到这个消息我很抱歉。我竭尽所能跟上她的步调。

Kayla Grant

Really?

真的？

Dorian Gray

Well of course, Aisha Grant was a fine woman, a very fine...

当然。艾莎·格兰特是位优秀的女士，非常优秀…

Kayla Grant

Are you... are you my father?

你是……你是我爹吗？

Dorian Gray

I’m sorry?

啥？

Kayla Grant

Seems a... fairly straightforward question. ARE YOU MY FATHER?

这问题够直接了吧。你是不是我爹？

Dorian Gray

Kayla please.

凯拉，拜托。

Kayla Grant

Just answer the freaking question.

你回答这该死的问题就是了。

Dorian Gray

No, noKayla, I’m not. I liked your mother a great deal and I loved her, as a friend.But there was never anything going on between us, I swear.

不，不是，我不是你爹。我很喜欢你母亲，从一个朋友角度来说也很爱她。但是我们之间什么都没发生，我发誓。

Kayla Grant

You could have still fucked her.

那你也可能和她过上床。

Dorian Gray

Yes, you’re right! I could have. But, I didn’t. You’re not mydaughter, Kayla.

你说得对，我可以。但我没有这么做，凯拉你真不是我女儿。

Kayla Grant

Good.

很好。

Dorian Gray

Good?

好？

Kayla Grant

Saves a lotof conversations about why’d you leave her, and where were you when the cancerturned up. Insteadwe can talk about other things. Come on, we should take a drive.

那就不用让你解释你为何离开我母亲，我母亲癌症复发时你在哪儿什么的了。我们可以讨论点儿别的事情。跟我来，我们开车离开这里。

As we gotinto her car, she finally lit her cigarette. I smiled as if it didn’t affect mebut tobacco smoke is a vile smell, and I knew that it would stay on my clothesfor days. A bit like the heat of the Florida everglades as the steam rises off the damp ground, it getting to yourclothing and then it rises off that aswell. It takes only a few seconds tofeel as if you are bathed in yesterday’s sweat, and don’t get me started on theinsects. 

Kayla drove me expertly downs somedirt roads away from the city, and Isoon realized we were heading to her oldfamily home, a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. The last place I’d seenher mother, Aisha Grant, a woman so tall and strong, but so traditionallyfeminine too. A woman any man would wantto love, and would have been lucky to be loved back. The car pulled up with aslight skid, almost as if it resisted being back there. Without a word, Kaylagot out, slamming her door behind her.She led me through the garden to the front door I knew so well. It was pittedand peelingnow and Iknew immediately that Kayla no longer lived there, because this was a homewhere life did not belong.

我们上车后，她终于点着了烟。我微笑着假装一点都不影响我，但是烟草味很难闻，而且会在我的衣服上残留好几天。它有点儿像佛罗里达沼泽地的热度，蒸汽从湿地里蒸腾上来，它会钻进衣服里，然后从衣服上蒸腾出来。不到几秒钟时间你就会感觉自己仿佛满身的昨日旧汗，更别提那里那些虫子了。

凯拉熟练地带着我沿土路驶离城市，不久我便意识到我们正前往她家旧宅——一座位于荒郊野外的小平房。我最后一次见到她母亲就是在那儿。艾莎·格兰特是个高壮但富有传统女性特质的女人。任何男人都愿意爱上她，若她回应这份感情，则可真算得上幸运。车里轻微打着滑停了下来，仿佛抗拒回到那个地方去。凯拉一言不发走出车子，用力关上她身后的车门。她领着我穿过花园来到我熟悉的前门。这门坑坑洼洼还掉漆，于是我瞬间明白了凯拉早就不住在这里，因为这里已经失去了生活的氛围了。

Kayla Grant

I moved to Tampa shortly after she died.

我母亲死后我就搬到了坦帕。

Dorian Gray

Ah I can see that.

啊，看得出来。

Kayla Grant

Don’t sugarcoat it, will you?

别说什么漂亮话，行么？

Dorian Gray

I’msorry, it’s just... it’s not what I was expecting. Your mother loved thisplace, it was always so full of spirit, much as she was.

抱歉我只是…这超出我的预料。你母亲很喜欢这里，这里总是充满了精气神。就像她本人一样。

Kayla Grant

Yeah, single mom, out in the sticks.She doted on me, you know?

是啊，单身母亲，远离城镇。她很宠我，你知道吗？

Dorian Gray

I know.

我知道。

Kayla Grant

Shenever said how poor we were. I just assumed we were the same as all the otherfolk around here, it wasn’t until I moved away and joined the force that Irealized that she’d had to work her assto the bone, and she did that just for me. Look at that old swing, Mr. Gray, the only toy I ever had, but, I neverthought of wanting more. I could sit out here in the garden, watching the worldgo by, and I thought I was a princess. I love my mom so much, that’s why Icouldn’t live here after she died.

她从不提及我们有多贫困。我一直以为我们和周围其他人一样。直到我搬离这里当了警察我才意识到她一直都累死累活，她只是为了我。看这个旧秋千，格雷先生，它是我唯一的玩具，但是我从来没想过要求更多。我可以坐在花园的秋千上，看世界变幻，想象自己是个公主。我很爱我的母亲，这就是她死后我无法继续在这里住下去的原因。

Dorian Gray

So you just boarded it up and left it.

所以你就钉上木板然后离开。

Kayla Grant

I didn’t know what to do with it.

我不知道该怎么处理它。

Dorian Gray

Sell up. 卖掉。

Kayla Grant

I tried, but, pulled out. Nah,I thought about burning it down for a time.

我试过，但是后来又撤销了。不，我曾一度想烧了它。

Dorian Gray

Now thatI can believe. 

这句我信。

Kayla Grant

But I couldn’t.

可我不能。

Dorian Gray

Insurance not good enough?

保险不理赔？

Kayla Grant

Not that. I... just couldn’t. I tried, I really did. Take a sniff. 不是。我就是做不到。我试了，我真的去做了。你闻下。

Dorian Gray

Kerosene.

煤油。

Kayla Grant

I spreadit everywhere, to the house, the grounds. I stood here a few weeks back, I evenlit a match, something stopped me going through with it.

我到处泼了煤油，房子啊、周边的地啊。几周前我站在此处，甚至划了根火柴，但是某样东西阻止了我。

Dorian Gray

Just be careful where you put out your cigarettes. 灭香烟时注意点儿地方。

Kayla Grant

Don’t worry. It wasn’tyesterday. 别担心。不是昨天泼的。

Dorian Gray

Perhaps,but I doubt kerosene and marshland mixthat well. You said something stopped you going through with it?

或许吧，但是我觉得沼泽地里掺上煤油可不会有什么好事情。你刚说某样东西阻止了你。

Kayla Grant

Yeah, I reckon it was her. 是的，我认为是她做的。

Dorian Gray

Aisha? You think your mother’s spirit reached out to blow out yourmatch?

艾莎吗？你觉得你妈的灵魂出来吹灭了你的火柴？

Kayla Grant

Not her, follow me, inside.

不是她，跟我到里面去。

 

Kaylaled me onto the porch and into the house I hadn’t entered for 20 years. Theplace was laid out just as I remembered. The small lower rooms, the stairs at the center of the house, kitchen andbathroom at the back. But there are two major... additions to the decor thathad not been there before. The first were the blood stains. The walls andfloors were covered in cast-offsprayed in every conceivable direction. Someserious crimes had been committed here,within the last week, too, and the sheervolume of gore told me there had been a substantial number of victims in theliving room, 5 at least. I noticed Kayla choked back the stench. The smell of blood is distinctive, if notstrong, and if you’ve ever cut your finger, one you’d recognize.

凯拉领着我穿过门厅进入房子，我已经20年没进去过了。这地方布局还是我记忆中的样子，低层的小房间，楼梯在房子中间，厨房和浴室在后面。但新增加了两个显眼的……我没见过的装饰。一个是血渍，墙上地板上到处都是迸溅的血迹，溅满了每个角落。这里一定发生了严重的命案，还是过去一周内发生的。现场的血量就足以告诉我，有不少人在起居室里遇害了，至少五个。我留意到凯拉强忍着恶臭，血的气味与众不同，哪怕气味不浓烈。你要是曾经切破过自己的手指，你也能辨认出这味道。

Nowimagine that strange smell multiplied, but for each drop of your bloodsubstitute 8 pints of someone else’sthen times that by half a dozen or so. The charnel house fumewe got was nothing to the coppery smell that hitus as we stood there. No bodies, noremains, just walls awash with tacky dull red blood. 

想象那种味道加倍，但除此以外你手指的每滴血还得替换成别人八品脱那么多血，然后再加重五倍。铜味的血腥气冲击了站那儿的我们，和那味道比起来，藏尸屋的臭味一点都不算啥。没有尸体，没有残骸，只有被粘稠暗淡的红色血迹洗刷过的墙壁。

 

Kaylatook me first into the kitchen, then up the stairs into some of the bedrooms. The one she had grown up in and the one Ihad once used were exactly the same as the room downstairs. My head wasspinning, surely we were now between 15 and 20 potential victims. Throughoutour tour, Kayla said nothing, not until we stood outside the door of her latemother's bedroom.

凯拉先是带着我来到厨房，然后上楼进入几间卧室。她从小用的房间和我曾经住过的房间与楼下房间布局一样。我头晕目眩，现在潜在受害者肯定上升到15-20个了。整圈走下来，她一言不发，直到我们站在她已故母亲房间门外，她才开口说话。

Kayla Grant

Did you notice? 

你注意到了吗

Dorian Gray

Notice what? 

注意到什么？

Kayla Grant

How cold it is in here. 

这里有多冷。

Dorian Gray

Mm... I can see my breath. 

唔，我能看到我呼出的白气。

Kayla Grant

It's 95 degrees outside.

外面有95度（华氏）。

Dorian Gray

But inside this house... 

但是室内……

Kayla Grant

It’scold as the grave, yeah. Keeps the insects away at least, though the bodies were gone whenI first discovered all of these.

像坟墓里那么冷。至少室内没有昆虫，尽管第一次发现这些时尸体就没有了。

Dorian Gray

So just the blood. 这么说只有血。

Kayla Grant

Just the blood. And... This. 只有血和……这个。

 

When sheopened the door, I had prepared myself for blood, gore and a pile ofdismembered bodies just like all the others. I hadn't prepared myself for whatwas on the other side. It was like I'd walked through a door into analternative reality. If the rest of the house had been squalor and gorepersonified, Aisha's room was straight out of a fairy tale, it was immaculate,clean, somehow bright and cheerful in spite of the boarded-up windows. It wasas though this one part of the house had been preserved in a time bubble at themoment Aisha had died. I walked towards the beautifully made-up bed.I couldactually smell the lemongrass scent I never even realized I'd associated withher. But there it was, every bit is as fresh as 20 years ago. 

当她打开门，我原本已经为和其他地方差不多的血、血块和一大堆残肢做好了心理准备。对于门后的场景我完全没有心理准备。我彷佛进入了另一个现实。如果说房子的其余部分已经成为肮脏和血腥的化身，那么艾莎的房间全然是一个童话，房间干净到完美，不知为何明亮又活泼，尽管窗户被钉上了。感觉房子这部分变成了一个时空泡泡，定格在艾莎死去的时刻。我径直走向那铺得漂漂亮亮的床铺。我切实闻到了香茅味，此前我从未意识到自己已经把这股味道与她联系在了一起，那味道恍如二十年前那般新鲜。

 

I turnedback to Kayla and noticed what she had wanted me to see because, there, in thisimpeccable room there was a photo above the door, a photograph I had seen lessthan 30 minutes ago back at the hotel.Loretta Delphine was staring down at me, from behind her sheet of glass, and I swear there wassomething different about the image, the slightest smile, a sneer that hadn’tbeen there earlier. Of course, it could have just been a print, another copy,but something in my stomach told me that this was the genuine article, that theother had been a copy. What confirmed it in my mind? Most likely the message Isaw when Kayla closed the door behind us. A warning, smeared in blood, bleedingonto the wall the door had hidden. “Hello Dorian”, it read, “Welcome home. Oh,and I got out”.

我转向凯拉然后注意到了她想让我看的东西，在这间完美无缺的房间的门框上方有一张照片。这张照片不到三十分钟前我刚在旅馆见过。洛芮塔·德尔芬正透过相框那层玻璃盯着我看。我发誓那张照片有点不同，有着极细微的笑，之前未见的一丝哂笑。当然，这可能只是一张印刷图、一张复制品，不过我的直觉告诉我，这张是真迹，另外那张才是复制品。是什么让我肯定了自己的念头？多半是凯拉关上我们身后的门时我看到的信息。是一个用血涂写成的警告，字迹在被门遮住的那块墙上洇开，上书“你好，道连。欢迎回家，哦还有我逃出来了。”

Kayla Grant

What does it mean? “I got out”.这是什么意思？“我逃出来了。”

Dorian Gray

I should have thought that was pretty obvious.

我想这是显而易见的。

Kayla Grant

But why is that photograph here? In my mom’sroom? 

但是为什么照片会在这里？在我母亲的房间里。

Dorian Gray

I don’t know. How long now since you’ve found all these? 我不知道。你发现这些已经多长时间了？

Kayla Grant

About 5weeks, I guess? You know what’s going on here, don’t you? That’s why my momtold me to expect you there, today, at the HotelDelphine. But what exactly is going on here Dorian?

我猜大约五个礼拜？你知道这里正在发生什么不是吗？这就是为什么我母亲告诉我今天在那里——在德尔芬旅店等你出现。但是道连，这里到底在发生什么？

Dorian Gray

You’d never believe me.

你不会信我的。

Kayla Grant

Try me. 说来听听。

Dorian Gray

We trapped her, your mother and I, we trapped Loretta Delphine’sspirit in her photograph.

我们把她困住了，你母亲和我。我们把洛芮塔·德尔芬的灵魂困在了她的照片里。

Kayla Grant

You’ve got to be kidding me. How? 你是在跟我开玩笑吗？怎么做的？

Dorian Gray

I have some experience with imagery in the supernatural, let’s justleave at to that.

我对处理超自然的图片有些经验。我们就只说这么多好了。

Kayla Grant

Let’s… What?! 我们…什么？

Dorian Gray

My wordwas enough for your mother, it needs to be enough for you now. How did Lorettaget out again? Last time she reanimated the recently dead.

我的话对你母亲来说足够了，对你来说也必须足够了。洛芮塔又是怎么出来的？上次她复活了新近的死者。

Kayla Grant

Her victims, you mean. 你的意思，是她的牺牲者。

Dorian Gray

Yes.Looks like she just hacked people downstairs into little bits. Bad news for them but good news for us. Notexactly ideal vessels for her. Besides I doubt you triedshe’d try the same trick twice, not after the last time.

是的，看来她直接把楼下那些人砍成了小块。对他们来说是坏事可对我们来说是好事。碎尸块可不是什么特别合适的容器。再说我不觉得她会再耍她玩过的花招，至少上次之后不会再作此尝试。

Kayla Grant

You actually believe every word you’re saying, don’t you?

你真的相信你说的每个字，对吗？

Dorian Gray

Believeme, I wish I didn’t. Think, Dorian,think, she dismembered the bodies so she’d needsomething else, some sort of sacrifice.

相信我，我但愿自己不信。（对自己说）好好想想，道连，她肢解了尸体，那么她会需要别的东西，某种牺牲。

Kayla Grant

And what about the photo? They said back at the hotel, you know…those that took it down…

那这照片怎么回事？旅馆那边的人都说，你知道的，那些把照片拿下来的人…

Dorian Gray

No no no no! Don’t… don’t touch it!

别，别！不要碰它！

Kayla Grant

Well I’m sorry, I just thought…

呃抱歉。我只是想……

Dorian Gray

What? What were you thinking?什么？你刚才想到了什么？

Kayla Grant

I don’t know. That… maybe if we burnedit or something.

我不清楚。那个……我们或许可以烧了它啥的。

Dorian Gray

Don’t beabsurd. If Loretta’s spirit is free she can just hop into something else, thereare copies, remember?

别闹。如果洛芮塔的灵魂自由了她可以随便快速附在别的东西上，照片有好几张的，记得么？

Kayla Grant

That photo… at the hotel, could she hop into that?

在旅馆的…照片，她能快速附上它么？

Dorian Gray

A bittricky given the distance, but there could still be others. Check downstairssee if you can find any other photos, anything at all however small. I’ve just had an idea.

这距离恐怕有点儿棘手，但是这里可能还有别的照片。检查楼下看是否还能找到别的照片，不管到底有怎么小。我刚有了个主意。

 

I castmy mind back 20 years, back to the Hotel Delphine, out in the swamps where Aisha Grant and I had battled against aswarm of living corpses, zombies, summoned into being by the spirit of LorettaDelphine, and as the frenzied rottingbodies dropped around us, Aisha never flinched, not once. She caught my eye as she dispatched a manshe’d known when he was living, her facemasking all emotion. She seemed bothtriumphant in bringing down this evil force but also, horrified by what she wasdoing. They were her neighbors and her friends, people who had been killed andwhose cadavers had been hijacked by a vengeable blood-crazedevil from the dawn of the 20th century. I took it in my stride, it was perhaps alittle much to expect of Aisha.

EventuallyKayla returned and interrupted my train of thought. She said the house wasempty as I suspected, there were no photos of Loretta Delphine or anyone else. Noneof Aisha or Kayla herself, their lives had been stripped away. With a sad sighI closed the door behind me, and followed Kayla to the swing set in the garden.I knelt down and rubbed my hand on the ground, Kayla clearly thought I was mad.So I shrugged and stood up.

我的思绪瞬间回到二十年前的德尔芬旅馆，追想自己和艾莎·格兰特并肩在外面的沼泽地里，与一群被洛芮塔·德尔芬的灵魂唤醒的活尸大战。癫狂的腐烂尸体在我们四周倒下时，艾莎完全没有退缩，一次也没有。她在处决一具生前是她熟人的僵尸时，目光对上了我的双眼，她的脸上掩藏着情绪。她似乎既为打倒这股邪恶势力得意洋洋又对自己的所作所为感到震惊。他们都是她的邻居和朋友，他们被杀死后，尸体又被一个来自二十世纪初的复仇嗜血狂魔所劫持。我对此事是轻松对付，或许我不该指望艾莎也能泰然处之。

终于凯拉回来了，打断了我的思绪。她说房子如我所疑，完全空的没有任何照片，无论是洛芮塔·德尔芬的还是别人的，甚至连艾莎和凯拉的都没有，她们的人生都被剥夺了。我一声悲叹关上了身后的门，跟着凯拉来到花园的秋千边，我跪下去用手摩挲着地面。凯拉明显觉得我是疯了，于是我耸了耸肩站起身。

Dorian Gray

I just had a strange thought. What does it matter? Ignore me. 

我方才有个奇怪的念头。不过这有什么打紧的？无视我就好。

Kayla Grant

Okay,sure. I need a cigarette. Here, can you um, can you give me a light? My handsare shaking too much.

好，行。我要抽根烟。来…你能…能帮我点么？我手抖得太厉害。

Dorian Gray

Of course. 当然。

Kayla Grant

Thanks.So what you are thinking? You… trapped Delphine in a photo, now she’s pissed,she’s killing people. What? Just cos shehates you?

多谢。那你怎么想？你…把德尔芬困在照片里，现在她怒气十足，在杀人。怎么回事？只是因为她讨厌你？

Dorian Gray

I can and will and have justified all and every perversion of theart of murder.

我可以，我将会也已经证明了谋杀艺术中一切扭曲行为的正当性。

Kayla Grant

What? 

什么意思？

Dorian Gray

Something Delphine said to your mother and I before we trapped her.

我们捕获德尔芬前她对你母亲和我说了这些话。

Kayla Grant

And now she’s out. 然后她现在跑出来了。

Dorian Gray

She’s a primal force Kayla. Loretta Delphine reveledin carnage and abject malevolence. Her force, her spirit if you like, isresponsible for enabling these, but she has no physicalpresence.

她是一种原始力量，凯拉。洛芮塔·德尔芬陶醉于屠杀和卑鄙的恶念。造成这一切的是她的力量，她的精神——随你喜欢怎么叫，但是她没有实体。

Kayla Grant

But something physically did that. 但肯定有实体做了这些事情。

Dorian Gray

No, no.Someone did it, started it at least. They killed and spread her vengeance likea virus. That’s what’s happened here,one person committed an act of murder, and that scent of blood, that… firstvisceral hacking of the flesh, set off others into an orgy of mindless violence。

不，不是的。有人做了这些事情，至少开了个头。他们杀起人来，像传播病毒一样传播她的复仇之魂。这里的事情就是如此。一个人犯下谋杀行为，然后那血腥味……那第一个人冲动地砍向血肉，让其余人陷入了无意识暴力的狂欢。

Kayla Grant

Who? Who would do that? 谁？谁会做这些？

Dorian Gray

I imagine it was your mother given the evidence. 从证据上看我猜那个人是你母亲。

Kayla Grant

What?!

你说什么？！

Dorian Gray

She musthave had a sliver of Delphine’s spirit trapped inside her, not that she’d haveknown that and that final look she gave me, I took it to be relief but, was ityour mother, or Loretta inside her body?

肯定是有一小块德尔芬的灵魂被禁锢在了她身体里，尽管她并不知情。她最后给我那一眼，我以为是她松了一口气，但那究竟是你母亲还是占据了她身体的洛芮塔？

Kayla Grant

This is bull! You know that? Everything you’re saying is crap! 

尽是胡扯！你知道吗？你说的一切都是胡言乱语！

Dorian Gray

Is it? Ishould have known it was too easy trapping her in that photograph. She’d already divided her energies, weaken herself.She was splitting herself between two hosts, don’t you see, that photoand your mother, which would explain why the photo in that house is theoriginal. Your mother must have stolen it from the hotel, replaced it with acopy when she worked there.

是吗？我早该明白，把她封印在照片里的过程太过容易。她提前分裂了自己的力量，削弱自己，把自己割裂成两个灵魂，没发现么？照片和你母亲。两者印证了为什么这栋房子里的才是原始照片。你母亲在旅馆上班的时候，肯定用复印件替换了旅馆里的照片，把照片偷了出来。

Kayla Grant

Don’t you dare say things like that about my mom, she spent allthose years watching it for you.

你怎么敢这样说我母亲，她这些年都在为你监视它。

Dorian Gray

Forsomeone, yes, not me. And I’m sorry Kayla, buteven perfection can be corrupted. Your mother stole that picture andbrought it here.

为某人，并不是我。我很抱歉，凯拉，但是完人也可能腐化。你母亲偷了照片带到这里。

Kayla Grant

Why? Huh, why would she do that? 

为何？哈？她为什么要这么做？

Dorian Gray

Becauseshe had no choice, and like I said earlier, I kept an ear out for your motherto check she was safe. And other than hearing about her quitting her job at thehotel, I never heard anything else.

因为她别无选择，就像我之前说的，我一直留心注意她是否安全。除了听说她辞去了旅店的工作外，我没有得到其他消息。

Kayla Grant

So? She kept herself to herself once the cancer started…然后？她自从癌症发作后就一直自己扛着……

Dorian Gray

Nothingelse Kayla! Nothing at all! Certainly no obituary. There never was any cancer,was there? Your mother was possessed by a shard of Loretta Delphine’s spirit,as so many have been over the years, just as everyone in that house was. AishaGrant didn’t die from cancer, she died in her own home. Probably a victim ofthe slaughter, the slaughter she’d have instigated. Because that’s how mistressDelphine’s spirit works. She’s evil,twisted and insane, which makes her dangerous. She probably wrote that messageon the door in Aisha’s blood, all to amuse at my expense.

没有其他消息，凯拉，完全没有！当然更不可能有讣告。根本就没得什么癌症，对吗？你母亲被洛芮塔·德尔芬的灵魂碎片控制，就像多年以来那么多被附身的人一样，就像这屋子里的每一个人那样。艾莎· 格兰特并非死于癌症，她死在自己家里。或许是一场屠杀的受害者，一场由她煽起的屠杀。因为老板娘德尔芬的灵魂就是这么回事。她邪恶，扭曲，疯狂，这让她变得很危险。她或许用艾莎的血，在门上留言，纯粹只为寻我开心。

Kayla Grant

But how? How could she do that? 

但是怎么弄的？她怎么做到的？

Dorian Gray

To Loretta Delphine? That's nothing.  对洛芮塔·德尔芬来说，这样的事不算什么。

Kayla Grant

But if my mother was already dead…但是如果我母亲已经去世了……

Dorian Gray

Howcould she write the message, you mean.Well I would have thought the answer to that was simple, Aisha never wrote themessage, Kayla, you did, after youhacked your own mother to death. That’s right, isn’t it, Loretta? You’ve beenwaiting all this time.

她怎么留言的，我懂你的意思。我还以为答案很简单。艾莎从来没写过留言，凯拉，是你做的，在你砍死你母亲之后。应该是这样对吗，洛芮塔？你始终在等待这个机会。

Loretta Delphine

Aishamade an appointment, I figured it’d be ashame not to try and keep it. Shame you didn’t work it all out a little earlierthough, letting me drag you back intothe middle of nowhere.

艾莎约你约好了的，我觉得不守约就可惜了。只可惜你没有早点想到，还由着我把你框到这前不着村后不着店的地方。

Dorian Gray

It was arisk, certainly. Surprised you joined the police, though, after all they did to you back in theday.

是有点冒险。不过还是没想到你居然加入警局，之前他们对你做了那么多过分的事情。

Loretta Delphine

Authorityhas its uses, and… even perfection can be corrupted. You realize I could shootyou, here and now?

权力自有它的用场，而且即使完人也能腐化。我可以在此时此地射杀你，你到底意识到没有？

Dorian Gray

I’m a very hard man to kill.

我可不会被轻易干掉。

Loretta Delphine

So Iremember, but I could still knock you out perhaps, bury you in the swamps,submerged, 30 feet down, unable to breathe, but unable to die. How long beforeyou’d go insane, do you think?

我当然记得，但我仍旧可以把你击昏，把你埋在沼泽里，浸在30英尺深的地方，你无法呼吸又死不掉。你觉得你能坚持多久不神经错乱？

Dorian Gray

You tell me, you’re the expert there. 你来告诉我，你是这方面的行家。

Loretta Delphine

Maybeyou are already mad. All that time alone, everyone dropping like flies aroundyou. Aisha and Kayla Grant were the closest thing you have left to a family. 

也许你已经疯了。一直孤身一人，所有人都像苍蝇一样在你身边死去。艾莎和凯拉曾是最接近于你家人般的存在。

Dorian Gray

And is that why you killed them both? To get at me?

然后这就是你杀了她们俩的原因？为了对付我？

Loretta Delphine

I neededto show you what will happen, what’s gonna keep on happening. You have aneternity ahead of you Dorian, you’ll keep on meeting new people, making newfriends, breaking hearts, occasionally falling in love, but all the while neverdaring to get involved because you know what’s coming next.

我必须让你看到将会发生的事，将来会不停发生的事。你有永恒的生命，道连。你会一直遇到新的人，结交新的朋友，让别人心碎，偶尔陷入爱河，但是过程中你永远不会大胆陷进去，因为你知道接下来会发生什么。

Dorian Gray

My friends are dead because of you. 我的朋友因为你，死了。

Loretta Delphine

They are. 

没错。

Dorian Gray

AishaGrant had to kill her husband in cold blood because of you, and now, now I’mgoing to have to kill her daughter because of you.

因为你，艾莎·格兰特不得不冷血地杀死她的丈夫。而如今，如今因为你，我又不得不杀死她的女儿。

Loretta Delphine

Anyone else? I see a pattern emerging here? 还有别的人吗？我好像看到有规律浮现了？

Dorian Gray

Whateveryou want Loretta, I wasn’t going to let you have it 20 years ago, you’re notgonna have it now.

不管你要什么，洛芮塔，20年前我没有让你得到，你现在也休想得到。

Loretta Delphine

Mm but I don’t want what I crave for 20 years ago. 

但是我现在不想要我20年前渴望得到的东西。

Dorian Gray

You don’t? 

不想？

Loretta Delphine

No, Dorian, I don’t. All I want now is… You. 

对，道连，我不想要了。我现在只想得到…你。

Dorian Gray

Me? 我？

Loretta Delphine

You can’t cope with the stresses of the eternity Dorian Gray, you’ve livedfar too long already. At the back of your minds,you know that. You’re bored, you’ve seen all there is to see, you’ve done allthe things you want to do, and if you’venothing left to live for…

你无法应对来自永生的压力。你已经活得够久了。在你潜意识里你很明白这点。你感到无聊，见到了所有想见的，做过了所有想做的，如果你已经失去了活下去的动力…

Dorian Gray

That’s… not true. 这…不对。

Loretta Delphine

Crap!Don’t give me that. Your loved ones, friends, acquaintances, they all crumble and die around you, the world moveson, but it’s leaving you behind. You’re a man out of your time and now you arestruggling, struggling to keep up with it all, struggling to find a reason tokeep on living.

你就扯吧！别糊弄我！你爱的人，朋友，熟人，他们都会崩解为尘，死在你的眼前。世道变幻把你甩在后面。你已经不属于这个时代，现在的你在竭力挣扎，挣扎着追赶世界，挣扎着寻找活着的理由。

Dorian Gray

You think this has never crossed my mind? 你觉得我就没想过这些吗？

Loretta Delphine

Oh Iknow it has. It plays on the mind of us meremortals, so for you, how badly you must feel it. Everyday, knowing thatsomeone else is passing over, that for every friend you make, you lose another.

哦我就知道你有想过。这些念头甚至萦绕在我们区区凡人的脑中，那你心中该多难熬啊。意识到每天都有人离世，每认识一位新朋友，就失去另外一个。

Dorian Gray

You find ways of coping-   总会找到应付的方法-

Loretta Delphine

But why?I can give you a release, Dorian Gray, an ending, I can let you sleep forevermore. All you have to do is… let me in.

可为何要应付？道连·格雷，我能给你一个解脱，一个终结。我可以让你永远沉睡，你要做的仅仅是让我附身（进来）。

Dorian Gray

What are you suggesting? 你在提议什么？

Loretta Delphine

Kayla Grant won’t serve me long, she’s weaker than her mother. 

凯拉·格兰特供养不了我多久，她比她母亲软弱多了。

Dorian Gray

Oh I think she’s stronger than yougive her credit for… 

但我我觉得她比你所想的要强。

Loretta Delphine

Ohwhatever! She’s still not you. You… could last a lifetime, several lifetimes.You wouldn’t even need to be conscious. I could subsume you, as I have her, if…that’s what you want. You’d be dead to the world.

管她呢！反正她还是比不上你。你可以…用一辈子，好几辈子。你甚至不需要保持清醒。我可以占有你，就像我对她那样。如果这是你想要的，从此你就可以不省人事。

Dorian Gray

And after that? When you are done with me. 然后呢？等你对我做完这些事之后呢？

Loretta Delphine

There would be no after, Dorian, this would be it. You’re tempted byme, aren’t you? Just a little.

没有什么然后，道连，就是这样为止。你有点动心吧？有一点吧。

Dorian Gray

Everything you are disgusts me. The things you’ve done…

你的一切都令我恶心，你所做的…

Loretta Delphine

And yet…但是…

Dorian Gray

You’re telling me I could end this. 你是说我可以死在这里。

Loretta Delphine

Yes. All you have to do is take my hand. 是的。你要做的只是握住我的手。

Dorian Gray

Just take your hand and let you in. 

只是握住你的手然后让你附身（进来）。

Loretta Delphine

That’s right.

没错。

Dorian Gray

What then? 

然后会发生什么？

Loretta Delphine

Then? 然后？

Dorian Gray

When you’re in my body. Tell me, what happens then?   当你在我身体里时，告诉我，将会发生什么？

Loretta Delphine

What do you think? Ah I couldgive you some bull about being reformed but, you won’t buy that. Nah Dorian, Ido exactly what you think. I’ll march acrossthis land, and kill, and they’ll never be able to stop me.

你想呢？我可以给你扯些我已经改过自新之类的鬼话，不过你不会买账的。不，道连，我之后会做的就和你想的一样。我会横扫大陆，大开杀戒，而他们永远无法阻止我。

Dorian Gray

And why should that appeal? Why should I let you? 这有什么吸引人的吗？我干嘛要放任你这么做？

Loretta Delphine

Because you’ll never know a thing about it. 因为那时你根本不会知道这些。

Dorian Gray

Out of sight and out of mind. 眼不见心不烦。

Loretta Delphine

Something like that. What do you say? 差不多。你怎么看？

 

I didn’tsay a word, instead I took Kayla’s hand in mine, and I felt a force wash overme, like a wave of black decaying tar,thick, sebaceous and cold, so cold Icould feel it running through my veins, my nerves,my mind. I forced my eyes to open, shehad yet to take full hold of me because there was something else she needed,something special. And I could feel her, Loretta,inside me searching angrily, spreading herself aboutme, vainly scouring my physical form for what she needed. Her goal, herambition, her need. No such luck Loretta. You wanted the soul of Dorian Gray?No such thing.

我没有回答，相反地我抓起凯拉的手，于是我感到一股力量在我体内席卷激荡，仿佛黑色腐烂焦油的波浪，粗粝，油腻，冰冷。冰冷到我可以感知到力量在我的血管、我的神经、我的头脑中狂奔。我竭力睁着眼睛，她还没有完全掌控我，因为有些别的东西，别的特别的东西是她所需要的。我能感觉到洛芮塔在我体内愤怒地搜寻着，在我体内扩散着她自己，徒劳地冲刷我的躯壳，寻找她想要的东西。她的目标、她的野心、她的需求。没有那么好运，洛芮塔。你想得到道连·格雷的灵魂？它不存在。

I couldfeel her rage inside me, screaming that I had tricked her. All that fury, allthat hatred, swearing that she would have her revenge. And perhaps, one day shemight have, but then I did something I’d hoped I’d never do, and if Aisha Grantwas watching, from wherever she happened to be, I hoped that she’d forgive me.I had told Loretta that Kayla was stronger than she realized because she hadbeen fighting all that time. Weeks ago when she soaked the ground in kerosene,why tell me that? Because it was her way out, her part of the trap, and shehoped I’d take the bait without Lorettarealizing. Clever Kayla. And so I reached down to Kayla’s body and snatched the cigarette from hermouth, and I let it gently fall. 

我能感觉到她在我体内暴怒，尖叫着说我欺骗了她。那怒气和仇恨，她发誓终有一天她要复仇。或许以后她会吧，不过，接下去我做了一件我之前希望我永远不会做的事，如果艾莎·格兰特从不知道什么地方看到我的话，但愿她会宽恕我。我跟洛芮塔说了凯拉比她想的要强，因为自始自终凯拉都在反抗。几周前她让地面浸透了煤油，为何她要告诉我这点？因为这是她摆脱的方式，她的陷阱的一部分，她希望我能明白而又不让洛芮塔意识到。聪明的凯拉。于是我摸到凯拉的身体，抓过她嘴里的香烟，让烟轻轻落到了地面上。

Thegarden went up in seconds, I managed to dodge back onto the road but it was toolate for poor Kayla. Her empty vessel toppled down onto the blazing grass andlaid there drowned in flame. I retched at the stench of fuel and burning meat,and I could hear Loretta laughing in my head. So I reached inside my pocket andpulled out the one thing I had left. Guessing how this might end. It was thephoto of Loretta Delphine, the one Aisha had stolen from the hotel, heroriginal home, and now her only recourse. I held the tattered image to my eyes knowing that she would see it, and Ifelt Loretta’s spirit leave my body as painfully as she’d entered it.

I swearthe photo twitched just for a moment and even though my eyes were full ofsmoke. I swear I saw her snarl. But I didn’t have time to check, instead I heldthe photo between my fingers and cast it into the flames. It must have gone upin an instant, all those decades-oldchemicals mixed with the fire and oil, and I could have sworn I heard Loretta scream. 

花园在数秒间燃烧起来，我设法躲闪着回到小路上，但是对可怜的凯拉来说为时已晚。她空荡荡的躯壳倒在炽热的草丛间，躺着那里被火焰吞没。我一边在燃料和焦肉的恶臭中干呕，一边听到洛芮塔在我脑中大笑。于是我摸进我的口袋，掏出我仅剩的一件东西。心里猜测这一切到底将怎么完结。那件东西是洛芮塔·德尔芬的照片，那张艾莎从旅馆偷出来的照片——洛芮塔·德尔芬的“老家”，也是她目前唯一的倚仗。我把破旧的照片举到眼前，心里清楚她会看到照片。我感觉她的灵体离开我的身体，就像她进来时那么令我痛苦。

我发誓照片瞬间抽动了一下，尽管我的眼里满是烟雾，我发誓我看到了她龇牙咧嘴。但是我没时间确认了，相对地，我用手指夹着照片，把它扔进了火堆。那玩意儿肯定在片刻间就烧掉了，几十年积累的化学品与火和油混杂着，我简直敢发誓我听到了洛芮塔的尖叫。

Coughingand retching I staggered away from the flames and started to run. It wouldn’tbe long before someone stumbled across the blaze, and I didn’t want to be nearthe vicinity when they did so. Themurder of a police sergeant was something even I would struggle to talk myself out of. I allowed myself onefinal glance back at the swing set, firstly to say farewell to poor braveKayla, and secondly to ensure that the photograph had been destroyed. I’m happyto say that it was nowhere to be seen. But I was, still here after all theseyears, after all the things I’ve done, and everything Loretta Delphine had saidabout me, about my life, my friends, my hatred, every word was true, and Istill felt it, deep inside me the sense of loss and longing, where a soul should have been.

我边咳嗽边干呕，踉跄着从火焰中脱身，开始奔跑。不久后就会有人路过火场，当他们过来的时候，我可不想出现在附近。就算是我，谋杀警官这事儿也不好辩护。我允许自己最后看一眼秋千，先向勇敢又可怜的凯拉告别，再就是确保照片已经被毁掉了。我很庆幸地说没有找到照片。但是经过多年，我做过这么多事，我仍在此间。洛芮塔·德尔芬讲述的所有话，关于我的生命，我的朋友，我的仇恨，每一个字都是事实。我始终感受着，灵魂应该存在的地方——内心深处的失落和向往。