Dear diary,

Here is my addendum:

After I described to my neighbor what had happened to me in the last few days since I bought the portrait, he fell silent. 

For minutes he leaned back in the chair and made a thoughtful expression, now and then his gaze wandered to my ghost, which from now on I will call by its name Hyacinth.

Hyacinth had not left my side. I still wondered how it was possible that he was beside me and yet on the screen. As if my neighbor had guessed my question, he woke up from his pondering and answered it: "It is an illusion, something we assume Hyacinth has learned over the decades. He can also make it get cold or swirl air. Which doesn't mean he's responsible for what happens in your apartment. " he continued as if I had ever accused the spirit. 

"That's not what I meant either." I was beginning to feel like a defiant child. 

"He likes her so I think it is almost impossible that he is responsible for the phenomena in her apartment." 

"Again, I didn't say that Hyacinth was the author." it was the first time I said his name, it felt strangely familiar. I looked uncertainly at the ghost who smiled at me. My heart stumbled. That was all I needed. In love with a ghost. 

"Would it be possible for me to look around her apartment? Maybe there's a perfectly natural cause for all this." I hesitated to accept my neighbor's offer. In me lurked the fear that everything was only in my head. After all, the handyman had already declared me crazy. What should have changed? 

However, the man opposite me could also see the ghost. Maybe there was something in my apartment that was there but not for everyone. Hesitantly I nodded. If everything went wrong, I could always move. I would never have to see my neighbor again, nor would I ever return to this apartment.

Suddenly something occurred to me. What about the portrait? Would he ask for it back? According to him, it belonged to his family and had been stolen. So I would be obliged to give it back to him. Provided I believed what he told me. What if everything he had told me was nothing more than a big fat lie to get the painting? 

On the other hand, the story he had told made more sense than a hundred wives. 

"The castle how did it really burn down?" He had left that part out and from the way he now looked uncomfortable, I seemed to have hit a wound.

"It was set on fire by the subjects."  As if looking for a way out, he looked to Hyacinth, who hung his head. Something the two left out, the more I wanted to know what it was.

"Why?" after a long drawn out sigh he eyed me before speaking:

"It doesn't really make sense to hide it anymore. Well after Hyacinth fell off the horse he lived for a few hours. The story about the broken neck is the short version. My ancestor, the lord of the castle, naturally called for a doctor when his wife lay injured and unconscious. It will be clear to you that the doctor naturally noticed what game the lord of the castle had played.  My ancestor was much too worried to think of the consequences when he let the doctor go. It came, as it had to come at that time. The doctor ran to a clergyman and he mobilized the community to drive the supposed devil out of the castle.  They set the castle on fire. Nothing could be saved the great subjects had used alcohol as an accelerant. It was pure luck that my ancestor was not in the castle with the children at the same time. 

I probably don't have to mention that my ancestor left the countryside behind forever. Only his children started to take care of the affairs here again and tried to reclaim their property". Affected, he looked into his empty cup.

"Wait, that means that Hyacinth burned alive in this castle?!" I felt sick at the thought.   The idea of lying there helplessly while the flames reached for you. 

"We don't know. My ancestor spent the rest of his days blaming himself and trying to find the bones of his beloved to bury him with no luck. " he swallowed hard.  I looked at Hyacinth who was looking at me encouragingly. How could he? I didn't dare ask the question, how cruel would it have been to ask him if he was burned alive.