V
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For a whole month, Ema and Daniel witnessed strange events. Isolated, none of them seemed very important and Daniel always seemed to find some logical explanation for everything, even if it didn’t always convince his wife, more prone to mystical interpretations.
In fact, Ema was starting to think that maybe there really were ghosts in that old house. She remembered her grandmother’s tales and wondered if after having been the setting for the supernatural stories, the mansion might have actually become a home for beings from some other world. But she finally shrugged off the idea. «Nonsense. If I believe that I’ll believe just about anything...» And she didn’t even mention those thoughts to her husband, lest he would think she was going crazy.
However, one event made it impossible for her to keep doubting any longer. One day, entering her bedroom, she noticed a gold bracelet on the bed. It didn’t belong to her. Nor to any adult wrist, for it was too small. She felt her heart beat out of control and was almost afraid to get any closer... She sat near the bracelet, without touching it. She had seen it before... There was a medal on it but the inscription was face down. She struggled to allow herself to touch it. She felt the mesh, delicate, fine and so frail... Only when a sob died in her throat did she realise how moved she was. She slowly turned the medal around, almost as if she was afraid of what she would find. She read the inscription and covered her mouth with her hand, unable do stop her tears from flowing.
With love
from E. to B.
She looked around, hoping to see some other sign, but everything was still and quiet. Too quiet. She closed her hand around the small bracelet and held it against her chest. Then, she got up and went downstairs. As she walked down the stairs, she could feel her legs shaking so badly that she held on to the rail, afraid she might fall. She tried to think about what she should do but could not make any order in her head. Call Daniel on the phone and tell him what had happened? He would think she was crazy... No, she would talk to him when he got home and she could show him the proof. Ask her mother to come? No, she hated her since Beatriz had died. She thought it was her fault. And Ema also believed that, although she tried to hide it from herself. If at least her grandmother was alive... All the relatives she could think of were either dead or too far away to come to her rescue. Maybe she could invite a friend... She wouldn’t tell her anything about what had happened because no one would believe it. As far as she would know, it would only be an invitation for tea and chatting. At least, she wouldn’t be alone. But then again, she would be to upset to act normally. Ema couldn’t act on any of her thoughts. She was completely paralysed. She just sat in the living room sofa, holding the bracelet against her chest, unable to stop herself from crying.
When Daniel arrived, hours later, she was still motionless and in the same position. She wasn’t crying anymore, but she seemed to stare at same imaginary point on the infinity. She did not notice it when her husband came in. She looked beat and exhausted. She looked as pale as if she had been ill for several days. Worried, Daniel approached her. «Ema? Are you alright?», he asked, placing his hand on her knee. The physical contact woke her up. Ema hugged Daniel is if she hadn’t seen him for months. «I’m so glad you’re home!» «Ema! What’s the matter? Have you been crying?» «I finally understand everything». «What are you talking about?» «I know who ate the cake and brought the rose... And all those other things we couldn’t explain». «Who was it?» «It was her!» «Who?» «Her! Beatriz... She too knows that it was my fault and she wants revenge...»
At first, Daniel didn’t understand what his wife was talking about. He didn’t know any Beatriz... But then, he remembered. «Ema, Ema... You’re not really thinking... Ema, your sister died almost twenty years ago! Think, how could it be her?» «The body has never been found...» «You know perfectly well why». «Yes, she fell into the river and was dragged by the current... At least, that’s what they said». «It’s the only logical conclusion. If she hadn’t died, why would she only appear now?» «But I didn’t say that she didn’t die. She did die, but she wants to punish me, to torment me... I was the one who dared her to come and play by the river... I became distracted for a few minutes and before I knew it, she was gone...» «Ema, what you’re saying... it’s crazy!» «I know. But this time, she left a proof. She wanted me to know that it was her! The bracelet my grandmother bought for me to give to her on her birthday. Just like the one she gave to me on that same day. It’s here, in my hand. Look! Look and tell me if it’s just my imagination!»
But when Ema opened her hand, there was nothing there anymore. Ema sprang to her feet. «It can’t be! I had it in my hand! She wants to make me crazy!...»
Daniel tried to make Ema understand that it had been just a trick of her imagination. «This house is the problem», he said. «There’s a kind of mystical environment in here and you said it yourself that your grandmother used to tell you ghost stories about this place. I’m not saying that you’re crazy, but all that, plus the fatigue from making this house inhabitable in such a short time... Come on, let’s have dinner, get some sleep and tomorrow it all will seem like a dream, you’ll see.»
Ema served dinner but she barely touched it. Daniel did not insist, for he thought that what she really needed was rest. They went to bed early and fell asleep early. In the morning, Daniel went to work, leaving Ema still in bed. But not for long, because Ema was startled by the sound of voices downstairs and came down hastily. She found the TV on. She turned it off, trying to convince herself that Daniel had turned it on and forgotten to turn it off again before leaving. However, a few hours later, the TV was on again, and no one else had been in the house. «What do you want, Beatriz», she shouted, as if waiting for a reply. «Do you want to drive me crazy?» No one answered. When Daniel came home, he asked her if something had happened. «She is here. I know it». «Ema, please! If you don’t stop that, we’ll leave this house and that’s it!» But despite everything, something was making Ema want to stay. She didn’t know why, but despite the fact that her sister’s spirit had only began tormenting her in that place, despite feeling that if she left it would all stop, she wanted to stay.
In the days that followed, she decided not to say anything more to Daniel. She didn’t see any point in telling him if he didn’t believe. The little strange things that had happened, and that they had both witnessed, stopped being visible to Daniel as they became more and more inexplicable. She didn’t tell him about the open kitchen faucet, nor about the fallen books in the library, nor about the doll that had appeared and disappeared on the bed just like the bracelet. She tried to act as if nothing was wrong, but she couldn’t eat and she woke up frightened in the night, thinking she had heard someone call her name. Daniel would tell that her it was just a dream and she would say he was right, but she couldn’t get back to sleep. She became thin and pale and fights about leaving the house ensued.
«Please, Ema!», Daniel told her once. «Look at you! You’re a shadow of what you used to be before we came here. You’re the one who’s looking like a ghost. You think I’m just being stubborn, but that’s not it at all. I just don’t know why you want to put yourself through this torture but have you at least realized that this is affecting me too? Don’t you think it’s hard for me to see you like that?» «I understand. Look, Daniel. I know I haven’t been a very good company lately and if you want to leave, I won’t hold it against you. But I’m staying. At first, Daniel thought it might be the best thing to do. Maybe if she found herself alone with her ghosts she would give up and leave. But he feared his wife’s stubbornness would only let her get out after it was too late. So he decided to stay. But soon an event rushed things up.
On a Sunday, Ema was dusting the bookcase in the library, perched on a ladder, when she saw a strange undulating form near the window. It was like the transparent shadow of a child, something very thin but with a very strong presence. She thought she clearly saw her sister’s light hair – almost blonde – and her arms reaching out to her. The apparition did not last more than an instant but the fright was enough for Ema to lose her balance and fall from the ladder. Daniel heard the noise and came running. Ema heard his voice very far away before she passed out. When she woke up, she was in her old room, in her old house. Sitting by her side was her mother. «Ema? Don’t be afraid. You’re home. The doctor said you knocked your head but it’s not serious.» More surprised to see her mother than to see herself back in her old home, Ema asked: «Where’s Daniel?» «He’s here. I’ll let him know you’re awake». But when her mother got up, Ema surprised her with a question. «Mother, what are you doing here?» «I suppose I can’t blame you for your aggressiveness...», she said, sitting down again. «Please, leave. I know you’re right, it was my fault... She came back to tell me that too. But don’t you think I’m being punished enough? Just go away». «Ema, Ema... I never thought it was your fault. I know I made you feel that I did when I yelled at you for taking her to play by the river but then, when we were forced to admit that she would not show up again and you became so sad... I was so sorry. I wanted to tell you that it wasn’t your fault but you grew ever more distant and I couldn’t talk to you. All my life I lacked the courage to let you know that if someone was to blame, it would be me and your father, who shouldn’t have allowed you to play alone in that place, knowing how much the river appealed to you. But now that you’re sick...» «I’m not sick», Ema interrupted. «I saw her».
In that moment, Daniel came in, for he had heard voices in the bedroom and realized his wife must be awake. «You’re not going back, Ema», he told her. Ema was going to protest but he cut her short. «Listen, whether it’s your imagination or not, the truth is you’re endangering your life. You can’t eat, you can’t sleep and today you could have been killed when you fell off that ladder. I won’t go back just to see something bad happen to you». This time, Daniel managed to convince Ema. He was scared and she didn’t want to be unfair. They would spend some time in their old house and go back when she managed to convince Daniel that there was no danger anymore. He was also able to convince her to see a psychiatrist who decided that now that she and her mother had straightened things out, she would certainly recover. But despite all the good intentions, Ema couldn’t avoid the wish to go back as soon as possible. Daniel still refused, even though she had never again shown signs of what he though to be insanity. But she was still pale and thin. Coming back had become an obsession so great that she couldn’t think about anything else.
The psychiatrist advised him to let her go back. «Your wife seems perfectly normal to me. The only problem I see in her right now is that obsession about going back. Go with her, and if – as I think – she is alright, she won’t see anything else and will eventually see the folly in those ideas». Although willing to go back, since that was the medical advice, Daniel tried once more to convince her to stay. «Listen. Suppose you were right and it really was your sister’s spirit haunting you. Do you still feel her presence here?» «No, only in that house». «Then, if you think she is out for revenge and she can only harm you in that place, why do you want to go back?» «Oh, no! I was so stupid. She doesn’t want to hurt me. We were twins and very close. When she disappeared and then we came to the conclusion that she had died, it was as if a part of me had died to. I’m sure she doesn’t want to do me any harm. I think she is trying to tell me something. I just got scared for nothing... Do you understand now why I have to go back? I need to now what she is trying to tell me». Hearing her talk like that, Daniel could not help feeling that the doctor was wrong and that she was not as well as he thought, but still, they went back.
To Daniel’s amazement, as days went by, Ema seemed better and better. She got her colours and her old energy back and was happier than he had seen her in a long while. He didn’t know she was still getting messages and visions, because now that she was convinced that those signs were harmless, they didn’t upset her anymore and she could easily hide it from him.
One day, as he got in from work, Daniel noticed some big commotion behind the house. His wife and some curious bystanders were at the edge of the precipice behind the terrace. There were cars from the fire department and a police car. Daniel rushed to see what was happening. Some fire fighters had had gone down and there were others directing the operation. Before he could ask what was going on, Daniel heard one of the fire fighters who had gone down saying: «You were right, Ms. Ema. There seems to be a body of a child down here. Or what’s left of it...» An idea began to form in Daniel’s mind of what all those people were doing there. «Ema, certainly you’re not thinking...» But he hushed when he heard the fire fighter again. «Do you recognize this?» In his hand, he had a golden bracelet, of fine mesh and the size of a child’s wrist. «There’s an inscription. “With love from E. to B”». Daniel felt as if he had been stunned. «How did you...» «Remember that shadow I saw in the library before I fell? It came back and when it saw that I wasn’t afraid anymore, it signalled for me to follow it. It brought me here and then it went down the precipice and it disappeared. I realized then what she wanted to tell me. I called the head of the fire department, who knew about my sister’s disappearance, and I told him I believed she was in there. I asked if he could send some men to search for the body. At first, he hesitated. I suppose he too heard that I had been behaving strangely, but then he agreed. Confronted with Daniel’s amazement, which seemed unable to utter anything, Ema continued. «I finally understood what she wanted to tell me. She must have come here to play, climbed to the terrace above the library and she fell. She wanted me to know that she didn’t die in the river. She wanted me to know that it wasn’t my fault. Now do you believe me, Daniel?
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The End
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