Superstition

Chapter six

Next to one bridge separating the two nations, there was this small custom office, it was an old building with a long history, many of the employees told stories about voices coming from the swampy forest next to the river.
Flavia was on her motorbike ready for her nightshift there, she knew out of the gate that it was going to be a long night, her son had had problems in school again. She believed that the teachers were unprepared to deal with an emotionally energetic boy, they recommended her to medicate him, make him dull and domesticate his wild imagination. She was angry, but at the same time, she had the same thoughts. The image of her hyperactive son yelling and hitting things came to her mind, probably the teachers were right, she thought, she knew she needed to spend more time with him, he needed attention and she couldn't give it to him.
She felt judged, her value as a person and as a mother, her identity as a whole was under attack by destiny. She was alone racing a kid that needed from her what she couldn't give to him. Tiredness was her natural state.
Suddenly, breaking her trance, a woman appeared next to the road, she recognized her immediately, it was Llorona, the famous ghost of the crying woman looking for her lost son. Flavia swirled the motorbike almost falling from it, after stabilizing it she accelerated leaving the screaming apparition behind.
By the time she reached her workplace, her heart was pounding in her ears, she made the sign of the cross and started praying. One workmate asked her why she was in such a state and she cried telling him everything in a stream of intelligibility. After she calmed down, her words started to make sense again. She was really worried about her health and her son's, she believed the ghost came to her for a reason.
Her entire day was difficult from that moment on, the truck drivers felt rude and aggressive, to make matters worse, the system fell and everyone got stuck. Later in the late night, almost everyone was in a grumpy mood.
The storm started again after a big thunder gave the authorization to the water to start falling. To avoid losing time she started doing paperwork and all the analogical work she could. Feeling the chills on her back as the wind howled in a too familiar cry.
One of the men of the trucks asked to sit next to her to read, and she welcomed him, he offered some mate and started a conversation.
— So, that seems like an awful lot of work to do, can I help you in any way?
— Sorry but you can't, only an official can touch these documents.— She answered in an aggressive tone.
— Oh, okay sorry! I was just trying to help.
— No, No, I'm the one who should apologize, I've been having the worst of days and I'm too grumpy. Again sorry for the tone.
— Just don't worry, this weather has everyone on the edge. What happened to you?
— I don't know, life, I guess, things piling on each other until you can't even anymore. My kid is having problems in school, this job is getting harder and heavier every day. I swear that I don't know what to do anymore, and now I'm annoying you, a stranger, for no reason.
— Hey, don't worry, there is no reason to be sorry, let's stop being strangers, I'm Ulises
— Oh, hi Ulises, nice to meet you, I'm Flavia.
— Nice to meet you, Flavia, I wish I could say something that could help you feel better, but unfortunately, I can't. But what I can tell you is that if you are as overwhelmed as you say, you should talk to a professional or a therapist.
— I don't have the money or the time, plus I don't want to take drugs to make me a zombie. I'm not crazy.
— Hey! I'm not saying you are crazy, I used to go to therapy very often and I wasn't crazy, well not to my knowledge. I just needed an outlet, an opportunity and a place to let go. I used to be a very depressed and troubled teenager, and the antidepressants didn't dull me at all, they just made everything a bit more tolerable. To be honest I was a little crazy. I have seen ghosts since my father's death.
— Did you? And after you took the drugs did they still appear? The ghosts I mean.
— In all honesty, yes they did, but I could manage the encounters much better and after enough time I couldn't see them anymore, I suppose that I overcame whatever feeling they represented and what brought them forth in the first place.
— I guess it could give it a try.— Flavia calmly said.
— You'll be doing good in my opinion.
— Thank you, Ulises, you came at the right moment.
— No need, but if you can share those cookies I'll be more than happy.
After an hour the system came back online and everyone went back to work. Ulises excused himself and walked to the bathroom, but when he was out of sight he walked into the forest and lightened the first cigarette he had smoked in years. The smoke had a weird sweet smell. From between the trees, a presence lurked something.
— Come on forth from wherever you are, I can feel you, you are not fooling me.— He called into the darkness.
A shadow moved a bush and a silhouette of mist and deflected light faced the man. She looked at him with an eyeless face, she could taste his powers, emotions and something else.
— I want you to please leave the woman Flavia alone.
The silhouette didn't speak, but the wind howled through her immaterial being in response and sounded clearly angry.
— As you wish, he said.— As he inhaled a big puff of his cigarette and opened a small metallic box he took from his coat. He then poured the dust of the box into his hand and blew it with the cigarette smoke into the silhouette's direction. Creating a cloud of immovable dust, unaffected by the wind.
— I  imperate this being to leave, I Ulises Flyntz, by the power of my name command you to leave or be fed to the old Gods of the Nile.
The silhouette shock and the wind got stronger and her howling and crying were now human, her face appeared like a mirage of the streetlights.
— Please no, my baby.— The woman cried
— Your baby is dead and in a better place, you'll never see it again if you don't leave.
The face melted into the air and a skull-like shape took its place as her scream soared the sky being carried by thunder. Her shadow faded and the wind took her presence away.
When he couldn't feel her anymore, he summoned the dust cloud back into the tiny box, kissed it and put it back into his pocket
— It will be in another time Ammit, another one who really deserves it.— He said as he took the last puff of his honey and tobacco aberration of a cigarette.
The truck driver carried him all the way from Tacuarembo to the border and they went to Buenos Aires. The conversation was nice, mostly commenting on the radio show and the news. Wanting a quick nap the driver asked him to take over, but he had to lie and say that he didn't know how.
After a quick nap, Ulises started feeling the many presences and places that sometimes were honoured with white crosses and flowers next to the road. He thought of the future of his trip and how hard it will be, he remembered the many presences watching him from the beyond while he was in his home, they were probably looking for him now, at least he could distract them away from his son, he thought.
The truck reached the Argentinian capital on a cold autumn morning, the sky was blue and clean but windy. The two men gave each other their blessings and went on their different ways.
Ulises walked to a cafe and took a not so subtle nap in a comfortable coach, as he lightly snored and his coffee got colder, a worried girl walked into the local.
The girl was dressed up in her uniform, she had to work her normal weekday, trying her best to repress or at least ignore the nagging feeling of her superstitious mind.