Perfumes and Prayers

Ghosts of our decade

I never thought I'd end up in a small Italian town pretty much close to the outskirts. I found comfort, the place that reminded me of my sweet childhood. Before I met and married my husband.
Today I saw Maria Iglesas. A lady who had been dead for more than a decade. Though I am a board certified medical doctor(on a locum tenes) with a very scientific educational background, unlike most of my colleagues – scientists and fellow doctors who supposedly have to arm themselves with enough science to laugh and mock the paranormal, I believe science supports the motion that paranormal activities exists rathe than contradict it.
I had always heard of throwing a handful of sand at people to make sure they weren't ghosts but I couldn't have done so anyways. I simply chose not to. I was a bit skeptical if it would work Maria anyways.
I was in the orchard my in-laws owned. I went out for a walk. Maybe to get an orange or two along the way. The gentle breeze and the calm aura of the orchard made it become one of my favorite places.
I glanced at the hairs on my skin. A very familiar feeling came over me. My eye lids became heavier. My body feeling very light. My limbs gave way as I fell with a soft thud on the grass.
It didn't feel like I was awake, it all felt like a dream, but my eyes opened. I walked a little while trying to take in the unfamiliar surroundings. That was when I saw her.
"Aniyah?!"
"Maria !?" I asked in the tentative way one suggests something cannot be.
"Yes..." She trailed off as I came close. We hugged briefly and pulled apart to get a good look at each other. We were close friends. She introduced me to my husband.
"You're alive?" I asked quite shaken. I saw on her the day she died. Apparently she was quite sickly as a child and the illness caught up to her on a fateful night. On the morning of June 28th, I saw her only to hear she died in her sleep the next day. The memory of her limp still body still in my memory.
People always thought Maria and I had the same illness but it isn't so. When I hit a certain age, I collapsed. Strangely bouncing back a few days later. The doctors couldn't detect anything wrong with me.
I'd have these attacks once in a while. The air becoming cool, my eyelids being heavy and waking up in a hospital bed to the tear stained faces of relatives thanking the heavens I made it.
I saw Maria's body. I saw how limp it was. She never had a funeral. She never wanted one. I heard she wanted her body instantly cremated.
Maria laughed at me. "I'm here aren't I ?"
"But we saw you."
"Hmm"
"They said you never woke up."
"I did. I moved out of town."
She said nothing. I knew she wouldn't say more.
"How about Oliver ? The kids ?"
"Oliver is good. All four of the kids a are in college." I smiled. We had two sets of twins. A boy and a girl consecutively.
Maria would bake cookies for them on the weekends. The kids were in preschool by then.
Liam, the oldest was just like Oliver. Always protective. I'd joke that I was a prop in the house because he didn't get my African genes. None of them did. Natalia, seven minutes younger than Liam, had a fierce yet amusing personality. Xavier was another mini Oliver in looks and deeds. Only Adira, younger than Xavier with eleven minutes acted like me.
Maria was beaming from ear to ear.
"I know I've asked about Oliver but you've said so little about him."
"He's alright. He's just too protective. He treats me like I'm the most delicate thing in the world."
"It's sweet."
"It's annoying."
Maria laughed at me even more.
"I was tired. So tired. I hated the hospital so much. Being in and out of the hospital makes you tired. So I gave up...and I let go."
"Hmmm"
I yawned. I started to get drowsy again. I slept for a long time..

Sure enough, I did wake up in a hospital bed to Mamas tear stained face. I didn't like it when my mother In-law was upset.
"This is why I didn't want you away." I heard Oliver's voice.
I let out a groan in annoyance. Being here was the perfect excuse for Oliver to come over and bundle me back to the city where I would be forced to live a life with so much convenience that it is sterile. A life that was not for me.
Liam would come days later to chatter and scold me about my health. I'd tease him. Saying I wondered wether he was the mother and I was the child.
Natalia would occasionally join me. Helping me to pack my things. Xavier would talk to me about anything but my health( to which I was grateful for) and Adira would show me cute dog videos on the internet.
I wonder if I'll ever see Maria again. Though I grew hearing my mother (who had the ability to see ghosts) insist it was a curse, I also had her ability but I never had a label for it being a blessing or a curse.
I often tell Xavier and Adira all these things.
"Is it a good life mummy." They would often ask over the phone whenever I came to the outskirts or on my lap whenever I tell them about my childhood experience with ghosts.
It wasn't a good or bad life I'd often say .
It was simply mine.....

(This was inspired by Ghosts )