Reincarnation
My son went missing ten years ago. I woke up before my wife, only to find the our front door open. I panicked when I checked his bedroom and found he was not there. He was only five years old.
We searched for many months. We put out hundreds of missing persons posters. A picture of my son(Eric) on his 5th birthday, wearing a blue and white checkered shirt and a silver pendent around his neck.
My wife Chimweka was beyond devastated. She couldn’t sleep, and she barely ate. It got to a point where she was hardly functioning. “We will get through this,” I would say. "Do you think he's still out there?”
Chimweka only answered, “I’m not really sure anymore.”
I don’t know what hurt the most, the possibility that Eric was alive but forced to endure some unbearably awful situation, or the possibility that he was dead. I didn’t like to talk about it, I shut my wife down every time she brought it up. We all grieved in our own way.
Somehow, the hardship brought us even more closer. While this kind of loss would tear most married couples apart, it only made us stronger. It was the way she was there for me, the way she picked me up when I was down.
A few years later Chimweka found out she was pregnant a second time. She was nervous, feeling as if she had failed once. I reassured her that things would be alright this time. I couldn't afford her having parenting insecurities.
She gave birth to another son. We named him Ericsson, after his brother. As our son grew up, I noticed there were strange similarities between the two. They looked so much alike, that they even had the same birthmarks on their cheeks. When I had pulled out a few of Eric's old toys, it was like Ericsson recognized them. He even gave his brown teddy bear the same names that his brother had. They also liked the same foods and the same cartoons. We felt like we were blessed with a second chance.
Ericsson was closer to my wife than he was with me. I didn’t mind of course, it gave me more time to focus on my work to provide for them. I was present as a father, but I wasn’t really fond of ‘babysitting’ as I would call it. To be honest I think the similarities were too much for me. Maybe it was just too painful. I didn’t mind it though. I know it’s very selfish, but I liked the fact that our second son preferred to spend all of his time with my wife. Once I had even offered to take him to the play park, but he refused. He wanted my wife to go instead.
Yesterday something very alarming happened. I took Ericsson to the play park. It had a large play structure which he enjoyed, and was surrounded by a few bushes, which I enjoyed. I watched as he played the same way Eric did when I used to take him there.
He was headed down the slide when a notification on my phone distracted me. I pulled it out and saw it was a text from my wife. She was wondering what we were going to eat for supper. I replied her quickly, then returned my gaze to the play structure. To my shock, Ericsson was nowhere to be seen. I swear I had only taken my eyes off of him for a few second.
I frantically began to search for him. After running aimlessly through the bushes while calling his name, I finally found Ericsson. He was underneath a tree, and was digging up something.
I shouted as I rushed to him. He turned to look at me. His hands were covered in dirt, and he looked worried.
“What were you thinking coming out here?” I asked as I grabbed him by the shoulders, “Do you know how much you scared me, huh? You could have gotten yourself hurt, do you understand that?! Never run off like that ever again!”
He apologized. I hugged him and sighed in relief. “What are you doing out here anyways?” I questioned.
He pointed his little dirty index finger to the hole he had started to dig. I raised my eyebrows curiously, and walked over to the shallow pit in front of me. I told him not to play in the dirt.
“But daddy, I have to keep digging!” He exclaimed, “I have to show you something.”
“Show me what?”
“Daddy, just keep digging, you have to see for yourself. It’s a deep hole.”
I don’t know why, but I felt compelled, like I was under some obligation to listen. I found a dry stick, big and strong enough to use for digging. Ericsson did as he was told while I dug. He stayed nearby.
I dusted off the hard surface I had struck moments ago, only to find something that was an off checkered blue cloth. I dusted away the dirt, until I could make out what I was looking at. There— in front of me was a child-sized skull. Beside it, I saw something shining in the light. I picked it up to reveal it was a silver pendant, one from a set I had bought Eric on his 5th birthday.
“Wh— what the hell is this?” I stammered, “What the hell is this?!”
“It’s me daddy,” Ericsson started to say. “That’s where mommy left me after she put me to sleep."
~beautiful soul
