College students Anna and Ainsley have a final year project, an interview with twenty first century multi-billionaire businessman and entrepreneur Calvert Ghislain. An established Englishman who made his name in the top ten Forbes of America.
But w...
I opened the door gently and walked in, he was looking outside watching the little blinking stars, the blue light filled his room and his favourite dinosaur posters were all over the wall. He still held Mr. Ted in his arms- so close to his heart, the animal gave me serious creeps.
"You saw him, didn't you?" He didn't look at me but was focused outside. I nodded and sat down on his bed. "He was crying Anna, why was he crying, and he is always wet why?" I looked down at his blue rug and there was a huge puddle of water, the room had some strange smell, like some clothes didn't fully dry before being brought in.
He looked at me. "He was here, he said he knew you, and wanted to see you, both said they wanted to see you. Do you know them?" He put of his blue light and turned on the room's main light. He sat up straight on his bed and looked at his teddy. "The boy, Owen, he is my age, he gave me this and said it was Mr. Ted. It had been hidden in the attic for so long and he wanted me to have it. And when I showed it to mom, she broke down in tears, why Anna? Why does she tell me to stop whenever I talk about Owen and Eli, why Anna?" I closed my eyes, the thought, it was just to painful thinking about it.
I could still remember that day, even though I was too little to understand what was happening, but I started asking questions once he stopped coming home, it took a while for me to understand what mother said- that he was going to heaven and not coming back. At times I would cry screaming at the top of my voice asking to go to heaven to see him, and when Eli was born, an exact twin as Owen, an incarnate it went back to normal, it was like he had come back to us, and we were a happy family.
But then I saw Owen one day wet from head to toe, he was crying, and when I asked why, he had pushed me down the stairs and I ended up with a broken arm. Mom and dad had suggested going on vacation for some time, which we did. And when we returned Eli was already crawling, but the strangest thing, he and Owen would play together, and this worried my parents so much that they called a gosht expert. The man did his thing but could not get rid of Owen's spirit.
Then it happened, Eli was four, no one knew how he reached there, but he jumped and fell, there was no point in rushing him to the hospital as he was already cold, everything in his little body was broken, he was dead. It took a while for my mother to come out of shock and she had so much difficulty birthing James. No one spoke of Owen or Eli and dad had all the pictures thrown or burnt, well except the ones in my room, initially they were only individual pictures that I put together to create one big picture. I felt it was the right thing to. It was not that they had forgotten about both of them, but their deaths brought sad memories.
I looked down at his hands. "He said his mother never cared, and left him and Eli, they didn't show them love." My throat constricted with unshed tears. "Thats not true, James."
"Then why is he always crying?" He had tears in his eyes, he looked at me with so much anger. "He said you didn't care, you pushed him away even when he wanted to play." My mind was swarming, when did this happen? "He said his mother left him to die, that is why he is always crying, and he wants me to go with him, he told me to go with him." His voice reduced to a whisper. Oh gosh!
"Go with him where?" He looked down at Ted, the little brown bear looked exactly the same from when I was young. "Far away from mummy." Was all he said.
He looked outside the window. I pulled him into a hug. "You can not go away from mummy, if you do, you will break her heart and she might deteriorate in health." I covered him up and kissed his warm forehead.
Then we had a long conversation one that ended in more smiles and tears.
I left his room's light on and closed the door silently. I walked the empty halls to my mother's room, she was sitting up holding a picture of Eli and Owen when they were young, a small smile crossed her lips. "I loved them so much, even though they were only here for a few moments. I still can not understand how Eli climbed the roof, but how I wished-"
She turned to me, and some new form of sparkle shone in her eyes. "There isn't a day I dont think of them, sometimes I feel like they are here with me." I turned to look at the door that was half open, as much as I didn't see his face, I did see the water that dripped down his body, a small smile grazed my lips.
"I am sure they love you mom, and had the unfortunate events not happened then they would have loved you even more, get some sleep mom."
She placed the two photos on the bed and opened another drawer. She pulled out three more, one of me naked in the bathtub and one of James with a spoon and cup in each hand, and saliva rolling down his mouth, then the third picture was one of someone I didn't know. She smiled.
"You all looked like your father as babies." I moved to the bed and sat down with her, and true to her words we did, we had the same smile and the same nose shape. I kissed her forehead and whispered in her ears.
"Everything will be alright." But deep down I knew, it was not.
Horrible things were just starting.
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