The Ghosts of GingerBread Castle and the Twelve Days of Christmas

*Chapter 2*

The taxi arrived on time, and I was on my way to Hovden, a quaint little waterfront village in the south. Three months had passed since my last visit home. I often visited at the end of every term. This term, though, I focused all my attention on my studies, wanting to excel, and was thereupon bona fide busy. My mother paid for my tuition at St. Catherine's Convent, an all-girls school, in Riverdale, a small town nestled in the valley beneath the lush mountainside. The money she'd gained from my dad's job after he passed two years ago had come in handy. She prized my education, never ceasing to encourage me to strive for the best since she lacked the opportunity to gain an education herself.

My eyes stung as I fought back tears as I thought of my mother, the sacrifices she'd made, and her hopes for me. I couldn't believe it was all going to be for naught. I hadn't seen the creature who proclaimed the deathly news to me, and by the time I got to my destination, I allowed myself to think I'd just been hallucinating the entire thing. It couldn't possibly be my last day.

The taxi stopped, and I exited, after paying and thanking the driver. I hastened through the track to my house, dying to see my mother, and dying to put this hallucination behind me. It was all in my mind.

No sooner had I thought of it, than I heard the scraping sound again, as the creature appeared before me. "No! You are not hallucinating! I will claim your soul tomorrow," it said and disappeared.

My heart sank once more. Why did the sickening creature have to keep reminding me of my impending doom? I gathered the courage and raced toward my home, and in a matter of minutes, I was there.

I opened the front gate and entered the porch before walking into the cramped living room to find it empty. Where's everyone, I wondered. "Hello," I called, setting my suitcase down.

The most feeble voice imaginable answered me. "Heidi. Heid..." The voice trailed off and seemed to come from the second bedroom, my mother's room.

I entered the room and froze. What manner of sorcery did my eyes seek to conjure upon me?

My mother was unrecognizable. Thin and frail, she lay with her head tied in a white cloth, unlike the woman I left mere months ago. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at me. "Heidi!" she said.

How did this happen? My heart sank as I fought back the tears. "Mom! I'm home. I'm home." I cried and leaned closer to kiss her brow before taking her hand in mine. I studied her, wondering how she came to be in this condition. "Mom—What happened to you?" I asked.

Her eyes glazed over as she looked at me. "I'm sick, Heidi," she said.

How could my previously healthy, forty-nine-year-old mother have gotten so ill? "Sick—How?"

She said nothing.

"How long?" I asked.

Again, she was silent.

"Why didn't someone tell me?" I asked, as she remained silent and continued crying.

Moments later, she spoke, her voice growing more feeble. "Heidi, I'm hungry!" she said.

"Okay, I'll get you something." I rose and turned to go to the kitchen.

She spoke again as her tears flowed. "They went out and left Doretta and I with no food," she said.

My heart melted. My brother Ray, and his wife Emily, had gone out and left my mother with Emily's sister, Doretta, who was just one year my senior. "There must be something that you can eat," I said, thinking positively as I sought to ease my mother's fears.

I entered the kitchen and searched for something for her to eat, but there was nothing on the stove, and the cupboards were bare.

Unawares, a familiar voice spoke to me. It was Doretta. "Mom and dad have gone to do Christmas shopping," she said.

"Did they leave anything for mom to eat?" I asked.

"No. They left too early to cook anything," she said, as her phone rang, and she disappeared toward her bedroom.

I searched the refrigerator and found some crackers which I took to her with some water. She ate with gusto as I sat beside her and waited. A few minutes later, she finished and began crying again. "Heidi, please don't go away and leave me," she said, holding onto my hand.

Tears stung my eyes as I thought of the foul creature who proclaimed my doom. How could I leave her like this? No child should precede their parents to the grave. No! The creature hadn't reappeared and so I thought it was my imagination again, but no sooner had I thought of it than I heard the scraping sound again, followed by a loud tapping upon the window. My head snapped in its direction to see a towering shadow inching closer with each passing moment. Suddenly, the curtains billowed out, revealing closed windows, and this time, no shadow. How strange, I thought, wondering whether I'd been hallucinating.

My mother's feeble voice broke me out of my thoughts. "They squander the money I get from the government. There is never anything to eat by the end of the second week," she said, holding onto my hands. "Heidi, promise me you won't leave me ever again."

Her admission that my brother and his wife squandered the money she got, being an unemployed widow, was no news to me. They'd always done that and took no one's advice, not mine, nor even my good aunt, Janet, now deceased, who knew of the situation. They heeded no one. Still, they always put food on the table, so my mother never suffered an affliction like this. I guess it would have led to this anyway, with their spendthrift.

I looked at her and couldn't stop the tears from falling. They cascaded down my cheeks and pooled beneath my jawline like broken hopes and dreams. "Oh, mom!" I cried and squeezed her hand gently as I pondered how to help her. Slowly, my tears subsided, as I thought of a plan. I'm going to make things better for her.