Guardian Evil

CHAPTER 51: Memories of Maria Leonora

“YOU TWO… YOU’RE HERE AGAIN,”

Luciel and Romina looked at each other. Just like the other day, the two of them visited Maria Leonoro once again. Of course, Maria Leonora was just in front of them but this time, she doesn’t seem annoyed with their presence.

She’s not even happy either.

“I-I know we’ve been trespassing your territory for so many times already but we-we,” Romina looked at Luciel first then to Maria Leonora. She cleared her throat and spoke. “We-We wanted to p-pay you a visit, Madame Maria Leonora. He-Here, we brought you some flowers…” she slowly and carefully put the bouquet of flowers. Maria Leonora looked at the bouquet of daisies in front of her. They waited for any reactions from Maria Leonora. Romina just nervously looking at her and anxiously waiting as well. But Maria Leonora silently went to the room where she was staying. Luciel and Romina looked at each other and stood on their spot just in front of the staircase.

“Come inside before I’ll change my mind.”

Romina felt the happiness rushing inside her and immediately looked at Luciel. She, then, looked at the room where Maria Leonora entered and happily but cautiously went inside the said room. “Thank you so much for having us here!”

Luciel looked around the house and turned his head on his back and stared at nothingness. He, then, followed Romina inside the said room.

Maria Leonora immediately heard a slap just a few meters away from her.

“Aw! What was that for?”

“I told you not to use your magic! Can you see that we even bought a new glass for the window and you still wanted to use your magic—stop that!”

“Yeah, we bought using my money so I have the right to use magic because it’s much faster!”

“No! I told you, don’t! You must know hard work, Luciel! We’ve been talking about this in the past.”

“I’m not a human. I don’t need to do that. And besides, why should I do such thing as ‘hard work’ if I can just do anything in a snap.”

Romina glared at him, showing the broom she was holding. “Luciel…”

“Ugh, okay, fine. I can’t win against you. Fine.”

“Now, get the broom and keep moving.”

“Okay fine! Okay fine! Damnare, homines sunt tam in colli dolorem,” (Damn, humans are such a pain on the neck.)

“Are you saying something, Luciel? Did you just curse on me?”

“No, I didn’t. You’re just imagining things.”

“If you didn’t say anything then start moving, start cleaning.”

Maria Leonora was just staring at them as they move to and fro the whole room.

She found it weird that these two kids—one’s a living human and one’s a demon—were doing their best in cleaning the whole room of a haunted abandoned house.

Well, it’s not really that haunted since she’s the only one staying in this house. It’s not even scary. People are just over-exaggerating things.

Or maybe it’s just her point of view since she’s a ghost, an apparition.

She didn’t know why these kids were trying their best to do something like that. It’s not really necessary after all—taking care of an abandoned house for an apparition. That’s just insane—but as much as she wanted them to go away since she just wanted to be alone, she just let them do whatever they want right now.

“I think we should really change the color of this entire room.”

“Are you going to ask for your mother’s money on that?”

“Uh, no. I thought you’ll be the one spending for it.”

“Hey! Don’t depend on my gold mines.”

“C’mon, don’t be too stinky. It’s not like I always ask you to spend. You’re the one who always loves to shop online using my online app buying unnecessary things just because you saw it from movies and you just got curious. It’s not like you’ll gonna spend it on the underworld though.”

“Make sense. Okay fine.”

“I’ll be the one to choose. Ooh! Pastel! Pastel colors are nice!”

“I’m not good at colors but let me guess, that’s too girly, c’mon.”

“It’s not! Pastel colors looked pleasing to the eyes!”

Well, she didn’t mind the noises they make after all.

The next day, Luciel and Romina visited Maria Leonora once again and this time, they brought snacks, paints and a bouquet of daisies for her. Maria Leonora was already used to their presence since they visited her for two weeks now so they just let them get inside of the house, especially in the room where she was staying.

Of course, Romina felt the same happiness and she couldn’t help the excitement to interact with Maria Leonora once again. “Thank you so much for having us here!”

As usual, Luciel looked around the house, especially on the ceiling and turned his head on his back, and stared at nothingness. Romina found it weird that she always calling his attention. He, then, followed her suit.

Maria Leonora will not be going to lie, she finds them noisy that they could hear their voices all over the house. But she’s not annoyed nor mad about it anymore.

In fact, their noises and interactions remind her of someone.

“This room…” both Romina and Luciel, covered with specks of paints, turned their heads at her. They’re quite surprised because this is the first time that Maria Leonora initiated the talk. “Alyanna usually sleeps in this room.”

Wow, this is the first time she initiated a conversation with us. Romina felt the happiness and warmth rushed to her chest when she saw a tiny smile on Maria Leonora’s lips. “The… the kid you told us you take good care of in the past?”

“Yes,” Maria Leonora nodded. Her warm smile flaunted on her face when she saw the room in a newly colored paint of white and pink. “This is exactly how her room looks like. I felt the nostalgia, I will not going to lie on that.”

Luciel immediately felt Romina nudging his side with her elbow and that made him look at her. Chin up and proud, she grinned at him. See, I told you.

“The first time I saw her was when she was still a baby,” Maria Leonora gestured her hands and arms like she’s carrying an actual baby. “This is how small she was back then.”

Romina subconsciously sat on the floor just in front of Maria Leonora, listening to her attentively. Luciel was confused about the sudden action of Romina but he followed her anyway.

“It’s years ago, I was newlywed back then. I am so happy that I finally have a family on my own and months later, I finally have a child on my own with a loving husband on my side who always supports me in everything I do. I thought it was already just happiness in my life, especially that I’m having a child on my own because I’ve been wanting to become a mother. Not until one day… I lost the baby due to miscarriage,” Maria Leonora told them. “And then, a few months after that, my husband was caught in an accident and died. I was so devastated at that time. I fell into the pit of sadness because of it that I couldn’t even take good care of myself anymore. I even blamed Father for what I did wrong to deserve these tragedies to happen in my life. I didn’t wrong anyone nor I didn’t do something bad that might upset anyone. I felt so sad that I couldn’t function the way I was anymore and before I realized it, I became weaker and weaker and died. I woke up, and I’m already a ghost and later on, I became an apparition.”

While staring at Maria Leonora, Romina remembered the lecture they had in literature wherein their teacher discussed the horror genre in literature.

Are apparitions and manifestations one and the same? In many aspects they are, yet in other areas, they are completely different. An apparition (the Holy Grail, for any ghost hunter in their investigative career) is a chance encounter and doesn’t happen all that frequently. It’s a visual experience focused on a very real physical presence, often seen with a weary set of eyes that suddenly awaken and grow to the size of silver dollars. If it’s solid and clear you should be able to make out the s*x and features of the clothing, hair and face. Sometimes they are a tad on the fuzzy side and not so clear. Once an apparition is sighted, the poor paranormal investigator can never go back to any sense of normalcy. Their blood pounds for more.

Now, what about ghosts and apparitions?

The term 'ghost' originally evolved in terms of 'haunting' apparitions. These are apparitions related to a place - many types of apparitions are related more to specific individuals. In modern terms, 'haunting has (like ghost and apparition) become a more general term. But originally, the haunting apparition was solely an apparition of place, and the things perceived in hauntings were called 'ghosts'. Ghosts are anthropomorphic. This means that they resemble humans. An apparition can be anything, and not necessarily humans. For example, cats, or demons.

A ghost is assumed to be a person who was once alive whose spirit is sometimes seen and/or head. There does not have to be any meaning behind it.

An apparition is a person whose spirit is definitely seen. The person does not have to be dead. you can have an apparition of a live person. It's happened, usually as a warning of some sort. An apparition usually has a very clear reason for being there. A warning or a goodbye usually. Most apparitions are of people who have just died moments ago, showing up to someone who was dear to them.

As far as I know, a specter is just another word for a disembodied spirit.

“Ooh… I get it now…” Romina muttered to herself. Luciel even tried to hide his laughter because, obviously, he could hear what was inside Romina’s mind.

“I’ve been taking good care of children ever since I became an apparition. From the Spanish regime, to the American regime, to the Japanese regime, when World War II happened, so many decades until now. I always take good care of children. Some of them don’t care about me and some of them went insane because they kept on insisting to their parents that I do exist, alive. I even got driven off by exorcists and albularyos, thinking that I am an evil spirit until I decided that I will just take care of kids secretly, not until I met Alyanna,” Maria Leonora told her. Romina could really see how happy she was while telling them her story.

“I’ve been watching her grow up from being just a small baby until she grew seven years after. That kid…” the apparition couldn’t cease the smile flaunting on her face. “Alyanna is such a sweet child. She’s not just good to her parents or to the people around her but also to me. She may not be able to touch me but even so… I could really feel the warmth of her love by just her smiles, by just her words, and by just seeing her happy. I couldn’t wait to see those lovely things from her as well.”

Luciel and Romina looked at each other. The demon could see the sadness flashing in Romina’s eyes. The latter looked away, contemplating if she would respond something good to Maria Leonora or not.

Should we… tell her?

“You looked so tired, Romina,” Romina gasped when she heard Maria Leonora call her by her name for the first time. “You can take a nap.”

“E-Eh?”

“I gave you my permission to stay in this room and take a rest. You can use the bed as well since you already cleaned it. You deserved rest after a day’s hard work.”

Romina looked at Luciel. Albeit Maria Leonora is a nice type of ghost or more like an apparition, she still wanted Luciel’s approval with regards to interacting with them, especially with her.

Luciel’s eyes settled on Maria Leonora and then his gaze went on Romina again and nodded.

Romina slowly stood up from where she was sitting and went to the bed, just near to where Maria Leonora was sitting. She slowly laid on the bed that Luciel cleaned yesterday (and she definitely bet that the latter used powers to clean the whole bed because it’s impossibly squeaky clean and dry). When she comfortably laid down on the bed, she gasped when she felt Maria Leonora’s hand on her head and started to sing a lullaby. The hand was cold but for an unknown reason, she finds it comforting—like a mother’s caring touch.

Maria Leonora’s voice is just honey-like, mellow, comforting, and warm that she couldn’t help but felt sleepy because of it. Her eyes slowly closed and before she finally drifted to sleep, she saw how Luciel’s eyes glisten to red.

Romina opened her eyes and she saw herself in a room. She could tell that the house is just too vintage, like those houses in Vigan that she saw in books, magazines, and movies. As she looked all over the room, she saw Maria Leonora on a chair, caressing her stomach as her husband sitting in front of her, holding her hand and watching her as she giggled and saying something that Romina couldn’t comprehend.

“Magkakaanak na tayo, Fernando,” Maria Leonora said. Her husband nodded, kissing her hand with a smile on his face.

Seeing how happy the couple in front of her, Romina couldn’t help but feel happy for her as well.

Suddenly, she frowned when she felt herself getting drowsy that she closed her eyes and shook her head. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Maria Leonora alone on her bed, wearing an all-black dress and crying while hugging her husband’s clothes that Romina saw he wore in her vision earlier. She could even see Maria Leonora holding a baby blanket tightly in her hand. She could hear and see her pain amidst the loud rain outside.

Just like that, Romina saw everything that happened to Maria Leonora. From the time she lost her baby and her husband, to the time she died and saw her wandering around as the time passes, from the time when the kids Maria Leonora secretly taking care of became adults and left their houses where Maria Leonora just stayed with a smile on her face seeing the kids she take good care of happy until they reached her recent memory with Maria Leonora looking at baby Alyanna with a huge smile on her face.

“I’ll take good care of you, precious angel,” she then sang a lullaby once again.

Romina woke up and saw Luciel rubbing her cheek with his thumb. She heaved a sigh and realized that she was crying in her dream.

“Did Maria Leonora’s memories upset you like that?” he asked. Romina could see the night light on the window. She slowly sat up on the bed and stared in nothingness.

“Maria Leonora is on the other side of the room. For the first time, she went out like that just for you to sleep soundly.”

“I-I need to tell her,” Romina muttered. “I need to tell her about Alyanna.”

“What—hey Romina!” Romina didn’t wait for Luciel to say something and she immediately stood up and went out of the room in such a hurry.

Luciel immediately followed her and gripped her arm. “Romina! I know what you’re thinking. We already talked about this, right? We can’t just mess this up. That apparition is not yet ready to know the truth!”

“Luciel, I couldn’t bear seeing her hoping for something that will not happen anymore! She needs to know! I won’t just let her wait in agony like this because she hoped for someone to come back for her!” Romina exclaimed.

“Listen to me, she’s not yet ready to accept the fact yet!”

“Please, Luciel! I don’t want to see her like that—from my visions—I don’t want to see her in an agonizing situation like that anymore! “She deserved to know! I won’t just let her wait in agony like this! She deserves to know that Alyanna is already dead and she can’t meet her anymore!”

“What did you just say?”

Luciel and Romina immediately turned their heads on Maria Leonora who was holding the bouquet of daisies they gave her earlier.

“What did you just say? Alyanna is… dead?” Maria Leonora asked once again. Romina felt the pang inside her chest when she saw how Maria Leonora is on the urge of crying as her voice became shaky. “You told me to wait because I’m going to meet her soon you said but you didn’t tell me the truth that she’s already dead. Pinaasa n`yo lang pala ako sa isang bagay na kailanma`y hindi na mangyayari!”

“Maria Leonora, we didn’t intend to lie to you,” Romina said as she waved her hands to prove her point. “You waited for her for so many years and knowing that she already died ten years ago will be a shock to you so we waited for the right chance to tell you about it. We didn’t really intend to lie to you, Maria Leonora.”

“This is the reason why I don’t really trust strangers.”

“Maria Leonora please listen to us—”

“Leave.”

“Maria Leonora please—”

“I SAID LEAVE!!!” Maria Leonora screamed at them and her voice was dripping in pure anger. Once again, Romina could hear the screechy, eerie, and terrifying noises around them after Maria Leonora screamed. She flinched when she heard mirrors breaking around them and immediately felt a piercing pain on her cheek.

“Romina!” she touched her cheek and she realized that there’s a wound made by the glasses that got broken and flew around them. Luciel tried to touch her to see the wound but her eyes were fixed on Maria Leonora and she could see that the woman felt guilty when she saw her wounded.

The apparition immediately looked away. “Leave this place at once while I am still asking nicely. And never, ever show up in this place ever again.”