The Girl

Chapter 11: Alex the Ghost - The Pendant

I told Jason that I wanted to stay in San Angeles. I wanted to walk around the city and see whether I remembered anything else.

For me, remembering ‘Alrend’s’ was one step away from my amnesia stage as a ghost. I’ve been trying to roam around Bay St. and Broadway St. I even reached China Hill Park but still nothing. So I came back again to the Alrend’s, thinking that maybe I should focus to find the reason why I was here before and why I remembered Anne Alrend.

I stood in front of the café, watching people come and go, eat and drink, talking and talked some more. Maybe I was like them, you know, coming here for the food and drinks with my friends but what’s the connection with Anne Alrend? I didn’t think I came here just for occasional eat and drink, there should be something more – something that I needed to remember – that would explain my feeling of something bad, something dark was coming and bring mayhem to us all.

I saw Raphael – Rae’s cousin – coming out from the café and walked towards me. “Hello Alex, what are you doing here?” He asked.

“I’m trying to remember.”

He tilted his head to the right and one of his eyebrows rose, puzzled. Did I say something wrong?

“What were you trying to remember? Maybe I can help,” he stood beside me and looked back to the café – just like what I’m doing right now.

“Why did I come here and why did I remember your great grandmother?”

“Hmm…that’s happened around the ‘70s right?”

I nodded. That’s one point that more or less was the fact I’d been here somewhere in the ‘70s – for whatever reason.

Some customers came in, they chose to sit outside in the cool wind of Autumn rather than in the warm breeze of the heater inside. I saw Raphael blow his breath of exhaustion and hazily walked to them with a false smile painted on his face. They chatted for a while, asking about the menu or it’s just an excuse they needed to have Raphael there for a while - they have been enchanted by his charm that’s for sure but anyway he’s a good actor, I must say.

He came and went for a while, delivering the food to the customers – still with the fake smile of his – and came to me again, standing beside like before.

“Got something?” He asked me. I shook my head. “How’s Rae?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I said while my eyes were still looking at the Alrend’s big window display. “She’s in San Rafael.”

“With that football player?”

“With Jason,” I said his name. “Yes. They’re always together.”

Raphael frowned. I knew from the first time we met that he didn’t like Jason and I knew that’s all because of Rae – as a boy myself I could sense rivalry over a girl.

“How long have they been together?”

“A month now,” I said. Well actually they have just been together since last week, but he didn’t know that and I didn’t intend to tell him the truth myself – I’m on Jason's side since I stayed in his house, literally speaking.

“An outsider, just like her father,” he said. I was intrigued by his statement.

“What do you mean?” I was looking at him.

The corner of his lips rose a little bit, like a smile – the crooked one. “He’s not one of Sameera's clan, just like her father.”

“I don’t understand?” Really I don’t.

“It’s not your business to understand, Alex.” His eyes gave a strong deep glance at me, I think it’s time for me to quit asking like he said it’s not my business. I nodded and he smiled in return. “Where did you stay last night?”

“Nowhere, I just walked around this place to see if something might bring my memory back.”

“You’re welcome to stay at my house if you like. A friend of Rae is my friend too.”

But not Jason – I thought. Jason was more like an opponent instead of a friend – contrary to his statement to me before.

“Thank you,” I was playing polite. “But I think I will go around this place again.”

He was quiet for a while, gazing to the street while wrinkled on his forehead.

“You know,” he said, still looking down at the street. “I might know someone who might be able to help you.”

I was perplexed. Was he telling the truth? I didn’t want to have my hope in the air and crushed again within minutes.

“Who?”

“My Grandfather; his name is Dan Alrend – he’s her son. I think he might be around 15 years old in the ‘70s or less, anyway I mean he’s there and he might remember something – something about you that is.”

“Is he inside now? Can we talk to him?” I walked towards the café without waiting for his answers.

“Slow down Alex boy.”

Did he just call me boy?!

“He’s not there. He’s in the Royal Golden Residence, not far from here.” He brushed his hands in his white apron – cleaning it. “I’ll take you there this afternoon, after my shift.”

I tried to hug him but instead, I walked right through him. He chuckled. And I felt like a fool standing there, looking away – so he couldn’t see my blushing face.

“You’re welcome Alex,” he’s still laughing.

                                                                                          ******

We’re entering a very nice residence, full of green trees and a nice flowery garden. The walls were painted in bright cheery yellow with some touch of light green now and then, while the courtyard was designed with Japanese taste complete with a very big Koi pond which in some sense was the border between the garden and the main building.

I saw a lot of elderly people sitting in the big living room, some were chatting up, and some were playing some sort of bingo. A few nurses - men and women - were passing some medicine and stayed put just to make sure that they took the medicine instead of throwing or maybe sneaked it away.

We crossed the bridge to the other side of the pond and reached a big recreational room. It seemed that Raphael was quite popular in this place because many people greeted him, I knew that he’s quite a charming boy but I’m not so sure that he’s sincerely being nice.

“Hi Cecile,” he called one of the nurses in the reception area. She’s a big old woman with big grey hair that covered under a net, I could not recall anyone who still used that kind of thing in their head – she’s the only one. Her face was full of makeup, maybe she intended to hide her wrinkles on which she'd failed – she looked like the bride of Frankenstein. 

“Hi Raph,” she returned the smile. “Where have you been honey?” She pinched Raphael’s cheek, he just stood there surrendered.

“Busy with school and the café, somebody should make a living right?”

She laughed with a shrieking sound, a very bad sound, a very bad one. She’s scarier than me, while I’m the ghost here.

“Did you see my grandpa anywhere?”

“I saw him talking with Bob in Bob’s room, but I’m not so sure.” She’s fixing her chili red lipstick on her wrinkled lips and making a popping sound afterward, she even looked like a Bride of Frankenstein crossed with a blood-sucking vampire.

“I’ll go check myself,” Raphael said. We headed to the hall when she called him again.

“Is that your Mom’s Brownies?” She’s eyeing the white paper box in his hand. “You do know that your grandpa isn’t allowed to eat a lot of sugar, don’t you?”

He opened the box and let the scent of fresh-baked brownies fill the air, from the smell I knew it’s very delicious but I couldn’t eat, no matter how much I wanted a little taste – or a lot of taste.

“It’s a lot of sugar in these cakes,” but she’s still eyeing the brownies with hunger.

Raphael reached for some tissues from the reception table and took some brownies out from the box. He pushed the box to Cecile and put the other one – the one that wrapped in tissues – inside his pocket.

“I guess one or two bites of Brownies won’t hurt him right?” He winked his eyes at her.

“And what do you suggest I do with the rest?” She’s still eyeing the cake, with more hunger. Her expression looked like the picture of one of the seven sins – gluttony.

“I see that you lose some weight,” Raphael was gazing at her with his eyes, observing up and down. “I think you will need the cake more than my grandpa. I like big women,” he said the last words in a low voice. She laughed or shrieked - you just couldn’t tell the difference.

“You’re a bad boy, teasing an old woman.” She pinched his hand.

“I don’t see an old woman here, do you?” I know that he’s lying. Of course, he saw an old lady, she was too big to hide.

“Run along to your grandpa,” she put the box under the table. “Don’t tease this old lady anymore.”

I never agreed more on that. Just can’t wait to get out from here – from her.

Raphael waved his hand and went away to the hall, heading to the 2nd floor. He knocked on the door of room 214; A voice came from inside letting us enter.

I saw two elderly men sitting on black cozy chairs beside the bedroom window. The one on the left suddenly jumped out, standing.

“It’s you!” He said. 

“Yes grandpa it’s me.”

He waved his hand in the air, suggesting that it’s not Raphael what he meant. His finger was pointing out on me now. Me.

“It’s you! You haven’t aged a bit.”

I pointed at myself, making sure that what he meant it’s me. Raphael looked at me, puzzled.

“Yes you,” the elderly man said. “I know you.”

This is it. This is where I will find out the missing piece of my memory.

This is the moment that I’ve been waiting for. The moment where I’ll learn about me – once again. The cure for my ghostly amnesia.

“Did you find the bad guy?”

Wait. Did he just say a bad guy? As in ‘the bad guy’?

“To whom you’re talking to Dan?” The other elderly man asked. His eyes swept the room but he couldn’t see me.

“The boy that my Mom was talking to,” Dan Alrend said.

“He’s here?”

“You can’t see him? Hmm…wait. Raph, do you see the boy that is standing behind you?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m here.”

Dan Alrend shook his head, closing his eyes, mumbling something in a low voice that I couldn’t catch. “You saw him and I saw him but Bob couldn’t. The only thing that can explain the situation is that you’re dead.” His eyes gazed at me with sympathy, like I needed one.

“His ghost is here?” Bob asked, with excitement.

“Sadly but true, he’s here. Did the bad guy kill you?”

“That’s what I want to know,” I walked closer to him. “I don’t remember anything. Please help me, tell me why I knew your Mom.”

“What did he say?” Bob asked.

“He lost his memory; he wanted to know why he came to my Mom.”

So we didn’t just know each other back then, like what I have been thinking about it lately that we just met when I came to her café but that’s not it. I came to her. I was the one who had the initiative to come to her.

“Why did I come to your mother?”

“I remembered that day.” He sat back in his chair, his eyes wandering through the ceiling, trying to call back his memory – my missing piece. Raphael took the chair beside the bed and sat. He – like me – was waiting for his grandfather's story.

“We almost closed the café, not many people came that day, not after the big fuss about my mother's news in the newspaper. I still remembered the title: ‘Gypsy Woman boasting about a murder’.” I saw his fist clenched in his thigh. I could guess that such a bad memory to him. “Sameera never boast!” His eyes glared with anger. “She warned the police but they said that she’s just a hoax, a crazy woman.”

“I know that. I know few Sameera women and there was no hoax in their ability.” He looked at me and smiled. My words had brought a little comfort in his mind.

“I knew too. But I didn’t believe you in the beginning. You see, you came in the middle of the night with the newspaper in your hand. You’re banging on our door and for a moment there I was afraid that you might break it. I was the one who opened the door for you. You stood there with some madness in your eyes, demanding to have a word with my Mom. I thought that you’re just one of them, one of the people who thought that she’s just a hoax but instead you said to me: ‘I believe her, I believe your mother’ and your eyes didn’t lie that’s why I let you in.”

“Madness huh?” I chuckled. “I guess that I was that desperate.”

“I made you a coffee and you sincerely smiled saying thank you, you even compliment how good the coffee I made. I like you right away after that.”

“I did that?” I asked, thinking how a little good gesture could brighten someone's day.

“You asked my mother about her vision. You also told her that you knew Emily.”

“Emily?”

“Yes, the girl that my mom tried to warn the police about. My mother had the vision of her being murder, brutally murdered. After she had that vision, she came to the police to tell them but they didn’t believe her.”

“Did he tell you how he knew this Emily girl?” Raphael asked. I would like to know that one myself.

“He told my mother that Emily was somebody's friend. Hmmm…Alice. Yes, Emily was Alice’s friend.”

First Emily, and then Alice. If this conversation wasn’t talking about me, I would’ve thought that this guy – who came to his mother – was such a player. But I don’t think that I’m quite the type. A player.

“Don’t ask me who’s Alice because I don’t know.” I think this guy can read minds, I just wanted to ask that.

“What was your mother's vision?” I asked him.

“It was late evening, my Mom and I were beginning to clean up the café, we had a lot of customers that day. There’s a group of beautiful girls having a party in our café, sweet seventeen,” he was smiling, “They wanted to have a Romani theme, so they all dressed like a Roma, not like we - Roma - dressed like that. My Mom even offered to read the Tarot cards for them, giving them a slight of their future. Mostly it’s about future love, you know women…” We all nodded – well you know, women.

He went to a table near the window and made some tea for us – well not for me since I don’t eat and drink, not even how I wanted to – and place it on the coffee table. “I even sang a Roma love song for them, my Mom always said that I have a very good voice…” He sang some sweet tunes in a language that I don’t understand, but it’s sweet for sure. “They all love it. The birthday girl even kissed me in my cheeks.” He touched his cheek, chuckling. “For a 15 years old boy, that’s enough to make me fall in love with her immediately.”

I smiled seeing his childish face. For a 15 years old boy, in their early stage of hormones, everything is enough to make you feel anything for a girl.

“When my Mom cleaned up the table where the girls sat, she saw a necklace under the table…a golden pendant. When she touched the necklace, she had the vision. Her eyes rolled back - all you could see just the whites part of her eyes – and she mumbled the old Roma language that I didn’t understand until today.”

“Just like Radne, but she sees the past not the future,” I said.

“Yes,” Dan said. “You know Radne?”

I nodded. “I know her and her daughters, they are the ones who helped me.”

“You chose the right family, they are all a very good family…from a very powerful bloodline of Sameera.”

“Except for the father, an outsider,” Raphael smirked. It’s those words again – an outsider. Why I have the feeling that it’s not a good thing, those words.

“Hush!” Dan said to his grandson. “He’s a good man and the elders approved their marriage.” Raphael rolled his eyes, disagreeing. “Not all Sameera men are a good man like him,” He added while glaring at Raphael.

“Alright! Let’s just drop it okay?” It seemed that he didn’t want to have any arguments with his granddad. Even though he's still not seeing things eye to eye like him.

“Can you tell me exactly what she saw, your mother’s vision?”

“She saw that girl, Emily, walking alone in a park like a school park. A few men or maybe women, they all dressed in robes - she couldn’t tell exactly - were spying on her in the shadow. Then she saw a woman, she’s coming to her and they chatted for a while, but this woman – my Mom said – was the hand of evil. She’s up to no good; she silently put her under a spell, which made her unconscious more like a zombie. When Emily was on that stage, those guys came out from the shadows and took her away with magic – they just disappeared, like thin air – it’s black magic.

“Then her vision changed place, she saw a long dark tunnel, some kind of abandoned mine tunnel. They dragged her down the tunnel to a center cave; the evil woman was already there. A tall dark figure came out from the shadow, they all bowed to him – he’s their master – and worshipped him. My Mom felt the fear grew inside her when she saw their Master. He’s a demon on earth. The dark plague walking in the human world.

“The evil woman offered him the girl, he was looking at his prize and studied her carefully. He touched her stomach, and said to the woman; “Are you sure that she’s strong enough?” She assured him that Emily was the perfect one. He changed his form into a shadow and went inside Emily.

“Emily suddenly screamed a painful scream. She dropped down to the tunnel floor holding her stomach, her eyes widened with fear and pain at the same time. She reached out her hand for help to others who were there, but they only stood and watched her dying on the floor. My Mom was crying, she wanted to help but she’s not there – not physically, only in the soul – there’s nothing she could do but watch her screaming and crying.

“Emily was bleeding now; she threw a lot of blood from her mouth when her stomach was growing, it’s getting bigger like she was pregnant or something. She punched her stomach over and over again, trying to push that thing out. The pain was unbearable; she forcibly took a dagger from one of the robed guys and stabbed herself – her stomach – over and over again. It’s the only thing that she could do to make the pain go away, and also her life. She died terribly, it’s so terrible.”

I was frozen in horror. I didn’t realize that the story would turn out to be like a nightmare, like some movie Jason saw, what it’s called? Nightmare on Elm Street and this demon was Freddy Krueger. I mean no wonder I died, He’s so evil and I tried playing as a hero. I mean me, a mortal and ordinary human, try to challenge this demon guy and his minions alone.

“Do you still have the pendant?” I asked Dan.

He stood up and went to his wardrobe beside his bed, he pulled out a small chest from inside and took out a golden pendant. I remember that necklace, Anne Alrend used to show me that.

“You can have it,” he handed over the pendant to me. I took it out of his hand, holding it loose in front of my face. It’s a golden necklace with a golden pendant. The pendant was made from some kind of a yellow stone which was wrapped in gold, there’s something inside the stone, like water or transparent liquid that moves.

I just noticed how Bob – the other elderly guy – looked so amazed. Well, I mean why not? It’s not every day you could see a golden necklace flying in the air.

“Let me hold this for you, I can drop this to Rae if you want me too,” Raphael said to me. Why I sensed that he’s not completely sincere, I have the feeling that he would use it as an excuse to see Rae. But it’s also a good thing for me, I don't want another ‘Bob’ looking so awed – or freaked – seeing a necklace flying loose in the street. I gave the necklace to Raphael and he put it in his pocket.

“I remembered that my Mom said to you something,” Dan said. “Follow the rainbow which will help you find your path, with the helper guide the door will open, and only hope can set...”

“You into the light,” I finished his sentence. I remembered that too – just now. “What’s that mean?”

Dan shook his head. “I don’t know, but all I know is that every word that came from my Mom either is the truth or a clue.”