Revelation

Grandma sat in front of me in the train and slept like an old baby. She got tired of waiting for the late train. I smiled secretly to her as a sign of my great gratitude. The journey was good for me. I leaned back and looked out the window. There wasn’t much to see, when the houses and people disappeared faster than you could see the details. Except those four pigeons flying in the same direction as the train. The biggest pigeon flew in front with a smaller one flowing right behind and then two more and the end of the row. Suddenly the biggest one felt down as if it got a heart attack or some deadly disease. The rest of the crew was flying confused in circle. The last thing I saw was they all flew their own direction. I pressed my head against the window with a childish hope that I could see further back " but we all know that it doesn’t work, don’t we? Yet some of us are always willing to try. Humans are weird that way. " Those pigeons made me worried, but why? Why was I so obsessed with pigeons? Maybe it was only a dream, because I felt asleep short after. Grandma woke me when we arrived at the destination. I carried all our baggage. Although they were heavy, I carried with happiness of seeing Grandma walking freely.       

My mother was rich, so I hardly see Grandma used money, but apparently Grandma was rich too. She got us a six stars hotel with the view to the beach. The room got Jacuzzi, king’s size bed, two toilets and I wondered " still do " why there was a cold champagne surrounded with ice on a table. The weirder part is that she got a similar room next door. I was not done wondering when Grandma knocked on the door. I opened.

‘You should take a walk around the town and have some fun.’ I opened my mouth trying to answer, but she didn’t let me.

‘Oh no dear, put on your jacket and go. Sush sush!’ she hushed me out of my room with my jacket hanging around my arm.

‘Don’t come back too early!’ and she closed the door. I didn’t understand anything at all, but somehow I found myself standing outside the hotel with the jacket on. It was night and the weather was perfect for a walk, like Grandma might predict.

It was romantic dark and the air was chilly. Musicians from the street challenged the wind to dance beautifully around me. The colorful lights from buildings flashed alternately and formed a magical picture of me standing in the middle. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the night.   

I walked and walked without destination until I encountered light poles on the sides of a road. They stood neatly in a row and shined only for me. As if they were waiting patiently like guards waiting for the king to walk down the red carpet. For me the red carpet was the road and if they were waiting for me to walk down that road, who was I to decline such a nice gesture? It felt like an infinite long tunnel with those countless light poles. After years " At least it felt like it " of walking I saw the end of the tunnel. There wasn’t light but a bridge covered in dark, because the light poles on the bridge were soulless " no light. It was so dark that you could hardly see more than two meters from you. Yet there was something even darker combined with sadness. The bridge was surrounded by a thick black fog. My curiosity won the battle against my reasonableness, so I walked into the fog. After a few steps inside it I couldn’t see my shoes anymore. When I was about to turn back, a shiny flash put its hand on my shoulder and held me back. I tracked the flashing glance back to its source, which turned out to be a silver necklace.

A girl around my age in a black dress stood on the edge of the bridge.

The wind forced her black hair to dance like ocean’s waves. She was holding her mouth with both hands. Somehow, my subconscious moved my body towards her. Splash! Something wet hit my face. It was warm and filled with emotions. The wind brought one of her tears to my cheek. I focused my sight and I could see it. I could see the black thread spinning around her and tried to crush her red pumping heart. I could see the black aura that tried to burn her soul that was filled with pain. That poured tears out of her. I could understand, feel and see her soul. I lost time and seconds after I stood on the edge of the bridge beside her. I wanted to jump, but that was her feeling inside me.

‘You want to suicide too?’ her voice woke me up and I rushed down from the edge so fast that I fell. She looked down at me, who lay on the bottom of this cold bridge. Her diamond tears reflected light from a light pole fare away. She looked so beautiful and yet so sad that it froze me. She sighed and turned slowly against the water. I knew that she was about to jump, so I hurried up back on the edge and started taking my cloth off. She looked confused and careless.

‘I may not be able to change your mind, because I don’t know you and I don’t know why you want to suicide, but you can’t stop me from jumping down and save you.’ I looked back at her as a half-naked man. The picture of that moment could be misunderstood, if you didn’t know the story.

‘Whenever you’re ready.’ I dared her. We looked at each other for a while and I admired her beauty in the dark.

‘Why…’ I thought she asked. 

‘Because I can’t let go of your beauty.’ " Bad timing for bad score phrase. Please don’t ask me what I was thinking, because I would love to know the answer as well.

‘No, why am I being rescued by a stranger. Is God trying to tell me that even unknown love from a stranger from save me from my hatred?’ I didn’t understand that, at all. But she knew that, maybe she wasn’t talking to me.

She sat down on the edge and I did the same. I had a feeling that she wanted to share her feeling, but couldn’t for reasons.

‘You don’t have to tell me anything. I will sit here with you the whole night, if you later decide to jump anyway.’ She just smiled back at me with those eyes still covered in tears. We sat together for hours. Little by little I could see her black aura got smaller by time. She fell asleep with her head on my shoulder, but I carried more than just her shoulder. I didn’t know how, but I understood her pain more than any stranger would be able to. Just by sitting with her, I was absorbing her pain. That made me sad and yet so happy.

‘’That was the first time I used my ability unconsciously’’

I woke up with back pain from sleeping on the hard and cold bridge instead of my king size bed back at the hotel. When the word ‘bridge’ crossed my head, I remembered instantly the black girl from last night. I started looking around and saw no one, and then I jumped up on the edge with the fear of seeing her floating in the water. While my eyes were searching in the water, my left hand was touching a note sticking to the bridge.

‘’Thank you for your rare kindness. I thought it would be over if I died, but I was wrong. Nothing would be over, and it would never be over if I don’t fix it myself, so thank you!’’

I sighed with ease and went back to the hotel with a very big smile on my face. I didn’t understand much of what happened, but somehow I was happy. I met Grandma in front of the hotel. I thought she would be mad of me being out the whole night, but she waved at me and smiled.

‘Come on, we have to go’ she said. A taxi arrived. Was that perfectly timed or coincidence? " You will have your answer, just not yet.

When we had eyes contact while sitting in the back of the taxi, I wanted to tell Grandma everything, but I didn’t know where to start? Or how to tell.Somehow it didn’t matter, Grandma patted me on my head with a smile as if she understood it all.

We drove quite far. It was no secret that Grandma was old, so she slept a lot. While she did so, I was looking out the window trying to make sense of everything. It was an equation that I couldn’t solve. There were too many unknown variables.

We arrived after five hours driving. The first thing I got my eyes on was the giant door with wall infinite long on both sides of it. It was red, spectacular and got all my attention until the taxi was gone and Grandma was talking to me. .

‘Yes, he is very rich.’ I was a bit surprised, because that was the answer to my unasked question. I took my Grandma’s hand, so she could use me as a stock " One of the best feelings in the world for me is knowing that I am helpful for Grandma, no matter how little " The door was opened before I could knock. That made me a bit disappointed, because I was looking forward to knock on that over ten meters giant door. The man behind the door was dressed nicely. He bowed, when we passed him. The house was even more spectacular in the inside. We went through a garden before entering a smaller house, and then I realized that the front door wasn’t a door but a gate. We were standing inside the Forbidden City. Of course it was not THE Forbidden City, but it was a smaller version of it. After entering a house, we walked through a hall with very artistic paintings everywhere on both side of the wall. At the end of the hall a man at the age around 50 standing with his hands behind his back and was waiting for us. When the distance between us and the man was no more than five meters, he started walking towards us.

‘Welcome, I was looking forward to see you for weeks now, Ellie.’ was the name of Grandma. The man hugged Grandma gently.

‘This is Adam and this is one of my grandsons, my favourite one.’ Grandma gave my cheek a little color. He gave me his right hand and I shook it.

‘And this is my daughter, Maria.’ Adam turned around and pointed at a young girl behind him that we didn’t notice until now. She walked towards us with a smile that shined like a sun. Her blonde hair was swinging in harmony with her elegant movement of that almost perfect shaped body " and Maria is only two years younger than me " She gave me her right hand and I just stared at her beauty.

‘Sorry?’ she said. I got back to reality and in a hurry I gave her my left hand. We both switch to the other hand at the same time. She laughed and I blushed. Thanks God my Grandma saved me by taking Maria’s hand.

‘Oh dear, don’t mind my boy. Please show me my room. An old lady like me needs her rest.’ Maria smiled happily and as they walked away I tried to beat some sense into myself " Am I a player or a pervert? Or were all the girls really that beautiful? I will leave that judgment to you.

’There you are, where have you been?’ Adam was talking to someone behind me. I turned around and got my eyes on a familiar black dress. It was the same dress as the one I saw on the bridge. I slowly move my eyes upward to the face of the girl as if I was afraid, but why? Wouldn’t it be a good thing if she was the same girl that I saved? And yes, it was the same girl. She smiled and looked at me with an ice cold glance. For more than ten seconds we just stood staring at each other. My excuse was that her cold aura froze me. Adam knew he had to do something or say something.

‘This is my eldest daughter, Blake.’ " Blake is only one year younger than me " Adam putted his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and walked away.

’I am so sorry. I don’t know why she did that.’ Adam said.

‘No no, it's ok. Thanks for your hospitality.’

‘This is your home as long as you want it to be. Maria will be here shortly to show you your room. If you could excuse me, I have something that must be done.’

He walked away in the opposite direction of Blake’s. I turned around and looked at the hall that Blake passed through. The lights turned off and it became completely dark. It felt like a way down to hell.

’So, do you like our home?’ said a voice behind me. I turned around for the hundreds time and saw Maria. Her happy smile putted a smile on my face too.

‘Yes of course. It is so big and beautiful. You all must be so happy to live in a place like this’ I shouldn’t say the word happy. 

‘Happy…’ Maria said that while looking down. Her happiness was replaced with something unpleasant and I felt that, so I changed the subject.

‘Your father said that you are going to show me my room?’

‘Ohh yes, sorry. Please follow me.’

I walked behind her, because I felt that she didn’t want to talk. We walked upstairs and I looked back one last time at the dark hall that Blake left for me. It scared me.      

 The next day was a Sunday’s morning. I and Grandma were sitting in a garden enjoying morning tea. There were at least ten or more difference art of trees around us. Together they created a beautiful surrounding. The weather was perfectly warm, so we couldn’t feel the cold from the stone bench. It couldn’t be a better morning.

‘Good morning’ Adam walked out a door behind us ‘Did you sleep well?’

‘Like a baby’ I answered.

Adam laughed and sat down to us. Before he could let another word out of his mouth, Grandma got up.

‘Oh no, my old brain is messing with me. I forgot to take my pills.’

I was getting up to offer my help, but she stopped me.

‘No no, I am not THAT old! I can handle myself! Sit down and get to know each other. I’ll be right back’ " she didn’t. Somehow she knew that I and Adam needed time alone. She walked behind some trees and disappeared completely.

‘So how are you doing?’ Adam asked. We started small talk for the sake of good company. I was very outgoing, so it was easy to be in a good company with me, yet Adam was distracted.

‘Are you ok, Adam? You seem to be distracted.’ He looked at me like he was expecting me to ask that question.

‘Did Ellie tell you how we know each other?’ I nodded and remembered what Grandma told me.

‘If Adam asks you how I and he met, just nod. I will tell you the story later, but right now is not the moment. Trust your Grandma ok?’ of course I trusted her. If she said jump, I would jump without looking down.

‘So you know that she saved my lives many times.’ I didn’t know, but I pretended to. Adam continued

‘So I called Ellie and asked her to come, because she might be the only one that can help me.’ He got my curiosity, but I must hold my poker face. ‘Shorty after you arrived she told me that YOU are the one that can help me, so I trust her.’ Me? How could I help him, if I didn’t even understand what is going on myself? My curiosity was about to break out with its many unanswered questions, but I had to let Adam finish his talk.

‘Actually it is not about me, it is about my daughters. I have a bad feeling that I might lose them… I don’t even know what is wrong with Blake. You saw her yourself, didn’t you? (Oh yeah, I did already.) The one that I am concerned the most is Aimee. You didn’t meet her yet, but she is the youngest daughter of mine, ten years.’ Her age hit my weakness for children " In my opinion; all young children are innocent, because their souls are not yet contaminated with wrongs and rights. Yet they are offers for the adults’ consequences of choices " So I was scared of the fact that Aimee might be hurt by something that she didn’t understand why.

‘Her mother traveled a lot.’ He did say traveled. ‘Yet her relationship with Aimee was…’ he said was. The fact that the mother might be gone stroke my heart hard and it started to race. ‘… was very close than I ever would have with Aimee. No matter how sad Aimee was, her mood would always change to happy when she was with her mother.’ My brain forced me to realize that the mother might be dead, not just gone. It started to get dark. I didn’t know if the sun was covered by skies or not, but the time was way too early for the day to get dark already. The fact that Adam didn’t react to the darkness should get my attention.

Adam closed his eyes trying to keep his tears trapped behind the eyelids. ‘Her mother was abroad seven weeks ago, because of her work. Aimee missed her mother badly, so she asked if the mother could come home.’ The tears were falling, so he looked away. ‘The love my wife had for Aimee was the greatest one you could imagine. She dropped and canceled everything to take the first fly back home. I never thought that such great love, came such great pain.’ The pain, I could literally feel it. My heart was poked with needles. I wanted to scream badly, but instead my tears also started to fall.

‘The plane crashed…’

I stopped listened, because a picture was created in front of me. Aimee sat down at the big front gate and waited happily for her mother to return. Another picture merged in and pushed the picture of Aimee away. The new picture turned to a movie. I saw a plane heading to the ground with burning engines. It was heading towards me. It got me standing and I should run, but it was too late. Two second after the plane crashed right in front of me. I could feel the heat, but it didn’t hurt at all. The fire was big and strong. It burned the plane together with hopes, dreams and loves that turned slowly into ashes and headed up to the black sky. The sound of Adam trying to remove his tears scattered the picture around me, but I could still feel the burning air.

‘Aimee cried like never before. I love my wife, and I love her more than anyone would ever be able to explain. Now I only got my daughters. I wouldn’t survive without them. I don’t want to lose them as well, but that is how I feel right now. But it is my fault! I can’t look into Aimee’s eyes. It reminds me of my wife and it hurts me too much. I can’t carry it.’

He held my hands and wanted me to understand what he was about to say. ‘Please understand me, when I tell you that my love to Aimee is as great as the love from my wife. I love my daughters, but I just can’t… I just can’t… look Aimee’s in the eyes. It is not fair, but she just doesn’t understand why God take her mother away, so she blames herself and I help her by not be able to look at her.’

I hugged him as a sign that I did understand him, more than he realized.

‘I promise you that I would do my best to help you.’ That poured out of me without me knowing how to keep that promise.

‘I know.’ Adam hugged me thankfully. That gave me courage to carry out the promise. He got embarrassed by being an old man that cried like a baby, so he got up, excused and walked away leaving me with mixed and confused questions.

‘So he has feeling after all?’ a cold voice that gave me Goosebumps. I turned to the voice. My legs gave me a little shake that traveled all the way to my shoulders, when I saw Blake leaned against a wall under a shadow of a house. You could hardly see her face.

‘Don’t worry. The drama hasn’t even started yet.’ Blake said it while she walked towards me with a malicious smile that froze me to the bench.

‘You shouldn’t come here. Now you have to witness the consequence of saving me and you will regret it.’

She turned and walked away again. The last thing I heard was ‘There is nothing you can do now, so enjoy the drama.’ I could imagine her winked at me. When she was completely gone from my sight, I jumped up like a wild animal that got released from a deadly trap. I got scared and again confused. My heart and my brain couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided to go back inside and take a good rest, but that would be too easy, and my life was everything else but easy. I saw Grandma standing fare away and smiled proudly to me. She had all the answers I was searching for, so I started running towards her, but she disappeared behind a door. I followed up and stopped in front of the door. When I touched the door before pushing it, my instinct warned me against the challenge behind the door. What challenge? All the questions I had gave my curiosity the power over my body and forced my hand to push the door and my legs to walk inside.

Behind the door there was nothing, nothing at all, just a big empty room. I was a bit disappointed, but yet relieved that no more weird thing was going to happen. Or at least I thought so.

‘It is not true!’ that was the voice of Maria behind another door at the end of the room. ‘Father doesn’t hate you.’

‘Yes he does! If not then why doesn’t he look at me?’ that was the voice of a young girl, Aimee.

‘It is hard for him, ok? He has his reason and he is grieving…’ Maria got interrupted by Aimee.

‘Everyone is grieving. He is not the only one that miss mom, you know? We all miss mom so much.’ Aimee’s voice was tearful. It forced my hands to open the door soundless. Aimee and Maria stood face to face against each other. They both have diamond tears in the corners of their eyes. Maria sat down on her knee to be at the same height as Aimee. They looked deep into each other’s eyes. With a soft and warm voice Maria said to Aimee.

‘You know that we all love you very much.’ And she got interrupted again by Aimee

‘And I need that love right now more than ever. Mom is gone and I need papa. I need him. Why does he hate me that much?’ that made Maria so speechless and she couldn’t take it. She got up with her hands holding her mouth and tears were raining down from her eyes. She walked slowly backwards away from Aimee, because she didn’t know what to do and was scared. Aimee stood there alone and looked down. I could hear her heartbeat slowing down. Her surrounding getting darker and darker until she was standing lonely in the dark.

‘’What would you do, if you were me? Wouldn’t you do whatever you think is best to save that little girl? I was no difference than you, but…’

Somehow I just knew what to do. I knew the answer to the equation. Without any hesitation I said to Aimee.

‘You are right! Aimee.’ While I walked slowly towards her and ended in the middle of Maria and her. I turned around and winked at Maria following with a smile that eased her mind. She nodded with expectantly eyes.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked me like I was one of her servant.

‘You are right about your father. He hates you.’ The word hate filled the room with fear, yet I continued merciless. 

‘He doesn’t want to see you. He doesn’t need you and maybe he blames you for the dead of your mother too.’

I moved slowly towards her for each word I threw at her. My words hit her soul so hard that her legs couldn’t carry her anymore. She fell and sat on the floor helplessly. Again I continued merciless.

‘He doesn’t want to talk to you anymore.’ Her heart beat fast and hard trying to survive, but it was not a survival for the need of oxygen. It tried to survive her heavy feeling, I forced into her. As a survival instinct her heart fought back.

‘IT IS NOT TRUE!!’ I waited for more to come ‘He said good morning to me every day!’

‘How can you be sure it was to you? Did he look at you? He was talking to other, not you! Maybe he didn’t even realize you were there.’

‘NO! He made breakfast to me every morning, with bacon and eggs the way I like it. He even drew my name on it with honey.’

‘Your sisters could have done it. He doesn’t care if you eat your breakfast.’

‘He DOES care! He always makes sure that I eat enough… EVERY DAY!’

‘If he does care, why doesn’t he look at you? He DOESN’T CARE!’

It took the breath out of her, but I couldn’t stop " not yet. I needed to push one more time.

‘So tell me, how do you know that he cares. How?’

With her shaking voice she answered.

‘He writes small notes to me and hangs them everywhere. His notes always remind me about how much he loves me.’ Her voice changed from fearful to loving. ‘You are wrong. He loves me more than you would ever understand.’

That was everything I waited for. I sat down on my knee in front of Aimee. With a calm voice I told her.

‘There, you just answered your own question.’ She looked at me with eyes covered in cheerful tears. No one could resist her cuteness.

‘But what should I do? I need him more than just his notes.’

‘Tell him how you feel.’ I said and helped her getting up. I didn’t know when or how, but everyone was around us in every corner. Grandma was holding Maria’s hand trying to calm her behind me and Aimee. Blake stood alone in the dark. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew it was her. Adam stood at the door and looked shyly down. I smiled to Aimee and put my hands on her shoulders and told her that it was the perfect time. She nodded and started walking slowly towards Adam. I could feel how hard it was for Adam to not look at Aimee, when she was just right in front of him. He would break if their eyes met. We all waited patience to what would happen next.

‘Papa, please don’t ever give me the feeling of you leaving me!’ Aimee hugged Adam hard with an unasked demand for his love. Her action was like a sunrise of a perfect day. She bathed everyone in lights of love, especially Adam. Every obstruction of his feeling towards Aimee was breaking down to ashes and he hugged Aimee back like never before. Their feeling was merged through each other with nothing had been said. Everything around them lightened up. It made me so happy, even though I had no idea what I did or how I did it. I looked inquiring at Grandma, but she just nodded to me like she was expected this of me. Blake walked away and left a heartless cold behind. It reminded me that this happy moment won’t last for long. Aimee got her answer and I got another question.

‘’That was the first revelation of my ability.’’

Author's Note

Should I continue?