CHAPTER 37
*PRESENT*
“A ghost”
Aaron
Someone was knocking on our door. I got up and heard my mom walking down the stairs quickly. My dad was not far behind her.
“I’m going to be the one opening that door, wife. Don’t you dare open the door to a stranger.”
Before my dad or I could get to her, she opened the door.
I couldn’t see the figure, because my dad pounced as soon as the stranger fell into my mom’s arms.
I had never seen my dad with so much rage and about to hit someone, when he stopped suddenly and my mom hugged the figure. Someone was clearly injured.
I got down the stairs as fast as possible and heard my dad whisper to the stranger.
A sob came out and my hairs stood up.
It couldn’t be, could it?
“It’s okay, baby. He’s fine, sweetheart. Everything’s okay.”
The stranger raised their head in a tangle of messy, brown hair, almost covered with all the water. A white, almost blue hand raised to her face and removed the hair from her face. I could clearly see her eyes. I had seen them every day since we were ten.
Another sob came out of her and she fell to her knees. Something was terribly wrong.
“Aaron,”
her broken, almost nonexistent voice called for me.
I grabbed her from the ground and hugged her against me. She was frigid, completely soaked, and crying like the world was ending.
“Maya, what happened?”
Her hands were around me, grabbing me like I was her lifesaver. I had never been more scared in my life.
“Baby, I need to know what happened so I can solve it. Please, my love.”
“I thought you were dead!”
she screamed against my shoulder. I sighed.
“Oh no, baby, I’m fine. You knew that I was staying here.”
She was trying to say something, but with the sobs, I couldn’t understand. Her whole body was shaking. I tried to raise her so I could put some blankets on before she would get sick, but she didn’t let me move. She was grabbing me with force.
“Maya, I’m fine, but you won’t be if you stay wet and cold like this.”
My mom came with some towels.
“Take her to the shower. She needs to remove those wet clothes and get warm.”
I tried to wrap her with the towel, but she still wasn’t cooperating. I grabbed her with force and lifted her up the stairs to the closest shower. Once I closed the bathroom’s door, I tried to remove her from me.
“My love, I really need you to help me, okay? Follow my lead.”
I tried to remove one of her hands from my shirt, but she was shaking her head. “You will keep touching me, Maya. Let me show you.”
Her strength got a little less intense, and I peeled her fingers from my shirt. She kept crying, looking at me removing her hand. With my other hand, I raised her chin and forced her to look at me. There was so much pain in her eyes that I faltered. My wife was in so much pain. Her tears were falling down her beautiful face. She was white as a ghost, and the sobs that were coming out of her were from my nightmares.
“Help me remove my clothes, my beautiful wife, can you?”
I removed her clothes while her cold, shaking fingers were trying to undress me with little result. I grabbed my PJ shirt and undid the buttons. I removed it from me and got Maya into the shower. I turned on the water and put her under the spray. She tried to move from it, but I caged her against the wall and me, just below the spray. The water was warm, but not hot. As soon as she acclimated to the temperature, I raised it. She needed to get warm. I started adding shampoo on her head and washed her body as fast as possible, but trying to be gentle and not scare her.
“You’re doing such a good job, my love. I love you so much. It’s going to be okay, Maya. I’m fine, I promise. Do you hear me, my beautiful wife?”
She nodded, but the tears kept coming out.
Maya tried to shampoo my hair. She seemed like she needed the distraction, so I let her while adjusting the water hotter. She didn’t seem to notice the change much, so I raised it a little more. She then started to put body wash on my body. It reminded me so much of our shower in Málaga, and all the others that we shared, but this time, my wife was suffering. I started to massage her hair and body, trying to calm her down while she continued to wash my body.
“I’m clean now, baby. Thank you.”
I gave her a kiss on the forehead, and she almost fell. I grabbed her and got her out of the shower.
I started to dry her while she tried to do the same to me. I grabbed another towel and put it over her hair, trying to dry as much hair as possible. Then I put her in the long-sleeve shirt that my mom had left outside the door. I put the clothes on and I dressed, then I put her against me. Before she could say something more, I grabbed her bridal style and brought her to my room. The one I was sleeping in before Maya had knocked on the door.
I put her to bed, and when I tried to move from her side to get her tea and some soup, she grabbed me by my shirt.
“Is everything okay?”
She shook her head and tears started to fall again.
“Don’t leave,”
she said in a small voice.
“I’m going to the kitchen to grab something warm.”
“I’m fine, I don’t want anything,”
she sobbed. “Just stay.”
I nodded. I wanted her to eat something. She needed to drink water, too. She was probably dehydrated after all the tears. I grabbed her and hugged her towards me.
“I’m not going anywhere, my love.”
She still grabbed me against her with shaking hands. I kissed her head and caressed her cheeks.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
She shook her head. “Are you sure?”
She sniffled.
“It’s the same nightmare as always,”
she said in a small voice.
“I didn’t know you had nightmares.”
“Every night.”
“Oh, my love. I’m sorry. You know, talking could help, when you’re ready.”
“Thank you,”
she said against my neck.
A knock made me remove some inches from Maya. She was pouting.
“Come on in,” I said.
My mom entered with a tray and four cups on top.
“How are you feeling, darling?”
Maya looked at my mom with tears in her eyes and then lowered them, without letting go of me.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to wake you up or make you worry,”
she said between sobs.
My mom was shocked to see Maya like this. We had never seen her like this.
“It’s fine, Maya. You know you’re a daughter to me. It’s normal that we worry about you. I’m not going to give you a sermon tonight because you need to rest, but it was very dangerous what you did, darling, and you’re not someone that does irresponsible things without a reason, so whatever happened must have scared you a lot.”
Maya nodded.
“I’m going to give you some food, and then you two are going to rest. Let’s hope you didn’t catch a cold.”
My mom left the tray on my desk and left.
I separated myself from my wife a little so I could grab a cup, but she made a sound of protest. I grabbed a cup with what smelled like vegetable soup and gave her the cup. My mom had left two spoons in it.
Because Maya didn’t make any move to let go of me, I started to gather some soup on the spoon and give it to her.
“Open, my love.”
She opened her mouth, and after blowing in case it was too hot, she gulped the soup down. “Such a good wife.”
Her tears stopped spilling. Her cheeks and eyes were red from all the crying, but I saw a spark of laughter in my wife’s eyes. I gave her spoonful after spoonful of soup, and after she finished everything, I grabbed the next cup with soup and wanted to give her more.
“That’s yours, Aaron.”
“No, baby, I already had dinner. Did you?”
She shook her head and seemed about to say something back. “If I’m hungry I will eat, I promise.”
I continued to give her soup until her eyelids started to fall.
“Let’s go to bed.”
That made her eyes open wide.
“I’m not sleepy.”
She didn’t want to sleep in case she had the same nightmare again.
I nodded. “That’s fine, I just want to lie in bed with you.”
She gave me space to lie quickly and pushed me to bed on top of her. My heart hurt from seeing my wife like this. I wanted more touch and to see that she was still in love, but not in this way. Not when it was at her cost. I hugged her and started to kiss her head. I massaged her shoulders and touched her hair with soft circles. She was still grabbing me with strong hands. I touched her hands and massaged her fists.
I felt little sobs coming out of her until her breath evened out. I kept awake until the sun rose, making sure my wife’s dreams were not plagued with nightmares.