A Rosary for Emily (a 50-word story for @jayna)

in #fiftywords6 years ago (edited)
Greetings, 50-worders and readers. This is my entry to @jayna's #fiftywords challenge. This week’s prompt is
ghost
. You can see the details of the challenge here:
https://steemit.com/challenge/@jayna/fifty-wordshortstorychallengeoftheweek-5goksykp0f

Source

A Rosary for Emily


First time I saw her she was nervously sitting on my bed.
I calmly asked who she was and what she wanted.
She had seen me pray; wanted a rosary.
I asked Martina to accompany me. We prayed fervently at the cemetery.
Levitating in the distance, Emily waved and smiled.


Source

This story was told to me by my mother; not as a spooky tale to scare me and make me be a good kid or as a lecture to awaken my Christian self, but as one of her many anecdotes that happen to involve the paranormal. My mother is not affected by senility, in fact, she is been telling these kinds of stories since as far as I can remember. She is the most lucid person you can imagine, with the sharpest memory and the strongest character; not someone easily impressionable or suggestible.
She tells her stories of encounters with ghosts so naturally, it makes you think she is just teasing you. This one has a neighbor as witness, who actually went with her to the cemetery, not knowing what my mother was up to. My mother had not told her anything about the apparitions to avoid scaring her. My mother was not scared but she was not as strong as before to go alone. At the cemetery, since she had not been able to find this mysterious woman’s grave, they prayed at the Cross of Forgiveness, a spot allegedly devoted to pray for those wandering souls whose graves have been lost or who never had a Christian burial. My mother’s friend reported later that she had seen a mysterious woman leaning over a grave at a certain distance, holding a withered calla lily. She held her breath and did not tell my mother until they were back home. She did not want to scare the old lady. She asked her, “did you see the dead woman back at the cemetery?” My mother answered that she knew about that presence from the beginning, that she had noticed there were no feet touching the ground. Her neighbor is not longer available for further visits to the cemetery, as you can imagine.

Saludos a los participantes del reto de 50 palabras y a los lectores en general. Esta es mi participación en el reto de @jayna #fiftywords. La palabra de esta semana es
fantasma
. Pueden ver los detalles del reto aquí:
https://steemit.com/challenge/@jayna/fifty-wordshortstorychallengeoftheweek-5goksykp0f

Un rosario para Emilia


La primera vez que la vi estaba temblorosa sentada en mi cama.
Calmadamente le pregunté quién era y qué quería.
Había estado observando como yo hacía los rosarios, me dijo; quería uno en el cementerio.
Le pedí a Martina que me acompañara. Rezamos fervorosamente en La Cruz del Perdón.
Levitando a unos metros de nosotras, Emilia saludó y sonrió.

Source

Esta historia me la contó mi mamá; no como un cuento de miedo para asustarme y hacer que me portara bien o como un sermón para despertar mi yo cristiano, sino como una de sus tantas anécdotas que casualmente involucran lo paranormal. Mi mamá no sufre de senilidad; de hecho, ha estado contando este tipo de anécdotas desde que puedo recordar. Ella es la persona más lúcida que puedan imaginar, de memoria prodigiosa y carácter templado; no alguien fácilmente impresionable o sugestionable.

Ella cuenta sus historias de encuentros con fantasmas de forma tan natural, que te hace pensar que está bromeando. Esta anécdota tiene a su vecina como testigo, quien efectivamente la acompañó al cementerio, sin saber exactamente a qué. Mi mamá no le había dicho a su vecina lo de las apariciones para que no se asustara. Mi mama dice que ella no lo estaba pero ya no tienen la misma fuerza física para andar sola, mucho menos en el cementerio. En el cementerio, como no había podido dar con la tumba de la misteriosa mujer, hicieron el Rosario en la Crus del Perdón, un lugar en teoría dedicado para rezar por almas en pena cuyas tumbas han desaparecido o quienes no recibieron cristiana sepultura. La vecina de mi mama reportó luego que ella había visto una mujer misteriosa inclinándose sobre una tumba a cierta distancia de donde ellas estaban; sostenía una cala seca. La vecina aguantó el susto y no contó nada hasta que regresaron a casa. No quería asustar a la anciana. Le preguntó, “¿Usted vio la muerta?” Mi mamá le respondió que efectivamente ella se había percatado de la presencia desde el principio, que había notado que no había pies tocando el piso. Su vecina, como pueden imaginarse ya no está a la orden para más visitas al cementerio.

Thanks for your reading. Looking forward to your comments.

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Hello @hlezama, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!

Your mom's stories are truer and scarier because she actually experienced them (real or not, it doesn't matter).

Well penned, dear @hlezama! :)

Yep. She gives me the chills once in a while. Thanks for stopping by.

The best part is that now you leave it well documented.

Lo mejor de todo es que ahora lo dejas bien documentado.

Greetings, @felixgarciap. Yes, I've been trying to leave record of all these amazing stories. For my mother's generation writing was not an option. Unless someone else does it, their memories will be gone with them.

This is remarkable. I wish I got to see spirits, like your mother. I always feel like they are there, but I believe they only reveal themselves to certain people. Or that certain people have the right sort of consciousness to see them. Very nice story, too!

Hi, @jayna. Thanks for stopping by. There has to be some beyond-our-understanding-"arrangement" between some people and some after-life state of being. Usually, I don't know what to think of it. I am working on a "story" that is actually one of those experiences that you wish you could explain via reasonable means, but you can't.

I love that there is a true story behind the short story. :) Thank you for sharing!

Very true and very distrubing :)
Thanks for stopping by

A very nice story, @hlezama. And I do believe that what your mother experienced is true. I think the spirits are not leaving us but they continue to exist in a parallel world. And sometimes, the two worlds collide.
Plus, I would rather fear the living not the dead. 🙂

Thanks, @roxy-cat. My mother usually says so. Actually she has told me stories of "fights" with evil spirits out of which she has come out victotious and part of that has to do with her not feeling afraid of them.
I have seen some things and experienced some others for which I have no logical explanation, but it wasn't until recently that I started to articulate them through Steemit and #fiftywords in particular.

Your mother is very brave. And she has very nice stories to share. Why not capture her adventures in a book? 🙂

Yes, she is. I sould write a book with her stories. I guess it will be a matter of time and urgency.
Thanks for stopping by, @roxy-cat.

Me encanta esta historia tiene un aire entre familiar y fantasmal.
Excelente, gracias por compartirla.

Gracias a ti por leerla y comentarla. Creo que en algunos círculos lo fantasmal se puede hacer tan cotidiano que deja de asustar.

A fascinating story.

My maternal grandmother used to tell some riveting ghost stories.

I don't have, nor do I wish for, much experience in that area; but I do recognize that there are things in this life and world beyond our understanding.

😄😇😄

@creatr

I feel you. That's been my attitude all my life.
Thanks for commenting, @creatr

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