The HOSPITAL

Chapter19. The Intruders from another world

Bertha slept well that night; she had a dream about her father; Bertha cried when she saw her father in a dream come and said she forgave Bertha. Seventeen years have passed when Bertha fell in love at that time with a simple young man.  

But it still left scars on Bertha's family, especially her father; Bertha's father fell ill and died of a heart attack. Because his anger is so intense, Bertha fell in love with a young man from an ordinary family, where Bertha's parents, who came from a wealthy family, opposed them. 

There is nothing wrong with Bertha's lover. Not his fault if he was born and raised in a poor and mediocre family. 

Love knows no caste or degree. Because all humans are equal in the eyes of God, only ego and arrogance limit humans to one another. However, it could not help but that all humans in this world do not have the same perspective to judge each other; each has a different opinion and character. 

  Bertha was noticeably young; she had just finished college and started working; she met a simple young man with a charming heart and face. The man lives in the slum near the hospital where Bertha works now; Bertha left home and married her first husband as she was used to living in an affluent way, making Bertha a little bit struggling with her current situation at that time. But because of love and mutual trust, they can get through tough times. 

Bertha's family was angry with her and forbade Bertha to go back to their house. However, Bertha misses her family, especially her mother and younger siblings. But whatever, Bertha did not want to add more to her father's anger. Her mother is the only one who understands bertha; however, her mother is also terrified of her husband, Bertha's father, so there is nothing she cannot do to help her. 

One day shocking news came from Bertha's family, her father had to rush to the hospital, and he left a message not to let Bertha come to visit, even had time to curse, Bertha would never be happy with her marriage.

 Bertha cried and panicked; she wanted to see her dad. she doesn't know what to do. They do not allow bertha to visit until finally, her father died. Bertha only came to her father's funeral from afar.

 All the family on his father's side looked angry at her and accused Bertha of the mistake of why her father had a heart attack. 

At that time, Bertha was pregnant with her first child, Christina, before her child was born, but she had to lose her husband, who died in an accident. The suffering was not over yet, and other successive sorrows overtook her as the sky fell upon her; what a heavy burden she carried. She suddenly loses hope, but when she touches her belly has on their child with her husband, Christian, It makes her bounce back and moves on from her grief. 

Bertha returned to her mother's house because bertha asked to come back home by her mother. She helped her mother look after her siblings, even to help them financially to finish their education.

Two-thirty midnight, Bertha was still sobbing in her bed, remembering the dream she just had in her slept, how clear her father's face was. She was thrilled to hear what her father says in her vision of forgiving Bertha, his elder daughter.

Every November one, bertha always goes to her father's grave first even though her father burials far away from the city, always accompanied by her best friend, Amelia. Meanwhile, her first and second husbands their tomb close to the town where Bertha lives. It was straightforward for Bertha to visit both. And she planned to visit their grave the next day. 

Bertha turned her body and was about to get up from her bed. But suddenly, she was wide-eyed and could not open her mouth. She tried to reach for the lampshade socket next to her bed. But it feels so hard to get it. She seemed to have lost her strength and suddenly became so weak. Even more surprising, eight people lined up in the dark; they stood still facing her while she was still onside position on her bed and face to face with them. Bertha had no idea who they were. They consist of adult people, male and female, also children; some are middle-aged. There are older adults and young men in formal attire, while other men wear the traditional barong Tagalog, the national dress of the Philippines. 

They looked neat and dressed like attending a party, but their clothes were like the dead in a coffin. Bertha could not even blink her eyes; she was horrified and did not want to look at them. She tried to scream but could not. 

Her subconscious seemed to be telling her to calm down: 

"Don't waste your energy in vain, Bertha." 

"You have to calm down." 

"Ask them what they want, and where do they come from." Bertha's subconscious taught her to act. 

Bertha followed the advice of her subconscious; slowly, without panic, she began to control herself, then asked them: 

"Who are you?" 

"Where did you come from, all of you? 

"Where did you come in enter  my house ?" ask her in succession 

one of them, there is a fat lady in Baro'tsaya with a fan on her hand, a little while, she fanned herself, repeated, she looked around with haughty eyes, saying: 

"Hmm... this was supposed to be our place, but it was forcibly confiscated by that family," while pointing her hand at the painting on the wall of Bertha's room. 

Bertha followed the fat woman's index finger, an ancient painting in a gold frame by Bertha's husband, a picture of a family, precisely an affluent family in the 19th century. Bertha stares do not understand what she said. 

The older man dressed in a formal suit and tie spoke up: 

" We demand justice and our rights " which makes Bertha even more stunned and does not understand at all. 

suddenly a small fat boy also spoke up while pointing at bertha: 

"Aren't you a defender for the dead?" 

"We ask for your help to defend us." 

For the first time, Bertha made a loud voice: 

"No!! I'm not a defender of anyone!" 

"You are dead, and in another world." 

"Why did you come to me?" 

"I'm still alive, and I live in this world for the living." 

they looked at each other and said in a mumbling voice: 

"It's useless we followed her from yesterday." 

Bertha shrieked to hear it. 

"How did you enter my house?" 

they pointed to the wall near the door of Bertha's room with a wide window. Then Bertha continued to ask again 

"Where are you guys from?" 

"From the graveyard that you went to yesterday with your friends," replied the young man who had been silent for a long time. 

"So, you guys are made claustrophobic in the car?" 

"I'm sitting next to your chatty girl," said the fat woman with an arrogant face. 

Bertha closed her eyes and recited a prayer with her mouth muttering while pointing her hand at them without opening her eyes: 

"Now exit through where you entered before." 

"Don't bother me, because I will not help you, forgive everything in your past life, there is nothing to do with it." 

" I will pray for your peace, and burn candles for you all, now go away!" as the sound of the wind blowing and moving away made the window glass vibrate. 

Bertha falls limply to her bed and fell asleep.