The Life of Her

Released

The smell of freshly brewed coffee just bounded the place, like it’s the owner. Shin had made one for herself and took a sip on her cup. It has been thirty-five minutes when the nurse checked on me and the woman left us for good. She informed us that she will be heading to Amber’s sibling who’s also currently confined, yet her daughter seemed not to be satisfied with her reason.

The child was caught with dengue and now he’s slowly recovering. I’ve drawn myself in deep thoughts and buried into vast conclusions. Probably Mom is eager to find me right now. I just knew it and I just longed for her. I need to call her this night. I know she’ll understand and recognize me.

I looked over Amber who was just standing still beside the casement, looking assiduously at what was below. The atmosphere was brightly blue. I wanted to go outside. I haven’t heard anything from her, since she shared things out about her relationship with her mother and having the woman straightly evacuated the room. I guessed she’s also dealing with her personal issues.

Remembering what she explained a while ago, I agreed that we needed to lay things out and seek for a way to turn back our lives. We both don’t want to stay like this in the long run.

Somehow, seeing a ghost is not new to me. Peculiar as it may be, having her close by with me is not that sinister. Someway around, she didn’t stress me not like the woman in that abandoned house. Amber is not an unscrupulous wraith - well, maybe for now.

Shin was just settling on the sofa, taking herself in calmness and concentrated again on reading that novel. I looked at the clock. It was four to be exact. I heard a cracking sound from the window and perceived Amber stretching her right arm. She was smiling roguishly and she was enjoying what she was doing with her body.

“Being a ghost is not that boring, you know.” She pondered. “Do you want to become one?” She smirked at me, her eyes were full of impairment. I swallowed as I took myself in a defense mode, holding close the sheets of the bed and my arm.

She stopped and glowered at me.

“You don’t want to harm my body, or I’ll drag you to those who want to eat your soul. You don’t want to deal with them...”

I suddenly sensed a hint of fear in her but she was well-raised in changing her expression directly. It was a mask that’s hard to break. She stretched out her limbs and let out a bore.

“Do you want to take a break outside? The sky is quite good to look out at this time and have refreshment ” She uttered and suddenly vanished in the air.

I looked at Shin. “Shin…can we go outside?”

“Sure. But it will be quick okay? I don’t want you to get a cold and be scolded by Mom.” She said, resting her book on the table. She pulled my black jacket on her side and sauntered to me. She helped me to step and we departed the area.

Vender Hospital is quite a lovely one. Three floors will be fun to roam around. The hallway was clear and clean. Their rooms were even decorated neatly that a child will help himself in recovering with its virtuous ambience.

Even the nurses were hospitable and agile. The lights were bright. My room is on the second floor with a number 201. We stopped by its blatant, burnished windows and got the outlook that would appease someone’s frets.

The sunset was perfect with its vibrant red-orange color. The birds flew themselves as the cold waft beleaguered the place. I grabbed a profound breath. I conceived her smile beside me as she sipped her drink. Amber suddenly popped on my right side with a resolute face. She kept her silence and kept the time to mesmerize the view.

“I used to watch sunsets with him before…”I heard her whisper.

“Can we talk now?” She blunted and observed Shin.

“Also, can you make that lady walk for a while? It will surely be weird if she sees you talking with yourself and might laugh, thinking that you're not sane.”

In a hasty manner, Shin’s phone rang inside her pocket. She took it and immediately answered the person on the line.

“Hello, Mom. Mhm.” She moved nearer to the window and peaked somewhere at the outside ground, near the gate. I looked at it and saw Mrs. Jordan going out from the taxi cab that was parked on the other side of the road beside a pear tree, slowly, pulling some baskets and paper bags filled with those assorted goods.

“Okay, I’ll go there. Bye, Mom.” Shin hang up the call and said.

“I’m going downstairs to help Mom. Wait for me here okay, Amber? It will not take a while.”

I nodded at her. I was certain that Amber is grinning beside me at the moment.

“No worries. Just take your time.”

She gave me a tap and left.

“That was fast.” She flippantly commented and sighed in relief. Her hands were fiddling, trying to find the words to be exact.

“What do you want to talk about?” I promptly said.

I need to ask fast and I knew that we both needed to. Time is running out and the longer we stay in this form, there’s a leeway that I would be trapped in this body in the long term, which I don’t want to happen.

She crossed her arms. “I would say, I want to discuss a lot with you, but first, I want to know who this person is using my body as of this moment. It was almost a month when you finally decided to open your eyes. I tried several times to revive my soul or even get inside my body, but then I saw someone else inside, and that was you. Who really are you?” She uttered with a cold stare.

“I’m Trenton Singh…and you are?”

“Amber Kate Madison.” She offered her hand in front of me.

I stared for it for a while, but I didn’t have the guts to shake it a bit, letting her pull it away from me. That was rude, I thought. But, I’m no good to talk with a stranger and especially who just made a tie with me in a bizarre manner.

“Such a cold taste there. Not a fan of handshakes. Right. Anyways, I’m currently in the verge of hunting someone. Now that you’re awake, we could help each other to find that woman. It has been two weeks when I started trying, but it seems that she doesn’t want to let herself get caught by me, or perhaps she wanted you to do so or...both of us” She uttered, placing her right palm on the window.

I discerned Shin and Mrs. Jordan having their time in carrying those things up here with their little chitchats. They just passed the road and now entering the gate.

“Who is this woman you’re searching for?” I asked.

“The woman we both saw, the day in that accident. The one who is distinct from the others and intentionally approached us.” She replied.

A sagacious flash of my memory suddenly appeared before me. It was the day our paths collided.

There was an abrupt, massive catch from the extent. Nobody has listened to that, but only I. A woman flashed and was sneering at me. It was looming. I saw her tightened a finger once more, repeating then and again. I felt the knocks of my gut as every catch was made. It was as if I was fluttering. I slowly swerved my crown and saw a girl fibbing beside me oblivious. It was her, Amber!

My nose was trickling red. The lady I witnessed had already entered the public, gazing promptly at us. I felt myself deliberately clenching the dull stiff hand and the climate was brightly light.

It was restful. I can’t gasp appropriately and felt that I was smothered from their presence. Begging for support, I lost my voice to warn. I stared at their sights – they are like chasing ones. Deliberately, I renounced my consciousness and felt something - a warm feeling over our palms and an unknown feeling encompassed - fate.

“It was the time that I felt my soul coming out from my own shelter. I was wafting. I couldn’t sense anything. I saw myself lying lifelessly on the surface…And I recognized you beside me, also fighting for life. I dotn understand why you were there because I was alone when that vehicle hit me.” She paused.

“But then….the time that you lost your consciousness, the ambulance came and both of us were brought in the hospital. I was left on the road with a gap, not knowing what to do. People couldn’t see, passing through me like I wasn’t even there at all, not until I heard a woman’s voice say that it was an expected one.”

I stayed in stillness and listened to Amber’s explanation. Shin and her mother had already entered the facility and in any moment, they would be here.

“I saw her watching at me, listening to every second that's been ticking. I was certain that she could see me when she stayed still just a few inches away from my spot, a smile coated on her face. It was the woman you saw, Trenton…the woman with the red shoal.”

So, she’s associated with what’s occurring with us right now.

“She didn’t twitch or even be shocked at seeing me like a ghost. My tears began to fall when the things slowly whacked me into reality that I was dead. She offered me a help and I wanted it to, I should find her in a house with an apple tree before the full moon will rise. Before she vanished, she told me that you certainly know the place.” She exhaled.

“Did you know her name?” I inquisitively questioned her.

She shook her head. “I tried asking out her name, but she refused to tell me, not until both of us will be in that place she mentioned.” She suddenly touched my hands and held them tight. She could touch me somehow, and her body wasn’t passing at me at all now.

“O-Oh…This is new…I-I can touch someone now?” She gently pressed my palms as a grin slowly curved on her lips.

“It’s obvious.”

She gulped and focused on herself.

“P-Please help me. You’re the only one whom I can ask for support now. I know there’s a special bond between us, relating ourselves to each other. Please, Trenton. Please help me find that woman and let’s find a way to bring back ourselves. If you help me, I’ll take you to your parents. I know where your body is right now.”

She pulled her hands off me and looked me intently in the eyes. I saw Mrs. Jane and Shin walking towards me. The woman waved her hand as she carried with her those baskets. They both passed Amber and she looked at them strangely. She tried to hold them, but her body was transient. She looked at me with sadness.

“We don’t have much time, Trenton. We don’t have ample period. I’ll visit you when you’re ready. Just call my name.” She declared to me and slowly vanished.

Shin clapped her fingers in front of me, which made me blink twofold.

“Were you praying while your eyes were widely opened?” She teased me.

I watched myself still clasping both my hands. Amber had touched me. I immediately unfolded my clutch and chuckled a bit.

“I-I was.” I feigned.

Mrs. Jordan gave me a mild smack on the back. “If you’re worried about the rental, your mother had paid me completely. I wasn’t even able to thank her. Now, you just have to make yourself better. Your mother will fetch you soon.” She stated.

I agreed and snickered. The three of us presided in the room. I definitely needed to make myself strong again. For now, I will borrow Amber’s body and make things right. A bond was already made and we need to use it to find ways.

Wait for me, Amber.