Spiritual
- Did you see that?
Jennifer pointed towards a house on the other side of the street. Her friend Emily shook her head.
- What am I supposed to see?
- There was a dog, a black dog. It was right there, beside the garage of that house!
- Well, it's gone now.
Emily kept walking down the street but stopped to wait for Jennifer, who was still peering into the shadow of the garage. She was used to Jennifer seeing things that no one else saw. It could be an animal, a person, a shadow. Whatever she saw always seemed to disappear before anyone else got to see it.
Eventually Jennifer followed Emily, and they continued on their way home from school. It was the middle of October. School started two months ago, but summer already felt like ages ago. Not because Jennifer disliked school — she was thrilled to finally be allowed to go there and learn new things — but because it was already so cold and fall-ish. The trees were slowly turning red and yellow, and now some had started losing their leaves altogether. It was so cold in the mornings when she walked to school, and it was getting dark so early. It was raining almost every day.
Today was no different. The darkness was silently descending upon the village as the two girls got closer to home, and the grey clouds in the sky were indicating that it would start to rain, if not tonight then tomorrow. Jennifer and Emily parted at a crossing and went to their respective homes. Jennifer had just reached the edge of the garden when she noticed a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye. She turned and searched the shadows with eyes half shut. "It was probably nothing," she thought — but then something moved some ten yards on her left. There was the black dog again, taking a few steps towards her.
- Oh, sweetie, what are you doing here? Have you followed me? Don't you have a home?
The black dog slowly wagged its tail and looked expectantly at her. Slowly she went closer. The dog remained still. She took another few steps. Then the dog backed off into the shadows again. Jennifer stopped. Maybe the dog had experienced something bad? Or maybe it wanted to show her something? Because now it came closer to her again, still wagging its tail.
Jennifer went inside to drop off her backpack. If she was to follow the dog, she didn't want to drag the backpack with her.
- Jennifer? Is that you? What took you so long? Dinner is ready for you.
Jennifer sighed. Her stepfather had apparently come home early. Oh, yeah, it was Friday. He always came home early on Fridays.
- Yes, it's me. I, uh, I'm going out again. I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't worry about dinner, I'll warm it up when I come back home.
And she went outside quickly before he could come and stop her.
The dog was waiting for her. It ran down the street, stopped and waited for her to follow. Jennifer pulled the scarf tighter to shut out the cold and jogged after the dog. Soon they reached the edge of the forest. She hesitated for a second. It was very dark in there. And it had started raining. Heavy raindrops searched their way down her neck, into her eyes and soaked her coat. Most of all she wanted to go home and cuddle up in some blankets in the armchair in front of the fireplace. But the black dog was waiting for her. Shivering, Jennifer followed.
They followed a path and before long they reached a clearing. There was an abandoned tumbledown house in the middle of a garden that must have once been beautiful but now had run wild. The dog ran straight to a shrubbery by the front porch and disappeared. As Jennifer got closer, she stopped suddenly. Was that someone crying? She tried to breathe as silently as she could, but the rain still made it hard to hear anything at all. Warily, Jennifer approached the shrubbery where the dog had disappeared. She bent some branches to the side and peered through the darkness.
And then she saw her. A little girl, about two or three years younger than herself — she could be no older than 5 in any case. She crouched behind the shrubbery as close to the house wall as she could, and she was trying to stop crying now that she had been found. Big blue eyes met Jennifer's brown ones, and the dress the girl was wearing was soaking wet from the rain. The black dog had curled up at her feet, maybe trying to keep her warm. Jennifer didn't really know what to do.
- Um, are you alright? Why are you crying?
The little girl kept sobbing.
- I don't want to go inside. I'm scared.
- Scared of what?
- My stepmother.
Jennifer crawled into the shrubbery and squatted down beside the girl.
- I'm Jennifer. What's your name?
- Mary. Where did you come from?
- Your dog led me here. It's a very beautiful dog.
Mary smiled faintly and patted the dog on its head.
- He's called Bobby.
They just sat there for a minute or two, Mary sobbing no more, and Jennifer was thinking. The house seemed to be abandonded, yet the girl seemed to live there. Or maybe she had run away from home and was just hiding here? Whatever the case, Jennifer had to think of a way to get the girl to return home.
- You said you were scared to go home, because of your stepmother. Is she being mean to you?
Mary shook her head.
- No. I haven't met her. But I'm scared of her. What if she is mean? Like all those stepmothers in the fairytales?
Mary's eyes filled with tears again.
- I don't think she is mean. I've met many stepmothers, and I have a stepfather. And they are all very kind people. I am sure that your stepmother is also a very kind person.
- You think?
Mary didn't look very convinced.
- Yes, I think so. Is your father a kind person?
Mary nodded.
- Well then, I don't think that your kind father would marry a mean woman to take care of you.
Jennifer smiled encouragingly at Mary. Mary was quiet for some time, Jennifer watched the raindrops landing on the remaining leaves of the nearest bush. It was getting really dark now.
- I think you are right, my father wouldn't marry a mean woman.
- Come, I'll follow you home.
Jennifer reached out for Mary as they crawled out of the shrubbery.
- But I live here, so you don't need to.
Jennifer thought that was a little weird, but didn't say anything about it. She just nodded.
- Okay. But I have to go home now.
- Will you come visit me some time?
Mary looked pleadingly at Jennifer.
- Maybe. If I can find my way back here again later.
Mary smiled, then went inside the house with the black dog close behind her. Jennifer hurried to get back home.
- Where have you been? We've been so worried about you!
Jennifer hadn't even taken her coat off before her stepfather and mother showed up in the doorway leading into the living room.
- I was just taking a walk, to the house in the forest.
She went into the kitchen, followed by her parents, and started warming up her food.
- What house? her mother asked. I can't recall anyone living there. Don't all your friends live within the village?
- Yes, but this was the first time I met this girl.
- Girl? What girl?
- Mary, the little girl who lives in that house. You know, the house that looks like it's abandoned? She has a black dog.
Her stepfather looked thoughtful. Jennifer started eating. Halfway through her meal, her stepfather began to speak again, cautiously.
- Are you sure there was a girl? And a dog?
- Yes, of course I'm sure. The dog was black and tried to warm her up. She was hiding behind some bushes by the house. I think she was a few years younger than me. She was crying because she was afraid that her stepmother is mean. But then she stopped crying and went inside the house. She said she lives there.
- That house has been abandoned for more than 40 years. No one lives there.
- Don't you believe me?!
Jennifer was getting frustrated. Her stepfather always questioned everything she told him!
- Yes, yes I believe that you saw her. I don't think you're lying. It's just.... Well, no one lives in that house.
- But then...? Wasn't she real? Am I crazy?
Jennifer was getting more confused than frustrated.
- No, not crazy. But I believe that you can see things that other people cannot. Maybe you can see things that happened long ago.
Well, the first part was certainly true. No one ever saw the things she saw, and then they claimed that she was just making things up. But the second part? Did she see things from the past? Jennifer shuddered, not because she was cold, but because the thought was a bit frightening.
- But then, that little girl...? She... is dead?
Jennifer looked at her parents.
- We don't know.
Her mother paused for a couple of seconds, then added,
- Would you do us a favor? Don't go back to that house. It could be dangerous to be around it, you know, falling roofing tiles, holes in the floors, broken windows....
Jennifer silently nodded.
But when she went to bed that night, Jennifer was thinking of one thing only: to go back and find that girl. She had to know more about her. Especially if she existed.
Maybe she was just getting crazy.