A week after her murder, Ximena was laid to rest in the Texas town her and Jonah called home. The sun went down and a full moon began its rise. At the stroke of midnight, a crow began tapping on her headstone. Moments later, the soil above Ximena’s grave was opened up and her casket now sat empty. Now the crow tapped to signal that there was work to do. The shivering woman curled up by the headstone was still coming to terms with her new existence. She looked up at the blackbird and wondered where she was and how she got there. Then her memories returned.
Two teens walked along the cemetery fence line, talking, joking, and smoking. It was going to be a good night for them. They were supposed to be at each other’s houses... “Studying.” With both having parents that were not too observant, the night was theirs to do what they wanted.
“Tomorrow is Halloween. We gonna get wasted. We gonna get it on.” said one.
“The girls are gonna look hot at the party. No doubt.” said the other.
A shrill scream pierced the silent night and caused them to freeze. The scream was long, blood curdling, and came from somewhere inside of the cemetery.
“What was that?” asked one.
“Dude, probably someone just screwin around,” said the other.
Neither was so sure. Then another scream forced them to consider their night officially done. They ran for whichever home was closer and hoped the screams were not meant for them.
Ximena laid by her forced open grave, tucked into the fetal position, shivering. She had been buried in her favorite pant suit. Her power suit. Someone remembered she said about not wanting to be buried in a dress. Not that she minded dresses. But she wanted to look professional going into the afterlife. Not that that really mattered at all right now. The crow was now cawing at her from atop the headstone. It thought that she was taking too long to getting reacquainted with the mortal world. She reached out to the bird but it flew away. In the light of the moon she could see it fly toward a well-lit buildings in the distance. It was still cawing. She didn’t understand what it was telling her but she knew what it meant.
Hurry up.
Nearby, in the only hospital for miles, Jonah laid silently in his bed. He too had been transferred back home when he was deem stable enough to travel. But stable didn’t men alright. He needed the assistance of a respirator and an IV to keep him alive. Wires came off his body letting the doctors and nurses know that he was still around and in need of care. Ximena stood over him. Her bare feet left dirty footprints from the window to his head. Outside you could trace her climb by the dark brown smudges on the wall. She reached out a cold shivering hand, seeking the warmth of his. When she touched his hand, her mind flashed to a memory. They were back at their apartment, packing for the trip to Mexico.
“I can't believe you talked me into this... again,” said Jonah.
“I can't believe you say that... every time,” replied Ximena.
She broke out of the memory and jerked her hand away from Jonah. Ximena stepped back confused. She didn’t understand what was happening to her. She stepped forward and grasped Jonah's hand again. She found herself in another memory.
They were in their truck.
“Have I told you how much I love you today?” said Jonah.
“Yeah. But I still like hearing it,” she replied.
The memory flashed forward. Then they were back in Rogelio’s home. Jonah walked to the front door and opened it.
“Puedo ayudarte?” he asked.
Then she saw Jonah get shot through the screen door again.
Ximena pulled away from Jonah and fell into a chair, hyperventilating and her eyes tearing. She slowly stood up and composed herself. She wanted to touch her fiancé again but heard the door handle to the room turn. Father Suarez entered the room, trying to stay quiet. He knew Jonah was in a coma but it was still night and he felt it would be rude to make noise. He approached the bed and put a hand on Jonah’s shoulder. The priest closed his eyes and recited a prayer. Mid way through the recitation he thought heard movement behind him. Father Suarez slowly opened his eyes and continued the prayer. He then noticed that the window was cracked open and dirt streaks were on the window frame. He stopped his prayer and sighed.
“The nerve of some people,” he thought to himself.
“Hasn't enough been taken this man?” he asked the intruder in the room.
There was only silence.
“I may be a priest, but you'll find me very difficult to overcome if you want to get to him,” he said.
A trembling voice ended the silence.
“Help... me…” said Ximena.
Father Suarez turned to see a young woman, wearing a suit, covered in dirt.
“What's happening?” pleaded Ximena.
The priest was silent in shock. Ximena stared at her hands.
“What am I?” she asked.
Alejandro didn’t know what the situation was but he knew the person in front of him was in distress.
“What you are is someone in need of help. What's your name?” he asked.
Ximena looked down as if trying hard to remember something.
“My name?” she asked, looking like she could not remember.
Then it came to her.
“My name… I’m Ximena,” she said.
Father Suarez felt cold. He knew the man in the room had a fiancé that was killed. He read about it in a newspaper and saw a picture of her. The woman in front of him looked just like her. But it couldn’t be.
“Sorry child. Ximena is dead,” he said.
He said it just as much to convince himself that this was a dream or hallucination as it was to convince the person in front of him that she was wrong.
“Dead?” she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
Ximena looked down and around the room, feeling confused. She pointed at herself.
“I'm not dead,” Ximena replied, sounding like she wasn’t so sure.
The priest walked to the door slowly, keeping an eye on the intruder. He was not dreaming. Maybe this was a hallucination. But if it was not, then there was some dark thing taking the form of a dead woman.
“Let's let Ximena be in peace,” he said.
But what if this is just a woman in trouble that just resembled Ximena? It was possible. In any case, she needed assistance.
“Let me get you some help,” he said.
It also wouldn’t hurt to know if another person could see her. He turned to walk out of the door.
“I am Ximena!” she yelled.
Father Suarez turned around, half expecting the women to be running at him but she had vanished. It was as if he had imagined the whole scene. The priest slowly backed into the hall, keeping his eyes focused on the room. He bumped into Ranger Paulson, who was running down the hall with a nurse close behind.
“Whoa, Alejandro, look out!” said the Ranger.
The priest’s face was pale.
“What happened? Are you okay? I was at the nurse’s station as we heard someone yelling,” he said.
“Oh, good. Then I’m not going crazy,” said Father Suarez.
“Huh?” asked Paulson.
“A woman was in there with me. She came through the window. I think,” said Alejandro.
“Excuse me,” said the nurse.
She tried to squeeze by them to get into the room but Ranger Paulson blocked her path with his arm.
“Is she still in there?” he asked.
“No, I think she left... through the window,” said Father Suarez.
The nurse ducked under the Ranger’s arm and rushed into the room to check on her patient.
“Through the window?” Paulson asked.
“I think I saw a ghost,” said the priest.
An hour later, Police officers and crime scene technicians were walking around the Ximena’s open grave. An anonymous caller had reported screams coming from the cemetery. The Ranger and the priest walk to the edge of the scene and Paulson motioned to one of the officers present. High above, squatting on a tree branch, Ximena watched and listened.
“Officer, who is in charge here?” Paulson asked and showed his badge.
“I'll go get him,” said the officer.
“I'm not sure what to think about what you saw, but I know you enough to know that you don't see things. And whatever happened here in the cemetery is too weird and coincidental to ignore,” said Paulson.
“I appreciate your faith in me because I was beginning to wonder,” said the priest.
Ximena stared at the priest’s face. It began to seem familiar. She realized this was the priest she had waved to in Rio Blanca.
“Just so we are clear, if I am going crazy, you’re the one enabling me,” the priest said to the Ranger.
Paulson just nodded.
“By the way, what were you doing at the hospital?” Father Suarez asked.
“I was going to see if the doctors or anybody could tell me anything about Jonah,” he replied.
“Not making any headway in the investigation?” asked the priest.
“More like I reached a dead end,” replied the Ranger.
A detective walked up to the two men. Ximena watched the scene closely.
“I'm Ranger Paulson, this is Father Alejandro Suarez,” said the Ranger.
The Detective shook the hands of both men.
“Ranger, Father. I’m Detective Saldaña. Is there something I can do for you?” asked the detective.
“I hope so,” said Father Suarez.
“We were just over at the hospital. Father Suarez was in the room of Jonah Olivares, the fiancé of the woman who is supposed to be in this grave,” said Paulson.
“Okay?” asked the detective, wondering what was going on.
Paulson looked over at the priest.
“Go ahead, Alejandro,” he said.
“A woman claiming to be the woman who belonged to this grave, broke into the hospital,” said Father Suarez.
“Hold on. Who claimed what?” asked the detective.
The priest took a deep breath.
“A woman claiming to be Ximena Mendes was at the hospital. She looked as if she just crawled out of ground. And she looked like Ximena,” he said.
The detective looked down and his shoulders deflated. He just learned that his night just got more complicated.
“You know how this sounds, right? I have to put this in a report,” said the detective.
Paulson sighed.
“Yeah, so do I. I have security covering the room right now. Looks like she escaped through the window,” he said.
The priest cleared his throat.
“The tenth floor window,” Paulson clarified.
“I figured you'd rather hear this in person than have news of a dead woman running go out over the radio,” said Paulson.
On her perch, Ximena continued to listen in on the conversation as the crow landed next to her. Then once again, she had a flashback.
Inside Diego’s home.
“The blackbird will be with you,” he said.
Jonah shot through the door.
The cloaked woman pointed at Ximena.
“Hold her down,” said the woman.
She felt the blade on her abdomen and she screamed.
A black glove covered Ximena’s mouth.
“Shhhhhhhh…” she heard the gloved man say.
Then Ximena was back in the real world, perched on a tree. Her body was trembling. Next to the grave, Paulson, the detective and Father Suarez were still talking.
“And here I thought this night was strange enough,” said Detective Saldaña.
“The night's still young,” replied Paulson.
The priest looked over at the Ranger.
“Really, Roy? Must you encourage the weirdness?” he asked.
“Sorry,” said Paulson.
Ximena’s eyes closed as her mind drifted back into memories. Her body began to lean back and she dug the nails of her right hand into the tree trunk. Her left hand gripped the branch she was squatting on. Her mind was again locked into a vision of her death and the shooting of her fiancé. The sounds of gunfire echoed in her mind as her body straightened and pulled away from the tree. Her eyes lids opened wide and her eyes rolled back in her head. Her body twitched with the sound of each gun blast.
She was in Diego’s home, held on the ground. The blade held by a black gloved hand plunged down on her.
In the tree, Ximena’s body spasmed and straightened rigidly, pulling her hands away from the tree. As she fell, she heard the voice in her head.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dWWkt7YkA
“Shhhhhhhh...”16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5x5phkKuf
Ximena fell through the branches and landed in a crouch in front of the Ranger, the priest, and the Detective. The shock sent all three stumbling back, but they all manage to keep their footing. A nearby officer drew his weapon and approached Ximena.
“Ma'am, put your hands on your head and back up slowly,” she commanded.
In her mind, Ximena only saw her murderers approaching her. She quickly reacted, taking officer's gun and flipping the woman to the ground. Another officer rushed in to grab her, but she quickly put him on the ground as well, next to the other one. Then she pointed the gun at the officers on the ground. Ranger Paulson, who already had his weapon drawn, fired three shots into Ximena’s chest. They were grouped almost perfectly. The violent force of the rounds ripped a hole through Ximena’s shirt, exposing the skin that had three holes grouped tightly enough to appear as one larger one. She dropped the gun and woke from her trance. She stepped back and opened her shirt to see the damage. Pointed flashlights gave enough light so everyone there could see the wound healing completely in a matter of seconds. Ximena turned around and ran off into the night. No one said a thing. No one pursued.
“You had to say the night was young,” Father Suarez said to the Ranger.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6j7kuH33LG
