Did You Hear That?
We drove up to the curb in front of Oliver’s aunt’s house, and as I looked to the side from the passenger side, I noticed it was a two-story house. It was one of those community houses where the homes looked eerily like each other. Oliver turned to me and asked, Are you ready to meet them? It would be the first time I would be meeting Oliver’s relatives, especially his grandma, who is the most important person in the world to him. I was more than ready to meet them. On the way to his aunt’s house, he reassured me that everything would be okay and to be myself, and they would like me because I am already an amazing girlfriend. He kept telling me days before meeting them whenever I was thinking about meeting them. It really helped a lot, and it still helps me to know he believes in me and cares about me, and that is what I love about him.
Oliver and I were walking towards the house, and we noticed that some men were coming in and out of the house, and they looked like contract workers that may be doing renovations from inside. Oliver led me to the front door. He knocked to see if anyone would hear them, though it seemed no one did, so he led me inside to the entrance where they had a round table in the middle with yellow flowers in the middle of it. Oliver let me know he would be right back, so I continued to take in the beauty of their house. It looked like it came out of a home article. Their house was two-story with a Spanish style curved stairs and they had a high ceiling with natural light coming into their main entrance space. I went into their living room, and they had a flat wide screen television on top of their wooden mantel shelf, and I noticed there were a couple of pictures framed of his aunt and his uncle on the mantel shelf. There were a lot of pictures of his cousins, from when they were little to when they graduated high school. Then, I noticed an older picture that looked like it came from the 1800s, and I assumed the picture was an ancestor of theirs. Oliver came back, and once he did, his aunt and grandmother came downstairs and gave each of us a welcome hug, and his aunt said to me, “Welcome! It’s so nice to meet you, dear. We heard such great things about you! Oliver’s aunt informs us how they’ve been in their backyard for the past two months and not to mind the loud noises coming from there.
We continued talking and getting to know each other, and Oliver’s aunt asked me general questions like what I do, where I’m from, how big my family is, and where I have been so far as I’m not from the area. Suddenly, Oliver’s grandmother asked me, “Are you a criminal? Have you killed anyone before? I was surprised by the question and didn’t know how to answer that one. Oliver blurted out GRANDMA! Oliver’s aunt also got upset and asked why she would ask that question and told me how her mother-in-law has slight dementia, so she doesn’t know what she’s talking about at times. I told them it was okay and that I understood, as my grandfather used to have Alzheimer’s himself. I remembered the picture frame I saw on their mantel shelf and commented on wonderful pictures, by the way! I love how you share the memories of your kids. Oliver’s aunt goes on to explain how important it is to treasure and keep the memory alive because time moves too fast. That’s why she likes to keep pictures of her family around the house. I asked her about the last picture of the woman I saw on the mantel. She told me how that’s not supposed to be there, though it came with the house when they bought it long ago, and it keeps on appearing in places for some strange reason. It made me wonder who that woman was and what exactly happened to her. I excused myself from using the lady’s room, and I needed a little breather to recollect myself from all that. Oliver looked at me apologetically as I got up and left the room.
As I washed my hands in the bathroom, I heard someone sing the Spanish song ‘Bésame Mucho'; it sounded like a woman’s voice. It must be Oliver’s aunt or grandmother singing that song—it’s a classic and it’s a beautiful song. I closed the bathroom door behind me and saw a woman dressed in a black dress walk into one of the rooms. Maybe Oliver has another aunt living here that I haven’t met yet. I saw Oliver heading towards me, and I asked him, Did you hear that? I think your aunt or grandma was singing. He told me how his cousin and grandma were singing in their karaoke room. We joined them in the room as they were singing ABBA’s infamous song ‘Dancing Queen', apparently one of his grandma’s favorites. They offered me and Oliver the microphone, and Oliver said that this would go to his girlfriend as he’s not a good singer, and they knew that, so the microphone was passed on to me. I haven’t really sung in front of people except my family, though I made the exception for this one. I sang the classic “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, one of my favorite artists that I look up to and that I respect wholeheartedly. By the time I was done singing the song, the looks on each of their faces were surprised, and Oliver’s cousin told me, Wow, girl! You can sing! I never really thought of myself as a singer, as I only do it for fun in the shower or when I’m cleaning my apartment. I thanked them, and I told them how their grandma was the one with the beautiful voice when she sang ‘Bésame Mucho’. They gave me a confused expression, and Oliver’s grandma tells me, Sweetie, nobody sang that song, especially me. I may like karaoke, but not when it comes to solo singing. Then, it occurred to me that it was probably their aunt who entered one of the rooms that I saw. A few minutes later, Oliver’s aunt announced from the dining room that dinner was ready. Oliver and I followed his family out of the karaoke room, and as we were walking, I asked Oliver whether we should get his aunt from the room. He looked at me and asked, “What aunt? Aunt Rose is the only aunt who lives here in the house. Is everything ok? Yes, everything was great except I may be seeing things except I didn’t tell him that and that I was fine.
Oliver’s grandma was sitting across from me. She kept eyeing me throughout dinner time as if she was suspicious about something or possibly knowing something that I’m not supposed to know about. I smile at her as she eats her roasted chicken on her plate, this is good chicken! I said out loud to kill some of the awkward tension around the table after what had happened in the karaoke room. Oliver’s grandma tells me it should be as if it was a family recipe each one of them learned how to cook growing up. I was impressed by the legacy of that.
Once dinner was over Oliver’s grandma pulled me aside to talk to me, she told me I’m good for her grandson and that he had his dark times though pulled himself back up which she was proud of. He grew up to be a handsome gentleman. I agreed with everything she said because she was not wrong. She then told me about how grateful she was living with her daughter in that house except there were a few things she cannot shake off. Like the woman in the picture her daughter told us about. Oliver’s grandma confessed that she also heard the same song I heard when I was in the bathroom. Though, she was afraid to admit it because she didn’t want to seem crazy as she already has memory problems which she knows she has memory problems. But not as bad as her kids make it out to be. I told her about seeing the woman walking into one of the rooms, and Oliver’s grandma says to me yeah, she likes to go to different rooms from time to time. I looked surprisingly at her. You can see her too? The woman? Oliver’s grandma looked at me with a facial expression that says of course, I live here. She proceeded to tell me how she wanted to find out more about the woman, so she tried talking to her one night when everyone was asleep, but the woman did not speak and only looked at her. What she did notice was there was a deep cut on her throat and a stab wound on her stomach. Oliver’s grandma believes she was most likely murdered in that house. She doesn’t know who did it which is probably why the woman appears to certain people she thinks who could help her. I looked at Oliver’s grandma with wonder Why did she appear to you? She doesn’t know that either as she is an old woman who can’t really go out much anymore. I only moved in here two years ago then started seeing her a few months later. There were not many answers being given why she was the only one who could see the woman while her kids and grandkids were oblivious with her appearance.
The following day Oliver received a call from his aunt that something had happened to his grandmother. He didn’t give me much detail though I left my apartment right away to be with him as his support system. We drove to the hospital to meet with Oliver’s aunt there and she updated us on how Oliver’s grandma had a heart attack while she was asleep. The paramedics tried to resuscitate her heart on the way to the hospital several times though they could not get anything. It shocked everyone who lives with them because she recently went to a doctor’s appointment which they told her that her heart was beating strong and healthy. Her heartbeat was not irregular, so it all seemed strange, it happened so suddenly. Oliver’s aunt said she needed to sign off some papers and asked if we could meet her at her house.
On the way there, Oliver kept telling me how this was unexpected as we saw her last weekend and she seemed healthy from the looks of it. Although, there was something I may know that I didn’t want to tell Oliver as he was grieving his grandma’s sudden death. We arrived at his aunt’s house where we met with his cousins and other aunts in her living room there. They were all there, and they brought food for Aunt Rose, and while everyone mingled in the living room, I excused myself to the bathroom. While I was walking down the hall to the bathroom I noticed the woman in a black dress, she was standing at the end of the hallway looking at me and she looked familiar to me. Then, I remembered the woman was the same one I saw on the picture frame that was set on the mantel shelf when I first came here. Her hair was dark brown and wavy, it was wrapped together in a low bun, and her black dress had a black veil with a hint of red rose on it. She was not wearing her veil as it lay on top of the waist where I noticed there was a blot of dark red, and it looked like a stab wound that she was trying to press on. And then, I noticed her neck where she was sliced and there was a red, bloody mark on it. The woman kept staring at me, then she began to grin at me giving me a threatening gesture, putting her finger to her neck with a slicing gesture, and then pointed her finger to me. She walked into one of the rooms as she continued to stare and to grin at me. There were many things running through my mind, the woman was real, she was murdered, she killed Oliver’s grandma, and she wanted to kill me next, and I have no idea why.
