A mother's fate

She gently rocked the crib, which contained her one-month-old daughter. Elena couldn't be happier. She had a husband who adored her, and now they had a beautiful baby with rosy cheeks, long eyelashes, and pearl gray eyes. With a smile, she carried the little girl and go to the living room. In the middle of the room, there was a pink stroller. She put the baby in the stroller, put on her jacket, and happily left her apartment.

    Elena and her husband lived on the sixth floor of an apartment building. It was a quiet residence, and the neighbors were friendly. She walked down the hallway, which had black and white cobblestones —similar to a chessboard— until she reached the elevator. She pressed the button and waited for the elevator to arrive. As she waited, an older woman stood next to her. Elena knew her. She was her neighbor, Mrs. Smith, who had kindly knitted a little sweater and shoes for her baby.

    "Good morning, Mrs. Smith," Elena greeted.

    "Good morning, dear," she replied as she leaned into the stroller. "And good morning to you too, little princess."

    Elena heard her daughter smile in response. The baby was very sociable. If she liked a person, she would immediately beckon to the stranger to hold her.

    "Do you have to go somewhere?" asked Mrs. Smith.

    "No, I'm just taking Rose for a walk," Elena replied. "And you?"

    “I practically ran away from my house. My husband bought some speakers, and he plans to test them all week, ” she explained, massaging her temples with her fingers. "I need to be in a peaceful place for as long as possible."

There was a clink, a sign that the elevator had arrived. The silver doors opened to give way to a small cubicle surrounded by mirrors.

    “If you want, you can come with us. We are going to the park, I know it's not exactly a quiet place, but— ”

    "I would love to," said the woman, entering the elevator with a big smile. "Come on."

    Elena smiled and followed her. The journey passed in silence, they reached the ground floor, and the doorman waved them off. They left the building and the rays of the noon sun greeted them. The weather was very nice for the middle of March. Usually, scorching sun and almost suffocating heat flooded the streets, so she had been doubtful a few hours before whether it was a good idea to take Rose for a walk, but the weather had been in her favor.

    They walked through the streets until they reached a small park surrounded by gardens with flowers, and in the center of the park, there were a couple of yellow slides and swings. There were very few children, as most were in school at the time. Both women sat on a bench nearby and chatted for a while as the park slowly came to life. Even some vendors began to arrive at the place. Elena saw a man with a small ice cream cart walking nearby.

    "Would you like an ice cream, Mrs. Smith?"

    "Oh no, dear. Thanks, but lactose is not for me anymore, ” she said with a laugh.

    "It's okay," Elena said. "Can you look after Rose for a few minutes?"

    "Sure, my dear. No problem."

    Elena got up and walked over to the man, who had just given a boy a cone with two scoops of ice cream.

    "Hello, I would like a mint chocolate ice cream, please."

    "Shouldn't you be at work, Mrs. Carter?" the ice cream man said as he poured the ice cream into the cone.

    Elena blinked in confusion.

    "Excuse me?"

    "Work," the man repeated, this time giving her the ice cream she had ordered. "It's a dollar."

    Elena stayed in place without moving. It was the first time she had seen that man, and he asked her as if she were a close friend about her work. Elena had had a job, yes. But she had given up to spend time with Rose—

    "Elena!"

    She turned around because that was her husband's voice. She searched him with her eyes around the park but didn't see him anywhere. She returned her gaze to the bench where she had left her two companions, and, to her terror, the settle was empty.

    "Rose!" she yelled, running to the bench.

    Suddenly the park was empty. There was no longer a soul there, making Elena's blood run cold in her veins.

    "Rose!" she screamed again.

    In the distance, she began to hear the cry of a baby. Elena knew that this was her daughter's cry. She desperately started running around the park looking for her daughter with the sounds of her sobs hammering in her ears. The woman heard a thunderous noise in the street. She jumped and looked at the place where the sound came from. At the park entrance, there was a car, which had lost control and had hit a light pole, but none of that was what made Elena's legs shake.

    What made her more terrified was that in front of the battered car was her daughter's stroller stained with dirt, and two of the wheels were missing. Her baby's blanket was sticking out from behind the stroller. Heartbroken, Elena collapsed to her knees on the floor. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, but no sound came out of her. Helpless, she hit the ground with her hand as she buried her face between her knees, feeling the flood of memories come to her.

    Rose was born. Elena and her husband had overflowed with happiness. Life seemed perfect for two months. Until one fateful day, she had gone out for a walk with Rose, but a car had lost control and hit them. Elena had miraculously survived, but the baby did not have the same fate. Elena pulled her hands away from her face, and this time tears came to her eyes as her face contorted in pain.

    "My baby," she said between sobs. "My beautiful princess"

    "Why are you crying, mommy?" asked a childish voice.

    Due to the surprise, Elena stopped crying as she looked up suddenly. Kneeling in front of her was a girl of about seven years old. She had black hair, long eyelashes, and gray eyes like the ones her baby had had.

    "Rose?" she asked breathlessly.

    The girl, instead of answering, raised her tiny hands and placed them on Elena's wet cheeks.

    "Mom, wake up."

    "But-"

    "Wake up."

    "Rose!" Elena yelled, sitting up suddenly in bed.

    She hugged her body as she waited for her heartbeat to slow down. Again the same dream, the same nightmare. Since Rose's death, Elena had had nightmares about the day of the accident. In the beginning, her husband had accompanied her during her bad dreams. But later, they had decided to divorce. A year and a half had passed since the accident, but that dream continued to haunt her every night. Only something had changed those last six months, and that change was the existence of the dark-haired girl. She did not know the explanation for the appearance of that girl. She was only clear that her role in the dream was to make her feel better.

    Elena had told her psychologist about the girl, and the woman had only replied that her subconscious had created her to overcome her loss.

    You don't have to fear this girl. The first step of loss is acceptance. Once that is over, you will stop having these nightmares. The doctor had said.

    Exhausted, she rubbed her hands over her face as she got out of bed. It was useless trying to go back to sleep. On odd occasions, she could fall asleep after waking up from her nightmare, and it was almost six in the morning anyway. She had to start getting ready for work. Elena went to the bathroom and absently removed her blue silk pajamas. She turned on the cold water tap and stepped into the shower, letting the water run down her body, staying like this for a few minutes before showering. She turned off the water and left the bathroom wrapped in a white towel.

    She dressed in a navy blue suit and tied her blonde hair into a ponytail before heading to the kitchen. Elena turned on the coffeepot and turned on her old record player so there would be some noise in her apartment. It was as if all life and color had abandoned its existence since the death of her daughter. Although the place has a cheerful color green, she saw everything in gray tones.

    The alarm on the coffeemaker sounded, and she poured a cup of black coffee. She took leftover food out of the refrigerator, heated it, and ate breakfast while her eyes fixed on the wall opposite. Her life had gotten so monotonous that it seemed like she was seeing this underwater or through a mirror. She saw everything that was happening around her, but nothing aroused a genuine feeling in her.

    She finished eating and put the dishes in the dishwasher to clean them later. She took her coat, briefcase and left the apartment. Elena traveled the same route as in her dream to get out of the building: she took the elevator, absentmindedly said goodbye to the doorman, and went out onto the cold street. Most of the venues surrounding the building were closed, leaving only the noise and bustle of traffic.

    Elena worked as a manager in a publishing house, so she had to take the subway to get to her office. And, to get to the subway, she had to walk through the park. After all, one of the stops was near a school. She took a deep breath and went to the deserted park. The swings of the place were swaying lonely in the wind.

    "Give me back my tie!" exclaimed a child's voice behind her.

    "Come and get it!" exclaimed another laughing voice.

    A small figure passed by her. It was a girl with unruly dark hair. She wore purple pants with a red jacket, and in her right hand, she held a striped tie. The girl turned, and Elena gasped.

    The girl had a delicate face, a small pink mouth, and gray eyes. It was her. It was the girl she had seen in her dreams for six months. She stopped, not knowing how to react. If not for the roar of blood in her ears and the sensation of the wind hitting her face, Elena would have thought it was another dream.

    "I told you to give it back to me!" exclaimed the boy running towards the girl, reaching for her and snatching the tie from her hand.

    "You are very slow, Dylan," said the girl laughing.

    Both children walked away through the park and crossed the street. Elena did not know how to react. Looking at that girl was like seeing a ghost. How could she have dreamed of a girl who really existed if she had never seen her? What kind of cruel joke was that? But on the other hand, it was the girl who embracer during her nightmares

    "Rose," she gasped, running to where the children had gone.

    She crossed the street carelessly, she was sure that a couple of drivers yelled at her, but that could not matter less. The only thought on her mind was to reach those children. After running down a block, she saw them again in front of a school entrance. The boy energetically said goodbye to the girl before entering the school.

    "Rose!" she called.

    The girl blinked and looked up at her. Her gray eyes expressed several things at the same time: confusion and surprise. Her small face was about to make a scared gesture, but after a few seconds, the girl smiled. Elena knew that smile. She had seen it for the past six months. It was the same smile that comforted her when she cried desperately for her baby. The girl walked over to her and bowed.

    "Good morning, miss," said the girl.

    "Your name is Rose," Elena said, unable to contain herself.

    "Yes."

    Elena was about to say something else when she realized that the guard at the gate was giving her strange looks. She searched around, but there was no seat nearby.

    "Let's go to the park," Rose said suddenly offering her hand. “It is fine, Mr. Abbernathy. I know her, ” she said, smiling at the guard.

    The guard relaxed his expression and offered an apologetic gesture to Elena. She couldn't blame him. She must have had a crazy face when she called that girl out of nowhere. Hands trembling slightly, she took the girl's hand. Rose's hand was small, but it was warm, and her grip was firm. They both walked back to the park, and Rose directed Elena to the swings to sit on.

    They were silent for a few seconds while Rose played with the swing, and Elena tried to process the events of the last ten minutes.

    "You lied," Elena said, as it was the only thing that came to her mind.

    "Hmmm?" Rose stopped swaying to put on a confused expression.

    "To the guard," she continued. “You lied to him, you don't know me. You cannot go with a stranger who knows your name for sheer—

    "I didn't tell lies," Rose said with an offended attitude. "I never tell lies. My mom told me that's not right. "

    "Where is your mother? She must be worried about you. You are too small to walk alone in the street. "

    "I wasn't alone, I was with Dylan," replied the girl, playing with a loose thread from her coat. "And my mom is not here. She went to Heaven a long time ago."

    It took Elena a few seconds to process what the girl had just said. It was like getting a bucket of cold water on the face.

    "Well then," she said, trying to hide the tremor in her voice. "So your dad—"

    "He's with my mom," the girl replied cheerfully.

    Elena put her hand to her mouth. That girl was an orphan.

    "Where do you live?"

    "In a building next to the church," she explained, pointing to the left. "There are a lot of children there. If I don't get to the dining room first, all the desserts are gone."

    "I see," Elena answered, taking a breath for her next question. “You say you didn't tell lies. Do you mean you know me? "

    Rose nodded vigorously.

    "Have we met before?"

    “Ago—” Rose started counting on her fingers, “Six months ago, my mom came to visit me in a dream. She said I was going to have a new mom! " she exclaimed happily. “She said that she was beautiful, that she was tall and had golden hair like the hair of princesses in stories. She also said that she had eyes the same color as mine. After that, I had been dreaming of a blonde lady crying about something. I don't like seeing people sad, so I hugged her because that's what my mom did when I cried. "

    The heat had left Elena's body. She was sure she was squeezing the swing chain too hard, but she wasn't fully aware of it. She was only aware of Rose and the warm sensation of tears running down her cheeks. All those months of nightmares. All the times, Rose had come to her rescue, holding her and telling her that everything would be okay. Everything for them to end up meeting.

    Rose embraced her shyly, and for the first time, Elena saw how vulnerable and delicate that girl was.

    "Are you going to be my new mom?"

    Elena wiped away her tears before returning the hug.

    "Yes. I'll try."