Synchronicity

Anna had just begun to settle into her new home. The furniture had been moved into the house by the packers and movers. She supervised over them, nit-picking over the placement of furniture every time the men entered with her goods.

After a long and tedious day, of moving into her new home, Anna kicked back on the couch with a bottle of her favourite peach beer. 

Her rented apartment was a studio. Tiny but cozy. The living room consisted only of a Lawson sofa, a chestnut coloured coffee table and an upright piano.

After downing her drink, she proceeded to discard the bottle in the waste bin next to the refrigerator when she saw a photograph lying on the ground in the tiny space between the fridge and the wall. She tried to recover it, and after a few clumsy attempts was able to retrieve it.

The photograph was of a young boy with his mother. He clutched onto her hand with his tiny fingers. He had clearly been dressed by his mother, as he wore a pink frilly dress with a scarf around his neck. His front teeth were missing, yet he smiled brightly, without a hint of self consciousness.

She turned the photograph around and noted the cluttered, cursive handwriting on the back of it. After spending a few minutes deciphering what was written, Anna came to the conclusion that it was this, ‘I am who I am.’

She was as confused as ever. She kept the photograph into one of the kitchen cabinets and forgot about it promptly.

Anna would go to work and come back to find strange occurrences happening in her residence which she reckoned as paranormal.

At first she dismissed them as normal. Flickering of the lights which she assumed to be the result of faulty electrical work.

She had rented the studio as it was inexpensive, so she wasn’t surprised when the lights blinked uncharacteristically, blaming it on the lack lustre maintenance by the landlord.

A few days later she heard strange sounds, of a child crying. There were no children near her apartment complex. It could be a cat, she reasoned, they sound eerily similar to children.

But she finally suspected paranormal activity, when she found her coffee cup moved a full one inch away from its former position. She had left the cup on the edge of her table. Already late to work, she resolved to take care of washing the dishes after returning home.

Anna did not want to fuel her paranoia and delusions. She asked her landlord whether he had entered her room without permission and fiddled with her belongings. He fervently denied, saying that the privacy of his tenants was something he respected completely.

With no other explanation, Anna asked around the neighborhood, about the occurrences of paranormal activities.

Anna chanced upon an old lady sitting on the porch of a bungalow, staring at her continuously. She walked towards the woman, suddenly conscious under her extended gaze. 

The old woman greeted her and inquired, “Aren’t you the new tenant in the complex opposite to my house?”

Anna replied affirmatively.

The elderly woman continued, “The house you are living in is haunted.”

Anna was taken back by this revelation. She asked the woman to expand on her statement.

“You heard it right. In your house, there lived a family of three. A man, his wife and their teenage son. The man treated them very cruelly.”

The woman paused her speech momentarily and beckoned Anna inside her house for a cup of tea, but Anna declined politely.

“Suit yourself,” the woman replied and then continued. “The wife left the house one day to never return, leaving the man and his son behind. The man’s behaviour worsened after his wife left. He would come back home with whores, drink till the wee hours of morning, spend all his money on gambling. He didn’t care about his son at all and would leave him alone all day at home. I felt bad for his son, poor helpless boy that he was. I would cook for him sometimes. Helped him whichever way I could.

I could peer into their house from my windows. Sometimes he would wander about in the house, wearing his mother’s clothing. I asked him about this, old woman like me are always curious,” the woman smiled kindly. “He said he was a girl. I disposed it off as a teenage phase or a passing fancy.

“Unfortunately his father wasn’t as kind. He walked into his son dressing like a woman, and he beat him black and blue. I could hear screaming everyday from their house. The man cursed and abused and beat up his only son. How cruel can some people be!

The boy couldn’t take it any longer. He took his own life. Since then his spirit resides in that house. Some people say he wants vengeance but honestly I think he just wants peace.”

Anna thanked the aged woman for the information and walked back to her house. She thought about the girl and how unfair life had been for her. 

The paranormal incidents in Anna’s house ceased for a few days. It didn’t make her any less restless, however. She wished she could speak to the girl. She didn’t want any psychics or clairvoyants involved as she thought of them as charlatans.

One day, the light in her bedroom started flickering ominously, in patterns. In dots and dashes, realized Anna.

Anna procured a piece of paper and pen from her night stand. She sat down transcribing the Morse code message.

The deciphered message read, ‘Sing me to sleep.’

A weird demand for a ghost, Anna thought.

It was late now, one o’clock in the morning. Anna’s eyelids dripped shut but she persisted and walked towards her living room where the piano sat desolately in one corner.

She sat down on the bench and stretched her arms, cracked the knuckles of her hands and placed her fingers on the keys.

“Any requests?” she shouted idiotically in her drowsiness. She blushed at her folly. “Right. You do not talk. Anyways this one’s for you.”

She took a deep breath before beginning the song. And as she exhaled she played the first notes of the piece. She played them softly and the sound of music echoed in the quiet room.

Her left hand moved synchronously with her right, displaying excellent coordination and skill. 

She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes. Anna’s voice was melodious. Words dripped from her mouth like honey. She was dulled by sleep yet a smile formed on her face. 

Anna had played this song a million times before on the piano. It was one of her favourite Billy Joel songs. 

On even the worst of days, this composition could lift her spirits. 

And she can ruin your faith with her casual lies.

She had performed it for her past lover. Fifty times she had practiced the song, until she knew it by heart. Yet while playing it for her then girlfriend she had fumbled. The nervousness, the excitement, it pumped her up, made her feel alive.

All of it fell apart when Anna’s parents found out about her sexuality. They disapproved of her relationship vociferously and prohibited her from entering the house ever again.

Now Anna found herself in a new town, with unfamiliar faces. For the first time in her life Anna had found herself truly alone. The loneliness haunted her. Her life seemed bleak and she wanted to end it all.

And she only reveals what she wants you to see

Anna was enjoying herself. She tapped her foot lightly against the floor, in beat with the music. A lone owl hooted in the dark night. She hoped no neighbours would find offence in her playing the piano so late at one in the morning.

Anna could feel the ghostly presence in the living room. She could feel the gaze of the girl on her. It felt eerie and cold, out worldly and a part of her was scared. But the ghost was peaceful and harmless.

She hides like a child but she’s always a woman to me

Anna played the piece at a moderate tempo. The sleep was gone from her eyes and she felt absolutely refreshed. 

Yeah she steals like a thief but she’s always a woman to me

She bobbed her head in rhythm with the music. Her fingers moved gracefully on the piano keys, chasing the next notes subconsciously.

And the most she will do is throw shadows at you

But she’s always a woman to me

The last note died into the quiet night. And just like that the presence of the ghost was gone and Anna sat alone. Crickets chirped in the distance. Occasionally, the sound of a car horn was heard. 

All this solitude, all this seclusion and yet, Anna did not feel lonely.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said into the quiet night. “It had to be fate, for us to meet under such similar circumstances,” Anna spoke, smiling contentedly.

The ghosts of her past no longer haunted her.