Patricia kept her promise

My alarm went off at 3am. I quickly got out of the bed, the room still dark, put on my slippers and walk downstairs to the kitchen. I don't switch on the lights while I do that. I don't wanna scare her off. I see her sitting at the table with her back towards me. But I know it's her because of her red hair. I still remember the day we met and became instant friends. 

"You're late," she spoke to me, while I poured some water from the tap in the pot. 

"No, I'm not. Remember, you're the one who always was late to our french class. You. Not me." I replied.

"Okay, whatever. Just bring me the tea."

"Patience Patricia. You're at my home not at some Parisian café." She had lived in Paris for 2years.

A few minutes later, I heard the pot whistle. I poured the tea in two cups.

"Here's you go." I offer Patricia the tea.

"Thank you." 

"So, what's up?" I pick up my cup and take a sip and put it back down.

"Not much."

I looked at her cup. Patricia's finger, her nails freshly painted with red, were tracing the brim of the cup. I dared to look at her. She's wearing the same blouse she wore last week when she visited me. 

I still couldn't bring myself to look at her face. But I try. It's dark so you can't see much. But then you know it's your best friend and the face is still the same. Except for the bleeding. That wound on her forehead is constantly bleeding. The same colour as her hair only thicker. 

"What are you thinking of, Corbin?" Patricia asked me. 

"Nothing." 

"You looking at my wounds?" She said pointing to the wound on her forehead still fresh like it happened not months but a day ago. 

"Yeah. I can't forget that day I lost my only friend. My best friend." I said, sipping my tea and trying to gulp it down after I felt a lump forming in my throat. I dare cry in front of her. 

"Oh yeah. But look I'm still here holding your hands." She took my hands in hers.

"Something's never change." I sing to her in my ugly cracky voice. Frozen 2 was the last movie we saw together. 

Alice, my wife, and Marc, were not in town that day. They were members of a rock band and they were doing gigs often. That one time Patricia and I went to see Alice perform, Patricia met Marc and fell in love with him, calling it love-at-first-sight. Marc played the drum for the band. When she told me she loved Marc, I knew she wasn't lying.

"I miss you. But I'm glad you're here visiting me every week like you promised." I said as I sip the last drop of my tea. 

"Oh yeah. I promised you that when I was leaving for college. You were crying like a baby. What was I supposed to say?!" 

"My parents admired you. Treated you like their own child. Thanks for stopping by that day at the diner." 

"Oh yeah. The diner. On my second visit you told me you own it now." 

"Yeah. I'm doing great. My parents come to help me out though."

"You know if I were, you know, alive, they wouldn't have to come. I'd be there looking out for you." 

She laughs. I know she's not alive. But that laugh sounded so real. It feels natural although some might call it supernatural. 

I look at the clock on the wall on my right. It is 4:55am. Patricia's weekly visit lasts almost for around 2hours at max. 

"It's time for me to leave, right. Can't stay on this side of the world for too long."

"Yeah. I believe so."

"Let me walk you to your bedroom, Corbin" She gets up from her chair and offers me her hand. 

I place my hand in hers and she grabs it tight making me follow her. 

"Wish you could stay longer."

"You know I can't."

She pushes my bedroom door open and we walk in. I lie on my bed. She tucks me in. She's setting an alarm on my alarm clock

"Goodnight, Corbin." 

I close my eyes. I hear the door open and close. And she's gone. 

***

Alice might be back by now. I went down to the kitchen to see my wife making breakfast. 

"Good morning, honey." She leans and kisses me on my forehead. She hands me my cup of coffee. 

"Thanks. How was the gig?" 

"Great. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yeah."

"Did Patricia stopped by?" 

"Yeah." 

The first time Patricia visited me and I told Alice about it the next day, she didn't believe me at all. She said," You should take rest, Corbin. You just miss her a lot and that's why you're seeing things." And I kinda believed her. After all dead people don't just show up at 3 in the morning. But part of me wanted to tell her I didn't just see her I felt her presence. We, Patricia and I, had not talked at all on her first visit. Because I was scared. Then she walked me to my bedroom and tucked me in and said goodnight to me and left. That made me believe it was real. To hear her speak. It was like she's still there, still breathing, her heart still beating. 

"What did you two talk about?" Alice asked me, as she sat at her chair which was on my right. She had her cup of green tea in her hand. 

"Nothing much. Just random stuff." I know Alice doesn't believe me. So I don't tell her much about Patricia's visits. 

"Did you drink any tea last night? I found the cups on the table in the morning when I came."

"Oh yeah." 

"Cool. I'm gettin' late for a gig at this local bar. I'll see you at night. Goodbye." 

She kisses me goodbye, grabs her purse and leaves. 

***

I knew Alice never trusted me. Now we're on our way to a doctor Marc recommended after Alice told him about me going crazy. Yeah, she thinks I'm going crazy. Maybe she's right. This whole weekly visit thing is too weird to be real, right? 

"Look, we trust you. Patricia and you were good friends..."

 "...best friends." I interrupt Marc, who's sitting in the back seat.

 "Yeah, best friends. So her visits might be real."

"Then pray tell me why are we visiting the doctor."

"We think you need someone to talk to about it who understands such stuff." Alice jumped into the conversation, keeping her eye on the road while driving. 

***

"Hello, Mr. Cassedy," Dr Ayala greeted me, "Please have a seat." He's a man in his sixties. 

"So, your wife told me about what's happening with you after your friend's death. What was your first name again?" He asked me while writing on a notepad. 

"Corbin." I replied. 

"So, why don't we start from the beginning of all this? The death perhaps." 

"December 25th, 2019. My parents threw a Christmas party. Family and friends were invited, Aunt Mary, Uncle James, Marc and Patricia, Alice's bandmates, Patricia's mother. It was a beautiful day. Marc and Patricia announced they were having a baby and that they were to get married this April. A spring wedding. The way Patricia always wanted. Everyone was so happy. 

"On 28th December, I received a text at 2am from Patricia telling me she's coming to meet me. She lives a good 20minutes far from my home. It was 2:45am, but she had not reached yet. My wife was at her mother's that night. I was about to leave my house when I received a call from the local police informing me Patricia met with an accident."

"When did your friend first visited you?" He asked me.

"January 18th was her first visit. And since then every Saturday she visits me. On her first visit I thought I was imagining it. We didn't say a word to each other but then on her second visit she asked me for a cup of tea. My wife found two empty cups on the breakfast table. Her third visit we were talking about our school days. I told her how happy I was cause now that I own my parents' diner. 

"February 8th was her fourth visit. I woke up, went downstairs, prepared tea for us both and this time I looked at her face. She was bleeding. But she didn't looked like a ghost. "

"Okay. Why do you think she's still visiting you?"

"She promised me we'll meet every weekend. If she were not well, I'd go meet her. We'd watch movies together, or go see our partners perform."

"What was the reason Patricia wanted to see you at 2am?" 

"Marc and Patricia had a fight."

"Okay. Let's meet next week, Mr Cassedy." Dr Ayala had been scribbling on the notepad. Ofcourse, he must be writing down important stuff. 

***

14th of February. Valentine's Day. Alice and I had stayed home. We had dinner, watched her favourite movie, Flipped. After the end credits rolled on the telly screen, we climbed in our bed and were looking at our phones. 

Alice turned to me and said,"You know, when we first started dating, everyone would come up to me and say that if it weren't for me Patricia and you would have dated and eventually get married. That Patricia and you would have made a better couple." 

I hold her hand. Her fingers fit perfectly in mine. "That's rubbish." I hold up our entwined hand in front of her face."Look you're my perfect match."

"I love you."

"Love you too, babe."

"We'll invite Marc over dinner. Next weekend?"

"Yeah sure."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

 ***

I woke up at 2.55am but without an alarm today. Alice was standing at the foot of the bed in her nightdress. She helped me walk downstairs. Marc was standing at the foot of the stairs. I headed to the kitchen and filled the pot with water. I looked at my watch it was 3.10am but Patricia had not come to visit me today. I poured some tea in two cups and brought the tray to the table and sat down on my chair. Marc, Alice and my parents joined me today. They stood behind me. 

"We all want to meet Patricia too," Alice whispered to me.

Now it was 3.15am. Patricia didn't show up. Then I saw long fingers coiling around the cup. The nails painted red. Patricia was here. 

"Sorry. I got late. Oh, look your parents are here and Alice and Marc." She said pointing to each one of them. I looked at them and they looked at me. But they did not say anything. 

"Yeah. They're here to meet you." 

"Corbin, has Marc been drinking a lot after I left?" 

I looked at Marc. He didn't protest, he didn't even say a word. 

"Guys, why aren't you saying anything to her?" 

"Sorry. Patricia. We're just messing around with you. It was all Marc's idea." Alice said, while she elbowed Marc in the guts and they both laughed. 

"Hey, babe." He waved to Patricia. 

"Hey, Patty. Don't you miss us?" my parents were all teary eyed. 

"It's so good to see you all." Patricia smiled back at them. She then turned to me. 

"Now that we've met you, Patricia, we'll leave you two besties alone," Alice said and literally pushed everyone out of the room with my mother still sobbing a little.

"How was your Valentine's Day?" Patricia asked me. 

"Great. Watched the same movie again."

"Flipped?"

"Yeah." 

We both laughed. 

We talked a little more and it was already 4.55am. Time seems to fly away faster when you're with friends. 

Patricia walked me to my bedroom and tucked me in bed and left after saying goodbye to me. 

***

It had been a very calm week at work. Saturday, when I came home after work at 9pm, I saw my parents, Marc and Alice in the living room. 

"Good evening, Corbin." My parents were here, sitting on the couch watching telly. 

"Corbin, I need to talk to you. Will you please come in the kitchen?" Alice wore an apron. And I smelled pancakes when I entered the kitchen. 

"What is it Alice? You've been acting a little weird lately?" 

"I have discovered something. I think Patricia didn't die in an accident. She was murdered."

"What? Murdered?"

"Sshh. Yeah. And I think Marc might have killed her. I remember you told me they had a fight that night."

"Yeah." 

"And remember how he didn't even say anything to her when she was right in front of her last week. His dead fiancee." 

"Let's go talk to him."

We enter the living room. Marc is sitting on a chair. Alice and I stand in front of the telly. 

"Marc. Did you ever felt like Patricia was murdered?" Alice asked Marc.

"What the?" Marc exclaimed, "no Never. Why would anyone do that to her?"

"Well I think she was murdered." How can be so certain about it? I'm a little taken aback. 

"Alice, darling. Are you sure?" My mother looked more worried and teary-eyed than before. 

"Unfortunately, yes."

"And who do you think it is? The murderer?" My father asked Alice.  

"Marc." Alice replied. 

My mother gasped. 

"What? Alice, are you crazy?" Marc protested. 

 "I'm calling the cops. You don't confess your crime to us. But you will have to confess it to them." Alice threatened Marc.

"Stop it. Alice." I shouted.

"Corbin?"

"Marc didn't murder Patricia. He can never do it."

"Then, Corbin, who do you think it is?" 

"It was me, Alice. I killed Patricia." Tears started trickling down my cheeks. 

"I wanted to confess it to you right after the funeral. But I was scared. And then I saw Patricia's ghost coming to meet me. So I could never muster up the courage to tell you guys." 

"Why did you do it, Corbin?"my mother asked me.

I grabbed a chair and sat facing the others. I said, "Mom, I overheard Dad and you talking the other day about giving away the diner to Patricia. How could you do that to me? Patricia went to college, she left us and the diner. She didn't even care about the diner. And I, as soon as I graduated, have been working day and night at the diner. For what? For you to give it away to Patricia. 

"And Alice," I turned to my wife," I never told you but Patricia had told me why she and Marc were fighting that night. Marc had been trying to convince her to give up the gift my parents were giving her. The diner. But she was certain she wanted it for herself.

"So when she was on her way here. I took my car. And I waited for her car to come in front of my car. When I saw her car approaching, I drove my car in front of hers and she tried to divert her movement but she ended up hitting a tree."

"How could you do that to her, Corbin?" Marc yelled at me. "She was your best friend. She was pregnant with a baby. She was going to get married soon. And you didn't get just take away her life you took all of this from her too. And not only her, you killed me and my baby and just ruined our future." I knew Marc will be heartbroken when he learns this. It might be the first time I had seen tears in Marc's eyes. He left before I could say sorry. 

"Alice." I cried for her to look at me. If she were to ignore me like this, I'd kill myself. 

"It's Saturday today. Confess your crime to your friend, Corbin. You two share everything with each other, right? Why hide this?" Alice replied and left for her room. 

"Mom?Dad?" I looked at my parents. Well, they are the real culprits here, right? They shouldn't have done this to their own son. Why give away a possession so dear to them to someone who doesn't even care about it? 

"Corbin. I have got nothing to say to you." My father left, Mom followed him. 

"I have something to tell you, son." My mother had stopped in her way and was now talking to me. She didn't ignore me like everyone else.

"Alice had asked me not to tell you this. But she had put up cameras and she never saw Patricia coming over to meet you. That is when I told her to take you to a doctor. And that we must see for ourselves, maybe the camera doesn't capture ghosts.

"Last week, when we're here to see Patricia. We pretended to see her sitting in front of you. We were talking to the chair. I'm sorry, baby. But I think your crime is making you see things. You're regretting what you did."

***

"Corbin, wake up. It's 9:45. I'm getting late for my gig. And I'm happy that you confessed it to her. I watched last night's conversation through the cameras. Okay, now stop acting like a child and get up." 

I can hear Alice's voice. I look at her face. She's so beautiful. But why is she not looking at me? I waved my hand in front of her face. But she doesn't seem to notice. 

"Corbin. Wake up." She's shouting at my pillows. 

"But I have..." I jump off the bed. I can't believe this. I'm looking at myself lying on my bed. 

"Patricia?" Patricia's standing at my bedroom door. 

"Corbin. Come with me. Can't stay on this side of the world for too long, can we now?"

She grabs my hands and I follow her like I always have.