by Amelia Rey
“Are you sure your aunt won’t mind you bringing a stranger into the house?”asked Danielle.
Annabelle looked at Danielle with a great sadness in her eyes. “You are not a stranger,” she said.
Danielle also felt a strange sadness as she looked into Annabelle’s eyes.
An elderly African American woman rushed down the stairs. “Lady Katherine has come back!” she shouted.
Annabelle ran up the stairs to meet the woman.“Nanny Agatha, she has returned just as you said she would!”Annabelle ran back down the stairs to the entrance where Danielle stood mesmerized and took her by the hand.
Annabelle shouted as she and Danielle entered the house.“Auntie Sarah! Grandmamma! She is here!”
Danielle was speechless as she stared at a painting of herself that hung on a wall in the center of the staircase.
A man and woman, the one who had asked Danielle before if she had forgotten her name, stood at the center of the staircase, staring at Danielle. The brunette woman who had given her the hand mirror entered the room with a young boy. The woman approached Danielle and hugged her.“I’m so glad to see you, Katherine. I’ve always known you’d find your way back!”
The young boy, who was about Annabelle’s age, walked up to Danielle. “Auntie Katherine, I’m so glad to finally meet you. I’ve been hearing about you all my life.”
The man who stood next to the woman at the center of the stairs called to the young boy.“Jonathan! Help your Auntie Katherine to a chair.”
Danielle was frozen in place and terrified. Her heart raced and she struggled to say something. The words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. Finally, she said loudly, “OK, all this is getting weird now! Who are you people? And why do you all insist on calling me Katherine?”
The brunette woman took Danielle’s hands and looked straight into her eyes. “You really don’t remember me, sweetheart?” Her voice was broken and sorrowful.
“I have a strange feeling that we’ve met before, but I don’t seem to remember where,” Danielle replied.“Would you please tell me where you know me from? And while you’re at it, please tell me why that woman in the painting that hangs on your wall looks so much like me.”
The woman ignored Danielle’s questions and walked to the window. She looked at the two older men sitting under the maple tree and waved at them. They waved back and smiled. She turned to Danielle and said, “Those two gentlemen you saw under the maple tree and their young companion, who after many years of failed attempts to return to his time has finally lost his mind, should not be here. We had to confine their young companion to his bedroom to keep him from harming himself. They need to go back! They have been here for almost ten years, and that is a very long time to occupy a space and time in which they do not belong.”
Danielle was agitated. Her heart was beating rapidly, and she was beginning to hyperventilate. “Go back where? I don’t understand what you are talking about.”
Once again the woman ignored Danielle’s question.“Did he find you? Did you ever find each other, Katherine?”
“Find who? Who and what are you referring to? And my name is Danielle—not Katherine! Would someone please tell me what’s going on here? What is the meaning of all this madness?”she screamed.
She then felt two strong hands grabbing her shoulders and shouting her name.
“Mrs. Lancaster! Are you all right?”
Danielle opened her eyes, and one of the police officers from earlier that day stood in front of her, shaking her by the shoulders.
Danielle realized that the woman, the young girl, and the house had vanished right before her eyes. She stared at the officer in shock.
“Officer, did you see the house that was here a moment ago? Did you see the two older men sitting under the maple tree? Please tell me that you heard the woman say that the man tied to the bed and the two gentlemen needed to go back. What did she mean by that?”
“Ma’am, I can’t say that I heard that. But calm down. All is going to be all right.”
“Please, don’t! Don’t treat me as if I’m crazy. I’m telling you I saw a house here. There was also a young girl, an older woman, and some other people who acted as if they had known me from before.”
The officer discretely observed her strange behavior and attentively listened to her bizarre story. He looked at her, and with a pleasant tone of voice, he said, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for what you are experiencing.”
“Thank you for not treating me as if I were mentally unstable, officer.”
“Please, call me Zack, Mrs. Lancaster,” he said.
“Only if you call me Danielle,” she said with a smile.
“All right. Danielle it is. So, Danielle, prior to moving here, you’d never been to New York?” Zack asked.
“No, the first time I set foot here was the day my husband and I moved back.”
Zack looked at Danielle with perplexity.
“Why do you look so confused?”she asked.
“You said, ‘moved back,’ as if you had lived here before.”
“I meant my husband moved back, and I came with him. Well, you know what I meant!”
Zack looked at her and smiled. “I have to get going now. Do you want me to follow you home?”
“No, thanks. I’ll be OK.”
Danielle began to walk toward the exit of the cemetery, and Zack walked right behind her. Danielle was still a bit nervous and confused. She bumped against a tombstone and almost fell, and Zack immediately held her by the waist to prevent her from falling.
“Are you OK, Danielle?” asked Zack.
But Danielle did not answer; she was stunned as she looked at the name that was engraved on one of the headstones. Zack noticed that Danielle was staring at the headstone and became concerned. His first thought was that she was again experiencing one of those strange visions of hers.
Danielle suddenly grabbed Zack’s hand. “Read the name on the stone aloud for me, please. I want to make sure I’m not imagining.”
“OK, I will,” said Zack, “but please calm down. Katherine Montgomery 1816 to 1840.
Beloved wife and mother. Why are you so upset about a name on a tombstone that is a hundred and fifty years old?”
“I don’t know why,” said Danielle in a broken voice.“Let’s get out of here, please.”
When they reached the cemetery’s main gate, Zack took a card from his wallet and handed it to Danielle. “Here is my number if you should ever need someone to talk to. Please, don’t hesitate to call me.” He walked away.
Danielle ran after him.“Wait! There is something I’ve been meaning to ask you since we met this morning.”
Zack turned back. “What is it, Danielle?”
“When we first met this morning, there was something about the way you looked at me that intrigued me.”
Zack looked uncomfortable. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare. You look so much like someone I met a few years back.”
Danielle smiled. “I see. Judging by the astounded look on your face, I’m guessing she was someone special to you.”
Zack also smiled. “No, not really. I only saw her once, but the circumstances in which I met her are still fresh in my memory. Other than her name, she did not remember anything about herself.”
Danielle was curious. “What was her name?”
Zack hesitated for a moment.“Katherine,” he said.
Danielle was stunned when she heard the name. “That’s the same name on the tombstone, and it is also the same name the women in the house called me! This is so strange. Why am I having visions of people who existed one-hundred and fifty years ago?”
“I’m sure that’s pure coincidence,” said Zack. But then again, he thought that there was a strong possibility that Danielle was the same woman that he and his partner found roaming in the park without a memory ten years ago. I have to be careful until I know what is really going on here, he thought.
Daniell
e stared at Zack. “Are you OK? You spaced out for a moment there.”
“I’m good! I was just thinking about everything that is happening to you.”
Danielle nodded her head in agreement.“I know it’s all very strange, but I’m kind of used to strange things happening to me by now.”
Zack acted surprised by Danielle’s comment.“What do you mean by that?”he asked.
Danielle realized she shouldn’t have said that, especially now that Zack seemed to believe her. If she told him about the persistent dreams she had had for the past ten years, he might even think that she was mentally unstable, just as his partner did that morning.
Danielle tried to change the subject.“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just trying to keep the conversation going.” She laughed.
Zack could see in her eyes that there was something she was afraid to tell him. “Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to tell me anything if it makes you uncomfortable. But I want you to know that for some strange reason, I feel obligated to help you get to the bottom of all this.”
Danielle was relieved by Zack’s comment.“Have I persuaded you to believe me?”
“You most certainly have!” Zack said. “If it’s all right with you, I would like to meet sometime and talk some more.”
Danielle was suspicious of the officer’s sudden interest.“Sure. I have your number. Why don’t I give you a call later on this week?”
“That sounds good to me,” Zack replied.“I’ll be expecting your call.”
They said their good-byes and drove their separate ways.
Chapter 3
Early Sunday morning, Danielle went up to the attic and brought the painting down. As she was descending the stairs, she heard a loud noise coming from the dining room. Danielle became nervous because she knew she was alone in the house; Shane had left early in the morning for Washington, DC, for a medical conference, and he would be there for a week.
Danielle rushed down the stairs, leaned the painting against the wall, and headed toward the front door. As she was about to walk out the door, a woman shouted her name.
“Mrs. Lancaster!”
Danielle turned around, relieved to see the face of her cleaning lady. “Arianna, what are you doing here on a Sunday morning?”
Arianna had been cleaning the house for Danielle every Friday since they moved to New York. But Danielle knew her before that. Arianna was the housekeeper for Shane’s father for five years, and she worked for him until the time of his death.
“Ah, Mrs. Lancaster, did you forget? I called you and asked if I could come today instead of Friday,” Arianna replied with a heavy Brazilian accent.
Danielle was embarrassed by the confusion. “I’m sorry, Arianna. I had so much on my mind that I did in fact forget. You mentioned something about picking up your mother from the airport. How is your mother doing?”
“My mother is not doing so well,” Arianna replied. “That is why I decided to bring her here to stay with me. She has not been doing well since my father passed away last September.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that your mother is having a hard time,” Danielle said. “I’m happy to hear that she has you to rely on. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.”
Arianna’s news about her mother saddened Danielle.
“Thank you, Mrs. Lancaster. But why have you gotten so sad all of a sudden?”
Danielle cleared her throat. “I don’t know,” she answered in a low voice. “I just get very sad when I realize I’m all alone in this world.”
“But you are not alone in this world. You have Mr. Lancaster, who happens to adore you,” Arianna said, trying to cheer her up.
“I know that I have my husband, and I know that he loves me, as I love him. But I have no one who is of my blood in this world. My husband has his sister and her children. He also has aunts and uncles. He has lots of cousins whose blood run through his veins. He will never be alone in this world.”
Arianna was saddened as well after listening to Danielle speak. She hugged Danielle, and they cried together.
“Please forgive me, Arianna,” Danielle said.“I made you cry with all my sentimental blabbering.” She forced herself to laugh.
“I should thank you.” Arianna laughed. “I was long overdue for a good cleansing of the soul. Now I feel renewed and ready to face the world or resume my cleaning duties, whichever comes first.”
They both laughed. Arianna picked up the feather duster and went back into the dining room.
Danielle picked up the painting and went into her husband’s study. She took a painting down that hung behind her husband’s desk and replaced it with the painting she had bought at the yard sale. She stared at the painting for a long moment. The man in the painting seemed so familiar. She was consumed by nostalgia for somewhere—or maybe someone. She did not know why an image in a painting, which seemed to be dated over a century before her time, made her feel so strange inside.
She took the painting back down and placed it on the leather couch. She decided to leave it there until she could find the perfect place in the house to hang it. As Danielle ascended the stairs, she heard the doorbell. She then descended to open the door.
“Hello, Julia. Come on in, please.”
“Hello, Mrs. Lancaster,” said Julia. “I see Arianna has started without me.”
“She came in very early,” said Danielle. “I didn’t think you were coming today since you always come together.”
“I went to church first,” said Julia, “and I’m glad I did, for if I had not gone, I would have missed out on one of the strangest sermons my Brazilian ears have ever heard. I have indeed listened to a few weird sermons, but this one tops them all.”
Julia was Arianna’s cousin. She and Arianna had been cleaning houses together for a year. By working as a team, they were able to clean a few houses a day without sacrificing the quality of their work. Their good reputation gained them many stable, happy clients.
Danielle became a little curious about the context of the sermon that had Julia so agitated. “What was the sermon about?” she asked.
“My church had a guest pastor from a different state, but if you ask me, I say he was from a different planet. The preacher sounded normal at first, but then he started talking about how he had travelled one-hundred fifty years from the past to look for a man and a woman who had also travelled from his time to our time. He showed the congregation a wedding portrait of the couple to see if anyone recognized them. The odd thing was that the portrait seemed to be vintage, according to Brother Joseph who happens to be an expert on antiques. Sister Thelma claims that she knows the man in the portrait from somewhere but can’t recall from where. I did not get the chance to look at it myself because our pastor called the guest preacher into his office before he got to my side of the room. They were there for a long time, and then the preacher left through the back door. Our pastor just asked the congregation to pray for the poor man, who according to him was suffering from a mental breakdown.”
“Poor man,” said Danielle.“I can only imagine the circumstances that drove his mind to create such a delusion.”
“Yes, poor man indeed,” said Julia. She then went to the dining room to help Arianna, and Danielle went upstairs to her bedroom.
Chapter 4
On Monday morning, Danielle brought the painting to school with her and showed it to her students. She asked them what they thought of it. One of her male students said that the man in the painting was a lawyer who had just lost his first case and that he was writing to tell his father, who was also a lawyer and his mentor. Another male student said that the man in the painting was a businessman who made a bad investment, lost his fortune, and decided to end his life.
A female student said, “I agree with the part that he has decided to take his life, but it wasn’t because of a bad investment. It was because he was scientist who discovered a way to travel back and forth into the future. After traveling twenty years into h
is future, he saw that he was still a lonely soul with nobody who loved him and nobody to love. As a result, he decided to end his meaningless life on his return.”
Danielle felt a deep sadness, and when her students asked her opinion about the painting, she said, “I think he was a very passionate man who was very much in love with a woman who has prematurely departed from his life.”
The students all talked simultaneously, arguing about something. Danielle asked them what they were arguing about.
One of the students asked, “Mrs. Lancaster, if you were given the opportunity to choose a time period to live in, what would be your choice?”
“If I had the chance, I would joyfully choose the mid-1800s.”
“Why?” a student asked.
“Because back then, life seems to have been less complicated, love was more than just an empty word, and romance was lived more intensively.”
The class remained silent while Danielle spoke, focusing their attention on every word that she said. When she finished speaking, she realized all eyes were on her.
The janitor, who had been listening from outside the classroom door, was also looking at her. He was in his early thirties, tall with wavy black hair. She looked at him, and she had a distinct feeling that she knew him from somewhere.
She became a little embarrassed when she realized the things she had just said. But fortunately for her, the class period was over, and the bell saved her.
The janitor, whose name was Cornelius, waited outside the classroom door until her students were gone. Cornelius was a bit shy. He walked in and said, “Excuse me, Mrs. Lancaster. Could I please have a word with you?”
Danielle was mesmerized as she stared at Cornelius. She found herself thinking of the Greek god Adonis. Cornelius was wearing navy-blue overalls, which suited his robust body very well. To Danielle, he was simply breathtaking.
Danielle was somewhat curious and nervous at the same time. What could this stranger possibly want to talk to me about? She then realized that he was impatiently waiting for an answer. “Sure,” she said as she moved things across her desk, pretending to be occupied. “How may I help you?”