Extra Sensorial Perception

FEATURED in The Writing.Com Newsletter - Short Stories: Mixing It Up - Editor's Picks, by Legerdemain , October 26, 2011

She was downtown Rio de Janeiro and about to cross the street when she noticed the yellow flier glued to a street pole. It was the picture of this sweetest little girl ever. Another missing girl. She came closer to the girl’s picture. She read the information about her mysterious disappearance. Her name was Ana Castelo Branco. She stared at Ana's face. She felt a sudden rush. Her heart beat faster. Margot couldn’t keep her eyes away from that little girl's face. It was as if the picture was sucking her into it! And now, the girl opened and closed her eyes... in... the picture! Was… the girl staring back at her? And, crying? She blinked. Was she imagining things or were the bright sun rays playing games with her mind?  She saw tiny tears rolling down the girl’s cheeks… no, it was rolling down the paper and dripping on her hand!

She looked so pale. She was 8 years old. She had light brown hair and deep blue eyes. Her lips were small and pink; it seemed as if she had just finished having strawberry ice cream. She could feel fresh strawberries in the air. She was wearing a blue and white dress and there was a small blue ribbon on the right side of her long shinny hair. She could feel sadness coming from the flier and flowing directly into her heart. And, the hurt. There was a lot of childish anguish and, a feeling of stolen fairy tales.

These “things” happened to her out of the blue and for no reason. It came unexpectedly, as if you were opening a mysterious door into… another dimension. And, strange doors… because… it was all about… pain and helpless children. Sometimes she wanted it all to stop; other times, she would let those feelings come into her mind and body and she’d feel the rhythms coming inside her like soft waves from the sea, carrying stories, and short video clips. Her perception or her 6th sense gave Margot the power to see little films and hear voices in color, and in sound surround system.  According to a para-psychological laboratory work with such phenomena she had read about, nearly everyone has some degree of ESP. Perhaps many people utilize extra sensory perception to a considerable degree as children do, but as they mature, they tend to inhibit these subconscious faculties or allow them to atrophy. But, with Margot, it became stronger as she grew older. It was as if she had an update button in her mind; her innate abilities would download them immediately.

The phenomena started three years ago, just like that, just as if she had switched on the lights in her bathroom late at night and her eyes were not quite accustomed to all that light. Was she paranormal? A medium? A mentalist? What was she? She hadn’t paid much attention to it until last year. She only knew that she had the ability to glimpse into children’s worlds – and these children were harassed and helpless. Sometimes, she could hear them screaming, other times, she felt their pain on her own body. Each situation was different. But today, this… picture… it was a new thing to her. The picture was whispering words... she could hear sounds. Was the little girl talking to her from the flier?

"Can you hear me?"

She pulled the flier away from the pole and just stood there, in the middle of the busy sidewalk of Presidente Vargas Avenue, staring at the flier of a missing girl called Ana. People walked by and bumped her but she didn’t feel them. She didn’t care. She stood there for a long time but... no more whispers from Ana. Only a disturbing silence… and relief. Yes, she didn’t want to know more... right now. It was too painful. She didn’t want to feel Ana’s pain. Besides, a child’s pain is too overbearing.

There was the teddy bear incident. A little boy's teddy bear so touched held a lingering aching feebleness. Paulo. She had to look into his mother’s eyes and tell her… the truth – about some people that had no principles or human feelings. And, the more she got to know some people – the more she disliked them in general --because of what they did and how they did awful little and big things to their own family members, to their own children.

Margot went home. She had a long, relaxing bath and put on her comfy pajamas. She had dinner – sushi, that she bought on her way home. She opened a glass of white Zinfandel wine and turned on the television. She relaxed on her big armchair. She was feeling better, and now, a bit sleepy.

She laid her head on her favorite Indian cushion and her blond hair covered it. She stretched her legs and arms. She closed her green eyes feeling the silence of the room - only hearing the low voices coming from her TV. She could smell the vanilla scent coming from her candles and this brought her a comforting peace -- a feeling that many of those children would never have, she thought.  She thought about them and their awful fates. Why?

She covered her face with her hands and started to cry for them, the pain of her losing her little sister bounding to the surface of her pain. She was just a baby when taken. They went straight to heaven, didn't they? At least that's what she had always heard. Each child has a guardian to guide their way. Margot hoped that the guardian also stepped in, cheating the murder of inflicting pain. She liked to envision the guardian angel stepping between the abused child and the monster. Absorbing the blows, absorbing the pain and the horror.

She heard the whispers again... in the silence of the room. She bit her lip. She looked at the TV. There she was. Her cute little face again. She had been missing for a week. The police hadn't a clue. The grandmother was pale, crying and begging for people’s help. She held Ana’s picture like a peace flag. "Find her, help the police. Let's find her. Whatever you want from me. Just give her back to me. She’s all I got. Please." Ana’s picture on TV was the same one as the flyer's. The whispers became louder. She lowered the TV's volume and waited for her ESP to happen. Sometimes, she wished she had a mute button. She wished it would stop but maybe... that was God’s way of redemption, through her powers and through other people with the same powers as hers - by allowing those horrible things to happen to his little children on earth.

"Are you there? Can you hear me?" Ana whispered softly inside Margot's head. Margot held the flier close to her face. Her hands were trembling.

“Yes! I'm right here! Where are you?”

“Ooh... I am somewhere dark. I see dirty bags all around me. There’s a very bad smell. I can’t breathe. I want my grandma!”

“Where are you, Ana?”

“I think I'm in a dumpster. I’m in a... trash bag.”

“Who did this to you?”

“She did?”

“Your grandmother?”

“No! My aunt.”

“Why, Ana?”

“I don’t know but... but I still love her.”

“Where is she now?”

“With my grandma. I think she wants to hurt her, too. Why?”

“My darling… I don’t know. Please, don’t go away... somewhere. Stay connected to me. Give me some clues of where you are. I have to call the police. Where are your parents?”

“I’m behind the big house, somewhere. Come get me, please! I suffocate. What's your name?”

"My name is Margot."

"Come and help me, Margot. I can't breathe. It's tight and dark in here. I can't see the light."

"I will help you."

"I will remember your name... my parents told me to. They are here, too, comforting me..."

“What are you holding in your hand, Ana, that it covered in blood?”

“A bracelet. I grabbed it… from her, when she was trying to choke me. She hit me hard, Margot, with a piece of wood. My head is bleeding. I can feel the blood dripping down my face, coming into my mouth. I don't like the taste of... blood. My legs are broken, Margot. I feel this and... I can’t reach my feet. I just can’t. I fainted. I screamed for hours and hours… crying for help but I guess Grandma couldn’t hear me. Nobody heard me. Only you did, Margot. My parents told me to look at you.”

“Yes, I heard you, my darling… but, I need specific details from you. Listen sweetheart, I need a location, an address, something… which will make me find you. Where do you live?”

“In Copacabana beach. In Posto Seis. In a big, white house. The house has a red fence. I am behind the house… Ooh I suffocate. Help me!”

“Listen to me. Help me more, Ana. I need a street and number!”

“Princesa Isabel Avenue… 302. Ooh… I‘m so tired now. My eyes keep closing.”

“No Ana… I need you. I’m calling the police now. They are coming, Ana. I’m sending the police to find you. Any moment… now.”

“Ooh. I‘m so tired.”

“Wait. Keep the connection. Don’t let our connection break, hear me?”

“I’m weak… I’m tired. I choke. I suffocate.”

“Ana! Don’t go. Wait.”

“I... can't. Not anymore.”

“Ana!”

“I really need to sleep now.”

The connection... failed.

No more Ana.

No more perceptions.

She screamed, and cried in anger. She walked around the room, horrified, swearing and spitting - choking in her own saliva and tears. She asked, no, she begged God why on earth did he allow such horrible things to happen in our world, and during our existence. She fell on the carpet and cried a long, hurtful cry. There were no answers when evilness, hurt and pain is allowed as part of our redemption.

When she woke up it was late at night. Her TV was still on. She heard the breaking news on Globo TV. Ana, the missing little girl was finally found. The girl was the granddaughter of a wealthy woman in a plush neighborhood. Her parents had died some years ago, leaving them their immense fortune. She was located but… she had been cut into 6 pieces and put into 6 different trash bags, inside a neighborhood dumpster. The police got an anonymous call from a good Samaritan. The police also informed that Ana was holding a bracelet that, according to the grandmother and the servants --- belonged to her aunt!

The woman had kidnapped and tortured Ana with the intention of becoming the only heiress. Margot stared at the killer coming out from the big house, handcuffed and eerie looking - her meanness was the size of the world. Why did people like her exist?

She looked at Ana’s picture on the flier once more but… this time Ana wasn’t sad anymore. Ana was smiling, and she was glancing directly into Margot's eyes and smiling. She whispered "Thank you." Margot’s heart melted like chocolate in a sunny afternoon. She felt good. Anna was smiling such a beautiful smile that it filled her heart with all the colors of the rainbow, with pink cotton candy, warm marshmallow, fairy tale stories and strawberry ice cream.

Sometimes you got to believe in what you can't see.



Words: 1900