The Child Underwater

It is just after midday on the main street of the town where Cassie and Ethan now live together. They turn into Nguyen’s Corner, established in 1979. This place has become a new favourite restaurant of theirs. Cassie and Ethan join a queue to get some takeaway food.

“Extra patè again is it? And you don’t like it spicy,” says one of the restaurant owners preparing their Bahn Mi orders.

“Yes."

The crackle of an old radio is on, just loud enough to be heard above the murmur of conversation around them. A reporter is talking.

“With America entering yet another foreign conflict, it is common for people to forget about the other victims of warring governments. Those displaced by the conflicts, and of their struggles.”

While waiting in the line, Ethan’s eyes wonder over to a corner in the restaurant. There is a photograph of a young girl in a frame. Below it is a small table filled with various food items, and smoke rises from incense sticks next to it.

“Hey Cassie, have you noticed that before?” asks Ethan.

“Yeah, that photo frame is usually there though there’s not usually anything around it.”

They glance back at their orders being prepared when they hear the pork getting chopped up for their rolls.

They both look back to the small table below the photo frame.

“I see sticky rice and fruits on the table. Must be some sort of cultural food offering for the person in the frame.” She looks very young, must be about seven or eight,” Cassie says.

“Wonder who it is,” Ethan says.

“Here you are. Any drinks today?” asks the worker.

“No, just the rolls today thanks.” Ethan pays and they leave.

Later that same day, Cassie greets a client at their front door. It is an older European lady. She is there as Cassie and Ethan have built a business together. To try and help people interpret their dreams. Sometimes people come to them, others prefer a phone call, an email, a video call. Today Antonietta is seeking some advice for recent dreams that have contained both living and deceased members of her family. In their makeshift office they both sit with Antonietta and listen patiently to what she explains. Cassie has a notebook resting on her lap with her hand on top of it. To the side of the room is a bookshelf, many of the books were given to Cassie from her mom’s collection.

“In my religion, which is Catholic, it’s bad when someone that has passed away talks to you in your dream. I wonder what it means.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, when did they pass away?” Ethan asks.

“My father 4 years ago, and my great uncle 11 years,” she says.

Cassie writes down the information. “I just wish I could find somebody that could help me with this. The people in my family who understood this…I can’t ask anymore,” Antonietta says.

Ethan speaks, “I understand what it’s like having a dream you don’t understand, and sometimes you have it more than once and it’s hard to deal with.”

Antonietta smiles and nods.

20 minutes later, Cassie and Ethan see Antonietta out and invite her back if she requires more advice.

Two days later, it is with a sense of melancholy when Ethan and Cassie drive past the cemetery, and take the turn for its car park. The cemetery was always a familiar part of the landscape to them, now it forever holds the final resting place of their high school friend.

She was laid to rest, exactly three years ago, to the day. As they make their way, Ethan and Cassie pass familiar graves, and there are a couple of new additions, with temporary plaques. It is a peaceful and scenic cemetery. It is early spring, the maple trees have just come into bloom, with dazzling shades of yellow and orange.

As they arrive at Destiny’s plot, rows of flowers and notes, left by her family cover where she lays, leading up to her inscription.

“I’ll fetch some water for the flowers,” says Cassie. Cassie walks over to the tap. Ethan stays at Destiny’s grave.

The inscription is an Art Garfunkel lyric, it reads How can the light that burned so brightly suddenly burn so pale. Ethan stands alone, a breeze blows which creates a chill on his skin. He feels a presence by his side. Not a human presence, as he can see that no one is next to him. But he feels it all the same. He sees from the corner of his eye, this mysterious figure take shape. They are female and are of Asian descent.

“Here we go.” The vision is interrupted and disappears when Cassie returns with some fresh water. She neatly places it among the other flowers on Destiny’s grave. They both stand in silence. Then they make their way to the exit and leave. Ethan looks behind him to see if he spots the apparition again but he sees nothing.

Driving back home, there is a radio report on, it is saying that drownings are increasing, and that people should be careful. Ethan tells Cassie what he saw at the cemetery while she was collecting water. He tells her it was a brief encounter but managed to make out what she looked like.

“Wow, this is a new experience,” says Cassie.

“Yes. I was thinking I will ask Miss Mystique for advice. Maybe she will know what it means.”

“Oh yeah, good idea. I’m totally onboard with it.”

The next day, Ethan visits his former high school teacher. Cassie and him have been in contact with their teacher, over the past three years. Miss Mystique as they have always known her, had taught them Psychology, where her interest of dream interpretation was taught. It was part of the curriculum of the subject but outside of that, they shared a correspondence with her over this topic. A cast iron bell rings upon his entrance through the front gate to her property. Wind chimes, dream catchers and many pot plants adorn her yard.

“Ethan, it’s been a few months, how are you? How’s Cassie?” says Maya Mystique. Maya is still wearing her over-sized glasses, and if anything, her hair has become even curlier.

“I’m okay, thanks. She’s fine too. I came to you because I have experienced something that I thought you could help with.”

“Oh?” Maya replies.

“Well we were visiting the grave of our friend Destiny, as you know it’s her anniversary.”

“Yes, three years, feels so recent still.”

“Well I think I may have experienced an apparition of someone.”

“Come, come in, Ethan. I have just the book. I’ll just put the kettle on for us first.” Ethan steps inside Maya’s house, and follows her down a long corridor to her dining room.

“Let’s see Ethan what we can find.” She gestures to him to follow her to the bookshelves. “Hmmm,” Maya is tracing her finger along the spines of some dusty books. “Here it is. Let me ask, what did they look like?” She is handling a thick, old book. The pages have turned sepia with age.

“She didn’t look like a ghoul, or anything. But natural, as if she were alive.” Nodding, Maya flicks the pages of her book.

“What age roughly would you say they were?”

“Hard to say, perhaps early thirties.” Maya nods.

“Here is the chapter I was looking for. Grave Apparitions and the Medieval Peroid. Let’s go take a seat with a cup of my home blended black tea. Then I can explain this.”

“Thanks Miss Mystique, I appreciate it.”

They are sitting at a table. Maya starts reading aloud from the book. Ghosts or spirits have appeared since the 5th century. Reports of apparitions requesting deeds to be completed on their behalf, has a long history.

The souls have not reached heaven, and have not been sent to hell, but are in a state of limbo. “See in the Middle Ages, people believed in purgatory. You’ve heard of this?”

Ethan nods, “Sort of.”

She explains. “It was thought of as a place where someone goes when they die, and they had to have their soul purified, before they passed to the next realm,” she pauses then continues, “Heaven. Or, if they’ve been bad, Hell.”

“So could this person could be from the Middle Ages?” Ethan asks.

“No, I don’t think so. But I can’t say for sure. However, some of these older beliefs ring true today. We can sometimes use things from the past and it’s useful to us.”

She takes a sip of tea and Ethan takes a biscuit from a tray. Her black cat Salem brushes past Ethan’s leg.

Maya reads on. The souls return to earth to complete unfinished tasks, usually they will enlist the living, to see that it is done. So afterward they will be at peace. You must understand Ethan, spirits have been known to return to Earth, to remind the living of something they experienced while still alive. If through the course of time, their experiences have been forgotten or not passed on, to a younger generation. An apparition might return to pass on knowledge.

“Ah, okay.”

“You saw them at the cemetery, just yesterday?”

Ethan nods, “Yeah, it was brief. Maybe her grave is nearby to Destiny’s.”

“Possibly, it’s worth having a look around.”

“It’s a bit nerve-racking. Maybe you can come with us next time?”

“Of course, I find it very fascinating.”

It is the weekend now. Back at Nguyen’s Corner.

“Same as last time?”

“Yes, but we’ll dine in today,” Cassie replies. Ethan’s eyes once again looks over to the picture of the girl in the frame.

Observing what Ethan is looking at one of the owners says, “That was our daughter. She passed many years ago now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Cassie says. Behind Ethan and Cassie a customer is loudly talking.

The loudly talking man in line is speaking to his friend next to him, “My grandfather flew the B52, back in “Nam” in the “70s.” Ethan notices one of the elderly looking owners flinches when he hears this.

“Yes, she was only 10 years old. We fled Hanoi in 1972, but it wasn’t until the late 70s that we left Vietnam to come here. My wife won’t go near the ocean and is scared of water. It’s her anniversary now.”

Ethan and Cassie take a seat to eat their meal, but the restaurant is quite busy being a weekend, so they are unable to talk to the owners further about their daughter. While Cassie has gone to the bathroom, Ethan looks towards the direction of the photo frame, when next to the table the apparition materialises. She opens her mouth to speak, yet no words come out. It is a mixed gurgling sound, as if she were underwater. The sound is audible enough for him despite the distance she appears to him.

It is two days later and Cassie and Ethan are going with Maya to the cemetery.

Cassie and Ethan are sitting in the back seat of Maya Mystique’s car. “Ah my hand,” Cassie reacts in pain. Ethan and Cassie are holding hands and Ethan had squeezed her hand too tightly. “Sorry, I’m just feeling nervous about this. I’ve seen her twice now.” Maya glances at her rear-vision mirror at them. Her car tyres jolt with the changing surface to the gravel driveway of the cemetery, as she parks. Maya is striding up the hill towards the entrance. Her emerald green gown sways with her steps, touching the grass either side of the path. Ethan peers up at the rusted iron gates, a grey and foreboding sky blankets his view beyond the gates. He has a moment of hesitation in his step, before Cassie is at his side, holding his arm. They both proceed up and join Maya at the entrance.

“Before I help you out, I must pay my respects to your friend Destiny. I have brought these flowers. Maya raises her hand cupping a bouquet of lilies. “Do not be afraid, spirits generally are lost souls that just want our help.”

Ethan and Cassie are sitting on a bench, nearby to Destiny’s grave. They are watching Maya as she stands at their friend’s grave and arranges the flowers she’d brought along. After spending a few minutes there, Maya joins them at the bench.

Ethan whispers, “The flowers look good Miss Mystique.” The lilies that Maya has placed there neatly sit above their flowers.

“Yes, it does, they suit her. Now we’ll just wait and see if the apparition appears again. Cassie continues to sit, Ethan stands to the left of Cassie. He peers down the hill through gaps in the headstones all the way down towards the entrance.

“I’m just going, just over there,” says Maya, pointing down a row of plaques. “I’m not far, I just want to look at these dates and statues.” Ethan nods.

Cassie gets her phone out and reads, “This month Ethan, your stars say to proceed with caution, into unknown territory.”

“Oh great,” Ethan replies.

Maya returns. “Some of these statues are so beautiful. Everything normal so far?”

“Yes.”

Maya speaks, “I think it would be useful to methodically work our way around the cemetery. You said she was Asian, so we can start with going to sections of religions in Asia.”

They walk past different sections like Catholic, Methodist, and Buddhist. There are some Asian names in the Catholic and Buddhist sections but they are either senior aged or males.

“Just because she appeared as an adult does not mean that is the age she died. The spirit could have been a child when they died, or older. Apparitions always appear as the age of 33. Because that was the age of Jesus when he died on the cross,” says Maya.

They walk up and down the rows, but there is no sign of the apparition. Now and then Maya lowers her glasses to see if that makes a difference in spotting anything, looks around, then pushes her glasses back on to her face.

“I’m sorry guys, but we can’t solve it, she’s not here,” says Ethan. They all agree to end their search.

“Thank you, Maya, you’ve been a big help to us anyway.”

“Thank you Cassie for that, and Ethan. I’m sorry but I got a call from family last night and I have to leave and head upstate for a while, and I don’t know when I will return. I will be driving so I will be taking Salem with me. But good luck to the both of you. I regret that I cannot be of more help to you.”

“Oh, you’re leaving?” I hope we can solve it.”

“I know that together you will work it out. Let’s get you back home.” They are all getting back in the car and Maya is driving them home. After she drops them off Ethan stands and stares after her car, vanishing into the darkening night.

“I hope we see her again, one day.” Ethan says but he is unsure if they will.

Ethan is on his phone that night and he clicks on an article, On this day in History. He usually likes reading these things so he starts clicking through the slides. This day in 1972: B52s arrived in Hanoi and start a bombing campaign. Many of the Vietnamese refugees fleeing eventually boarded unsafe boats, and many sank trying to reach the USA. Many lives were lost including 35 children.

“Ah, our apparition is a drowning victim!” he calls out to Cassie.

Cassie comes into the room and he explains what he just read and pairs it with the drowning sound made from the apparition. They organise to go to the cemetery the following day.

Cassie and Ethan are sitting at the same bench. He peers down the hill through gaps in the headstones all the way down towards the entrance.

After what felt like a while staring and fidgeting in the spot where he’d seen her the first time, the apparition appears. It is as if she has always been there. He wonders how he hadn’t noticed. She slowly and deliberately approaches, up the hill.

“Hey look, do you see that? Down there, look!” Cassie scans where he is pointing.

“Where? I’m looking, I can’t see anything Ethan.”

The apparition is not casting a shadow over the gravestones she passes. Despite some sun coming through the clouds. Her arms hang by her side. Her head and eyes are fixed forward. She stares, almost as if she’s looking through him. There is very little sway or natural rhythm in her walk. And despite being on an incline she looks like she is sliding rather than stepping.

She comes to a stop next to Cassie and Ethan.

“She’s here, standing next to us,” Ethan whispers. Cassie takes Ethan’s hand.

“Okay, I can’t see her. I’m with you.” She squeezes his hand. “Maybe you should try and talk to her.”

“Hello, I believe that you escaped Vietnam in the 1970s with your family. and I believe you must have drowned in a sinking boat.” The apparition looks at Ethan. He sees her disappear, then she reappears holding the photo frame from the restaurant. Above the apparition is a blue sky, then there is a large winged plane that crosses the sky, at a high altitude, followed by the sound of bombs exploding. Only Ethan is hearing and seeing this. This is followed by cries of people, and lastly the gurgling sound of her voice. She turns into a 10-year-old, nods her head in agreeance, then breaks apart and floats away in the air.

“She’s gone now, and I think she will be at peace,” Ethan says.

“She chose you to communicate with Ethan because you have that gift.”