Farewells

The next day, his friends burst into his room to find out about his adventure. Everyone was still in their pajamas and his roommate woke up to join them.

"So? Have you had many ghostly visions in the forest?" One of them asked and everyone started laughing.

John stood up and put the camera on the computer so he could show the pictures. Someone placed a cup of coffee in his hands and he thanked them without looking at who had done the kindness.

"Say John! Is the forest really haunted? Is it cursed?" His roommate asked nonchalantly, but John realized that there was a certain superstition in his fearful words.

"No Thomas! It's just an ordinary forest. There's nothing strange about that place.... The only unusual thing I saw was a woman when I was almost out of the forest..."

"A woman John? Stop making up a story!" One of his friends said and everyone laughed. No one but his roommate believed it.

"I took some pictures of her." John said without flinching. He was used to those boys as if they were his brothers. In a way they were. Just like him, they were thrown into that boarding school when they were four years old and have never lived with their parents again since. Some had photographs, but John did not. He burned them all as soon as he had access to the fireplace. His parents just paid his bills and sent him expensive gifts every year for Christmas and his birthday. And that was the reality for everyone there.

The machine finally loaded enough for him to open the images. They opened automatically, one by one, and his friends stood silently, watching the splendor of the cursed tree.

John hadn't realized that it was beautiful. Even with its leafless branches. The shade of gray bathed in moonlight favored its appearance.

Then it was the turn of the photos of the young woman, and he became excited. He didn't know until that moment that he was so eager to see her again. But he had a frustrating surprise. In place of the woman, only the same tree. Even his friend Thomas had trouble believing John this time and only believed him when John patiently showed him that the tree that was supposed to be the young woman was in a different place.

He then went back into the forest several times. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of her and only once, when he was about to give up because his time at the boarding school was ending and he would soon return home, did she appear in front of him. He recoiled in surprise. He didn't think he would see her again, and her face was already beginning to fade from his memory. He stopped backing up and stood still. He was afraid to even breathe and the young woman would run away from him. She had gray eyes and stared at him sadly.

"I will miss you..." She said without moving her lips. John could hear her in his mind.

"How do you know...?" John was going to ask how she knew he was about to leave but realized in time that that information was not important at that moment. "You can come with me." He offered almost imploringly.

"You want me to go with you?" she asked in surprise.

"It's what I want most in life. Nobody believes me. They think I've gone crazy..."

She looked around and then let the owl she was carrying fly away. She watched it drift away and then returned her attention to John.

"I need a favor from you."

"Anything you want."

"Not now. In a few years."

"Will you come with me?"

She came closer and John noticed that she looked the same age as when he first saw her. The white dress was also the same.

She reached out and touched his face with the softness of silk.

"I will come to see you." She said and started to walk away staring at him and walking backwards.

"Wait! At least tell me your name!"

She gave a goodbye and a smile and disappeared before him.

John knew then why no one else could see her. Because she was an apparition. And maybe she was only in his imagination. Maybe she didn't exist and was just a figment of his loneliness. A way for his mind to scream for help.

John went back to the orphanage thoughtfully and did not participate in the activities of that day with his friends. He wanted to be alone. He took the pictures he took the day he saw her to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

Worst of all, he had no way to tell her where he would be and how she could find him. He completely forgot to give her any information. On the other hand, it didn't look like she needed him to say anything. The way she looked was that of someone who got the information that interested her in another way.

When Thomas arrived, he told him what had happened. His friend wanted to go back to the forest, but John refused. He knew that he would not see her there again. But she appeared to say goodbye.

That night John dreamed about her. She was wearing schoolgirl clothes and smiling as she talked to him.

John woke up in alarm. The dream was very real. He could almost smell her perfume. And nothing could take his mind off the fact that she had been there while he was sleeping and had entered his dreams. He looked at Thomas and he was snoring peacefully. He got up and went to the window and looked towards the fenced area of the forest. There was a white owl and he could swear it was her owl staring at him from a distance as if to confirm that she was there. He thought about calling Thomas without stopping to stare at the owl so that he could see it too. But he felt inside himself that that vision was not for other eyes. She had chosen him. For some reason, she had chosen him.

In the weeks that followed, John saw his friends excited, packing their bags, and excited that they were going home. John thought they were idiots. Their parents had abandoned them there because their presence was somehow bothersome. They were not welcome in their home. John never thought his mother would be able to let him leave and never visit. She was somewhat of a disappointment, as for his father, he was a man of few words and no fatherly affection. He seemed relieved the day he dumped him there in that orphanage. What they didn't know was that all the money he often asked for was deposited in an account that he asked his godfather to open in his name. And once he had amassed a fortune in the millions, he filed for emancipation. His father found out and cut off his money and any connection to him. However, he continued to pay for school and his expenses. John didn't need more than that. He also managed to get emancipated only at the end of his fifteenth year. So it was only three months without money. He was determined to get out of there and make his fortune. He designed something that would revolutionize technology, but he kept this a secret even from Thomas.

John was invited by his friend to spend as much time as he thought necessary at his home since there was no possibility of John returning to his family home. He accepted after Thomas' loving parents formally invited him, understanding and giving John a reason for being emancipated.

So it was with surprise that he saw his father waiting for him along with the parents of other students at the reception of the boarding school. New boys were coming in. He didn't have time to feel sorry for those kids.

Without any desire, but feeling obliged, he approached his father with his bags. He stared at John for a moment and the next, he was surprising John again by pulling him into a tight hug that he didn't return. As soon as his father pulled away, he stared at him with a hard stare that he would carry for much of his financial and personal growth and then into situations that would displease him.

"What are you doing here?"

"You may have emancipated yourself, but you are still my son. I can't leave you on the street."

"Are you embarrassed that some of your friends will find me begging on the street?"

His father took a deep breath.

"I know I have not been a present father, much less an exemplary one. But I am willing to make amends, if you will allow me."

"Why is that now?"

"I always wanted to get close to you, but you wouldn't let me..."

"That's not quite how I remember it, but I'm sure your friends accepted that excuse without question..."

"Come back with me John, please."

"No."

"What are you going to do with your life?"

"It's been three years since that was your problem. As you remembered, I now answer for myself and am no longer under your orders."

"I know that, but... Can't we try again?"

John dropped his heavy bags on the floor, looked to the side, and saw relieved that his friend who would be hosting him had not yet arrived at the reception. His parents were chatting compassionately with the other parents.

"I need to ask again.... Why is this now?"

"John, your mother has been very sad and asks me every day to take you back."

"Where is she?"

"She went to the club with some friends..."

John smiled debauchedly.

"Sure. She's so sad she couldn't even come with you to try to convince me.... This motherly love, it came late. I don't need it and I don't want it." John said and picked up his bags again, he was already about to approach Thomas' parents when his father said something to him that made him stop and smile with real joy.

"Can you repeat what you said?"

"I said that you are just like your father. You're nothing but a failure and just like him, you'll end up in some garage as an apprentice mechanic!"

"A very honorable profession." John said with a dreamy look. "Then I don't have to feel bad about not feeling anything for you anymore. You are not my father. You could have given me that joy earlier."

"Your mother put as a condition of marrying me that I adopt you. At first I even tried to be a part of your life, but when she became pregnant and gave birth to my daughter, I convinced her that it was not good that you grow up with a father who could not give you love. My only regret is that I've been supporting you all this time with the best."

John stepped closer and stood inches from the man who, until that day, he believed to be his father and stared at him menacingly.

"You're going bankrupt. I know all about your financial life. I know all about your wasteful spending. And one day you're going to knock on my door and ask me for help so you don't starve to death." John said and an owl began to sing.

John walked away and from the side of Thomas' parents, he observed that what he said left that man shaken. And John smiled remembering his superstition of being careful what he says, for if an owl sings next, it is the fate it is sealing. And he watched with pleasure as the man disappeared.

Thomas finally appeared and John knew, when they were already inside the plane, that he had seen John's father and so he decided to be late to give John time to make his decision.