The Story of Her Holding an Orange (10 page)
“We’ll be late for the plane,” said Jovo, wanting to get as far away as he could.
They unloaded the car, and as they were entering the terminal, Jovo turned around.
“Just out of curiosity,” he said, “what was the girl’s name?”
“I believe it was Rose.”
TWELVE
The Aftermath
“That’s it?” I asked, intrigued but unsatisfied.
“That’s it,” Rose answered, smiling. She spoke in a natural, adult voice.
“So you’re telling me that you were born sometime in the 1920’s?”
“Can’t remember the date anymore but around that time, yes,” she answered with a serious look on her face.
“You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”
“Most of you people do funny things, you see. Everything that doesn’t immediately seem natural to you, you immediately deem supernatural, and therefore, impossible. But think about this - what if all of this was perfectly natural in our world, and you just never knew it existed? If a miracle happens, does it stop being a miracle since it now exists?”
“So you being nearly a hundred years old, and that man being some sort of an ageless demon, devil, whatever, I should believe all that blindly?”
“Do as you will, Milos. Perhaps I am just a crazy person,” Rose said, sounding saner than I wanted her to.
“You answered exactly none of my questions, though. What was the orange about? Who’s the man?” I asked, turning towards the door.
The man still stood there, motionless. Rose turned to him as well. He shook his head as if to say that she had said enough.
“Well, I’m afraid that’s all for now,” Rose said, getting up. “But who knows, maybe we will meet again. Probably not, but you never know.”
“No. That isn’t all. What about the orange? What does that mean?” I asked, frustrated.
Rose took another look at the man, who was visibly losing patience.
“The orange sets me free.”
“And what happens to me?” I begged.
“I would ruin it all if I told you now,” Rose said, gesturing to the man. He was standing beside the door, his hand on the knob, watching us intently. “But I promise you will soon find out.”
“That’s all you’ve got for me after all this? All I needed to do was take the fucking thing and all of this would’ve stopped?” I asked in disbelief.
“I always asked only that you take it, Milos,” she answered as she walked towards the door. “Be good to Trish now, alright?”
Trish.
“Why were you stalking her? How is she related to this?” I pleaded in my final attempt at finding out the truth.
“Chandi, your great-grandfather’s lover?”
“That was her… great-grandmother?” I mumbled, feeling dizzy.
Rose just smiled at me. The man put the hat back on his head and turned around.
“Goodbye now,” said Rose as she closed the door of my new apartment.
I sat on the floor, staring at the orange. A million different thoughts raced through my mind. Trish opening the door was what finally snapped me back into reality. I hid the orange behind my back.
“What are you doing? I thought you were going to unpack!” she said as she brought the grocery bags in.
“Yeah, sorry, I just dozed off. I’ll get to it now,” I answered. At that moment, I decided to keep the final Rose encounter a secret. No good would come from Trish knowing what happened. Fuck, I didn’t even know what happened.
A few days after I took the orange, I called up my grandmother and told her everything. At first, she was shocked by my story. Then things started making more sense. She confirmed most of the details from Rose’s tale; my grandmother had found her father’s diary and had seen some entries about Chandi and the accident at the barn. But who would ever be able to relate those events to a woman who stalks people across the planet?
Apparently, Jovo passed away not too long after the trip to Kenya. The official cause of death was complications after his appendix burst.
When I finished the conversation with my grandma, I sat down and thought long and hard about all of it.
To start with, I honestly don’t think that Rose and the man had something to do with my great-grandfather’s death. Let’s just assume, even for a second, that the man really did save Rose from certain death. And let’s put our rationality to the side and adopt the idea that the man in a black suit was some sort of supernatural entity. What happened after he took Rose? Did he revive her, raise her, and teach her his ways? Was she dead when I spoke to her? And most importantly, what were their motives? I suppose revenge would be a logical assumption. And if they did want revenge, they couldn’t get it since my great-granddad passed away before they caught up with him. Fine. But why not choose my older brother, my mother, or anyone else from my family? And why not hurt me? The only thing they ever wanted for me to do was take the orange. Perhaps Trish and I were the first generation of Jovo and Chandi’s descendants that had a chance of getting together. Still, how did they manage to get us together? And why? A million fucking questions and very few answers.
Hey, I know how crazy the story is. I find it ridiculous myself. But let’s be honest, who could possibly expect a rational ending to such an irrational stream of events?
Even to this day, I stick with logic and reason, despite the many things I can’t explain. Trish and I being stalked across the planet before we even met each other? Me seeing my childhood dead cat on the bike trail? Rose finding us absolutely everywhere? I can’t rationalize that. But if you ask me right now, I will still reject any idea of supernatural entities being involved. I just can’t believe it; it goes against everything in me.
Maybe she was just a crazy woman. After all, Trish, my grandmother, and I never saw Rose together. Maybe they were all different women with similar attributes. Maybe it was some sort of cult.
I still have the orange. I’m not really sure why, but I still keep it on top of the kitchen cabinets, tucked in the back where Trish can’t find it. It hasn’t rotted any further. It’s strange, but I don’t feel ready to get rid of something that so nearly ruined our lives.
I don’t know what it all meant. What I do know is that I’ve moved on with my life. Trish and I are now married and are as happy as can be.
As a matter of fact, we are expecting a child in a few months.
It’s a girl.
The End
Thank you for reading.
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