July 2012
Deity.gr
50 Charis Gantzoudis ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“I don’t have the words to describe what happened. It was
scary but also unique on the same time. At the beginning I was
scared, but after a while, curiosity took the best of me and I
listened to what they had to tell me. I wish you could have
been there to see for yourself. Then it wouldn’t be so hard for
you to believe me”. This is how Marios started telling to his
father and Alexandra what had happened a moment ago.
It was an ordinary afternoon, like al others. Marios was sitting
next to the improvised grave he had made, to have his mother
nearby. A month ago, he had moved with his father and his
new partner to this almost forgotten town. Tears were running
down his face and questions fil ed up his mind:
“Why did he take me away from you? Doesn’t he care at al
how I feel? Has she changed him so much?”
His father’s words stil echoed in his ears: “I met Alexandra
eight months ago. She came to my office for work. We got
along from the beginning and started hanging out. She made
me feel nice. We decided to move on with our relationship. I
want you to understand”.
Marios said nothing. He went to his room troubled.
“What does he want from me? To act like she’s my mother?
What does he think? That we wil be sitting al together at the
dinner table on the weekends, chatting? How is it possible that
he forgot about her so fast?”.
He was fourteen when the medical exams of Zoe, his mother,
showed a tumour in her head. A few days after the diagnosis,
she started chemotherapies, but her body couldn’t take it.
Marios had lost what was most valuable to him. Since then, he
visited her grave and talked to her every day. This was the
reason he was in conflict with his father when he announced
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that for the next time they would be living in this town, far
away from her.
His parents had met twenty five years ago, in Paris, where
both of them were taking classes to get their master’s degree
in mechanical engineering. When they finished their studies,
they came back to Greece and got married a little while later.
“His masculine and strong character fascinated me from the
beginning” he remembered his mother telling him one
evening, when his father stayed at the office til late.
The office was a second home for his father. Since the first
years of his career, he had been working until late. In a short
time he had created one of Athens most successful engineering
offices.
While thinking about al that and with his mother’s voice in
his ears, he didn’t notice how late it had gotten. The sun had
set whilst the moon was covered by the shadow of the dark
clouds that had spread on the sky. The strong wind was
bending the naked branches of the trees, forming strange
silhouettes on the street. While he was saying goodbye to his
mother, a voice, asking desperately for help, stopped him. He
was startled. He turned and looked around in a daze. There
was no one, just rocks and dried trees. But the voice didn’t
stop: “Help, run for your life”.
His heart started beating faster. His hand were shaking and his
feed were stuck to the ground. While time went by, he could
hear more and more voices cal ing for help.
“The children, save the children”.
Marios blanched in terror and looked around to see where the
voices were coming from. The sound drove him to the edge of
the cliff. His terror was so great, that he tripped and almost fell
into the deep gorge, which he remember being there, because
52 Charis Gantzoudis ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
it was the reason he had chosen this spot for his mother’s
grave. He wanted her soul to see the magical view stretching
in front of her. This view also drove his father to build the
hotel on this site of the town.
The moon suddenly appeared on the sky and flooded the dark
gorge in light. The he faced something that he had seen only in
movies. People were running to save themselves from huge
rocks crashing on them, houses were col apsing and huge fires
surrounded everything. And while al this was happening, he
felt a cold breeze piercing his body. He turned around and saw
a girl looking at him in the eyes. The white dress she was
wearing, was covering up her skinny body. Her long dark hair,
ful of twigs and covered in dirt, made a contrast to her pale
skin. Her sad blue eyes weren’t moving at al . The knot in
Marios’ throat didn’t let him say a word.
“Who are you?” he managed to ask a while later.
“I’m Zoe” the girl answered. When Marios heard her name, his
mother came to his mind.
“And what do you want from me?” he asked with more
courage this time.
“I once lived in this place. A big earthquake buried my town
beneath the rocks of the mountain and with it al its citizens.
This place became the grave of old people, young ones and
children. But no one cares about us. As if we never existed. No
one remembers us. Our souls wake at night and sleep during
the day. We never found peace in al these years.”
“So, you’re dead?” Marios interrupted her.
“Dead and forgotten. Everyone has forgotten us.” The girl
answered and turned around to leave. While she was walking
away, the echo of her voice fol owed her steps. “We wil never
find peace.”
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The girl disappeared in the darkness. The moon was covered in
clouds again. The voices quietened and the shadows quenched.
Marios run home. Throughout the whole way, he heard the
voices crying: “We wil never find peace. We wil never find
peace”.
When he was near his house, at the side of the road, he
thought he saw his mother sitting saddened.
At home, he told his father and Alexandra what had happened.
“You must not build the hotel in this place. Here a memorial
needs to be build, in the name of these dead people” he said to
his father.
“Stop lying only to keep your mother’s grave there” he
answered in a strict voice and continued:
“You need to leave the past behind. We were al hurt by your
mother’s loss, but life goes on”.
“So you don’t believe me?”.
“Believe what? That you saw a ghost that incidental y had
your mother’s name? And you think I wil lose a job like this
that would provide a better life for us for your nonsense?”.
“You only care about money. We must remember the dead,
that’s why we build graves. But why am I wasting my time?
You forgot about your wife. Why would you care about
strangers?” Marios answered and went to his room.
A short time later there was a knock on his door. Alexandra
came in without awaiting an answer. Marios felt the need to
apologize to her for the first time for his behaviour, but he
didn’t.
“I believe you” she said.
“Real y?”
“Yes. You have no reason to lie about something so serious. As
for your father, I’m sure he wil seriously think about
54 Charis Gantzoudis ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
everything you said. I wil help you convince him”. She
squeezed his shoulder and left the room with a good night
wish. For the first time since his mother’s death, he felt
motherly love touching him.
The next night, when the darkness covered everything, Marios
led Alexandra to the spot where he had had this strange
experience the night before. He wanted to convince her that
what he said was true. As the minutes passed, nothing
happened. Alexandra grabbed Marios’ shoulder and said to
him:
“Come, it’s late, let’s go home”.
“Let me go. I told you that it happened al here.” Marios
answered angrily when seeing that she didn’t believe him.
“But, as you can see, there is nothing here.. ” but before
Alexandra could finish her sentence, the voices appeared
again, which made her grab his shoulder tighter. Zoe made her
appearance:
“We wil never find peace. Never”.
In front of her eyes, she saw everything that Marios had
described to her. He saw her whispering prayers as if asking
for forgiveness.
When they arrived home, Marios was much calmer, while
Alexandra was shaking. His father, who had been worried,
hugged them and asked what had happened. Alexandra told
him everything, but she didn’t convince him for the second
time.
“I don’t know what is going on with you, but I told you, I won’t
lose a job opportunity like this just for your fantasies” he
responded and went up to his room. That night, no one slept
calmly. Marios tossed and turned, as did Alexandra.
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The next morning, Marios heared his father talking on the
phone:
“In two hours, according to the schedule, the machinery
should be there digging”.
“So you won’t back down” Marios told him as soon as he hung
up.
“We talked about that. I need to go” he answered and left the
kitchen.
“Petros, think about it again” Alexandra told him while he was
leaving the house, but he didn’t even answer. Marios chased
after him and shouted:
“Dad, don’t betray mum a second time” but the car vanished
around the corner.
Marios sensed that something bad would happen. Alexandra
hugged him and they sat on the couch.
He started recounting stories of his mother. They were
interrupted by the phone ringing. Alexandra hurried to pick
up. Marios could see in her eyes that something bad had
happened. When she hung up, they left the house in a hurry.
Father had had an accident.
When they arrived at the hospital, they saw Petros with a cast
on his leg. He hugged them and said:
“I should have listened to you”.
“What happened?” Marios asked.
“While I was driving, a little girl was standing in the middle of
the road. I honked, but she wouldn’t move. I tired avoiding her
and lost control over the car. My col aborator, who was driving
in his car right behind me, said he didn’t see any girl on the
road. Then everything you said and I didn’t believe you, came
to my mind. Now I know what I have to do.”
56 Charis Gantzoudis ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The hotel opening was glorious event. The whole town was
there and the community band played cheerful melodies. Next
to the foundation of the hotel, there was a memorial for the
forgotten souls that used to haunt the area al these years. The
white plate said:
“To the memory of the deceased”. Near, a candle was burning
in their memory, in the church of the Life Giving Spirit which
was set up at the same time as the memorial.
Marios was standing between his father and Alexandra who
were holding his hands tightly. At the end of the opening
ceremony, when he turned to leave, he felt that cold breeze as
that night everything began. He turned and next to the
memorial, he saw his mother holding the little girls hand and
smiling at him. He smiled back and turned and looked his
father and Alexandra in the eyes. Final y, they were a happy
family.
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