A pair of unseen eyes gazed at her radiance from a distance. Her light filled the street. It would outshine the souls of 10,000 people in a stadium. She could be seen from space. When you’re in love, you glow, but she was spectacular.
Honestly, it was a blissful afternoon, just after a blissful summer. The first chill of autumn touched the air in Windham, a small tourist town in the Catskills. Perfect weather for sitting outside a small cafe, snuggling in a thick long coat with thin gloves. An old woman who looked like she came from the 1700s watched Rachael from across the street.
Rachael took a deep breath to smell the crisp air mixed with her hot pumpkin spice latte, shopping bags at her feet, and her best friend Lo Ming chatting from across the table. “The client said, “Let me show you” and he leaned over and licked my ear…”
David had to take a business trip to France, and because of that, these two best friends rented a small cabin near the Elm Ridge Wild Forest in upstate New York for a weekend of hikes, contemplation, and connection with nature and old friends.
Lo Ming stopped talking momentarily and scrutinized Rachael’s face, “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said. All this time you’ve been daydreaming about David.”
“I have not. I’ve heard everything you’ve said.”
“Oh yeah? What did I say?”
“Ah… wasn’t it something about your work?”
“Oh my God! You guys make me want to vomit. You can’t keep your mental hands off each other even when you’re thousands of miles away.”
“I am not thinking about him… you know… all the time.”
“Please!” then, mockingly, “Oh, he’s like my soulmate. He knows things about me I didn’t even know…” Yuck! You are the only couple I know who can make people sick with public displays of affection even when you’re not together.”
“If I make you sick, perhaps it’s because you need to get a little more man action of your own.”
Lo Ming picked up her latte and sipped, “I’m just concerned. You’ve been obsessed with this man for over 2 months. It’s not healthy for a relationship to be so all-consuming all the time. I’m worried that you guys will become over-saturated with each other and get sick of each other.”
The old lady from a different time approached them from the street. “Excuse me, miss.”
Lo Ming stood up, “I’ll be right back. I have to go to the ladies’ room.”
The old lady wore a dark blue shawl. She had a few facial tattoos that were faded into her skin. You could barely tell they were there unless she stepped close. Rachael could see them clearly now.
The woman grabbed Rachael’s hand with a desperate look, “She is after you. Despărțitor de suflete.” Her accent was strong, but Rachael could understand. “She has seen you.”
Unsure how to respond, Rachael smiled, “who is after me?”
“Despărțitor de suflete…” the old lady repeated. “She wants to take what you have. She is trying to split you apart. You must protect yourself.”
“I really don’t understand… I…”
“She begins by placing doubts in your mind, so she has space to wiggle inside. She wants his love, She wants to take him from you. But, she will destroy it.”
Rachael shook her head, “I’m sorry, who are we talking about? Lo Ming is just concerned for me. She’s my best friend. It’s understandable that she gets worried.”
“NO! Despărțitor de suflete… The Splitter of Souls. She is after you. She lays a nest of doubt, whispers, and innuendo by friends and family. Then, the fears come. That’s when she takes over, and soulmates are separated forever.”
The waiter came out to the patio, “Hey, get out of here. You’ve been warned to stop harassing our customers.” The old lady turned and saw Lo Ming coming through the patio doors.
“Here, take this.” She moved as if she didn’t want to be seen. “It will protect you.” She handed Rachael a necklace with two leather strings and a small talisman. “Half is for you. Half is for him. You must wear it until she goes away. Perhaps years…”
When Lo Ming sat down, the old lady walked away quickly. “What was that about?”
The waiter stepped up next to the table, “She’s our local crazy lady who thinks she’s a witch. Sorry about that. She shouldn’t bother you again.”
Rachael looked down at the table, “She gave me this neckless.”
Lo Ming seemed repulsed at first. For a second, it appeared to Rachael that Lo Ming’s shadow fluttered on the table. But then Lo Ming sipped her latte and continued, “How strange… So, this guy actually leaned over in the meeting and fucking licked my ear…”
Later, the sun descended through the trees; darkness spread across the countryside. This was the last night they had the cabin. Rachael walked the last quarter mile of her hike for the weekend. The crickets filled the woods with their orchestral cacophony. When she rounded the corner, she could see the last rays of sun shining through the trees, but the crickets went silent.
Rachael couldn’t be sure it was a hallucination of the light. The rays of the setting sun distorted the shapes in the woods. At first, it looked like a thin young woman with her head backwards. It was difficult to make out exact shapes. The whole event happened in less than 4 seconds. The young lady appeared to scream silently towards Rachael. Without thinking, Rachael touched her new necklace with the talisman. The vision flashed away just as quickly as it appeared; perhaps it was the trees and underbrush distorting the light.
In the cabin, Lo Ming was fixing some cocoa and marshmallows. The goal was to finish the vacation with a classic romance with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, “Roman Holiday.”
Rachael rolled the talisman in her fingers. The lady kept saying gibberish, “Despărțitor de suflete.”
Lo Ming mixed some chocolate powder with steamed milk, “it sounds like Italian or Hungarian.” Rachael flipped open her laptop and did a search for the phrase.
A few minutes later, “I found the phrase in a Romanian Library Archive site. It means “Splitter of souls;” it is a malevolent ghost. Before she died, she was in love with a man who got jealous. In a fit of anger, he shoved her head into a wagon wheel and slowly turned it until he broke her neck. Her spirit travels the earth and finds a couple shining with the light of soulmates. She can not possess a person who feels pure love. So, she begins by creating doubt and suspicion.
She infects the people around the couple until she makes the space of doubt big enough for her to slide into the woman. This way, she can feel the true love she craves from the man. But since she is not his soulmate, over time, she becomes bitter and critical of everything he does. The Splitter of Souls will only leave the body when the bond of souls is broken.
Lo Ming put the tray of hot cocoa on the coffee table and popped onto the couch with a bounce. “Poor girl. What a horrible way to die.”
“Oh, look!” Rachael’s head perked up,” that’s a picture of my neckless!” She held it next to the image to compare the two.
“Give me that.” Lo Ming pulled the laptop away from Rachael. “I want to see if the neckless is worth anything.” She looked over the page for a few moments, “It says that the light of the soul is brilliant and shines brighter than the sun. When two soulmates meet that light becomes a beacon. The talisman splits in two and hides the light of souls. “For protection from the Despărț… whatever, both souls must wear the necklace until the evil spirit wanders away in search of a new light.
Rachael pinched the talisman between her fingers, and two halves split apart. Each half had one of the leather strings attached to it. Lo Ming read more, “Darn, it doesn’t say how much the neckless is worth.”
“What does it say?”
“Oh, it just says that soul splitter thingy is angry and vengeful when confronted. You know, lots of scary biblical powers. It says, when you hold the talisman you can see the Despărț… thing because its shadow warps and shimmers the light… blah blah, blah… Anyway, this is not the creepy vacation. This is the romantic movie vacation, so enough of that. It’s time for Audrey Hepburn, romance and hot coco.” She closed the laptop and clicked on the TV.
Nothing eventful happened for the rest of the night or the next day on the trip back to Rachael’s apartment in New York City.
David came back from France four days later on Friday night. The first thing they did, of course, was make love all night until their bodies were exhausted, and they both fell asleep above the covers.
Saturday morning, Rachael woke up to a cold breeze from an open window. Alone in the bed, she felt the cold morning air run along her body. She got up, closed the window, and put on pajamas to dull the chill. Then, she pulled the sheets and blankets together on the bed. A noise came from the bathroom. “David, are you there?”
David came out brushing his teeth. Foam from the toothpaste around his lips like a rabid dog. “Good, you’re up.”
She pulled the sheets together to make the bed. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, I just hate “after sex breath.” You know cheep wine, and cheep sex make your mouth taste like cat poo in the morning.”
“No, I was talking about the window… Wait… what? Cheep sex? what does that mean?”
He turned to her, “As, I remember it you bought the wine, didn’t you. Next time we’ll make sure it’s better.” He went back to rinse off. Rachael stared at the bathroom door. Everything was the same, but something was different.
Breakfast was quick and efficient. He went for a run along the Hudson River Park. She went to the gym.
They met up later at a cafe for lunch. When the waiter came, Rachael smiled and remembered her vacation a week ago, “You know what, I’d like a pumpkin spice latte.”
She felt a sharp pain on her arm and realized that David had pinched her. He interrupted the order. “Why would you do that?” Then looking at the waiter, “She’ll have mint tea, like she always does, and I’ll have a black coffee.”
When the waiter left, Rachael turned, “David, what the hell?!”
“Why would you do that? Why would you flirt in front of me?
“I… I wasn’t flirting.”
“Don’t lie. Your whole body changed and you were smiling at the waiter seductively. Why would you embarrass me like that?”
“I wasn’t being seductive. I was remembering last weekend in the Catskills when I had a latte in a small town cafe.”
“Lets just agree to disagree and not talk about it anymore.”
“David, no that’s…” She sucked in her breath when for a brief instant, she thought she saw his shadow flicker and then go solid again.
“Enough OK, Let’s not argue. I have an amazing dinner that I’ve been planing for a week, so let’s not ruin it by arguing.”
She remained silent for the rest of the lunch, unsure of what she had seen. She listened to him talk about his trip to France.
That evening, in Rachael’s apartment, David stood behind the large marble-top kitchen island, and she sat on a stool on the other side. After a considerable amount of silence that was beginning to get awkward, Rachael forced a smile, “So, what are you preparing for us this evening?”
“Maiale Anima, which means pork soul,” David spoke while he washed and diced some vegetables, carrots, shallots, garlic, and a large heirloom tomato. He mixed truffle oil with extra virgin olive oil for enriched umami and put them in a skillet to simmer. “In France I picked up some Bayonne ham just for this dinner tonight. It is easier to control if you cook the vegetables separately.” He planned to baste the vegetables until they softened and their flavors mixed in the pan. “The Bayonne ham is made from special pigs that are bred for the marbled hind quarters, and they are feed nuts and grains all their life. Also they are grown in a region that has a hot, dry wind coming down from the Alps called a Foehn.”
He pulled out a large piece of marbled ham. “They say that good pigs make good ham.” David paused for a moment and looked right into her eyes. “I wonder what bad pigs make? Maybe… dog food.” She forced a smile and nodded.
Rachael watched him open the cooler door. The light from the refrigerator shown directly on him. His shadow vibrated on the floor. She clutched the talisman around her neck. He pulled out a head of cabbage and placed it on the cutting board. Hanging above the island were a series of kitchen knives and cutlery held in place by a magnetic strip.
David pulled off a medium-sized meat clever. With one chop, he made part of the cabbage flat. He rolled the cabbage onto the flat side, and methodically, one chop at a time, he cut the cabbage into thin strips.
“I would like to ask a question.” David didn’t look up from his chopping. “Who were you with when you went on vacation last week?” Every two or three words was punctuated by a sharp chop of the blade on the cutting board.
“I was with Lo Ming…, we had a wonderful time.” Rachael kept her voice playful in an attempt to lighten the mood. She noticed that the shadow around David vibrated and flicked more as he became upset. She could not look away from the shimmering shadow.
Next, David pulled out a pig heart, placed it in the middle of the cutting board, and with one powerful loud chop, he cut the heart in half. “What are you staring at!?” His voice was explosive, and he stared sharply at her face.
Rachael averted her eyes and looked down at the counter. “Nothing,” she spoke softer than she had intended to.
David continued, “When you go on vacation, what kinds of things do you bring with you?”
“What do you mean? Just the normal stuff. Clothes, hiking shoes, tooth brush, and necessities and that sort of stuff.”
David diced the pig heart into small cubes, “Did you bring makeup?”
“Yes, of course, it’s one of my necessities.” She smiled modestly.
“Now here’s what confuses me. Why would a committed woman need makeup. Why would she need to go to a place filled with strangers, strange men and paint her face trying to get their attention.”
Rachael’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand what is going on with you right now.”
He ignored her. He put the diced pig heart and the diced Bayonne ham in the skillet with a little butter and pepper. Salt is added just before it’s served so the organ doesn’t lose water and become tough. “Even now right this very moment, why do you wear make up like a whore. I already know what you look like naked. So, the only reason to wear makeup like a whore is to show me that you intend to come on to other men. Why would you do that in front of me?”
Rachael stood up; this had gone too far. It was time to leave. “I tell you what, I didn’t realize it was annoying you, so I’ll go to the bathroom and wash it off.”
The moment she closed the bathroom door, she felt herself starting to panic. The keys are in her jacket. Her phone is on her bed stand. She’d leave, call a taxi, and go to Lo Ming’s house to sort this out. She applied makeup remover and washed her face. She had a clear path to the exit, phone, keys, jacket, and leave through the front door and down the stairs, to hail a taxi.
She took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door. David was standing just outside the door, leaning against the hallway wall with a knife in his hand. She stifled a scream. “You surprised me.”
“Dinners almost ready. And it’s best served when it’s hot.” She walked with him back to the kitchen island. The meat was sizzling on the stove with the cabbage. The ham was cured, so it only needed to be heated with the heart cubes. He shook the pan and stirred with a bamboo spatula, “The goal is to sauté the outside and get the inside to 145 degrees Fahrenheit or 62 degrees Celsius. However, you want to leave the inside of the heart a bit pink. It’s a delicate operation. If the heart is overcooked, it becomes rubbery.”
The vegetables were done at that point; David lowered the heat under the skillet and took it off the hot burner. His eyes traveled down to her neckless. “Why don’t you ever take that neckless off when you’re around me? I don’t remember you wearing it before your vacation. Did some man give it to you when you were up there?”
Rachael froze for a bit, unsure of what to say. “I wear it because it reminds me of you.” She demonstrated, “See it splits in two. One half is for me and the other half is for you.” She split the talisman and placed it on the counter for David. “Here, put it on and it will symbolize our connection.”
“Are you kidding me. You want me to wear another mans’ gift like a cuckold? What kind of a blázen chump do you think I am?” She noticed that words from a different time slipped into his language.
The food was done, and David put the Maiale Anima (Soul of Pork) on a plate. Red in the face, he gripped the knife and the plate, yelling every word. “I worked so hard to make this the perfect dinner together, and you shit all over it. The pig I’m serving has more morals than you.” He hit the counter with the knife repeatedly. The shadow he cast was flickering wildly. “What do we do with bad pigs? We turn them into dog food!”
He slapped the plate on the counter, and with two steps, he reached out and grabbed her arm, still holding the knife in the other hand. She took the heavy skillet and smashed him in the face as hard as she could, vegetables flying everywhere. This knocked him off his feet and onto his back.
This was far too much. Rachael flat-out bolted for the door. No keys. No jacket. Just run. Out the door and to the top of the stairs. He was right behind her, knife in hand, blood streaming from his nose, and a demonic look on his face. David jumped over the banister and landed on the stairs beneath her. Cutting her off from the ground floor exit.
Instantly, she turned. The window to the fire escape in the alley was open. She jumped and pulled herself through in a second. He grabbed her foot, but she kicked herself free. In this moment, going up was faster than going down, so she went up.
She heard the knife scraping against the metal fire escape as he pulled himself through the window in pursuit. “Here piggy piggy pig,” he called into the alleyway.
The top of the fire escape opened onto the roof. The cities’ street lights illuminated the edges of the buildings, however the roofs were as dark as the night sky. She knew that the roof access door was locked from the inside to prevent vandals from entering the building. There was nothing she could do. She was trapped, and in a few seconds, David would be on the roof. She tried to make herself as small as she could. She hid behind a brick chimney near the fire escape.
She heard him at the top of the fire escape, talking to himself as he scanned the roof to see where she had gone. “Bad pigs go to hell, and you have been a very, very bad pig.”
A fight-or-die emotion swept through Rachael’s blood. Just as he stepped on the roof, she pulled herself out from behind the chimney and lunged at him. With all her lower body strength, she kicked him square in the chest. He stumbled backward. It was only a few feet. But a few feet was enough.
In the moment he lost balance, it seemed like time slowed down for Rachael. She saw what looked like a cloud of black mist coming out of his body. The spirit of a young woman separated from him and floated in the darkness before disappearing. She heard the laughter of a woman’s voice coming from the aether.
David’s eyes softened. His angry, distorted face turned into surprise. He called out, “Rachael!” She saw the David she loved restored to his body in an instant as he tripped over the edge of the roof and fell backwards into the darkness, four stories to the pavement.
End
