Slow dancing in a burning house

     Chapter 1

         This is not a happy story, but it starts with a happy family. The Alves were a normal nuclear family, the parents Paola and Alistair had roots in a beautiful Indian state known as Goa. Having Portuguese ancestry, they found common ground when they met for the first time at Sunday morning mass which they both attended every week at St. Peters church. The conversations were fluid, the smile on Paola's face unforced and full of life. It was a match made to last and so it conceptualized into the idea of marriage. Both families gave their blessings, a honeymoon in Bali, fast forward a few years later and they had three beautiful children. Alfie the eldest was a boy who loved to play the drums, he wasn't half bad at it either! Davi the middle child was a little rebellious and often kept to himself and then there was Amanda their only girl and precious little princess. The children were their world, they would do anything to provide them with a wonderful future. So when the opportunity arose for them to relocated to Kuwait, a rich country of opportunity on the Arabian Gulf, Alistair couldn't turn it down. 

         The move to Kuwait wasn't easy, it was hard saying goodbye to the freedoms Goa had, the carefree lifestyle, the comfort and security of family and the familiarity of it all but the Alves knew there was money to be earned and futures to be built. Life was good for a year, there were a few rough patches as any real-world family would face. Paola felt the distance from home, Alistair worked all the time and the kids would be at school all day but like any strongly-willed wife she kept it together and always welcomed the kids and her husband home with a smile. The 26th of June, 1994 started out as any other day, with the hubby off to work, the kid's lunches prepared for school and a couple of hugs and a cuppa tea later, Paola put her feet up on the living room sofa and watched her favorite soap opera, as the time passed by without notice. In order to get a head start for the week, she decided to iron all of Alistair's shirts even though it was almost time for the children to be home. Putting on some soft music by the Carpenters, she jived and ironed each crease out with rhythm and step. The children made it home from school and retired to their respective rooms. She put the iron down and telephoned her husband, "Hi babe, what would you like for dinner?" A few jokes later and a playful conversation about her grandma's stew she had completely forgotten about the iron being on. The small hairs in her nose caught a whiff of something concerning. The panic caught in her throat as she failed to vomit out the words "rush home Alistair, FIRE!" dropping the phone and running towards the room that was ablaze, like a consuming inferno shattering her happy life before her very eyes. 

         Her first instinct was to rush and grab a blanket, soak it wet and battle the fire that her brain already knew had outgrown any fair battle worth winning. With the fight or flight instinct kicking in she yelled out to her children to come downstairs to the living room, so they could evacuate. Alfie and Davi heard her cries and rushed to their mother's side. They had a kind Muslim neighbor Mrs. Khan who happened to be home that day and saw the Alves upper room in flames and dark black smoke filling up all the way to the street. She rushed to help, at the same time, Alistair's car pulled into the driveway in a panicked stop. He looked at all he built here, his family, his house, all his hopes and dreams turning into ash in front of his eyes, he rushed in and found Paola by the front door almost out of breath and coughing a storm of smoke, he questioned her with fear and uncertainty "Kids?"just then he heard the cries of Alfie and Davi and his heart was set at ease for only a moment, if even that. He looked at them and told Mrs. Khan to take them to her house and call the fire department. He asked his wife, "Where's Amanda?" she cried and pointed up. Alistair didn't hesitate and stormed up the burning stairs towards the children's room, yelling "Amanda, honey where are you?" His skin charred by flames he lifted his coat above his head with one hand and navigated through the dark soot and smoke. Searching, crying and pleading with God to help him find his child, he walked around his daughter's bed where she was passed out due to excessive smoke inhiation. Lifting up his baby girl, he crawls out of what seems to be hell, his clothes burnt stuck to his skin, every step hurt, every breath suffocating. He reached the safety of the living room and collapsed protecting his daughter with his jacket holding her tight against his chest. Alistair saw a light in the doorway, a few men rushing and pulling his girl out of his arms and his eyes blinked once more. He saw the light in the doorway again and then his eyes failed to open again. 

Chapter 2

           Alistair's heroism made the local news, father saves his family from a blazing inferno at the cost of his own life. Paola broken, shattered and healing from the physical and emotional trauma of this tragedy relocated her family back to Goa, India. Trying to somehow continue living a life for her children, for their children she took on the mantle of both mother and father. Looking for a house that she could move forward in she found a beautiful place on sale in a town called Tivim, somewhere on the outskirts of Northern Goa. The house previously belonged to an army major, who was divorced and had no children. He was well known around the parts for his outspoken values, valor and simplistic way of life. He often kept to himself and was known as a frequent customer at the local liquor shop. If you met him you could see the pain in his eyes which he often flushed down with the bitter taste of whiskey. Living alone in such a huge house often ate at Major D'Silva. Dealing with a rough divorce, a family after money and property, it all added up to a chest full of sorrow that made him bottle up till he bottled down all of his savings on drinking it away. Eventually, it got too much for him, not even his army training could prepare him to fight his internal struggle. He walked towards his dog Boxer, kissed him fondly, then removed his leash and set him outside the door. With leash in hand, he walked up the stairs of his house and towards the storage room. He turned on the national anthem and saluted the four walls farewell, tears trickling down his cheeks. Connecting the leash to the ceiling fan, he tied a noose around his neck, making sure to use all his strength to get it tight enough, then he kicked the stool from under his feet. He didn't struggle, not intentionally at least, he welcomed this eventuality. After his death, his brother listed the house in a distress sale, it was a beautiful house, with a very undervalued price. Paola felt like things were turning around and put down an offer on it. Both parties agreeing on a final price, she and her kids moved into their new home. Inspecting the new house, the kids and her found beauty in every inch of the property. From the beautiful Spanish tomato plants in the garden to each room being spacious and airy. They loved it here. 

         Like kids do, they each decided to select which room they wanted. Paola took the master room downstairs, whilst the kid each selected a room upstairs. Alfie picked the room closet to the stairs. It was the room furthest away from his mother, so he could practice the drums without bothering her. Davi picked the next room. It was smaller than the other two but a perfect space for him to align his bed and posters in the way he wanted. Amanda got the biggest room of them all, way at the end of the corridor away from her brothers and more towards the giant bathrooms. Opposite her room though was a storage room with a huge padlock on it. The kids thought nothing of it at first as they assumed it must have had all the houses junk in that room, hence it was locked. Their mother, however, was informed by the Majors brother that the Major had committed suicide in that room. She kept this fact away from the children as to not spook them out and insisted that the room remain locked for now. Settling in and starting school in India, was an adjustment to make but made none the less. Friends came over, parties took place every other week. Compensating in some way for their father's loss, she gave her children whatever they desired, pampering them with gifts and love. A fantastic mother, they were closer than ever and this is where I come in. Paola's family and my family were always close via my grandfather's side. Not being blood-related but feeling like cousins was exactly what our relationship felt like. Our family home in Tivim was being reconstructed after the roof came down due to heavy rains. Not living in Goa, it was hard to travel up and down and also turned into quite an expensive affair to continuously stay in hotels. That's when Paola offered me the opportunity to stay with them while the roof repairs took place. A generous offer to stay with people that felt like family, how could I refuse? So I packed my bag and moved into their beautiful home. It was painted red and white and looked like a pretty bungalow. The kids loved having me around. I would always joke with them and they loved to pull pranks on me and it honestly felt more like we were siblings than a family friend kind of situation. They all wanted me to stay in their room and would even fight with each other to who's room I would pick to sleep in. 

              Since Alfie was closer to me in age than the other two children I decided to bunk it up with him. The kids would introduce me to all their friends. We would have jam sessions and parties going on into the AM, it was a good time! One night the kids, Paola and I were sitting upstairs and playing monopoly. We had a couple of drinks and there was an empty Coke bottle laying on the floor with the cap on. I started to notice the cap come off and the bottle move. I asked Davi, "Hey bud, is the window open?" to which he replied, "No it's not but it's getting cold in here isn't it uncle Kee". It started to feel really breezy but the air was still and silent in the room. A truly weird feeling as I couldn't understand why the bottle rattled and rocked the way it did on the floor. Now even the kids were a little freaked out and I looked at Paola and then Alfie and was like "Is this another one of your pranks, you jokester". He looked a little concerned and as surprised as I did. A look I had never seen previously on his face. I huddled up beside the kids and just as soon as it started the bottle stopped moving. We continued playing our game like what just happened didn't matter. After a few minutes, a stack of cards from the games board started scattering over and across the floor away from the board. Everyone freaked out, Paola grabbed the kids and took them away from the board. I went and grabbed onto the cards and inspected them and they were normal monopoly cards, no strings, nothing out of the ordinary. Just like that the breeze stopped, no windows open, the fan was off, it was all very strange. We decided to call it a night and Amanda went downstairs and slept with her mother whilst Davi went to his room and I crashed with the eldest. Alfie and I stayed up for a few hours that night and he spoke to me about many things, including his dad and some of the past girlfriends he's had. I felt nice to have him really open up to me. I felt closer to the family than before. After having a couple of glasses of rum that night, I woke up at about 11 AM and found Paola in the kitchen downstairs preparing breakfast. I waved towards her from the living room and smiled, she smiled back and yelled out "What would you like for breakfast Keegan?" and went back to looking at the other direction of the kitchen like she was in conversation with someone. I thought to myself maybe Amanda is up, helping her. So I walked towards the kitchen and found Paola having a conversation with someone outside the kitchen window. Not being able to get a glance at the person I asked her who that was and she said, oh it's just a friendly man from the army who comes by and says hello sometimes. I told her that's so cool, we should invite him in some time for lunch, I'd love to hear some military stories. She replied, "Of course, that's a great idea". 

Chapter 3

           Evening came, the sunset over the house and colored the sky in a fading orange. I had gotten some writing work prepared for my property lawyer and was ready to relax and chill with the Alves family. We decided to go out for dinner that night, we all drove to a beautiful beachside restaurant called Souza Lobo where the atmosphere was calm and the music and food soothed the soul. After a nice night out we headed home and went straight to our rooms, tired and bellies full. I remember waking up at 3 AM to use the restroom. I turned on the room light, Alfie was completely passed out, snoring away. I walked down the long corridor past Davi's room and then past Amanda's room. I noticed the locked room opposite hers but didn't pay much attention to it. I entered the restroom area which housed two huge bathrooms and a common sink outside. On either side were really high windows that were illuminated by the moonlit night. Upon turning on the lights, I noticed a figure of a man with a bald oval-shaped head. It was just a silhouette and I thought my eyes played tricks on me, so I looked away and looked back at the window and now the shadowy shaped head was facing towards me. I no longer felt the need to pee and ran back to Alfie's room, shook! I put the blanket over my head and kept reminding myself, I'm an adult, I cannot be this afraid of something I might have seen. But I couldn't sleep, I couldn't get the image out of my head and so I woke Alfie up and told him about what I just experienced. We both walked towards the restroom and there was nothing there at the window this time. We went outside the house to further inspect my claims and looked up on the roof, a pellet gun our only protection, in case there was a burglar or someone who tried to break in via the roof. Our inspection came up empty handed, no one or nothing to explain what I saw. 

            I had one more night left before I had to leave back for Mumbai, where I stayed when I wasn't inspecting the roof work on our family home in Goa. The day started out pleasently, breakfast was good and my tickets were booked and I was all set to travel home the next day. At about 12 pm once again I heard Paola speaking to someone in the kitchen whilst she was preparing lunch. I thought it was the family hired maid but then I noticed the maid cleaning the living room. So did Paola finally invite the army man to lunch, I thought to myself as I went towards the kitchen to say hello. That's when I noticed she was in deep conversation with a person who I couldn't see. There was no one in front of her whilst she stood by the stove talking about the local parish meetings with this imaginary man. It was a very real conversation that I had interrupted when she turned around and said hello to me and let me know lunch was almost ready. I looked at her in dismay, my eyes opened wide and I didn't' utter a word. She went back to talking to this imaginary person. Freaked out I asked Davi, does your mother often talk to someone, he then let me know that ever since their father passed away she'd been so depressed she had started talking to a made-up person here. He says it helped de-stress her and was definitely not the worst thing. I smiled and nodded at him even though I thought to myself it wasn't the most healthy way for her to move on. 

              That night we all sat in Amanda's room watching a movie together. Davi fell asleep next to me and Alfie and Paola retired to their respective rooms. Amanda and I were chatting about the movie and that's when all her school books that were stacked on her study started to fall. I literally yelled "What the f**k!" and that woke Davi up. He saw it too. Amanda was so scared she started screaming for her mother. The newspapers in the room started flying up to the ceiling and the door opened and closed shut on its own. Now if you saw the door, it was a thick hardwood door, Nothing but a stormy breeze could have opened and closed it shut. It was something unexplainable. We were scared out of our minds and that's when it all stopped. The books stayed still on the floor, the papers stopped shuffling around in the room, the door stayed semi-open and the only thing that was heard was our heavy breathing and Amanda's whimpers for her mama. That's when we heard someone singing the Indian National Anthem in the corridor just outside her bedroom door. I grabbed the kids hands, mustered up whatever courage I had left and ran out the door. We didn't see anything or anyone in the corridor, just the padlock missing off the storage room. We woke Alfie up and told him to come down immediately, poor guy didn't know what was going on, half asleep still but realized the panic in our voices and rushed down with us. We all went into the living room, Paola was there too and we decided to pray. 

             Our normal prayer routine would be me opening the bible at a random page and reading a random verse and then we'd all say a small prayer. That night I opened the Bible to a verse that read  Peter 5:8-9 "

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 

Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings." I was shaking, the family was scared, that's when I saw him through the living room window, a tall bald man in an Indian army outfit with an athletic figure and a thick mustache. He called out to Poala and told her to go to her room immediately with the whole family. To me, he sounded a lot like her husband, the little I remember of how he sounded when I knew him as a kid. She took us all into her a room and the five of us huddled up on her bed as we somehow tried to sleep through our fear and the events that transpired that night. We were awoken in the morning to the sound of a fire siren and the yelling of men outside speaking Konkani, the local dialect of Goa. That's when we saw the entire entrance of the house on fire! Luckily a jogger taking his morning stroll had spotted it and called the local fire brigade immediately. We would have completely slept through it if not for that person. The cause of the fire was later stated to be an electrical one but there were no signs of a short circuit or anything that could have caused the electrical malfunction. I packed my bags and said my goodbyes. The Alves dropped me at the airport, I did ask them to come with me to Mumbai, but they said that they cannot run away from home. Whatever it was that night, they still felt protected by their father, by her husband. Somehow I understood what they meant even though I was too freaked out to admit how I thought it was a bad idea none the less. 

            They continued to live out their lives there. Paola still spoke with the Major every day and the kids ended up moving out, Alfie, however, stayed back to help his mother. He got married to a beautiful Russian girl he met at a gig he was drumming at and raises his family in that house to this day. Paola passed away from cancer a few years ago. She probably looks after them and that house as her husband looked after them back in Kuwait and also the day the house caught fire in Goa. Now that I think about it, that day happened to be the 26th of June. I look back at it all and remember a family that's always been happy no matter what they've encountered in their life, be it natural tragedy or supernatural fuckery. One memory I always hold onto is when I was a teenager my parents took me to the Alves's wedding, that's when I saw Alistair and Paola slow dance to their wedding song, I thought it was the most beautiful image ever and to this dance wish to have a moment like that when I eventually settle down and marry. 
                    

Author's Note

I'm not used to writing stories, might be a couple grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Please feel free to critique, correct and inspire me to take this story in any direction you feel fit.