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Rajun caught Sana peeking through the kitchen window. He eyed her, bit his lower lips, and blew her a kiss before he continued humming his favorite tune as he did his work in the backyard.
Sana felt her entire body shiver. Forty years together and Rajun’s flirting still had the same flattering effect on her. She smiled and blushed like a teenager in love. Sana kept her eyes on Rajun. She watched his futile attempt to shove a big heap of hay into the barn just beside the house. Frustrated, he stomped his feet hard on the ground.
“Such an impatient man,” Sana muttered as she hurried with a warm glass of milk through the back door.
Rajun surrendered when he saw Fleeky walk out of the barn. He crouched and rubbed the sheep’s head. His eyes lit up when he saw Sana approach them. He held her waist and embraced her. With a gentle kiss on her lips, he took the glass of milk and gulped it down at once. “Thank you, sugar,” he whispered and kissed her again.
Sana quivered as a cool breeze brushed her bare arms. The air was suddenly turning colder and the wind’s velocity increased. “This is strange.” Sana looked up and the previously sunny sky had begun turning grey and cloudy.
“This-this is oudika. A very violent spirit. Come on in Sana. We don't want to be possessed by any of its children.” Rajun swiftly led Sana into the house. He began stomping his feet while impatiently struggling to bolt the door as though they were being chased.
“Relax Rajun. My best guess is that it's just a very bad weather.” Sana studied Rajun with a sniggering curiosity as he paced up and down the kitchen. “When will you realize that there is always an explanation for everything?”
“And when are you going to start believing that there is more to that which meets the eye?” Rajun lifted the blinds to peek once he heard a bleating sound. It had become pitch-black but Rajun could make out the form of Fleeky. “Fleeky!” Rajun began struggling with the bolt again, stomping multiple times before it finally opened.
Sana watched apprehensively through the window as Rajun guided Fleeky into the barn amidst the violent wind. “Oh, Dear! Rajun!” She yelled when she saw that Rajun wasn't headed back to the house. He had narrowed his way down to the forest path that surrounded their little cozy farmhouse.
Suddenly, Sana saw a strong force like a magnanimous blanket of fierce wind sweep across the forest. Sana could feel tremors on the ground beneath and the walls around her shook. Instantly the wind struck Rajun and he fell to the ground. “Rajun!” Sana let out a deafening shriek.
Two weeks passed and Sana had become only a reflection in the mirror. She had lost all the will to go on and each passing day was torture disguised in memories of Rajun. She could not reconcile that the love of her youth had left her to live out the grey years alone. “You had saved Fleeky. Where else were you going?” Sana sobbed on her porch. Moments later, Sana thought she heard a humming exactly like Rajun coming from the corner. Her heart skipped a beat. She turned to find Fleeky standing fixated on the forest path. “Oh dear. You scared me Fleeky.”
Rajun had a habit of humming whenever he was happy and he would stomp his feet when agitated. Even in death, Sana could still hear him in her thoughts. “I guess old habits die hard,” she muttered and let herself drown in the oceans of his memories.
Rajun was the sweetest man she had ever met and she fell in love with his peculiarities. If he wasn't tending to the farm and animals, then he was making Sana’s days memorable. He would make Sana flower crowns, ginger ale, and fresh fruit salad every evening. Rajun always believed in the extraordinary world and he often told Sana stories she found odd and bizarre. “We do not walk alone Sana. Spirits are everywhere and can take on any form. Just because you do not see them doesn't mean they aren't there,” he'd say.
“You believed too much Rajun,” Sana said, doubting her words this time. The sight from the night Rajun died was vivid. She couldn't help but entertain the thought that there was something in the wind that night and it wasn't just very bad weather.
Another week passed and Sana was barely holding up. She was seeing and hearing Rajun everywhere and it was suffocating the little life left in her. Fleeky was acting strange too. He kept tagging around Sana and most times, he would just blank out. Sana wanted to soothe the poor sheep but she couldn't even help herself.
One evening as Sana rested on her porch, she began to hear Rajun’s humming again. She turned to find Fleeky fixated on her. Sana felt uneasy. She stood up and walked to where Fleeky stood. To her astonishment, the humming was coming from Fleeky.
Sana was too stunned to think or react. She just stood there looking into Fleeky’s eyes. Fleeky blinked and stomped his feet multiple times before he began to walk into the forest. Sana was now beyond shocked. Immediately, she felt a great pull toward Fleeky and she followed right behind him.
After walking in a straight path for a couple of minutes, Sana felt the air around her begin to thin. The space felt so small like something was drawing close to her. In no time, they came to a clearing where shimmering bright lights seeped from the canopies of the trees. The lights were reflecting a medium-sized chest that looked enchanting sitting on a heap of dry grass.
Sana walked to the chest with her body shivering. Warm tears poured uncontrollably as she revealed the contents of the chest. Old love letters and pictures, Rajun’s travel collections, and a bunch of teal dream-catchers with inscriptions “for your protection.”
Sana looked into Fleeky’s eyes. “Rajun,” she said softly. “My grieving blinded my spirit from recognizing yours in there. This is what you were going for that night. You don't have to worry about me. I'll be safe, I promise. Rest now, my love.” Sana wiped her nose and touched Fleeky. Slowly, an aura like the shimmering lights engulfed Fleeky’s white woolen body and began to release in an ascending pattern. Fleeky bleated and ran off.
Sana watched in awe and right there, she became a believer like Rajun. She carried the chest back home with a heart as light as the wind. She took some dream catchers and hung them beside the kitchen window. “Oudika has got nothing on me now Rajun,” she whispered.
