I was surprised to see Maria because I didn’t expect to see her again. She still looks the same, the hair, the body, the way she looked at me. It is still the same except for her looks. She looks a little older. It has been so long since I haven’t seen her since Tania came into my life. I never looked for her anymore. I don’t know what to say. I can’t move. I feel like I see a ghost. She came near me and smiled at me; her smile was still the same except for the wrinkles on her face that made her look stressed. She held my hand, and I didn’t refuse. I am staring at her even though I don't feel love for her anymore. She looks me into my eyes while still wearing a smile on her face. I don’t know what her smile is for? Because seeing her again unexpectedly doesn’t make me happy.
“I miss you,” She said in a cold voice, and she tried to kiss me, but I refused. I suddenly let go of my hand when I remembered everything she had done to me. She ruined my life, and now she is back, and she will kiss me. As if nothing’s happened.
“Are you not happy to see me?” She asked, and she tried to hold my hand again, but I refused. She has the guts to ask me if I am not happy to see her. Well, the answer is NO.
“Why should I be happy to see you?” I asked her back while laughing because I didn’t know if she was serious about asking me that question.
“Because I am back,” She answered. I shook my head and smiled. How could she have that confidence that I would be happy to see her again after everything? After the mess and the pain that she has done.
“Baby, I am back… we can start all over again,” She said, and she smiled at me. She tried to kiss me, but I refused her kiss. I can’t even dare to look at her. I turned my back on her, but she stood in front of me and faced me. How dare she have the courage to face me? Does she know that I am disgusted with her? I didn’t even want to see her.
“I am sorry,” She said, but it’s nothing to me anymore. I am controlling my anger not to burst, but the truth is. I want to hurt her for what she has done to me. Everything flashes back from the day I caught her cheating up to my father’s funeral, and her sorry won’t do a thing. Even how many times she says sorry. The damage is done, and it won’t fix everything.
“How did you know that I am here?” I asked while trying to hold my anger not to burst.
“Well…we all know,” She answered. “All the dead know where you are,” She added.

“You ruined my life,” I said, and I looked at her straight to her eyes for her to know and for her to feel how she ruined my life, just in case she didn't have an idea. She nodded, bowed down, and said, “ I know”, in almost a whisper.

“When I caught you cheating… I want to shoot you dead, and your man, but dad stops me… I ran just to follow you, but I didn’t know that dad was running after me. He fell on the stairs, and he died,” I said furiously at her. She looked at dad and told him how sorry she was, but dad didn’t reply. I don’t know if he can still hear. She didn’t mean that her cheating would go that far. She didn’t want my father to die. I saw sadness in her eyes when she heard about it but again. IT WON’T DO A THING!
“Can you see him?” I asked
“Yes, and I can see you too,” She answered. She looked at my father, and she walked close to him and said, “ I am sorry, father, for what I have done.” Even she is not sure if he can hear her or not. She tried to touch my father's hand, but she couldn’t feel him anymore.
“What is happening to him?”
“He is fading”
“Why?” I didn’t answer because she didn’t deserve to know. She looked at my dad for a moment, and then she shook her head and took a deep breath to stop her tears from falling.
“That is why I am here to say sorry because—” And then I cut what she wants to say.
“Because you need my help,” I said, and she looked at me and nodded, which made me laugh.
How ironic? after she left me for another man and stole everything in me. Now she will back asking for my help like she didn’t cheat on me. I am speechless. I didn’t know what to tell her or react to what she said. I looked at her, and I noticed the writing on her forehead. There’s a “pride” written on her forehead. The white smoke was in her. I looked away and took a deep breath. I suddenly changed my mind from “not wanting to help her” to “I will help her” I looked at her again and asked, “Where is your man?” She laughed, and she looked away. She felt ashamed of my question to her.
“He killed me after he took your money away”, She answered in a whisper that made me laugh. Justice served. She got her karma now.
“Tell me what happened? Why did you cheat? Why did you end up with him?” I asked her.
“Is it necessary to answer that?” She asked, and I nodded. She took a deep breath and looked at me.
“I thought he loved me while I thought you don’t care about me”, She started while still looking at me and waiting for my reaction and then “He makes me feel special while you forget about me… He told me about having a child, a happy family while you are always telling me about your business,” She added while still looking at me. SPEECHLESS. REACTIONLESS.

“I thought he loved me, but I was wrong… he just wants revenge on you, and he uses me”, She continued, which made me look at her. “Revenge? who?” I asked, but she didn’t answer. I walked close to her and asked her again, “Who wants to have revenge on me?”
“Don’t you know him? Isaiah? Your brother”
Don’t you know him? Isaiah? Your brother's question echoed in my ears. I didn’t remember that I had a brother because my dad never told me about it. I didn’t even know the name Isaiah. She looked at me with a question: what now? While I am thinking about what she said because I was surprised to hear it from her, or maybe she is lying to me just to justify the cheating that she has done. I looked into her eyes, but I saw no lies in her. Her intense look shows me that I have to believe in her.
“What? what did you say?” I asked. I want her to repeat it to make sure that I heard it right.
“Who is Isaiah?” I asked again
“Your brother”
“ I don’t have a brother.”
“Yes, you do… you just didn’t know about it.”
“How did you know that he is my brother?” I asked while trying to absorb what she was saying.
“He showed me your baby pictures… your baby pictures that you are with him, and he even showed me his baby pajama that looks like your pajama. The one that you showed me and told me that you don’t want to throw it away because it has a sentimental value,” She answered.

“And thanks to you because it is gone now. When I lost the house because of you.”
“I am sorry,” She said, but I didn’t believe her sorry.
“Where is he?” I asked again before giving her a chance to answer my first question.
“I don’t know where he is right now because when he stole your money… he killed me”, She answered. I went closer to her and pulled her close to me because I wanted her to tell me
everything and answer each question that I asked.
“How did you meet him?” He looked away, and she was trying to remember
“When we will have a date supposedly, but you didn’t show up because you have an urgent and unexpected business meeting. I am waiting for you, and I am about to go home when you call me and tell me that you can’t come. He arrived and approached me, and everything started that night.”

“What did he tell you?”
“At first… he wants to be friends with me, but little by little… he is making me fall in love with him.”
“How did he know about me?”
“Because you are his brother… he knows you… he knows you very well.”
“What does he look like?”
“He looks like you. A little taller, but he looks like you… that is why I fell in love with him,” She answered.
“Don’t you remember what he looks like?” She asked.
“No, because I don’t have a brother.”
Suddenly there’s a flash of memories that make me remember everything. From the day I caught her cheating with a man, she called Isaiah. I wanted to shoot them both, but I was surprised when I saw him and met my eyes. He looks like me. I remember when he smiled at me.

Maybe he knows that I can’t shoot him. I was shocked, surprised and everything because he looked the same as me. I even asked myself why Maria? But still, I told myself that I didn’t have a brother because I didn’t know him since I was a child. That’s the time when my father held my hand and grabbed the gun away from me. He calmly passed in front of me while his eyes were still staring at mine, and I decided to follow him. Not because he is the other man of my wife but because I want to know him. Why did he look like me? I shook my head because I couldn't believe what was happening. It seems the universe is playing a trick on me.
“I am sorry for everything… I didn’t mean to hurt you, to ruin everything in you, to ruin us, to ruin what we have,” She said while I was still trying to remember everything. Every pain that she caused me and every suffering that I had been through when she lied to me, cheated on me, and stole my money.
“Did you remember now?” She asked when she saw me quiet and thinking.
“I want to see him,” I said, but she shook her head and said, “It can’t be.”
“Why?” I asked
“I don’t know where he is now… when he killed me and buried me… I didn’t have any single idea about him anymore,” She answered.
“I know I deserve what happened to me, but I don’t know where he is now”, She added and tried to make me believe that she is telling the truth. When she saw me roll my eyes when I heard her answer.
“Do you want to take your life back?” I asked her, and she looked at me with a smile that she tried not to show. I became curious about Isaiah when I saw what was written on Maria's forehead. I feel like Isaiah is connected to what is happening.
“If I will be with you… yes,” She answered.
“I want my life back too. I need to find him,” I said
“But how?” I didn’t answer because I didn’t know how, but I knew that I wanted to find him and I would do everything just to find him. I will find Isaiah whatever it takes.


“You cannot find him. Isaiah is powerful. He is rich, and he has a lot of connections,” She said, but I don’t care because all I care about right now is to find him. I wanted to see him and ask him about who he was. Why did he ruin my life? I have an instinct that he has all the answers, and I will do everything to squeeze the answers on him because I know through it. I will be complete again.
“If you’re thinking about your money… I am sorry, but you cannot take it back,” She told me, but I didn’t listen to her because this was not because of money. This is because of my life and the secret of it. I want to know everything about my life and how it started after the spiritual war. Maybe Isaiah is the angel who owns the white smoke. That is why I need to see him and know him.
“Isaiah is a dangerous man,” She said, trying to stop me in whatever plan that I had in mind.
“See? he buried me in a place that no one knows. That is why nobody knows that I am already dead,” She added just to convince me to stop whatever plan that I am thinking. I looked at her and told her, “You deserve that.” Her jaw dropped at what she heard because she didn’t expect me to tell her that. Maybe she thought that once she is back and saying sorry about what she has done will ease all the pains she caused, but she was wrong because I don’t care about her now, and all I care to know is Isaiah. I spread my wings, and I prepared myself to fly, but she held me and stopped me.
“Where are you going?” She asked, but I didn’t answer
“Don’t leave me here”, She said, and she looked around and looked back at me.
“The white smoke might come for me,” She said, which surprised me.

“I don’t want to vanish forever… I want to go back to life,” She added with worry in her voice that she might not come back to her life because of the white smoke.
“What did you say?” I immediately asked when I heard her mentioning the white smoke to make sure I heard her right.
“The white smoke”, She repeated.
“How did you know about that?” I curiously asked her.

“Since the night that he killed me. The black smoke comes to me, but I refuse to go. I hid until the black smoke stopped searching for me anymore, but when I saw you owned the black smoke. I’ve been watching you, following you, and knowing what you are doing about bringing the stolen soul back to life. I keep following you because I am waiting for the right time to approach you, to talk to you. Until I knew about the white smoke which is getting the lost souls too and bringing them to the place that they will never come back,” She answered, and I looked worried in her eyes. She doesn’t want to be in that place; that is why she is asking for my help.
“That is why I am here, and I am sorry if I will ask for your help about the white smoke… I want to go back to my life… I want to start again with you… to make-up with you and show you how sorry I was,” She added, but she didn’t convince me. My love for her is all gone now. I will help her for the sake of knowing who owns the white smoke, for the sake of ending this all, because I want to live a normal life with Tania, not with her anymore.
“Please, let’s be back together and leave your girl behind… give me a chance because she doesn’t deserve you,” She said while trying to hold my hand, but I didn’t allow her to hold me again because I still felt disgusted by her. I still see the day that she is naked with her other man. The man she called Isaiah. My brother.
“I am sorry… I am sorry… I am sorry,” She said, and she wanted to cry and to touch me again, hug me, and kiss me as she misses me, but I kept on refusing from her. I didn’t know that she was following me all the time. I didn’t even know that she was already dead. Not in my entire life, I didn’t expect to see her again, and now she is here with me asking for my help and telling me about a chance that she wants from me. She wants us to be together again even though she knows that is impossible. She doesn't want to let me go. She keeps on kissing me even though I keep on refusing.
“ENOUGH!” I shouted and put my hand up. She stopped trying to hold my hand and looked at me, waiting for what I would say.
“Your sorry won’t change a thing…my love for you is all gone now, and I will only help you to find the answer to my questions. I want my normal life back with the girl that I love, and it is not you,” I frankly told her so that she would not expect that there would be a comeback for us. She didn’t answer, but she nodded. She wiped her eyes because her tears wanted to fall, because of

the pain of hearing what I said, but that’s okay because I am telling her the truth and what she did is more painful than what I said.
“Was she the girl last night?” She asked with jealousy.

“It is not your business to know”, I answered and changed the topic. I don’t want her to know about Tania. She didn’t deserve to know about my future. It is enough for her to know that I want my future without her. That she is out of the league, out of my life anymore.
“I am so sorry,” She said again while looking at me, but I didn’t mind her. I didn’t even look at her.
“We need to find Isaiah. I need to find out if he owns the white smoke. I need to end his game for dad’s sake,” I said, and she nodded again. I hope she understands what I said that I would help her for dad’s sake and my sake, not because we will get back together because it will never happen. Even though she wanted to. There is no chance for us because I love Tania now.
I spread my wings and flew with her. I need to roam all over the city to find Isaiah, and if I cannot see him all over the city. I will find him all over the world. I don’t care how tedious it would be, but I need to find him.