Page 25 of One Year Ago in Spain
He couldn’t be gone. It seemed impossible. How could a spark as bright as Matías be snuffed out, as if he were nothing more than a stray ember to be stomped on?
I can’t…
She grappled for her phone in the briefcase. She just wanted to hear his voice one more time—or maybe ten more times or thirty. Claire would dial his number so she could listen to him on his voicemail, so she could pretend for just a little bit that Matías was still alive, that he’d get the message and call her back at any minute.
Claire opened the phone app and was about to key in his number when something occurred to her.
No one had called her. If Matías had died, Aracely would’ve called either Claire’s cellphone or the hotel, right? Unless Matías’s ghost showed up the moment he passed away, and there hadn’t been enough time yet for the hospital to inform the family?
Claire checked the recent calls list.
She hadn’t missed anything.
Her hands trembled.Okay, okay…no missed calls is a good sign.
I think?
Maybe shewasjust hallucinating. After all, she reallyhadn’thad much to eat or drink since she’d left New York.
But she needed to be sure. Claire dialed Aracely’s number.
“¿Hola?” Aracely answered before the second ring even began.
“Hi, this is Claire. I…”
But suddenly, she couldn’t get the words out. She couldn’t bring herself to ask,Is Matías still alive?
“Hola,Claire. Are you all right? I mean, under the circumstances?”
In the background, Claire could hear the noise of Matías’s family. It wasn’t lively, because of course everyone was worried sick. But it didn’t sound hysterical, and neither did Aracely.
“Um,” Claire said. “I was just wondering if there were any…d-developments? I’m sorry to bother you. It’s just that I can’t call the hospital myself because my Spanish is awful, and—”
“You should call me anytime you need to, Claire,” Aracely said gently. “And no, there is no news about Matías other than what we knew when we left the hospital.”
Claire walked up to her window and looked down to the hotel’s driveway. The ambulance was gone now, and of course there was no trace of Matías’s ghost.
“And we’re sure the hospital would call if anything changed for Matías, right?” Claire said.
“Yes, they promised, and they will,” Aracely said.
“Okay,” Claire said. “So he’s…we can assume he’s still the same?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come over here?” Aracely asked. “Maybe it would be good for you not to be alone. Luis can pick you up.”
“No, no, I…I probably need to sleep. You know, jet lag,” Claire said. “But thank you.”
“All right, then. But call me anytime, I mean it.”
“Thanks, Aracely.”
Claire collapsed on the bed, crushing one of the packages of crackers. Matías wasn’t dead. He was in a coma and that was a terrible thing, but he was still alive, still alive.
It wasn’t great, though, that Claire was in bad enough shape that she had imagined his ghost.
She forced herself to eat the broken crackers and drink the other juice box. Then Claire took two sleeping pills and fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of mergers and ambulance lights and Matías, waking from his coma and not remembering who Claire was.
Luis
