Reclaiming What's Mine

" How do the dead come back to life?"

I buried the remains of my husband. I watched the undertakers lower the casket. For five years, I have mourned his death. But, how's he here...in the flesh, healthy, happy, but with another woman?

It feels like reliving my worst nightmare. This man— tall, with raven black hair — wedded me, but two years later, he left me. Burnt beyond recognition in a car accident.

I trudged forward, confused and curious. My heart beat accelerated. My steps felt like a sprint. All I can hear is the thumping sound in my chest. A sudden chill floods my spine. It couldn't be a ghost of his. Sylvester loved me enough not to put me through this horror.

Before I could get closer, he snapped in my direction and smiles. " Come." He waved at me. My rekindled hope cooled in the chimney the instant I met the polite smile. It was how he welcomed strangers. " Strangers, " I repeated to myself.

"You must be Hazel. They're just telling me about you. " He says, casually. Devoid of the warmth in his eyes and his ever inviting arms.

Tears sting my eyes. I feel my pulse race from the casual regard and lack of acknowledgment.

It's one thing reliving happy memories of a dead spouse, and another, seeing that spouse in another's arms. Sylvester would have come to me.

" Am I mistaken? Could it be someone that looks like him or is he doing this deliberately? "

The thought of it being the latter flipped my mood. Anger clawed at my skin. I staggered at the brink of insanity. There's no way it couldn't be him. I lived with this man for two years. How can I forget the father of my child?

My eyes contracts with recognition. He's the man I have mourned all these years. But my heart said a different thing.

" Sylvester would recognize me."

Everything about him screams the man I know.

Seven years ago, he was athletic and slim. His shoulders have broadened. His husky voice, deepened. His eyes, blue and starry. His countenance, a dewdrop of joy. He never smiled much, but when he did, it reached his eyes. It's the same man. He has aged gracefully in the past five years, but the only major difference in him is his woman.

I am not the one who's leaning against his chest. Someone else is.

Her hand rounds his neck while her face is pressed against his chest.

I go round the couch and came to his front. My teeth clattered. A wave of shivers made me shake, trembling on my toes. My head spins. My vision blurs from a haze of thought. He sat up, worriedly. " Are you alright?"

I am speechless. No matter how I try to hold it in, my heart feels like it has been parted in the middle. My eyes wandered from him to the lady who sprang up to her feet, unsure of what to say. Doubt gnawing at my chest. Pulling at every fragment of my being.

" Diana?" My lips parted. My skin paled, white like a corpse. My twin sister is the one with the husband I recall burying?

My stomach churned, rumbling in a panic. I felt my insides cramp. It squeezes life out of me. My energy feels completely drained. Every iota of my being wants to scream and shut the voices in my head. It shouldn't be real, but this nightmare is happening...of all days, I'm just learning of this on their engagement day.

I manage to stand. Long enough to confirm my fear.

" What are you doing?"

" You have it all wrong, sister. It's not what you think."

" No, Diana. It's not what I think. It's about what I'm seeing.

You watched me mourn his death. You told me to move on for my son's sake, and all along you were out with my son's father?

Why is Sylvester with you, you backstabbing two timing bitch?! "

She gasps, and covers her mouth in shock. He wraps her protectively into his embrace. 

My heart dropped. My chest hurt. It burns. Every word I say leaves a fresh wound. I feel multiple stabs plunging deep into my skin.

His gaze flips into a critical and an icy survey. He cups her cheeks and kissed her forehead. The second he snapped in my direction, my knees buckled. 

" What do you think you're doing?" He rebuked, voice dripping with distaste. He examines me through critical lenses shrouded with disgust. He smirks derisively, eyes burning holes into mine.

Family members gathered. They bundled me up and dragged me away. I sobbed, kicking and fighting to cut myself lose. 

" He has to know it's me. He should know he's married." I cried.

My strength drained and my voice was down to a hum in my own ears. I couldn't tell people apart. My mind replayed their image. An image of my late husband embracing my twin sister, hands slithered around her waist.

I remember his funeral. The cold wind and stark reminder that I have become alone once more. The only person that ever loved me was gone. And just a week after the funeral, I discovered I was a month pregnant.

" What's my husband doing with my sister?" I cried, curled up by the bedside. It's one of the maids quarters in my father's mansion. Out of everywhere in the whole mansion, they dropped me on the cold floor of an abandoned room.

I propped my knees, and cupped my chin. " What do I do? Who do I talk to? Why did this have to happen to me?"

My mind was clear about him. He was my Sylvester, but the way he frowned when I called him sparks of some mischief. I don't know, but it feels like my husband faked his own death.

"Maybe to get away from me," I thought but couldn't tell why. " Was I such a bad wife?"

"Did my husband desire my sister so much that he faked his death? But how could she agree to all of this? We are twins for goodness sake. We are sisters."

At the brink of madness, I massaged my head. I need to stay calm and think clearly. But how do I do that when the husband I buried is right outside, with my sister in his arms.

I hear them talking outside the room.

My mother and my father join. They speak in a hushed tone before someone kicked the door open. I wasn't bothered to listen. Neither was I startled. 

I stared blankly at space. I can feel my spirit drifting away into an abyss. It feels so cold. So depressing, that I don't notice my parents glaring down at me.

" What do you think you are doing, Hazel? Do you want to ruin your sister's happiness? Why are you so selfish?"

Tears cascade down my cheeks. It wasn't about what they said. It's their reaction. 

No shock. No questions. No one bothered to ask why the man my sister is getting engaged to looks exactly like the man I wedded seven years ago.

They have seen him. They know. Yet, they stand up against me. 

My eyes flapped close. I feel warm tears trickling down in narrow streams. My chest contracts. It feels like a sack of grains has dropped on my chest.

I look up at them, voice low and cold. " He's Sylvester. Isn't he? Answer me, mother. Isn't he the same man I married. The same man whose son lies in the hospital battling for his life!" My breath hitched. 

" You know right? You all know..."

I hear a creak and turned in the direction of the door. Diana walks in, and leans over the cupboard that's close to the door. " We all know. So what?"

I gulped and got up to my feet. " Has it ever occured to you that karma will judge you for taking Kelvin's dad away from him?"

She rolls her eyes. " Quit your sentiments. I took nothing from you. My God, did you even know the man you married?

He was never just Sylvester to begin with. That man is Roman Hills...yes, the king of tech." She sneered. " I can't imagine how low he thought of you that he couldn't help but lie to you."

It hit home at first, but she's wrong.

" No, Diana. If you told me he faked his death for some other reasons, I could believe you. But this is ridiculous. "Sylvester never looked down on anyone. " I remark. Then paused.

My mind sparkled with the possibilities. If he's this way, he might have had a concussion. It will explain why he doesn't remember me. All I need to do is make him remember.

I straightened my dress and grabbed my purse.

" Where do you think you are going? " our mother snarked. She has never cared about me. In everything, she chose Diana over me. Everyone did. Now, the only person who chose me is about to be taken from me. 

I looked back at her and feigned a smile. " I'm going to get my son's father."

Desperate, Diana snapped. " Don't do anything stupid. Roman and I already have a child. "