The Chosen Chapter Thirty-Six The Way You See Me

“As you wish, my lady.”

The old witch bowed, and suddenly more witches appeared among the graves. Maria looked around, surprised by how many had come, and smiled.

One by one, the witches approached her. Each introduced herself, explaining her name and the responsibilities she held in the cemetery. Maria listened carefully, allowing every one of them to finish before addressing the next.

“Thank you all for showing yourselves to me. It’s an honour to have my request accepted. May I hug each of you?”

The witches exchanged puzzled looks. An old blind witch standing among them stepped forward.

“You want to hug us?” she asked, surprised.

“Yes, I do. May I?”

For a moment, nobody answered. The old blind witch was the first to approach. Maria took her hands, pulled her gently into her arms and kissed her cheek.

The others watched silently before forming a queue and waiting for their turns. Maria hugged and kissed each one of them with love, making sure nobody was left out.

Only when everyone had received her embrace did Maria turn to leave the cemetery.

“What is for dinner?” Maria asked as she entered the house.

“Well, what would you like?” Lúcia answered.

“I would like to go to one of those restaurants I saw on our way to the cemetery grounds.”

“Maria, you’ve never been to a restaurant?”

“No, I’ve never!”

“Well, then we’d better change that. Let’s go to a restaurant,”

“Did I hear correctly? We’re going to a restaurant?” Amada asked, entering the room.

“Yes, we are, Amada,” Lúcia answered. “And you girls had better go and change. You cannot wear those clothes to a restaurant.”

Maria looked down at herself.

“We can’t?”

“No, Maria. We need to wear, what do you call it? Mmm… normal people’s clothes,” Lúcia explained.

“I don’t need to.”

Maria raised her hands and slowly lowered them again.

Standing before Lúcia and Amada was the Maria they had met two years earlier. Her hair was brown, and instead of her white dress, she wore ordinary clothes.

“Maria! How did you do that? We didn’t perform a ritual!” Lúcia asked.

At that moment, Nara and Nei entered the room with Zita.

“Maria, how did you do that?” Nei asked, looking at her.

Maria smiled.

“I decide the way you all see me!”

Before anyone could respond, Maria began changing the colour of her hair, then her eyes, and finally her clothes. The room filled with an unfamiliar energy as her appearance continued to change before their eyes.

Zita started laughing.

Lúcia, Amada and the witches fell to their knees.

Maria stopped playing and looked at them.

“Come on! I’m just playing. Stand up! I’m hungry, and I want to see what a restaurant looks like.”

The women looked towards Zita, who was still laughing, and then back at Maria. Slowly and reluctantly, they got to their feet.

Maria loved the restaurant from the moment they arrived. She looked around at the tables, the people sitting together, the waiters carrying plates and the different dishes being served.

When the food arrived, she discovered that eating at a restaurant wasn’t quite as simple as she had imagined. She picked up the cutlery and looked at it, trying to understand why anyone would choose to eat that way. After so many years of eating with her hands, the task seemed unnecessarily complicated.

“The people in the normal world eat with cutlery, Maria,” Lúcia explained, watching her struggle.

“Yes, but they don’t feel the textures of the food. They risk burning their tongues and throats. Eating should be a pleasure, not a punishment!”

The women started laughing. Even the witches, whom nobody else in the restaurant could see, joined in.

Maria tried again, carefully using the cutlery as Lúcia had shown her. She watched the other people eating, occasionally looking down at her own hands, still wondering why anyone had invented such an inconvenient way to eat.

“Maria, do you like the restaurant?” Lúcia asked.

“No!”

“But I thought you were enjoying yourself.”

“I am! But the food has no life, no vibrations, no love. It’s dead.”

The women looked at her, unsure how to answer. Maria continued watching the people around her, still interested in everything happening in the restaurant. Although the food disappointed her, she ate out of respect for the people who had prepared it and the animal that had been sacrificed.

When the ladies finished eating, they left the restaurant and returned to the cemetery grounds.

“We should all get some rest,” Lúcia said as they entered the house. “Tomorrow we need to visit your mother, Maria, and we also need to find you a beautiful dress.”

“We’re going to shops?” Maria asked.

“Yes, Maria. That’s where people buy clothes and shoes.”

“I’m not wearing shoes.”

“Of course not, Maria, but you need a dress. Maybe we could also get you a haircut?”

“No. Nobody touches my Ori.”

“Why not? She wouldn’t touch your head, Maria, just your hair.”

“Nobody will touch my hair or cut it.”

“Oh, never mind, Maria. We’ll just take care of the dress in the morning. Then we’ll go and see your mother.”

“I can’t wait to see a shop!”

Maria took her bath and prepared herself for bed. Before lying down, she walked to the window and looked outside.

“You’re not going to wish me goodnight?”

“Of course, my beautiful lady. I’m here whenever you want.”

“Why don’t you show yourself to me?”

“You’ll see me tomorrow.”

“Will you really be eating with us and talking all night?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Will I see your face?”

“You want to see my face?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You’ll see me tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Master.”

“Goodnight, my lady.”

The next morning, Maria and the witches, accompanied by Lúcia and Amada, travelled to the city centre of Rio de Janeiro.

Maria was excited about finally visiting the shops. She looked through the windows as they drove, watching people walking along the streets, entering buildings and carrying bags filled with things they had purchased.

When they arrived, Lúcia and Amada took her from one shop to another, searching for a dress suitable for her birthday dinner.

There were dresses of every colour, made from different fabrics and decorated with all sorts of details. Lúcia and Amada examined them carefully, pointing out the ones they thought would look beautiful on Maria.

Maria paid little attention to their appearance. She touched the fabrics, running her fingers over the different materials before moving to the next dress. She tried several, but none pleased her. There was no life in the fabrics, nothing she could feel. She couldn’t wear something that wasn’t alive.

Lúcia showed her another dress, hoping this one might finally please her. Maria touched it, held the fabric for a moment and put it back.

They continued searching, but Maria rejected every dress they showed her.

“Looks like I’m going to have to make my own dress,” she said, looking at the two women.

Lúcia and Amada exchanged looks. They had spent the morning visiting shops without finding anything Maria wanted to wear.

The ladies returned to the car and drove towards Duque de Caxias to visit Maria’s family.

Maria watched the familiar streets as they approached her mother’s house. The neighbourhood hadn’t changed much since she had left, and she didn’t particularly like what she saw.

When the car finally stopped outside the house, Maria opened the door and stepped out.

“Maria, you didn’t change your looks!” Lúcia said.

Maria turned towards her.

“She will see me as she wishes to see me”

They entered through the gate, and Jacinta came running towards them the moment she saw Maria.

“Maria! Minha filha!”

She opened her arms and embraced her daughter.

“You’ve grown so much! You left as a child and came back as a woman. You’re so beautiful!”

Maria hugged her mother tightly.

“Your blessing, Mother?”

Jacinta placed her hands on her daughter and answered.

“May the only God and His Son Jesus Christ bless you, and may Nossa Senhora Aparecida protect you.”

“Amen,” Maria answered.

Jacinta looked towards Lúcia and immediately opened her arms again.

“Oh, please, Lúcia, give me a hug! I need to thank you for letting Maria work in your house, and for her salary you send us every month. Without this money, we wouldn’t have survived.”

Lúcia embraced her.

“Don’t worry, Jacinta. We need Maria in our house. Since she works there, everything looks better.”

“Yes, she’s very good at cleaning!” Jacinta answered proudly. “But please, come in!”

Everyone entered the house.

Maria went directly to her grandmother, embraced her and asked for her blessing. The old woman held her granddaughter close, happy to see her again.

The witches entered too. Zita remained standing behind Jacinta, as she always did.

The women sat together and drank coffee. Jacinta asked about Maria’s life, how she was doing at school and whether she was behaving herself. She spoke about her mother’s health, the church and everything that had happened since Maria had left.

Maria listened to her mother and grandmother, answering their questions and enjoying being with them again. Jacinta spoke once more about the money Lúcia sent every month, explaining how much it had helped the family.

They continued talking until Lúcia announced that it was time to leave.

Maria stood up, preparing to say goodbye.

“Wait, Maria! I have something for you!”

“What is it, Mother?”

“Just a moment.”

Jacinta hurried to her room and returned carrying a box.

“Maria, I made this for you.”

She placed the box before her daughter and carefully opened it. Inside was a cream-coloured dress made of crochet.

Jacinta lifted the dress from the box and unfolded it, showing Maria the work she had done.

Maria reached out and touched the crochet, feeling the stitches her mother had made by hand.

“It’s beautiful, Mother!”

Jacinta smiled.

“I thought that one day you might need a nice dress to go to church. Do you like it?”

Maria looked at her mother and smiled.

“Yes, Mother. I’ll wear it tomorrow.”