The night was dark, the moon was veiled by heavy clouds, the frosty leaves were kissed by a chilled breeze. At around 2am, Adam was awakened by a strange sound. Following the noise, as he went downstairs and reached the kitchen, he heard a voice whispering to him, "It's not who you think". With the chill creeping down the spine, Adam immediately turned around, to see nothing but only darkness. Yearning for the comfort of safety, he quickly went to bed and woke up his wife Rafael. Still in shock, he mumbled, "Darling, I heard it again, I am not dreaming, it was for real." To this, Rafael replied, "There you go, sleepwalking again Adam! Don't you remember what the doctor told you!? Take this pill and go to sleep now. I'm here, don't worry."
The very next morning, as usual, dropping Rafael at her clinic, Adam went to his office. But that day, he couldn't concentrate on any of his work. The only thing that echoed restlessly in his mind was the line "Its not who you think". The words lingered consistently, pulling him deeper in every moment...What did it mean? Why was he seeing this lately? Was it for real?"
Feeling entirely sick of such thoughts, that day, Adam returned home from the office earlier than usual. He texted Rafael to return home by herself, informing her that he was not feeling well. Soon upon reaching home, he went to the kitchen to have some milk, thinking that an amount of it would help him have a peaceful sleep. But then suddenly, something caught his eye. It was the peanut butter container that was, to his surprise, half open. He didn't have anything related in his mind to peanut butter lately, but all he knew was that Rafael was allergic to peanut butter. She couldn't even bear with its smell. It was Adam, who, sometimes, would playfully annoy his darling wife, teasing her with the container in his hand. Thoughts soon circled him... Who opened it? Was someone there in their absence? But he clearly recalled himself locking the door properly.
Not willing to spend a single moment alone therein, Adam immediately took his car and went towards Rafael's clinic. Quickly parking his car, he dashed to her chamber, where she had been a practitioner as a dentist for the last 5 years. As soon as he entered her room, to his surprise, there was no there. Before he could figure out, a colleague of Rafael came to him and said, "I heard everything, I am so sorry for your loss, Sir." Leaving Adam speechless, he continued "Rafael was really dedicated to her service. We all miss her."
This time, confused, Adam spoke up, "What are you talking about? Are you out of mind? I just dropped her this morning". To this, the colleague replied, "Sir, are you alright? Rafael had passed away in a car accident last month."
Adam stumbled out of the clinic and raced back to his home. He couldn't believe anything. Furthermore, he was struggling to differentiate between reality and illusion. Once home, his heart pounding, he rushed to the kitchen, only to see the peanut butter still lying there, half opened, mocking him. He sat down, struggling to spin through the fragments of his memory.
Forthwith, his phone screen beeped, and Adam saw Rafael's photo on his mobile wallpaper. As tears started to drip on his mobile, he realized, Rafael had died last month in a car accident, and in his grief, he had created a version of her in his mind to cope with the loss. He was on medication. But one question continued to haunt him..Who was the one that whispered to him? What was the meaning behind those whispers, "It's not who you think"?
As he sat there, the room grew colder, and he felt a presence behind him. With his heart started to pounding harder in each passing second, he turned around slowly and saw a shadowy figure.The figure stepped forward, and Adam gasped. It was Rafael, but something was different. Her eyes were sorrowful yet kind. "Adam," she whispered, "I've been trying to tell you Dear, you need to let things go now. It's not who you think. The peanut butter was a sign. Your Rafael would never want her Adam to live in this illusion."
Tears streamed down Adam's face as hugged the figure for one last time, following which, it slowly vanished into thin air.
