Calliope: Over To The Other Side By Imani Wagner (Short Fourteen)

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During the interrogation, Dr. Timothy Jodus, now known as The Mad Scientist by the media, revealed the names of two people within his corrupt organization. “They’ve arrested two suspects apart from the three already in police custody. One of the suspects provided a list of more than 230 new names. We don’t think it’s the entire operation, but it is the quickest I've heard of any case being moved forward. Arrests are being made as we speak, and new evidence has been revealed every day since the interrogation last week.” Azrael and I had finally gone to dinner on our first real date. We were in a secluded area where no one could overhear the details of the case–something I shouldn’t be overhearing either. He leaned in with each word anyway–updating me on the progress of the Mad Scientist case. 

“So what does this mean for the other victims?” I asked Azrael. 

He reached across the table and pulled my hand into his. “It means it could be over within the next two to three years. It will take time to find each victim, but I'm sure you’ll be a great help along with any DNA evidence we’re lucky enough to find,” He said with a small smile. “It’ll also take some time to inform their families and to shut it all down. They’ve covered up so much, and they’ve done it well, but now the FBI is involved, and they aren’t letting up. This is good, Calli.”

“I know. I’m happy there will be some justice. I’m happy Mavis got justice. I just didn’t realize how big this whole operation was. But this is good news, and it means that Mavis and the others can cross over.” I could visualize a long line of souls waiting to speak with me. I could feel it in my bones. I also understood that this would not be the end. Many souls would come forward looking for me, and some wouldn’t know they had been a victim of The Lab Operation. I could be helping these souls long after this case concludes. I would try to make peace with that.

“It’s not lost on me that a lot of folks, alive and unliving, will need you for a long while,” Azrael’s thumb gently swiped across the back of my hand. His eyes were locked on mine, and in them were compassion, understanding, but also sorrow. “I know that Dr. Delvaux will help you, and I'll be right here with you, too.”

“Like always,” I smiled at him. My new gift had made us closer than ever. With that and his passion for a legal system that prioritizes integrity, we were able to share this experience of helping others. I didn’t fully understand his work with the Chicago Police Department, and he wasn’t completely sure what my gift meant at its depths; nonetheless, there was total understanding between us. There was trust and compassion, but that had already brought us together as childhood friends. What we grew to have as adults felt like it was from another world entirely. 

Gina gave me the week off. I decided I’d pick up an extra shift this week to work with Mya. As I walked into the closing shift, the cafe was full of people. All of the booths were taken along the windows, and only a few tables were empty in the center of the little coffee shop. Mya bustled, making six different drinks behind the counter. I rushed to the lockers to put my things away. As I headed to the floor, Mya was calling out the name for the order she had just wrapped up. I got up to the register when she walked up behind me and helped me tie my apron, once around the front and then back again, as we both liked. 

The day was short. Mya made drinks while I rang folks up, and then we switched about two hours into my shift. Our other coworker on shift, Cal, had just started here three weeks ago. He walked the lobby with a spray bottle and a tattered rag. He wiped down the table nearest to the door. Just as he stepped aside and out of my line of view, my mother stood in his place, behind the glass door of the cafe. She peered at me through the glass, her eyes sunken and her arms wrapped around her body as if to hold herself upright. Her hair was like mine–locked into long and thick black threads down her back. Her eyes had wrinkles on their outer corners. We shared the same complexion, but today she looked a little pale.

As she reached for the door handle, her eyes fell to the ground. My heart began to sink deep into my chest, retreating into my soul for comfort. My mind searched for my legs and commanded them to walk over to Cal.

“Hey, Cal,” I whispered. “Do you think you’re ready to try cash wrap?”

“Um, yeah! Mya’s been training me, and I tried it solo the other day. Mya said I did well,” He replied in a deep and raspy tone. Cal was Italian with deep olive-toned skin. Hi nose was perfectly long and carved. His ears were large, and his hair was a deep brown color. He was wearing his work uniform shirt. It was all black with the word “cafe” written in small black letters in the left corner of the shirt. The polo collar lay flat and pressed around his neck. His apron hung loosely around his waist.

“Thank you, Cal. I really appreciate it.” My palms were wet. It felt like an hour had just passed, but when I turned around and faced my mother, time sped up. It had come to an abrupt and snapping halt when my eyes met hers. 

“Calliope, hi.” Her voice was soft as it had always been. It soothed me. And my heart sank deeper into my body. I turned around to sit at the only empty booth in the corner of the cafe, and I could feel my mother following closely behind me.

“Mom. What are you doing here?” I asked as we both slid into the middle of the booth, facing each other. I looked around the lobby as it began to fill up again. Placing a hand on each knee, I pressed my feet into the floor to brace myself for what was coming.

“It’s about your grandma,” She paused, and her face came together with frustration. She strained to hold back tears, but they fell anyway. “She died, baby. My momma is gone.” 

I didn’t feel anything at first. Even as I thought about it, I felt nothing. There was no anger. There was no sadness. Eventually, the heaviness of loss came. It sat in my chest like putty, thick and never ending, gooey–and I grasped at it. I wanted to hold it there to address it. I wanted to understand why that was the only thing that existed after all this time, and where were all the other feelings and things? After a little time had passed, I said, “I’m sorry she died. I’m sorry your mother is gone.” All that I could offer sat in the empty space of the table between us. 

“I hated her. I loved her too.”

“I know.” I could not relate. I love my mother, but as she sat before me, I did not know her. I had never known her, not fully. Most of what I had for her was a sorry feeling, but I did not hate her. She had experienced so much loss, and it was her loss that had been with me my entire life. I unwillingly shared that with her. As for my grandmother, everything that I had known about her was unrest and chaos personified. 

My mother continued to cry. I let her. My eyes lifted from her heartbroken face and stared out the window behind her. In the reflection, I saw my grandmother standing there, looking down at her child with the same sorrowful expression. She stood behind me. Her gaze lifted as well, and we stared at each other. As her eyes widened in the reflection, she walked toward me. When she was finally standing in front of me, I looked up at her. 

“Calliope, why is she crying in the middle of the coffee place?” She looked at my mother, then back at me. 

“She’s sad,” I said out loud, though I didn’t mean to. 

“Well, what she sad fuh?” My grandmother placed her hands on her hips. She looked upset, mad maybe, but on her face was also something I had never seen there before. She sought understanding. She was concerned, genuinely.

“Because you died, Grandma.”

“I’m not dead, I'm standing here right in front of y’all.”

My mom sniffled a little, “Calli, who you talkin’ to?”

My grandmother stared at my mom in shock and slowly took a step back. Her eyes found me once more. Then, she was gone.

“I was talking to Grandma,” I said to my mother.

She wiped her nose with the back of her hand before spotting the tin full of napkins. She reached for one and blotted her upper lip, “Girl, you ain’t makin’ no sense.”

I figured that I should just tell her. There was no reason to lie to my mother. This was my gift, and it was mine whether I wanted it to be or not. “I can see ghosts, Momma, and I just saw Grandma. She didn’t even know she was dead,” I paused for a long moment. “How did she die?”

“The coroner says she just went in her sleep. She lay down and didn’t wake up again. I don’t know,” was all she said. No response to my newfound ability. It didn’t seem like a surprise to her or a concern of any kind. Can I expect her to? It didn’t matter because if I were seeing my grandmother, surely she would show up again, and both she and my mother would have to understand that my grandmother died, but her soul remains in this realm with us. 

We didn’t say anything after that. She began to stand, and I followed. She stood next to the table, waiting for me to face her, and suddenly she wrapped her arms around me. “Can I come see you next week?” she asked.

“Yeah, Momma. I’ll be here.”

She turned around and walked out the door. I headed back to the cash register to relieve Cal. Mya and I finished our midday shift together, and then I invited her over to my home. As we entered my apartment, Henrietta greeted us at the door. Mavis sat on the couch. I expected nothing less. Mavis is almost always with Mya. Even when I don’t see him, I know he’s in her orbit. “Can you tell her that I’m here?”

“Mya, Mavis is here,” I said. I’m learning that it is best to get right to the point. She looked at me and then around the room. “He’s on the couch, sitting closest to the window.”

She took her jacket off and hung it on the rack near the door. I followed, and then we made our way to the living room. She sat right next to him and looked over as if she was staring him right in the eyes. She knew exactly where they’d be. She had surely sat next to her brother just like that so many times and looked into his brown eyes. Mavis smiled and placed his hand on top of hers. “I’m not ready to go yet, Cali.” 

“I know,” was all I could say. It was true, he was not ready. When Ellie crossed over, she glowed a bright yellow. A cord just as bright and just as yellow appeared above her head. I had not seen that with Mavis. He would stick around for a while. I could tell he needed that to heal, and he would not be ready before then. I didn’t mention any of this to Mya. She needed some healing, too, but she did not need to be let in on any of it. I was confident that she already knew.

After Mya left, Jabari, Rick, and Jim showed up. As quickly as I had laid eyes on them, I knew that they’d be crossing through the darkness and toward the light tonight. Each of them were outlined in a golden light; cords floating above their heads. 

“Calliope, we are so grateful for what you did for the other men and for us. Some have already gone and crossed over; others will come to you later after they say their goodbyes. The three of us wanted to wait until we could say thank you,” Rick smiled. 

I shut my eyes and allowed the air around us to fill my lungs. When I opened them again, the four of us were in the in-between space. I could still see parts of my apartment, but apart from the brightness of their own souls, we were mostly surrounded by darkness. 

Jim walked forward and pulled me in for a hug. “Not sure how we woulda done all of this without you, girl. Thank you, Calliope.” He pulled back and held me at arm's length, “I’m not sure you know it yet, at least not entirely, but you’ve got a powerful thing going on. It’s more than seeing the dead and helping them understand what’s next. You’ve got a gift for bringing the dead and the living together to ignite the deepest kind of healing. That’s magic if I've ever seen it, and that’s what you got here, girl. You magic. You full of it,” and he began to cry. So did I. We hugged once more, and when he pulled away a second time, it was like he was being pulled up and passing through me all at once.

Jabari was next, “Calli, thank you.” He wrapped his arms around me, and we stood like that for a little while. In my mind’s eye, I saw a little girl and a little boy hugging. I then began to see flashes of a different little boy and girl hugging each other. Then, another, all from different times and places. Some images showed two little girls or two little boys before it became clear. “You see that too,” Jabari asked as he pulled away. And suddenly I remembered all the lives we had lived together as brother and sister. As family. He blinked rapidly, and the visions continued.

“Oh, God,” I exclaimed, “I wonder why we didn’t have this one together.”

“It’s okay,” Jabari said, “We’ve had so many lives, and at least we get to meet at the very end. I’ll see you next time.”

“I’ll see you again,” and as we held each other, he passed right through me.

Rick was last. He smiled and walked toward me slowly. There was something I had wanted to ask him since the first day we met, “Your tattoo, Rick. What does it mean?”

“‘The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of the sinful, and crucified, and on the third day rise again,’ Luke twenty-four, verses six through seven,” he said. 

“It’s reincarnation, isn’t it?”

He continued, “Yes, Calliope. Like you, I have lived many lives. I have had more lives than most souls, and now I can remember them. I’m sure you’ve done some remembering of your own.”

I thought of Mnemosyne and each moment I had shared with her. 

“Yes,” Rick said. 

I could feel him listening in on my thoughts of her. Images flickered through my mind. One curiosity came forward as I remembered her tall stature and night-colored skin. I thought of her powers and how she did not appear to be from our planet.

Rick took my hands in his, “There is life everywhere–across planets, universes, space, and time. Any one of them can belong to you. You and Mnemosyne are one in the same. One soul living one life after the next, and traveling across time to your previous and future lives. And like this, you share power and ability. Not only does this help your soul progress, but it also progresses and heals the next soul you come in contact with. So, Jim was right; you have magic inside of you. Thank you for using it in goodness.” With a burst of light, he passed through, surely to come again.