Rebirth of the Dead Mother

Sergey sat, grieving the loss of his beautiful wife after their child’s birth. As he held his crying newborn, Polina, their maid, consoled him with a gentle touch on his arm and a warm squeeze. He tried to smile back at her but failed, looking down at the coffin where his adored wife was being laid to rest.

The baby was inconsolable. He would allow only his father to hold him. Even when Polina fed him from his bottles, he would become severely agitated and scream uncontrollably.

Sergey could not account for the severity of the baby’s disposition, other than to believe it stemmed from a deep understanding and a sense that the mother was not the woman holding him to feed him.

Try as she would, Polina could not settle the baby, not even with a full tummy. Her guilt would ravage her in those moments. She knew what she had done and wondered whether the infant could sense her betrayal of his mother. She had killed her after she gave birth to Andrei, out of jealousy.

Polina wanted Sergei for herself and had taken his wife’s life right after Alexandra discovered she was pregnant. She had always coveted Sergei, but she knew she could never give him a child. When she heard the news about the baby, she decided to suffocate Alexandra in her sleep. She drugged Alexandra one evening, and when Alexandra fell into a deep sleep, Polina murdered her.

A few days after the funeral, she grew increasingly concerned about the baby’s constant crying whenever she approached him. She was also concerned about Sergei’s exhaustion from caring for the infant most of the time. Polina was not getting the attention from him she had expected, given that she was available to Sergei.

A week later, nothing had changed. The baby still wailed whenever she was in sight and seemed to settle only in his father’s arms. She needed to get the baby’s father to notice her.

Polina enticed him and noticed that Sergei admired her when he thought she wasn’t looking. She was pleased that he showed interest and knew she could eventually get what she wanted.

Polina was a very attractive young woman. She was well-proportioned and had assets most men found irresistible. Beautiful, young, toned, and lithe, she knew Sergei had even looked at her while Alexandra was still alive.

Alexandra had noticed it too and mentioned it to her, but showed no signs of insecurity. She knew her husband would not stray. Their love was legendary. But now she had him to herself and knew he would allow himself to glance.

During that week, she had begun to make herself more appealing, which made his stares linger longer. His lack of sleep wore him out and left him needing soothing. She would seize the opportunity to make her move. But something strange happened.

She was feeling ill. She couldn’t keep much food down and opted to eat very little, which seemed to ease the nausea. But she still felt uncomfortable and ill at ease. Polina couldn’t account for that.

At night, when the child was asleep, she would look at the baby and notice a faint glow around him. It unnerved her. She also noticed that when Sergei was asleep, he would talk in his sleep. Now and then, he would whisper Alexandra’s name and, seemingly, have conversations with her in his dreams. Whenever she got near him to take advantage of his sleepy state, she would get a bout of nausea and have to leave the room.

She planned to be more aggressive in her attention to him and in her pursuit of him that week, and she devised a plan. Soon after she had the idea, she felt worse. She looked in the mirror and noticed a green tinge to her skin and an odd gray glow. The sight frightened her.

Sergei still looked at her, but not with desire, more like suspicion. Could he know? How would he know? She pushed the thought out of her mind.

That evening, she felt even worse and went to bed early. She undressed, got into bed, and left the door slightly ajar. She had told Sergei she was doing it to hear the child, even though she knew the infant slept through the night and only cooed. It was such a contrast to how he behaved in her presence.

Her bedroom was in the hall with the others, and Polina knew Sergei would have to pass her door to get to bed. Tonight, she left the door ajar and dressed for bed.

A deep sleep came quickly to her, but it was uneasy. She had an eerie feeling and tossed and turned. Her dreams about Sergei turned into uncomfortable conversations with the now-dead Alexandra.

This evening, something felt different. She felt uneasy, yes, but also a sense of calm resolve. Then all of that gave way to nightmarish fear.

In her dream, Alexandra visited her. She was angry at first, but suppressed it, which turned into guilt. Alexandra spoke, and she went still in bed.

“What do you want, Alexa?” She often called Alexandra, Alexa.

“Oh, Polina, I have come to take what is mine,” Alexa replied.

“Take the baby!” Polina exclaimed. “All he does is cry.”

“He cried for his mother and for the way she was taken from him,” his mother said.

“I don’t know what you mean,” the maid answered.

“I know and saw you kill me. I see it every night.” “You took from my family and me what was not yours to take.” “There is a price for that, and you will pay it now,” Alexandra added. “I am granted my recompense.”

“No one knows or saw anything, and there is nothing you can do to change that!” Polina replied.

“Oh, but I can and will.” “You are living my life, and now I will take yours in exchange.” Alexa’s counter. “No perfect crime exists, and you’ve left proof of what you’ve done.” “Tomorrow I will have you taken away to pay for your crime against my family,” she added. “You can already feel that I am speaking the truth.”

Polina was panicking. Such intense fear had taken hold of her and was becoming her undoing.

Alexandra spoke again upon seeing her acceptance.

They will put you on trial, find you guilty, and execute you for the vicious and calculating murder of a new mother and for the loss my family has suffered because of your actions.

“No, no!” Polina screamed. Her screams were unheard by anyone except Alexa.

“I speak the truth, murderer.” “You must pay and restore the balance in this life,” she added. “Balance will be restored because my life was cut short.”

“What do you mean, either way?” Polina whispered.

“This night, you are being given a choice,” Alexa continued, as if she had not heard Polina. “You will choose between arrest and hanging to exact payment for my life, or you will restore my life to me.”

“That’s impossible, Alexa, because you’ve been dead for over a week,” Polina replied, panicked.

“Death has many powers and obligations, Polina.” “Ensuring he does not take those not aligned with his appearance and righting the situation are within his power.” “Death has heard the cry of my soul and the souls of my newborn child and my beloved husband.” “He has taken pity on me and offered me a solution that you must first agree to.” “He cannot do what he intends without your permission.”

There was Polina’s out clause. She did not need to give the okay to whatever had been planned. She continued to listen halfheartedly. She needed to wake up from this dream quickly.

Alexa continued to hand Polina the options with Death’s approval. "Here are two choices for you, Polina." Consider them carefully, especially since you are being given the choice you did not give me.” “I did not have to, nor did Death have to give you a choice.” Someone could have made the choice for you.

“What choice?” Alexa asked.

“You may decide your manner in leaving this earth,” Alex began.

“You may choose to be hanged, or you may choose to have your soul removed and, in its place, have mine take its place.” “I will then have my life back, and your soul will leave life without pain.” “You will not ascend, but will pay penance until you have repaid your crime and debt to the natural order of life.” "You must make that decision right now. Upon waking, jail awaits you, or Death will appear with instructions regarding your payment and its duration."

Alexa watched as she thought through her options. She then looked over at Polina’s sleeping form and said, “You are beginning to stir and awaken.” “You must decide now, before you lose the chance to choose.” “There is no bargaining with Death for another choice.”

“How will that even work?” Polina countered. “How will Sergei know which soul is in my body?” “Why can’t he just put you back in your own body?”

“Even Death cannot resurrect a decayed corpse, Polina,” Alexa shared. “My family has already been told what will happen. Sergei has been told in many dreams that I may return to him, but only in the maid's body.” “Andrei has been told as well, every night, when I would come to sing him lullabies so he could sleep calmly.” “Their souls understand and will know my soul.”

“But Sergei will see my body, not yours, and know it is me, yet not me,” she rationalized.

“Yes, he will see your body, but know it is my soul within it.” “I have known from the beginning that he found you attractive.” “He will then, so to speak, be free to be with you, and know it is me on the inside.” Sergei agreed, realizing it is the only way we may be reunited. “Make your choice, Polina.”

A couple of minutes passed, and she saw her own body stir awake. She was frightened because she did not want to go to prison to be killed, as she was being told. If Death took her soul and offered her a chance to pay for her crimes, she might clear her conscience and perhaps return someday. Polina decided.

“I will forfeit my soul for yours, Alexa,” she said. “I know I have to repay your life with mine.” “I had feared I could not walk away without it.” “Take my body and live."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than her soul lifted out of her body. She watched in fascination as the ethereal dark mist rose and absorbed into her. Polina saw, too, the golden vapor that entered her still body on the bed.

A coo sounded in the room down the hall, and they all heard Sergei go to get his son. He tapped on the door Polina had left mostly open and went in.

Polina, now Alexandra, opened her eyes and looked around, taking in her family. She smiled, then began to tear up at the sight.

Sergei smiled broadly and approached the bedside with Andrei, asking if it was done.

Polina wondered what he meant. Had he already sensed his wife’s presence?

And how was it that the baby was cooing so close to her body?

Death noticed her questioning eyes and spoke to her for the first time. “Andrei’s soul and life force know and feel their mother’s.” “Sergei, though he was told what to expect, understands it won’t be the same but accepts it.” “I have gifted the family a small part of who Alexandra was, or rather what she looked like in life, because her dying was unjust for all parties.” “Your body now has her eyes, the exact color and uniqueness she had in life.” “Sergei will see them and her soul.”

Polina understood and even smiled a little. “What now?” she asked.

“Now you will repay your debt to them and restore natural order.” “You have the duty to protect the child for his lifetime.” “When I receive him in old age, you will gain release into a new birth and begin a new life.” “Repeating the same mistakes will remove you from this earth, and your soul will end in suffering.” “Be sure you do not return here under those circumstances, because you will not be pleased, and no one will show you leniency.” “The family will not sense you, will not know you are protecting the child, or even remember your name after a time.” “I will slowly remove your memory from theirs and replace it with all the memories they had, but with your body in their visions of those recollections.”

“Sergei, Alexandra, and Andrei will live as if you never existed.”

Polina stared at Death, then looked back at the now-embracing family and smiled at them. She nodded in acceptance and said, “I am ready. Tell me what to do next.”

Alexandra stared in their general direction, sensing them but no longer seeing either, and nodded. Then she looked, took her baby into her arms, kissed his sweet eyes, and hummed the song she sang each night.

Andrei stared into his mother’s eyes and cooed as he latched onto her breast for his morning feeding.

Sergei kissed his wife, held her as she nursed their son, then said, “Welcome back, love. We have missed you.”

Alexandra smiled up at him and said, “I have missed you both with all my soul.”

She looked again at the place where she had stood moments ago, seeing nothing, and whispered, “Thank you,” to Death himself. She felt a quick, cold swipe across her arm and knew he had heard. That was his way of telling her she was welcome.

Their life together had been restored. This was the first day of their new life, and they would cherish every moment.

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(Published on Substack)