10 - THE WOMAN IN WHITE

 10 - THE WOMAN IN WHITE

There was a rumor throughout the camp that a ghost was attacking the unwary who walked the streets after midnight. And that these people, invariably, died for lack of blood... yes, the ghost sucked all the blood out of people and then disappeared through the mists of the night, leaving the inert body on the road... few managed to survive the attack, and these they said they had been attacked by a very beautiful woman. Tall, slender, yellow hair, with the color of the shining sun and blue eyes, as blue as the crystalline river water, lips as red as the most beautiful rose in the rosebush... she didn't seem dangerous at first sight. It didn't arouse any kind of fear in whoever found it at night... but when it got close to the victim, it transformed, becoming the most horrible beast that could cross its path...

Maria listened to these stories and was simply terrified. The fear was so great that lately, after leaving work in the fields, she went straight home before night fell. And she no longer left the house so early to pick up work, she waited for the first rays of sun to appear on the horizon, and only then did she head to the fields. And she wasn't the only one to do this. Of course, the boss wasn't very happy with this story, after all, going to work later and leaving earlier meant that production would decrease... but what could he do? As long as that rumor continued to travel around, there was no other remedy but to let the farmhands take care of themselves in the way they thought was safest... anyway, as the people earned what they produced, for him the damage was not so great, so ...

Graça was more detached, she didn't believe much... she believed a little, of course... in the stories she heard from people's mouths. And since it was Lent, a time when all bad spirits were loose in the world, she was careful as she knew she had to be careful. Her silver crucifix, blessed by the Bishop of Aparecida, a gift from her godfather, did not leave her neck, as well as a small bottle of holy water, her rosary and the missary, where strong prayers for her protection were engraved. Yes, she was careful not to get caught by the forces from beyond. And little by little, she convinced her friend Maria that if they had faith in the power of God, they could walk peacefully along the roads at any time, because the angels would always be by their side, protecting them from all the evil that came from this earth or on the other side. And so the two started to go out very early again, not that Maria was fully convinced of the safety that her friend proclaimed, but after two weeks in which her pay was substantially reduced, she decided to face the dangers of the early mornings in the backlands... but only leave the house when your friend called you in the yard, after all, precaution and chicken broth...

She never saw anything out of the ordinary in all the dawn and night wanderings with Graça. After a few days even she took the risk of fetching firewood with her friend after work. The two would go into the woods and only return to their homes with a substantial bundle of firewood, after all that was the fuel to cook their food... Graça lived close to Maria. She lived with her mother, who had been widowed for a few years. The girl's father was a cowboy, and one day, when he was separating some cattle to go on a campaign, the rain started, the lightnings began to echo through the skies, the cattle broke out... and the boy fell from his horse, being trampled by the horses. animals running from one side to the other, terrified by the noise. When his companions finally managed to help him, they couldn't do anything more for him... he was already dead. And since then Graça's only port of mother was her, who was always by her mother's side, for whatever she needed, no matter what it was .... yeah, life was hard ...

It was Sunday, Maria went to the center of the camp, accompanied by her family. They went to attend mass, which was said once a month by Father Mauro, who came from Cruzeiro especially for this. There was no mass on the other Sundays. The town was small, the population wasn't that big, so the chapel was only used once a month, as I said. On other Sundays, the faithful themselves usually organized the service in their homes. After all, it wasn't because they didn't have a priest that they were going to stop expressing their faith. Then they organized rosaries and novenas, which ended when the parish priest visited the chapel.

After the function was over, each one went to a corner to look at the news that arrived from the big city. Maria wandered among the stalls, appreciating the goods that were offered. She wasn't going to buy anything, as the money counted was already committed to the week's purchases. Maybe at the end of the year she could spend a little and buy that beautiful calico dress she had seen on one of the stalls... but not today, for sure.

Maria suddenly noticed that she was on an unfamiliar street. The stalls were gone, and she had continued walking. The street was beautiful, all decorated with flowers, but the little houses were already a little far from where she was. It was then that she saw... not far away, a woman was approaching... tall, thin, yellow hair, white dress... Maria froze in the act... it was the leech ghost... she was lost. .. why did you have to go so far away from the village? And the woman approached... Maria's legs began to shake, she was paralyzed with fear, her voice wouldn't come out, she wanted to scream for help, but she couldn't... finally the woman reached the girl's side. He looked at her, saw the terror on her face, shrugged and walked on... only after a few minutes that the woman disappeared down the road, Maria returned to normal... and then she realized that no ghost had crossed her way, but simply a person who was taking advantage of the Sunday morning to go for a walk, as she herself did...