Allá por los años 60 Ana y Juan se casaron, ella jovencísima, con apenas 17 años y Juan ya en sus 25 años, sin embargo los dos con la juventud y la vida por delante. Se casaron en su pequeño pueblo y pronto de regalo de bodas, los padres de la novia le regalaron por casa, una vieja casona, que habían adquirido pero con los años habían dejado en reserva, para cuando su única hija se casara y tenerla cerca de ellos, esos eran los planes.

Ana, una sola vez había visitado la propiedad y no le había parecido tan acogedora al contrario, la veía sombría y con aires de tristeza, eso le parecía a ella, siempre con la manía de darle a los objetos emociones, como si de una persona se tratara, entonces esa casona le parecía, mustia, triste y nostálgica, era su conclusión con respecto a ella.

Pero al ver la emoción, con que sus padres se las regalaron a ella y a su marido, pues no le quedó mas remedio, que guardar silencio y en su lugar poner una amplia sonrisa en su rostro, no quería herir a sus padres, además, de que los pobres habían mandado a arreglar el inmueble, tratando de darle vida, mandándola a pintar, a cambiar puertas y ventanas para que su aspecto fuese mas agradable para su hija, no querían que no le gustara.

Al ver el esfuerzo, el gasto y el amor que habían puesto en su proyecto de vivienda y remodelación para su hija, tanto Ana como Juan aceptaron gustosos, su regalo. Luego de la celebración y fiesta de la boda, la luna de miel, como al mes, llegaron de lleno a instalarse en su nueva casa. Al entrar, Ana sintió como si la casa la observara, opaca, triste, nostálgica a pesar de los arreglos aun se notaba su "esencia" pesada, que a Ana se le hizo de rechazo al llegar.

Pero como toda joven recién casada, trató de darle su toque personal a aquel caserón, pero se le antojaba muy grande y con unas extrañas divisiones, que se le hacían sumamente odiosas, era larga y a lo largo estaban las habitaciones que estaban en desproporción con lo que una casa debía ser, por lo menos en la mente de ella. Entrabas y de una vez estaba la salita de estar, luego un cuarto, después la cocina, luego otro cuarto, luego un patio, que solo tenia en medio un feo árbol, sin vida, sin frutas y al final el baño.

Así es que, si se les ocurría usar el baño por alguna emergencia, tenían que atravesar, toda la casa para llegar a el, ni se diga por las noches,
para Ana era misión imposible ir hasta allá, se le daba muy tenebroso ese dichoso patio, así que opto por las noches, usar una vasenilla o vaso de cama. Pasaban los dias, pronto su marido, empezó su rutina laboral y Ana quedaba sola en aquel caserón.

Una tarde-noche, ya casi en penumbras le dieron ganas de ir al baño, pero nada mas al asomarse al patio, vio junto al árbol a una misteriosa mujer, vestida totalmente de blanco, empezó a detallarla en medio de ya la oscuridad y se dio cuenta que estaba vestida de novia, cuando tuvo la certeza de esto, la extraña mujer volteo a observarla y empezó a decirle algo que Ana no oyó, pues corrió a su cuarto ya estaba aturdida debajo de las sabanas, así la consiguió Juan.

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Ana le contó a Juan y este le dijo que seguro se lo imaginó, que se quedara tranquila, pero Ana sabia lo que había visto, desde ese momento empezó su calvario, cuando tenia que ir al baño, siempre estaba esa imagen en su memoria atormentándola. Una noche, estaba en la cama con su cansado marido, que ya dormía y justo cuando iba conciliando el sueño oyó como la llamaban claramente, pero era como si la voz proviniera del viento, como si se fuera en ecos...

Esos murmullos duraron toda la noche, despertó a Juan pero el insistía que el no oía nada y que lo dejara dormir. A Ana no le quedo mas que hablar con su madre y padre, pero le dijeron que seguro eran los nervios de esposa recién casada, que serian imaginaciones suyas, que se callara y no estuviera comentando eso a las personas, pues iban a pensar que estaba loca.

Con los dias, Ana empezó a decaer físicamente y emocionalmente, las ojeras eran notorias, había bajado de peso y estaba muy irritable al igual que Juan, este había cambiado, se había puesto como aquella extraña casa, triste, opaco y siempre como ido, nostálgico, nunca tenia una respuesta por su actitud. Mientras tanto, Ana veía esta extraña mujer en todos lados a los pies de su cama, al salir del baño, en la cocina y siempre con voz lastimosa, nunca entendía nada, ya que salía corriendo en cada oportunidad.

Pero, Ana ya cansada de este acoso fantasmal, el domingo fue y hablo con el párroco de la iglesia y en confesión le contó todo lo que le estaba pasando, que nadie la quería oír y que lo que fuese la estaba volviendo loca. El padre accedió a bendecir todas las areas de la casa y por un tiempo las cosas se calmaron. Ana pensó por fin, pero fue alegría vana, porque cuando estaba mas confiada, volvió a ver a la mujer de nuevo con su voz de queja, de lamentos.

Pronto empezaron las peleas entre ella y Juan, pronto la vida se le hizo amarga, triste, opaca, melancólica como aquella casa. Volvió donde el padre, el visitó de nuevo la casa, hizo unas oraciones en latín que Ana no entendió y como siempre que el iba, se calmaban las cosas, pero al poco tiempo todo volvía con mas fuerza. Esto ya era extenuante.

Ana terminó de irse casa de sus padres, Juan se volvió donde sus padres también, mientras los ánimos se calmaban, entendido por fin, que aquella casa y esa terrorífica novia estaban acabando con su matrimonio. Juan consiguió una nueva casa, llena de luz y vida, cuando Ana la vio de una vez pensó, esta casa si tiene alegría, tiene vida, tiene luz, me canta a mi, esta para llenarse de amor y eso fue lo que hicieron. Pronto tuvieron familia felizmente.

Al poco tiempo, los padres de Ana mandaron a demoler aquella casa y sacaron de cuajo aquel extraño árbol, en sus raíces encontraron una vieja osamenta y apenas unas hilachas de lo que en su tiempo había sido un vestido de novias, junto a un anillo de oro de matrimonio, en un pequeño y antiguo cofre. No se supo que había pasado con aquella novia, ni porque había sido enterrada debajo de ese árbol, pero lo que haya pasado no debió ser nada bueno, pues ella no lograba descansar, el padre le dio cristiana sepultura junto a todos sus objetos personales y por fin, descanso en paz.

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English

Back in the 60's Ana and Juan got married, she was very young, only 17 years old and Juan was already 25 years old, but both with youth and life ahead of them. They were married in their small town and soon as a wedding gift, the bride's parents gave her an old house, which they had acquired but over the years had left in reserve, for when their only daughter married and to have her near them, those were the plans.

Ana had visited the property only once and it had not seemed so cozy to her, on the contrary, she saw it gloomy and with an air of sadness, that seemed to her, always with the mania of giving emotions to objects, as if it were a person, then that house seemed to her, dull, sad and nostalgic, that was her conclusion regarding it.

But seeing the emotion with which her parents gave it to her and her husband, she had no choice but to keep silent and instead put a broad smile on her face, she did not want to hurt her parents, besides, the poor people had ordered to fix the property, trying to give it life, sending it to paint, to change doors and windows to make its appearance more pleasant for their daughter, they did not want her not to like it.

Seeing the effort, the expense and the love they had put into their housing and remodeling project for their daughter, both Ana and Juan gladly accepted their gift. After the celebration and wedding party, the honeymoon, about a month later, they were ready to move into their new home. Upon entering, Ana felt as if the house was watching her, dull, sad, nostalgic, despite the arrangements, its heavy "essence" was still noticeable, which Ana felt rejected upon arrival.

But like any young newlywed, she tried to give her personal touch to that house, but it seemed too big and with strange divisions, which were extremely hateful to her, it was long and the rooms were disproportionate to what a house should be, at least in her mind. You entered and at once there was the living room, then a bedroom, then the kitchen, then another bedroom, then a courtyard, which only had in the middle an ugly tree, without life, without fruits and at the end the bathroom.

So, if it occurred to them to use the bathroom for any emergency, they had to go through the whole house to get to it, let alone at night,
For Ana it was mission impossible to go there, she found the patio very scary, so she opted at night to use a bedpan or a bedside cup. Days went by, soon her husband started his work routine and Ana was left alone in that house.

One evening, almost in darkness, she felt like going to the bathroom, but when she peeked into the courtyard, she saw a mysterious woman by the tree, dressed entirely in white, she began to detail her in the darkness and realized that she was dressed as a bride, when she was sure of this, the strange woman turned to look at her and began to say something that Ana did not hear, because she ran to her room and was dazed under the sheets, so Juan got her.

Ana told Juan and he told her that she must have imagined it, to stay calm, but Ana knew what she had seen, from that moment her ordeal began, when she had to go to the bathroom, there was always that image in her memory tormenting her. One night, she was in bed with her tired husband, who was already asleep, and just as she was falling asleep she heard how they called her clearly, but it was as if the voice came from the wind, as if it was going in echoes?

Those murmurs lasted all night long, she woke Juan up but he insisted that he did not hear anything and to let him sleep. Ana had no choice but to talk to her mother and father, but they told her that it was probably her newlywed wife's nerves, that it was just her imagination, that she should shut up and not talk about it to people, because they would think she was crazy.

As the days went by, Ana began to decline physically and emotionally, the dark circles under her eyes were notorious, she had lost weight and was very irritable, just like Juan, he had changed, he had become like that strange house, sad, opaque and always as if he was gone, nostalgic, he never had an answer for his attitude. Meanwhile, Ana saw this strange woman everywhere, at the foot of her bed, when leaving the bathroom, in the kitchen and always with a pitiful voice, she never understood anything, since she ran away at every opportunity.

But, Ana, tired of this ghostly harassment, went and talked to the parish priest of the church on Sunday and in confession told him everything that was happening to her, that no one wanted to hear her and that whatever it was was driving her crazy. The priest agreed to bless all the areas of the house and for a while things calmed down. Ana finally thought, but it was vain joy, because when she was more confident, she saw the woman again with her complaining, wailing voice.

Soon the quarrels between her and Juan began, soon life became bitter, sad, dull, melancholic like that house. She went back to her father, he visited the house again, said some prayers in Latin that Ana did not understand and as always when he went there, things calmed down, but soon everything came back with more force. This was already exhausting.

Ana finished leaving her parents' house, Juan went back to his parents' house as well, while the mood calmed down, finally understanding that that house and that terrifying bride were ending his marriage. Juan got a new house, full of light and life, when Ana saw it for once she thought, this house has joy, it has life, it has light, it sings to me, it is to be filled with love and that is what they did. Soon they had a happy family.

Soon after, Ana's parents had that house demolished and pulled out that strange tree, in its roots they found an old skeleton and just a few strands of what had once been a wedding dress, along with a gold wedding ring, in a small old chest. It was not known what had happened to that bride, nor why she had been buried under that tree, but whatever happened must not have been anything good, because she could not rest, the father gave her a Christian burial along with all her personal belongings and finally, she rested in peace.