“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” He said. “I’ve had years to plan this, and once I managed to take over Nathan for good, I learned a few tricks.”
“I’m sorry to inform you, but I don’t think they’ll be of much use to you where you’re going,” I said.
“The only place I’m going is out of here, in this body,” he said.
“And how do you think you’ll manage that?” I asked him. “You’re surrounded. I won’t let you hurt anyone else. We won’t let you hurt anyone ever again.”
That smile was back on his face. Just as I thought that he was going to lunge at one of us with that knife, he turned it on himself instead. He held it right where his heart was.
“If you don’t break that salt circle and let me out of here, you can say goodbye to poor Danny here,” he said.
Jonathan and Kane still had their guns aimed in his direction.
“You lost,” he said, looking straight at them. “Now get out of my way before I kill him.”
“The result will be the same no matter what,” I said. “You’ll still be stuck here whether you kill him or not.”
“You don’t care if he lives or dies?” He said with a smile. “Fine, I’ll kill him then.”
I watched in horror as he pressed the knife closer to Danny’s chest.
Rebecca was seething this whole time, not moving an inch, but now she jumped into action. She let out a ghostly scream as she lunged at Danny. Danny, or Rochester in this case, didn’t even flinch. He had no idea she was coming for him.
A ghostly wind took over the whole room. Napkins started flying off the tables, condiments falling every which way. Even the tables and chairs themselves started to shake.
“What’s going on here?” Rachel asked as she moved around to record the whole shebang.
“Rebecca,” was all I needed to say.
Even Jonathan and Kane were surprised by the show. To be honest, so was I. Rebecca was never good at affecting the physical realm. Some ghosts could do it, but she wasn’t one of them, no matter how hard she tried to improve. But things had obviously changed since she got her memories back.
When Danny realized what was happening, he turned the knife from himself to the invisible force in front of him. I was the only one who saw when Rebecca grabbed his arm and practically wrestled the knife from his hand. The knife went flying across the room.
I ran and took it in my hand and ran back to where the others were.
“Now!” I yelled at Jonathan and Kane. “Subdue him now!”
They ran into action, holstering their guns as they got hold of Danny and pinned him to the floor.
“No!” Danny screamed.
“Get the cuffs on him,” Jonathan said to Rachel. “And get a chair.”
She sprang into action and helped them out.
Once they had him in place, I handed them the rope and they secured him to the chair.
Rebecca was across the room, her back to me. It was obvious she was in her own world. I needed to talk to her, but that would have to wait. I had to get rid of Rochester first. I had to get rid of him for good.
Before I could finish the circle of salt around the chair Danny was strapped in, I felt and then saw Rochester leaving his body.
“He’s out!” I said to the others. “Watch out!”
Jonathan and Kane instinctively took hold of their guns again as Rochester flew across the room, obviously on his way to test the barrier the others had made outside. I just hoped they didn’t leave any weak spots in their wake.
“Put those away,” I said to the guys. “Remember that salt and iron mixture in your pockets? Now would be the time to take those out.”
Rochester flew around, from one end of the restaurant to another, each time bouncing back, thrown back by the force of the salt circle. But he wasn’t stopping anytime soon, by the looks of it.
This brought Rebecca back. When he returned from one end of the restaurant and was on his way to another, she stood in his way.
“You’re done here,” she said as she flew into him.
The ghostly wind got even stronger now. A few chairs started to fall over. Danny was unconscious, still restrained in the chair. Jonathan and Kane moved him out of the way, while Rachel continued to record everything in awe.
“This is amazing,” she said.
For my part, I held a fistful of the salt and iron mixture and waited for the right moment to use it. Now that Rebecca and Rochester were tangled into one ghostly blur, I decided to hold back. I didn’t know what throwing that mixture into the mix would do to Rebecca.
“Rebecca, Eileen, if you can hear me, please let him go,” I said. “I’ll send him where he belongs, but I can’t do that unless you let him go.”
The two ghosts were still entangled together as they flew across one end of the restaurant to another, even more chairs going airborne now.
“Rebecca, please,” I said again, this time a bit louder. “Let. Him. Go.”
I knew what I was asking of her, but if we were going to get rid of Rochester Bailey for good, she needed to let me do my job.
After a minute or so of that ghostly blur, I finally saw two distinct forms again. I immediately recognized one as Rebecca. The other, a shadowy form without many features, I knew to be Rochester.
I didn’t waste any time throwing the salt and iron mixture at the form.
“Freeze,” I told it. “Do not move!”
The others knew what that meant. Jonathan, Kane, and Rachel all sprang into action and created a circle of salt and iron around the area I pointed out to them.
“Your time on this earth is over,” I told the evil ghost.
“No!” Rochester Bailey screamed, a few of his old human features coming to the forefront.
“Yes,” I said. “It’s time for you to go where you belong.”
Just as I said that, a portal of light opened beneath him, on the floor. He looked down in horror. I never actually knew what the ghosts saw on the other side, and this one was no different. But judging by Rochester’s reaction, nothing good was waiting for him on the other side.
“No! Never!” He screamed.
“Yes. Now,” I said. “Time for you to leave this earthly plane forever. And may you never return.”
As soon as I said the words, the portal of light practically sucked Rochester’s shadowy form into it. And then it was gone. Just like that. Like it had never been there in the first place.
“Is it over?” Rachel asked, coming to my side. “Is it really finally over?”
I nodded. “He’s gone. For good this time.”
Mike, Jacob, and Chloe joined the party once they heard the good news. Danny started to come back to consciousness as well. While the rest of them talked about everything that just happened, I went to check on Rebecca. She was by the front door, staring into the world beyond.
I saw that the circle of salt was still intact outside the restaurant. That’s why she couldn’t go any further. I broke the circle with my shoe.
“Thanks,” she said as she floated outside. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out. It was as if nothing awful had happened at all.
I saw a door of light in the distance.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked her.
Rebecca nodded. “Yeah. It’s for me.”
“What are you waiting for?”
She turned and looked at me. “Thank you, Meredith. Thank you for everything.”
“Don’t mention it,” I said and smiled. “Thank you for always being there for me.”
“How does it feel to know who you finally are?” I asked her after a minute of silence. She wasn’t moving toward the door of light at all.
“Strange. Now that he’s gone, even stranger. It’s like that life was just a dream.”
“Do you want to go?”
“I have to, don’t I? It’s my time. I don’t have any more unfinished business. Thanks to you,” she added.
“You helped out a lot
too. You even managed to move some physical objects.”
She smiled at that. “I did, didn’t I?”
“I wish I could hug you,” I said.
“I wish that too,” she said. “This is goodbye, isn’t it?”
Tears streamed down my face. “Yes, but I’m sure we’ll see each other again. What do you see beyond that door of light?”
“All good things,” she said. “Goodbye until we meet again.”
“Bye,” I said as I watched her walk toward the door of light. My vision blurred because of the tears in my eyes. I had to look away. When I looked back, the door of light was gone, and so was Rebecca.
“Are you okay?” Kane asked me.
I turned around and hugged him hard. Sobbing into his jacket.
“How long have you been there?” I asked him, once I composed myself somewhat.
“Long enough. I wanted to give you two some space. Is she really gone?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m happy for her, but I’m still sad, you know?”
“I’ll always be here, you know that?” He said as he kissed me on the forehead.
“You better,” I said.
Then it was time to say goodbye to the ghost hunters. They got everything they wanted from their trip, now they needed to go back home and put it all together.
“Remember to send it to me before anyone else,” I said, especially looking at Rachel.
“Don’t worry, we won’t blindside you again,” she said. She gave me a quick hug. “It was fun working together, wasn’t it? We should do this more often.”
“Maybe if your show becomes a hit,” I joked.
I said goodbye to Mike and Jacob. Then I took Chloe aside.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I think so,” she said, still sounding unsure of herself.
“You’re an excellent psychic, Chloe,” I said. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”
“I’m sure you could have,” she said, self-deprecating as ever.
“No, I’m serious,” I said. “You have a gift, Chloe. Embrace it.”
She nodded.
I gave her a quick hug.
“Call me anytime, and do contact Callie, I’m sure she’ll be able to help you more than I ever could.”
Once we made sure Danny was okay, Kane and I were finally ready to go home. Gran was making dinner and my stomach was growling just thinking about it.
It felt strange when it was just him and me in the van. I kept looking back, expecting Rebecca to be there, but she wasn’t. She was never going to be there again.
Once we were in front of Gran’s house, I went ahead while Kane parked the van. I was surprised to see Gran already waiting for me on the front porch.
“What’s up?” I asked her as I went up the steps. It was only when I was practically face-to-face with her that I realized that she was see-through.
Twenty-Four
I stood there in shock.
“Why aren’t you going inside?” Kane asked, startling me from behind.
“She’s….she’s…” was all I managed to say.
“It’s okay, honey,” Gran said. “I know I’m dead.”
“What happened?” I asked her as Kane looked at me strangely. He took the keys out of my hand and went through my grandmother. She dispersed and then formed again right in front of my eyes.
“Can’t say I enjoyed that very much,” she said with a smile.
“What…how…why?” I said as Kane opened the door.
I could see into the kitchen and saw a body lying there. Kane immediately sprang into action.
“She’s not breathing,” he said. “She doesn’t have a pulse. I’ll call an ambulance.”
“She’s dead,” I said. “She’s standing right in front of me.”
The cats meowed then, but not where her body lay, but at the outside. Gran went through the screen door and I followed inside.
“Should I do CPR?” Kane asked me, obviously panicked.
“No. She’s gone,” I said, eerily calm.
“How could this happen?” I asked her. “Did someone do this to you?”
“No, honey,” she said with a smile. “It was my heart, I think. I felt chest pains and then I felt a sharp pain go through me. Before I could reach the phone, I was on the floor. And then, amazingly, I was standing right above my body. I can finally understand all those things you’ve talked about. I’m dead but I’m still here, isn’t that amazing?”
I looked around but I didn’t see a door of light.
“I had to say goodbye before I went,” she said. She looked around. “No Rebecca? I was looking forward to finally meeting her.”
“She moved on,” I said.
“Then maybe I’ll stick around and watch over you from now on?”
“You don’t have to do that, Mrs. Good,” a familiar voice said. I turned around and saw Rebecca standing behind me.
“I thought you moved on to the other side,” I said. “I saw you…”
“I went toward the light,” Rebecca said. “I was really close, in fact, but then I remembered that you’d be all alone without me and I had to turn around. I couldn’t let anything happen to you. Besides, I have plenty of time to move on. Maybe when you die, we can move on together?”
I could hear the sirens in the distance.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said, and I really didn’t. All this was too much. I tried not to think about the body in the kitchen. My grandmother was right here in front of me. A mixture of emotions hit me and I had to take a seat on the couch.
Kane came to my side, putting his hands around me. “Are you okay?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Rebecca’s here too. She and my grandmother are chatting right now.”
And they were. They were catching up, finally happy to be able to talk to each other, all this while the sound of sirens was getting closer and closer.
Once they arrived, they confirmed that my grandmother was really dead. But she was right here in front of me, alive as ever. And she was alive just a few short hours ago.
“I’m sorry,” I told her once they left. “I’m sorry I took it for granted that you’d always be here.”
She leaned down and put a ghostly hand on my cheek. I could feel a slight chill there, but that was it.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” she said. “You were the best granddaughter a grandmother could ask for.”
I burst into tears then. Gran had always been there. She had raised me and my brother when my parents left us to pursue their own dreams elsewhere. And now she was gone. Forever. Once she walked through the door of light that was bound to appear anytime soon, I’d never see her again. Until…
“It’s okay, hon,” she said. “You’d think you of all people wouldn’t take this so hard.”
“I’m going to miss you,” I said.
“I can stick around,” she said.
“I can’t ask you to do that. I’m sure you have many loved ones on the other side waiting for you.”
“There’s quite a few here as well,” she said, smiling in my direction. Then she looked down at the cats that were moving around her as if they could sense her presence.
“I’ll take good care of them, don’t worry about that,” I said.
“I know you will,” she said.
The next week or so went by in a blur, the only constant companions I had were my grandmother and Rebecca. Everyone came down for the funeral. My father, my mother, my brother.
Once it was all said and done, Gran had left her house and car to me. She left the bakery to Sarah. Troy got most of her savings, to finance his Hollywood dreams she had told me to tell him.
She said goodbye to everyone. To her son, my father. To my mother. But they didn’t much care for ghosts and the paranormal. They never took my gift seriously. Only Troy, my brother, had an actual conversation with Gran through me. Before he left, I gave him Rachel’s number. His first movie was finally get
ting off the ground, and I thought that they could help each other since they were sort of in the same business now.
Once everyone left and it was just us again, a door of light appeared in the distance.
“Is she still here?” Sarah asked me. She and Jonathan stayed behind to help me clean up.
“Yeah, but not for long,” I said. “A door of light just appeared.”
Gran said goodbye to everyone. She was sad that she wouldn’t be around to see whether Sarah would have a boy or a girl, but overall she was ready to move on.
“Goodbye,” I said with tears in my eyes.
“We’ll see each other again, I’m sure of it,” she said. “Take care of her for me, won’t you?” She said to Rebecca.
“Of course,” Rebecca said.
Then I watched as Gran walked into that door of light. And then the door of light faded, and she was gone for good.
Sarah put an arm around me. “It’ll be okay,” she said.
“I know,” I said. “As long as we have each other.”
“We are living right across the street from each other now,” she reminded me.
“Yeah, how could I forget?” I said and smiled. What I didn’t say was that I was definitely not looking forward to helping out with the baby once it came.
While the others finished cleaning up, I joined Rebecca in the backyard. She was looking at the spot the door of light had been.
“Do you regret not going through? Do you regret staying behind?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t.”
“Do I call you Eileen now? Ellie?” I said. Now that she remembered who she was, I didn’t really know.
“Rebecca is fine,” she said. “I’ve been Rebecca for far longer than I’ve been Eileen. Plus, I kind of prefer it, if I’m to be honest.”
“Good. It would be kind of weird to start calling you something else after all this time. Thank you for staying, by the way. I know what kind of sacrifice you’re making.”
“It’s not a sacrifice at all,” Rebecca said. “Plus, I couldn’t miss out on all the fun, now could I? Somebody has to watch your back and snoop around for you without being seen.”
I laughed. “That’s true. But what about that show you put in against you-know-who? Do you think you could repeat something like that, I mean physically moving stuff around? I’m not going to lie, it could come in very handy in the future.”
Ghostly Endings (A Ghost Hunter P.I. Mystery Book 5) Page 16
