“Hello Hot Lips,” she murmured, seductively, briefly forgetting her ordeal and enjoying the fact that she could say whatever she liked without anyone hearing her. “I bet you know how to kiss a girl.”
She looked over at the solitary man sitting in the corner of the room. His cold, beady eyes seemed to be staring right through her and she felt a shiver run through her as she turned away. “I bet you’re a barrel of laughs,” she muttered.
Turning back to the group, now looking like they’d gone to sleep, Jemma wondered how she was going to get Alice’s attention.
She tried everything she could think of. She prodded her, pulled her hair, shouted loudly into her ear, but there was no reaction. Jemma felt desperate. If she couldn't talk to Alice, she’d be completely on her own. She needed Alice to tell her what to do next, and she needed a hug.
Maybe she’d have more luck with Jack, she thought and went and stood behind him.
“BOO!” she shouted at the top of her voice - nothing.
“You’re doing it all wrong,” said a voice behind her, making her jump. Who the hell was that? Was the voice talking to her? Slowly, she turned to see who the voice belonged to, and was horrified to find herself face to face with Hot Lips.
“Are you talking to me?” she asked, a little tentatively. Maybe he was talking to Jack.
“Of course, who else would I be talking to?”
“You mean, you can see me?”
“Oh yes, I can definitely see you,” he grinned.
“Why? I mean, how come? Are you psychic?”
“No, I’m dead. Just like you. Oh, and I haven’t had any complaints.”
“About what?”
“The way I kiss a girl.”
Jemma didn’t know whether to be embarrassed about her earlier, supposedly private, flirtation or relieved that she could finally communicate with someone.
“Sorry about that,” she mumbled, feeling herself blush. Did ghosts blush? Well, it certainly felt that way.
“Don’t be, I’m flattered,” grinned Hot Lips. “So, when did you die?”
This was turning out to be one hell of a weird day, thought Jemma, suddenly overcome with emotion. Hearing him ask her so casually when she’d died, brought the realism of her plight back to her with a start. This was way too weird. Her life had just been snatched away from her, and here she was flirting with a ghost, and discussing death as if they were having a casual chat in the local supermarket.
Overwhelmed and biting back threatening tears, she smiled bravely and said, “Actually, I just died today.”
She was going to crack some sort of joke about how this sort of thing happened all the time, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She felt totally drained - it was all too much.
“I don’t want to be dead,” she whispered, as the first tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t want to be here, I just want to go home. I need Alice, oh god, what am I going to do?” A desperate feeling of panic enveloped her as the reality of what was happening, once again, gripped her.
“I’m so sorry,” said Hot Lips, gently. “If it’s any consolation, I know just how you feel. I died over 20 years ago and I still haven’t got over it. By the way, my name’s Tom.”
Jemma looked at Tom in shock, “20 years? Oh my god, that’s awful. But why? Aren’t you supposed to go to Heaven or something?”
Tom shook his head sadly. “I can’t move on, because I can’t accept the circumstances of when I died, so I’m afraid I’m stuck here forever, trapped in this damned dimension.”
Was that what this was, a dimension? Surely, it was just a case of the good go to Heaven, and the bad go to Hell. End of story. So what was this stuff about a dimension? Were there other dimensions? Was Heaven in another dimension?
“Will I be stuck here too?” she whispered. There were so many questions spinning around in her head, but she wasn’t quite sure how to ask them, this was all way out of her league.
“Well, I don’t know, to be honest. As you’re here with us now, it looks like you’ve either got unfinished business in the living world or you weren’t meant to die in the first place. Either way, once you’re here it’s practically impossible to leave, so I’m afraid it looks like you are stuck here.” Tom looked at Jemma with genuine sympathy in his eyes.
The thought of being stuck there forever, trapped in some strange void, being aware of her presence and yet knowing that she no longer existed, was too much to bear. She looked at Tom. He was handsome and clearly a decent guy, but she felt irritated that he had just given up so easily. Why couldn’t she move on to wherever it was she was meant to go?
“No!” cried Jemma, with a renewed strength. “I can’t accept that, there must be something I can do. I won’t stay here forever.”
Tom put a hand on her shoulder and said as kindly as he could. “I’m afraid you haven’t got a choice.”
“Oh no? Well, you just wait and see. This can’t be all there is, I just won’t accept that. There must be something more than this, somewhere better, and I’m going to find it. And I’ll tell you one thing, Tom, I’ll never give up, I will find my way out of here, if it’s the last thing I do.”
Chapter 3
“I'd offer you a cup of coffee, but you wouldn't be able to drink it,” Tom's attempt at humour, didn't humour Jemma at all.
“Great,” she said, miserably. “Not only am I a bloody ghost, but I'm a starving ghost.” The thought that she wouldn't be able to eat or drink again, did nothing for her, already, pessimistic mood.
She was now more determined than ever, to get the hell out of there.
Jemma's mind was racing as she looked around the room. She had to do something, but what? Alice must be able to help her, she thought desperately. All she had to do was get her attention. OK, so her attempts to talk to her and Jack had been unsuccessful so far, but this was meant to be a psychics' meeting after all, so you'd think there'd be other people there who would be more receptive.
As she glanced around the room again, her eyes settled on the young girl she had spotted earlier. She remembered, vaguely, that Alice had once mentioned that children were more in tune with their psychic side. If she could somehow communicate with the child, maybe she could act as a medium between her and Alice and, together, they could exorcise her or something, and she could move on to the next place, wherever that might be. It was worth a try.
Ignoring Tom's protests, she walked up to the girl and stood as close to her as possible. In fact, they were so close that they were practically touching noses.
“Hello?” shouted Jemma, as loudly as she could. “Hello, can you hear me?”
“I'm not bloody deaf!” the girl shouted back. Jemma was so shocked, she screamed in fright.
“Oh no, not another one,” she groaned. “Don't tell me. You're a ghost, right?”
“Yeah, and I'm sorry if I frightened you, but you looked so funny,” giggled the girl, exposing an endearing dimple on each freckled cheek. “I'm Susie.”
“Hello Susie. So, are there any more of you, or are you done with frightening the life out of me?” She wasn't sure she could cope with any more shocks today.
Susie had a mischievous glint in her eye, as she replied. “Well, actually, you haven't got any life left in you, remember? Anyway, there's Max over there - he's a grumpy old sod.”
As she turned to see who Susie was pointing to, she saw that Max was the miserable one with the beady eyes. Great!
“Susie, don't be rude,” scolded Tom. “Max is just a bit quiet, that's all.” When he saw Jemma's expression, he added, “Don't worry, Max is just a harmless old spook, aren't you Max?”
“Hmph,” growled the scowling old man.
“I've so got to get out of here,” muttered Jemma, under her breath. “Okay,” she turned to Tom. “You said earlier that I was doing it wrong when I was trying to talk to Alice. As you're so clever, why don't you show me the right way?”
“It's not as simple as that. First I have to e
xplain to you a bit about where and what we are. Susie, you always accuse me of getting too technical, do you want to explain?”
“Okay, get ready, because this is going to blow your mind!” Susie jumped up, shaking back her long, light brown hair, eager to show off her knowledge. She rolled her eyes up, as if preparing to recite a script that she had learnt by heart. “You may think that there are only three dimensions, four if you include time, but there are in fact eleven dimensions, most of them just folds in space and time – simple really, but it sounds a bit weird.” She glanced at Tom, as if she was seeking confirmation that she was on the right track. He smiled and Susie continued eagerly.
“Once you die, really die I mean, not like us, people become free beings of pure energy that can move through most of those dimensions. The reason we're here, is that we're trapped in one of them.” She leant over to Tom and whispered, “Is that right?” Tom nodded, and Susie looked pleased with herself.
“So, how come we're trapped here, why couldn't we just become one of those free beings of energy?” Jemma's head was spinning, trying to get her head around what Susie was telling her. She must be some clever kid to know this stuff.
“That's the problem, you can only become a free spirit if you were completely at peace when you died. Some of us weren't meant to die, some of us can't accept we're dead, while others can't move on because they have some sort of unfinished business back with the living. It’s sort of like being in an in-between state, neither in one place or the other.” She glanced again at Tom who, once again, nodded his encouragement.
“So, can we ever leave?” asked Jemma, hopefully.
“I think so, but it depends on the circumstances of your death. Until you sort out the reason you're here in the first place, I'm afraid you ain't going nowhere!” stated Susie, dramatically.
“Okay, so how is all this linked to the way I make contact with Alice?”
“I'll let Tom talk you through that. It’s gets a bit harder now and he's better at that bit than I am.”
Jemma looked expectantly across at Tom.
He cleared his throat. “Before I tell you about touching the living, there’s something you need to know about the dead. Right now there’s no physical barrier around you to allow us to touch you. Apart from the fact that it’s both natural and comforting for us to feel the touch of someone else, even if it is a ghost, it also leaves you highly vulnerable. Anyone could look inside you right now, read your thoughts and even take over your mind and soul.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t look so worried,” smiled Tom, “there’s an easy remedy to that. You need to erect a barrier of energy around you, once you’ve done that, keep it there always. Here’s what you do, close your eyes and imagine a white light, deep inside you.” Jemma did as Tom said and closed her eyes. After a moment or two, he continued. “Can you see the light?” When she nodded, he said, “Now, imagine holding that white light in your hands and slowly wrapping it around your body. Imagine you can feel the glow.” He waited for her to eventually open her eyes and when she did so, he moved over to her and touched her gently on the arm. Rather than passing through her, his hand rested gently on her arm, and she jumped slightly at the feel of his touch.
“Good, it seems to have worked. That’ll stop any unwanted intrusions and will allow you to test your theory.”
“What theory?”
“Whether I know how to kiss a girl.”
Jemma felt that blush again, and hurriedly looked away.
“Right, now that’s done, I’ll get back to telling you how to touch Alice. Imagine that everything in the universe is made up of an invisible field of energy. Well, our energy is a part of that field too, as is everything else in the universe, and you can control that energy just by thinking about it. Consciousness controls reality!”
“Oh yeah, right,” laughed Jemma.
“Just listen. When the living see a 'ghost' they're seeing one of three types of entities. The first, and most common, is a residual haunting, which is basically just an event imprinted on the edge of a dimension that replays over and over. Boring.
Then, there's the free spirits, the ones that can move beyond the dimensions. These entities can manifest and communicate very easily, because they have access to unlimited energy. However, they cannot communicate with us, because they can't penetrate the boundaries of some of the dimensions, including this one.
And then there's us! We can also communicate with the living, but it's much harder for us because we don’t have that unlimited energy. So, what you have to do is concentrate very hard – you have to use your mind to make it happen, but that takes lots of energy, which we don’t have.”
Tom looked at Jemma, as if waiting for her to question what he'd just said. Instead, she looked at him thoughtfully, digesting every word. So he continued. “The trouble is, the more you concentrate, the more energy you need. So, that's when you have to draw energy from the field, which takes practice. However, you can cheat by using the energy from things like heat, lights, batteries and even body heat from the living.”
“How do you know all this stuff?” frowned Jemma, still not sure if he was making it all up.
“By talking to others who have been here for decades, even centuries. And then, as you experience it for yourself, it all seems to fall into place. It suddenly all seems so obvious. It does take time, though, to be able to communicate effectively with the living. You have to start with something simple, like a gentle touch and once you know how to do that, you’ll find it gets easier with practice.”
“Oh. Will you show me now, on one of these people here?”
“Yes, of course, but first I want to ask you a question.”
“What?”
“Why are you so desperate to talk to Alice? I mean, what makes you so sure that she can help you?”
Jemma wasn't sure what to say. How could she explain that Alice always knew what to do, had always advised and helped her whenever she got into a muddle – which was quite often – and that Alice had a profound intuition that hinted at her innate spirituality. It could well be that Alice wouldn't be able to help, but just hearing her tell her that she would be okay, would be a huge comfort and would give her the confidence to fight her way out of there. But she couldn't possibly expect Tom to understand that though, so, instead, she shrugged and said, “I just do. Please, Tom, just show me.”
So Tom got up and walked over to one of the people in the group, still in deep meditation. Jemma couldn't help noticing his tall, athletic build as he moved across the room. His clothes were a bit dated, but seeing that he died over 20 years ago, she could forgive him that. His dark brown hair was quite short, showing off his handsome face, and when he smiled, with that beautiful perfect mouth, she was shocked to find that her stomach did a little somersault.
“I'm going to make this woman feel my hand brush against hers. Watch.”
And she watched. And she saw the deep concentration on his face, as he was thinking about what he needed to do, and then, at just the right moment, he gently ran his fingers along the woman's hand. She watched as the woman jumped and glanced down at her hand in surprise. She must have thought she'd imagined it, because she shut her eyes again quite quickly, and resumed her meditation. But she had seen Tom make contact with a living person, and it gave her hope.
Susie clapped at Tom's success, and promptly went over to tickle a woman on the nose, although nothing happened.
“Damn!” she exclaimed. “I can hardly ever do it, it's sooo annoying.”
“You're too young to concentrate that hard,” explained Tom. “Keep trying though, don't give up. You will get better at it.”
“How old are you, Susie?” asked Jemma.
“Nine,” she replied, “although I'd have been twenty nine now if I'd still been alive.”
It didn't take a genius to work out that Susie must have died 20 years ago then. Around the same time that Tom died. Were they related, she wondered. What was the
ir connection here? How did they die?
She realised that there were so many questions she wanted to ask. Why were they trapped here in this dimension, and why were they haunting Jack's house? What were these circumstances relating to Tom's death, that he couldn't accept? And what about Max? Who was he, and why was he there? For the first time since she'd died, she realised, she was thinking about other people, and that had distracted her from her own problems – briefly.
She decided that she'd have plenty of time for questions later – if she was still around. Right now though, she just wanted to try and make contact with Alice, while she was still there. She walked over to where her friend was sitting and stood behind her. As she started to clear her mind, ready to concentrate, she looked up and saw Tom give her an encouraging smile. She smiled back, and realised that that was probably the first time he had seen her smile.
It felt like ages before she was ready. She felt her body relax as she closed her eyes and willed her mind to become more focused. She felt heavier and heavier as she concentrated harder and more intensely. Finally, somehow, she knew she was ready and, slowly, she leant over Alice, pursed her lips and gently blew on the back of her neck.
*****
“Oh shit!” cried Alice, as she jumped up in shock. Everyone opened their eyes and looked at her.
“I'm so sorry,” she mumbled, feeling herself blush.
Jack came to her rescue. “Tell you what guys, let's have a break. I'm sure you could all do with a drink. We'll lighten things up a bit for the last hour.”
As everyone dashed for the kettle, and the loo, Jack came over to her.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his gorgeous brown eyes showing genuine concern.
“Oh Jack, I'm sorry about that, but I felt something on my neck. I've been feeling really uncomfortable for a while, and that was just the last straw.”
Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) Page 3
