I moved my hand further into the light, seeking the solace it provided. I looked at Laura, “It feels like going home. A real home. The home. You know, I could just join Henry now and float away with him.”
Laura grasped my hand to the point of pain, “You will not! This is Henry’s time. We will all have our time, but this is not now. You’ve helped him, now it’s time to let him go.”
I gave her a shaky smile, “Sometimes, you do make a very good point.”
Henry floated upwards, taken by the hands coming down with the light. A woman, kissed Henry on his cheek, “My love, we have all eternity to be together now. Come, I have some people I want you to meet.”
“Thank you, Cassie. For everything.” Henry smiled at me, winked, and then faded. The light dimmed and withdrew until there was no more there than the empty air. “He’s gone,” I breathed.
I rested my head to the ground. Unconsciousness tugged at my senses, threatening to drag me down. I struggled to keep them open. Elliot! I needed to fight sleep. There was more to be done.
Henry had found his peace, but not the man who sought it himself.
My gaze found Elliot’s. His shoulders were stooped, his coat seemed to swamp his body, dragging him down. My heart cracked a little more. I wanted to wrap my arms around him as I had done minutes ago, wanted him to know he did matter, that he wasn’t the person he thought he was. Could never be that person.
He looked totally defeated. He had tried, so hard, and won nothing. A lump caught in my throat.
“I’m still here. The light…didn’t take me. They forgot about me, Cassie,” he said. “What am I meant to do now?”
Chapter Thirteen
The hurt changed to anger. I sat, forcing my body to do what it clearly did not want to do. I fought through the wave of nausea that crashed through my body, struggled against weak, shaking legs and stood before him.
“Don’t do this to yourself, Cassie. Lie down. You need to rest.”
“Not when you’re thinking like this. There are so many reasons why this isn’t your time.”
“Then what are they? Tell me, Cassie and I’ll do it.” He started to pace, “It was meant to be my time eighty years ago! A lifetime! I must have done something very, very wrong that I am forced to walk the earth-like this!” His features twisted with grief and held his hand to my cheek. “I can’t even touch you. Feel you.” His hand dropped. “I should have gone to hell when I died. Or maybe, just maybe, this is the hell I have to endure for my deeds in my life. I’m damned, Cassie. Damned for eternity.”
“You’re not damned. You’re a good man, Elliot, I know it with everything I am. If you were so bad, you wouldn’t have had a wife and child.”
Full horror registered. “I had a wife...and a child...?”
God. What had I done? I’d told him the very thing that would send him over the edge again but there was no way I could back-pedal now. I nodded reluctantly and he looked more horrified than before. “I left behind a wife and child to defend for themselves?” His voice cracked.
For reasons I wasn’t sure of, I dared not tell him that his wife died on the same day he did. It was bad enough seeing the torture on his face now. “You can’t think like that. Five days ago, I wouldn’t have believed I would be standing here talking to you, seeing what I’ve seen. I wouldn’t have believed any of it. There has to be more to this situation than we know.”
“There is.” An unfamiliar voice slid like velvet through me. It sounded like a choir talking at the same time, seductive and beautiful.
“Oh. My. God!” Laura whispered. She was looking into the light, eyes wide, mouth open.
“You see it?” I asked.
She nodded, “It’s so...beautiful.”
Beautiful couldn’t describe the vision before us. No words could. My Catholic mind wanted to rejoice. My sanity yearned for my life a week ago. “The...the angel…the one that was there at the hospital when I crashed into the trolley,” I whispered.
The angel smiled and I basked in liquid warmth, honesty, and truth. Her golden hair, finer than silk, floated about her eternally beautiful face in glorious waves. Each strand was lit with an internal fire, so that it shone and blazed with the intensity of the sun’s rays. Her blue eyes pierced, missing nothing, judging nothing. They just watched and accepted as they were.
Her face was indescribably beautiful. Ethereal, timeless beauty, perfectly balanced. Golden brows, almond-shaped eyes, a straight nose perched over plump lips. She gazed at me with a serene smile, letting me drink in my fill of her. It was all I could do but stand and watch her, resisting the temptation to fold myself into her arms and just be with her.
Delicate wings stretched either side of her, reaching as high as the ceiling and as low as the floor. The tips were shaped in a graceful arch from behind her back to her feet. They were covered in gossamer fine, pure white feathers, the edges dipped in glowing gold. The feathers held the sun’s rays in them which threw an abundance of light into the dim little office. It was as though I looked into the radiance of the sun, but with a light that didn’t hurt my eyes.
She was dressed in a summer blue gown from her toes to her shoulders. The neckline plunged over her breasts, yet there was nothing overtly sexual about her. The sleeves were long and half covered her hands. The backs of the sleeve trailed down to her knees.
“My name is Ariel.” She spoke, a sound so beautiful I yearned to hear her speak again the moment she’d finished.
“Why are you here?” Elliot spoke the words I only thought. He reached to her, stretched his fingers, then let his hand drop. It occurred to me that if this was his chance at redemption, this was it.
“What are you waiting for? Go to her.” I said.
Elliot shook his head, “I don’t deserve her.”
The angel focused her gaze on Elliot, smiling as though she met an old friend. She was the exact opposite to the stinking, vile Soul-Eater that had attacked both Elliot and myself. Where that creature was evil, this angel was full of love and grace. Heaven personified.
“You deserve everything this loving universe can give you,” the angel said. “But it is not your time to go with me.”
“That’s what I told him,” I said.
Elliot expression was pure anguish, “When is my time?”
The angel smiled, “Now is your time to find the love and peace and fulfil the goals you didn’t obtain in your life on earth.”
“How can I do that when I’m like this? A shadow?”
“Just because you do not have a body of flesh and blood does not mean you are not a part of this earth. You are a part of everything. It is not time to pass through the veil. There is work to be done that only you can do, Elliot."
“How do you know?”
“You decided when you passed on your physical death that you haven’t finished what you wanted on earth during your life and those who decide heard you. It is all a part of the well devised harmonious plan for you.”
Elliot scoffed, “I don’t want to be a part of the plan, I wasn’t asked. I didn’t agree. I just want to go to where I’m meant to be.”
The angel smiled, “You did ask and the plan is in motion. You are where you are meant to be even if it doesn’t make any sense to you now.” She focused on me, “As it is with you Cassandra Hunter. Your gift is to be developed in this lifetime and I am here to help you.”
“I didn’t want this gift,” I said. “I mean, I’m grateful, but maybe someone more worthy than me can handle it better. “
“There is no-one more worthy than you. You have been chosen as a part of this Grand Plan as was Elliot Stone. You both wanted this more than life and beyond.”
“But…what is this plan?” Since I’d been lumped with this gift, it had been nothing but heartache. I had no control over it. It took me where I was going to get myself killed and I’d endangered my one and only sister. I couldn’t see how this plan, that I knew nothing about and didn’t choose, was going to work for me.”<
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“When you need guidance I will answer. I will guide, however, as a universal rule, I cannot defy your free-will.”
I drew in a deep breath, “Tell me whatever it is I need to do and I’ll do it.”
“Follow your instincts, Cassandra Hunter. They will guide you to where you need to be, when you need to go. Know there is an ultimate plan for your life and you will be well equipped to walk your path. It is the same for you also Elliot Stone.”
“How can that be? I’m not of Cassie’s world. I have lived my life long ago,” Elliot said.
The angel smiled and it was as though the sun broke between storm-clouds on a cold winter’s day. My knees threatened to give-out with the beauty of it. “You are a living entity, are you not? Because you do not have flesh does not mean you do not exist. You have been brought together in a harmonious existence for the benefit of both of you, and the human race.”
My concern grew, “The human race? Is this going to impact many people?” My life had been dedicated to saving lives one at a time. I wanted a peaceful life. I was happy in my job, doing my thing. The whole human race was larger than I could possibly cope with.
“Your fears will pass. You are both destined for greatness.”
“I can’t…I just…can’t. I’m not that person you’re putting such faith into,” I said.
The angel approached and touched my shoulders. Warmth enveloped me, gently heating me inside and out. Her wings unfolded, taking up the entire space of the office until there was nothing but light and warmth and the gentle caress of the softest feathers on my skin.
Elliot was also enfolded with her wings and drew us together. I bumped Elliot’s shoulder and faced him, gasping. “I can feel you! You’re...” I was going to say real, but I already knew he was as real as anything else I’d known, “...here!”
He uttered a gasp and his arms were around me, drawing me to his chest. I went to him, feeling like I’d just gone home. I tucked my cheek into the space between his neck and shoulder, feeling his strength surrounding me. It was so right being in his embrace, like a long forgotten memory remembered.
His palm was at my nape, gently winding his fingers through my hair. He pressed his lips on my forehead. I tilted my head up. “I thought…this couldn’t happen. Not here. Not in this world.”
His thumbs stroked my face as he looked down at me. He was just as real and as solid as before on the beach. Only he was here, in this world and in my arms. I knew without a doubt that this was what I would fight for. If it was possible for Elliot, I would help him on his journey and maybe, just maybe, we might be as real for each other as we were now. Always.
“That is a lot for fight for, Cassandra Hunter.”
“I can’t do it without him like this,” I demanded.
“You already have found a way to be together. If you wish it, it will come to be.”
Elliot frowned. “It’s dangerous for Cassie to follow me in the grey world. If her life-cord was cut, she would die.”
The angel smiled, “If you follow the plan, your wishes will be answered. Know this as truth.”
The angel faded. I grasped Elliot, desperate to hold onto him. He bent and touched his lips to mine, capturing me in a kiss. I threw my arms around his neck as though to keep him like this with me forever. My fingers clenched his collar, wound through his hair. Our kiss deepened as we clung to each other.
The light and the warmth faded as did the feeling of Elliot in my arms. I cracked open my eyes as the angel disappeared and Elliot stood before me in ethereal form. I kept my arms where they were although I couldn’t feel him anymore. We stayed there for long moments, drinking in the sight of each other.
“I can’t believe I saw her,” Laura whispered. “And I saw Elliot! Oh my God! I saw Elliot, too!”
I snapped back to the moment, and with that so did the pain from my side. I gasped, clutching the wound that still bled. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground. “Cassie!” Elliot cried, falling beside me.
Laura helped me settle on the floor. Sirens blazed outside. Blue and red lights flashed through the windows. “I’ll go let the nice paramedics in and when you’re ready, you will tell me all about this. Everything. Understand?”
“Yes, Mum.” I smiled. She got like this when she was worried. Hell, I was worried. But not about myself. I was worried about what the angel had told us.
Paramedics rushed inside and came over to me. Elliot stepped back, watching. I held his gaze as my vision blurred. I was beyond exhausted. “Don’t leave,” I whispered.
“I will never leave you again.”
Darkness descended and as I gave myself up to it, the last thing I felt was Elliot’s complete connection and I knew he would be there when I woke up. And God help me, I didn’t want him to leave. A big part, the most selfish part of me, was happy he was stuck between worlds.
For whatever reason it was, whether he was paying a penance for his past life, or there was a greater reason, I wanted him with me. And damned if this was right or not, I was glad the angel didn’t take him.
Chapter Fourteen
“I told you this would happen!”
“Mum, for the fiftieth time, don’t worry. I’m fine. I’ve helped Henry and he’s moved on!”
“Life was better for you without this curse. You had a life. A good life. You worked so hard to become a doctor and this is going to take it all away from you. You certainly wouldn’t be in hospital right now. Henry might be gone, but what about the others? I’ll bet they’re lined up outside your door waiting to come in,” Mum said.
Mum couldn’t see them because she had her dark glasses on and her eyes firmly shut behind them. I glanced through the open door. There were indeed a few people looking in, but Elliot had been guarding me with a protective ferocity that had kept them at bay. Most had then moved on without the need to talk to me after Elliot told them they had passed, and I had been left in peace.
“Have you ever tried asking for a helper?”
Mum huffed, “I had no-one to help. I did it on my own.”
“But did you ever ask for someone?” Laura said.
Laura and Dad sat in chairs on the other side of the bed, facing the door side of the room.
Mum refused to sit there, instead choosing to be on the side that overlooked the window, even though she couldn’t see a thing with her eyes closed.
“Ask who?”
“The angel told me I only had to ask and help would be given. But you have to ask for yourself, Mum. Maybe you should trust whatever it is out there a little more.”
“After what I’ve been through, I’m not pursuing this. And neither should you.” Mum lips clenched tightly together.
“I have Elliot to help me. I bet there’s someone for you. Maybe if you just ask...” Elliot had stayed at my side. Our connection had grown so that even if I couldn’t see him, I felt his presence somewhere close by. And it was never too far away. I had come to the conclusion I had done a hell of a lot better than Mum. It was all to do with attitude.
“By the way, I have to tell you, Henry’s will was released. His finances have been credited to the Leukaemia Foundation as he asked,” Laura said.
“We’re not just helping ghosts, we’re helping living people here, Mum. You could too. You don’t have to do it on your own,” I said quietly.
“I don’t have to do it at all,” Mum said. “And neither do you. It will take over your life, Cassie, you mark my words. I won’t be leaving until you agree and do something active about it.”
“I think Cassie needs rest,” Dad said. He kissed me on the cheek and went around the bed to take Mum by the elbow. Good old Dad, not only was he putting up with Mum when she was in this frame of mind, he now had Laura and myself in the mix. How he coped with it all, I’ll never know.
Laura kissed me on my cheek after Dad had taken Mum from the room, “You don’t have to deal with her on your own. Dad and I’ll help. Good bye, Elliot,” she smiled and squeezed my hand as she le
ft. Elliot took the seat she’d vacated.
I was happy I had such allies. If we managed to turn Mum around, I knew she would be a valuable asset. And she would be so much happier. We just needed her to realize she hadn’t had the help she needed when it was critical. Maybe she never asked. Didn’t know she could and now she was so set against it, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
An elderly man walked through my wall. He looked around as though he didn’t understand where he was or how he got there. He held a hand to his head, shaking it to and fro.
“Where am I?”
There was no silver cord attached to him. Now that I was aware of it, I’d seen various misty figures walking the halls still attached to their silver cords. To me, they were indistinct and wandered aimlessly not seeing or hearing me or anyone else while their bodies rested in a drug-induced sleep. It seemed Astral Travel was something I had to learn more about. And if it made me solid to Elliot, I was going out of my way to perfect the discipline.
But this man was solid. Blinking in confusion. “Sir, I think you’ve passed over,” I said as gently as I could. I’d told a few people and realized that half of the time they didn’t know they’d died. Learning that they had passed usually came as a shock to them.
The man frowned, “Passed?”
Elliot stood and placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, “The link between your body and your soul has been broken. It is your time to move to the next world.”
Elliot told the man he’d died better than I could. I smiled my thanks to Elliot and mouthed a thank you.
“But my doctor said I’d be able to go home this afternoon. That I was healing well enough to go. I was about to organize a taxi. I had some last minute medication and then I could leave.”
“You were told you were ready to go home?” That didn’t sound right. People that were told to leave the hospital weren’t in any danger of dying.
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