by Lilah
“Nothing. Let’s just listen.” He couldn’t help but worry. From the way Delores was talking to Valerie, neither of them saw Lorna. He wouldn’t tell her of his suspicions yet but there was no way he’d go into the light without her. He didn’t like this. Not at all.
“We all have psychic abilities, Valerie. Some use them more than others. Do you know the story of the old Hutchinson place?”
Valerie shook her head that she didn’t. “I know where it is. That’s about it.”
“Then let me tell you what happened on that dreadful day twenty years ago.” Ms. Delores adjusted her hat and leaned forward. “Back then Halloween was a spectacular event around here. Everyone had parties, kids went trick-or-treating, and there were three haunted houses running simultaneously for a couple of weeks leading up to Halloween. Two were put on for kids by local charities and one was for adults, which was hosted by Bill Hutchinson and his wife.”
“Every year their son, Travis, and his fiancé, Lorna, created a unique Egyptian-themed room in the house. Since it was a tradition for them, they decided to marry in that room at midnight on Halloween.”
“We got there early to make love before the guests arrived. Do you remember, Travis?”
“How could I forget? Our families thought you were still a virgin so we had to sneak around.” Travis kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm over her shoulder. “The sneaking was exciting too.”
“Lorna was a beautiful girl and was nice to everyone including John Price,” Ms. Delores said. “She didn’t know that John obsessed about her. No one knew until after the fact. The town changed so dramatically afterwards. We didn’t celebrate Halloween for many years…”
“I’d forgotten about John.” Lorna frowned. “Do you think he’s our unfinished business? The reason this stupid rule was placed on us so we can’t cross over until someone acknowledges us?”
“I don’t see how he could be. We didn’t see him the day we died.”
“So what happened?” Valerie hung on Ms. Delores’ every word.
“It’s a pity that Lorna didn’t take the things he said to her seriously.” Ms. Delores sighed. “I tried to warn her. I sensed negative energy around him but she wouldn’t listen. Lorna always believed the best of people. She always looked for that silver lining in a bad situation. Even after all these years I still miss her. No one would have ever thought such a tragic event would happen here of all places.”
“Oh, Delores. I listened to you,” Lorna said. “I did take John seriously even though he wouldn’t leave me alone. I told him over and over again that I loved you, Travis, not him.”
“Ms. Delores…” Valerie prodded.
“Anyway, Travis and Lorna were making love in the Egyptian room when the house exploded, killing them instantly.”
“How do you know that?” Valerie asked.
“That’s what I’d like to know too,” Lorna said.
“Lorna had told me earlier in the day what they’d planned to do.” Ms. Delores took a sip of coffee. “Their bodies were found naked.”
“How embarrassing!” Lorna cringed. “Then why do we wear the same clothing we had on that morning every year?”
“I think it’s because we relive the day from the beginning,” Travis glanced at her.
“But they weren’t the only ones killed,” Ms. Delores said.
“We weren’t?” Travis muttered.
“John Price’s body was found outside. After the investigation the police announced that John had planted explosives in the back of the house near the Egyptian room. He ignited them from outside but he stood too close and the blast killed him too.”
“Instant karma,” Travis said. “He deserved it for doing this to us.”
“The police found a shrine to Lorna in John’s house. He had pictures of her on the walls, pictures that she couldn’t have known he’d taken. Newspaper articles, her cheerleading pompom that she’d lost, a jacket and even a pair of her panties were on a table underneath the wall of pictures. He was obsessed with her. How he got her panties I guess we’ll never know. The police thought he waited for them to be alone in the house. I think he broke into her house while no one was home but there isn’t any proof that he did.”
“That’s just damn creepy,” Lorna said. “I never would have suspected that John would go to those lengths. I just thought he had a crush on me.”
“We were murdered.” Travis stared hard at Lorna. Her eyes widened with shock at his words. “Maybe we don’t have unfinished business. Maybe we’re still here because we were murdered in such a horrific and abrupt way.”
“Delores is right. I didn’t take John seriously enough. Or her warnings. John told me once that if he couldn’t have me than neither could you. I thought he was just spouting off steam because he’d asked me to break up with you and I refused. We’re dead because of me.”
“It’s not your fault. Don’t even go there.” Travis embraced her. “What’s done is done and neither of us is at fault. We just have to figure out what happens next. The Master told me we have to be seen in order to go into the light.”
Ms. Delores sat the coffee on the kiosk. “Bill, Travis’s father, refused to reconstruct the house or have it destroyed. He felt that leaving it alone was a memorial to his son. A few years later he and his wife moved away. He died last year from a heart attack and his wife finally agreed to sell the place to the city.”
“Dad…” Travis tightened his arms around Lorna.
“I’m so sorry.” Lorna snuggled close to him. “I know how close you were to your dad.”
“It’s okay. It was just a surprise, that’s all. Besides, no one lives forever in the physical plane.”
“So, are you telling me that the man I saw is a ghost?” Valerie asked.
“Yes, he is. It is said, that because the lovers died on the day they were to be married, while they were making love, they can only be released into the light by someone who can see them and who has found the same kind of love they once shared. Until that day, they are destined to come together once a year on Halloween.”
“They blow up year after year?” Valerie asked.
“No, they don’t.” Delores shook her head. “They are allowed to experience one another as if they were still alive. They move among us in the hopes that someone will see and acknowledge them. But there is the chance that only one of them will be seen. If that happens, the one left behind will be destined to return to the house alone every year. Since the house is to be torn down, that is probably why you’ve seen Travis now.”
“Hold it!” Lorna shouted. “If they’re tearing down the house where do we return to if we’re not seen?” They could be separated for eternity? The realization of Delores’ words rocked through her. She’d seen Travis’s reflection in the mirror and window. Valerie and Delores could both see him too. But her reflection was missing and…“Oh, no.”
“I can’t see Lorna,” Valerie said. “Do you see her?”
Ms. Delores shook her head. “I wish I could.”
“No, no, no…” Tears rolled down Lorna’s face. She buried her head against Travis’s chest. “I’m still invisible to them but you’re not. I’m going to be left behind.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Travis held her tight. “I’ll find someone who can acknowledge you. I won’t go into the light without you, Lorna.”
“You are in love, Valerie.” Ms. Delores said. “Maybe blondie is the one to see her.”
“He doesn’t love me.” Valerie’s cheeks burned in embarrassment. “We’ve only been dating a month.”
“You’ve loved him for a long time, haven’t you? How do you know he doesn’t feel the same way?” Ms. Delores took a sip of her coffee. “You asked me what you’re supposed to release Travis from. The answer is that you will release him from the physical plane where he is now into the light. Tonight, you must go to the Hutchinson house and do this. It is your destiny because you were chosen to be the first to see him. Make sure you take blondie and his
sister with you. If your boyfriend sees Lorna, then you will know his feelings for you are a deep and lasting love. If he sees her, then she will go with Travis into the light.”
“But… this is just a local ghost story right?” Valerie glanced over at Travis. “I’m not really supposed to help him into the light am I? I don’t have any clue how to do that.”
“It is not just a ghost story. This is very real. Give me your hand.” Ms. Delores took her hand when Valerie offered it and studied the palm. “Do you see these lines right here? It shows me that you are destined to do great things. This is one of them.”
How could this be true? She was just a regular girl from a small town in Maryland who moved to Florida. She’d always helped people but helping a ghost? She wasn’t even psychic, not like Ms. Delores. “I’m not sure if I can do it but I’ll try. What about this guy John? Is he hanging around too?”
“John has moved on. You don’t have to worry about him.”
“How do you know these things, Ms. Delores?”
“Lorna was my best friend from the time we were five years old until her death. After she died, I became obsessed with developing my psychic abilities so that I could talk with her.” Ms. Delores leaned back in her chair. “I know these things because I’m able to contact the spirit world. Like you, I too watch the realm.”
* * * * *
Travis stared over Lorna’s head at the girl sitting on a stool at Delores’ kiosk. The ocean breeze picked up tendrils of her long blonde hair and fluttered it around her shoulders. She glanced his way.
Could she really be the one to send him into the light? Could this wisp of a girl contain that kind of power?
He looked down at Lorna’s tear-stained face. He hated to see her so upset. He ran the back of his knuckles along her cheek. Long eyelashes fluttered open.
“Do you remember the explosion?” she asked.
He shook his head. All he remembered was making love to Lorna and then he had been standing in a gray fog. A man who called himself a Master had come to him in a ray of light. He had recited the rules and then disappeared. Every day since then he’d wandered around in that fog, waiting for the gateway to open on Halloween. It appeared as a clear view of the house that he could step through, crossing over into the physical dimension.
“How could we have forgotten so much? How could we be so oblivious to what happened that day?”
“We only remember our reality.” He kissed her forehead. “We don’t remember what John did because we didn’t know he was even there or that he killed us.”
“I should have listened to him, Travis. I should have known that he would try to keep us apart.” Lorna clenched her jaws. “This just makes me so mad! It’s my fault we’re dead, that we’re stuck in between worlds.”
“No, it’s not. You didn’t know he was a murderer.” He knew Lorna would tear herself up with guilt thinking it was her fault that a manic had lost his mind and killed them. She needed a distraction and he needed time to figure out a way for her to be seen too. “You know what this reminds me of, Lorna?”
“What?” She sniffled.
“Do you remember our first Halloween day together?” He leaned in, nibbled on her earlobe, and then trailed kisses down the line of her jaw. “It was hot, just like today, and we went swimming and then I bought you a vanilla ice cream cone. It was swirled so high that you didn’t think you could eat it all.”
“But I did.” She gazed at him. “I could really go for one of those cones right about now. How about you?”
“Ice cream would taste good but I can think of something that I like to eat even better.” He slid his hand between her legs and rubbed her mound.
“Then we should go somewhere so you can have a snack.” Lorna shook off the upsetting feelings of anger to grin at him. She may only have a few more hours with Travis and she wasn’t going to waste them worrying about what happened twenty years ago when they were fresh out of college. “Look at that.”
His gaze followed to where she pointed. A white pickup drove toward the ocean. “Surf Naked” was written in large white letters across the back window. Travis grinned. “I think we should ‘Get Naked’ instead of surfing naked.”
“I think you’re right.” Lorna pulled his hand from her crotch and linked her fingers between his. The girl named Valerie walked past them into the ice cream shop to sit with her boyfriend and another girl. The store’s bright yellow and blue trim hosted pictures of various ice cream dishes displayed on the windows. The storefront was all glass, including the door. Inside, a few tables lined the wall. A small window faced the sidewalk for beach customers who didn’t want to enter the shop. A woman with short brown hair handed a guy a chocolate cone. He licked the dark ice cream.
“That looks delicious.” Lorna paused to watch him lick the ice cream. He took change from his pocket, laid it on the windowsill and slid it over to the woman inside.
“I hope you’re talking about the ice cream and not him.” Travis felt a pang of jealousy rising from the pit of his stomach.
“Of course, silly. I was just dreaming of a vanilla cone. You know how I love them.”
“What could I get for you?” The woman said to Travis.
“Is she talking to you?” Lorna gripped his hand tighter.
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe I can help you decide. The butter pecan is delightful. Or how about the caramel swirl? Maybe a banana split?” She grinned at him.
“I think she is talking to you, Travis. Say something to her.”
He glanced at Lorna. Worry creased her brow.
“I don’t have any money.”
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” She walked away from the window and returned moments later with a vanilla cone. “Here you go. It’s on the house.”
Lorna’s fingers pressed harder into his. He could feel her tense body tremble as she leaned against him.
“Take it, Travis.” Her voice quivered.
“Are you sure?” He glanced at Lorna again. Her eyes were wide and lips pursed tight.
“Of course I am,” the woman said. “I own this place and if I want to give a handsome young man a free ice cream cone, then I will. Come on over here and take this before it melts.”
He stepped forward and took the gift. Her warm fingers brushed his sending a jolt of electricity up his arm. How could this be? His mind whirled with the possibilities. Had he manifested in the physical realm? “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. I hope you enjoy it. We’re going to have a hot one today.” She smiled at him, closed the window and went to the counter to help another customer.
Travis faced Lorna. Tears glistened in her eyes.
“Taste it,” she said.
He bit the top of the ice cream from the cone and drew her into a kiss, pushing the cold dessert into her mouth. She broke away and swallowed. Tears spilled from her eyes even though she gave him a weak smile. “It’s wonderful. Exactly what I was wishing for. That’s three people who can see you, Travis.”
“Lorna…”
“No, don’t say it. I already know. I saw your face—you felt her touch when she handed you the cone. Let’s go back and spend what little time we have left together.”
“We’re not going anywhere.” Holding her hand he walked up to the counter and opened the small sliding window. “Miss, could you come here for a minute?”
The shop owner crossed behind the freezer bins and counter to lean on the windowsill. From the table against the wall, Valerie turned in her seat to look over at Travis.
“Is the cone all right?” the owner asked.
“It’s perfect.” He drew Lorna closer. “I wondered if you’ve seen my wife?”
“What does she look like?”
He put his hand above Lorna’s head. “She’s about this tall, with jet black hair that’s long and straight. She’s wearing denim cut offs and a blue tank top.”
“No, dear, I haven’t seen her this morning. If she st
ops in I’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”
“Thanks.” He led Lorna over to the metaphysical kiosk. “Excuse me, Delores. I overheard you telling Valerie that you saw me. Can you see my wife?”
Ms. Delores looked up from her book and studied him. “Yes, I see you, Travis, but not Lorna. I really wish I could, she was the best friend I ever had. Please tell her I miss her.” She sighed and laid the book on the wooden cart. “I hate to be the one to break this to you but Lorna isn’t your wife. The explosion happened before the marriage ceremony could take place.”
“What?” Shock seized him. “No, you must be wrong. What time…”
“You died in the afternoon before the haunted house even opened. You were to be married at midnight.”
“Oh god! We aren’t married?” Lorna sobbed, jerked her hand out of his grasp to cover her mouth.
Travis stood there in stunned silence, ice cream dripping onto his hand, watching Lorna’s tears turn to hysterics. He wasn’t usually at a loss for words but this news left him speechless. He could only watch Lorna as she hurried down the sidewalk, sobbing, staring at people, jumping up and down in front of them, screaming, Can you see me? Lorna’s movements were jerky, panicky, and she looked like she’d sprint away at any second. Travis’s heart broke at her desperate attempts to be seen.
Lorna’s despair hit him square in the chest. Now she thought they were going to be separated forever. What in the hell was wrong with him? He shouldn’t be thinking about himself when she was so devastated. Without another thought about Delores, he threw the cone into the trash and ran after Lorna. She disappeared into the crowd.
“Wait! Lorna, come back!”
Panic ripped through his heart. He felt her loss in the instant she disappeared from his sight. It couldn’t end this way. He didn’t want to feel this deep pain of being without her for all eternity.
“Lorna!”
Now that he’d been seen, would he move into the light at any time or would it happen at the end of the day? He didn’t know but he had to find Lorna before it happened. If he was touching her, maybe he could take her with him.
In a desperate attempt to find her, Travis shoved through the crowd, yelling Lorna’s name. Her panic gripped at him, filling him with the same frenzy. How could she just disappear like this? Even if no one else could see her, he could.