Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy

by Kara Kirkendoll

  “Oh, no you aren’t. You know better than to drink and drive, especially when you are riding that metal horse of yours.” Liza was obviously talking about her Harley. It was a general rule of Drew’s not to drink and drive, and like Liza said especially not on the motorcycle but she couldn’t stand to be there another minute. She needed to be home. Even though it was so lonely there, she could still feel his presence, even if she was just imagining it.

  “So, we haven’t really gotten to talk, just the two of us I mean, since that night. Why didn’t Brendan come with you? I figured that you two love birds would be inseparable by now.” Liza grinned.

  “Because he left, he is no longer with us anymore.” Liza dropped the pile of empty paper plates that she was holding and placed her hand over her mouth.

  Wide eyed she asked, “What do you mean he is no longer with us?”

  “I mean, Liza that I know that you know very well he was already dead, and that he was the ghost in my house, and you knew that eventually he would move on to a better place and he did. He is gone. I don’t know why you pretended to not know who he was at first, but I am not stupid, I know that you knew.”

  “I’m so sorry, Drew. What happened?” Liza’s eyes began to tear up.

  “Oh, don’t you cry!” Drew yelled. “I have been trying so hard to hold myself together since that morning when I woke up and you were gone and he was nowhere to be found. I cried myself through that day and I am not going to cry over it anymore. I’m done. He is gone and that is that!”

  “Drew, honey, please don’t yell at me. I love you, and I’m not the one that you are angry at. I am so sorry that you are going through all of this pain, but are you sure that he is gone? I mean, where could he have gone really?”

  “I don’t know, Liza, wherever it is that people go when they die. I mean wherever they are supposed to go. Maybe all of the commotion that we were making made God realize that he left one behind and so he came and got him. Who the hell knows?”

  Liza looked sincerely confused. “I don’t understand.” She said. “Why now?”

  “I just said that I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” She started to walk away and then turned to Liza again, “You think that I don’t see how you and your family are? Do you think that I don’t want that for myself? Because I do! I never realized until I got to feel Brendan’s lips on mine that I do want all of that. I want the barbecues and the crab boils. I want the parties and the walks in the park. I want the holding hands and the sneaking secret little kisses in when you think that no one is watching. I want that so bad, Liza. I want it with Brendan and I can never have it. It’s not fair! What did I ever do to deserve that? What did I ever do to be given a taste of what love can be and then have it all taken away from me?”

  She leaned against her bike now and rubbed her head. She was trying so hard not to cry but the alcohol was getting the better of her emotions.

  “Do you love him, Drew? I mean really love him?” Liza asked her friend.

  “So what if I do? He is gone. It damn sure doesn’t do me any good now, does it?”

  Pamela, Liza’s four year old daughter, stuck her head out of the front door to holler at her mother, “Mamma, are you going to tuck us in or not?” She said with her hands on her hips.

  Drew started to turn away then stopped and looked at Liza one last time, “Children.” She said. “Children are so innocent aren’t they? They have no idea what is really out there. Most adults have no idea, Liza.”

  “I’ll be right there, Sweetheart!” Liza called back.

  “What if he wasn’t gone though?” Liza said to Drew again. “What if he was just waiting for you to say those words to him, those three little magic words that could change both of your lives forever?” Drew thought that Liza was just getting a little bit too excited over a hypothetical situation. It was pissing her off even more that she was toying with her emotions which wasn’t like Liza at all.

  “Liza, he is still in love with his Lezetta. It wouldn’t matter if he was here with me right now or not, he doesn’t love me… he loves her.”

  Liza seemed to be off in her own world, thinking. So, Drew took the opportunity to climb on her bike before Liza could wrestle her back. “Ok Drew, but do you love him?”

  “Good night, Liza.” Drew said and put on her helmet.

  Liza was pacing now. She was up to something but Drew had absolutely no idea what it could be. She watched her sit down on the steps of her house and stare off into Liza land.

  Drew wasn’t sure what exactly was going on in Liza’s brain and she honestly didn’t really care at that moment. She snuck off on the motorcycle before Liza could come back to reality.

  Drew knew better than to drive while intoxicated, especially on a bike and on such a big weekend for sobriety checks as Labor Day weekend. The air had cooled off quite a bit though and it was helping sober Drew up a little. Once she hit the long bridge over the Ponchatrain the air was so cool on her skin that she was shivering. Why hadn’t she thought to bring a jacket?

  Driving into New Orleans, it never ceased to amaze her how the city never seemed to sleep. There was constant traffic and lights that never seemed to burn out. She tried to avoid downtown as much as possible and stayed on one of the main highways for as long as she could.

  She finally made it to her drive and was thankful that she hadn’t gotten in a wreck or into any trouble with the law for drinking and driving. The goose bumps that had already spread over her entire body seemed to reach down deep into her soul as she drove past the cemetery. She tried not to even look in its direction, afraid of what she may see.

  When she walked in the front door she was so over whelmed with his presence that she dropped on the couch and began to cry.

  “I miss you so much, Brendan. If only I had gotten to see you one last time. I didn’t even get to tell you good bye. I didn’t realize it before or I just didn’t want to admit it but I love you. I love you so much!”

  She sobbed and sobbed until she couldn’t find the strength to sob anymore. She got up and went to the kitchen for a glass of wine. Instead of grabbing a glass though she opted to drink out of the bottle. She figured that she was probably going to drink the whole damn thing anyway before she ended up puking, passing out, or maybe even both.

  When she walked into her bedroom taking her fifth chug on the way there from the kitchen, she saw him sitting on the edge of the bed and dropped the bottle.

  “Brendan?” She said through tears. “How?” She ran to him then and threw her arms around him. “I’ve missed you so much, Brendan. Where did you go? How are you here?”

  “I don’t know.” He said pulling her face up and staring into her eyes. “Did I hear you say that you loved me?” Drew was speechless. So what if she did love him? He didn’t love her back.

  “Yes, I did say that. It doesn’t matter does it, and what do you mean that you heard me? You weren’t here! You couldn’t have heard me!” She said, drawing away.

  “I’ve been here all along, Love. I just thought it would be better if you didn’t have to think of me anymore. I didn’t want to hurt you. I was invisible again, I didn’t want you to have to go through all of that loneness, I’m so sorry, Sweetheart.” He said reaching for her hand.

  “Don’t touch me!” She said pulling back. “You have listened to me call your name time and time again this past week! You have heard me crying for you! You thought that it would be better to just disappear completely out of my life? How could you possibly believe that” Drew’s head was spinning. She wasn’t sure if it was the wine or the emotions. Whichever it was she knew her brain had just had too much. “And once you saw that it wasn’t true, how could you just cower in the corners watching me and not do or say anything?”

  Just as Brendan started to speak they heard the front door slam against the wall. Brendan grabbed Drew and pulled her close to him then told her to stay put this time. As he started to walk out of the room he heard Liza screami
ng frantically at Drew.

  “Drew? Drew, damn it, I can’t believe that you drove all the way home on that blasted motorcycle after you had been drinking!”

  Liza was obviously furious. Drew couldn’t believe that she had driven all the way there though, just to yell at her.

  “Liza, what are you doing here?” Drew asked as she pushed her way past Brendan into the living room.

  “I was so worried about you that I had to make sure that you made it home safely!” Liza looked over then and saw Brendan standing by the bed. “Oh, Oh!” Liza exclaimed. “I thought that you said he was gone!”

  Drew rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I thought that he was. Now, all of a sudden he is back and telling me that he never left. He obviously just enjoyed watching me suffer.”

  “Drew,” Brendan said calmly, “ it is not the truth. I did not think that I could come back to you in this form. If I could not be with you, the way that you deserve, I thought it best to let you get on with your life, the way that it was before you ever met me.”

  Liza seeing that Drew had made it home safely and knowing that the two of them needed time on their own to make their love work and to break the spell that had too long ago been placed on them both, quietly snuck out of the door smiling.

  “Brendan,” Drew said, running her fingers through her helmet tussled hair and pacing the floor, “my life was so… different, I guess is the right word, before you “poofed” your way into it. I had a job that I hated, I had no place to live, I had a past that I couldn’t stomach, and the only person that I had in the world that I could depend on was Liza. You have given me so much. I know that it is crazy.” She walked to him then and took his hands in hers. When she looked in his eyes she saw confusion. She wished that she could remove Lazetta from his heart and his memory forever.

  “What in either one of our lives is normal though? Nothing makes any since. It doesn’t matter though because while you were pretending to be off in the unknown somewhere, I was learning that as much as things didn’t make sense, it made more sense having you in my life than my life ever made sense before. Does that make sense?”

  Brendan laughed. Drew was obviously at a loss for words but he caught her meaning in her eyes. She loved him and that made all of the sense in the world.

  He pulled her toward him and placed her arms around his strong neck then picked her up and carried her to her bedroom.

  “Miss Drew, I want to help you put your past behind you. I want to show you that there is more to life than to be afraid all of your waking days. I want to show you that there is more to making love than just wickedness that men desire. That isif you’ll have me. I promise I will never hurt you again.”

  Drew doubted that last part. She knew that he would hurt her again, one day when she needed his confirmation on his love for her. He would tell her that his heart is with Lazetta and not with her. She didn’t care now. She wanted him, and it was time to let everything else go.

  She was just about to tell him so when there was a knock on the door. Before Drew could get to it though, Liza opened it and poked her head in.

  “I’m so sorry. I know I should probably just let you two be alone but…”

  Liza knew it was time to talk. She had to get out the truth so that they could live their lives happily with each other. So that Brendan could have his second chance of life and Drew could finally come to terms with her life.

  “Drew, there is a history in my family that I never mentioned before to you because I wasn’t really a part of it before and because I thought you wouldn’t be my friend anymore. On the same day that you got an eviction notice, I received a phone call from my mother who had received a phone call from her mother.” She said facing her.

  “My Nana has told me the story of the O’Keefe’s and of my great-greatgreat grandparents, Lezetta O’Keefe and Brendan O’Keefe.” She looked up at Brendan then with an apologetic smile. “You see, Brendan and Lezetta were my great-greatgreat grandparents.”

  “That is not possible!” Brendan yelled. “Lezetta and I never made love, and we were never married. We were engaged to be married this is true, but she wanted to wait until our wedding night which never came. It is not possible that you could be who you say!”

  Drew was up pacing now. It seemed that everything in her life had lead up to this moment, to this house and these people. Something told her thatit wasn’t coincidence.

  Liza looked back at Drew now. “I’m only telling you this because that is what I was told by my Nana. You see, there has been a bond in the sister hood that has been passed down for quite some time, one that I am now supposed to carry out.”

  “Youare a witch as well?” Brendan asked.

  “You’re a witch?” Drew echoed.

  “Sort of, it is in my blood but I had always chosen not to use it. I have been sworn into the sisterhood, yes, and it is my duty to help where I can, but I don’t practice Wicca or LeBlanc on a regular basis.” Liza replied.

  “Wow, this just gets better and better.” Drew shook her head and then sat back down to rest her head in her hands. “Did you put the flyer on my door, Liza?” Drew asked.

  “Yes, I did. I’m so sorry. My Nana’s instructions were to get you to this house. When you were evicted I saw the opportunity. Everything happens for a reason. It is all written in the stars. You can’t just change the stars!” She apologized.

  “So, if you were told to murder me righ t now, would you do that as well?” Drew asked through tears that had begun to burn her throat.

  Liza looked down at her hands. “I couldn’t do that, Drew. I didn’t think that you were in any real danger moving into this home. If you will remember correctly, I am the one that told you that you were crazy for moving into this house. I didn’t know about Brendan or the house or the cemetery until after I came to visit you and you had drawn all of those pictures. I could see in the chalk drawing of Brendan and Lezetta and Mary Ann that you drew that something was wrong, very wrong. So, I went to my mother to find out more.”

  “What did ye find out, Liza. Please tell us all that you know.” Brendan chimed in.

  “I found out that my great something grandmother was born in 1860 by a Brendan and Lezetta O’Keefe…”

  “Lezetta died in 1859 and I in the same year.” Brendan said. “So, you see that is not possible.”

  “Your tomb says that you died in 1860.” Drew said.

  “Nay, it was only a month after Lezetta was burned that I was murdered myself.”

  “What month did Lezetta die in?” Liza asked. “June, St. John’s day. The people believed that Lezetta had used Mary Ann as a sacrifice on the eve of their celebration.” Brendan said.

  “My family history states that she died in Feb ruary of 1860 giving birth to her daughter and that Brendan, that would be you, hung yourself three days later right over her grave.”

  “ This is true, I was heartbroken for my sister and for Lezetta but I did not kill myself. That I know for a fact. I also know that both Lezetta and Mary Ann were killed the same day in June of 1859. Lezetta was burned on my property in front of the house while I was trying to view the body of my dead sister.”

  Drew stood up and took Brendan’s hands. “Brendan, this is very important, did you see the body of Lezetta with your own eyes?”

  “Nay, ‘twas nothing but burning bones when I returned. Only the ring that I had given her myself lay in the pile of ash and bones at my feet.”

  Liza and Drew looked at each other then. Something told them both that those hadn’t been Lezetta’s bones lying at Brendan’s feet. But that didn’t explain how she could have had Brendan’s child if he had died three days after her original tombstones date. Ugh, it was all so confusing. According to Brendan he died a few days after Lezetta but according to Liza, Lezetta died eight months after Brendan had hung himself on Lezetta’s grave which, according to Brendan, didn’t happen at all. The fact was though that there were descendants and there were t
wo graves with two dead bodies. At least there was supposed to be!

  “Brendan, why is it that you don’t want anyone to go upstairs?” Drew asked.

  “That is where I was murdered and where I always end up. ‘Tis my own personal hell up there I suppose.”

  “Well, would you mind if we went up there?” Liza asked.

  “I’m not ready for anyone to go there yet. I can’t see when I am in that room. Everything is black. I would like to go there first, in my new state, before I can allow you up there. Do you understand?I need to be able to see it for myself.”

  “Brendan? I’ve seen the light on in there before. If you can’t see when you are there then how do you know where you are?”

  “The door is always open, love. It won’t close. The light shines in there through the door way but ‘tis a long room. I cannot see all the way to the back. I cannot see where my body lies, and I’ve never seen the light on in there.”

  Drew and Liza gasped at the same time. “Are you saying that your body is still up there?” Liza said.

  “I never saw anyone come in and get it. So, I assume it is.” Brendan said sadly.

  “Ok, hold the phone!” Drew stood up and almost fainting grabbed the back of the couch.

  “Brendan,” she said trying to catch her breath, “are you saying that your dead and rotting corpse is upstairs in a room, right above our heads?”

  “Drew!” Liza said, “How about a little bit of love for our friend?” She smiled at Brendan apologetically.

  “Love? He is a ghost, Liza! As much as he has made himself look human, and a very good looking one at that,” Drew added when she looked him up and down, “how could I love him? He isn’t real. Once he figures out what the hell happened to him and his body is properly buried where will he go then?”

  She started to pace the room then once she found her balance. “He won’t be returning to his death bed above the stairs anymore, Liza, he will be going to heaven, if there is one, or to his new grave just like his sister and Lezetta. He isn’t going to stay, Liza! He will be gone and then what?” She walked towards the door then. “I am supposed to be alone all over again? I can’t handle it! I don’t want any part of it.”