The Haunted Past

by J A Whiting

  Lori gave a quick nod. “But how could I have been? I don’t remember being brought here when I was little. I guess I could have though. Was Tim Pierce’s grandfather’s last name Pierce, too?”

  “It was,” Lin said.

  “I don’t remember that name. I don’t remember my parents talking about anyone with that name. But I know this house like the back of my hand.” Lori stood before a built-in bookcase and gently rested her palm against the fine wood. “This isn’t really a book shelf. Do you know that?”

  A shiver ran down Lin’s back. “What is it?” Some of the words Jessica had said to her the other day about problems and ghosts rang in her head, but none of it seemed to be of help.

  Lori moved to one end of the bookcase and pushed on it. To Lin’s amazement, the shelves moved and slid seamlessly over the floor.

  “It’s really a door,” Lori said. “See?”

  Lin could see the little railing of an interior balcony appear behind where the bookcase had been. She stepped forward and looked down into a family room, an addition to the main house.

  “This was added, too, but it was here when I was here before.” Lori took a deep breath and gingerly took a few steps to the balcony to stand beside Lin … and then she let out a little gasp. “In my dream, there’s a rocking chair in that room over there by the window.”

  “I remember you told me that,” Lin said.

  “I….” Lori’s hands trembled as she held onto the railing with both of her hands. Tears of joy began to fall from her eyes, and she bowed her head slightly.

  “What? What is it?” Lin asked.

  “In….” Lori couldn’t get the words out. Putting a hand on her chest, she tried again. “In my dream, there’s always a woman sitting in the rocker. She looks out the window. She’s wearing a blue dress, the kind of dress that someone from the late 1700s would wear. She’s in her mid-twenties. Part of her hair is up in a little twist at the back of her head.” Lori’s chest was rapidly rising and falling. “The rest of her hair falls around her shoulders. I never see her face in my dreams.” The young woman turned a little to face Lin. “But I … I know who she is. Now I know who she is.”

  Lin’s head tilted to the side. “Who is she?” she asked softly.

  Lori took Lin’s hands in hers. Her voice shook when she said, “The woman in the rocker by the window … that woman … is me.”

  Lin felt like she’d been hit by a ton of bricks. Her head spun and her knees went weak. “How can that be?”

  “I have no idea.” Lori put her hands over her face. “I don’t know how it’s possible, but I know for sure … I am the woman in that rocking chair.”

  Jessica’s voice played in Lin’s head. Ghosts can take many forms.

  Lin stared into Lori’s face. “Abigail?” The word floated like a wisp of air.

  For a second, Lori’s eyes almost showed recognition, but then confusion washed over her expression. “Who?”

  Adrenaline raced through Lin’s veins. “Is the name Ezra familiar to you? Ezra Cooper?”

  Lori blinked several times. “I … don’t know. Is he someone I know?”

  “My head is spinning,” Lin stepped back from the balcony and sat down on a small sofa.

  “I’m not crazy,” Lori told her.

  “Oh, I know that.” Lin closed her eyes for a moment, her hand reaching for her horseshoe necklace. What’s going on? Is Lori Abigail? Is this Lori’s second chance at life? I mean … is this Abigail’s second chance at life?

  Lin opened her eyes and stood up. “I believe you. How do you feel? Is all of this frightening to you?”

  The tiniest of smiles turned up the corners of Lori’s lips. “I’ve never felt so calm, so peaceful. I don’t know what’s going on, but it doesn’t scare me at all. I feel so … centered. I feel like I know the answer to a question I never knew existed.” The young woman’s eyes welled up. “Lin. Have I lived before? That’s it, isn’t it?”

  All the pieces of the crazy puzzle began to swirl in Lin’s head until they settled and lined up and fell into place. “I don’t understand it, but it is what it is.” She pulled out her phone and sent a text to Tim hoping the ferry hadn’t yet left.

  Don’t leave. I have to tell you something. I’m coming to the dock. Please don’t leave.

  “I have to go, but I won’t be gone long. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Come downstairs and wait for me, okay? Will you stay here with John until I come back?”

  Lori smiled. “I don’t ever want to leave this house.”

  “Hurry downstairs with me. I have to go.” Lin jogged out of the room and down to the first floor where she nearly ran into John in the hall. “I have to go somewhere. Stay here, will you? Lori’s going to stay, too. Please stay here.”

  John gave Lin a look. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll explain everything when I get back.” Lin rushed for the front door, bolted outside and down the walkway to the sidewalk, and then she ran like she’d never run before.

  She heard the ferry’s horn let out a long, slow blast.

  Please don’t be on that ferry.

  Dashing down Main Street, Lin heard a man call her name, and when she saw who it was, she stopped so fast, she lost her footing and almost fell forward.

  24

  “Tim.” Lin leaned over to catch her breath. “I was worried you wouldn’t get my text before you boarded the ferry.”

  “You sent me a text?” The young man reached into his briefcase and removed his phone. When he read the message, he looked keenly at Lin. “Is there an emergency? Is that why you were running to the dock?”

  From the revelation at the house and the run down the streets, Lin was still trying to catch her breath and slow her heart rate. “No. Yes. I mean there’s nothing wrong with your house, but….” She let her voice trail off.

  “But what? Is something wrong? Has something happened?” Trying to figure out what the problem was, Tim’s eyes stared into Lin’s.

  “There’s nothing wrong.” Lin noticed the man’s rolling suitcase. “If you didn’t get my text, why aren’t you on the ferry?”

  Tim exhaled. “I decided not to go. I decided to come home for a while and think things through. It felt wrong to leave. Who knows why?” He shook his head in confusion. “I was standing in line on the dock waiting to board. I was sure I was making the right decision to return to Boston. Then something came over me … I can’t describe it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I knew I had to come back to the house.”

  “You felt you were making the wrong decision to leave?”

  “Yeah.” Tim face suddenly looked washed in doubt. “Maybe I don’t know what I’m doing. Maybe I feel guilty about selling the house and I had a momentary lapse in judgment and decided to come back.” Letting out a sigh, he asked, “Why am I so messed up? I’ve never been so indecisive and uncertain.”

  “How do you feel right now, standing here with me? There’s another ferry in an hour. If I told you that you had to decide in two seconds, what would your choice be?”

  “Um.”

  “Give me your answer without thinking about it,” Lin urged. “What pops into your mind?”

  “I’d stay.”

  “Do you know there’s a secret bookcase in your office that slides away to reveal a Juliet-balcony looking down into the family room?”

  Tim’s eyes widened. “John found it, did he?”

  “I found it,” Lin said. “Actually, someone else found it, but I was there when the bookcase was pushed back. Did your grandfather add that feature?”

  “No, it was there when he bought the house. I thought it was cool.” A smile lifted the young man’s face. “When I was a kid, I pretended it was a secret spy entrance. Sometimes, I pretended I was giving a speech to my forces below in the family room.” Tim chuckled at the memory.

  “The house holds some nice memories for you,” Lin smiled, hoping there would be even better memories created for Tim in that house in the coming years.r />
  “So what was so urgent that I wasn’t supposed to get on the ferry?” Tim asked.

  “Why don’t I show you?” Lin turned and they walked up the sidewalk towards the house.

  The closer they got to the Colonial, the more nervous Lin became and the faster her heart began to beat.

  As they rounded the corner, they saw John standing on the sidewalk photographing the front of the antique home from different angles. When he spotted them approaching, he waved and waited for them to come up to him. “I thought you were heading back to Boston?” John said to Tim.

  Tim looked from John to Lin, confused about why John didn’t know Lin asked him to return to the house.

  “Why did you want him to come back?” John tilted his head in question.

  “I’ll tell you later.” Lin nudged Tim’s arm to indicate they should go inside.

  “I’m going to take some more pictures of the house,” John told them as they walked away. “Lori’s in the kitchen.”

  “Who’s Lori?” Tim asked.

  “She’s a lawyer. She’s related to Leonard’s girlfriend. She just moved to the island and she loves old houses. I hope it’s okay that I invited her to come in and see your home while John was doing the measurements.”

  “Sure. It’s fine.” Tim lifted his suitcase through the front door and wheeled it into the foyer just as Lori came down the hall.

  “You’re back,” Lori said to Lin and then she stopped short when she saw Tim in the entryway.

  Tim looked at the young woman just as Lin introduced them.

  “This is Lori Michaels. This is Tim Pierce, the owner of the house.” Lin watched them to see how they would regard one another.

  Neither of the young people said a word for several long moments, they only stood staring at each other.

  Lin could see Lori’s eyes fill up with tears as she stood looking at the good-looking man across from her. She could also see that Tim appeared to be choked up.

  And then the cold enveloped her and when she turned her head towards Lori, Abigail Cooper was standing right behind her, shimmering and glowing. The ghost’s eyes were staring straight ahead over Lori’s shoulder.

  When Lin looked to see what Abigail was transfixed by, she saw Ezra Cooper standing close behind Tim, his atoms translucent and glittering, his sparkling eyes pinned onto Abigail.

  Lin was so stunned to see the four people together in the foyer, that she was unable to speak.

  “Have we met before?” Tim took a few steps closer to the sandy-haired, blue-eyed woman. “I feel like I know you.”

  Lori smiled, blinked her tears away, and cleared her throat. “I’m not sure. We might have.”

  “On second thought, we couldn’t have met before, because I would never have forgotten you.” Tim reached out to shake hands with Lori and when their hands touched, they both felt a little spark jump between their skin.

  Lori chuckled, her cheeks tinging pink. “It must be static electricity.”

  The two young people shifted around on their feet a bit, grinning and acting slightly self-conscious, clearly very attracted to one another.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Tim realized he was still holding Lori’s hand and he sheepishly let it go.

  Ezra and Abigail floated over the floor towards each other with outstretched hands, their eyes full of love, each one shining in silver and gold. When their fingers touched, a flash of light shot up to the ceiling, but only Lin could see the ghosts and what was happening.

  The atoms of the two spirits seemed to blend together and swirl gently in the air, before returning to their own separate forms. The ghosts turned to look at Lin. Hand in hand, Ezra and Abigail met Lin’s eyes. Their hands covered their hearts in thanks, and then their atoms flashed so brightly that Lin had to close her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, the ghosts were gone.

  “Lin, would you like to have a drink with us? Coffee? Tea? Do you think John would like something?” Tim asked.

  Lori had moved closer to the young man, their shoulders almost touching, and they kept glancing at one another with beaming smiles.

  “I’ll go ask him,” Lin nodded.

  “Did Lin show you the whole house?” Tim asked Lori. “I’d be glad to give you a tour.”

  Lori gave Lin a knowing look. They both were aware that she was familiar with every inch of the Colonial.

  “I’d love to have a tour.” Lori nodded at Tim.

  Lin said, “I’ll go get John and see if he’s done. We’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

  Her heart full to bursting, Lin found John in the yard.

  “What’s up with you?” John asked. “You look like you’ve never been happier.”

  “Maybe I haven’t.” Lin grinned.

  “Why did Tim come back?”

  Lin took in a long breath. “Fate told him to.”

  John raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

  Lin swallowed to clear the emotion from her voice. “Two ghosts just found each other.”

  John made a face as he shook his head and laughed. “Those two people in the house are flesh and blood. They’re not ghosts.”

  Lin looked to the front door. “No, they’re not, but I think they used to be. Lori knows this house. She used to live here … in another life. And now she and Tim have found each other and are getting a second chance at life … together.”

  25

  When John heard what Lin told him about two spirits who had found each other and were getting a second chance to live a life together, he almost dropped to the grass in a faint. He didn’t want to join Tim and Lori for a cold drink so he and Lin made excuses and left the Colonial which was just as well. Lin thought the couple should spend the time together.

  Lin, Jeff, Viv, and John spent the day on the water on John’s boat. It was a warm spring day with a beautiful blue sky dotted with a few high, puffy clouds. The foursome, and Nicky and Queenie enjoyed the afternoon boat ride around the island and being out in Nantucket Sound between the island and the mainland.

  Returning to the dock, they prepared dinner and enjoyed drinks with crackers and cheese sitting on the boat as the sun set in the distance.

  While waiting for the macaroni and cheese to bake in the boat’s galley, salads were served, and the dog and cat were fed. After eating, Nicky and Queenie curled up on the deck and had a snooze.

  “I still don’t get it.” John poured sparkling water into everyone’s glasses. “How can Lori and Tim be Abigail and Ezra? It makes no sense at all.”

  “It makes perfect sense.” Viv lifted a forkful of the salad. “Ezra and Abigail’s spirits wandered around searching for each other. We think Lori and Tim are Abigail and Ezra’s spirits living today.”

  John still looked dumbfounded.

  “When a friend of Libby’s met with me a few days ago,” Lin said, “she told me ghosts can take different forms. We didn’t have time to discuss it further because she needed to get to the ferry. Libby has always told me that we can’t hope to understand the spirit world. We can only work with what we experience when interacting with ghosts and help them as best we can.”

  “I don’t think going over it and going over it in our heads will help either,” Jeff said. “It’s impossible for us to understand, but we can be happy for Ezra and Abigail for having a second chance at life together. We have to accept that we can’t make sense of any of it. It just … is.” Jeff shrugged.

  Lin added, “Ezra and Abigail wanted me to help them find each other. My mistake was that I thought they wanted to reunite in the spirit world. What they really wanted was for Lori and Tim to find each other so they could reunite in today’s world. As long as I brought them together, I fulfilled my part in all of it.”

  John let out a groan. “It all sounds perfectly reasonable when you’re telling me these things. It’s when my brain tries to understand how two spirits can be four different people is where I start to have a nervous breakdown.”

  The peop
le listening to John couldn’t help but laugh.

  “My advice is to stop thinking about it,” Jeff said with a smile, “and just accept there are things that happen that we can’t fathom.”

  “Okay.” John sipped from his bottle of beer. “I’m going to pretend that Lin and Viv are normal people, that there are ghosts that buzz around, but I don’t have to understand any part of it.”

  “Excellent,” Viv told her fiancé.

  “Except the ghosts don’t buzz around and Viv and I are normal people,” Lin protested.

  John rolled his eyes. “Define normal.”

  Lin ignored the comment and changed the subject. “Lori and Tim have seen each other every day for the past two weeks. They’re over the moon with each other.”

  “Do they know they lived before in the 1700s?” John asked.

  Lin said, “Lori knows she lived in the Colonial a very long time ago. She knew every inch of that house when I first brought her there. Lori told me the second she laid eyes on Tim, she knew they’d had a relationship in the past and would be important to one another in the present. She doesn’t need to know all the details. She only needs to know they’re happy together.”

  Viv nodded. “Lori told me she felt like she’d been searching for Tim and had finally found him. Tim feels that Lori is the one he’s been longing for. He’s staying on-island. He told us he isn’t lonely or anxious anymore. He’s found what he’s always needed.”

  “It’s really quite a love story,” Jeff said and took Lin’s hand in his.

  “Only no one would ever believe certain parts of it.” With an involuntary shiver, John went down to the galley to take the macaroni and cheese out of the oven. Viv went along to bring up a pan of roasted tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms sprinkled with feta cheese.

  Candles were lit on the table and the group settled around to enjoy the food.

  “What do we all think of Tim’s offer to have our wedding ceremony in his backyard?” Jeff passed the platter of roasted vegetables to Viv.

  “I love the idea,” Viv said.

  “Me, too,” Lin nodded. “After Leonard and I finish the landscaping, it’s going to be really beautiful.”