Helen glanced around the living room to make sure she was alone before she quickly finished her purchase. She’d done her research and according to the ghost hunting websites she’d found, a device called an EMF pump would work as an energy source for ghosts. The theory was that entities could use the electromagnetic field to manifest more easily. It might be a long shot, but if she put one in her bedroom, maybe Gregory could…
She didn’t finish the thought. Hearing an unfamiliar scraping noise, she frowned and shut the lid to her laptop. Someone was dragging something heavy across the floor. Suddenly, she was hit with a cold blast of air and her breath turned into a white puff as she exhaled. It had been awhile since the spirits affected her in such a way. Shivering, she rubbed her arms.
“Who is that?” she called. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Remembering the conversation she’d heard earlier, she asked, “Samuel? Rebecca? Is that you?”
The lights flickered. The dragging noise stopped.
“This isn’t funny!” Helen yelled, making her way into the dining room. “Stop! I mean it.”
Everything stopped for a brief couple of seconds. But, just as she was starting to breathe a sigh of relief, the lights began to turn on and off. Cabinets and doors opened and closed, banging loudly. The chandelier’s crystals crashed together as the fixture swung violently on its base. A chair lifted off the ground, spinning in slow circles. Helen watched it as she edged toward the nearby stairwell. Suddenly, it was launched at her. She screamed, ducking as she ran. The chair crashed into the wall, splintering into several pieces.
“Who is this?” she cried stumbling to crawl up the stairs. Beneath her the first story floorboards creaked. “What do you want?”
Though, Helen suspected she knew what this was about. Gregory. They’d taken their relationship to the next level, defying the laws of mortality and afterlife. Even as they’d made love she’d worried about what it would mean. She hadn’t seen him since it happened. Had the other’s done something to him because of her? A knot of fear and worry tightened in her stomach.
The midnight hour fast approached and the spirits would only become stronger. A bitter wind whipped through the house as the front door flew open. The only thing she could think to do was get to the protection of her bedroom. Outside the country would go on for miles and the spirits could follow her if she tried to make a run for it.
As she neared the second story hall, the noise suddenly stopped. The silence was even eerier than the noises. Each of her steps was punctuated by the harsh sound of her breath. She pressed her arm against the wall, stepping as lightly as she could. A light glow appeared, slowly growing to form the lady in white. The ghost stepped silently through the hall. The midnight hour was here. When she reached the end of the hall, she disappeared, only to reappear and begin the walk again. The loop of her walk would last for about an hour. Though she knew the lady wouldn’t deviate from her stroll, Helen pulled away from her as she passed.
The bedroom door was close. Helen reached for the doorknob. She studied the lady’s serene face as she passed. The woman’s eyes shifted, finding Helen against the wall. That had never happened. Without warning, the woman’s mouth opened in a blur of movement. A loud screech blasted from the ghost’s mouth as shadowed hands emerged from her chest. Whoever looked at her was not the lady. The lady in white kept walking as another figure emerged from within her.
Helen reached for the doorknob, shaking it as she tried to get it open. At first, the door didn’t move. When she let go, it swung open. Gregory stood on the other side. His features suddenly turned white. A loud thwack sounded, denting his skull and sending blood streaming down his face. She automatically reached for him, but she felt something holding her back. He stumbled, falling to his knees and tipping over onto the floor. Helen breathed hard as his lifeless eyes faded. The door slammed in her face.
Helen stumbled to try and open in again, but the shadow creature flew toward her, hitting her body hard enough to knock her over as it passed through her. Dizzy, she grabbed her head, trying not to throw up as a wave of nausea washed over her. The shadow came at her again and again, draining her energy each time it passed through her body.
“Stop,” she croaked. Helen crawled toward the stairwell leading toward the third story. She reached the bottom stair and the entity stopped. Tears streamed down her face. She tried to lift her body, but it was too hard to move. The hallway floorboards creaked. Helen pulled her knees toward her chest. Above her, someone stepped down the stairs, coming toward her head. A frozen breeze brushed over her, stinging her eyes.
“I knew you didn’t fit here.” Rebecca leaned over her, a dark red slash across her throat. Helen felt more than saw the others gathering around them. Samuel’s dirty, transparent boots appeared by her head. “Gregory belongs to us. You are not one of us.”
“So, what? You’re going to kill me and make me one of you?” Helen asked, finding her strength. She pushed up. A horrifically disfigured gathering stared back, crowding into the hall and stairwell. It was hard to see past burnt flesh and bleeding gunshot wounds to the people beneath. Each one’s story could be seen in their gaunt expressions and markings of death.
“Kill you?” Rebecca frowned. “We want you to leave here. Go. We don’t need you. Gregory belongs to me. He’s…”
“You?” Helen finally understood. Rebecca’s jealousy washed over her. She’d suspected it once or twice, but Gregory never paid the woman much mind.
“Us,” Rebecca corrected. It came a little too late. Fiona and Bella giggled. Jerry grunted and stumbled from behind Rebecca’s back, falling through a wall. A young boy threw and invisible ball and ran away, chased by his ghostly parents.
“You’re losing them,” Helen said. A few of the grotesque figures mended, replaced by the peaceful countenance of the ghosts who normally roamed her halls.
Rebecca looked at the others, her throat reddening as she shouted, “She’s trying to take Gregory from us. She trapped him in her room. She’s using him!”
Rebecca’s anger washed over Helen and she grasped at her chest. “Don’t listen to her. Look at her. She’s jealous. Don’t let her hatred fuel you.” Then, turning her full attention toward Rebecca, she stood, getting into the woman’s transparent face. “You want Gregory for yourself. You’re mad that he chose to come to my room. You’re mad that he chose me. You want me gone, but I’m not leaving. You’ll have to kill me first. But then you know I’ll only be with him. He chose me, Rebecca.”
“I can make your life here hell,” Rebecca hissed. “You think tonight was bad, just wait.”
“It’s not right, caretaker,” a normally quiet farmer said from behind Rebecca. He’d been shot in the chest. “You ought to stick to the living.”
“Rebecca?” Samuel questioned, the sound slow. “What does she mean you want Gregory?”
Helen almost felt sorry for the brute. She heard the heartache in his voice.
“Shut your trap,” Rebecca ordered the man.
Helen still felt weak but tried not to let it show. She stepped forward, past Rebecca into the remaining crowd of onlookers. The air was chilled, but not as bad as before.
“Let me by,” she demanded, keeping her voice low and exact. “This is my home now. If you want to remain welcome here, you will act with civility and respect toward me and each other. Otherwise, pack your supernatural bags and get out.” A few bowed their heads and disappeared. A young woman in a party dress and an old man in his long pajamas stepped out of Helen’s way.
“Then you must respect us and leave Gregory alone,” Rebecca said. Samuel stared at Rebecca, his face a strange blue as water dripped out of his lips. Helen turned, meeting the woman’s eyes.
“I can’t do that,” Helen answered. “I love him.”
The door to her bedroom opened. The sound caused her to glance over her shoulder. More ghosts disappeared, clearing a pathway to her room.
“No!” Rebecca screamed, but the sound wasn’t sustained as she disappeared.
Helen walked toward the room and peered through the opened door. Gregory stood on the other side. The late hour had given him enough energy to take shape. He looked as he had when she first saw him, standing with a crooked smile on his lips, hat in hand. He took a step as if to come to her, but stopped, staring at the floor. She glanced down to the line of salt, realizing he was indeed trapped.
Helen didn’t step past the threshold.
“I am sorry for this. I tried to warn you but I couldn’t leave this room.” He lifted his hand, but couldn’t touch her. “I didn’t mean to leave you earlier. I couldn’t maintain form. If I hurt you, I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” she said, nervous.
“If you command it, I will leave and not come back, not during your lifetime. I have no right to steal the years of your life with my death. You deserve more than I can give you.” He stepped away from the door. “First you must release me from this room.”
“Did you hear what I said in the hall?” she asked, stepping carefully over the salt. She shut the door behind her, trapping them both in.
“I tried to warn you—”
“I said I love you, Gregory. I know this isn’t conventional, but I love you. I don’t know where we go from here, or how we make it work, but I do know I want it to work.” She closed the distance between them and reached for his jacket. His body solidified as she touched him. “I’ve tried to deny any pull I feel toward you because I didn’t know if you could feel anything for me. But, after today, after what we shared, I never want to be without you again.”
“I’m dead,” he said hesitantly. “You’re alive.”
“No relationship is perfect.” She gave him a small smile. “Besides, I won’t always be alive. Eventually, I’ll die and then you’ll be stuck with me for an eternity.”
“Eternity,” he repeated, dropping the hat. It landed with a thud on the floor. He pulled at his tie, loosening it. “I like the sound of that.”
Helen backed slowly to the bed, beckoning him with her eyes. “People are going to think I’m a crazy recluse just like my aunt.”
“What do you think?”
“I think I’ve finally found a place to call home. Let the world think what they like about me.” Helen pulled him into her embrace. “This is what I want. You are what I want.”
“And I want,” he glanced down, “you to be sure when you do die that you’re wearing that green lacy thing you had on earlier.”
Helen gasped, hitting his shoulder as she pretended to be shocked. Grabbing hold of him, she fell back onto the mattress taking him with her. His body settled against hers and she felt his interest poking against her hip. She nipped at his earlobe. “Oh, I think you might change your mind when you see the other options available. Underwear has changed a lot since your time.”
Gregory captured her mouth with his, silencing her with his passionate kiss. Happiness bubbled inside of her. Everything she could ever want was right here within the stolen hours in his arms.
The End