Haunted

Awakened

In a busy supermarket isn’t where most mediums expect to see a ghost, but I’m not like most mediums. I look up to see a pretty lady standing in the produce aisle who clearly doesn’t belong there. She’s short and at least forty years old. Or maybe, I should say, she was at least forty. She’s wearing a pink shirt with embroidered flowers along the neckline. Her eyes are intense, small, and sunken into her skull. She doesn’t blink as she stares at Emily, and it sent shivers along her spine. Quickly Emily glanced around to reassure herself, she’s the only one who sees this. After she sees other customers walk through the lady Emily knew for sure that she was the only one who could see her, and she needed her help.

She knew she was new to this medium thing, so she tried not to be too hard on herself when her first instinct was to go to another down a different aisle. Instead, casually walked toward the woman, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. 

Emily watched as two more people pass through three other customers, and they had no idea, although she did notice one of them shuddered and looked around for the source of the cool breeze. He wouldn’t believe her even if she told him.

As Emily got within a few feet of the woman, she said “Hi, how can I help you move on,” The woman stretched out her arm out pointing to a man who had a little girl with him. The woman’s jaw began to chatter with excitement as they neared. Her mouth opened just enough to let out a sickening dark liquid that poured down her shirt. Suddenly Emily knew how she died: she was lying alone in her bed, too weak to sit up when she began coughing. She coughed until she choked. Her name was Elizabeth, and it wasn’t the most peaceful death in the world, but at least it wasn’t the most violent either. Now Emily needed to help her move on.

Her eyes remain locked with Emily’s, and she wondered whether she saw her or did she look straight through her. She had never seen anything like that before, and suddenly she wanted to scream. She just wanted to make it all go away, for her and for herself. Emily reached out and touched Elizabeth’s shoulder, closed her eyes as a sense of peace and love washed over her, then sent it to Elizabeth as she told that her family missed her and that they will be just fine. Just as quickly as she appeared, Elizabeth dissolved into a bright ball of light. 

“Can I help you, Ms.?” An employee asked as if there wasn’t just an oozing ghost in his store. Emily opened her eyes and suddenly realized how ridiculous she looked standing in the middle of the store, her arm still stretched out in front of her, with her eyes closed.

“Um. No. I’m fine,” She answered, quickly as she headed down a different aisle.

Emily ran out into the parking lot and sighed with relief after paying for her groceries when she saw Amy’s lanky body leaning against the car, waiting for her.

“How are you feeling?” Amy asked, aware of what just happened in the store.

It’s the first time she had seen a ghost since she found out what she was. “Nervous,” Emily finally answered her, brushing her long, curly brown hair away from her face with her fingers and securing it with an elastic band. “Don’t be nervous,” Amy said as they walk across the parking lot. “You’re a natural,”

“Yeah, you think so,”

“I do,” 

“Thank you,” Emily said, digging in her bag for the car keys. Part of me wants Amy to follow me home, though. She could help her if she encountered another spirit. And if she suddenly had to help a spirit move on. But she doesn’t tell her that. She had to learn to be a medium and a functioning normal person at the same time. She unlocked the door and tossed her purse onto the passenger seat then loaded the groceries into the backseat, then lean against her silver sedan. “I’ll call you when I get home. I need to talk to you about what just happened in there.” Emily said nodding towards the store.

When she gets home Jack was there sitting on the front porch waiting on her to return. "What are you doing outside," She questioned him. Hoping that he didn't have bad news for her she was tired of hearing bad news. "You had a phone call while you were out,"

"Really? Most people call me on my cell, not the home phone,"

"Leave the groceries and come sit down,"

"Oh no, you do have bad news,"

"A man called saying he was your birth father, he said he wanted to talk to you,"

"My birth father? Wh-How did he find me,"

"I don't know, he didn't say he just said that it was very important that he talked with you,"

" Did he leave a number for me to call him back,"

"Come to think about it no he didn't,"

Emily woke up the next morning to knocking on her front door. When she opened it a tall, slender man is standing in front of her dressed in a dark suit, a perfectly knotted gunmetal-gray tie tight around his neck.

"Hello Emily we have work to do," He said without any emotion in his voice. She gasped this was the man that had been appearing in her dreams after she defeated the demon he was also there at the store when she helped the lady move on she knew instantly now who he was. "Whatwhowhyareyouhowcouldyou," Was all she could get out.

"I'm your biological father, my name is Eon, may I come in so I can explain everything,"

She holds the door open wider so that he may enter just as Jack walks into the room. "Hello you must be Jack, I'm Eon," He said as he extended his hand to Jack. "It's nice to meet you,"

All those words that had been battling it out in my throat calm down long enough for her to say, “ What do you want, actually no I think you should leave.” It’s the first real sentence she had ever managed to say to him, and she couldn’t help feeling a little bit proud of herself. If she could manage one sentence, soon she'll be able to manage another, which means she'll be able to ask him all of her questions eventually. But she doesn’t want to ask them now.

“I think I should probably stay,” Eon countered calmly, settling into a chair across from Jack who had sat down on our couch. He gestured for her to sit and she did, perhaps off-put by how at ease he seemed in her house. His pants don’t even wrinkle when he sat. "So what are you doing here? How did you even find Emily," Jack asked clearly not having a problem asking questions like Emily was. Her head had thousands of questions but none would come out of her mouth. Eon doesn't bother to acknowledge Jack's questions. Instead, he continued with his speech "I was there when you saved your friend from the demons grasp and free your home of it. I was there watching when you brought peace to the spirit and helped her move on in the grocery store this morning," 

"You were there that wasn't my imagination," Emily whispered in awe.

Eon nodded. "Now ask me the question you have wanted to ask when you first saw me,"

"What are we,"