Romance Anthology

Spirited Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She walked past Polly once the mess was cleaned up. A hot soak had been on the agenda for the night before her current house guest popped up. That was more appealing now than when the thought had first occurred.

Polly said nothing as she was left behind in the main room. Rose would address everything later. After relaxing. For as long as possible. Perhaps once she finally reemerged, she’ll find it had all been a horrible hallucination. A figment brought on by one or more of the more recent manuscripts she had been working on.

The water was the perfect temp. Perfumed steam drifted up. It was exactly what was needed to forget the day. She melted into the tub, releasing the tension that had been there since the morning. She hadn’t physically exerted herself taking all the crystals down, so it was likely from irritation.

“What are you doing?”

Just like that, it was all back. Cracking an eye open, she glared at Polly. Not a product of her imagination after all. That was unfortunate.

“Taking a bath. Do you mind?”

“Oh, not at all.”

The ghost couldn’t seem to take a hint. Instead of leaving Rose in peace as she had intended, Polly squatted beside the tub so the two of them were now eye level. Had she ever heard of privacy before?

“Can you leave please? I’m trying to enjoy some alone time.”

“I wanted to discuss my predicament.”

“And that would be?”

“Finding love, of course.”

Polly was a natural at rolling her eyes. Did they do such things back then or was it a trait that she had picked up from one of the other tenants over the years? The ones that couldn’t see her. How Rose wished she had been one of those. Giving up getting any alone time she sat up.

“Alright, you win. Let’s talk.”

“Yay!”

She waited for Polly to calm down and start the conversation. As talkative as the girl had been earlier, though she had little to say now. She stared at Rose as if expecting her to have the answers.

“Well, what do you suggest?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know how to go about finding love.”

Of course, she didn’t. To be honest, neither did Rose. She had always been more concentrated on her career than anything else. This was not going well at all.

“Haven’t you ever dated before?”

“Dated?”

“Yeah. You know going out to dinner or whatever with a guy?”

“You mean courting.”

She wasn’t sure if that was the same thing or not. For argument's sake, she nodded. It couldn’t be that different, could it? This subject was so outside of her depth of knowledge. Good thing she had read many romance novels over the years. At least there was that to draw on. Who knew how accurate those books were? She was about to find out.

“Yes, that’s what I meant. Haven’t you ever been courted?”

“Of course not. I was only eighteen and had just attended my first dance when I died. If any of them were going to send a calling card for courtship, I never had the chance to receive them.”

Polly giggled at her as if this should have made complete sense. Eighteen? The girl had died so young. Looking at her, it wasn’t hard to believe the ghost was only a teen. Maybe her heart gave a twinge when she looked at her. It could just be indigestion too.

“Are there any other ghosts in the building? I’m assuming you weren’t the only one who passed away that night.”

“If any others perished, they didn’t linger. I haven’t seen another soul here ever.”

Well, that put a damper on any quick plan to pawn the girl off. If there had been an adult ghost, she could have turned Polly over to them. If there had been a young man, then even better. It appeared that Polly haunted the building all on her own though.

“I’m not sure how to proceed if there aren’t any other spirits for you to interact with. How are you supposed to find love if there’s no one for you to pursue?”

“There was that gentleman from earlier. Cole was his name. He was very pleasant to look at. Don’t you think?”

“Polly, he isn’t dead. I don’t think you can date someone living. Especially one that can’t see you.”

The girl’s smile dimmed a bit with the revelation. She had really been considering hooking up with a living person. Even if that had been a possibility, it didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. There was so much wrong with that situation it made her head hurt to think about. Who knew if it was even something that could be done. She, for one, did not want to research the subject.

“He seemed like such a nice man too.”

“He barely said anything. How can you judge a person from such a short introduction?”

“I could just tell. Couldn’t you? One doesn’t always need to know another person well to be able to know if they are a good person or not.”

“Then you’re more astute than I am.”

Well, that was a bit of a lie. Hadn’t she tried to protect him from Polly when she thought the ghost a succubus based solely on the emblem of his shirt? He could have bought it at some store or borrowed it from a friend. Yet all it had taken for her to jump to his aid was seeing the shirt and assuming he was a firefighter because of it. Not only that, but did his job make him a decent person worth protecting? Maybe he was just good at his job, so he followed a career in it. Why she was analyzing the neighbor from down the hall was beyond her. They met. He left. That should be the end of his part to play in her life.

“I disagree. You’re special. I can tell.”

“I’m plain old me and nothing more.”

“You can see me. That’s proof that you’re different from everyone else.”

Was there any sense arguing with a ghost? Not really. Should she keep doing it? Probably not, but was likely going to anyway. Though Polly did make a good point. Why could Rose see her? She had never been able to see spirits before. Something had changed. Or had it?

“Perhaps it was the crystals. Maybe some kind of spirit residue or something rubbed off on me when I took them down.”

“Crystals? I’ve never seen any around the place before.”

“What do you mean? They were everywhere. You couldn’t have missed them.”

“That must be why I was trapped in the dark.”

“Trapped?”

Polly’s features turned serious as her earlier joviality fell away. Whatever the girl had experienced had made an impact on her. From the change in her demeanor, it hadn’t been a pleasant one either.

“I was stuck in a very dark place. I have no idea how long I had been stuck there. I tried everything to break free, but nothing seemed to work. With each attempt I lost strength. Eventually, I went to sleep. At least I think that’s what happened. I wasn’t aware of anything until earlier today.”

From the description of events, it sure sounded like the crystals were to blame. Which meant someone else was aware of Polly’s existence. If that were true, why hadn’t they helped her? Though she had admitted, none of the other tenants had been able to see her until now. That couldn’t be the case.

Polly had never seen the crystals in the apartment before. The building manager had said himself that they hadn’t been there when the last renters had moved out. Between the last people to live there and Rose moving in was when they were put up. Someone had known there was a ghost haunting the place and had created what sounded like a prison for her. Who exactly was a mystery. Whether they would be back to check on Polly’s status was anyone’s guess. The locks had been changed so the culprit wouldn’t find it easy to come in again.

“You really don’t remember anyone seeing you before?”

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“Because someone trapped you in whatever place you had been in. It can’t be a coincidence that you were set free the same day I removed all the crystals.”

“What do I do now?”

“I suggest you move on as quickly as possible before the person who did it figures out, you’re back.”

“I can’t move on though. Not until I experience love.”

“Experience how exactly?”

Polly floated out of the room lost in thought. She had half a mind to leave her to her own devices while she finished the bath. Curiosity nipped at her mind as question after question tumbled through her thoughts. There was no rest and relaxing until she had an answer from Polly. What exactly does a ghost consider love? It can’t be the ‘until death do us part’ kind of thing for obvious reasons. What does that leave though?