Finding Essence

Chapter 1

"Essence King" the trooper from behind the counter called out. I got up and walked to the counter to grab my papers for my car; leave it to me to lose the original title. "That's an unusual name you have " he stated with a quirky smile and wink. He was cute but not my type being a little too thin for my liking. "yep, parents were hippies." I said with an exaggerated tone, turned to leave, and jumped, almost running Andy over. "Wow they are shameless now days aren't they?" he said in a bored tone. "ma'am are you ok?" a young boy asked me. Shaking my head yes, I quickly left the DMV, pulled out my earpiece, and put it in. I found that this was the best way to mimic talking to someone on the phone without looking too crazy. Why? we'll see here's the thing; Andy isn't human, in fact, he's a ghost/spirit or whatever term you would like to use. He loves to randomly pop up at the wrong moments, so I learned to keep my secret by keeping a phone or earpiece on me all the time so I wouldn't look crazier than I already was. "Seriously Andy why do you have to do that to me all the time? I look like a crazy lady every time I randomly jump or scream." As I reached my car I stopped, turned, and eyed him. He looked as real as me and you except with a slight shimmer around him. He was a very handsome man, 5'9 stocky build. Not overweight but not ripped either, just an average healthy look. He had dark hair that was cut like a boy band style and beautiful green eyes, dark skinned well more caramel-like. He had died in the 90s although I felt like his soul was older than that. At 25 he had been a victim of a random drive-by; wrong time wrong place situation. For as long as I could remember I could see, hear, talk to, and feel ghosts/spirits. They would find me, we would chat and some were even my playmates; as they looked like us walking around and just as solid it never occurred to me that no one else could see them. That was until I was 13 and my mother pulled me to the side explaining that young ladies didn't have time for imaginary friends. Being from the South my mother's word was law in our home, so after attempting to explain it was real she threatened to send me to a shrink because there had to be something wrong with my mind. I immediately settled down and just said ok to her; after that, I was a lot more careful about where I was and how I was talking to them. She didn't like the attention her strange daughter was bringing her, so when I had a chance to escape I did. In my eyes I felt that if the situation was reversed I would feel so lonely, not being able to touch, hear, or even talk to someone would truly be worse than being called a freak; so ignoring them was out of the question. "So what's up today?" I asked Andy. He shook his head, looked at me, and said the last thing I expected him to say, "I'm moving on." I was taken back a bit by this considering he had been around for a long while now and I had started looking forward to his visits. But I wasn't about to be a selfish person and smiled, "That is amazing! I couldn't be more happy for you, to find your peace and to move on. I will miss you though." Reaching out to touch him; I felt the zap before the contact. He squeezed my hand, "Thank you for being with me. If I hadn't found you I would have been wandering for who knows how long. You have been the blessing of my afterlife and with this I want to give you something as well." He leaned in and kissed my cheek. That zap that came hit so hard it took my breath away. "You will be able to do more now with us. Contact us at will and much more, be very careful with this gift. Very few have ever been given this. With what's coming this will possibly save your life or another's. Take care and thank you." With that, He started to fade out and glow. I shielded my eyes from the brightness and when I looked back he was gone. Tears were freely flowing from my eyes now, it was such a bittersweet moment each time that you loved and hated it at the same time. Placing my hand on my cheek I thought back to his words. What did he mean by all this and what was coming, excitement and dread filled me at the same time with my newly received gift. Unfortunately, I would have to deal with this later as I still had to go to work. Sighing heavily I climbed in my car and drove towards work.