Authors: J. Joseph Wright
ABBY WANTED TO HOLD
Rev forever. She wanted to fall into him, become a part of him for all of time and spend eternity with him, even if he was dead, even if that heart beat no longer, or those arms had no strength to hold her.
Morris put his hand on her shoulder.
“Abby,” he blinked and his eyes flushed with tears. “It was…inevitable. We had to destroy Elyxa. And we knew what that was going to do.”
She ignored him, just watching Rev’s perfect hair, combing her fingers through it, laughing to herself about how not one follicle was
ever out of place.
Seeing she refused to budge, Ruby formed into a swirling ball and chirped the way only Ruby could. Then a curious and unexpected thing began happening to Rev’s body. Young, tight skin started to wrinkle and sag. Veins and tissue became visible under a
delicate layer of epidermis—thin and getting thinner by the second. His flawless hair lost its golden brown luster and began to fall out. A large clump came out in Abby’s hand, and she cupped it in her palm delicately.
“Oh my God!” she
clenched her fingers. “What’s happening?”
“I knew it,” Morris’s fascination overcame his grief.
“Massive and spontaneous regressive necrotization.”
She
stared at him. He got the message.
“Oh,
um, he’s rotting. Fast.”
“But why so fast?”
“He was in the grave for eighty-five years before Elyxa exhumed and revitalized him. Now that she’s dead, his physical body is reverting back to the exact state it was at the time of reconstitution.”
“
Oh, Rev,” she frowned at the bones and falling flesh. That wasn’t how she wanted to remember Rev. His good looks outlasted time, and lived on forever in her heart. She knew he was still around. He had to be. Certain she could conjure him, she stood and twirled in a circle, calling as loud as she could.
“Rev!
Rev! I’m here! Follow my voice, Rev!”
The others followed her lead, shouting for their friend, combining their voices in a raucous chorus to the spirit world. Morris wasn’t
certain it would work. He yelled his throat out anyway. Brutus didn’t want to lose his friend, not now, not after they’d just started to connect. All Ruby knew was her pal was gone, the one person in the world of both the living and dead who knew her, really knew her. They all grieved for him. And they all called for him, together. Again and again.
“REV!
REV! REV!”
Morris thought for sure they would raise the dead. Abby was convinced of it. Rev heard them. She just knew it.
“He’s got to come back,” eagerly, she zipped her supernaturally keen sights left and right, up and down, scanning for even the slightest sign of a paranormal arrival. She expected to see something. Her special ability to sense entities never failed her, and when she didn’t find a sign, it didn’t deter her confidence. “He said he’d come back, so he’s got to!”
Morris flipped his
HeatSpec goggles over his regular glasses. Things didn’t look good. Not one indication of ghosts, except Brutus and Ruby, of course.
“Abby, maybe—”
“Give me those!” she took the goggles and peered through without putting them on. Even though she didn’t need them to see spirits, she thought maybe there was a chance. But there was no chance. She detected nothing, yet called for him anyway. “REV! Don’t cross over! Don’t go into the light! This way! Come to my voice, Rev!”
Morris tried again.
“Abby, I think—”
“REV!”
“ABBY!” he made her jump. She blinked and blinked. No way would she cry. She rejected tears. “Abby, we have to accept the possibility Rev isn’t going to return.”
Brutus let out a rumbling wail. Not Rev. Not Rev. Ruby floated close to his maelstrom of gray mist. Together they shared the pain, shared the loss.
“What are you guys blubbering about!” Abby denied it all. Rev was gone, physically and spiritually, and she wouldn’t accept facts. “Rev’s coming back, you understand? He’s coming back!” she searched Morris for the slightest spark of hope. Nothing. Morris had no hope to give.
“If he was coming back, we’d hear from him by now,” he pulled
an SME meter from his pocket and flicked it on. All readings flat. He shook his head.
“No,” she said self-assuredly. “You’re wrong. He
is
coming back. I feel it.”
TWENTY-ONE
THE DOMINICAN SUNSET
bathed her in delicate reds and yellows and oranges. She’d just gotten out of the water and, still dripping, paused in the same spot she’d stood at this exact time of day every day for the last week. A mojito twenty feet away. A chorus of children singing at St. Luke’s Elementary across the street. She’d discovered paradise, at least for now. It had taken a while. First she tried Paris, but found the waiters—and the ghosts—too ill-mannered. Then she opted for Cairo, but Egypt was plagued with armed combat in the streets. Venice greeted her with a smile, and she liked Hong Kong and Perth. After trotting the globe, though, she’d learned all she really needed was a warm sunset and a stiff tropical drink. And the children’s choir. She loved singing with them.
At her cabana, she collapsed into the recliner when her
phone rang. Nothing unusual. Her phone rang constantly. Her mother. Her best friends. Riley. And Morris. Especially Morris. All wondering when she planned on coming back. She had no desire to pick up, and grabbed the phone in a huff with designs on turning it off, maybe even taking out the battery. Accidently, she hit the
call accept
icon, and Morris let out a whoop of surprise.
“Abby, you answered…scared me.”
Shit!
she muttered to herself, then affected a decent tone.
“How are you today, Morris?”
“Fine, fine…listen, I’m sorry if I bothered you…I’m not, am I? Bothering you, that is?”
“Morris, I’m sitting with white sand between my toes, being served tropical drinks and seared
ahi all day long by bronze hunks in tight shorts. What do you think?”
“Sorry,”
he sounded desperate. “
It’s just…Abby, I think you should come back. This leave of absence of yours has been long enough. Without you, there’s no Ghost Guard.”
“Correction,” she said. “Without
Rev
there’s no Ghost Guard.”
“You still haven’t seen any sign of him?
Nothing? A vision? A transitory glimpse? An unexplained cold spot—anything?”
“No, Morris,” her exasperation started to show. “Not today. Not yesterday, or the day before. I’ve told you, Morris. He hasn’t contacted me. And without him, I-I’m just not sure
—”
“Abby, they’ve suspended our operations indefinitely. We’re mothballed until you come back. Please…hurry.”
She exhaled in exhaustion.
“I’ll try.”
“Oh, hey! Someone here wants to talk to you,”
and then her phone started to whistle and squeak so loud the people in the next cabana peeked at her in confusion. She just waved, smiled, and hunched over to tell Ruby she loved her too, and that she’d be home soon. She had to lie. To Ruby and to Morris. Her true plans had nothing to do with Ghost Guard. It was over without Rev.
After hanging up and settling the tab with the bartender, she
strolled through the lush garden grounds back to her awaiting villa. Suddenly feeling the salty beach residue, she decided to slip out of her bikini and into the shower. An embrace of hot steam soothed her skin even before she got in. With the coco-butter and papaya blend bath soaps she’d picked up at the street market, she stretched, breathed deep and enjoyed the watery caresses on her neck.
After
only a few minutes, she felt the water go cold and started shivering. Then she discovered the water temperature hadn’t changed at all. It was the air. Frigid, as if she’d been transported, shower and all, to the arctic. But she hadn’t. She saw, out the window, a group of palms leaning in the humid twilight. A tropical breeze brought with it the sweet sounds of an old and familiar tune, a resonant baritone serenading into the night:
I'll be loving you Always
With a love that's true
Always
When the things you've planned
Need a helping hand
I will understand Always.
Then all the cold, all the
frigid density seemed to coalesce into one location—on her shoulder—and she recognized the touch right away. She twirled to find only steam and water and the glass stall clouded with condensation. What she beheld next made her heart stop. Inscribed in the tiny droplets of condensation in the glass were the words:
I’m Back.
She felt him clutch her by the waist, spin her fast, and embrace her
hungrily.
“Rev!”
His face appeared
in the mist, followed by his neck, shoulders, chest, all the way to his toes, materializing out of nothing. She was going to say something about him being nude, but he didn’t let her. Pressing his lips against hers, he allowed her warmth to fulfill his desires. She wanted him. He wanted her. They had no way to fight it. For them both, the obstacles were gone, even though Rev was now, and forever would be, a ghost.
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From the author...
Thank you for reading
GHOST GUARD
. This book was a great pleasure to write, and it’s my sincere hope you enjoyed reading it. Definitely look for more of Rev and Abby and the rest of the team in the near future. If you wish to offer your feedback, I’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to write a review and let me know what you think. Thanks again,
-J.