Authors: Phil Chard
“You can’t stay here.” Juliet replied meekly.
“So I just go to the Light? A Light you don’t understand!” His tone was getting amplified. “See maybe there’s Heaven, maybe there’s Hell, but maybe there’s neither. Maybe there’s nothing out there Juliet, what about that? The greatest act of evolution, God didn’t create us, we created him, we evolved to this stage and nothing more. Behind the Light, there’s just a work in progress, or maybe nothing, maybe it just eats you up into a void of nothingness. Maybe this is as good as it gets for a ghost.”
Now he was circling her, like a bird of prey before the mortal swoop. “Maybe I’m better off like this; you’ve taught me some real neat tricks lately. Maybe this
condition
is not as bad as I thought. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long while.”
Not expecting this confrontation, she didn’t quite know how to respond to it. The problem was that he was right and she didn’t want to get into a theological discussion with the spook for fear of the outcome. She had no idea what was behind the Light; no one had ever come from the other side ― she had no proof of what life existed beyond that singular point. The truth was she wanted her payday and Simon Fell didn’t matter to her. Maybe if he saw the Light, if he looked at it properly, he’d be drawn in, like they always are...
Her hand moved to the wall and the Light obeyed her call. Simon stared at it, then turned to her, wearing an expression of outraged fury.
She replied verbally to his expression. “You can’t stay here!” Juliet beckoned the Light inwards and it obeyed, slowly expanding its boundaries; the event horizon maximising out. The portal was now larger than she had ever seen it… and was growing. Simon looked at the portal then at Juliet; an animal anger was evident in his eyes.
Juliet started walking back towards her physical body. Unseen to her, Simon’s hand made a gesture in her direction.
Two yards from a reunion with her physical self, Juliet seemed to smack into an invisible wall and fell to the ground. She stood up and tried to get past it, but with the same result. Frantically she tried again and again, looking like a mime artist battling with an invisible wall.
There was something in front of her, an invisible shield between her spirit-self and her physical body. Her fists banged on the shield and she cried out.
He laughed. “Learnt some good tricks here haven’t I? Like I say, all thanks to you.”
The Light was creeping in behind them both. Simon made frenzied attempts to stop its advance and push it back, but all his efforts were to no avail.
“God damn you!” he shouted to Juliet, who was still frantically trying to claw her way through the concealed shield.
Simon watched, resigned, as the Light continued to expand. He turned to Juliet, anger etched on his ethereal face. She was still desperately trying to find a way past his invisible screen. He lunged for her, grabbing her by the neck. “Don’t want to be clingy or anything, but if you must insist on me taking this trip, thought I might bring a friend along for company.”
Juliet struggled, clawing at the spirit hands which where clamped around her spirit neck. The irony of how two spirit entities could fight, lock horns, grapple and struggle was not lost on her.
Juliet pondered once more the invisible shield that separated her from her physical form. He laughed and held her tighter still. He then dragged her backwards towards the Light. She started to scream.
“What’s the matter? You’ve told everyone else how great this place is right? How can you recommend somewhere you’ve never been yourself Juliet? How can the tour guide not take the tour?”
She could feel the life force of the Light behind her. Memories of her life invaded her. He managed, despite her struggles, to drag her back a further step. She noticed a strange buzzing sound which increased in volume as she got nearer the Light. Her mind seemed to be a kaleidoscope of images all fighting for the top billing. She was facing the Light and the pied-piper had her snared. She felt what they all felt, an overpowering desire to walk through to the other side; she fought the feelings, this wasn’t right, she didn’t want to go through the Light... but he was pulling her back and she didn’t have any power left to stop him. She would soon be in the Light and beyond; the physical world would soon be over for her.
And then she heard something...
A voice...
...broken... not the same as she remembered it...
...but the words were a saviour’s rhapsody...
DON’T−YOU−HURT−MY−BABY!
It resonated. She felt his grip on her loosen and he cried out. Juliet fell back, away from the Light. She turned around to see what had become of her attacker. He was being held and dragged backwards into the Light. It was not just a one-way system. Someone had come through from the other side to help her.
DON’T−YOU−HURT−MY−BABY!
The words didn’t come from any mouth, but resonated around in stereo. The form of this thing was not familiar, not entirely human shaped, but in some features that seemed to have survived on the other side of the event horizon, there were features she recognised. It was too powerful for Simon, whatever tricks he had learned in the
condition
were dwarfed by the power of this Being of Light.
Juliet heard a last, frantic scream from him before they both disappeared into an unknown world; the Light followed them through and the room returned to its earthly dimensions.
She felt around for the invisible shield, but it was gone. Relieved, she walked back to her physical body and then
into
it. The eyes flickered; she took several deep breaths, getting used to her physical body once more. She looked around the room and struggled to take in what had just happened.
*
Juliet closed the front door of the property, and locked it with a key. The taxi driver was resting against his car, newspaper in hand. He folded it. “You done?”
She considered the question. “Yeah,” she replied. “I’m finished.”
He made for the driver’s side and got in. The car started up. Juliet looked up at the window where minutes earlier phantoms had fought and dimensions had collided. It was now lifeless. She switched her cell phone back on and let it warm up while she ambled towards the taxi. She got in.
“Where to now?”
Juliet’s cell phone caught up with itself and informed her of several voicemails from Joe.
“Miss? Where we going?”
She was reading an angry text message from Joe. He was demanding to know where she was. He wanted to talk to her. Another angry text followed. Juliet switched off the phone, wound down the window and threw it out.
The taxi driver watched events, but didn’t comment on them. He was only interested in her next destination. “Miss? Where we going now? I think you said before; some hotel, then the train station?”
The Houghtons were at the hotel. She had got them to agree to a further payment once she got rid of the spook. The balance could follow once they were happy it was gone for good.
“Hotel,” Juliet said. “Then the airport.”
She had her passport with her. She took it everywhere. You never knew when you might see a job advertisement for a few days work and it was best to be ready and armed with the proof you were a legal resident here. The down payment from the Houghtons would pay for a trip anywhere. She’d tell them to pay the final instalment to Joe, once they were completely happy that their visitor had left. It would be everything she owed Joe plus considerable interest. It was time to stop trading in souls. Maybe she’d find a job in a bar on the beach in the Caribbean. People would see her scars and see a survivor, not a victim.
Glorious freedom.